Ep. 115: Chicken Pugslets

Happy Happoween! While Ben and Brian serve as the winter caretakers of the Overheard Podcast Studio, Ben eats a bucket of munch, Brian fights for teeth custody, and their new sound engineer Lloyd prevents the apocketlypse.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Wow, this place is huge.

(00:22):
I know.
I don't think we've ever been in one this big before.
And our pyramid one in Memphis is pretty good.
That's true.
But this one really puts that one to shame.
Especially when that one is right now so covered in whatever that goop was that we needed to
be somewhere else, both deep cleaned.
That's true.
So it did work out in that way.
Oh yeah, thank good.

(00:43):
And you said you didn't apply for this?
No, no, I thought you did.
No, I mean, I've never even heard of the Overheard Podcast Studio.
The Overheard Podcast Studio.
Yeah, I mean, it sounds familiar.
It rings a bell.
But yeah, I mean, lovely, lovely facility.
Did you see that topiary garden out back?
I know.

(01:04):
You know, when we were driving up, I thought for a second that it was a hedge maze, and
I was so grateful to know that it was actually a topiary garden.
Oh, I mean, it wouldn't be terrible if it was a hedge maze.
I'd hate to be lost out there.
I know.
In this weather.
You see that they have that like croquet court?
Oh yeah, absolutely.
I think after we record our new podcast, we should have a croquet match.

(01:25):
Well, that'd be great.
Oh yes, yes, yes.
Where are we?
Just like in that movie, Heathers.
Oh, well, I think the problem is when I was out there, I didn't see croquet mallets.
I just saw croque mallets, which are a little bit bigger and heavier.
Oh, OK.
I mean, that seems like a honest mistake, though.
By the grounds.

(01:46):
Is there a groundskeeper?
Is that us now?
Well, we're the winter caretakers.
I just didn't know what that entails.
Well, I mean, we haven't gone into the main recording room yet.
Maybe somebody left us a note.
Let's check it out.
Oh, wow.
Look at all this equipment and oh, hey, hey, is that there's somebody behind there?

(02:12):
Sir, can you turn around so we can see your face?
It's kind of creepy when you're not facing us.
Oh, Ben and Brian, welcome.
Welcome to the Overheard Podcast Studio.
So glad you could make it.
Regis Philbin.
What?
No, no, I'm not Regis.
My name's Lloyd.
I'm the engineer here at the Overheard.
But don't worry, it happens all the time.
Oh, wow.
Well, that's really good to hear.
Well, I didn't know we had an engineer.

(02:33):
What do you engineer for us?
Just audio or like everything?
Oh, well, you know, I've got all kinds of things I do for you.
I put in the music, I check the audio levels, I turn these knobs over here up and down.
I don't know what they do, but it seems to help.
Oh, I see.
So you're a
engineer.

(02:54):
Oh, do they help you control the audio?
I did have an incident one time where I put out an episode that was entirely an echo,
and they didn't appreciate that.
But other than that, it's been pretty good.
Oh, all right.
Good, good.
Do you have any tips for us while we stay here for the winter?
Well, the main thing that we brought you in here to do is these facilities look nice,

(03:15):
but this equipment is very old.
So we need somebody to come in here and record at least once a week to keep the machines
warm so they don't freeze up.
Right, Brian, I think we could do that, right?
Maybe was that too much?
I mean, putting out a podcast once a week is a lot of work.
We're not the engineers, but that's true.
I think maybe for maybe for the winter, we can do it for a while.

(03:38):
It's definitely something we've done before.
Does he not look like Regis to you?
He's definitely like an older man.
At a certain point, a lot of older men look alike.
So I don't know, is it Regis?
Is it Johnny Carson?
Is it Ed McMahon?
It could be any of those people.
They all look pretty different, but OK, I'll concede your point.

(04:01):
I don't know, Ben.
Is it Sammy Davis Jr.?
Is it Jackie Chan?
I don't know.
It could be any of those people.
But he's holding like a wad of cash in one hand and smiling at us while he's wearing
a suit.
It's a pretty nice suit.
Well, I don't know.
Regis, we all know that Regis unfortunately passed away a few years ago.

(04:24):
Oh, he did?
Rest in power came.
Yes, he did.
He's no longer with us, but...
Oh, I didn't know that.
No, it's unfortunate.
So it can't be Regis.
It's impossible.
All right, that's true.
All right.
Well, so, I mean, since we're here in the actual room where it happens, where it happens,
we should...
Let's go ahead and knock out this week's podcast.

(04:44):
Lloyd, did you say your name was?
Is there anything else we should know about the facilities before we go?
Well, it's funny that you bring it up.
It's a beautiful place, great place.
Everyone loves it.
But Lloyd here just wants you to know that sometimes here at The Overheard, unusual things
can happen.
Oh, unusual things?

(05:05):
Yeah.
Is it safe?
Well, it's fine.
It's, you know, we haven't had anybody perish here at The Overheard for many years, so it's
perfectly fine.
Wait, wait, wait.
It's very safe, very good.
But they have perished?
Well, that was a long time ago after the fire, but we rebuilt.
Things are better.
Things are good.
You're going to love it here.

(05:26):
You're going to love Lloyd's Prophecy.
All right.
Here we go.
I'm looking forward to it.

(06:01):
Hello and welcome to another Appetition of Happy Cast with Ben and Brian.
Are you okay, Brian?
I'm more than okay.
I am in the Halloween season.

(06:23):
That's why I'm not Brian.
I'm Count Brian.
Oh, I'm sorry, Count Brian.
Do you drink blood?
You sound like a werewolf.
You sound like a vampire.
Oh, yeah.
I'm sorry, Ben.
I thought I could keep up the vampire voice through the whole podcast, but it's kind of
hurting my throat.
Also, the ancient Oregon's vampire between vampires and werewolves has been a hot button

(06:49):
issue here on the podcast.
So I don't mean to make the point, you know, find or make light of the situation.
So apologies to anyone, any vampires or werewolves out there.
That might be a little offensive to our listener, Professor Vampire, or Vampir.
Sorry.
Yes, sorry.
We're all here having good fun.

(07:10):
So regular regular opening.
Hello, everybody.
Welcome to another episode of Happy Cast with Ben and Brian.
Happy Cast is the number one source for the things that make you happy, the things that
bum you out and everything in between.
I, of course, am the Brian from the title, and I'm joined by the other half of the title,

(07:32):
Ben.
Ben!
How are you?
Oh, no, we were not doing that.
What?
What?
No, I had like a hair in my mouth.
Oh, sorry.
Sorry.
Yeah.
OK.
Why?
What would you think I was doing?
Hi.
It's not important.
It's fine.
I thought you were making fun of some vampire tropes.
No, no, no.
I would never do that this close to Halloween or really ever.

(07:57):
All Hallows Eve.
We are just days away from the big day.
Ben, are you?
Or possibly day, depending on when I edit.
Or could be after because you can listen to this podcast whenever.
Nope.
I'm going to delete it and remove it from the Internet on November 1st.
Oh, no.
Well, hopefully people were able to snag it while it's up.

(08:18):
It's LTO, a limited time offer.
Oh, see, maybe we'll get more listens that way because you have to listen so soon.
Oh, right, right.
Artificial scarcity is a good way to drum up business.
Everyone loves that.
Everyone loves artificial scarcity.
They're always talking about it.
Listeners, write in or call in.
If you love artificial scarcity, have it cast feedback at gmail.com or 177 happy bus.

(08:42):
Oh, yes.
Yes, of course.
Sorry, Ben.
I'm going to turn off my phone here while we record because I was distracted by a message
from a friend of mine.
It's a link and the headline just says breaking news here on the podcast.
So I'm excited to share it with the listeners live.
Oh, yeah, I want to hear it says Tom Holland strongly agrees with Timothy Chalamet on being

(09:10):
the ultimate Riz master.
So there you go.
I'm going to click on it later to get more information, but I just wanted to loop people
in that that's what's going on right now.
That's breaking news for people from a few days ago.
Yes, of course, of course.
So it's old hat by this point.

(09:30):
Everyone knows that about the ultimate Riz masters now, but this is a little bit of the
audio time capsule.
That's us finding out for the first time.
Breaking news, Puzz Guzzler is the ultimate Puzz master.
He'll have you believe that at least he wants to be the ultimate, but I think he has a little

(09:51):
bit more work to do.
Well, especially since he flew away like a deflating balloon last time.
Yes.
And then we never saw him again.
We haven't seen him since then.
It's been a whole few days.
We're in a different place.
That's true.
We're here, so we don't have to worry about him this week.
Oh, good.

(10:12):
All right.
Well, anyway, we've set the table for the podcast feast ahead of us.
So let's move on to happy hour.
Hey, Lloyd.

(10:35):
We don't usually talk or sing during the audio during the bumpers.
Oh, I'm sorry.
I didn't know that came across the recording.
I'll be sure to keep my mouth shut.
Yeah, we're always on.
Maybe just turn your mic to mute.
Okay, I'm going to turn the knob this way.
Brian, I don't know about this.

(10:57):
I'm sorry.
I mean, he's getting his feet wet.
He maybe hasn't done it in a while.
So let's just give him a shot.
Let's just see how it goes.
All right.
Anyway, happy hour is the part of the show where we talk about the thing that makes us
most happy for the week.
Ben, you seem kind of chipper.

(11:18):
What what's making you so happy at the moment?
All right.
Well, I have multiple updates for my happy hour.
Multiple updates and ultimate updates.
I do some ultimate updates coming in, coming in hot.
All right.
With a bullet like Yosemite Sam, it hits with those hot updates.

(11:41):
Ben, number one update.
Power wash.
Sam talked about it last week.
Talked about how much fun I have with it.
It's a great fun game.
We still get well.
I mean, yes, but what came out today, the day that we're recording, which is in October,
they released the haunted house free update.

(12:04):
Oh, that sounds exciting.
I have been power washing a spooky witch haunted house for some time now.
Are you going to is great.
Are you going to flip it like you clean it up and then you sell it on the market?
I reached down to the foundations and pull up so hard the whole place flips like flipping

(12:26):
a table.
What if that is what it was like?
If it was like those like lumberjack games where they're like flipping a trunk of a tree
end over end, but with a house.
I mean, I would at least watch YouTube videos of that for sure.
I feel like they could do it with maybe like a trailer.
Yeah, probably.
So get enough momentum rocking it back and forth.

(12:46):
Flip a house like would it just flip up on its like upside down or you like a full rotation?
You get more points the more rotations it does.
OK, like a flapjack.
Yeah.
I'm not flipping this one.
I'm what I don't remember the story, something about two rival witch clans and someone's
throwing a Halloween party and one of them did some kind of like mucketing spell.

(13:10):
And now it's too dirty.
Ah, so I mean, it has to be like as I think we talked about last week, it has to be like
a little bit dingy, but it's too dirty now.
This one isn't so much dingy.
It's a place where witches are living, but like they're all their graves were too covered.
And when you uncover them, clean all the grime off, there's like spooky text or little puns.

