The Unmade Podcast - 23: Natalie-O

Episode Date: February 27, 2019

Things that didn’t happen, cool words, and a patron idea of course. Hover - register your domain now and get 10% off by going to https://www.hover.com/Unmade - promo code UNMADE at checkout Support us on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/unmadeFM Join the discussion of this episode on our subreddit - https://redd.it/avigin USEFUL LINKS The Multifunction Polis - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multifunction_Polis Stanley Kubrick's unrealized projects - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Kubrick%27s_unrealized_projects Australia’s Naughtiest Home Videos - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIG5Du_0NGg The Heights - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103439/ How Do You Talk To an Angel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csATriX8Ed0 Natalie video - warning, this is highly emotional - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO0yeW1WzeQ 23 Skidoo - https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/393450.html

I'll count to ten, and if you join in at five, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Yeah, you're a good second behind. Oh, am I really? Yeah, but you always have been. We sound in sync to me, but I'm actually behind you in your ear Is that right? Of course we sound like that Because that's like the whole point

You do it You count to ten And I'll join in at five to show you One Two Three Four Five

Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Oh wow that's So to me then I was saying it at the exact same time as you. Oh, that's really strange.

Why is that the case? Why are we out of time depending on who's talking? I'll draw you a diagram later, explain how it works. All right. I tell you what, Tim, as usual, I have had an idea that is kind of the meta idea based on us trying to set up beforehand. All right. So, for people who don't know, which is absolutely everyone in the world except us, we were supposed to record this episode like 24 hours ago. But for various reasons, Tim couldn't get into the office where he wanted to do it because of some construction work.

Like he literally couldn't get in the building. That was actually a first for me.'s not not that's not like a microphone not working you couldn't even access like the premises no well they were putting down bitumen in in the new car park around the building so they had actually literally gated off the whole property yeah fair enough you know this is not a criticism of you tim although you probably should have known it was happening i didn't know it was happening i I didn't know it was happening. I just didn't think they were doing it over the weekend. So it wasn't impinged on my work. So I'm sure they were trying to be helpful,

not knowing that someone in the building was recording a podcast. In the middle of the night. Yeah, that's right. Such is life. But this has given me an idea for a podcast, as usual. How about this, Tim? A podcast called It never happened and each episode is about some project or incident or thing that was supposed to happen but for one reason or another

didn't happen and you talk about what it was why it didn't happen and then you sort of speculate about is it good or bad that it didn't happen how would the world have been different obviously like one episode of the unmade podcast being delayed by 24 hours probably wouldn't cut it as an episode but i'm talking about big things like the cancelled apollo missions or a building that was planned that was never built or an exploration or an album or you know some tour music tour or something to appeal to things that you might like so you set up the thing this was planned this was a you know, some tour, music tour or something to appeal to things that you might like. So you set up the thing. This was planned. This was, you know, a Beatles album that was planned.

It didn't happen because of X, Y and Z. And then you just talk about how you feel about the fact it didn't happen. Yeah, this is not a million miles away from another idea. Was it last time we talked about not being there when something happened? Yeah, it is. It's kind something happened. Yeah, it is. It's kind of not.

Yeah, it is in that genre. Which is an interesting genre, I think. Yeah. What could have been is always sort of, you know, pulls at the heartstrings, doesn't it? But this is more big picture. I would have thought you'd know loads of these, like some book deal that was signed and then the author died or some big tour of a band that was planned and then the band broke up or oh there are lots of those around the one that comes immediately to mind was i had tickets for the

in excess tour in 97 and um and michael hutchins died on the night before the first show that sort of thing yeah there's a lot of that that happens there's also albums that never came out that are rumored by bands. You know, there's like for many years, Prince had an album called The Black Album, which was rumoured and never released. And you know what I mean? It was hyped and then never came out.

Then it becomes sort of secret and legendary. And there are lots of those kinds of things. Yeah. Luckily, because, you know, in another moment of Tim podcast preparation, he forgot some of his equipment for today's recording as well and had to nip home. So, I was able to do a bit of more extra research for a few minutes. And there's like whole Wikipedia pages dedicated to sort of cities and townships and things that were planned and never built, books that were never released. There's a big list of aircraft projects that were planned and never went through with.

The cities is interesting. Yeah. You know, like whole developments or like let's put a capital city here or a major. There was something in Adelaide like that out north, the multifunction polis, wasn't there? Like a whole technology centre. Oh, yeah, the MFP.

Yes. What was that about? Do you know more about that than I do? I don't think anyone ever knew. I think that's why it didn't get built. A decision on the multifunction policy is expected in June, but as Jill Singer reports, some people are questioning whether it should be here at all.

