The Unmade Podcast - 108: The Puppet Master

Episode Date: March 25, 2022

Go to Backblaze for all your backup needs - there's a 15-day free trial - and mark World Back-Up Day on March 31 - https://www.backblaze.com/unmade Go to Storyblocks for stock video, pictures, asparagus and audio at storyblocks.com/unmade - https://www.storyblocks.com/unmade Support us on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/unmadeFM Join the discussion of this episode on our subreddit - https://redd.it/tnn9oe Catch the podcast on YouTube where we often include accompanying videos and pictures - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkIRMZDOKKKs-d14YPmLMxg USEFUL LINKS 21 waves merch - https://www.unmade.fm/21-waves World Puppetry Day - https://www.unima.org/en/projects-and-achievements/world-puppetry-day/ The Lonely Goatherd - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmmOJx_Hxto Pictures of Spoon of the Week - https://www.unmade.fm/spoon-of-the-week Blackfish - https://amzn.to/3qxdxC7 Mimas - https://bit.ly/3NlJZRR Pac-Man pic of Mimas - https://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/4474329146/

Oh, I'm in performance mode. You're not in performance costume, that's for sure. What's wrong with this? This is a really nice Paul Smith hoodie. That's nice. It's just, you know, it's just a hoodie. It's the sort of thing people wear to soundcheck, you know, before the performance, yeah. I'll go and change into my sparkly studded leather jacket now.

That's right. What would you prefer I wore for recordings? What I'm used to, which is just a T-shirt. You look a bit hot there. I always look hot, man. How's the KFC fast going? Oh, it's going very well. Very well.

Much easier than I thought. Much easier. Not tempted? Not tempted not tempted no no no i glide past and i still feel i think i've moved from self-righteous to smug i feel smug smug is also a good name for what's left in the know, the bucket after you've finished eating the KFC. There's just a lot of smug. Have any vices taken its place? Like, has anything come along that you shouldn't be doing still? We've had a lot of other chips, like fish and chips at the beach. And I think we've had more than that. In fact, I counted last weekend because we went out to the Fringe Festival that's on here in our town.

Plus I'd been to the beach and something else that I'd had chips four times in three days, which is a lot of chips. Nature abhors a chip vacuum. That's right. None of them are from KFC because that's part of the rules. But it turns out lots of places sell chips. So I'm all in. Who knew? Who knew?

Another thing I haven't asked you about in a while, how's the coffee machine? Oh. I think I've just gotten used to its huge gravitational influence on the planet now, and therefore, you know, I'm taking it for granted. Yes. Well, really well. I was I'm taking it for granted. Yes. Well, really well. I was just admiring it again the other day. I do take it for granted because it becomes part of the automatic sort

of operations of the kitchen and of the house. But I did stop and admire it the other day. I was looking at it and going, oh, this is good. We have this. I like it. As I was walking around it, it takes a little while. Do you curse every time you get a power bill though? Like, oh, another 10 grand on electricity.

Oh, no, no. We got rid of the hot water service instead. We just use this as our hot water service from now on. So we literally shower. We've piped from the coffee machine into the bathroom and I shower in coffee. I love it. It's fantastic. It's powerful.

It's good to have that sort of backup amount. It's like a backup water tank because there's so much in it. Yeah. It's good having good coffee on hand. I drink a lot of it, I have to say. And, of course, the surfing's still going strong. Yes, yes, twice this weekend that's just gone past. Wow, you're addicted.

I am really quite addicted, yeah. I just could sneak in an hour the second day, dropping, you know, the family at one place, and I'm like, if I drop them, I can go down and do an hour, then come back. And I did, I loved it. What do you do, just drop them, like, at a service station or something, and they just wait there for an hour while you go surfing? Just randomly on the side of the freeway down to the beach.

Yeah. No, they had something they had to go and get, you know, and go. And I was like, oh, yeah, I'll take you because then I can go down and surf and then come back and I can be back in time to do it. So an hour in the water. It's fantastic. Do you not find it too much of a faff though? I've got all this cold water swimming gear, which involves a wetsuit and I live two minutes

from somewhere where I can go cold water swimming, like, you know, by the sea. But I just, every time I go to do it, I think, oh, I'm going to have to put my wetsuit on and get in the car and then getting in and out of a wetsuit's really such a faff. And then you've got to clean and dry your wetsuit on and get in the car and then getting in and out of a wetsuit's really such a faff. And then you've got to clean and dry your wetsuit. And then I think, ah, stuff it. I'll just watch something on Netflix. Yeah. Yeah. Well, look, we're not in wetsuit weather here yet. So, maybe it will become more tedious. But I've, I mean, you do have to, I mean, we live in an apartment. So, I do have to sort of navigate the surfboard from the apartment downstairs to the car park and then, you know, strap it on. But I do have a bag just with everything I need that I can just put on my back and go, put the thongs on.

And I'm already wearing the, you know, your togs, bathers, bathing suit. What's every other nationalities? I like that you're being really like careful about getting the right terminology for the bathing suit what's every other nationalities i like i like that you're being really like uh careful about getting the right terminology for the bathing suit but you just happily just said i wear i wear thongs thongs which to everyone in england is like they're picturing you in a g-string that's right in australia thongs are like simple sandals. Flip-flops. Flip-flops. Yeah, yeah. There's a bit of work involved, but I actually,

once I get that on the car, I actually enjoy the process of doing all that stuff because it's anticipation. The drive down there is lovely. And procedure, ceremony. Wetsuit does take a bit longer. I remember that. I haven't yet gone out and bought a wetsuit, but as soon as the cold change comes, I'll have to. And, yeah, I guess I'll have to let that dry and do all that.

And for those who don't know, we have released the Tim Hine 21 Waves poster featuring a photo of Tim on the day he caught 21 waves in a single day. But also we now have the 21 Waves logo and brand, which you can get on all sorts of merch like T-shirts and hoodies and all sorts of stuff. And I made a whole bunch and put them on the shop. And then Tim had a look and said, look, I like it. I'm going to buy it. But can you do it in hot pink on blue?

Tim specifically requested. He wants the logo hot pink on blue. So, we have a whole range now of the 21 Waves logo in pink on blue. And that's how Tim likes to wear it. So, if you want to be really authentic, that's the styling to go for. There'll be a link in the notes. I just think those are summer colours. They're just such great neon-y blue-pink colours, like the poster from Cocktail and from a million other B-grade summer resort signs.

I hear you. I hear you. It's a good look. Have you put an order in yet? I haven't. I went to, but I couldn't remember the size, and so I went as far as pulling out an old Unmade T-shirt to look at what size I'd got, and then I went to the laptop to do it,

and then suddenly the family movie had started, and I was called over there. So I haven't done that yet. Nah. All right, well. Come on, Tim, you're the one guy I expect to buy this stuff, so get your act together. Make it for you.

The one customer. I have to get on it. I am. I'm going to get a sticker on the back of a car and everything. So if you see a 21-wave sticker, give a toot around. On the car. Oh, yeah. Yeah?

Definitely. Absolutely. Are you going to get one on your surfboard? I guess I could, yeah. Yeah, I didn't think of that, but that's true. Actually, it's a really good sign, yeah. If it stays on, I guess it will on the top. It's a good-looking logo.

I'm pretty pleased with it, you know. I designed it. I think it's your piece de resistance. I think it's really quite something. I'll happily wear it. All right. Look forward to it. I think I'm going to get a 21 waves T-shirt for summer.

Everyone needs one. Yeah. Oh, totally. It's the look of summer. What are we going to do if you ever have a day where you surf more than 21 waves? Yeah. Well. Just keep that quiet.

