Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - Link's Two Funeral Experiences | Ear Biscuits Ep. 372
Episode Date: March 6, 2023Two separate trips back home! In this episode, Rhett and Link talk about their trips back to North Carolina – where Rhett visits their old stomping grounds of the NC State engineering department, an...d Link has two vastly different funeral experiences. Plus, both of them are set to give commencement speeches for the civil and industrial engineering departments for NC State – do they feel qualified? Get the Always Creative notebook now at Mythical.com! This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/EAR and get on your way to being your best self. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Welcome to Ear Biscuits, the podcast where two lifelong friends talk about life for a long time.
I'm Link.
And I'm Rhett.
This week at the Roundtable of Dim Lighting, we are talking about our recent trips to North Kakalaki, North Carolina.
Unexpected trip for you.
Yeah.
Planned trip for me.
Mm-hmm.
Basically how this ended up working is you originally made plans to go to Mexico.
Cabo San Lucas.
And this was an exciting thing for you.
Me and Chris did. You decided to go with another couple other than me and my wife.
That's right.
Which you didn't consult with me.
That's right.
Keep you on your toes.
We've worked through it.
And when you made that decision to be gone
over a long weekend, Jesse was like,
hey, the weekend that Link and Christy are gone,
we should go back to North Carolina
because she's got cabin business is what we call it.
And that's not a euphemism for anything.
That's just we have a place that we are fixing up in North Carolina and we needed to meet the contractor, et cetera.
Yeah.
So we planned a trip that would coincide with the exact days that you were gone. And then...
Little did I know...
Things happened.
...that family members and close family friends on Christy's side are going to be dropping
like flies.
Okay, yep.
on Christy's side or we'll be dropping like flies.
Okay, yep.
Yeah, I went to two funerals in one day.
And I want to tell you all about it.
Is that a record, you think?
No, probably not.
It's a personal record.
It's a personal record.
I don't think I've ever been to more than two funerals
or memorial services,
as some may call them,
in one day.
Who called them that?
Well, or you can call it a celebration of life.
That's made its way into the country.
Yeah.
You know what?
The funeral brochure at the country church that Christy grew up in
for the second funeral we went to, it said celebration of life.
I was like, I like this.
That's pretty nice.
I like this. That's pretty nice. I like this. Did it feel like a celebration of life? I would like to
discuss that.
Oh, ooh.
But first, I would like to acknowledge that we're both flannel boys today.
Yeah, we're in sync today.
Flannel boys with the black t-shirt with the white ink. What are we doing?
I don't know, but...
We're in sync, man. This is gonna be a good podcast.
We decided to not talk about it until now, and we also decided not to change,
because it's like, it does, you know...
It's different, but the same.
If you're just watching a clip from Ear Biscuits, this episode, you'd be like,
oh, they decided to wear a uniform today.
Yep.
Plaid and black t-shirt, but no, it just happened that way.
We're tapping into the same lifestream of apparel.
This is a synchronicity, Link.
This is a synchronicity.
I will say briefly.
What do we do with it?
I will say briefly. I'm not going to talk about this at length right now, but I'm sure we will
at some point. But people have pointed out multiple... Whenever we talk about things,
like when I did my deconstruction episode and I was talking about some of these things that were happening and, you know, is this challenging my worldview or inventing a new one, whatever.
People point out the fact that, which is not unexpected, that all of these things have been talked about ad nauseum by many other people other than me.
It's just I tend to not be very well educated about a lot of this stuff, right?
Because, you know, I got a technical education.
I've been making internet videos.
Meaning what I'm saying is that all the stuff that we've been talking about,
there are people who are educated and informed and for, you know,
centuries have been talking about some of the things that we talked about,
and I'm just sort of riffing and talking about my personal experience.
Shame on you.
But no, actually, it's... I think it's good. It's good to hear people talk
about that because people point me to people who've talked about it.
Okay.
And then it's very helpful for me to process.
So they're not critiquing you?
Well, some people are, but it's not,
I'm saying some people
are giving helpful suggestions.
Some people are critiquing.
I'm taking it all as helpful suggestions.
But one of the things,
I really had no idea about,
I mean, I had a little bit of an idea
about CG or Carl Jung,
which I always just said Carl Jung.
And apparently he is the one CG or Carl Jung, which I was, I just said Carl Jung.
And apparently he is the one that made a lot of some
of these concepts about like the collective unconscious and synchronicity and all this stuff because he was
very much a guy that was like one part of his brain
was super rational, logical, and the other part
of his brain was trying to figure out what was going on
beyond and trying to develop a way of thinking
about those things together.
And so I haven't been reading him directly
because he's kind of hard to read directly,
but I've been reading modern people's takes on him
who can explain it in a way that doesn't make me fall asleep.
Why did you say he was CG.G.? I thought it was C.J.
No, C.G.
What's the G?
I don't know. Gustav, I think?
Oh. Oh. Oh. But Jung starts with a J.
Oh. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay. Okay.
Yeah.
So we're having a Jungian synchronicity right now.
Well, we probably just have similar... We have a crossover in our wardrobes,
and it's inevitable that we're going to wear similar things on some days.
But we can choose to believe that there's something else going on, and it's more fun.
I would like to harness it.
Yeah.
I'd like to harness it.
And see if we can just work something up today.
Well, since we're getting stuff off our chest.
Yeah.
I would say, so thank you for those of you who suggested different books and resources
because I do appreciate it because I admit I'm not very well read in a lot of these things.
I'm just kind of experiencing life and then just going on a podcast and talking about
it.
So I do not take offense at any of those recommendations.
I welcome them.
Speaking of suggest a book, I'd like to suggest a book.
Okay, is this your rec?
Um, no.
Okay, this is an ad.
I would like to suggest a book that has nothing in it.
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You know, it's good to have a creative notebook
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It's the Doodle Book.
This actually features a doodle from Caleb.
Yep.
Our artist in residence.
Yeah, and so the only thing that's on the book
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your doodle, anything you want.
You don't have to doodle what Caleb doodled.
And then every day or every moment
is a blank slate for you to doodle, express yourself, distract yourself.
I recommend that.
That's my favorite book right now.
The Mythical Doodle Book, available at mythical.com.
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I want to apologize for my tardiness today.
Of course, you were also tardy.
I think I was tardier than you.
I was running late because I had to flick my shower nipples.
No comment.
And once I got started with that, I couldn't stop until I was done.
Please elaborate.
I thought I told you about my shower nipples before.
Cause you know I've got the shower head beside me, but then I've got the
raindrop shower head overhead, and it's like...
It's got a bunch of nipples on it. It's got a bunch of nipples on it,
and then all the water squirts out of the nipples.
Because of the hardness of the water in our area,
they get clogged.
Yeah, and the nipples are black rubber,
and then I can look and I can see right at the tip of the teat
of each one,
there'll be like a little white thing.
A frosty nip, they call that.
If I reach up there and I just pinch the nipple,
the frosty nip will come off.
And the water will flow again.