Everyone from South Australia knows the term MFP and multifunction policy, but no-one actually knows what it is or what it was going to be or what it means. But the MFP has been a hard concept to grasp, never mind sell, involving, as it does, a mini city of live-in technocrats, an elite enclave, which somehow sounds un-Australian. It was probably Japanese investment at this stage and in a technology park workplace, you know, sort of a highly integrated, you know, with accommodation.

Let's see if Multifunction Polis has a Wikipedia article. The Multifunction Polis. Multifunction Polis. That's an album name. Here we go. The Multifunction Polis was a controversial scheme for a planned community in Australia proposed in 1987 and abandoned in 1998. So 11 years later.

From the Greek word polis, meaning city, it was imagined as a place where work and leisure, lifetime education and intercultural exchange research and manufacturing would be uniquely integrated. The MFP was intended to have an initial population of 100,000, though some modelling was done on the assumption of a population of up to a quarter of a million. Future infrastructure and modern communications were expected to help attract high-tech industries asian investors were targeted as an important source of funds with an emphasis on japanese investors as you say several possible locations were put forward a site at gilman north of adelaide was selected the proposal generated noisy opposition in australia especially in Adelaide. Noisy opposition is an Adelaide specialty. Yes.

Yeah. With some critics claiming it would open the way for a Japanese settlement on Australian soil. Now this is sounding very Australian. Oh, dear. The MFP, at least as originally envisaged, never eventuated. It does sound like multifunction polis does sound kind of sinister, doesn't it? Like it's going to be a dark Gothham you mean or yeah it also sounds like it's a bit ahead of its time in regards to the buzzwords of you know integration and yeah you know where you can work play rest all in the

one spot you know what i mean and i can see without actually saying what what that actually means and how you do it it's just like it's just all the things you want to hear without saying how you do it yeah like tim i've had a great idea for a holiday we're going to go on where we're going to be happy and have a great time and rest and see all the things we want to see and you're like brilliant where are we going and i'm like oh i don't know i don't know that i've just like designed the holiday without like and i'm sure there were lots of graphics you know with like like families walking along like a square green clean place with a monorail over the top you know what I mean like it's like yeah in that really kind of late 80s early 90s sort of sketchy architect way yeah with a with a sort of a space-looking bicycle being ridden past.

Space bicycle? Yeah. You know, it's all sort of like what they use in a racing bicycle now, you know, and everyone's helmets are long and skewered rather than just being normal in a BMX. You know, like everything just looks kind of spacey, but everything's recycled. Anyway, yeah, it never happened. Like, there's loads of articles on unrealised projects of, like, film directors. Like, there's a whole article on unrealised Stanley Kubrick projects. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Napoleon. After the success of 2001, Kubrick planned a large-scale biographical film about Napoleon Bonaparte. He tried to see every film that was ever made on the subject. He also conducted research, read books about the French Emperor, wrote a preliminary screenplay, which has since become available on the internet. With the help of assistants, he meticulously created a card catalogue of places and deeds of Napoleon's inner circle. Kubrick scouted locations, planning large portions of the film on location in France. The director was going to film battle scenes in

Romania and enlisted support of the Romanian army. Senior army officers had committed 40,000 soldiers and 10,000 cavalrymen to Kubrick's film for the paper costume battle scenes. So, this was like, you know, this was getting along. I actually went to a Kubrick exhibition in Melbourne once, about 10 years ago, a decade ago or so, and there was a whole lot of those sorts of plans there and it was really interesting, this great project he was planning to do. The other one that he was planning to do was AI and that was eventually made by Steven Spielberg after Kubrick had died. So that's a sort of a kubrick film

that didn't happen but became a spielberg vehicle did you like ai i don't remember much about it except the end and how it like had multiple and like it seemed to drag on at the end but it did have an interesting end as well is it joel hayley joel osborne what's his name the young yeah yeah little prodigy i remember thinking at the time it was all right but not loving it and i've never gone back to it and it's 20 years ago now. It's interesting. I was watching some Spielberg stuff on YouTube today. And he was doing, he was in a little golf cart and taking someone around Universal Studios

and pointing at all the sites going, oh, this is where we did Jaws. And this is where we did Back to the Future. And it was really weird. It was like about 20 minutes of Spielberg giving a tour of the studio, which just seems like a really un-Spielberg thing to do. It was really interesting. That's the sort of thing that would happen to you, Tim, with one of your jammy days.

Like, you'd do the studio tour, and that would be the day that Spielberg himself decides to just get the golf cart out and do it. That's right. Like, meeting Bono. It's like, oh, this is a happy coincidence. Steven Spielberg's showing me around. It's fancy meeting you here. That's like...

It's like going to the Vatican, bumping into the Pope and saying, fancy meeting you. Yeah, the Pope doing the tour. This is the Sistine Chapel. Here it is. Look at the paintings. And you're just going home and telling people that that's what happened. Like, oh, we've been to the Vatican. The Pope's lovely.