Maybe it's 21 good waves. I am going more. I have to say, I am going more for quality over quantity now the other day i was looking for bigger waves looking to i was getting a bit choosy you know you can tell i'm sort of becoming a bit more of a refined surfer because i was letting waves go that a few weeks ago i would have been all over so i'm getting a bit more choosy i'm not saying i'm executing them perfectly but i'm being more discerning about my wave choice. Class.

You're all class, man. You got anything you want to ask me about tennis? How's it going with tennis? All fine. All fine. All good. You are still playing tennis, are you? Oh, yeah.

I'm like you. I'm addicted. It's all I can think about. I just lay on the sofa thinking about shots I want to play and cross-court forehands and, like, it's all I can think about. Oh, wow. Knowing you, do you keep stats on your tennis matches? No, I'm trying to not become competitive about it. Yeah.

So, I also haven't, like, joined a league or a proper competition because I want to keep it recreational. But I do, like, you know, keep score in the sets I play with people socially. Yeah, yeah. But I don't come home and write them in a notebook or anything and, you know, keep scoring the sets I play with people socially. Yeah, yeah. But I don't come home and write them in a notebook or anything and keep tabs like that. How do you find people to play with if you haven't joined a competition? Well, a few times a week you can just go for social days and social nights and people just turn up and you'll just get into groups of four

and play doubles. But I've also got three or four people who live near me who are members of the club who I've befriended. And we just text and say, you know, you're up for a hit today, you free at three o'clock sort of thing. And you just go and meet up down there and have your own informal set. So, and I've got like a little core group of a few guys that I play with. Can I say there's something about tennis and I want to ask how good you are at this. And I imagine you're quite good because you tend to master these sorts of things. But there's one part of tennis that I haven't mastered, surprisingly.

Serving. I find serving just a dark art that I can't believe. I mean, I can do it really slowly and it can go in, but serving fast is just an absolute bewildering mystery to me. The first couple of months I was playing, if I was playing someone good, it was probably my biggest weakness because they could really whack them back at me. And you don't want to give them a freebie. But I've gotten a lot better now.

And I've gotten a lot more tactical because I've got a lot more control over it. Although I'm not the most powerful server, I very specifically think about where I want to put it. Like I want to put it on that person's backhand or I want it to bounce in that corner. And I mix it up. I mix up my speeds and paces a lot to keep them guessing. So I'll hit a hard one and they'll stand back and then I'll hit a softer one. Wow. My second serves are quite soft, but I put a lot of spin on them.

So I tend to get away with them. But serving is okay now. It's okay. So you don't just aim to get it in. You actually aim for certain parts of the square. Yes. Yeah. Wow.

Sounds like you're ready to get a wild card into one of the opens, I think. That's amazing to me. Over the net, in the square, in a specific corner. That's amazing. That's the dream. That's the dream. Last episode, we spoke about brushes with fame,

and in particular, minor brushes with fame. The more obscure and weird and trivial, the better. And we have had an overwhelming number of responses to this from civilians wanting to share their minor brushes with fame. So many that I thought I should try and read a whole bunch of them. Are you up for that? No, yeah, yeah. Share them.

Let's, oh, there's so many here. I'll read a bunch of them and then I'll chop a bunch out later, man, so people would never know they've been snubbed. Yeah. Obviously, start with the rock stars. Start- Okay. I'll give you- I'll start you with some rock stars because I know you like the rock stars. And we got some of those.

Here's one. Nice. From Rek Bekek, who says, those. Here's one. Nice. From Rek Bekek, who says, in 2008, I was having lunch outside a cafe in St. John's Wood in London with my mum and her friend. The friend also had a new black lab puppy, so she brought it along, hence why we were eating outside. The outside section was right on the high street, and at some point, a little girl about four years old comes running up wanting to pet the puppy. We look around and see where her parents were. And after a short moment, we see Paul McCartney walk up. In St. John's Wood.

Wow. Evidently, the four-year-old Beatrice was a bit too quick for her 60-something-year-old dad. I was 13 and had just hit a Beatles fangirl stage, so I was completely starstruck. My mum, who had gone through a similar phase 40 years earlier was as well. Both of us couldn't say anything. My mum's friend was a bit cooler than us and managed a few quick words of small talk before they moved on. High amount of fame, very brief brush.

There we go. In St John's Wood, which is where Abbey Road is. Is it? Yeah. It's like ground zero for Paul McCartney viewing. The only thing that could make that story better is if he was walking across the crossing to cross the road to sit with his dog. I share a birthday with Paul McCartney, so that's my only Paul McCartney link at this stage. That is, that's not quite a brush.

That's a hair on a brush. That's nothing. That's nothing. That's an absolutely nothing with fame. There's a hair on a brush. That's nothing. That's nothing. That's an absolutely nothing with fame. There's no handle on that brush. How about this one? This is from Acid Moband. I work in hospitality and because I speak Italian, I was once asked by my boss to go

with him and greet the Italian tanner, Andrea Bocelli, to our hotel. I welcomed the chance to meet Bocelli and confidently told Manuel, my boss, I would say, benvenuto, maestro, to welcome hotel. I welcomed the chance to meet Bocelli and confidently told Manuel, my boss, I would say, benvenuto, maestro, to welcome him. When Bocelli arrived, he was accompanied by an attractive, slender woman with long hair. Maybe she was his manager or his partner. The door opened and as Bocelli walked in, I said, benvenuto, maestro, and stuck my hand out waiting for a handshake, my nerves making me forget Bocelli is blind. My hand hung out there awkwardly for what seemed like a really long time until the woman next to Bocelli took pity on me and placed his hand in mine.

Oh, there you go. Andrea Bocelli became very famous when I was working at Sanity Music. So even though he sings in Italian, I know the words to quite a lot of his songs. Like I could sing along in Italian with them, like the sounds. It's really quite peculiar. Come on, man. Give us a bit. Give us a sample.

Oh, yeah. This is my brush with fame. That was amazing. Wow. Oh, God. I've got a lump in my throat. Oh, well. Just throw roses, man. Just throw roses.

This one comes from throwaway11. My favourite minor brush with fame was with none other than Snoop Dogg. One day when I was about 13, I had ice hockey practice and he was there shooting an episode of his TV show Fatherhood with his son who wanted to try playing. My friend, a big Snoop fan, was super pumped, so we waited out in the parking lot next to his limo and chatted with his security guard for a while until Snoop was done inside. Surprisingly, nobody else came to meet him. He came out wearing a big luxurious robe, had black gloves, wore sunglasses, and just oozed cool. He was polite, though of few words.

We said hi and tried to shake his hand. He refused. Then we asked if he could sign something for us. Graciously, he accepted and his security guard pulled out a Sharpie. My friend conveniently had a piece of paper to sign and tried handing it to Snoop, who didn't grab it. Instead, the security guard grabbed it and held it while Mr. Dog signed it. While this was happening, I was panicking because I had nothing for him to sign.

Then I came up with a brilliant idea. I took off my sandal. That's a thong for you, Tim. I took off my sandal, handed it to the guard, and there was a pause as both the guard and Snoop looked at me incredulously Foot sweat on one side, dirt on the other A rather uncouth offering on my part That said, he signed the shoe

We thanked him And I never wore that sandal again Interesting that unlike Tim's interaction with Bono I got a signature but couldn't get a handshake Yeah, that is a very pretentious rock star who, before the COVID era, wouldn't touch the piece of paper, you know, wouldn't reach out. That's typical aloof snoop. Not happy with that?

No, no. I'll stick with the pop stars. This one comes from Kashif. And interestingly, Tim, Kashif not only wrote in his anecdote, he recorded it on audio for us. So I'll let him tell the story. All right. Hi, Tim and Brady.