And the water will flow or not be like, pew, sideways.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I notice that sometimes if I go long enough without flicking my shower nipples,
the intensity of the remaining free-flowing nipples is such that it feels like I'm being shot with a bunch of lasers.
Yeah.
And then there's one laser hitting the wall,
one laser hitting the shower door.
Pew, pew, pew, pew, pew!
I feel like I need to be dropped from the ceiling
like Tom Cruise.
Well, the intensity of...
To dodge it.
The intensity of flow is proportional,
or inversely proportional, to the number of nipples.
Of course I know that.
And this is why Chase, who has a third nipple, which he's talked about,
has a very low flow in his nipples because he has a relief nipple,
is what they call it.
Well, the design is optimized for all of the nipples to be free-flowing.
And you tend to forget.
All of a sudden it's like, man, this hurts.
I don't even want to turn this thing on.
But then I went up there and I like
systemat- and sometimes I'll just like, I'll just rake my hand over it.
I ain't got time for this. Just like get all the nipples at once.
It doesn't work that way. You gotta sit there and you gotta systematically
go in a circle. I did it. It took me so long, my arm got tired, I had to switch
arms.
And you're just standing. You're not like on a stool.
I'm not on a stool, no. And then I got so tired I had to switch arms. And you're just standing, you're not like on a stool. I'm not on a stool, no.
And then I got so tired I had to switch arms back.
From what I remember in filming that video in your shower,
which is on the internet, don't get any ideas.
I mean, it's this tall.
I had to reach pretty straight to get to it.
It's a pretty tall shower.
So I just systematically pinched all of the shower nipples
And got all of the little granules out
This is the only reason that you were late?
Well, it took a long time
And then I turned that shower head back on
And let me tell you
It was like a brand new morning
It was like a delicate rain morning. It was like a delicate rain.
I was just underneath the delicate rain. I was like,
This is what this thing's supposed to do!
Yeah.
This is what it was made for!
Sometimes you just gotta flick your nipples.
Sometimes you gotta flick your shower nipples.
First thing in the morning.
You know what? Stop what you're doing. Drop what you're doing.
You can keep listening to this. Make your way to your shower head at your next available entree,
and start flicking those nipples.
Now you're assuming that everyone has a rain, I mean this is pretty privileged
of you to assume everybody's got a rain shower.
Or, whatever your shower head is, you need to dunk that thing in some
vinegar water.
We definitely had no nipples in my shower door.
You gotta get that shower head clean.
The shower head in my bathroom growing up was,
I don't know if you remember this,
if you ever took a shower at my house growing up.
I remember.
The shower head started, like left the side of the wall
at my goozle height, neck height,
and then released at the top of chest height.
And this is the shower that I grew up taking showers in.
And probably at age...
You were standing in a bathtub.
Nine, I outgrew the shower but continued to shower in the shower until 18.
So you would bend over to wash your hair.
Yeah. Or if you didn't over to wash your hair. Yeah.
Or if you didn't want to wash your hair,
you didn't have to wear a shower cap.
I didn't wear a shower cap until I got this hair.
Growing up, I'm going to say this is just growing up with just a mom.
Because the time that I grew up in the...
Hold on, you just really, really, really...
Messed up the synchronicity? Messed up the synchronicity?
Messed up the synchronicity.
I got hot. I had to take it off.
Well, feel how thick my thing is.
I'm hot, dude.
Mine's quilted.
Mine's quilted?
Oh, okay.
Well, I'm just keeping mine on.
Mine's just as quilted as yours is.
I'm keeping mine on for now.
I'll take mine off in a little bit.
I shouldn't put this on my mom, but it was her idea.
As a kid, she was like, she would tell me things like,
you need to wash your face every night with Noxzema.
She didn't have a daughter, you know?
Well, no, that was important, though.
Forget gender norms.
That was important.
I'm open to this.
I mean, she taught me skincare at a young age.
That's a lot of things a lot of boys growing up around my time didn't get taught.
I think you may be.
But here's the other thing she taught me.
I think you have a misconception about this, just so you understand.
Well, how about this?
She said, and you know what?
If your hair is good, you can take a shower with a shower cap.
And as a kid, there were many times when I would shower with a shower cap.
That's a very middle-aged woman thing to do.
I think that's a little unusual.
But what was the...
You ever showered with a shower cap?
I said, yeah, now I do.
You have a shower cap?
Yeah.
Look at my hair, man.
Man, how embarrassing.
If I'm not going to wash it.
How embarrassing.
I can't even sit here anymore.
I'm glad I took my jacket off.
But here's the thing.
What I have found after having a shower cap
for like the first two years of this hair
is that if I just put my hair up...
Same thing.
...and just kind of stand...
I don't have...
We don't have a rain shower.
Let it hit your goozle.
I just let it hit my face
and a little bit of hair gets wet.
But what were those...
Aren't you afraid... It was called Oxy you afraid of walking around with a shower cap?
Like, aren't you afraid if you forget to take it off,
you might come to work with that thing on?
No, because in our bathroom, we have a mirror.
Oh.
Yeah, so I usually see myself after I get out of the shower.
I had to make a choice, you know, rain, shower head, or a mirror.
Oxypads.
I'm living with that choice.
Is that what they were called?
Yeah, Oxypads. So we had the wash that came with that pads. I'm living with that choice. Is that what they were called? Yeah, oxy pads.
So we had the wash that came with that.
I remember you had all that stuff.
And we had clearasil.
Dude, every teenager has a, should have,
like a face wash routine because of acne, bro.
I use Noxzema.
I use Noxzema.
So I'm just saying that I think that you thought
that you were the only boy that was getting the
face treatment.
Primp and proper. But like, we were all burning our faces up that you thought that you were the only boy that was getting the face treatment, but
we were all burning our faces up
trying to keep the zits at bay.
I don't know.
They have different treatments now, I've noticed.
Tell me about North Carolina, man.
It's wonderful. It's a wonderful state.
The pine tree. The pine state.
Tell me about your specific experience.
The state bird is the cardinal.
The state tree is the-
The main export-
Longleaf pine.
Longleaf pine was tobacco for a long time.
What is it now?
I bet it's potatoes.
No, not potatoes.
I've never seen a potato farm.
Well, they're underground.
We have to grow a lot of cotton now, I think.
Anyway, well, the main thing that, when I found out we were going back to North Carolina,
I looked at the calendar just to check and see if our school, our, I can't say this word,
but I'm going to try it, alma mater.
Good.
Is that right?
Good.
A's, L's, and R's.
Not good with me.
Was hosting, yes, hosting the University of North Carolina,
Tar Heels, in basketball.
Boo!
This has been a pretty good year, if not a great year, for NC State basketball, and it
is proving to be a pretty bad year for UNC.
I love it.
And the fact that they have historically, at least since the 80s, have dominated us,
let's just be clear about that.
the 80s, have dominated us.
Let's just be clear about that.
In fact, having won 35 of the last 40 games that we've played.
Ouch.
We just hate them with a deep, fiery passion.
Mm-hmm.
And I was like, you know what?