(13:32):
They have like a little a little potion hut that looks sort of like a like a food stand,
but for potions.
And it was all just dirty and unrecognizable.
I had to clean that off the jack-o'-lanterns.
They look way better now.
OK, all right.
And it's a free update, you said.
Yes, it's one of their several.
They've had several free updates that the four big ones had content like the aquarium

(13:54):
I mentioned last time, and they've had three seasonal ones, which I mentioned before, where
the cruise ship and Santa's workshop.
And this is their Halloween one, the haunted house one.
And I have heard that there is another one coming up, which is, I think, a ski slope
or something.
That's fun.
That's supposed to be the next couple of months, I think.

(14:17):
Sure, sure.
Around probably December, January, you want to get that out there.
Yeah, that's happy hour update one.
Now on to update number two.
Ultimate update two.
That one is I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was starting this new freelance
thing where I was doing AI grading, sort of.

(14:40):
Oh, sure.
Of course, of course.
How has that been going?
I have successfully been able to withdraw money three times now, and it is real.
So not a scam.
I mean, maybe maybe later it'll be a scam.
But I mean, I've withdrawn enough money at this point that I don't really care.
Not that I'm not skimming other people, but I don't care if they just stop at some point.

(15:03):
I'll be sad.
But I got something out of it, at least.
So it's been a it's been a good source of supplemental income.
It definitely has.
It's been helping us get caught up on stuff, helping us buy big time grocery instead of
mini little time grocery.
Oh, sure, you're doing like that a monthly grocery run instead of the weekly grocery

(15:24):
run.
That's kind of what it's been.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's been nice, especially because a lot of the different projects and tasks I mentioned
before that some are like making those roundabout questions like I've done for a bintis before.
Recently I've done some that were like making logic puzzles that it had to try to solve

(15:46):
correctly and was usually wrong, it would be something like there are there are five
people in a line.
So and so finished before this one.
And I had to make up a bunch of rules for that.
That would make sense and give it multiple choices and then see how it could do and frequently
poorly, but sometimes kind of OK.
That seems extremely in your wheelhouse.

(16:07):
It was.
Yeah.
And it was I enjoyed it because I would always theme them after something fun.
So I think the racing one I named after people that are on the Neighborhood Listen podcast
recommended by the new today and me since then.
I did one about like Zelda shrines that were like the if a shrine contains fire, it can't
contain ice.

(16:28):
And it was a bunch of stuff like that.
I made one using a bunch of Alan Wake characters.
That one was good.
I saved them because I actually like them.
I mean, honestly, it seems like kind of a dream gig for you because it sounds like the
kind of thing you would be doing for free anyway.
Yeah, it would be fun.

(16:49):
And I like I can't do it like an eight hours in a row in a day because I would go crazy
and get burnt out super quick doing that specific of a thing.
But I don't mind getting forty dollars an hour for making up logic puzzles featuring
Alan Wake characters.
Sure.
So like a few hours in a day and then, you know, you got the rest of the day to play

(17:11):
a power wash game or go on one of your danger walks.
Yeah, true.
And sometimes I can kind of do a little bit of both because you're allowed to log like
sometimes your time thinking up to a certain point.
And so if I have to, you know, process and brainstorm one, I can power wash a bit while
I'm trying to figure out what it is I should do.
So you have found a way to successfully get paid for playing video games.

(17:35):
Sometimes I get paid for doing it in the background.
I can't play like big ones.
Not exclusively.
No, no, no, no.
It's been a pretty fun side gig thing I've been doing.
I mean, it's also my main gig.
But because I guess it still is a side gig, because if I had a full main gig, it would

(17:57):
get very difficult to do all of the other things that I do at the same time.
There'd be way less geocaching, way less happy cast, way less D&D.
So be able to put this in there with all of those, because all of those things are also
not just for me, but partly for other people.
I mean, geocaching is for me and wife and health.

(18:21):
But the other things are also for other people, too, and not just for me.
No, of course.
I mean, the podcasting is for me.
It is also for you, but we have upwards of a dozen listeners, Brian.
Oh, we've hit the double digits.
All right.
Sounds good.
According to our analytics, at least five on Spotify.

(18:43):
That's exciting.
More than I thought, because we weren't on Spotify before.
Well, the podcast game has shifted over the past four years, I guess.
That's across the last, what, 14 that we've been doing it.
That's true.
This was the only game in town we started.
And now and now we're like, hey, leave us an iTunes review.

(19:05):
Most people are like, oh, no, I have.
I haven't watched iTunes in years.
That's very true.
I mean, that's why they're called podcasts.
Oh, there's not even an iPod anymore now, Ben.
So I what are we even doing?
Well, aren't they now called like people on demand broadcasts?

(19:27):
Let's not.
Let's not do this right now.
Bacronyms, no.
All right.
Sorry.
Ultimate update number three, the final update.
Update three, the last chapter.
All right.
All three of these together are my happy hour.
Number three is I don't know if you remember last week's episode and maybe not because

(19:51):
it is not currently released at the time that we're recording this.
But I talked about a movie.
Do you remember that at all?
I talked about a movie and a shoe factory, a movie and a shoe factory.
I'm going to level with you, Ben.
I forget about these podcasts as soon as we finish recording.

(20:11):
We had a discussion about I was saying that I remembered some movie.
This is in Bummer Patrol.
I was talking about my shoelaces.
Yes.
Yes.
You have refreshed my memory.
I do remember us trying to figure out this movie.
I was saying that there was a movie that I swear like started or at least somewhere near
the start started in a kid in a shoe factory.

(20:34):
And some guys like, look at the new shoe I made.
And you thought I made it up.
You thought it was Forrest Gump at first because he has shoes, I think.
Yeah, no.
So what is it?
The HUD sucker proxy?
What is it?
It is exactly what I said it was at the time.
Jumanji.
Oh, really?
And you said, no, they start with playing a game.

(20:54):
I went on Netflix today and watch the start of it because I was editing and I got to that
point and I was like, wait, I have to know now.
Here's how it starts.
I don't remember this at this part at all.
First scene, scene one here, it's two kids running in like a stormy forest.
And then a title card comes up saying 1869.

(21:15):
OK, these two kids run like over to this little cart pulled by a horse and the horse like
neighs scared of like the storm and what's going on.
You start to hear drumming from this mysterious chest on the cart that they drag over and
bury in the woods under a gravestone.
I'm going to stop you right there, Ben.
Jumanji sounds awesome.

(21:36):
Should I rewatch Jumanji?
Maybe so, because I did not remember the start.
And also, I think the two kids talk to each other and like one is like, oh, oh, no, this
is dangerous.
Is this going to work?
And he's like, yeah, you'll keep bearing it.
We have to we have to bury it.
And then the first kids said something like, oh, what do we do?
What if it comes after us or what if someone digs it up?
The second kid, like lightning flashes and rains on his face.

(21:57):
He says, may God have mercy on their soul.
This sounds really heavy for a kids movie.
Yeah, I don't remember that at all.
Maybe that was cut out of the T in the TV version.
Yeah, maybe I maybe I just saw an edited version because I could have sore.
It started with like kids in like the 1960s playing a board game.

(22:18):
Oh, that's not until I've seen four.
Oh, well seen to 1969 title card.
A hundred years later, as a kid rides a bike through a small New Hampshire town, he gets
chased by some bullies on bikes.
So the kid runs to his dad's shoe factory.
He runs inside, meets like this friendly dude.

(22:39):
He's like, look at this new shoe I made.
It looks like a modern like 90s sneaker.
And he's like, oh, if I get well, Chamberlain to wear this, they're going to be in every
household in America.
OK, OK.
And the kid, he like shows the kid the shoe and the kids like, yeah, I'll show my dad.
And then the dad shows up and like, are you running from bullies again?
You got to learn to stand up.

(22:59):
That's also like, stop playing in the factories.
This isn't a toy house.
Yeah, I don't think he says that.
A toy house.
You know, a toy house.
This podcast is now Ben tries to recap a movie he watched about three hours ago.
This part of what don't stop playing.
This isn't a bar dream house.

(23:20):
The kid is like the jacked and puts the shoe down on on like a factory conveyor belt line.
I think it's all shredded up and he runs out, has to go face the bullies.
And the guy whose shoe it was that he's trying to show off that he made had to like take
the fall for like, yeah, sorry, I messed up the machine.
It's my bad.
Kid runs out here's drumming because at the nearby construction site under right next

(23:43):
to that gravestone, he hears like here's the drumming through some of the dirt and he digs
out the chest that takes it home.
And then I skim through and didn't want to watch the rest.
But then there's a scene where like he's at home and his parents are like, we're going
to a party.
Have fun, kid.
And then then they're playing the board game.
That's the part I remember.
I I am genuinely shocked then at how much my kid brain just like shut out the exposition

(24:08):
of this movie where I'm like, yeah, there's a magic board game.
I don't care about how it got here.
Yeah, we want to see jungle animals come out in real life in the suburban town.
I want to see an elephant step on a car.
A mosquito stabbed to the roof.
That scared me as a kid.
I want to see a deranged like man in a safari uniform carrying a gun who in my memory is

(24:32):
J.K. Simmons. But I know it's not really J.K.
Simmons. No, it's the guy that played his dad, I think.
J.K. Simmons, dad.
No, no, whoever, whoever the shoe dad is, the shoe dad guy.
Oh, we think it's like a dual role kind of thing.
Yeah, I think that's how they do it is because it's most like represent his fears of getting

(24:53):
bullied back when he was a kid in the 60s.
Going to level with you, Ben did not register in my kid brain whatsoever.
No.
But yeah, that's my happy hour is that I was right.
And I also did not remember how intense the start of the movie was.
I would like to make a public apology on the podcast to Ben for doubting him that that's

(25:16):
how Jumanji starts. It sounds truly deranged.
And, you know, as always, because you have to admit that you now have to sing, as we
always do, the You Were Right song.
OK. You were right.
I was wrong.
So sorry, I doubted you, my friend.
Forgive me.
Oh, good job.

(25:38):
That was beautiful. Beautiful.
Hey, didn't we say mute your mic?
Lloyd.
Sorry.
All right. Well, thank you.
Thank you, Lloyd.
Well, I love this new revolutionary happy hour format you've stumbled upon of just doing
many updates. I'm going to probably steal it in the future.
You have more than one for it to count.

(25:59):
OK, OK. More than one, at least two, at least two.
Three is ideal, but two is OK.
Five is Max. You can't go over five.
Now, that would be a real long happy hour.
Let me save some for a second recap.
Happy hour. Yeah, two in a row.
I mean, at that point, it's just it's podcast mutiny.
You've taken control of the podcast at that point.

(26:19):
That's true. We do have a lot of like hard coded rules that we have for the podcast
that a lot of people don't know about.
Sure. I mean, we we we hear a lot of people say, OK,
we usually keep those off pods.
I'm really giving the listener a peek behind the curtain at this point.
Oh, just like that last episode.
Yeah. The peek behind the curtain.

(26:41):
What is your happy hour, Brian?
Well, Ben, happy hour for me this week.
I've been pretty busy with work stuff and home stuff.
So I'm just going to make mine real simple to the point.
You know, I'm continuing to enjoy my relatively new role as a father.