He showed us around everywhere. Like, that's what happens to everyone. I got thrown out of the Sistine Chapel to make way for Barack Obama and Michelle Obama. Wow. I was there and they said, everyone has to leave. And we're like, we haven't finished our tour. They're like, no, you're all leaving. And we all went out and waited in the square.

And half an hour later, the beast limo went past with Obama and Michelle Obama because they were coming to have a look. Did you see them? Did they drive right up and you saw them or did they go behind? No, I just basically saw, I don't know. I saw like the silhouette of a person in a car that might have been him. There's a massive page of cancelled spacecraft. You could do a whole podcast just on cancelled spacecraft and space ideas, but I don't know

if you'd be up for that one. That'd probably be more my kind of wheelhouse. Well, yeah. I mean, I imagine that happens. I mean i imagine it through history it happened all the time but in terms of aborted launches this was going to go and it doesn't how many times would tell me this then a spacecraft is there it's going to take off to put a satellite up yeah is it is it very common to say well okay we're probably going to have four or five aborted launches before we say blast off, or is that very rare? Aborts do seem pretty common because they're so cautious because everything's so valuable. You know, the rocket, the payload on top, the satellite,

everything has cost so much money and time. It doesn't take much for them to say abort, abort, let's, you know, I'm not feeling it. It's a bit windy. Yeah. You know, something reading's not quite exactly right. Let's abort. So there are lots of aborts, but that's not because of an unreliability of the technology. It's more a super abundance of caution because the stakes are so high. Wait, I have to go to the toilet. It's like recording a podcast with you.

It takes five or six starts because you're like, oh, no, I haven't got my pop shield. I haven't got my cable. I'm not happy with my levels a bit windy let's do it tomorrow i'm not feeling it let's do it tomorrow i tell you what i called up another page you'll find interesting this was television series cancelled after one episode oh okay and there's one here that you might remember well australia's naughtiest home video yeah that was yanked off air halfway through yeah That you might remember well. Australia's naughtiest home videos. Yeah. That was yanked off air halfway through. Yeah.

Yes, it's Australia's naughtiest home videos. The program recommended by 9 out of 10 doctors. That's right. They started showing these videos that were a bit risque. What was his name, the guy that hosted it? Was it Mulray? Doug Mulray? Doug Mulray, yeah.

And it was like just, lowest common denominator television. And the owner of Channel 9, the richest man in Australia, Kerry Packer, was watching. And he phoned up Channel 9 and said, take that off right now. Like, mid-show. And they had to just, like, press the button. Just rip it off and play another episode of MASH or Cheers or something like that. Here's what it says on Wikipedia.

Kerry Packer, the owner of Nine Network at the time, was informed of the show's content by friends while having dinner. He tuned in to watch the show and was so offended by its content that he phoned the studio operators and angrily shouted, get that shh off the air. Within minutes, the series was pulled. After the break, the Nine Network announced it had failed to continue airing the show, purportedly due to technical difficulties, and aired reruns of the American sitcom Cheers immediately afterwards to fill in the remaining airtime.

It's a classic. Where everybody knows your name. I like this comment because commenting on the fact that Channel 9 blamed technical difficulties. In 2008, Burt Newton, who's a TV celebrity, justified the broadcast explanation. It's technically very difficult to keep a show on air with Mr Packer on the phone yelling at you.

Yeah. So this is like Ted Turner calling up CNN and saying, get that interview off or something like that. It's right now, mid-interview. It's like going to transmission. It is interesting about shows that never make it. This is really funny. I looked up a little while ago a show called The Heights.

Do you remember The Heights in the 90s? Yeah. How do you talk to an angel? How do you talk? That was a hit single. That was a show where the single did better than the show. The Heights. Do you remember The Heights in the 90s? Yeah. How Do You Talk To An Angel? How Do You Talk... That was a hit single. That was a show where the single did better than the show. How Do You Talk To An Angel? I liked that song.

But that lasted about three episodes and it was gone. I bet you were all in on that show too because it was like... Wasn't it like about a band or something as well? I bet you were all in. It was. It was about a band. I thought, oh, this is going to be great. This is like 902 like, wasn't it like about a band or something as well? I bet you were all in. It was. It was about a band. I thought, oh, this is going to be great. This is like 90210, but they're all in a rock band, which is just perfect in the early 90s.

It's like it was made for you. That's true. If you were the owner of the network, you would have called up mid-show and said, play episode two right now. I would have invented binge watching right there. Just like, we're playing these babies back to back all night. That's right. I'm inventing Netflix because I want to watch all of this immediately. It's a real Wikipedia fest here.

I'm looking it up. The Heights. The Heights TV series, an American musical drama that aired Thursday at nine o'clock on the Fox network from August to November 92. Oh, yeah. There were 13 episodes, but episode 13, The Big Chance, was unaired. Oh, wow. Well, there you go.