I'm Kashif from Germany, and my contribution to a segment, Minor Brushes with Fame, is about the one time I chatted online with Michael Jackson. In 1995, probably as part of a promotion tour, Michael Jackson was supposed to be available for a chat on CompuServe, an online service similar to AOL. CompuServe forum members were asked to submit a question for Michael and since I was very much into superhero comics at that time, I submitted the following question. If you could have any superpower, which one would you choose? I was lucky enough that my question was chosen as one of the few answered by the gloved one. His answer was, in hindsight, not very surprising based on his fame and lack of privacy wherever he went.

Michael wrote in the chat that the one superpower he wanted most was the ability to become invisible at will. invisible at will. I know this now sounds a bit creepy given his potential history, but at that time, this was the closest I ever came to talking to the King of Fop. There we go. Anything online in 1995 would have felt like a brush with fame. You know, the idea of even being online, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. Very special and amazing. You'll like this one, Tim. This is one of my favourites.

This comes from Kevin. And Kevin shared his brush with fame, which was not that interesting. But then he shared one from his friend, which I did like. He says, a better minor brush with fame story is one of my family friends, Rosa. Rosa is a lifelong Bono super fan. Rosa. Rosa is a lifelong Bono superfan. In the late 90s, she was working with my mum at a fashion company with offices located near Champs-Élysées in Paris. She talked about Bono all day and would play U2 on the office radio every time she could. One day, Bono was in Paris and staying at a fancy hotel near the Champs-Élysées, close to my mum and Rosa's office. So Rosa went there in the hope of running into him. She waited in the lobby, walked around, even took the elevator up and down to roam the

floors, thinking about what she would say when she eventually met him. Would they become friends? Would Bono invite her on stage to sing With or Without You? Everything seemed possible. At one point, while Rosa was in the elevator alone, the doors open and Bono walks in. Her dream had come true. He looks at her, nods politely, and Rosa is starstruck. The emotions run so high she is unable to nod back or say anything at all. Emotions run so high she is unable to nod back or say anything at all.

The elevator slowly reaches the lobby. The doors open. Bono walks out and away. And that's the end of her one and only moment with Bono. I've heard this Minor Brush with Fame story so many times, especially when I discovered the U2 discography and became a fan myself. And it always makes me laugh. I hope you enjoy it as well.

I'm sure. They're not Robinson Crusoe there. I mean, the idea, you know, meeting someone that you've always wanted to meet and then being totally unable to say anything coherently, I think is probably a pretty common experience. I read that and the one thing I took away from that was that would never happen to Tim. You would never let that happen. I cannot imagine you being in the lift with someone really famous who you looked up to and not saying something. Well, I'd probably say, yes, I am Tim from Tim and Brady. And sure, have you got a pen and a piece of paper? I mean, that's the sort of thing I'd say, you know, all right, just this once, let's, you know, take a selfie. But, you know. Here's one from Kareem. I had a minor brush with fame in 2012.

I randomly ran into Rafael Nadal at the airport in his native island of Mallorca just after the Australian Open. As a fan, I naturally shouted out, hey, Rafa, congratulations on the Australian Open. He acknowledged my outburst with a wave and an embarrassed smile and then went on his way. I was ecstatic to have seen him in the flesh. It took me a couple of seconds to realise that Rafa had not won the Australian Open but had suffered a crushing five-set defeat

to Djokovic instead. I was mortified. I hope Rafa forgives me. Well, there we go. We've done a community service there, if Rafa is listening. Here's a good one. Oh, I haven't written down the name of the person this came from. I'm very sorry. I haven't got it on me, but you wrote a really good one. Years ago, I was dating a guy who worked with me in a small pub in London, but really he wanted to write screenplays for a living.

He was pretty obnoxious. And whenever I asked him what his plan was to become a screenwriter, he would always say, one day I'll just happen to meet Steven Spielberg and show him my scripts and he'll think they're brilliant. Yeah. Eventually, my ex quit his job at the pub, but I continued to work there. Around three days after he'd quit, I was working a quiet lunchtime shift when an old guy comes in and orders a Peroni. He stands out the front drinking it, chatting to another guy for around 20 minutes.

After he leaves, another customer comes up to me and says, didn't you know who that was? I said, no, it was Steven Spielberg. Three days after he quit. Poor Steven, getting cast as an old guy in that anecdote. Here's another good, like, just that choking up thing. This comes from Kyle. This is very trivial. Don't worry, Kyle, we like trivial.

But at one time I was working for Apple in one of the stores in Boston and Steve Carell happened to walk in one day. At first when I greeted him, I didn't recognise him. And when I asked what I could do for him today, I heard his voice and immediately knew. I was so starstruck I couldn't speak. Being such a high profile person, my manager immediately walked over and started helping him while I just stood there and smiled and stared awkwardly, not saying a thing. Yeah.

You would have think Steve Carell would be a very sort of understated and happy to say hello kind of person, wouldn't you? I'm sure he was. It wasn't Steve Carell's fault that Kyle choked up. Well, he should have introduced himself. This is a good one from Matt. I used to work in a phone shop on Worcester High Street. Worcester's a town in England.

We would quite often have people come into the shop wanting to purchase what we would always refer to as burner phones. Mostly people wanted a new number and to remain anonymous with the phone companies. One day, a rather scruffy chap with a long ginger beard and what looked like a bodyguard came into the shop. He had his hoodie up, so I was not able to make out his face. It's you, man, it's you today, it's you.

We had about 10 emails from people and their interactions with me, don't worry, but this is not- Oh, really? I greeted him and sat down at the desk where he said he wanted a temporary phone with a new number for just a few weeks, which as I said, was quite common. So I grab a reliable phone and set it up for him. I was chatting with the guy under the ominous watch of his bodyguard, which I found very odd at the time. It was company policy to take a name and address for the warranty on the phone. So I asked his surname. Sheeran, he said, and his postcode. At that point, the computer suggested the first name Ed. and his postcode. At that point, the computer suggested the first name Ed. That was when the penny dropped. I looked up from the computer and realised why there was a bodyguard. I play it cool,

take the payment, hand over the phone and shake his hand. He seemed appreciative that I didn't bring up his fame. Once he had left, I told my colleagues who I had just served and they were understandably furious with me for not introducing everyone. But I'm very happy I didn't, because Ed rated my customer service 10 out of 10 on the customer follow-up survey that was texted to him. Legend. That's cool. 10 out of 10. Love the show, Matt.

So, I'm wondering, how did Matt know that Ed was appreciative of not bringing up, you know, Ed's face? Was it, did he, you know, I was going to think, did he wink or nod or whisper, thanks for not bringing up that I'm famous, you know? But, no, the 10 out of 10 gives it away. Got the 10 out of 10. Nice, classy from Ed Sheeran. Now, this is one that I like. Now, I like this one. You will not be impressed by this one. You may not even know the person because it's an English celebrity, but this is exactly

the kind of stuff that I had in mind when I wanted minor brushes with fame, right? Yeah. I was once in a cafe killing time before meeting someone. As I finished my coffee, I looked around and saw a man standing up who looked familiar. I slowly start to realise, is that Nick Knowles, the host of that building and decorating show? Then all of a sudden, the whole table of people he was with stood up to leave too, and it was the entire cast and building crew from the show DIY SOS. I was so surprised I started texting my friends about it and nearly went over to say hi,

before realising I don't actually care about them very much. I wouldn't have wanted a picture or anything. So to save myself an awkward moment of standing there and saying, I know who you guys are, I just let them get on with it. But I couldn't stop thinking about it for days. That is the most awkward celebrity spotting, when you see someone who's famous, but you realise you don't care about them or like them

And they're not that famous and it's not that impressive But you still feel like you have to tell someone Because Guess who I saw today Like someone who I don't Care about very much That was from Joe My wife did a few of those recently

Because we had comedians in town for the Fringe Festival. She just texts me from – I was on another part of the city the other day. She texts me just saying, I just walked past Jim Owen eating an ice cream. And that's all she said. Like, Jim Owen's a well-known Australian comedian. And that's all she said. You know, didn't say hi, nothing. Just felt the need to let me know that Jim Owen's walking past eating an ice cream.