(27:02):
It's been been very good, fun and rewarding.
Yesterday, I took my son to get his very first haircut, which was
equal parts traumatic for him and exciting.
So wait, which one was his first hair?
I was it's all there. He was born with a full head of hair.

(27:22):
So it's, you know, it's all original parts, man.
Well, then it's even harder to tell which hair is the first hair to cut.
Well, that's why you just got to cut them all just to be safe.
Just like Pokemon.
Got to cut them all. Got to cut them all. Oh, no.
I feel real stabby. Look out, Charmander.
Oh, no, it's Scyther.
Get out of here, Scyther. Scyther knows Scything.

(27:45):
But I did have the foresight to realize that
toddlers were at the 16 month mark now.
Probably don't love getting haircuts because I am 37 years old
and I don't love getting a haircut either.
And I just my thing is, I always wait until after the haircut to begin crying.

(28:06):
Oh, that's very brave of you.
Thank you. I, you know, I do keep a brave face for the barber.
I don't want them to feel bad like they did a bad job. Oh,
each of your hairs have nerves in them.
Is that something in your family line?
Yeah, we feel every hair on our head.
It's a very painful process.
Oh, geez. No wonder your brother has hair that he's never cut.

(28:28):
But I so I looked up a specialty kids barber
called Pigtails and Crew Cuts,
which aren't the only two haircuts that they offer.
They only have the two and the barber is also a child. Exactly.
Exactly. It's the first barbership that's for kids by kids.

(28:51):
I'm not going to say four kids by kids out loud.
Like we did for four zombies by zombies.
Probably for the best.
Yeah. We have to keep our clean rating.
We got that clean tag, which we I think we kind of push the limits on that sometimes.
Not not anymore.

(29:12):
With today's youth and what's on the tick tock.
Oh, tell me about it.
That's honestly that's probably the most terrifying thing about raising a kid is like,
how long can I keep them away from this Internet thing?
Because it's not great with an iPad.
Difficult. Yes. Yeah.
So I can't get him an iPad and I have to hide mine from him

(29:34):
because he's already taken quite a shine to it.
He he likes to pick it up. Shine.
Yeah. Oh, no. Sorry.
Not like the markets.
Different different shine.
OK, OK, good.
They like to pick up my iPad and put it to his ear and talk like it's a telephone.
Oh, yes, that makes sense.

(29:56):
We used to give kids like, you know, toy telephones.
Yeah. So I did get him.
I still have like a like the classic toy telephone,
like the little red phone with the face and the rotary dial and the string where you pull it.
And it made me realize like, oh, he has no idea what the heck this is.
Like, this doesn't look like any telephone he'll ever see in his lifetime.
I thought that company was shut down for sure by now because I think it's there's no context.

(30:22):
I think it's under the Fisher Price umbrella.
Weird. Yeah.
So we went we got the haircut.
He you know, they had various toys and bubbles to distract him.
And it was it went well enough.
And, you know, I got, oh, this ties into last week.
Then I did opt for the package where I got a souvenir photo afterwards

(30:45):
because I do love a souvenir photo was in front of a green screen background.
No, it's actually just in the barbershop.
They the way they did it like is they just had the barber pull out her iPhone
and switch to portrait mode and took the photo and then sent it to computer
and they printed it out for me.
Oh, that works, I guess.

(31:05):
Yeah, yeah, it was. But yeah, it's a nice.
It's a it's a nice keepsake.
Like, oh, remember, this is your first haircut.
I don't know what my first haircut was like because my parents didn't take me
to especially barber. I probably just got a bowl cut in my grandmother's kitchen.
Oh, yeah. And did you keep any of the hair?

(31:25):
Yeah, there is.
So that's part of the first haircut package with the photo.
There is like a souvenir lock of hair, which I don't need.
But, you know, his mother seems to want.
And I was like, yeah, you can take that for your like spells or whatever.
I don't know what you use hair for. Who knows?

(31:47):
I listeners write in if it's anything other than a keepsake, unless maybe
I don't know, maybe that's breaking the witch coven rules or something.
I don't know. Oh, sure. Of course, of course.
But, you know, it's not I know that there are like people who
like parents who save their like kids teeth.
I don't I don't want like a jar of teeth in my house, so I don't think I'll do that.

(32:08):
But so that's good, which is good, because if if his mom wants his teeth, she can have them.
We don't need to get into like a big teeth custody battle, you know, like,
oh, yeah, I get the bowlers on the weekend and then you get the incisors.
I can't do it. Oh, I'm not putting that in the picture for this episode.
Maybe in the blurb teeth custody,

(32:30):
teeth custody, teeth, teeth court.
Oh, is that on right before Ghost Judge?
Yeah, I think it's part of the the the the the the the the Ghost Judge teeth power out.
I don't think I've ever caught both of them in the same hour before, but I believe you.

(32:53):
I mean, you just I mean, it's weird because it's at a weird hour.
It's from two forty five a.m. to three forty five a.m.
So it's easy. It's a real weird.
I don't know what kind of programming they have on.
It's like 15 minutes in there.
Exactly.
Well, that's I don't want to do like a nerd TV thing, Ben.

(33:15):
But back in the day, TBS,
which I think was a TV show,
which I think doesn't end up being National Station, but it was based in Atlanta.
It's like a Turner channel.
They used to air their shows, the movies on the quarter hour,
because I think the logic behind it was like, yeah, you watch you watch this episode.

(33:37):
And then by the time the next episode starts,
you know, all the other shows have already started.
So you'll just keep watching what's on this channel.
Oh, I can see that. Yeah, that's some like madman logic.
You got Ted Turner is a crazy person.
And I think I can't I don't I'm not knowledgeable enough to get into it on the show.
But there was also that thing like back in the 80s and 90s

(33:59):
where he tried to go back and colorize all the old movies.
Oh, but but did it work?
I think so.
I think it was technically possible, but it was more of a question of like, should you
Oh, like Jurassic Park? Yeah, right.
Like he was he was so he was so preoccupied realizing that he could.
He didn't stop to think if he should go back and colorize,

(34:21):
I don't know, Citizen Kane.
That's like the old movie that comes to mind.
Carnival of Souls.
Oh, Carnival of Souls could have been in color because it was released in 1962.
Pretty sure I've seen the color version.
Oh, have you? I think so.
But that's for later. Oh, I'm I mean, the black and white
photography on that's so beautiful.

(34:43):
I can't imagine it being in color.
I've seen both, actually. I don't remember now.
Oh, all right. Well, we'll talk more about Carnival of Souls.
Oh, I have one more question for you.
Oh, go ahead. Ask me anything.
Do you also have bubbles in toys when you get your haircut?
No, but if I did, maybe I would have a better time.
So I'll have to like kind of run it by my barber.

(35:04):
Like, hey, I went to this kid's barber and they had this stuff.
And maybe you should have games for me to play.
What if you just brought bubbles and just wordlessly started blowing them
while he was cutting your hair?
Or or I could go to the kids barbers, have them do it.
I'm like, yeah, just I need to give me a crew cut.
And I'm going to sit in this little fire truck while you do.

(35:26):
Oh, that sounds so fun.
But yeah, it was great.
And then when we left, you got to you got to pick a toy out of the
the chest of treasures. What?
Yeah, he picked a yellow ball.
Whoa, that's a pretty good choice.
Yep. Yellow ball is pretty good.
But yeah, that's that's it.
Nothing, nothing much more than that.

(35:48):
Is that his happy hour? Yellow ball.
Yellow ball. He loves yellow ball.
And, you know, I've got you were doing Halloween stuff this week.
I've got the pumpkin we're going to carve.
And we're going to a corn maze pumpkin patch.
So it should be a fun time.
Oh, that does sound fun.
I've never been to a corn maze.
Oh, if you're ever in Georgia in October,

(36:12):
I go to a really good one that I think you would enjoy because
you might have to do that.
It's it's super.
And then we also go to the netherworld, too.
So that's a that's a two for one kind of trip.
All the. Oh, for sure.
Maybe next year. October stuff.
But you got to go to a good corn maze
because a friend of mine talked about taking his kid to a corn maze.
But the corn wasn't like fully grown yet.

(36:32):
So it's like chest high.
Oh, I know that reminds I know I told this before.
I told it just yesterday at some at a friend's house.
Oh, I went to Disney World as a kid, I think twice.
And one of the times that I remember better,
I remember that there was I think a VHS that came with it to show like,
here's the stuff that there is and like a pamphlet, too.

(36:54):
And one of them talked about how in Epcot, in like the British area,
there is a hedge maze.
And I was so excited.
I always want to do one of those.
And we got there and it was like not even shin high.
It was like this is not a maze.
This is just hedge art in the shape of a maze.

(37:15):
But it's not a maze unless you can't see.
Was well, I mean, had they just trimmed it or was it was it
as it was meant to be? They wanted to be that short.
Oh, no, it was always that short because it also wasn't very wide.
So if it was super tall, it'd be it would have been ridiculous.
OK, I mean, I guess it's a pretty busy park.
I can see not wanting to have people lost in a giant hedge.

(37:40):
Don't call it a hedge maze.
I mean, it's definitely a hedge art.
At that point, you might as well just have a topiary.
Yeah, like this place is way better.
Although I did. I thought I saw one of them moving a little bit.
But now that I'm looking at it through the window, it's not.
So I think we're OK. Could have been just the wind.
I mean, that that's what they always say.

(38:00):
Who is they?
I don't know.
Lloyd, is that what they all say?
I'm sorry. Is it OK for me to talk now?
Can I talk now?
Oh, yeah, we're addressing you directly.
So that is fine.
OK, sorry.
Oh, the topiary.

(38:21):
I you know, I can't I can't get into too much detail, but.
Keep an eye on it.
It'll it'll it'll sneak up on you.
Like sneak up like what?
Like literally sneak up on you or what metaphor?
Just keep an eye on the topiary, especially the elephants.
Oh, all right, Brian, I'll do that
while we transition to whatever is happening next.

(38:44):
I believe it's time for a bummer patrol.
Oh, man.
Oh, Ben, bummer patrol.
So we talk about what's got us feeling a little blue down in the dumps, if you will.
Oh, what's your bummer patrol this week?
My bummer patrol is one of the bummeriest bummers I've ever bummed.

(39:10):
Oh, no. Well, that sounds pretty bad for me.
I mean, I'm not a bummer.
I'm a bummer.
Well, that sounds pretty bad, friend.
What's what's got you feeling bummed?
I found out in the last couple of weeks through experience
that Hot Pockets no longer have cardboard paper sleeves.
Oh, the Crispin sleeve is gone, Ben.

(39:32):
Yes, I'm sorry.
I I personally learned this about a year ago, and I was
I was afraid for the day that you would find out.
Oh, it wasn't gone a year ago, was it?
Or was it like about to be gone?
I I mean, I could be mistaken.
Time has been weird for me lately, but it seems like about a year ago

(39:53):
I encountered my first sleeveless Hot Pocket.
Oh, no. I hope I haven't been eating old Hot Pockets for the last year.
Ah, they're they're frozen. They're good forever.
Oh, I don't know.
I and in the last month, I ate some that we had bought, but I hadn't eaten yet.
They're still good for a little bit.
And then Megan was making them because I was doing stuff on the couch.