I'd like to go to that game because I don't go to NC State sports games anymore because I don't live there. And it's on the weekend. You know what I'll do? I'll reach out to the person that we know at the engineering school, Dr. Jerome Lavelle, who we know from the
time we took a tour of NC State's engineering school a few years ago.
Yeah.
And-
When we were on the Bleak Creek tour.
Yeah.
And so we reached out and I was like,
hey, cause I mean, I looked and all the tickets,
the whole thing was sold out already.
So, and he was like, yeah, you know what?
Actually it works out.
The Dean's personal, two of his personal tickets
he's not using or whatever.
So I was like, oh great, I'll take my dad to a basketball game.
Great father-son bonding.
Nice.
Get to see the impact play.
And he was like, I'd love for you to stop by the engineering school
on the Friday before.
You're going to be there Friday through Monday.
These tickets aren't completely free.
And show you around.
Show you around a little bit.
Maybe have you meet some students.
And I was like, sure, I'd love to do that.
That's cool.
Because last time that we were there,
we did go over to the Centennial Campus
where the engineering school is,
but we didn't really go into many things.
Either it was just the time of year.
I don't remember exactly what was going on,
but I got a way better tour than we got,
just so you understand.
I'm gonna tell you about some things that I saw.
Yeah, it was classes weren't in session or something.
Okay.
It was a strange time.
It was cool to go back, but yeah, we didn't get to see that much.
Well, as you know, most of the engineering buildings
are on the Centennial Campus, the Newark campus.
Yeah.
Which you have to kind of, I mean, it's a little bit of a drive to get to.
And he was like, I'm going to take you into some of the labs where some students are doing some interesting work.
Okay.
And, I mean, I don't think I have to tell you how much
NC State has changed since we went there.
Yeah, I mean, it's been a short 20 something years
since we graduated.
Centennial campus was just getting started
when we were there.
Just getting started.
It was like very ambitious, like the buildings were huge,
but there wasn't anybody there.
Yeah.
It was like hardly anything was happening.
We didn't, I took no classes there. Oh yeah.
It was right after us that they started populating more stuff over there at that
remote campus.
And there's been a huge change in just the philosophy of architecture and
building spaces for universities and corporations. The very open, airy, natural light, all that stuff is kind of a new thing that's happened over the past 20 years.
And it's just infiltrated corporate America, but also American universities and any new buildings they're building, right?
Of course, they still only use brick at State, right?
On the outside, yeah.
State, right?
On the outside, yeah.
But we walked past Man Hall,
which is the building that I took a lot of my civil engineering classes in.
It was the civil engineering building,
and it's currently being completely redone.
But I don't remember what building
you did most of your classes in,
but I'm sure it was a very similar approach.
Park shops.
Okay. I think is what it was called. similar approach. Park shops. Okay.
I think is what it was called.
But when you went into the front door of Mann Hall, there was a lobby area that was a lobby the size of a mansion or a foyer in a large home.
You know what I'm saying?
It was not a big space and it was one story
and there were barely
any windows in there
and there was like
a little seating area.
Yeah, like maybe
like some stuff on the wall.
In the 50s maybe.
But now when you walk into,
so there's this,
interestingly,
the civil engineering
and the industrial engineering
departments are
in the same building.
Synchronicity.
So there you go.
There's like a,
you know, Dr. LaBelle. Between me and you. It's like the Rhett and Link building. Synchronicity. So there you go. There's like a, you know, Dr. Lavelle.
Between me and you.
It's like the Rhett and Link building.
He didn't ask me to make it the Rhett and Link building.
But he was planning to see, right?
I mean, I don't know.
I mean, they're not going to turn away donations.
They didn't come out and ask.
How much does it cost to name a building after?
Way more than we're willing to pay.
Yeah, I didn't even ask that question.
I didn't even ask.
So, but I was just blown away as we walked into these buildings with just the lobbies.
I mean, I was getting fixated on just the lobbies.
I didn't know you were a lobby man.
I am now. I didn't know I was a lobby guy, but I'm a lobby guy.
When you've got a lobby that's three stories high, and there's all this open seating and all this natural light,
and it's just,
it gives you a feeling of, I want to learn.
Do they have hammocks?
No.
Because to me, that's the final frontier.
Because every college lobby is just,
it's all about where am I going to take a nap next?
That's how I felt about it.
That was for you, and I don't think that's a widespread practice
because most people have shame. There's a concept called shame, and we are well aware of
the fact that you don't.
I definitely have shame, but it ain't got nothing to do with it.
Shame leaves the building when I'm sleeping. That's the great thing about me
and shame. And naps. They need hammocks in more campus places.
Well, there's these cool things called dorm rooms, and there's these better
things called beds.
Don't patronize me! Well, there's these cool things called dorm rooms, and there's these better things called beds that are in those.
But then he took me to the actual lab areas where the students are doing these
experiments.
And I don't know what kind of robots and stuff you had access to at the
industrial engineering school.
I don't think any.
No, none.
It's crazy.
What are you talking about?
You saw robots?
Oh, yeah.
I don't mean like, may I help you kind of robots.
I don't mean personal assistance.
I mean, there's this giant-
May I help you navigate the lobby?
There's this giant, I mean, I'm sure they'll have that soon, but there's this giant multi-story
open area with all these stations. And of course, you've got your 3D printers.
And I don't mean like your little... I mean 3D printers the size of this table
around. And then robotic arms doing things. And just all throughout this facility,
all this stuff that we just didn't have access to. And maybe if we had of had
access to it, we'd still be engineers. So, I mean, you know, catch 22 there.
But he was like, I want to take you to some labs where students are doing some interesting work.
And it was pretty cool because, at least for the most part, it seemed like these students, these graduate students, whether they be, you know, just a graduate student or a PhD student, had been prepared.
students, whether they be, you know, just a graduate student or a PhD student had been prepared, you know, we're bringing by, uh, an alumnus and, uh, he's an internet comedian.
He doesn't do any engineering anymore, but he wanted to go to the state Carolina game.
And, um, they had been prepped. They had a little something to say, you know,
They had been prepped. They had a little something to say.
Oh. Welcome to Moe's!
It was almost like that.
But I went into one lab, and there was this long chamber, like a water chamber.
They were doing some work on it, but it's basically like to generate a wave to study erosion and that kind of thing.
Okay.
But then there was all these pipes in there, and there was this woman in there in a white coat and safety goggles.
And she explained that what she is working on is she is working with fungi that are designed
to break down certain waste products
in wastewater systems,
whether that be plastics or whatever.
And there's also some that, you know, those fatbergs,
you know, the oil deposits, the grease deposits
that get into city sewers.
Yes.
Oh, God, don't show me a picture of that.
Great internet videos.
Well, they're developing, you know, fungi
that are going to
that can attack this stuff
and take care of it. And of course
the first thing that I'm thinking. The last of us.
I'm like, have you watched The Last of Us?
That's all I can do. You ask her that. Being out
of this field for so long
and never really having been in that
particular field of getting that technical.
I'm an entertainer. Can we talk about a show?