See, that's a classic example. There's an extra show of the Heights out there somewhere that no one's ever seen. And no one wants to see it. And Tim is the only person who wants to see it. I think I only saw two episodes, but every, there's a song, what would happen in the show is the last, the climax of the show would be the performance of a song, right? And it was a bit like Baywatch where even though the storyline involves singing a song. You lost me.

It was a bit like Baywatch. That's right. Except there was no beach and no sand. What I meant was Baywatch would do this thing where they're telling a story and then suddenly there would be like music playing and it was like suddenly it was like a music video and pamela anderson and david hasselhoff were running slowly and it's like what this is just this is just like a um this is not part of the story this is suddenly it's all slow motion and it was like a music. And that's what this show did.

It was it would climax with the song being performed like one song per episode. It says here in the synopsis, the Heights centers on a fictional band also called the Heights, made up mostly of working class young adults. Episodes regularly featured one of their songs. Yeah. Yeah. Now, in the second episode. Now, I haven't seen these since 1992, right? But in the second episode.

That was called Children of the Night, September 3, 1992. Well, the song was called Natalie. Tim, that's episode four, September 17, 1992. Oh, really? Okay. I'm so impressed. I'm super impressed that you remember there was a song called Natalie. Well, it sometimes is an earworm.

Like, I would sometimes just start singing Natalie. After all these years, I don't know how it sticks in my ears. How does it go? I'm not going to sing it to you. It's like it started out as a song about unrequited love, and now it's just a song. But it's like, Natalie, yo, Natalie, you're pretty. Okay.

Natalie, oh, she's pretty. And it's all, like're pretty. Okay. Natalie, oh, she's pretty. And it's all like keyboard, you know, like it's all sort of piano, sort of early 90s keyboard. Natalie, yo, I'm not a liar. Like that's real poetry. Natalie, you're not a liar. How do you talk to an angel? I listened to, like, I must have listened to that a million times.

Yeah. Yeah, that wasn't bad. I remember that, actually, because I remember you and I modified the words to that song for, like, a jokey song we once made at your house. Like, and I was just thinking about that the other day. Oh, yeah, yeah. But how do you talk to an angel went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the first song from a television show to top the Hot 100 since 1985. Hang on, hang on.

Which would have been Fame. It was Fame in 1985. Yeah, okay. Yeah, I was finishing my sentence. You got so excited by your... I thought you were going to say it. You were so excited by your incredible knowledge of pop culture. It was the first song by a fictional band

to top the Hot 100 since 1969. Come on then, Tim. What was the first song by a fictional band to top the Hot 100 since 1969. Come on then, Tim. What was the fictional band that topped the Hot 100 in 1969? Oh, the fictional band would be the Monkees, I guess. But then they went on to become a real band, wouldn't they? That would have been my guess, but it's not here in the article. So stuff that didn't happen. Yeah.

The multifunction polis and the Heights episode. Well, the heights did happen for 12 slash 13 episodes so i don't think the heights would make it into never happened i got lots of stuff here but anyway this was just supposed to be my like rough idea but i'm just going to go with it i'm going to go with it as my full idea now it's it's a good it's good enough to be a full idea it's only because i gave you killer material based on the heights you did you did you gave me and your rendition of natalie which is one for the ages i don't know if you're saying natalie yo or natalie your natalie oh she's pretty natalie your I'm not a liar I'm not a liar I'm not a liar does he say I'm not a liar

I think that's what he says it's kind of like it's if you're saying you're not a liar in a song it's kind of like you're protested too much it's like you don't know me like I love you I'm not a liar yeah and it's like why are you telling me you're not a liar like it's like that the line that I always think is a wasted line where it say, I don't mean maybe. Yeah. Be my baby or whatever. I don't mean maybe. Like, why are you saying I don't mean maybe?

Clearly, that is just like a lame rhyme. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, here's the YouTube video. I'm having a quick look at the YouTube video, Tim. I'll tell you how it compares to yours. There's some very, very poor hairdos here, man. Yeah. There's a guy that looks likeos here man yeah there's a

guy that looks like michael bolton here's the keyboards because the premise of the episode is he sings he writes it for a girt song and she i think likes someone else but then at the end of the show he just sings it he gets tricked into singing it one more time and then she's hears it nearby and this is amazing. You're saying this as I'm watching it happen on the screen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like your memory for, like, pop culture crap is unsurpassed. And he's, the really melodramatic thing is I think right at the end

he's got tears in his eyes. Like his own song has brought him to tears and then he sees Natalie. I'm sure it's not his song that's bringing him to tears It's thinking about what he's singing Yeah Oh yeah so there's like all these clips of her It is it's turned into a music video Now he's just in a shed singing it

Yeah that's right How did he get there? You're right though he does say Natalie O a lot. If her surname doesn't start with O, that's a bit weird. Natalie O Lachlan. Yeah, that is right. Does he end up getting Natalie? Do they end up together?