(40:17):
And I heard her like think that they forgot the sleeves at first.
I had to look it up and they're gone.
How am I supposed to hold it now?
I mean, I this I mean, this opens a real like
like plethora of questions in my mind.
How do you hold it to is this like purely a cost cutting measure?

(40:39):
They're like, we can't keep putting this thing in there
because the packaging that I remember explaining it,
like when they first like did away with them, they're like,
oh, no sleep required. Don't worry.
It'll still be crisp.
And I thought, well, then was it ever doing anything? Was it?
Was it just a placebo to begin with?

(41:00):
Like, yeah, this is the magic cardboard that makes it crunchy.
It was a helpful way to hold it, at least.
And now I have to touch the actual Hot Pocket.
And when the the pepperoni insides inevitably leak out,
now it's going to be on my hand and not just falling onto the cardboard sleeve.
So, I mean, I think I think I know what I'm gonna get you for Christmas now, Ben.

(41:22):
I'm gonna go on Etsy and I'm gonna buy you a handmade Hot Pocket Hot Pocket Sheets.
You aren't even going to find a handmade.
You're going to find a bunch of 3D printed ones.
No, that's true.
I mean, if you go like deep enough, you can find a handmade one,
like one that like somebody's grandmother crocheted.
Oh, like the Handmaid's Tale. Is that what that shows about?
Yeah, it's about handmade Etsy stores.

(41:43):
But specifically for Hot Pocket sleeves.
Yes, of course.
I mean, that's my whole bummer patrol, really, is I found out and now I'm very bummed.
I still have to eat the rest of them.
You've got a whole box you got to eat now.
It's sleeveless.
Sleeveless.
If you only could have known, you could have saved your final sleeve
and just reuse that forever.

(42:04):
But they get stained from when they've the stuff falls out.
Oh, it's I don't know what to do.
It becomes a seasoned like a cast iron skillet.
It's got the flavor of all the other things ever eaten.
Of everything that's ever been cooked in it before.
Every Hot Pocket.

(42:25):
I'm sorry. Infinite sleeve.
That's pretty gross.
Yeah.
OK. OK. Well, tell me this, though.
I know you're bummed that you can't hold the Hot Pocket with the sleeve.
Did you notice the quality of the product different in any way?
What's been so long and it's not like high quality to begin with.

(42:47):
How dare you, sir?
Well, I mean, if you want the more high quality brand,
I've been eating more recently deli witches.
What is a deli witch?
What? What is a deli witch?
I mean, it's like a it's like a coven that like sells you like sliced meats and cheeses.

(43:08):
No, I mean, but do them dish. But
a deli dish now is a deli dish.
I don't know what that is.
A deli witch is all right.
It's sort of like a calzone type thing.
It's like a closed sandwich.
Closed on all sides, like a calzone, a closed face sandwich.

(43:31):
But but so nothing can leak out.
So it's like a hot pocket, but a different, a slightly different shape, more calzone shape.
But you don't have to heat them up.
You can. But you can also eat them like refrigerated,
like if they're in a lunchbox or something.
OK, so it's like an adult uncrustable.
It basically it's sort of like a more adult hot pocket, too.

(43:52):
That's why deli's in the name, although there's still that they're cool
hot pocket guy with sneakers and gloves and sunglasses.
It's like a cool hybrid of hot pockets and uncrustables.
This really brings the question to my mind, Ben, is.
An uncrustable a calzone.

(44:12):
I well, I think the difference is that uncrustable is crimped all the way around.
So it's not like folded first and crimped in like a semicircle.
Oh, OK, so if the uncrustable were folded differently,
then there would be a calzone.
That's my opinion.
But uncrustable is more of like they just took a cookie cutter to a sandwich.

(44:35):
Had we talked on the show about my idea of them just selling the crust separately?
I think possibly because a couple a few expeditions ago,
we have a whole episode title, I think, about uncrimped edgables or something.
Yeah, just you know, because what do they do?
It's just wasteful, Ben. What are they doing with all those crusts?
Are they making breadcrumbs?
They should just take a feed.

(44:56):
Yeah. Just sell a box of crust called crustables.
Only as uncrustables, it's all crust.
There you go. Oh, no.
Deli witches, though, those I do like these.
So they're a half happy hour.
They do have a pepperoni one. It's pepperoni and mozzarella.
I'm sorry. What was that?
Pepperoni and mozzarella.

(45:17):
OK. Yeah, that's how you say it.
Come on. Yeah.
Mozzarella. Yeah.
They have a cheddar and ham on a soft roll.
OK, on a soft roll. That sounds nice.
Actually, that's what the pepperoni ones is to on a soft roll.
This turkey and Colby on a soft roll and cheddar and ham on a pretzel roll.
Oh, all right. That sounds like a hard roll to me.

(45:39):
You should check these out because of the cheese melt.
I have not seen that one in our store before.
Oh, yeah. Send me a link.
I'll I've never seen these. I'll keep an eye out.
They sound interesting.
I like them.
And one more thing about Hot Pockets, I think I was under the impression
incorrectly that the pocket was the sleeve.

(46:02):
So when they got rid of that, I was like, well, how are you going to keep calling
a Hot Pockets?
The Hot Pockets, the pastry.
Yeah, that's I realized that later, something like, well, pockets typically.
Well, I guess the thing is, the pastry also doesn't have just an open end.
It's not a pocket.
It's a pocket once you bite into it.

(46:23):
Yeah, but you can say that about anything, really.
I know you can't say about anything.
You buy into an apple. It's not a pocket.
Yeah. What if you bite into it and then like hollow it out with your teeth?
It's like a pocket now because you can put stuff in it and it has one opening.
I guess maybe. I mean, but I don't.
A pocket doesn't have to have an opening, right?

(46:44):
Like, you know, like you can hit like a like a pocket of like ore, like,
oh, we're digging. We hit a pocket of, you know, a mineral.
Well, that's the engineers.
What the definition of a pocket is.
I that seems like a very good use of their time.
This is going to be a real a pocket to lips.
Oh, a pocket to lips now podcast title.

(47:07):
There you go. That was going for and you alley oop with the now.
Thank you.
I just high five for you.
I assumed you would high five. Oh, sorry.
I didn't mean to leave you hanging.
Well, I mean, we're to we're really far apart here.
I'm by the window trying to keep an eye on those topiaries.
Yeah, I mean, keep an eye on that elephant for sure.
I'm looking at the elephant. I'm watching.

(47:28):
You got to watch the elephant, Mr.
Peanuts, I'll get you. Oh, no, that's the name.
Why do you why you name the topiaries, Lloyd?
I didn't name them. They had names when I got here.
How long have you been here?
I've always been here at the overhead.
Right. That sounds kind of ominous.
I don't like that. Well, well, then.
Sorry. OK, Lloyd.

(47:50):
Anyway, let's I'll do my I'll do my bumper patrol. Yeah.
I don't know how I'm going to carry on now.
Well, then my bumper patrol is, of course, as you know,
it's one week before Halloween now, as we.
It's been it will be where we're coming close.
We're almost there. And, you know, I've got my my stable

(48:14):
of mandatory October viewing that I haven't gotten to yet.
I'm not as deep in as I'd like to be.
I need to watch the original Halloween, of course.
There are a few things.
What do you have any like yearly mandatory viewing for the for the holiday?
My stable of movies, it's all farm animal themed because it has to be.

(48:36):
Oh, sure. So
I mean, you can watch the witch because Black Phillips and he's a goat.
He'd be in a stable.
Oh, I didn't know that.
Oh, you mean the Vavitch?
Oh, yes. I'm sorry. I meant the Vavitch.
Yeah, I I have not seen it because the new today and Mrs.
Panther went and I think from what I remember, we're not impressed.
Yeah, I didn't love it either.

(48:57):
I do like Black Phillip, the goat, though. He's pretty good.
Who plays him?
His name is Gregory.
He's a famous goat actor. Wow.
Now, my my usual shifts around year to year,
because I also watch horror movies just when I'm in the mood any time of the year.

(49:17):
Oh, right. So you're not you're not
locked into one month to watch these things.
You can watch Halloween in August if you want.
I could. And I probably have at some point.
I do. I do remember.
No, it was close to never mind. It was close to Halloween.
I remember you guys being in town one year

(49:38):
and we'd go to your hotel to play board games and such.
And they were doing a Halloween marathon.
So that would just be on the TV.
We're like, oh, they're doing season of the witch now.
Oh, yeah. Would have been AMC, whatever they called it.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. They would always they usually skip over three.
But I like it.

(49:58):
I think it's it's not a good Michael Myers movie, but it is a good
spooky or like a Halloween themed movie.
Sure, sure. It would have been fine if it didn't have the title Halloween.
That the title brings a certain expectation to it.
It brings like the the legacy and the history behind it, the ongoing story.
It's, you know, the argument I've made in the past

(50:21):
where I think The Last Jedi would be a OK movie if it wasn't called
Star Wars Episode eight.
Oh, yeah, I forgot you're one of those people.
Yeah, yes, I don't think it's very good.
That your bomb patrol.
Oh, my God. Let me talk about how how Ryan Johnson.
I'm sorry. Ruin Johnson killed.

(50:45):
No, my my actual.
It's funny because I feel like I'm like, like, like doing an exaggerated character,
but then it feels too close to my actual opinion. So I have to hold back.
So, yeah, I've been going through some stuff and watching some new things.

(51:06):
Are you OK, Brian? You're going through some stuff.
I'm going through. Hey, we're all going through stuff.
You know, that's the day to day.
But I'm watching some Halloween stuff, some new stuff.
Getting the older things like
the previously mentioned Carnival of Souls, which is
really, really surprising and a fantastic watch because

(51:29):
it felt very kind of David Lynch before.
Like it was like 15 years before Eraserhead and the
the bad guys have a real kind of like George Romero
Night of the Living Dead look to them.
But also, but also it predates that movie as well.
I'm like, oh, this is kind of like the foundation for a lot of stuff that I really enjoy.

(51:52):
I have only seen it with Rift Tracks.
I think black and white and color.
I think I watched it separately.
And then I think for the live show that they did for it, they might have done color then.
Interesting. But they they they were under the impression that it was a bad movie.
It didn't seem like it's just it was probably a cheap movie.
And there's a lot you can talk about.

(52:13):
Oh, yeah, no, it's super like low budget.
It's, you know, it was like I can't get into the history of it.
Right now, maybe maybe at another time.
But it was made by people who would do like,
you know, industrial films like those like film strips back in the
the 50s and such that they're like about safety, like, oh, oh, sorry.

(52:35):
You turned I thought I turned this off.
Oh, Lloyd, Belly Witch.
Yeah. OK. I look for those.
Sorry. I didn't know you gave you gave Lloyd a little bell.
Lloyd is loving the belt.
I'm over here going to ring a ding ding.
No, Brian, can you take away?
I can't reach. No, wait.
Oh, Lloyd's behind the glass.
I can't get to him either.
Oh, now he's putting his mouth.