Here's another one no one will have heard of, except maybe you, but I think you'll like this one. This is just, this again is really on brand. My family and I were lucky enough to holiday around the US at Christmas time in 2015. Our last stop was the Copper Mountain Ski Resort in Denver, Colorado. Having never skied before, I was eager to get started and asked if there were any coaches or training sessions available. The staff said they had one person who was free that day. The guy that taught me how to ski turned out to be Ross Gallagher, the former VFL footballer who played with Footscray in the mid-1970s. Being from Melbourne myself in Australia, it's an enormous coincidence that halfway across the world

I would run into a D-list Melbourne celebrity during a US ski season. Cameron, some old retired 70s Aussie rules footballer taught me to ski in Colorado. That's awesome. That's fantastic. There is something about players that were great when you were young and you see them down the street, which happens all the time in Melbourne with AFL footballers.

You just see a guy walking past in a business suit and he's on his way to a board meeting and you just look and you just see, you know, the face of the person that you watched as a young kid. That's Pia Knight. This one comes from Luke. I once met David Prowse, who was the actor in the Darth Vader suit, in a small town in England.

This was at a small signing event at a comic book store or something. So it wasn't strictly a random encounter. But what was remarkable about it is that I was only in this town on this particular day because I was on holiday from New Zealand and my dad wanted to show me where he grew up. My only regret is that I declined his offer to sign it. I am your father, as my name was Luke. After a lifetime of people finding it hilarious to misquote Luke, I am your father at me. I just I just wasn't really interested.

Still, it would have been something cool to augment my Darth Vader autograph, so I missed an opportunity there. It is one of those, do I do it now or do I play the cool guy that doesn't do it? You know what I mean? And then probably regrets it later. And this is one I think you will like. In 2000, when I was 20, I worked in a cafe in the basement of an office tower in Sydney. Across from the cafe was a barber's shop, and one morning, Gough Whitlam, who's a former Australian Prime Minister,

who had an office in the building, was in there getting a haircut. He asked the barber to get him a coffee, and I got to bring it over. I don't remember exactly what I said to him, but I believe I mentioned learning about his dismissal by the Governor General. Anyway, he thanked me for the coffee, and I gave him my hand to shake, but he kissed it instead. He would have been 84 at the time and it was actually a lovely gesture. That's from Claire.

There are many more here. I won't read all of them. Some of these are quite good. Maybe I'll do more another day. And if you want to send more minor brushes of fame, maybe we'll do them in another episode because we can't just do them forever. And if any famous people want to send in minor brushes with fans, we'd be willing to read a few of those as well.

We'll take those too. Have you ever had a moment where you're with your partner and they've responded embarrassingly about seeing someone famous? Oh, actually, you just reminded me. Just before recording, I was told my wife who were doing this section, and she insisted that I share her mind of brush with fame. Oh, right.

Which is a bit silly, because for her job, she meets lots of famous people. But if she's not at work, they count, she said. Right. She went to the toilet at Glastonbury in the cubicle next to Daenerys from Game of Thrones, the mother of Dragons. And then they both came out of their cubicles

and a third girl came up to her, Daenerys. I can't remember her name, the actress's name. Isn't that terrible? Another person came up and said, can I have a selfie with you? And she said, no, I'm not doing selfies this weekend. I'm trying to stay off social media. And the girl said, okay, and walked away. And then my wife said, yeah, no, I'm not doing selfies this weekend. I'm trying to stay off social media. And the girl said, okay, and walked away. And then my wife said, yeah, and we're in the toilets.

Yeah. And apparently De Niro's had a laugh. So, she got a laugh out of it as well. So, there you go. I told the story. Yeah, nice work. What's her name? It's Emily something, isn't it?

I'm not a Game of Thrones aficionado, I have to say. No, Amelia. Amelia Clark? It's Amelia Clark, I think. I think it's Amelia Clark. Yes, I got it. I got there in the end. Yes, there we go.

Maybe you shouldn't say her name. She's trying to stay off podcasts this weekend, so. That's right. We shouldn't mention it. Better blank that out. I once went to the toilet standing at the urinal next to Gerhard Berger, the Formula One driver, five minutes before the race started when he was having his last minute wee before the race.

Wow. That's my toilet claim to fame. There you go. Okay. Ideas for a podcast? Have we got time? I don't think I've done this idea before. And you're the worst person to ask because you never remember what we've done before. So, if I've done this before, apologies. There's no way to check. The person who used to keep the document of all our ideas stopped keeping it, I think. So, I can't go back and check on there.

Oh, we need a new volunteer. Nice table. Let's call this What Day Is It? And this would be a podcast when you release it each day, you talk about what International Day is. You know how there's always things like International Day of Teddy Bears? Yeah. Or, you know, International Day of Left-Handed People and stuff like that? You would talk about that day and see what you can talk about.

Maybe have guests tell your stories, waffle on as we all want to do. The day we're recording, I've just looked up what day it is. I thought I'd share with you a few international days. I'm not talking about things like, oh, today's, you know, Tim Hines' birthday or it's the anniversary. No, no, I get you. Yeah. Who decides these days? Is there a committee somewhere? Does the UN decide? I don't know. I don't know. But here are some days that it is today, man. Right. Did you know that today, as we're recording, is World Poetry Day? Ah, right. Yes. No, I didn't know that. I couldn't care less about that because I don't really like poetry very much.

What does that mean? Does it mean- do people read more poetry on International Poetry- surely if you like poetry, you're not just going to read it once a year or you're going to read more poetry on that day or better poems. It's a time for people who aren't into poetry to get- I'll tell you what these World Days really are from my experience and from my Twitter feed and how I use these days. These World Days are an excuse for people to promote their back catalogue of content that they have that relates to those days. Right.

And when you have over 4,200 videos on YouTube, as I do. Yes. You've pretty much got a video for every day you can think of. So, if it's World Whatever Day, I'll go, yeah, I once made a video somehow relating to that. Yeah. I'll do a tweet saying, hey, happy hashtag World Poetry Day. Here's a video I made in 2014 about poetry and libraries. You know, happy World Raccoon Day.

Here's a picture from the 1800s of raccoons from our library and stuff like that. Yes, yes. It is also today World Puppetry Day. Wow. That's an interesting tribe of people, isn't it? People who just are into puppets and make puppets and do puppetry. It's a whole subculture. A film that I love, and I know know you love is The Sound of Music.

Yes. And one scene in The Sound of Music that always really irks me is when they do the puppetry, the puppet performance for the family and it's, you know, the yodelling and all that sort of stuff. The Lonely Goat Herd. High on a hill was a lonely goat herd. Lay, goat, lay, goat, lay. Yeah, The goat herder. Because I can accept a lot of unrealistic things in films

and I can suspend disbelief, but I refuse to believe that Maria was that good at puppetry. She's singing unbelievably. Her puppetry is incredible, world class. It's the one moment in the film where I go, no one is that talented. I refuse to believe she can also do that. And the puppets they've made are amazing. It's a step too far.