Yeah. And I said, and so that was kind of my particular field of getting that technical i'm an entertainer can we talk about a show yeah and uh
i i said and so that was kind of my ended up kind of being my go-to thing as you'll you'll see as i
talk about the other place that i went was this idea that this woman is working with mushrooms
she's working with a fungus that you know it felt like it could turn on her.
And that was, I just said, be careful.
That was basically my advice was, I just, listen, I'm only four episodes in,
but I just got to say, be careful.
I really believe in what you're doing.
Can I ask a potentially dumb question?
Yeah.
You can, more than one.
What?
You can ask more than one.
Well, I never have. This more than one. What? You can ask more than one. Well, I never have.
This is my one.
Maybe this isn't a dumb question, but like, I don't know.
I'm seeing it from a different angle.
Like you've been talking about fungus and then I'm like, yeah, mushrooms.
And then I realized that like when you get a fungal infection,
when you get a fungal infection, is that mushrooms?
Well, no, mushrooms is a type of fungus.
Oh, good.
But yeast is a fungus as well.
Oh, that's right.
That's right.
Yeah, so, no, it doesn't necessarily mean...
So she wasn't working with mushrooms, per se.
No, but in The Last of Us, it is a mushroom.
I know that.
Yeah, so...
I mean, maybe if,
does yeast eventually become a mushroom if you let it go?
I don't think so.
It becomes bread, dude.
Yeah, it just becomes bread.
Is bread a mushroom?
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I mean, this is a good point to say they've invited me to give the commencement address at the Industrial Engineering School.
And listen to me talk right now.
Well, and—
What on earth?
And you know that—and has this been confirmed that I am giving
the commencement address at the Civil Engineering Department?
Yes.
Okay, yeah, so.
Thanks to me.
Well, okay, let's get this straight.
I feel like the Industrial Engineering Department
is a fan of mine.
In 2019-
They gave me an award.
Or maybe 2018, or maybe 20, I don't know when it was.
We were both asked to give the respective commencement addresses.
We turned it down at the time because of schedule.
And then when it resurfaced,
the conversation was about you giving
the commencement address in industrial engineering.
They thought better about you.
And then when you decided that you were going to do it,
I was like, well, I should probably offer my services
to the civil engineering department.
And so that is what has happened. No, that was what was going to happen. And then it was COVID
and it didn't happen at all. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then there was an invitation again.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it was to me. Well, it was to me the most recent time.
I like, my version of the story is...
Your version of the story always puts you in the center. We know, Link.
I was asked to give the commencement speech again, and then you were like,
I'll offer my services again.
Well, because if you're gonna go, if you're gonna take, like your trip,
if you're gonna go take a weekend away...
Right.
I mean, if you're gonna to go back to North Carolina.
And here's the thing.
Hi, having taken a tour of the engineering school and interacted with some of the students, which I'm about to tell you about, I feel like I'm probably better prepped than you at this point.
Well, that was my point exactly.
I'm not prepped in any way.
Well, I have no business doing this.
I'm honored, but I have very little business. Well, as I will make clear,
I don't have any business doing it either,
but I don't think that's why they're talking to us.
I, after talking to the fungus lady,
went into a materials lab,
and there were three guys in there,
and they were ready, man.
They were ready to talk about it.
And he was handing me stuff.
Welcome to our lab.
You know, it wasn't quite that engaging.
But he did say, we are working on self-healing carbon materials,
carbon fiber and some other material.
I was like, and that was the moment I said,
I feel like every conversation I start in this place
feels like the beginning of a dystopian thriller, you know?
So I ended up, just so you know...
Just go sideways.
Ended up telling them to be careful, too.
Oh, yeah?
So my message, just letting you know,
I'm giving you a little preview of my commencement,
is be careful.
Be careful, y'all.
You don't know the power that you wield.
You're going to be the reason that this all...
Self-healing.
Self-healing.
How does that work?
So, essentially, let's say you had a wing that was made out of carbon fiber,
which is a great idea, right?
We've got a very light, strong material.
a very light, strong material.
Well, they actually talked about a heat-activated adhesive.
And I said, like a chip bag, right?
We've done that on Good Mythical Morning.
We resealed a chip bag with a flat iron.
That was what I had to offer.
Just so you understand.
Yeah, you made yourself the center. We're still doing engineering. That's what I had to offer. Just so you understand. Yeah, you made yourself the center.
We're still doing engineering. That's what I learned.
Right.
And so they basically have layers of...
They're like, no, not exactly.
They have layers of heat-activated adhesives that are inside the carbon fiber structure,
and then they have very small wires that go through that so that they can conduct an electrical current through it
that will activate it.
And when there's a break or something,
it automatically activates the current?
Once they...
No, I don't know exactly.
I mean, I'm sure that might be what they do at some point,
but I think you can hit the self-healing button.
Again, we're in the early stages of this, Link.
We at the NC State Engineering School.
Okay.
I'm a part of that.
I've been on a tour.
Yep. But anyway, it was super cool. Once he started talking about how it works and how it lays
itself back down, that was when I was like, yeah, self-healing. You had me at self-healing.
You had me in the lobby, really. And I talked to somebody else who was doing something else.
Can they make it cry?
It doesn't have a soul yet, okay?
Like, I feel like when it gets hurt, it should cry.
And that should be the external notification
that hey, I'm self-healing right now.
You can put that in your commencement speech.
But then...
I wanna fly in a plane that cries.
Dr. Lavelle was like, I've gathered some students.
Engineering scholars, I think he said.
Oh.
He was like, they're basically like engineering students who are leading in different areas.
I've gathered them in a room.
Smarty pants.
They're in there with some pizza and some soda.
Oh, hell yeah.
And I would like you to have a word with them.
Oh, yeah. I would like you to have a word with them. Oh, yeah.
I would like you to give them some remarks.
Here we go.
And he was like, do you need any time?
Do you need any time?
I was like, no, man.
Oh, God.
You're standing...
I was like, you're about to ask me to do what I do best.
Impromptu speaking.
Which is just start talking to people in a crowd.
Do you need any time?
I'd have probably been like, yeah, and then I would have bolted, man.
And I love the fact, though, because we sit down in there and he's like,
the way he framed it was,
Rhett has some things that he wants to share with you.
And I was like, oh, do I?
Rhett has some things. do you need some time?
Because I'm about to tell them you got some things.
Let's see if I do have some things to share.
Yeah, what did you do with that?
Well, I kind of went off of the fact that I had just experienced these things,
these very cool things, and I used that to talk about, first of all,
the fact that I felt like every conversation
that I was having was the beginning of a dystopian novel
and that they should be careful.
So I kind of took my be careful theme
and I gave it to them.
Can I ask you?
Another question, is this a dumb one?
This is a smart one.
Okay.
How many students were there?
20. 20?
So that's a tough size.
That's a tough size. That's a tough size.
How loud was your speaking voice?
Like what tone did you use?
Demonstrate that.
Did you talk to them like you're talking to me right now?
No, it was more like. Or did you talk to them?
It was more like, thanks for having me!
Because it was in the lobby and it's a very large.
You were on the other side of it.