(52:56):
He's not swallowed the bell.
Well, that's probably OK.
It will stop ringing.
Maybe, maybe. I don't know.
Well, it's oh, hey, sorry.
I'm taking a real long walk to this motor patrol.
So, OK, here's the thing I realized is that, you know, how,
as we've talked previously on the show, that most modern movies
are secretly about trauma, Ben, I don't know if you know this.

(53:20):
Yes.
I feel nostalgic for a time
where I would watch these movies and
have a more base level fear of like, oh, man, wouldn't it be scary
if there were a monster?
But that stuff doesn't really get to me anymore.

(53:42):
So the stuff that I find really scary is, you know,
the stuff that I find really scary is stuff like
like Doctor Sleep, the sequel to The Shining.
I don't know if you've seen Doctor Sleep then, but.
I've seen the first half.
There was a lady with a funny hat.
Yeah, rose the hat, of course.
And then was 9-11 in that or was that the book?

(54:02):
I think it's just in the book.
I think maybe they had a crossover that in the movie.
I've read the start of the book.
And I remember 9-11 and energy vampires or something.
You're right. You're right.
I think maybe that is an extended cut of the movie as well.
But, you know, you look at something like that,
and I think that's a great movie that I hope to watch this year.

(54:24):
But who knows?
And but the thing that's really scary about is like, oh,
this is actually about cycles of generational addiction.
Floyd, I guess you didn't swallow it after all.
But no, you look at it like, oh, this is about generational
cycles of addiction. Isn't that scary?
Or you look at a movie and it's like, you know, it's really frightening.
The idea of not living life to the fullest.

(54:47):
So I don't know. I just miss being afraid of monsters.
That's pretty good.
That's why Pumper Patrol is like, ah,
remember when I was afraid of Dracula's and Frankenstein's monsters?
Oh, good times. What a simpler time.
If that's your problem, you have a couple of different options here.
You can get really deep into true crime.

(55:09):
Oh, I don't know.
I've I that I'm very squeamish about that stuff.
I feel weird about the weird the new
the new wave of not even new anymore.
But in the skin and the in the grand scheme of this podcast newer,
the idea of treating like real life tragedy is entertainment.
The product feels weird to me.

(55:29):
Unsolved mysteries.
Yeah. But I never liked the real ones where it was like
help us solve this crime of this murder on unsolved mysteries.
I always liked the ones that were about like big clit and UFOs and ghosts.
Your other option is to get really deep into political conspiracies.
Then you'll be afraid of everybody.

(55:50):
Oh, sure, sure.
I mean, well, I'm definitely saving that for like year 20 of the podcast
where I just completely go off my rocker or next episode.
It could be in our election special.
Oh, I forgot we're doing that election spectacular here on the podcast.
We've had a plan for decades, but years
and decades before the advent of podcast.

(56:15):
We came up with a plan that's met at a secret location
and cooked up this idea of a election podcast spectacular.
So everyone prepare for that one next week.
I'm really, I'm really happy with what you're committing us to right now.
We'll see.
But yeah, those are solutions that you could do

(56:35):
if you want to be scared of monsters again.
OK, yeah, I'll definitely I'll I'll I'll consider those.
I want to recapture the fear of monsters.
What about slasher movies with like human villains like Scream?
Oh, I do love Scream.
I think but I the scream isn't scary.

(56:58):
It's just fun.
I like the the whodunit aspect of Scream the most.
Scream is also funny.
But there are plenty where it's not like a Jason,
where it's like an unstoppable machine or Michael Myers.
Like what if it's like it could be me that's ringing your doorbell
trying to murder you and you don't even know.

(57:18):
I are you.
I don't know how I feel about this.
Are you are you saying you're going to murder me?
Well, I'm saying it's a whodunit and you don't know who to trust.
It can be Lloyd.
Lloyd resents that statement.
Lloyd, shut up and eat your bell.
Is that your final answer?
Wait a second.
I thought you said I thought you said never mind.

(57:38):
Never mind.
Right.
I it's suspicious.
I'll give you that.
Like it's definitely
it's definitely raising some some red flags.
A lot of them.
Oh, hey,
did you see this ball just like roll in the middle of the studio, Ben?
It's it's yellow.

(57:58):
Is it your son's?
No, no, this is a this is definitely a different material
than than the ball he got.
Oh, there's someone in the doorway or to someone's.
Oh, no.
Yeah, Ben, I think it's twins.

(58:23):
Well, hey, who who are you?
What are you doing here?
Come podcast with us forever and ever and ever.
We're we're already podcasting now.
I don't I mean, it's weird that we didn't see before we were touring facilities,
but we've got the studio right now.
So can you come back later?

(58:44):
Maybe for the election special, you can join us for that.
We can get your input forever and ever and ever and ever.
I think they're stuck on the loop.
I think we need to reset these guys.
Oh, actually, I'm getting a phone call.
Hold on. It's from.
T.B.F. T.B.F.
Who could that be? Hello.

(59:06):
Um, actually, I'm pretty sure they're just sisters and not twins.
Oh, my God.
Fair face. I hung up.
How does he have your number?
I don't know. I didn't give it to him.
You guys are you sure you guys don't like hang out without me?
I've got some film over here.
No, I'm definitely sure.
I think we should just maybe ignore all of what's going on.

(59:30):
It'll be OK. Lloyd said weird things happen.
This must be normal and move on to whatever our third segment is.
OK, hey, we're bringing back an oldie, but a goodie.
It's reading railroad.
Take a look.
It's in a book.
A reading railroad.
Oh, boy. Oh, boy.

(59:54):
Oh, that's right. Don't have your ears checked.
You heard correctly.
Reading railroad is the seldom heard segment of the podcast
where we talk about the books we've been reading.
Ben, we talk about the railroads we've checked out.
We I mean, so it's it kind of has like a dual function.
We can talk about reading or railroads.

(01:00:15):
It just seems like so far we've focused on the reading half of the title,
but we could pivot to railroads later.
I think I haven't been to any like noteworthy railroads lately,
so it's been really difficult.
Yeah, I definitely like it.
I could see more railroads in my future, though.
Maybe when I get some time off work, I'll visit
the beautiful railways of this great nation.

(01:00:37):
Oh, if you want, there is a railroad up here in the town
just north of us where there's like a scenic train you can ride on
to go through the Ozark Mountains.
Oh, you know what?
I've always and this sounds crazy.
I always thought it would be cool to stay in a hotel that is near a train.
Is that something that I could do?

(01:00:59):
You're in luck because it comes by three times in the middle of the night.
Oh, yeah. OK, we'll definitely have to do that then.
I will say about reading railroad, we have that three times in the past.
Starting in expedition 66, we talked about ready player one
14 and one more thing.
And as one more thing, the name of a book or are you just keeping it vague?

(01:01:23):
I it is the name of the book.
I don't know what 14 or one more thing are.
But so I assume you talked about those. Sure.
Yeah, I remember now those those are books that I read. Yes.
OK, then we talked about Mr.
Mercedes, born standing up and the Martian we had a guest on.
And I lied. No, no, there's a there's a I lied.
The first time it was at position 41.

(01:01:44):
We talked about 11, 22, 63 and someone named Stephen King. Oh, OK.
So we seem to really like the Stephen King fellow.
It does seem like that.
Those are the three times we have done reading railroad.
OK, well, we're back for round four.
Ben, what what's been on your reading list lately?

(01:02:07):
Oh, my reading list is large.
And I I assume I can still technically use this.
I mean, I'm I'm half of the show, so I'm going to say I can.
Megan's been reading it, but out loud, so that way we can both hear it
and not have to waste time individually reading it.
I think being read to counts because

(01:02:29):
just heads up, my pick is an audio book I've been listening to.
So I think it's the same thing.
Oh, yeah, that is someone reading to you.
Well, this one I have read before.
It's been a long time. Megan has never read it before or heard it before.
It is Stephen King's 1979, I think the Dead Zone.

(01:02:52):
Oh, right. The Dead Zone.
That's the one that was adapted into
feature film starring Christopher Walken
and Martin Sheen.
Oh, wow. I didn't know Martin Sheen was in it.
Yeah, he he plays a politician from New Hampshire.
Which is interesting because in the West Wing, he's a president from New Hampshire.

(01:03:14):
Hmm. And that is interesting.
Yes. But it is the Dead Zone.
Yeah, it was a it was a movie, but then it was also a USA TV show.
Oh, starring Anthony Michael Hall, I believe.
Not Michael C. Hall, but Anthony Michael Hall.
Not Dexter, the other guy.

(01:03:36):
Yeah, the the Breakfast Club one.
And he played the principal briefly
in season two of Riverdale.
Oh, in a flashback when they were doing a Breakfast Club like episode.
Oh, that's fun to get him in on that.
It was that except it was about

(01:03:57):
I didn't talk about Riverdale sometime.
It's a wild show.
I said in this flashback, it was about like all of you, Archie and Betty,
all their parents in school together when they discovered
this tabletop RPG type game that might be linked to deaths and murder.
Huh? Yeah.
Yeah, you've told me a little bit about the show.
It sounds it's like entirely banana grams.

(01:04:20):
So that sounds like a fun episode.
I plan to rewatch it so I can finish it.
And I don't know.
I'm going to be talking about it regularly on here when that happens.
Well, it'll be a regular recurring segment.
It'll just be my happy hour every time.
It is such a crazy show.
Anyway, the Dead Zone, the TV show was it was it was a USA show

(01:04:40):
from the what 90s, early 2000s.
So it was fine.
It's good. I like it.
It's episodic.
It's not my or one of my favorite Stephen King TV adaptations,
which is Kingdom Hospital that no one ever remembers or knows about.
Oh, the forgotten gem of the catalog.
But I'll talk about that another day, because I hope to get that on Blu Ray

(01:05:01):
someday. It exists.
The Dead Zone, the rough, non-spoilery really version is
there's a guy he's living in Maine, if you can believe it.
He is an English teacher, not a writer.
Completely different. Not not not writer.
It is entirely different and definitely not based on the fact that Stephen King

(01:05:23):
was an English teacher for a while.
Oh, much like Jack Torrance from The Shining.
Hey, no, what do you mean?
He's an author, I thought.
I was at least in the book.
I feel like there are flashbacks to him during his teaching years.
Probably so. I spent a long time.
I read that one. Well, he's out on a date like is a pretty early

(01:05:46):
like I think third or fourth date, I remember, with another teacher at the school.
And they go to a local carnival.
And he has like some sort of like sort of psychic ability
accidentally from like an accident when he was a kid, when he
fell on some ice while some kids were playing hockey or something.
And he's like able to predict where this like roulette type wheel is going to land.

(01:06:06):
And it's like weird and people out.
And he's winning like hundreds of dollars and nineteen seventy nine money.
No, no, sorry.
That'd be nineteen sixty something money or nineteen fifty something money.
Oh, because it's a flashback.
The late 60s, early 70s, when that part happens. Yeah.
On the way home, he gets into a terrible accident and goes into a coma.

