Chewing the Fat with Jeff Fisher - Ep 569 | Who’s Imitating Who? | Guest: Jon Waterman

Episode Date: March 2, 2021

Transformers comic book goes for $44,000 Three Dads and a Baby… Only Fans Mom has kids kicked out of school… Couple fined and may be headed to jail for illegal aquarium fishing… Life imitating art or Art imitating life? Subscribe to the Podcast… Subscribe to the YouTube Channel… Email to [e-mail] Subscribe www.blazetv.com/jeffy Promo code jeffy… Just make good content… Alec responds to commentors… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So if you're just sitting around the house and you're thinking, man, I need some cash. I wish there was something I could sell for some cash. Well, if you have comic books say that our Transformers comic books, say, I don't know, the first one from 1984, first appearance and origin of Autobots and Decepticons, you might be able to sell it for more than $40,000. This one I'm looking at right here sold for $44,000. Now, it was graded with a 9.9. So it's graded from this grading company, this CGC. And that's a third party that's, you know, they guarantee comic books, trading cards, magazines, other collectibles.

So I guess you send it in to. CGC and they say yeah this is you know a 9.7 you probably could get you know 30,000 but this particular comic book was graded a 9.9 and got 44,000 dollars according to this there's three comics out there with the same grade but we don't know you know exactly what they look like but you have a good chance of selling your comic books now for you know tens of thousands of dollars if they're just, you know, in good shape, and they're the first ones. I mean, this one is from 1984.

It's not even the, you know, it's just the early ones of the Transformers. So good luck. Good luck. I know I'm going to start digging around this house to see if we have any. I'll tell you that. I know I don't. Don't worry. My wife and my son would have already known.

Welcome to Chewing the Fat. Remember way back in 2017. when the gay polymores California thruple made history. When they became the first family in the state to list three parents on a birth certificate. They are now fathers of Piper, who is three years old now. And they've got a new book coming out this month, March of 2021. Three dads and a baby. Oh, see what they did there?

That's so cute. It is. I know. I know. So you have Dr. Ian Jenkins. You have Jeremy Hodges and Dr. Allen Mayfield. They, uh, and their son, uh, Parker is one and Piper is three. Now, uh, the fact that Piper has three parents, it's not just a big deal.

have three parents myself my mother father and stepmother and no one thinks anything of it so i'm looking forward to the book because it's going to it's going to be something right um according to the book some people seem to think it's about a ton of sex or something yeah silly me for thinking that because that'd just be crazy right right it sure would be but there's just an ordinary and domestic tranquility in our house. Okay? So quit your whining. All right.

We were, look, the two of us, Jenkins and Mayfield, a psychiatrist, were completing their medical residencies in Boston. They were together eight years. And then Hodges, who works at a zoo hospital, came into the picture. And their relationship, of course, just began as a friendship.

and things quickly turned romantic. Five years of Thruppledom, then they started thinking, you know what we need is a kid. I mean, when you're three men without a baby living together, or married together, I guess, you know, being a family together, you think to yourself, you know what we need is a kid.

so they spent all kinds of money on legal fees and contracts and they were trying to you know you had to find someone to donate embryos and they had to find a surrogate and luckily they have a friend that offered to carry the baby and man you know how lucky were they to find that and uh now the embryos weren't viable and it's just a just a a loving story so I can't wait to read the entire story three dads and a baby I actually sadly I may read it just to share it with you because it sounds like a riveting a riveting story and it's nothing but love nothing but love and you two may be one of the people who have, you know, three parents instead of two.

And according to the story, which gives the dads a source of pride, all the daddy's, a source of pride. Piper, who is now in preschool, it's reported that she told the classmate, you have two parents, I have three parents. So that is a source of pride. for the daddies and they go by Papa, Dada, and Daddy. So they all know who Piper means

when she calls Papa or Dadda or Daddy. And they all bring something different. Alan is best at reading books with an accent and backstory for every character. Jeremy is the Christian. creative dad. He makes bath bombs and special lunches for the kids and Ian. Ian is often the family cook and the resident fortmaker. So it is just a special, special thruple with kids. And the book has got to be just wonderful to learn all the little backstories of Papa, Dadda, and Daddy. And I can't