The puppetry scene is a step too far in that movie for how incredible she is. I don't think they've made the puppets, though, because, remember, they get to keep it, which means they've probably bought it or hired it from somewhere. Okay. But she's still so good at it. The puppetry is incredible. Oh, it is, yes. And the sets are amazing. And the puppets themselves, like the cheeks go in and out on the puppet.

It's like the equivalent of their mouths moving, which is just phenomenal from puppets. That is a string puppet. I'm not talking about puppets where you slip your hand in. Making the mouths move on them with the strings. I accept that she can have an unusually good singing voice and that she's very lovely and that she can make clothes out of curtains. And write a song on the spot, yes. Yeah, yeah.

But hang on, how did some, like, nun get so good at puppetry? I'm not buying that. That was years of practice to get that good. Well, we're not told the timeline. I mean, it could have been for quite a while. The kids are all like 30 years old. They're doing puppetry. It's like they've practised and practised and practised.

Although the Countess, is it the Countess? What's the one who wants to marry Baron Von Trapp? Oh, yeah, yeah. Who I feel really sorry for in that film. She gets really unfairly treated in that film. Oh, no, I find her annoying. I'm glad. Yeah, her type works with me.

But she is hanging around that weekend, I think, for quite a while. So I think it is like a long weekend she's there to meet them. Yeah, they've just cobbled it together. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. there to meet them. Yeah, they've just cobbled it together. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. They are quite incredible. Well, would you imagine if your girls just came downstairs one day and said, oh, Dad, we're going to do a puppet show for you.

And you're like, okay. And they did that. Well, I have been in that situation several times. Hey, we've got a show. There was a period of a few years where come and watch our show was something that happened on a daily basis. There was sometimes some puppetry. It wasn't quite at the standard of the lonely goat herd it wasn't bad but there are only two of them remember there's not yeah what is there seven so yeah fair enough but also the

other thing about that puppet show that maria does with the kids that i find a little bit like i feel like she muscles in on it a bit too much as well. Like, this is supposed to be a chance for the kids to show the family. But only, like, two of them get to handle puppets and she does almost all the singing. Her and Dirk are one of the old ones. They do a lot of the heavy lifting data. It's like Maria says, oh, the kids are going to put on a show and then she sort of pushes them off stage and does it all herself.

That's right. She should be around watching it alongside that you know applauding but instead she's sort of yeah doing all the singing and like she could say like oh i've taught the kids and then take a back step but no it's like all right obviously the kids weren't good enough in rehearsals and she said i'm doing that part too what she's basically saying is i here i'm going to give you a show that shows I'm an incredible nanny. Oh, you kids, you help out and make me look great. That's what she's trying to do. It's all part of her plan to marry Baron Von Trapp.

She was after a pay rise. It was a negotiating tool. Insidiously weaving her way into the family, breaking up the Countess With puppets She's a gold digger Do you know what she is? She's a puppet master She's manipulating the children to her own ends

She plays them perfectly Yes It is also today, Tim International Colour Day When all the colour federations and associations of the world Who are interested in how colour is used in art and science and stuff They celebrate colour I feel like Colour Day is like

You know when you've got Father's Day and Mother's Day and then as a kid you say, when is it Children's Day? And they say every day is Children's Day. Well, every day is colour day, isn't it? Like we all love colours all day, every day. It doesn't need a day. Imagine this, man, as a sci-fi idea, a planet or a world where everything is in black and white except on march 21 when everyone can see in color

for a day and then the other 364 days it goes back to black and white wow that would be an overwhelming day that see then now that would be color day that would be that would be well named yeah i don't think there would even the poets on that day would be going, hey, it's International Poet, actually, no, it's Colour Day. It's Colour Day. You wouldn't want to put your poetry day on that day. You'd be really overshadowed by the one day of the year when everyone can see and colour. What would you do on International Colour Day?

Like, would you just rush out and play snooker? Quick, let's play snooker today. That's the one day we could play snooker. Do some colouring in. Yeah. Finally get some value out of that colour television you bought. Yeah. And this isn't an international day,

but it is National Tree Planting Day in the South African country of Lesotho. Oh, okay. Fantastic. We send, you know, from our church, we donate money and books and so forth to our Bible college training ministers in Lesotho. So we have a little connection there. There you go. There you go.

Well, they won't be doing any religious stuff today, man, because today it's all about the trees. Isn't that terrible? We send books, which is trees cut down and we're sending it to them. Today it's an international tree. Anyway, do you have a favourite day or a day that you – are there any of these days you celebrate? Not including religious ones, of course. Yeah, no.

Yeah, Easter, Christmas. I look forward to Father's Day. That's a good day. My birthday. That's another good day. International day of Tim's birthday. That's another good day. International day of Tim's birthday. I can't. I mean, Anzac Day, I guess, is nice.

And Grand Final Day is good. Pancake Day. Saturdays are quite nice. The International Day of Saturday. That's a good day. I can't think of any that I particularly look forward to. Every now and then you do note one and you go oh that's good but um i can't think of anything that i particularly like what what do

you think deserves a day that hasn't got a day already well the day of 21 waves oh indeed yes the day of 21 waves big day big day now when was that again? It's on my- What date was it? So we can put it in our- So we can put it on Wikipedia. I do not encourage Wikipedia vandalism, people, but I will give you a little wink if you put Tim's Day of 21 Waves on Wikipedia. The 6th of March, 2022. 6th of March, 2022. The 6th of March is International 21 Waves Day.

Yeah. When everyone wears that little 21 Waves pin on their lapel. That's right. It's an inspiring day. It's a great movement. It's a movement that's growing. Well, anyway, Tim, this brings us very conveniently to episode sponsor Backblaze. Backblaze is back. That's hard to say, isn't it. Backblaze is back.

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Is that a fact? Is that a real day? That is a real day. World Backup Day. With the tagline, don't be in April Fool, because April Fool's the next day, start backing up your data. Don't be in April Fool, because April Fool's the next day. Start backing up your data. This is a day when people should reflect on, and more importantly, start backing up their

computers, their phones, things like that. They even have a little pledge you can say if you want to yourself. I solemnly swear to back up my important documents and precious memories on March 31st. Well, there you go. Tell your friends to go and get things backed up. And if you are going to do some backing up, we, of course, are very biased, but we highly, highly recommend the fantastic service that is Backblaze.

What a great name Backblaze is. Backblaze is a great name. It could be a movie, couldn't it? It's incredible. Just a movie of stuff backing up. Yeah. They should make a movie and then save it and back it up. Yep.

And then download it from the cloud. Twice in our house this week, a device has gone kaput and needed repair. And twice I've gone, is it backed up? And I've checked and it was. Twice in one house. And by the way, if you want to check out Backblaze, you can actually go and do a 15-day free trial backing up the computer just to get a feel for how it all works and how simple it is and have a backup. And no credit card required or anything like that. They're not going to take those details.

Just give it a 15-day go because they're pretty convinced you're going to be so impressed that after 15 days you will sign up. Because I mean, what's $7 a month for that peace of mind? Like for me, there is nothing I can think of that I pay so little for that gives me so much peace of mind. Like I have car insurance and that gives me peace of mind, but my car insurance costs a fortune. $7 a month is nothing for all my work, everything that's important to me professionally, to know that it's safe. Go to backblaze.com slash unmade. Backblaze.com slash unmade. Use the unmade so they know you came from here and they think warm thoughts about Tim and I. And you will have the warm thoughts of knowing everything is protected.

And don't forget, March 31st, World Backup Day. Perfect time. I would take the day off work if I were you and just concentrate purely on backing things up. Purely on backing up. Just watch it backing up and feel the peace of mind soothe through your body. It should be. World Backup Day should be like a holiday.