(01:06:28):
And then he's in that coma for about five years.
I think it is four or five years when he comes out.
It turns out when he touches people or they touch him, not in a weird way.
It turns out when he comes into contact with a person or an item,
he will have like a flash vision of sometimes their future, sometimes their past.

(01:06:49):
And it freaks people out and it helps them out.
Sometimes, too, he gets involved in a serial killing in the town of Castle Rock,
which is technically Castle Rock's first appearance.
It's there are debates around it, but it is its first appearance and Stephen King
stories. And then later on, he comes into contact with a very

(01:07:15):
intense politician who's trying to run for things, very ambitious and gets a vision
that is not so good. And he has to figure out what to do about that.
All right. I'm intrigued. I'm intrigued. And then this is where you've led up to like the
the base of the plot. Now you have to do like a reading, reading rainbow style.

(01:07:36):
Like, what does he does? He do anything to stop it? Who knows? You'll have to pick up
the dead zone and find out, but don't take my word for it.
That's true. No, what's weird is, you know, Stephen King books have uneven pacing

(01:07:56):
throughout a book sometimes. Yeah, sometimes his pacing can be a little off.
Sometimes you're enjoying a nice slow burn. All of a sudden, it's just like really fast.
Sure, sure. Sometimes you get to the halfway point of the book and he's like, let's throw some gasoline on this fire.
Often, literally. And that kind of happened.
The first almost half of this is the accident and recovery and what's going on in his life.

(01:08:23):
And then in the last two quarters, like one is about the serial killing thing, which is like teased occasionally early on.
Same with the politician thing. In the last quarter is the politician thing.
OK, so are you in the process of it? Are you guys almost through?
Almost at the end. And I think next up is going to be Cujo because that is, I think, the next Castle Rock story.

(01:08:45):
OK, and he just recently published a sequel to Cujo in his newest short story collection.
There's a Cujo follow up in there. I had no idea, but I need to hear that now.
Yeah, sounds good. And then as I'm not familiar with the dead zone, but as you kind of laid the plot out,

(01:09:06):
I did very clearly see how like a TV exec would say like, oh, we could make this an episodic show.
Just this guy going around touching people. Oh, yeah, that's a great show.
I feel like they make some interesting and pretty good choices for making an episodic because there's a whole thing, too, where like.

(01:09:27):
In the TV show version, I'm not saying what happened in the book version, but the TV show version,
the girl that he was with moved on in the meantime, I think it was actually like six or seven years in the show instead of like four.
And she has had a kid and she doesn't know or I think it's up in the air of whether or not it is his kid or not.
Interesting. And in that one, she's married to the sheriff who does feature in the book at one point for Castle Rock.

(01:09:53):
But it makes it a whole thing where like in the show, episodically, sometimes he's helping out with court cases or like law stuff.
He has to work with his girlfriend from before his comas, now husband, who's an actual good guy.
So it like sucks for him. So it sounds like they at least made some smart choices and like adapting it to the medium.
Yeah. And he has a Watson who's like his physical therapist in the show.

(01:10:17):
I feel like it might maybe reflect poorly on me as a person that after hearing you talk about it,
I'm just like more interested in watching this TV show now.
I mean, I thought it was pretty good. Maybe the movie.
I haven't seen that yet, but I want to after we finish the book.
OK. I've watched the movie. Let me know how that is too, because I've always been curious about that.

(01:10:38):
Oh, yeah, I'll do that as soon as we do. I'll report back maybe on next segment.
We'll see you next episode.
All right. We're back from reading Railroad.
Ben took a two hour break to watch a movie.
Anyway, what is your reading railroad choice while I eat some chicken nuggets?
Oh, sure. OK, so I have been watching the TV show Twin Peaks, as mentioned on several episodes of this podcast.

(01:11:05):
And I found out that there were several books released that are tied to the show that were
gathered officially sanctioned. There are three books.
There's the first one is The Secret Diaries of Laura Palmer, which is a big plot point in the second

(01:11:26):
season of the show. And this book was actually released in the summer between seasons one and two.
So on the show, Laura Palmer, who, of course, is found dead wrapped in plastic in the pilot episode, Twin Peaks.
We have our pop vinyl. Wait, what?
We have a pop vinyl of Laura Palmer wrapped in plastic.

(01:11:46):
Oh, that's morbid. It is. But we have it.
I was going to say, you keep you keep yours in the box because they'd all be wrapped in plastic.
No, no, no. I I don't care if they get kind of dusty.
I'd rather have them out so I could like grab them and enjoy them more.
Oh, sure, sure. Yeah, send me a picture of that Laura Palmer sometime.

(01:12:07):
I'm curious what that looks like.
Yeah, we'll get a picture of it. It comes with a backdrop of the gravel beach.
Oh, sure. Sure. We're Pete founder.
Anyway, the fish in the percolator fish in the percolator.
So so this diary plays a big plot point and they released it.
It's actually written by David Lynch's daughter, who was, I don't know, younger at the time, like 20.

(01:12:32):
She was a young woman, so she was able to write the voice better.
So I, you know, I dipped into that a little bit.
It was it's pretty interesting. I, you know, that's not the main thing I'm talking about today.
But I thought it was really kind of ahead of its time for them to have this kind of multimedia thing that tied into the show.
And they did it so quickly because the the show, it ran from like, you know, March to May.

(01:13:01):
That first season is only like seven episodes. Oh, wow.
And that they were able to have this like book published and released in the gap between one and two was just really fascinating.
Not not the kind of thing I thought of happening back in the late 80s, early 90s.
But it just goes to show it was like a huge cultural moment.

(01:13:21):
They had a moment and then it faded out really quickly.
And so a lot of things are inspired by it ever since.
That's true. Like, that's the interesting thing about watching it is kind of seeing where the things I have really enjoyed and loved over the years have been influenced by it.
So you get the same vibe if you read the Bible.

(01:13:45):
Exactly. Hey, man, that's inspired every story.
So that's the you know, it all I'm going to I'm kind of I'm working my way back from the things I like to the thing that inspired it.
So I went from Lost to Twin Peaks, Twin Peaks.
I went back to Eraserhead, to Carnival of Souls.
I'm just going to go all the way back. And then, you know, I fully picture like in the next five months,

(01:14:08):
I'm going to come on the podcast, talk about how I really enjoyed that film of like the train driving at the screen.
Like, oh, that's what started it all.
You read the epic of Gilgamesh.
Right. Yeah, I'm reading the Odyssey, then it's crazy.
Can you believe it's just like that movie, that musical one?

(01:14:30):
Oh, oh, brother, we're out now. Yeah.
Yeah. John Goodman was a cyclops spin because of an eye patch.
Oh, that blew my mind when I first found that out.
So the the main book I'm going to talk about now came out between season two of Twin Peaks and The Return,

(01:14:52):
which is the new the new season from 2017.
It's called The Secret History of Twin Peaks.
And structurally, it's very interesting.
It tells the story of the town through a series of letters, newspaper articles, FBI files.

(01:15:12):
So it's so it's structured like it's like a case file where somebody's going back through
like some of Dale Cooper's old recordings, files and kind of digging into the history of this area.
And it goes like shockingly.
I was surprised by how straightforward it lays out the history of this town,

(01:15:34):
because in the show, everything's just so so obscured.
Like, it's really hard to get straight answers.
So the fact that they sat down and thought this stuff out where it's like, OK,
this this part's about how Lewis and Clark encountered the Black Lodge and their travels to the West.
I'm like, OK, cool. That sounds not not what I thought I needed in my life.

(01:15:55):
But it's, you know, it's definitely interesting.
That's the kind of thing that would confuse me if I was on like the Twin Peaks wiki page
trying to learn about the Black Lodge and it would like cite Lewis and Clark.
And I was like, well, what?
I don't remember that happening.
This sounds a lot like a book that we read a while or a few years ago.

(01:16:16):
Alan Wake, which is a game very inspired by Twin Peaks.
Yes, yes. And a sequel.
They had they had a novelization that we have, but they also released the Alan Wake files,
which only came with a collector's edition.
Oh, right. I have that. I'm looking at it right now on my shelf.
Yeah. And we read through that.
And I'm pretty sure that's one that also comes with like a bunch of like in universe,

(01:16:41):
like interviews and files and clippings, like what you were describing, basically.
Yeah, it's an interesting way to tell a story.
They love doing that in the other games that remedy that made Alan Wake that they make.
They love to fill their stuff with here.
Read all the lore you want in the stuff you find and really build the world out.

(01:17:01):
Yeah, they and you're right. The Twin Peaks fingerprints are all over Alan Wake.
They definitely were inspired and borrowed heavily in some ways,
especially to one already did, but especially to I got to do to.
I'm excited to play that one day.
Once I finished Twin Peaks, that's the that's the decision I've made where I thought, OK,

(01:17:21):
this is really like inspired by this other thing.
I want to finish it first before I roll into Alan Wake to and control.
Oh, right. That's also I've got so much media that I'm never going to get to, Ben.
It's a it's a bummer. You are.
If you ever need me to and you have time off,
I will show up and just sit there until you do play it.

(01:17:43):
OK, like a video game coach like you guys, you can do it.
Do another level. Yeah.
Get out there. Beat them all.
It's a modern video game. It's not really structured levels.
Oh, kind of. The first one was structured in episodes.
Alan Wake one. That's true. It was. Did they do the same thing in two?
Not episodes, but chapters.
OK. Oh, like I look.

(01:18:04):
Which does make more sense because he is an author.
Right. Right. That's true.
Yeah. So I'm about halfway through this thing.
I really want the physical copy, but it's kind of like a big oversized
collector's thing, and it looks like it goes for about 88 bucks on Amazon.
So I settled for the audio book, which has been interesting.

(01:18:25):
And there's a there's somebody who has gathered all this information
over the years and has made annotations in the files that they call the archivist.
And the FBI is trying to figure out who the archivist has been.
And I'm just laid out there right now.
Pretty sure the archivist has to be the log lady, right?
It's got to be the log lady.
That would make sense. Yeah.

(01:18:47):
He always knows all the same thing happens in Alan Wake sort of.
He's the one that knows all. Yeah, that's right.
There's the the last one.
Yeah, that's right. There's the lamp lady now.
It was the lamp lady.
Yeah. Which I think we have a log lady Pimp Pop vinyl, too.
Oh, that's fine. I didn't know they had a Twin Peaks series,
although shouldn't be surprised they have everything.
We definitely have a Cooper.

(01:19:08):
And then there's another there's a final book called The Final Dossier,
which was released after the return, which ties up loose ends and explains things.
So I'll get to that one day.
If Lost released one of those, do you think people would complain less?
No, no, I think people are going to complain the amount they complain.
Well, they complain more or less than when they released the book Bad Twin.

(01:19:32):
I bought and read that then it wasn't very good.
I own Bad Twin also.
I've got somewhere in a box in my garage.
I've got a copy of Bad Twin that I paid full price for.
If I remember right, it came out around the time that our band,
our high school band trip was taking a trip to Hawaii.
So I bought a copy in Hawaii.
Oh, wow. OK.
And read it on the trip and in the plane as I mean, it's like a bad Stephen King riff.