Yeah, it was a large lobby.
But you kind of have to make a point.
Did you go into speech mode or were
you very much in like...
No, I was leaning back.
You were leaning back?
Yeah.
You were seated.
Yeah, you know, my voice projects pretty well.
But you were seated?
Yeah.
Okay, alright.
Yeah, I didn't stand up.
Okay, good.
I don't do that.
Yeah, I'm already, you know, I'm already their height when I'm sitting down.
You're their standing height when you're seated.
But then I said, and again, this wasn't planned,
this just kinda just happened,
I thought this was a good one.
I thought this was a good way for the thing to develop.
I said, I was in town to see us beat Carolina tomorrow.
Yeah.
And Dr. Lavelle wanted to give me a little tour of things
and show me the latest and greatest
in the engineering school.
And going around and talking with these individuals,
working on these different things,
I just want to let you know
that you're doing really important work,
unlike the students at Carolina.
So that was kind of my bit. My bit was the students at Carolina. So that was kind of my bit.
My bit was the students at Carolina think
that they're doing important things, you know,
in the humanities, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But what they're doing doesn't have an impact on the world.
But you guys are solving real problems.
You are helping the state, the nation, and the world
in significant ways. Were they laughing? At least, yeah. Just smiling. No, yeah, state, the nation, and the world in significant ways.
Were they laughing?
At least, yeah.
Just smiling?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Smirking?
I got some laughs. I got, you know, 20, is it 20, you know, you know.
20.
Yeah.
They're not going to roll on the floor or anything.
And, um.
There's not going to be any clapping, I don't think.
Yeah, I mean, I did leave out the fact that, like, they're, you know, UNC has a good medical
school. I kind of set aside the medical sciences for a second. I was just kind of talking about,
like, journalism school.
Pay no attention to the medical sciences
happening over here.
Did you mention, I don't know, me?
Probably, you probably came up.
I mean, I don't recall specifically.
Okay.
No, I'm sure I talked about you.
And I said that you were an industrial engineer
and that i was a civil engineer okay um i ended up saying that um you know i talked about i told
my story of almost changing from communications to from engineering to communications once i
decided i probably wasn't going to be an engineer forever um but then my dad was like you can do
everything that you everything that you can do dad was like, you can do everything that you,
everything that you can do with a communications degree,
you can do with an engineering degree,
but not the other way around.
And that logic made sense to me, so I stayed,
and it ended up working out.
And I kind of was just making the point of like,
listen, I'm not doing important things.
You guys are trying to-
It's probably not true, by the way.
You guys are-
I just wanna go ahead and say,
that's probably not true. I think it probably is guys are... I just want to go ahead and say that's probably not true.
I think it probably is for the most part.
I think it's generally true.
I'm sure there's going to be examples.
Hashtag Ear Biscuits.
Things that a communications major can do that an engineering major can't.
Yeah.
There might be exceptions.
But in a general rule, most of the jobs you can get in communications don't require special training. So you told them, you were telling them not to switch?
No, well, there was a girl who had changed, they went around and said where
they were from and what they were majoring in, and one of them was like,
I just switched to marketing, but I'm still in this thing.
So you belittled her.
And so I singled her out.
I was like, no, listen, I know you just changed to marketing.
I know you just made a huge life-aling mistake. Some people got to do that.
Some people got to tell the story of what's going on here. There's some awesome stuff happening.
I spun it pretty nicely. But what my point was, is that what we do, I said, you guys are doing
important work. You're getting the fatbergs out of pipes, you know. I'm determining what's the
best flavor of Pop-Tart,
which is not even really helpful because
it's just what I think and what you
think.
Even though I was making light
of what we do, I understand why
what we do is important, but it's not really important
for the utility of what we're doing. It's more
important for the vibe that it's
creating or whatever, you know.
But it made me think, I was like,
they are actually doing really important stuff.
Like, I'm not saying that I had never thought about this.
But I was like, we have all these problems
that we are facing as a society.
And a lot of these problems are being made worse
by things like climate change, you know,
because there's one
they're they're thinking there's there's coastal engineering it's a whole department they're
thinking about the coast they're thinking about erosion they're thinking about the forests along
the coast and vegetation and all this stuff those environments um they're just doing really really
important things that you know have an immediate impact as soon as you graduate and start working in these fields.
You're kind of making me nervous about my commencement address now.
I mean, it's like it would matter.
Was this a dry run for you?
You think you're going to go back to the state Carolina bit?
I considered it.
I considered I might use a little bit of that.
There might be a little riff in there
about how what they do matters,
unlike Carolina.
I'm starting to percolate some ideas for my speech.
And I think it's,
right now I'm just really,
I think I'm gonna go weird.
Well, I fully expected that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think I'm gonna teach them a lesson.
You're gonna confuse a lot of parents. Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna confuse the parents.'m going to teach them a lesson. You're going to confuse a lot of parents.
Yeah, yeah.
I'm going to confuse the parents.
Yeah.
I'm going to teach them a lesson for asking me to do this.
And never, and ruin all our chances of ever giving, like, the school-wide commencement.
Right, right.
We're just on the college of engineering levels.
I kind of see that.
We can't get to the big level.
I kind of see that as my role in this tandem operation,
is that my role is to secure us a spot
at giving the school-wide commencement
at some point for NC State.
Yep, and to make them have that awkward conversation
is like, can you not bring him?
Because of what he did.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, maybe with the tall ones there.
I got some more time to figure it out,
but honestly, I think about it way too much.
Like, there's a little bit of nervousness there,
but like, I'm trying to psych myself up
to just not even think about it.
Like, I might end up going totally, totally,
you know, unprepared.
Don't give too much away,
because this comes out before
you give the commencement speeches.
Yeah.
I don't have anything to give away.
And reconsider.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We don't want them to reconsider.
You know what, Link's going to do a great job.
Oh, you don't want them to rescind?
You think they're going to rescind?
I don't know.
Link's going to do a great job.
I'm going to make them regret this.
A couple things y'all have said are not helping your cases.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Link's going to do a great job.
Hey, I didn't ask.
You will not regret it.
Rhett's the one who asked for it.
I'm the one who was invited to do it.
I'll just make sure no one at NC State listens to this podcast episode.
Oh, man.
I mean, when we did go back, it reminded me of the time that we did go back,
and it was fun.
Oh, yeah.
It was fun because we went before a crowd of students,
and we did like a panel, and I really had a blast just cutting up.
You know?
Yeah.
Everybody goes in that environment, they take themselves a little too seriously.
You know?
We gotta shape the future generation.
Nah, I'm just gonna give them a little comic relief.
I'm gonna give them a little confusion.
Take them off their balance.
Just so you know, I do think that the expectations
are pretty low.
Yeah.
You know, for the individual,
this is not even the engineering school,
this is the individual department graduation.
I don't even know how many students are going to be there.
You know, what are we talking?
80?
120?
I don't know.
There's like 10,000 students in undergrad engineering
total.
What was the last
thing that filled you with wonder?
That took you away from your desk
or your car in traffic?
Well, for us, and I'm going to guess for some of you, that thing is...