Well, I don't remember seeing any more episodes. I thought that was episode two and that I remember the first one and that one. But you said it's... You're right. He's very teary when he sings it and sees her. Yeah. If she then walks away and says, nice song, but I'm going back to Billy, then that's like pretty...

There's going to be even more tears then. That's right. Natalie, au revoir. Your memory is astonishing for this stuff Tim although to be fair I find myself going back and watching highlights of cricket matches from the 80s that I can only have seen once and I remember exact pieces of commentary and things that happen so it is that is it is amazing isn't it that stuff it'll just stick and you say things in line. I mean, I looked this up ages ago again, so it's kind of more fresh. I'm cheating a little bit, but it's a long time ago. The truth comes out.

Tim's watched this YouTube video has 50,000 views and 48,000 of them are Tim. I'm still a bit stuck that it's episode four, not episode two. But anyway. It's not a slight on your heights knowledge there, man. Don't take it too hard. Would the heights be like your specialist subject if you were on Celebrity Mastermind? I'd probably have to hone it down to the Natalie song. But I'd probably...

Tim Hine, your specialist subject is the song natalie from episode four of the heights i remember i remember watching at the time when the heights was on he just started and i remember there was an award show on and you know how the host of an award show always makes fun of stuff at the start does a little comedy routine yeah he made fun of the heights he mentioned oh something about the the heights didn't get axed or something like that it must have been the emmys and i remember listening to that and going oh does he not think the heights is very good i think the heights is great has he not heard the natalie song everyone in the world's laughing except tim he's like what what i don't

get the joke the heights is awesome maybe the whole show is is a um a satire on those kinds of shows and i'm just taking reading it straight but it's so bad you've missed it you're the only one who's not in on the joke that's right that's you're the guy who watched the office and thought that was a really good snapshot of life in the office these days like that's a documentary i i think clearly two things would happen here man if you and i were making this show, I would be going down the exploration, adventure, infrastructure route. And you would be doing 80s, 90s TV shows. I was going to disagree with you, but that sounds ridiculous.

To be fair, we spent a whole lot more time talking about TV shows than building projects that never happened. I guess the multifunction polis. I didn't think at the start of today I'd be talking about the multifunction polis. Well, and I think we need to say here that it hasn't happened yet. Who knows? Because it could be a visionary idea whose time has not yet come. Well, I didn't want to bring this up, but I was looking at the Wikipedia article. They sort of saying that the levels and Mawson Lakes is kind of what the MFP became.

Oh, okay. Sorry for people not from the northern suburbs of Adelaide. We have no interest whatsoever in that sentence. For people who are from the northern suburbs of Adelaide, like this episode is right in your wheelhouse. That's right. Particularly people from the northern suburbs of Adelaide who love early 90s television.

That's right. Tim, before we do your idea, which I'm looking forward to very much, can I make mention of our sponsor? You can. Go ahead, man. Who is our sponsor? It's Hover. Hover.

Again. Yeah. Awesome. Yes. Awesome. So Hover is the place to go to for registering domain names. And I am not just saying this because it is the place I go to for registering domain names. And I'm not just saying this because it is the place I go to to register domain names. So for example, if you've got a project that you're doing now

or a project you're doing in the future and you know you're going to want a domain name for it, say like Tim's going to set up a Heights fan site. The first thing he's going to need for his Heights fan site will be a domain name. So he can go to Hover, search what's available with all the different suffixes like.com and.net and.whatever. In fact, Tim. .tv.

.tv. Even better. You could get that on Hover. Let me go to Hover right now. Let's see what's available. Is the Heights.tv available? Do you know what? It is.

What? What a surprise. So you could register the heights.tv right now. Yeah. And then you could just sit on it for a while. You could register the heights.tv and in the interim just divert. In fact, I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it right now, Tim.

Do it. I've just got the heights.tv. Proceed to cart, check out, and I've got it going to do it. I'm going to do it right now, Tim. Do it. I've just got the heights.tv. Proceed to cart, check out, and I've got it. That's it. It is very simple. That's great. And it's really easy to use. But what I can do now, super fast, is I'm going to divert,

because I haven't created my heights fansite yet. Can't believe you're doing a fansite as well. That's just going to be so sad. You can buy it off me, yeah. Can't believe you're doing a fan site as well. That's just going to be so... You can buy it off me, Tim. The one good idea I've had for a while and you... Well, this is why you have to go to Hover now, Tim. You've got to get this stuff before someone gets it first. So, manage my domain, forward the domain, and then with just a click, paste in the YouTube video URL.