(01:19:57):
So as somebody who had not read Stephen King after that point,
it was kind of interesting.
But looking back on it, I I don't think it holds up.
Probably not. No, probably not.
But that's my reading railroad pick of a book based on a TV show.
Well, I talked about a TV show based on a book.

(01:20:20):
That's true. So it comes full circle.
We did it.
We only ever talk about things that are based on TV shows or come from them
or eventually became them.
It all comes. It all comes back around the TV.
Ah, it comes back around.
It comes back around. It comes back around.

(01:20:40):
Oh, great. The whispers are here in the overheard.
We I overheard the whispers.
It makes sense. It tracks.
Oh, OK. I guess that's true.
That concludes this part of the show.
Time for listener feedback.
Mail time. Hey, you know what that means?
Welcome. You've got mail. Goodbye.

(01:21:06):
Listener feedback is the part of the show where it's time to hear from you,
the listener.
We would love for you to reach out to us at our email address.
Happycastfeedback at Gmail dot com.
Or we have a phone number that you can call and leave us a voicemail.
That number, of course, is.
Seven seven happy CUP.

(01:21:29):
Right. Yes. Or one seventy seven happy bus.
Get on the happy bus and give us a call.
I like that there is a three minute limit on your feedback.
So if it's going to be longer, do it in two calls or just, you know,
send us a clip through the email.
Oh, yeah, that works, too.
But whatever is easier for you, if you need to be driving

(01:21:50):
and you to just call it in like it's a morning radio show.
Go ahead and call. That's true. That's true.
You can do that, too.
All right. Well, do we have any feedback this week, Ben?
Yeah, I think last I looked, we have two.
We have one voicemail and we have another segment from Steve's Junce.

(01:22:10):
Oh, Steve's Junce.
And again, two weeks in a row, right?
Then, yeah, I think so.
I'm losing track of time, but I'm pretty sure that's time feels weird here.
They overheard that. That's true. Yeah. Hmm.
I feel like I feel like we've been here for a couple of hours,
but also maybe like we've been here forever.

(01:22:31):
Is that why Lloyd said that? Maybe she's speaking of Lloyd.
Hey, it's can you queue up the Junce?
Ah, oh, where would what go and who who's that?
It's that's that a is that a bear and some guy that's that
that that can't be Ben, is that Chad Snyder?

(01:22:53):
I think so. I have heard him more than I've seen him.
And it's been a year. What are they doing in there?
I think I think he's arm wrestling that bear.
I know. And and it looks like a grizzly, too.
Not like that. It's grizzly.
But I mean, if it's against the bear, maybe it will soon turn grizzly.
Chad, stop arm wrestling that bear. It's not safe here.

(01:23:14):
Let's let's flip the switch and see see what what it sounds like in there.
Well, all right, there.
You got me this time. The next time I'm going to win.
All right. All right.
But you promise after this, we're going to record an episode of my podcast.
Easy as ABC.

(01:23:38):
Oh, man, you see that?
That's it. There's that bright flash. I.
I'm disoriented.
Like the men in black.
I yeah, I think I got
the neural eyes, because I want to think so.
Oh, maybe, maybe. I don't know.
What was that? I I I don't know.
Chad Snyder, of course, died in prison, as we all remember.

(01:24:02):
Yeah, I remember that it was rumored that his brother,
Rad Snyder, did it, but it wasn't him.
Brad, who listeners might remember, was on last episode
or a clip of him giving his life hacks, not the prison ones.
He gave those to later. That's true. That's true.
And Brian, are you OK?
You kind of zoomed out there for a second.

(01:24:23):
Lloyd, Lloyd, where were you?
We just saw a bear in our Brian's dead friend arm wrestling.
I just I just stepped away to the lobby to get some some breakfast.
I'm parched. I haven't I haven't.
I haven't eaten all day.
Wait, does this place have complimentary breakfast?
Oh, they do. They do.

(01:24:44):
We've got a free breakfast every day.
Lloyd likes to go to the lobby and make a big old plate of pancakes.
Pancakes, Lloyd pancakes.
Wait, wait, wait, Brian, Brian, Brian, Brian.
That I mean, yeah, that one's weird.
I got to, you know, even I'll admit that is it's really pushing the limits.
It seems a lot like that one time that we heard on the podcast

(01:25:05):
when we just interviewed CSI Miami's David Caruso character.
Sure. Back in episode three.
Yeah, it sounds a lot like that clip that we played then.
Yeah, yeah. All right.
Well, Lloyd, I'll let you finish chewing those pancakes, but I'll let you finish.

(01:25:26):
I'm going to let. Hey, Lloyd, I'm going to let you finish.
But
I'm going to let you finish, but best Western has the best free breakfast of all time.
All Lloyd, just just queue up the Junst.
Hello to all you happy cast.
I'm Steve Junst to talk for movies.
There's one that is from now who is that wild robot.

(01:25:47):
It is computer pictures with animals and foxes and bears and ducks.
That baby duck can't do nothing except have a mom who's a little girl.
Can't do nothing except have a mom who is a robot.
My mom is not a robot.
There is laughing and crying and beeps and friends.
It is a full star.

(01:26:08):
There's another movie to also it is White Bird.
There is Helen Miras and some French.
There's also bullies and Nazis and a girl in a barn.
It has brave and hiding and some white bird.
But don't miss it.
It is a full star and the other full star.
That's pretty good for a movie.

(01:26:29):
Hey movies.
So a movie about a bird and a movie about a turtle.
Birds and turtles and robots.
Thank you, Steve Junst for your positive review of the wild robot, which I've been meaning to get to.
Is that what that was? I'm not in the movie scene like you are.
Yes, it's an animated picture called the wild robot.

(01:26:51):
I believe I believe Mark Hamill provides a voice.
He might be the titular wild robot.
I don't know.
Oh, it sounded interesting, especially the part with the duck.
Yes, yes.
And then a movie called White Bird, which I've heard a little bit about that it's supposed to be pretty good.
And I might need to I might need to run that back.

(01:27:13):
Ben, it sounded like Steve is Junst gave White Bird a full star and another full star, which is unprecedented on his segment.
He's never given anything more than a star.
That's what I heard, too.
Yeah, that's impressive.
So that is a full on rave like like the playing.
They're playing music and twisting glow sticks while there are Nazis in hiding.

(01:27:38):
Yeah, no, exactly.
That's a really bad idea.
They're going to find you quick.
So I need to see that because I need to know what movies good enough to get two full June stars.
I will also say that to add on to that, in the email, when Steve is June sent this in.
He called us cheese bags.

(01:28:02):
OK, well, he said, stay fresh, cheese bags.
That's I feel like I've heard that somewhere.
That might be some cool new slang that the zoomers are using.
Maybe Steve is Junst is a young person.
Is Steve Steve is Junst?
Is he a zoomer?
I I don't know.
We really need to dig deeper into the mystery of who the Steve is Junst is.

(01:28:25):
The Junstiverse.
The Junstiverse deepens.
Oh, all right.
But we do have into the Junstiverse.
Now, that was worth it. I did want to hear that.
That's sarcastic, but it's not.
Thanks, Brian. I really wanted to hear that.
That was that was worth it. Thanks.

(01:28:48):
Anyway, Junst, can you pull up the other one as a voicemail from, I think, Mrs.
Panther? My name's Lloyd, not Junst, but here we go right here.
Well, Lloyd's got it.
Hi, Ben and Brian. It's Mrs.
Panther here. This is actually the second time I'm leaving a message
because my first one was too long and it hung up on me.

(01:29:11):
So I'm going to try to keep this brief.
My happy hour for this week would have to be all the Halloween themed items
that restaurants are offering this year, such as Burger King with their Adams
family stuff, Wendy's with their frosty guys or little frosty figurines
you can get that are themed like little Halloween characters.

(01:29:32):
Let's see. Duncan has the Munchkin bucket and also their Halloween donuts.
And then McDonald's, of course, they brought their food buckets back,
but they're a little different this year.
Some people hate them. Some people like them.
I'm indifferent.
They're just little monster faces that you can decorate with stickers.
They're just trying something different, I guess.
But, yeah, so I did try the Adams family stuff at Burger King.

(01:29:53):
Enjoyed it. It was pretty good.
I hadn't had Burger King in years, so that was interesting.
See, haven't been to Wendy's yet, but I hope to get there.
And we went to Duncan and got the Munchkin bucket.
I was so happy to get it.
I'm using it as a lunch pail because why not?
I brought it to work.
Let's see.
Haven't been in a gulf yet either for the blue bucket, but maybe.

(01:30:16):
So, yeah, I just like that. I think it's fun.
I'm all about Halloween. So, yeah.
My bummer patrol would have to be that Halloween is fast approaching.
And this month seems like it's flown by, which I'm really sad about
because it's my favorite month. It's my favorite time of the year.
And I haven't done as much spooky stuff this year
as I would have hoped to have done at this point.

(01:30:38):
But, you know, I still have time to do that.
But anyway, so there's that.
And then I was going to go ahead and tell you my least favorite Halloween candy.
So I'm not really a fan of the small, like, really fun size.
I'm putting that in quotes because I mean, it's just so silly.
Like, what? Fun size.

(01:30:59):
Fun size is bigger than it should be, in my opinion.
But anyway, I also think it's lazy to have, like, tootsie rolls.
Like, I'm fine with tootsie rolls, but I think that those are kind of boring.
And like lollipops that are just not like blow pops or tootsie roll pops.
Like those are, if they're just like the plain ones, those are kind of weird.

(01:31:20):
So I don't really like those.
I'm trying to remember other candies, but I think right now it's all I can think of
because I like most of the other stuff like Kit Kats, M&M's.
I like those Twix, Snickers, Three Muffin' Tears, Milky Way.
I feel like I'm forgetting stuff.
I'm good with candy corn.
I actually like candy corn and enjoy that.

(01:31:43):
But yeah, that's all I can think of.
So anyway, happy Halloween, Ben and Brian.
Brian.
I don't know what that was.
Please don't include that.
Thank you.
That's being included.
Sorry.
All right.
Thank you, Mrs. Panther, for calling into our new voicemail line.

(01:32:06):
Yes.
Halloween items at the fast food restaurants.
I didn't know about this munchkin bucket at Dunkin Donuts.
That sounds interesting.
It's a bucket of munch.
But the one I'm really interested in is this Addams Family Burger King tie in because I've
heard of Whopper Wednesday, but a Wednesday Whopper, that's a bit...

(01:32:30):
I don't know Whopper Wednesday.
Oh, it's like they have discounted Whoppers on Wednesdays.
Sorry.
I have no idea.
They call it Whopper Wednesday.
And then...
Are they trying to make it something like Taco Tuesday?
I think so.
It's Whopper Wednesday.
But yeah, the Wednesday Whopper, I'm looking at it here.
It's got like a purple bun.
That seems interesting.

(01:32:51):
Yeah, it was a...
I think the only difference is that it was purple.
I mean, that's good enough for me.
That's all I need is a purple hamburger.
There was a whole series of Addams Family Foods and we got all of them.
The whole menu?
Okay, tell me what was there.
Yeah, we got the Wednesday Whopper.
We got the Thing Rings, which are just onion rings.