Anime!
Hi, I'm Nick Friedman.
I'm Lee Alec Murray.
And I'm Leah President.
And welcome to Crunchyroll Presents The Anime Effect.
It's a weekly news show.
With the best celebrity guests.
And hot takes galore.
So join us every Friday wherever you get your podcasts
and watch full video episodes on Crunchyroll
or on the Crunchyroll YouTube channel.
Are you...
Let me talk to you about my trip.
Do that.
Because I went to a couple of funerals.
Yeah, yeah.
We saved the best for last.
I was reminded of something at one of these funerals.
The speaker, the preacher, you know, seemed like a great guy.
I'm not critiquing the guy, but he reminded me of a principle.
of a principle, and that is at a funeral,
when you're talking about this person and you're referencing their faith,
there's this thing which he referred to
as preaching somebody into heaven.
And of course, you're talking about the dead person.
Preaching the dead person into heaven.
Now, this is not a belief that somebody can get into heaven after.
I think that's a Mormon belief, but it's not a country church Christian belief.
No, right.
That after somebody dies, well, their fate is sealed.
That is the belief.
Once you die and you go to the belief. Their fate, once you die,
you go to the other side and you're there for eternity,
heaven or hell.
And so you got to make your decision
on this side of that for yourself.
Can't nobody preach you into heaven.
But, and the reason why it came up was
he was talking about the deceased as someone
that he knew his faith, and it's like, I can certify.
I don't need to preach him into heaven.
I don't preach people into heaven.
To clarify, you said what it wasn't, but to say what it is.
To say what it is is when a preacher is preaching a funeral,
and they have their doubts about the deceased person's faith
and if it has qualified them to be in heaven now.
And, of course, you want to provide comfort to the family,
and within that belief system, you want to be able to say,
well, they checked the boxes of faith in Jesus Christ in this particular way that we all agree
is the way that you get into heaven, so if you want to give the people comfort that this person's
in heaven, you'll see them again, but if there's doubts about it, you kind of got to spin it in a hopeful, positive way
that this speaker, preacher,
described as preaching them into heaven.
I knew exactly what he was talking about.
He was preaching about them as if they are in heaven now.
Yeah.
Even though he or she, the preacher, has their doubts.
Right. And he said, I don't do that. I don't preach people into heaven. Okay, has their doubts. Right.
You know?
And he said, I don't do that.
I don't preach people into heaven.
Okay, he doesn't do that.
He doesn't do that.
It's common practice.
But he was making the point, in this case,
I don't need to do that.
Because I know that he's there.
I knew his faith well enough to know that he's there
and you got nothing to worry about. You can be comforted.
Does that mean that there are times when this preacher thinks somebody might be
in hell that he says that?
I don't... Yeah. I don't know what he does.
He just refused to do the funeral.
Maybe he refuses to do the funeral.
I don't think so.
He's like, I can't preach him into heaven, so I'm bowing out of this one.
So that was one of the points he was making
to give comfort to them, but like for me,
and then I was kind of, you know,
I'm in this interesting place, right?
So it's like my vantage point is
I was not only thinking about me,
but other people in the crowd who were like,
well, I don't Know if I'm
If
If you
So you would
You certainly wouldn't certify
That I'm
I'm going to heaven
Oh gosh
I just
I just spilled my drink
It just made me feel
It made me feel a little weird
You know it's like
I understand
That you want to give people comfort that,
especially if they believe in heaven,
that people are going there,
that their loved one is now there,
that they moved on to a better place.
But I don't know.
And I don't know. It just made me feel funny, man.
Well, did he turn it on to the crowd? Because my experience going to evangelical funerals is that...
They don't make it about the deceased person. They make it about you making a decision on this side of death.
And I will say... to seal your fate?
And I will say that there are many people who die
who want their funeral to bring people
to a point of decision about Jesus.
So I don't think it's necessarily disrespectful
to the deceased person, but I have been to funerals
in which I knew that the deceased person did not want their funeral to
be turned into an invitation for people to make a decision for Jesus and to examine their own lives
but that was the preacher's prerogative and so that's what he did yeah that's what that's what
feels a little weird too and it kind of brought that up you know it's like because this the other
funeral was the one that said celebration of life. And it was much more just about bringing comfort to the family.
There were scripture readings and a little sermon that it was very much just about comfort.
It wasn't about, okay, this is where the deceased person is, and that's why you need comfort.
It's just, you know comfort it's just you know
god's here for you and you know it was it was it was more generally comforting it wasn't about like
um asserting someone's eternity um and it was also you know people spoke and it was a it was
a celebration of life and you know what? Even with the first one
The one where the preaching
Preaching somebody in heaven happened
That was talked about
The best part was that
A handful of people
Got up and spoke about
The deceased
I love that
That is great
That's my favorite thing about a funeral
Celebrating Like people sharing from their heart About how they've been touched the deceased. I love that. That is great. That's my favorite thing about a funeral.
Celebrating, like, people sharing from their heart about how they've been touched.
People who don't like to speak publicly
and have, like, by their own admission,
say, I have no business being up here.
I hate this, but I love this person so much
that I want to be up there and saying something.
Like, I love that.
I'll keep going to funerals because for that to happen, you know, but this, but this whole, like, you
know, you got to feel like, all right, this is my, this is my chance. We got, we
got everybody here thinking about death. Now's when we're going to get them. Now's
when we're going to get them. We're now where we're going to get them into heaven.
Now's when we're gonna get him. Now we're gonna get him into heaven.
Yeah.
You know?
I just felt, yeah, I just don't, I don't love that.
I don't love that.
I don't want that at my funeral.
Oh, well, I'm gonna change a lot of my plans now.
Because I was, first of all,
I was planning on doing your eulogy
and I was planning on making it a really, really intense,
intense moment.
Intense moment where everyone was going to have to like,
you can go around pointing at everybody and they got to say their eternal functions.
Well, I was once at a funeral
where someone speaking about the deceased paused
for an uncomfortably long time.
Okay.
Probably a minute.
And just didn't say anything.
60 seconds is a long time to not talk.
Well, the reason I say a minute is-
Without a heads up.
It felt like two,
and so I'm gonna say that it was probably one.
And it was one of those things
where the question in my mind was,
is this person getting choked up?
Because it didn't seem like they were about to get choked up,
but sometimes you can get choked up.
You know, when I get choked up, I have trouble just getting any words out,
and so I was like, okay, maybe that's what's happening,
but I don't see any evidence of that.
And then he said, that was awkward, wasn't it?
That was uncomfortable, actually, with the words.
That was uncomfortable, wasn't it?
Oh no.
Well, one minute of discomfort in this service,
compare that to an eternity in hell.
Oh my God.
This was at a funeral, dude?
Yes.
And making the point,
and of course the woman was a Christian,
the woman was an evangelical Christian,
and this is what she would have wanted.
I mean, maybe not exactly that.
But again, it's just like, I just remember every funeral,
I remember the way we would talk about it was.
That's a threat.
Preacher did a good job.
Preacher did a good job.