It should be a public holiday for people to go home and back stuff up, shouldn't they? Yeah. I mean, you need to back stuff up at work too, but yes. That's true, yeah. All right. And now it's time for Spoon of the Week. Well, Brady, I have to say that today's spoon is one that I find bewildering.

On the one hand, I think I remember buying it. On the other hand, it looks too old for me to have bought it personally. And I think, therefore, it must have come down from generation to generation through our family. Well, when I say generation to generation, I mean it was my parents and now I'm holding it. Yeah. But, I mean, your dad spans many generations. That's right. This is a spoon from SeaWorld.

Now, Australians will know SeaWorld, and by the name, I'm sure there are other places like this. This is a bit of a combination between a marine park and an entertainment park, you know, like- I mean, the most famous SeaWorld in the world is the American SeaWorld, obviously, in- Is that in San Diego? Or where is SeaWorld in America? San Diego.

I don't know. I've never heard of it. I beg to differ. The one in Queensland on the Gold Coast is far more famous from my point of view. Oh, hang on. So they've got one in- There is San Diego.

It looks like there's Orlando as well. Yeah, Orlando, Florida is their headquarters. They're everywhere. So they have parks in Orlando, San Diego, San Antonio. They've also now got one in Abu Dhabi and in Aurora, Ohio. No, that's not there anymore. Anyway, there is one in Queensland. That's the one that Tim and I grew up with.

So you're telling me there's more than one SeaWorld? Gosh. They should have trademarked this idea. Anyway, we went there. You remember we went there in the end of the 90s. I think it was about 1997. And so I may have bought it then to bring it home for my parents, which I did every now and then to add to their spoon collection,

except it looks older than that. It looks like the design is much older and yet i know for a fact my parents never went to seaworld so it could be from that perplexingly strange period of time where an adult will go on a holiday and come home with a spoon with where they're from as a gift for another adult who could have gone there but didn't go there as a bit of a token of the special place that they they have gone to visit instead of that other adult right which i find totally bizarre but happened quite often and quite a few of the spoons in my parents collection come as gifts from other families who have visited cool places that we never got to go. So maybe it came from there.

Sort of like rubbing salt in your wounds, rubbing your nose in it. Here's another fantastic thing you've missed out on. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah. We went to this cool place, but it's almost like, you know, here we've been to heaven and we've brought back a brick made of gold for you to enjoy. You know what I mean?

It's like we've been to a wonderful place um and somehow yeah somehow it's a gift so sea world yeah yeah look the spoon itself is square it's not often that you have a head of a spoon that's square it looks neat and nice that's not the scoopy bit the scoopy bit is round by the way no that's right no that's right yes yeah yeah but the handle at the top is square, the enamel picture. Has a lovely enamel picture. It's red, which is really quite striking and a bit surprising because you normally would expect. If I said I'm going to show you a spoon from SeaWorld,

what colour would come to mind? Let's say it's International Colour Day. Blue, perhaps? Blue. That's right. This is red. Isn't that weird? Anyway, it's red and there are two, what do they call these?

Orcas again, is that right? Like killer whales. Yes, they have two performing orcas on the spoon, which is a very sensitive subject now in the world of SeaWorlds and orcas. It is. So I doubt they would sell this spoon today. Let me quickly add these are not real orcas on the spoon. They are just a picture, just a painting of the orcas.

And I know that that's a controversial thing now, which again might date this spoon a little bit further back than 1997 when I know we were involved in the liberation of several orcas while we were there. It was like Free Willy, wasn't it, when we were there? I remember we had one strapped to the back of my Holden Barina as we left SeaWorld. It caused quite a ruckus.

Your Holden Barina looked a bit like an orca, actually. Except about half the size, but yeah. But it was sort of a white bubble, wasn't it? It just needed a bit of black on it with the windows. It looked more like one of those beluga whales. Bury the Barina. May you rest in peace. Excellent. Excellent. Well, nice spoon. Barry the Barina. May you rest in peace. Excellent.

Excellent. Well, nice spoon. Sea world. Yep. Yep. And we in no way endorse performing orcas. Have you seen Blackfish, that documentary all about the orcas at Sea World in America? No, but I've heard about it.

Yes. Yes. Good film. Blackfish. I'll check it out. Yeah. The controversy being, of course, they're in captivity in notoriously small pools for their size compared to nature and so forth.

I mean, when it comes to animals that size, I don't think there are many forms of captivity that would be acceptable. I don't think I would sit there thinking, if you made that pool six feet longer, I'd be all right with this. No, no, you didn't. Yes, I didn't mean that it wasn't quite to their, you know, the dimensions they prefer. I mean, compared to the ocean.

Yes. It's like if only there were a few umbrellas and maybe a slippery dip at one end, I think they'd be a lot more comfortable. At this point in the show, we always like to give an Unmade Podcast souvenir spoon to one of our Patreon supporters. Go to patreon.com slash Unmade FM to be in the running for goodies. And Rachel W from the UK is getting a spoon. Congratulations, Rachel.

And we are sending a SofaShop Mix cassette tape to Cody F from New York. Cody from New York. And this week we will be sending Unmade Podcast collector cards to six people instead of five because I made a mistake when I was doing my algorithmic random draw. So the six winners are Albert F from Rhode Island, Bram from the Netherlands. People from the Netherlands are doing really well in the prizes at the moment. Have you noticed that? Oh, yes.

It'd be suspicious if I was handling it, but you're- It would be. Tadas from Lithuania. Glenn from Arizona. Stephen P from Norway. And another Rachel, spelt the same way as well. It's an unusual spelling of Rachel, and it's the same unusual spelling of Rachel. And again from the UK. But this is a different Rachel to the one that won the Spoon.

So, congratulations to those people. And we are so appreciative of Patreon support. It really helps us carve out the time and the resources to make this show. So, thank you very much. Congratulations to the Rachels. It's like it's the International Day of Rachel, isn't it? It is, yeah. Yeah. Hello to Rachels everywhere with all spellings. All Rachels, all spellings. Rachels are good people in my experience.

Yeah, they are. Yeah, they're usually nice, Rachels, aren't they? And now it's time for the new segment that's sweeping the world. Oh, yes. It's time for, oh, don't look too disappointed. Oh, God, I forgot about this It's time for Moon of the Moon

You visibly deflate every time it becomes time for Moon of the Week Like your shoulders actually hunch It's amazing It's like you've just received bad news unfortunately for tim we now record uh via a zoom call so i can tell if he walks away i know i i i always learn a lot every week in in moon of the week it's very informative you requested uh you do you remember what your request was for this week's moon? From Saturn this time, is that right?

Yes, a Saturnian moon. And I'm not picking the big famous Saturnian moon, which is Titan. Instead, I'm going to show you a moon called Mimas. Mimas. It was discovered in 1789 by William Herschel William Herschel was a very famous astronomer back in the day Was really good with a telescope He's discovered loads of stuff

Was really good with a telescope I love that He's an astronomer Really good with a telescope He was Mimas is a very small moon, Tim In fact, it is so small That it is about as small as you can be and still be round.

Like its own gravity does make it round like a sphere. But if it was any smaller, it probably wouldn't have enough gravity to keep itself round. So we're right on the brink of how small a round moon can be. How, like compared to your old Barina, how, what size? Similar? It would be bigger than my Barina. Right.

I think I read somewhere that the surface area of the whole moon, remembering this is the whole moon, not just part of it, is about the same as Spain. Oh, right. And when you consider that it's a sphere, yeah, it's pretty small. Pretty small. So you wrap up Spain into a circle. Yeah.