(01:33:16):
Okay, disappointing.
No, they came with zesty sauce, or were supposed to.
I don't know if that makes them Thing or what, but they were just onion rings.
I mean, the little...
The box or the container they were in had Thing on it.
So there's that.
So yeah, that's something.
There was the Morticia Ooki Chocolate Shake.

(01:33:37):
Or was it Kuki?
It was Kuki.
Well, they could have been Ooki, because they are both Ooki and Kuki.
I guess Ooki might have been too gross, which I think was...
It was like a chocolate shake with fudge bits in it, maybe?
Interesting.
I had a little bit of that.
And there was the Gomez Churro Fries.
Oh, that's new.

(01:33:59):
That's not just a rebranded item they already had.
How were the Churro Fries?
They were a little harder and crunchier than I thought.
I thought they were going to be soft like most fries.
Or Churros.
Churros are usually kind of chewy.
Yeah, but these weren't...
They still tasted good because Churros, but that's all.
They had that sugar rush you're looking for, but not...

(01:34:22):
So you would not order the Gomez Churro Fries again.
Or at least not from the Burger King that is about half a mile from us.
And also, I understand not including Uncle Fester, because Uncle is still family, but
he's not like the direct family.
But where the heck is Pugsley?
Sure.
Bring Pugsley in the mix.
And I mean, also Fester, it doesn't sound like something you want tied into a food item

(01:34:46):
like us.
But Fester Sandwich, it just doesn't sound great.
No, they should...
I look for Pugsley, they should have at least had Chicken Pugsletts.
Yeah.
Chicken Pugsletts.
Delicious Chicken Pugsletts.
Who wouldn't order Chicken Pugsletts, I ask.
Another potential episode title.

(01:35:08):
Well, and then I agree with your diss of generic lollipops.
Although I'm imagining like the classic brown lollipops, but I do enjoy a Dum Dum, because
I like the...
Oh yeah.
There's like the root beer and I think there's a mystery one where you don't know what it

(01:35:30):
is.
Yeah, those are definitely fine.
And I totally forgot, I meant to actually put this on when we were making the list,
but Tootsie Rolls are on there for me because they are like just hard cylinders of chocolate.
Yeah, it's a junk candy.
I think it definitely would have made the list if we had thought of it.
What's worse is like the off-brand other flavored ones.

(01:35:53):
Oh, I like the flavored Tootsie Rolls.
But it's weird to get a handful of like for Halloween.
I don't know.
I just don't understand what that candy is anymore.
Kind of like the one we talked about that we did put on the list, the black and orange
like unnamed chewy things.

(01:36:13):
Oh yes, yes.
Those things.
I'll figure out the actual name for them one day.
Some listeners write in.
Maybe, I mean, you actually might have done it if I had edited it quicker, but I didn't.
But that's our two feedbacks.
All right, great.
Well, thank you for Steve as a Jutes and Mrs. Panther for sending in feedback.

(01:36:36):
And I think I think that does it.
We're at the end of another episode of the podcast.
Ben, how do you feel?
I feel a little uneasy here in the overheard podcast studio.
Yeah, I mean, it has a off vibe to it for sure.
Lloyd, how was that?
Did we do pretty good?
Meh.

(01:36:56):
Meh.
That's uncharacteristically like curt and to the point.
But OK, thank you, Lloyd.
So how do we wrap this thing up?
No classic style, I think, where we thank everyone for listening.
I thank you for potting with me, Ben.
I've enjoyed this time as I always do.
And we invite you to join us next time.

(01:37:17):
But until then, remember, keep happy.

(01:37:38):
Oh, all right.
This explains all the working problems in the area will
be a lesson.
All right.
So we will not공inate until I come up soon.
Thanks folks, so, yeah.
Right now, though our podcasting is ending as well,
So you know today, everything has been the same.
So so we can finally, as we start getting closer to K31,
We'll be able to hours, because did you see us a little??

(01:37:58):
Yeah I'm ready to kick us off.
We're listening to this one a bit more.
thought the rabbit did.
And then the more I'm looking at it, I know this is a podcast,
so it's a purely audio medium.
But if this were a video podcast, maybe a hedge maze would be cooler to look at.

(01:38:18):
I guess so. I mean, but topiaries are more impressive, aren't they?
I mean, a hedge maze looks cool from above, but people don't see them from above
ever. That's true.
And I suppose like the scariest thing about the hedge maze is the idea of
getting lost in one.
I don't know if one of those animals came to life and started trying to kill me.

(01:38:39):
I wouldn't be pleased.
Yeah, it probably costs a lot of money to do that, though.
I mean, I guess that is true.
Yeah, well, I mean, you know, anyway, so four episodes in October.
We did it. We did it. That's we we we did it.
We completed the October surprise bin for brand new episodes in October.

(01:39:00):
You know what that calls for?
I'm going to pop open this sparkling grape juice and
let's celebrate with a big fistful of this Kraft Dinner macaroni and cheese.
Oh, did you make this? Did you bring it?
I brought it with me.
So it's not it's not warm or fresh, but this stuff holds up incredibly well.

(01:39:21):
Did you bring it in our traditional macaroni stocking?
Of course, of course.
It's the only way I transport my macaroni.
Oh, I hope they weren't the ones you're wearing.
I'm not wearing them at the time.
So that counts.
That's fine. That's fine.
Oh, I just my favorite part of our post podcast celebrations are the fistfuls of macaroni.

(01:39:42):
I mean, I mean, it's a little cold, but it's pretty good anyway.
Let's live in the mood.
Lloyd, cue up some fun time celebration music.
OK, I know just the thing.
I don't think we were expecting that song.

(01:40:04):
I mean, it's kind of overplayed, isn't it?
Well, what are you talking about?
This is a classic. You can't you can't beat Benetwork.
They're they're one of the all time great bands.
I mean, yeah, I mean, Down Under is a pretty good song,
especially the Vegemite Sandwich thing.
But that's not really our post celebration podcast thing.
Yeah, I'm looking for something like a little upbeat.

(01:40:26):
Do you have any, I don't know, like like 90s hip hop?
You got like some Wu Tang clan or maybe even Shaggy?
Yeah, that wasn't wasn't me.
Maybe some Kid N Play.
You know, that would be cool.
Kid N Play from the movie House Party.
One of has the tall haircut, right?
We all know we all know this. Yes.

(01:40:49):
I'm sorry to disappoint you, Brian,
but when it comes to my music, it's all about work.
No Kid N Play.
That's that's great. That's great, Lloyd.
Thank you. Thank you for that.
I have no understanding of what that even means, Lloyd.
I mean, how could I know you're not a DJ,
but even as a sound engineer, you have to have more than one
artist's worth of albums back there.

(01:41:12):
Well, I mean, they've got a pretty rich catalog,
so it fills up this entire iPod Nano.
Brian, should we just get out of here?
Yeah, you know, I mean, I appreciate the job offer, Lloyd,
but I'm kind of homesick for the the Bat Shop pyramid.
So I think we're just going to head on out.
I hope you can take care of it, Lloyd.

(01:41:33):
Well, you know, I hate to tell you,
but old old boy will take care of it without you.
It's fine. I'll miss you. I'll miss the company.
I mean, Chad and that bear were here, too, I think, right?
Well, that's true. That's a good point.
There have been a lot of people here for abandoned podcast
studio for the winter. So, yeah, it's two twins.
Twins.

(01:41:55):
OK, you're right. You're right.
I must admit, I do send out a bunch of these letters every year
and con people to come to visit me just because I get lonely here.
Wait, why? I mean, I know you get lonely, but why? Why?
Why us?
I, you know, I just I'm a I'm a fan of the cast.
I, you know, I listen to every episode.

(01:42:15):
There's the one with the thing that makes you happy.
That was a good one.
There's the other one where you talk about what made you sad.
That was that was a bummer, but I liked it, too.
And then, of course, my favorite are the episodes where you talk to werewolves.
And let's just get out of here.
All right. Here, let me let me hit the down button on this elevator.

(01:42:37):
We'll get on out of here.
Anyway, you do look a lot like Regis Philbin, I'm sure.
Does that come up a lot every day?
Oh, yeah.
Ben, what's all this stuff coming out of the elevator?
It looks like the stuff from the pinata.

(01:42:59):
What is this? We can't get away from it.
It seems to be following us everywhere.
Well, it can't be Puzz Guz.
No, no, it's something else.
And it just I don't know.
It just feels extreme in some way.
I can't I can't place a finger on it.
Who could it be now?
Oh, I know what you want to hear now.

(01:43:20):
Here comes another big from MW.
Ah, no, no, no, no.
Lloyd, Lloyd, Lloyd, no.
Why are you even following us to the elevator? Did you?
Why is none of this goop on you?
I you know, I have a real kind of metaphysical qualities.
Best not to ask too many questions about Ryan.

(01:43:41):
I went right through him.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, we've seen weird stuff here.
He's definitely a ghost, right?
We've decided that at this point.
I mean, we said that Chad previously died in an episode.
So I mean, we know ghosts are real.
We've been to Ghost Judge Court.

(01:44:01):
That's true. That's true.
We met Ghost Judge and the Booliff and the Booliff.
Yes, that's true. And that old lady courier.
Yeah. So I mean, at least he seems like a friendly ghost,
like the Casper variant, not like those angry ghosts like
on a poltergeist or the ones that chase Pac-Man and keep Blinky and Todd.

(01:44:24):
Oh, he keep blinking dot and Clyde.
Great, great guys. We hang out all the time.
Right. I don't I don't know if someone who plays as much
men at work, despite how much we don't want it, is a good ghost.
Oh, come on, guys.
You're going to come around by playing a third time. Rule of three.
No, no, no, no.

(01:44:44):
How do you know about that?
Last spring, there was an improv convention here at the studio
and Regis attended classes.
I mean, Floyd and Lloyd, whoever I am.
Ryan, I think this bit has been a little bit too much overkill.
Oh, here it comes.
Oh, no, Ben, no, we've really done it now. No.

(01:45:30):
My.
I worry over the situation.
I know it'll be all right.
Perhaps it's just imagination day after day.
It reappears.
Night after night, my heartbeat shows the fear.

(01:45:55):
Ghosts of fear and fade away.
Between the sheets.
Only brings the exasperation.
It's time to walk the streets.

(01:46:17):
Smell the desperation.
That yeast has pretty legs.
You know there's little variation.
It nullifies the night.
Strong overkill.
Day after day, it reappears.

(01:46:41):
Night after night, my heartbeat shows the fear.
Ghosts of fear and fade away.
Come back, come back another day.

(01:47:24):
I got to go to sleep.
I think about the implications.

(01:47:46):
Of our energy.
I worry over the situation.
I know it'll be all right.
It's just overkill.

(01:48:07):
Day after day, it reappears.
Night after night, my heartbeat shows the fear.
Ghosts of fear and fade away.
Ghosts of fear and fade away.

(01:48:34):
Ghosts of fear and fade away.
May God have mercy on his soul.
That's a bad cat. Bye.