It's a threat.
The gospel went out.
And that was the standard.
The gold standard for a funeral was if the gospel was presented clearly.
There are many positive ways to present the gospel,
to present the good news that you can have
a relationship with God through Jesus for eternity.
If that's your thing, there's plenty of positive ways to do that.
I mean, and a lot of that happened in the service, and it was mostly through the people
sharing about this person's life and celebrating it.
And the fact that their faith was a part of that was very winsome.
You know? It's like, no threats needed. You know? It's like, people get so damn
heavy-handed because they feel like they've got to. You know? It's like, well,
it's life or death, you know? You gotta act this way. But it's just not effective.
And it feels kind of... it feels kind of icky.
Well, I think that's the interesting part of this.
I mean, that one, that one especially.
The interesting part of this is if I was being,
not that I am, and I would not accept this,
accept this offer.
If I was being, serving as a consultant
to an evangelical church
who was looking to make an impact on people,
I would be like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
This push energy.
I heard somebody recently explain the push versus the pull.
And so if you're trying to persuade someone of something,
pushing them towards that thing
is almost always going to be met with resistance.
Right.
But if you create a situation in that they will be pulled and attracted towards whatever it is that you're trying to persuade them of,
first of all, it gives them the power of choice and decision and it's much more likely that whatever decision they make will be long-lasting.
Exactly.
If I push on the shower nipple, what's going to happen?
Pew!
The water's going to go shoot off to the side as far away from me as quickly as
possible.
But if I pull on the shower nipple and I release, I don't know how that fits into
the analogy.
If I release the little rock.
I think we understand where you're going.
And boom.
I'm getting sprayed all over the face with it.
And this can be a very difficult...
It's coming to me.
This is a difficult principle to follow,
I mean, especially for somebody like me.
I tend to get into a place where I just want to just
persuade someone of something.
Just tell them like it is.
And first of all, I am and have been for quite some time letting go of that.
First of all, once you become more and more unsure about these things, you become much less interested in persuading people of anything, right?
Yeah.
In fact, I'm much more persuaded to persuade people to be less sure about the things that they think about.
That's kind of where I'm at right now.
But even then, I just don't wanna be forcing an idea
on somebody or critiquing.
And I'm not saying I do end up doing this.
I fall into the trap of critiquing and pushing.
But I think if you can just be like,
hey, can we create an environment?
And I mean, this is free advice for churches everywhere.
Create an environment that people are attracted to.
Yeah, and many do that.
Yeah. I mean, this is not,
the things that we're talking about
are not a blanket statement that is just like,
I don't know if funerals are fraught with this,
but I mean, we've run into it enough over the years
to know that it's something that happens,
but I'm not giving a church-wide critique or like a denomination-wide critique.
No, no, no.
But it is common.
I've seen it enough.
And it was more common in the past.
And you know, I was asking Lando about it afterward.
I was like, what did you think about the funeral?
And he told me some stuff, and I was like, what did you think about the sermon part?
He was like, you mean the part where that guy was yelling at us?
And he actually, you know, I wouldn't have characterized it as yelling, but
oh, it's like, oh, through his lens, he was like, yeah, that's exactly how he...
this guy was yelling at me.
There's an intensity to things that you say from the pulpit
that if you don't come from that tradition,
you're like, in any other scenario in life,
if someone was speaking in this way, they would be upset with me.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right?
Yeah.
But we just kind of like, oh, that's just a preacher yelling.
That's a preacher preaching.
Yeah.
And there's also another thing that happens that preachers do that I've observed quite a bit,
which is when they want to get kind of fake emotional about something,
and they're making a point about something, and you're like, dude, you're not actually upset about this.
This is the third service of the Sunday.
You're doing the same thing.
This is a prepared thing that you've come up with. You're trying to make this point, and I just
wish, I just wish that you would understand this thing that I'm really
passionate about. But you're not passionate about it right now.
Well, I mean, that's more of a pull, so not all pulls work.
No, well, I feel like...
If pushing is yelling and pulling is crying...
I feel like that's still pushing. I feel like that's still pushing. Yeah. I feel like that's manipulative.
Yeah.
And the funny thing is, okay, Lando, perfect example of this as a young person.
He's a young person.
Empathetic guy, too.
But in general, the younger generation, they see through everything.
They see through everything.
They see through everything. They see through everything.
They know the moment that you are
trying to project something that isn't authentic.
And it's just, and again, I'm not, obviously,
there's plenty of religious leaders
who have figured this out and are now using
these principles to manipulate people.
The appearance of authenticity and vulnerability.
But so, you know, vulnerability. But I think that
this generation,
what generation is Lando?
What do you call that?
I don't know.
He's about...
Generation Alpha?
He's 13.
Alpha?
Yeah.
They're going to the Greek alphabet now.
Starting over.
He's Generation Alpha? Generation Alpha more're going to the Greek alphabet now. Starting over.
He's Generation Alpha? Generation Alpha more than anybody, man.
They see through everything.
So born in 2010.
That's still Generation Alpha?
He's not Z.
No. He's young.
I just didn't know if he was beta.
It says the first year is 2010, so he's on the cusp.
2010 is the first year of Alpha.
There you go.
So all our kids are Alpha.
No.
Lando's my youngest.
Yeah, but at the first year...
Oh, okay, it started in 2010.
So he's the only one that's Alpha,
and all the rest of our kids are Z.
Yeah.
Huh.
Because 2004, 2008.
Well, 2008. Well.
Well, 2009.
2010 starts alpha.
Anyway, all in all, the funeral experiences were nice,
especially because the second one, the deceased loved fish stew,
and everybody stayed, was invited to stay.
I thought the way you started that sentence was like, especially because the deceased
came back from the dead.
I'm sorry, but it just made it seem like the deceased sat up and said something.
The deceased loved fish stew.
And it's on TikTok now.
Fish stew.
And everybody got fish stew?
Everybody ate fish stew, which is like a Downey's staple that Christy makes. Has she made it for you? I don't know if I've had her fish stew? Everybody ate fish stew, which is like a Downy staple that Christy makes.
Has she made it for you?
I don't know if I've had her fish stew. Is it a tomato-based?
Tomato-based.
So it's kind of like Brunswick stew but with fish? Is that how you would
describe it?
Yes. Yeah. They're not...
That sounds good.
It doesn't have to be tomato-based. They had a clear base and a tomato base.
And then it's potatoes.
They had two options?
Yep. Big pots of this. And they had flounder in it, but you can also put canned salmon in it.
Well, that's an example of pull energy is when you serve fish stew at the service. Everybody wants to stay. So there's fish, potatoes, shrimp. and the really good ones, you throw in some shrimp.
Onions.
That's pretty much it, but it's,
it was an acquired taste for me, but now I really love it.
And you cut up cheese and you make your bowl
and you put cheese in the side,
and then that big hunk of cheese will melt.
Of course, Christy taught me this.
You make some fish and cheese.
Yeah, yeah.
You're not supposed to do that, according to Leviticus.
And then some white bread.
They had... every table had a loaf of white bread on it.