That's what we're talking here. But Mimas is famous for one thing about its appearance. I'm going to send you a picture of Mimas. Most people who know other moons of the solar system will know Mimas, if not by name, because of what it looks like. I'm going to send you this picture. Right. Well, it looks very similar to our, because of what it looks like. I'm going to send you this picture. Right. Well, it looks very similar to our moon, doesn't it?

Yeah, I guess. It's grey and has craters, yeah. Does that not remind you of something? Ah, the Death Star. It looks like the Death Star. It's got a very large crater that looks like that satellite dish that sort of is impressed into the Death Star. Satellite dish?

You mean the killer laser that blows up Alderaan? Oh, no, the gun. That's right. That's where the laser comes out, isn't it? It's not so they can listen to Five Live. That's right. It has this huge crater. It's 130 kilometres across.

And the crater is called Herschel. It's named after William Herschel. That crater is so massive that when the thing that hit the moon, which nearly destroyed the moon, when the thing that hit the moon that created that crater hit, it sent shockwaves through the moon. And on the opposite side of the moon, the ground is all rough and disrupted. So, actually, the opposite side of the moon has been all made all crinkly by the crater on the other side. It's huge. If Mimas was the size of the earth. Yes.

That crater would be about the size of Australia. Right, right. To give you some perspective. But it's not. It's the size of Spain. The moon is the size of Spain. That crater is 130 kilometres across. So it's, you know, you know.

Yeah. I guess it's kind of Adelaide size maybe, I don't know. So you could drive across it in your Barina? I could. What's this obsession with my Barina? I will show you another famous picture. There's one other famous picture that also has a pop culture kind of crossover here. This is a false colour picture now of MIMAS that was done with a thermal imaging camera.

So parts that were cold were made kind of purpley coloured and parts that were hot were made red and yellow. You get the idea. And then so they were just wanting to see how the temperature distribution of MIMAS was distributed. MIMAS is very cold, by the way. It's freezing, freezing cold, as you can imagine. But here's a thermal imaging picture that also made a few headlines. What does this one remind you of?

Pac-Man. Pac-Man! Eating a power pill even. Yes, yes, indeed. So we've got the Death Star and Pac-Man. So Mimas is a bit of a nothing moon, except it has all these pop culture references associated with it. How does it get there? What the hell? I mean, has it always been there? Do moons ever come and join a planet or have they been there since the planet was? They do. They do.

And that can happen. And there's a very interesting example of that that we will come to in a future moon of the week when a moon has been captured by another planet. Most moons are formed at the same time as the planet from the same rotating disc of dust and rocks and stuff and a lot of it condenses in the middle to form a planet and some of the other stuff that's spinning around condenses further out and it's called accretion and and become becomes a moon so they often will form with the planet, which is why they all kind of spin around on the same plane and why they all spin in the same direction. But you do get exceptions and we'll come to that in future. And you've also asked last episode about the rings of Saturn. And an

interesting little thing about Mimas is Mimas is actually quite close to the main rings of Saturn. And there's a famous gap between two of Saturn's rings, the A ring and the B ring. There's a big gap between them. That's called the Cassini division, where there's no dust. It's sort of clean of dust. Mimas, the gravitational influence of Mimas, the gravitational influence of Mimas plays a key role in keeping that division clear of dust and easily discernible. So it's an example of one of the moons of Saturn having an influence

on what's going on in the rings. Right. There you go. Saturn looks a little bit like it's a ball with a cowboy hat on, doesn't it? Yeah. You know what I mean? Spinning.

Or a sombrero. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why Tim does not do Moon of the Week May I take this opportunity to mention episode sponsor Storyblocks? Yes, yes, as a segue out of Moon of the Week Go for it Tim will take anything to get out of Moon of the Week But what a pleasure it is to be able to talk about Storyblocks ah Storyblocks

the online demand-driven library of royalty-free video footage After Effects and Premiere Pro templates music, sound effects, pictures everything you could need for your creations they have a subscription that will fit your budget including the unlimited all access, which gives you unlimited downloads. Check them out, storyblocks.com slash unmade, storyblocks.com slash unmade. I am a huge fan. I couldn't do my job without Storyblocks. All those little cool little sound effects I need in my videos

and podcasts, sometimes some random piece of footage that I couldn't possibly film myself, Storyblocks has got it and I can have it within seconds on my timeline. And for that, I'm very grateful. Nice work, Storyblocks. I've just typed in something random and found that there are 282 different pictures of asparagus or asparaguy, asparagum. What is the plural? I don't know. On Storyblocks?

Yeah. Videos or photos or what? This is photos. This is images. Okay. 282 images of asparagus. How many videos do you think I'll find? I'm searching video now.

At least 50. 132. Videos of asparagus. There's people washing asparagus. There's lemon being squeezed on asparagus. There's asparagus on a grill. There's asparagus wrapped in pastry. There's asparagus in a pan.

There's asparagus being farmed. If I was making a documentary about asparagus, I wouldn't need to shoot a single frame. I could just use everything on Storyblocks. Incredible. The question is, is there anything other than asparagus on Storyblocks? I'm beginning to wonder. I wonder what audio they have for asparagus. Storyblocks for all your asparagus needs.

Go to Storyblocks.com slash unmade. Put asparagus in the search bar and prepare to be amazed. They do have stuff other than asparagus. They do. I can vouch for that personally. We're about a blot. And if you don't believe us, this is just- They've got 123 videos of cauliflower. Wow.

Gosh. Too much cauliflower. Story blocks where too much asparagus is not enough. Not enough. More coming soon. All right. Tim, I guess we have to do an idea from you. Is there time after all your stories and anecdotes?

You know where you rank in the pecking order when you come after Moon of the Week? The headliner. That's where I come. You're the headliner. You ever been to a rock festival? Who goes on last? You're the after party.

Like the chill-out zone to cool down afterwards. Yeah. Deflate the crowd, make sure they get home safely. Look, there's a saying from Coco Chanel, famously said, a woman who cuts her hair is about to change her life. And I think it applies to men too. Someone who wants to cut their hair, who cuts their hair is about to change their life. And I've been thinking about lately, does cutting your hair or dramatically changing your hairstyle, but specifically cutting your hair, does it change your life for the better or for worse? It's what I call, and this is the title of this podcast, theullus question now capullus is latin for hair

so this is the capullus question in one of the great well-named podcasts in yeah you've really outdone yourself this time hairdressers everywhere will be looking up their favourite podcast player for the capitalist question. It's actually quite interesting to look through and see people who try to change their life by dramatically changing their hair, especially by cutting their hair or growing their hair and trying to change their life. And I'm interested, did it improve their life

or was it the start of the decline? Now, so there's a famous story of this, which comes from the world of pop music, Michael Bolton. Actually, we could probably go back even further than Michael Bolton to Samson in the Bible, who famously had strength and the strength was derived. He was this special class of young Israeliteraelite called a nazirite he was sort of set apart and he didn't cut his hair he grew his hair and he had incredible strength

marvel character like strength but then he cuts his he's famously seduced by delilah and um and she cuts his hair and he loses his strength and i was trying to think i was thinking the other day about others who have cut their hair and lost their strength. Now, Michael Bolton is, I think we've even talked before that Michael Bolton went downhill once he cut his mane. Yeah. Never really released another song that's worth listening to or singing along to like he did in his longer capitalist days.