Now, if someone goes to the heights.tv they're gonna land on that natalie song wow what a blessing later on when i create my proper fan site i'll take away that forwarding and it will just go to my heights fan site but for now while i'm sitting on it for a rainy day it's still useful man if people want to contact you like hypothetically to buy the heights.tv off you um yeah howard i'm just asking for a friend you can't you can't put a price on that you can't put a price on it you probably can't but whatever that price is you get 10% off your first domain purchases from Hover by going to hover.com slash unmade promo code unmade at checkout. Hover.com slash unmade promo code unmade at checkout.

Seriously, I know if you've had experience before with registering domains, it can be a bit of a nightmare, but that means you haven't done it with Hover. They're really, really good. And we really appreciate them for sponsoring the Unmade Podcast. Our thanks to them. Again. Thank you, Hover. All right, Tim, what do you got for us? All right. This is, this is, I'm going to push this out a little bit. This is a little bit, I feel a little bit nervous doing this because it could be a terrible it could be a terrible idea it's not stopped you before no it hasn't no it hasn't this podcast is called that's totally fonzie fonzie

from happy days that's right that's right and what it is it's a podcast that discusses, explores the expressions and words that people use to say, hey, that's awesome, hey, that's cool, hey, that's fantastic. Okay. That's totally Fonzie. I came up with that this week because I think we were actually texting together and you said something and I said, yeah, that's cool, totally Fonzie or something like that. And it struck me going, no, that's actually, that could catch on.

That's not bad. That's Fonzie. What if people said, instead of saying, that's cool. That was your proposed replacement word for cool. That was your new word. That's right. That's right. Totally Fonzie.

And so, that got me thinking about, oh, that's interesting how at different stages of your life, you have a bit of a different go-to word for saying something is cool or gnarly or rad or great or rad i remember rad well yeah things could be rad or if they're really good that could be bulk rad but oh i've never heard of bulk rad i went through a phase where everything had bulk put in front of it oh that's bulk cool yeah bulk fun yeah so this this this podcast is a bit of a is is it you can talk about one of those and where it comes from. And I've got one in particular to talk about in a second. But also, you've got to come up with one.

This is the challenge. The guest would need to come up with one that you could... That you have to try and get into circulation and... Get into the lexicon. Yeah. That's exactly right. And how is one supposed to get into the lexicon beyond just talking about it on the episode? That's exactly right. And how is one supposed to get it into the lexicon beyond just talking about it on the episode? Like, have they got a challenge to, you know, like, try and infiltrate it into articles and interviews?

You could try and do that. But it's one of those ones where I think it's the power of a good idea. If it's good enough and if it makes sense, you start, you use it on the podcast, you use it elsewhere. Maybe you come back a week later and say, how's it going? podcast, you use it elsewhere. Maybe you come back a week later and say, how's it going? Did people sort of, you know, go with what you meant or did they get cringeworthy and look at you and shake their head and go, what is that? What are you doing? If I started dropping the word gnarly into meetings this week at work, it would raise some eyebrows, you know. I like the idea of discussing words for things that are cool. I don't know whether the challenge of, you know, releasing new ones into the wild would work.

But I do like the idea of trying to come up with ones. Yeah, I think probably just talking about it. I don't know if this would sustain a podcast, but I do like the idea. I think this is fun. What are some other ones that have there been? And what are ones at the moment? Dope. There's an old Australian one that used to be, that was grouse.

Do you remember saying something is, oh, that's grouse, or this tastes grouse, which was good. It's a good thing, by the way, grouse. I am aware of it, and I think I've heard you use it, but it never entered my life. It was something, I think maybe it was more of an eastern states thing, and maybe you picked it up in Victoria, but I don't remember ever becoming a big thing in South Australia.

I don't remember using it within the last 30 years. But Wicked, Wicked is another one. I remember when Wicked was new. Yeah, it's Wicked. Yeah. But you had a book. You remember years ago, you had a book on American slang and there was a term in there that is always stuck with me.

Yes. I know what's coming. 23 skidoo. Yeah. That's an oldfashioned way of saying cool. Yeah, yeah, although I went, I looked it up earlier because I was interested in its etymology or its history and where it comes from. And it's actually a little bit different than that.

It's really interesting. It's an American slang phrase popularised during the 20th century and it's often talked about as being one of the very first kind of slang expressions with a totally American origin. Like a lot of the others come from, you know, England and rhyming slang and all the rest of it. But they talk about it as being getting out. Like rather than being cool, it's like if you 23 skidoo, it means you get out while the going's good. So it's a bit more like we have a term skedaddle like to leave okay and it seems to be a little bit more like that but the history of it is actually quite interesting because it talks about there was a place where

you know in new york city the flat iron building you know flat iron yeah yeah the really thin one yeah yeah which is on 23rd street at the intersection of fifth avenue and broadway where they come together obviously at a corner the very tight corner and it's because it's 23rd street street apparently a whole lot of men used to stand around there all the time and make comments at passers-by's and ladies walking past and all the rest of it. And the police would continually be moving these guys on from their smoko brakes and standing around from 23rd Street. So, it was like 23 Skidoo. It was like to be told to Skidoo away from 23rd Street. But yeah, since you, I remember you mentioning that like 20 years ago.