Oh, man.
So I can critique, you know, hometown faith,
but I can't do it too much, they got They got a lot of stuff right too
Every table's got a loaf of white bread on it
It's like
That's good stuff
That erases a world of
Preaching people into heaven
In my mind
Yeah yeah yeah
I keep coming back
The food is so good
I keep coming back for more baby
So
That was it
I made it through the funerals
We supported the families And I'm glad we were there.
It was the right thing to do.
I've rescheduled my trip to Cabo.
Don't you worry.
Okay, so I'm still not invited?
Nope.
I'll close by telling you a little bit about—
You sound like a preacher right now.
I'm going to close.
I'm going to close.
I'm going to tell you about one of my experiences.
The basketball game.
So I know you've made it clear
that you don't care about sports,
but a lot of people do.
And I also have cared,
you know, I respect sports.
As I have aged,
I have been able to
detach myself a little bit from,
or to recognize how ridiculous,
when you really think about it,
how ridiculous it is to care
about these students who go to this school
that you went to 20 years ago
and their ability to get a ball through a basket
better than the students from another school
that your wife went to.
Like, I understand that
if you really break this down and look at it,
it does not make sense.
It's not rational.
You should not have emotional attachments
to these outcomes.
It's a farce.
That being said, I also understand that on a deep psychological level, you should not have emotional attachments to these outcomes. It's a farce.
That being said, I also understand that on a deep psychological level
that I would probably be able to articulate,
well, if I had read more
and taken more than Psych 101,
it is connecting with something deep within us
that is just a part of our DNA, right?
And we don't have those outlets.
Like, we live in a modern society.
Like, I don't have to defend my village against the other village.
Like, I just don't have to do that yet.
I mean, maybe that'll happen as the world continues to fall apart.
But right now, I just kind of just, I say hey to the garbage man.
You know what I'm saying?
I say hey to my neighbor.
I don't worry about my life as I'm traversing to work.
I'm also not looking at an opportunity to get a deer
to bring home to my family.
We live in the modern times, right?
We do, we do.
But because we've got all these systems in us
that are geared towards defending the village, we put that into sports.
And even though you can step back and observe it and understand how ridiculous it is, I find myself getting so caught up in it.
And, of course, I hate Carolina for reasons that I cannot even articulate, mostly because they have beaten our brains in for years.
And I was like, okay, there's an opportunity here.
We're good this year, they're not good.
For some reason that usually doesn't matter
and they always end up playing really well against us
and beating us anyway.
Yeah.
So I kind of went into this with a game
with these low expectations. And then it's
like the game starts and we're not playing well, shooting horribly. Our best player is not really
scoring. They start kind of building a lead in the second half. And I just had this narrative that I
began to play out in my mind, which is I was excited about this. I knew I shouldn't have been
excited about it. I knew they were going to beat us again for the 36th time in the past 41 tries
or whatever it was.
And then we just kind of,
we turned things around
and there was an incredible little run
and we scored like seven or nine points
really, really quickly.
Oh wow, they weren't scoring baskets
and they started scoring more baskets.
Yes.
That sounds really quickly. Oh wow, they weren't scoring baskets and they started scoring more baskets. Yes. That sounds really dynamic.
The energy in that place was crazy.
Like, and it was, you know, I just haven't been,
I've been to like a Clippers game,
and you've been to a Clippers game with me,
but you know, NBA is different,
and sports in Los Angeles are different
because everybody, you know, 40% of the audience is rooting for the other team
because they're from somewhere else
and they prefer their hometown team
more than they do the local team,
especially the Clippers.
And so I haven't been in this,
everyone is really into the outcome of this game
and everyone is really committed to it.
And to see it turn around, it was,
and I've got the video on my phone of like
when we had gone up by 12 with a minute left.
And there was moments when, you know,
my dad is pretty impartial.
He's got one son that went to Carolina,
one son that went to State.
He's got a nephew, I mean he's got a grandson
at Carolina right now that he goes and sees quite a bit.
So my dad wore green argyle to the game. Did he get caught up in it though?
Which is, I mean, once we started coming back, he's standing up like,
you can't help yourself.
He's gotta be with you on this one.
I mean, we're standing up and just like giving high fives and just,
it was, I mean it was electric. And I was like, oh man, I love this.
I love it. Now, if it had gone the other way, it would have like ruined my day. But there's something about giving
yourself over to this outcome that you have very little impact on.
Awesome or ruined. Hey, that's stakes.
And I'm choosing to, I'm like, I want to have that kind of experience, you know,
when I can. I'm not going to like go back and watch a bunch of games.
But boy, when we win like that and we beat them,
we beat them.
Yeah, I know when they're down, they're not great.
They've lost like the best four out of five games
or something, but I don't care.
We beat Carolina.
It feels, it felt so good.
I loved it.
Highly recommend, highly recommend watching recommend watching your college beat their rival.
That's your recommendation?
It's my recommendation this week.
No, that's just a general recommendation.
Well, listen, it's my recommendation,
and I got a good one.
If you're not into sports, this is for you.
If you are into sports, this is for you.
If you're into instrumental music, this is for you. If you are into sports, this is for you. If you're into instrumental music, this is for you.
And if you're not, this is still for you, even though it is instrumental.
Check out... Oh, my God.
I think this is going to stay as one of my favorite albums of all time
because it so fits a certain mood.
Like, it is a sweet spot, this
niche that this album
occupies that I didn't
have an album in this place.
You know, a completely instrumental,
vibey,
listen to it,
use it for what you want, but I think
that it's gonna
fill a little niche.
I know it will for me for the rest of my life.
Mac DeMarco.
Mac, I love you, man.
This is an invitation to come on Good Mythical Morning.
I'd love to have you come through.
I'm very inspired by your album Five Easy Hot Dogs.
Five Easy Hot Dogs.
He took a road trip, I believe it was up the Northern California coast. Yeah, he went all the way up from Guadalala,
Crescent City, up to Portland. Like, he went all the way up to Vancouver.
Edmonton. He went all the way up there. Well, then he went to Chicago. That's not actually...
He took a road trip.
He took a road trip. Chicago is not in Northern California, and neither is
most of the places that I mentioned. But he made this music as he traveled.
It's all instrumental. It's very... I played it for you. Isn't it awesome?
Hard Vouch for this, yes.
Hard Vouch. Five Easy Hot Dogs. Just give it a listen. It's a vibe.
Mac DeMarco, Five Easy Hot Dogs. You're welcome.
Thanks for joining us for another Ear Biscuit.
Join the conversation on the internet. Hashtag Ear Biscuits.
Also, you can call us. We have a number. You can leave a voicemail with thoughts, questions, critiques, book suggestions.
1-888-EAR-POD-1
Love ya
Hey just listening to
The Ear Biscuits episode
That came out today
Something that gives me
A tastegasm
Is the nerds
Rope clusters
I'm so addicted to them
I go through literally A bag in two days. So I've
had to stop myself from buying them because they're probably so bad for me. If you guys
haven't had them yet, you should definitely try them. Thanks. Love the podcast. Bye.