Right. But I was also thinking about Richard Marks. Do you remember Richard Marks? Yeah. He had a few songs, Right Here Waiting and Hazard, but he was another one who in the 90s cut his hair. And I was shocked when I saw him with Short Hair. He appeared on stage touring Australia and he appeared on the news

and his mullet was gone. And I just think he faded very quickly after that. Gene Simmons is another one from Kiss. He cut his hair very short into sort of a weird perm for their album, The Elder. And it's generally considered their worst album. And he quickly grew it back after that. Billy Ray Cyrus cut his hair and was never really heard of again. Do you think this is a causation thing, though?

It just, everyone was cutting their hair around this time, and you're just picking out people who also were famous when they had long hair and perhaps would have become unfamous anyway, or you're suggesting the haircutting is the cause. Well, I've only presented one side of the argument, though. There's a whole other sort of list of people who have, some would say, improved with cut hair. list of people who have, some would say, improved with cut hair. So you think about Andre Agassi.

Demi Moore famously shaved her hair and then went on to a whole series of bigger roles. Natalie Portman shaved her hair and had some good roles. Ben Kingsley. I mean, Demi Moore, Natalie Portman, Ben Kingsley. There's a hot trio for you right there. Yeah. Marilyn Monroe changed her hair She was a brunette and then she became a blonde

And it's probably fair to say was more well known as a blonde than she was as a brunette Yes Jennifer Aniston changed her hair, changed her life Michelle Williams had a whole series of famous films after she cut her hair to short pixie hair Mia Farrow did the same thing. Doesn't everyone just change their hair a few times? But does it improve your life or does it go downhill? That's the capitalist question.

Hmm. Gary Ayres, Paul Roos. There's a lot of AFL footballers. Footballers, yeah. We're going to delve intoian rules football very quickly here if we start talking about mullets scott hodges yeah that's right yeah we could go for quite some time here how would we chart tim hines fortunes through his capulous questions i think i've gone downhill i mean i had my hair was at the longest in the early 90s, and I think I peaked, to be honest.

It was around 1991. Yeah. It was long at the back, and then it was sort of long more evenly with a part in the middle. And it's been a bit of a disaster since then, I think. I'm just trying to make do, scrape together something of a life. Just chasing the endless, chasing that mullet. Just chasing it.

Yes, the capitalist question has been answered in my case. I do like the idea of a podcast that charts people's fortunes and maps it onto their haircuts. Like, I think there is something to be done there. Maybe not a podcast. Maybe it's like a funny video series because you want to see the funny pictures. A Netflix series? Is that what you the funny pictures. A Netflix series? Is that what you're saying?

A major Netflix film? But I do think there is something to be said for, you know, graphing their fortunes against hair length and colour and stuff. There is something to be some kind of like, you know, tongue in cheek analysis mapped onto hair styles. I'm okay with that. I like it. Do you think a lot of the geniuses is in the title, the capitalist question?

Do you think that's going to be the question on everyone's lips? No. Well, what's a better title? There's no choice now. How do you spell capitalist, by the way? I didn't even know that was a- I don't even know that word. It's Latin. C-A-P-I-L-L-U-S.

Capitalist.com is like a hair loss treatment company. Oh. There's a hair clinic called Capulus, yeah. Well, we've got a sponsor lined up already then. There we go. John Bon Jovi was an interesting one because he did cut his hair and I think moved into a different but pretty good era still in the early 90s. Later on things tapered off pretty heavily, but his 80s work was pretty solid. And then there was Keep the Faith, which was pretty good in the 90s too.

But that was a hair change that made headlines around the world. You know how when you look at the 60s and the 70s, and everyone had their 60s and 70s hairdos and stuff like that, and you look at a crowd picture and everyone's got that crazy hair and stuff like that, and you laugh at it and you think, oh, and true of the 80s as well. How come you don't look at American presidents from the 70s and 60s and that and they don't have that, you know, crazy hair?

Presidents always have the same hair, no matter what the fashion is of the world. They don't seem to be like succumb to fashion. You'd think they'd have the hair of the people because they want their votes and stuff like that. But they don't. They do. They sort of stand above. I've always noticed it about the royal family. The male members of the royal family never use hair product.

It doesn't seem they seem to be happy with the slightly traditional sort of look. I guess there's a bit of brew cream in Prince Charles. It's being held down pretty heavily. But even Prince William and Harry, it's not like they got a mohawk and, you know what I mean, or got it moussed up really high or some gel or something. It's a very conservative traditional haircut from birth right through there. More topics to be covered in the special royal episode

of The Couplers Question. That's right. That's right. In the special royal episode of The Couplers Question. That's right. The special royal episode. That's right. I would like to hear from people as to whether they feel when there was a moment in their life where they dramatically changed their hair.

And people, there actually is a bit of psychology around this where people want to change their life. Sometimes after a relationship might have ended and they want to, you know, change their life after that boyfriend or something like that. But it is something that you can control instantly in your life, you know, so it can help you feel like a different person. So, but I'm interested if people made a dramatic change with their hair, did it improve their life or do they go? Yeah. And you'll get bonus points if you also send us a before and after picture. Oh, massive bonus points, yes. I sometimes think about shaving my head. Yeah.

Because, you know, I've got really thick, long hair and it will grow back, no problems. But I sometimes think about shaving it as a surprise. But I'm just, I'm 75% sure I will look terrible with a shaved head. And there's no going back. Like, you've just got to sit it out after that. So, I don't think I want to risk it. How do you think I'd terrible with a shaved head and there's no going back. Like you've just got to sit it out after that. So I don't think I want to risk it. How do you think I'd look with a shaved head? I think anyone can kind of get away with a shaved head.

I think you'd be all right. You'd be good. You keep the beard and there's a bit of a contrast or head is a bit of a goatee. Yeah, yeah. I'll certainly tell you if it doesn't look good. Thanks, man. I'm sure you will. People could write in, let us know. We could vote on it doesn't look good. Thanks, man. I'm sure you will. People could write in, let us know.

We could vote on it. That's great. We can do a big poll. Does Brady look better now with a shaved head than before? The ultimate capitalist question. So, secret words? Pretty much done. Yeah.

No, both done. Both done. Yes. Wow. Yes. You got both your. Both done. Yes. Wow. Yes. You got both your daughter's secret words smuggled into the episode, accidentally or deliberately? Deliberately.

And I think this is probably the first time I've done it, like, genuinely, like, in the midst of our conversation. And you were unaware of it. Yeah. Do you want to guess what they were? I know this is going to come as a shock to you, man, but I can't remember every single word you said in the podcast. No.

Like sometimes when I listen back, you'll say a sentence that I think was weird and later on I'll find out it was the word smuggle. But you do that so often anyway, I kind of just think it's just Tim being random. I often say stupid things just to hide the specific stupid thing I'm saying. Oh, asparagus. That contains the word. Asparagus. Very good.

Yes, of course. Yeah. Yeah. Asparagus. Asparagus. Asparagus. Asparagus. Asparagus.

Asparagus. Asparagus. Asparagus. Asparagus. Asparagus. Asparagus. Asparagus. Asparagus.

Asparagus. Asparagus. Asparagus. Asparagus. Asparagus. Asparagus. Asparagus. Asparagus. Asparagus. Asparagus. Asparagus. Asparagus. Wow, you really got asparagus into the episode. That's a good third of the episode we're talking about asparagus. What was the other one? The other one is cowboy.

Oh, okay. When I was talking about the hat. Oh, that's a, that's a, that's a, yeah, I don't remember when you said that, but that's a pretty easy one to smuggle in, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I was happy with that one when it was suggested over dinner tonight that I was asparagus.

Yeah. Guess what we were having for dinner? Yeah. Cowboy. Guess what Tim's going to use every single Storyblocks ad for from now on? Yeah. Guess what Tim is going to use every single Storyblocks ad for from now on. LAUGHTER Nonsense.