And I sometimes use it like with, you know, just in an ironic kind of way because it's such a ridiculous over the top way skidoo apparently is a noun that comes from denoting a supposed bringer of bad luck there you go but there are all sorts of other theories about where it comes from yeah but yeah there you go 23 skidoo i'm trying to think of other when i was young other ways i'd describe things as cool i remember x as in short for excellent and then XO. Oh, XO. Yeah. Oh, that'd be XO. Rad was very much associated with, well, with the skate scene when I was a kid, but there was the movie Rad.

But I assume it's a shortening of radical. That's radical. Yeah. Rad. Yeah. I don't know. I think there could be an interesting conversation in exploring the history of one of these phrases, but people talking about their favourite one and then maybe trying to come up with one.

You try and come up with one now. What's a word that you would use or could use to mean something in this vein of conversation? Sick is another one. It's quite often the opposite, isn't it? I'm trying to think of something from like modern culture, like, like netflixy culture multi-function polis maybe that could be the mfp that's mfp that is totally mfp natalie natalie natalie oh natalie that's natalie oh Is it a good song? Man, it's Natalie-o. Yeah, I'm trying to think of like meme-y culture things,

but I guess I'm just not cool enough for this, man. No, I worried that might be the case. It's amazing how cool just prevails there, doesn't it? Like cool is always cool. Cool is an interesting concept to define because it's probably the most valuable commodity in some ways or it's defined in different ways like having what people want or one of the things about cool if you're trying to look cool then you've missed it it's this ephemeral kind of

mood of rebellion and not caring and it's actually quite a selfish narcissistic kind of thing but you're supposed to not to not care what people think is kind of part of cool. So it sort of doubles back on itself. Do you think you're cool? I think I have my moments. Why don't you ever have them when I'm around? I don't think I'm cool, no. But that's part of being cool. That's what's so cool about me.

We're lucky we live in an era where there is a kind of geek chic at the moment And being the coolest thing is to not be cool Like it's pretty cool now to be a bit of a nerd If only that had been the case when we were at school I know Life would have been so much better I know, I know Unfortunately when we were at school the coolest thing was to be cool

Yeah, like when we were young and sort of you know gangly and awkward and stuff it was cool to be like really ripped and good looking and now we're really ripped and good looking and the cool thing is to be like really gangly it's like we're chasing our tails that's right now i'm trying to lose all this condition By the time I get myself all gangly again, being ripped will be cool. I know. What do you say we do one from a patron? Patron? Yeah, yeah.

Yeah? They always have better ideas than us. Oh, yeah. Especially the Canadians. No, we haven't got a Canadian today, thank goodness. Oh. If you wish to support the Unmade podcast on Patreon, go to patreon.com slash unmadefm. You help us find the time and resources to make more episodes, which we like to do.

We have so many ideas we want to share with you. I'm really grateful. We are really grateful for the Patreon supporters. Absolutely. If we'd had more Patreon support, we may have been able to rearrange the asphalt covering of the car park at the offices that stopped Tim being able to record last night. But as was we were hamstrung there was nothing we could do we could build our own unmade offices we could we could headquarters but until that time we will continue bumbling

through as we are but we are grateful for the support of people like akash from Mumbai, India. Akash is 21 or was 21 when he sent this email. He may have had a birthday since, I don't know. He's studying economics and maths at USC in LA. He mainly listens to the podcast while playing video games. The games I play tend to be those where you don't need to listen to the game itself. FIFA, for example. So I like listening to something else while playing. Oh, cool. Do you imagine people playing a football or soccer video game when they're listening to us, Tim? No, no.

Maybe Tommyball. Akash says, my idea for a podcast is called Been Meaning to Watch That. Essentially, it's about those pieces of entertainment that you've been meaning to watch but never get around to. I got this idea from noticing both from myself and my friends that when you put off watching something, it's usually for a reason that doesn't become clear to you until after you watch it. I often tell my friends, oh, I've been meaning to watch that, but I just haven't. There's no reason

why. I just haven't got to it. But after watching it, I'll say, oh, I was putting it off because I thought it would be slow and dry or something like that, which I always find interesting. So you could have new people on every week, perhaps someone who loves the thing and someone who's been putting it off. Maybe one of them was pushing the other to watch it. And then the discussion will not only be about the show itself, but the perception of the show by the person who'd been putting it off and why they'd be avoiding it. Oh okay yeah that's a good idea yeah yeah about shows you could also do it with films and you could also do it with music or band albums you know yeah that is an interesting idea but it would be interesting to have a review like