wait for three dads and a baby, man, it is going to be some great, great reading and maybe maybe get a little insight on the special family that started way back in 2017. And now is a loving thruple with two children, Piper and Parker. and love. That's where I was going with that. So you have Papa, Dadda, Daddy, Piper,

and Parker, and love. Three dads and a baby. Speaking of families and things, you know, breaking apart and coming together and,

and, well, you know, families. They're the struggles of being a family. So there's been this story out there and I've had it in the fat pile for a while and I keep adding to another link that comes up, but they're talking about a Sacramento mom who has her only fans account, right? And she's been doing her only fans account with her and her husband. And she, it's not nudes, but it is really, uh, uh, what's the word I'm looking for? racy

according to the school that we're going to be talking about the Jesuit high school and Sacred Heart Parish in Sacramento and some of the parents with sticks up their rear ends have called it scandalous content

to only fans and apparently you know mom was struggling through menopause and not feeling good about herself so her and her husband and started taking these pictures of her and posting it on only fans. And now she's making about 150,000 a month for her only fans subscribers.

The page is called the real Mrs. Poindexter, which at 150,000 a month, you may have the real Mrs. Jeffie on that only fans page really soon. That's a good gig. That's a really good gig. Now, apparently some of the moms caught some of their husbands looking at the real Mrs. Poindexter's page. I'm reading between the lines. And they got mad.

And so they started printing out pictures and sending it to the school and dropping it off at the school and saying, we can't believe that you're letting this family into this school. They've got to go. And so now the kids have been kicked out of the school. And they, you know, they just are pissed. that, you know, this mom is posting stuff and making all this money on their only fans account, and they're pissed at their husbands were looking at it, maybe even some of their wives were looking at it.

But I don't know how it doesn't say how many parents were upset about the real Mrs. Point Dexter's page, just that, you know, of course, the screaming carins of the school. were all wound up. Now they've, you know, got an attorney and they're talking about they can't kick out my kids and they're, you know, they're punishing the children for the parents. I will say it's a Catholic school, a Catholic program, and the school is like, well, there's a contract that says we reserve the right to disqualify your students, children. If we think it violates something that we don't like or is inconsistent with the mission of the school. yeah you know

they probably as a Catholic school feel that the real Mrs. Point Dexter you know posting her racy and scandalous photos on her only fans account

is going against you know inconsistent with the mission of the school so they were happy to take the money though as long as they didn't know where it was from

yeah they were real happy and I'm sure the Pope was getting his cut over there in the Vatican. As long as they don't know where the money's coming from, it's all good. Don't worry about it. Oh, no, we just found out that you're getting some of the money from posing with lingerie on a website. Yeah, no, we can't have that. Your kids can't be in this school.

Wow. Weird times. Weird, weird, weird times we live in. It really is. So, I'm reading this story about a couple who were fined for illegally catching aquarium fish in Hawaii. They were fined $272,000 for multiple violations of the Hawaii administrative rules. And all of this, this entire story. has all these abbreviations.

The BLNR voted unanimously. That's the Board of Land and Natural Resources for violations against HAR. That's the Hawaii's administration rules. According to the DLNR, which is a division of the aquatic resources, DAR, the DAR, and of course they happened along

the Resources Enforcement, DoCare, which is a division, from the DLNR. Anyway, it's just, and the NOAA's Office of Land Enforcement, which is the National Ocean.

Anyway, it's just amazing to me all these abbreviations for all these different enforcement groups. But they went after this couple, and they got them. Husband and wife, Stephen Howard,

and Yukako Torayama, were ordered to pay the fines for fishing and boating violations, which happened back in seven. September. So they apparently got busted and had a total retail value, the 16 different fishing and boating violations and the retail value of the fish they collected was estimated at $24,730. And of course, we're fortunate to know that all the fish were returned to the ocean. and Howard and