because it would almost be like a kind of a review and a discussion of a show where one of your hosts has seen it and presumably is quite into it and the other one has just never seen it although they kind of want to and they talk about why they haven't they there could be an interesting discussion to be had there yeah yeah and the mood they're in as well because it's often like uh you know someone oh you got to watch this and i just sort of go nah i'm just i and they go why not this is great this is a good show you need to check it out i'm just not up for spaceships and stuff you know like at the moment or you know what i mean like it's just it's it's intangible reason of going no it's just going to be like one of those it is interesting to try and dig down as

to why the person hasn't watched it though i mean there's i'm sure you have and i certainly have a million things i haven't watched that i think i should and I'd probably like it. But to really dig down and interrogate someone, you know, why haven't you watched that? Because you watch other things. It's not like you haven't got time to watch things at all. But you keep not watching that one. What's the barrier to entry? What's the thing that's stopping you? Is it the name?

Is it an actor in it you don't like? Is it one thing you once saw or heard like you know once you really push someone on that it would be interesting to find out i think i think that's true i think that's true is there something that you're avoiding you know i've only watched i haven't watched parks and recreation and i think i would like it and i'm gonna try now to burrow down as to why i haven't watched it i think it's because I don't understand what genre of show it is. I watched 10 minutes of it once and like, because it's genre is not obvious to me. I've just not given it a go and that, you know, and I'm open to all genres and I'm sure I'd love it, but

I think maybe that's the reason. Cause I don't know exactly what I'm getting myself in for. So you're never in the mood for it. Cause you don't know what mood suits it. Yes. That's it. That's it. Yeah. I don't know what mood I have to be in. What about you? Is there a glaring one on your list at the moment? I was about to say Black Mirror. You've highly recommended it.

In fact, you've sent me a list of the ones to watch in the order I should watch them, like the best ones and stuff. Yeah. And I've watched two episodes and I found them, they were black, but they were, it's, I think it's because it's also, they're heavy. They're like, they're high concept and they're making a point. And whenever someone explains an episode, I think, oh, that's brilliant. That's a really insightful take on modern society.

But that's partly the reason I think is because it's, you know, it's the end of the day when I'm home going to watch something. And it's like, I'm going to have to watch something high concept again. You know, like I've been, I don't know, reading heavy stuff or in heavy discussions or lecturing or, you know, anything like that. And so it feels like it's not more work. That's a bit silly to say that, but it is a bit more, you know, heavy critique of contemporary society. And it's high cognitive load if you've had a busy day at work. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is there something that you were meaning to watch for ages and ages and ages and then you finally did?

And you were like, oh, why didn't I watch that sooner? I felt that way about The Sopranos, which I recently finished after delaying it for way too long. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I also was a bit slow to get onto Breaking Bad, which was extraordinary as well. I didn't watch the US version of The Office for a long time, for many years. In fact, I've only just watched it recently. Every now and then it was like on a plane trip somewhere or something, you know, like you put one on for an hour or something.

And it's like, oh, yeah, that's all right. But because I love the UK version of The Office, which I see as seminal television, one of the really great funny shows, I was reluctant for the American one. But then I sort of got, oh, it's actually a different show. And you've got to think of it as a different show. Yeah, that's what you've got to do. I kind of enjoyed it on its own terms. And I've actually nearly finished it. Like, it's been watching one occasionally and i'm in the last season now and i'm actually you know feeling a little bit um you're kind of with the characters

a little bit because it has a little bit of pathos which is nice as well which the original one does really well as well saying do you prefer the british one or the american one is a bit like comparing apples and oranges they're just completely different shows. And the American one, you really lose the sense of a documentary being made because it feels a bit more set piece, you know, except it breaks the fourth wall, you know, when Jim's looking at the camera, which is kind of cool. But that just makes it feel like we're in on something. Thank you, Tim.

Thank you, Akash, for your idea. That was a good idea. Thank you. Thank you, Hover, for supporting the episode. Thank you to Tim. Thank you, Akash, for your idea. That was a good idea. Thank you. Thank you, Hover, for supporting the episode. Thank you to everyone listening. And thank you, everyone in the world. I hope I haven't forgotten anyone. That's a Steve Martin line, isn't it?

Steve Martin's funnier incidentally than he is in some of his shows. Like when he comes out to present an award or give a little speech honoring someone or lampooning someone he's extremely funny and his book his biography is fantastic um and then he just does a heap of movies that are really mediocre you know he's he's a really really he's a bit of an enigma tim what part of ending the show did you not understand? Oh, sorry. Sorry. I thought we were just talking now. Yes, people, our normal conversations are that boring.