Yokako Toriyama, his wife, are also facing criminal charges in Hawaii's district court, which is, I guess, the HDC. So they, you know, got fined and all this, but my favorite part of the entire story, they've been going out and they've been diving

and they get, you know, aquarium fish that they're not supposed to get. get right there you know these fish are protected uh under the uh you know the b lnr and the h a r and the d lnr and the d ar and the d-a-r and the do care and the noah and you know it just goes on and on and on of all the protections for these aquarium fish so he was known for a known aquarium collector uh had it was but they got a tip that he was that he had gone out and launched his boat from this harbor and was fishing within the west Hawaii regional fishery management area which I guess is the wHR FMA and so uh but my favorite part of the story is so they get this tip and they go out

and they say uh hey uh you're out here uh you're out here fishing you need to come in you need to you know you need to get back into get back into shore so he does he starts the boat up and off he goes back to shore well his wife and another woman were down underwater diving catching fish so when they come back up there's nobody there there's no boats there he's not there everybody's gone and they're out in the middle of the ocean Uh, just, uh, hello. So they swam back to shore. They made it.

Uh, fortunately for them, they made it. But when they got back, when the husband gets back to Doc, the people at the dock said, Hey, uh, you know, he went out with a couple more people. And so all the investigators are like, wait, you left people out there? And he's like, well, yeah, you told me to, I had to go right now. So I just started it up and went back into shore. So they started this huge search for these two that are left, were left out there diving. And then they realized, hey, yeah, we found him at a gas station.

They went ahead and swam to shore. So that's fine. You can call off the search. That's awesome. That's how much the husband cared. Ah, yeah, you got to bring this boat back in. instead of saying, well, I'd like to, except I've got, you know, people down there

catch a fish. He doesn't want to say that because they're down there illegally fishing for, you know, I'm sorry, catching aquarium fish to sell. So he doesn't want to say anything. He just figures, you know, I'll just go in and then, you know, I'll rescue him later myself. That's awesome.

It's got to go. How much do you love your husband now, Yokako, Toriyama? How much you love Stephen Howard now? Huh? Yeah, I know. Nothing says love like leaving you out there in the middle of the ocean with your diving partner. Just unbelievable.

All right, let's go to the break room. I need something cold to drink desperately. Fantastic. So once again, we have a story where real life is imitating art or art imitating real life. So a Spanish rapper is accused of hacking off his roommate's man part with a kitchen knife as part of a gruesome attempt to get attention on social media. Now, this Aaron Beltran made a deal with this Andrew Breach, this British teacher,

to amputate his manpart. and he agreed to pay him, depending on how many times the video was shared on YouTube and his other social media accounts. And according to this story, the payout ranged from, you know, 173 euros to 2,000, you know, over 2,000 euros, whatever the amount. It doesn't seem like that much, to be honest with you,

to have something like that done. But now the rapper faces four and a half years behind bars. Okay, look, the guy made a deal to do it. All right? He decided that, look, he didn't feel like a man anyway, and he's making the deal. I might as well make some cash. I want to cut my man part off anyway. I mean, it hurts to talk about it.

But apparently they found him and he was bleeding, and they, you know, they apparently had tied some kind of cord around it. would avoid hemorrhaging, but, you know, there's a lot of blood when that happens. And, I mean, I'm just, I'm just saying, and not that I've watched other videos of stuff like that. Anyway, uh, so now the, they want to charge the rapper because they said, look, um, we know that he made the deal, but really tough. And we know that the, the, the brief. had the guy breach the professor has suffers from gender dysphoria and sure they got together and drank a bunch of wine and took some valium before they worked up to you know attempt the amputation which by the way he had it put back on and he has a workable man part now anyway so he now claims

that he did it himself. I was on well, it was myself, and I felt the pressure from police to blame my roommate, so it's all my fault, and leave him alone. Wow. I mean, prosecutors are saying, look, sure it was consensual, but he still bears criminal responsibility.

And the guy who had it done to himself now claims he did it to himself and didn't have help. Okay. All right. Now, you say, Jeff, didn't you start out with real life, imitating art or art imitating real life? Right. Remember the show called Room 104. Room 104.

And it's about this hotel room that all this stuff happens. It's based, you know, different things. Each episode is a different happening in the same hotel room. Room 104. One of the nights, one of the episodes. one of the episodes and I went back and looked at season two

uh episode six I think it is right season two one two three episode four of season two it's called hungry and the IMDB explanation is two strangers meet to fulfill an unusual mutual fantasy

yeah the fantasy was the one guy wanted his man part cut off and and so they set it all and they have dinner and they eat and then there's you know it's around that entire thing and that was a couple years ago this show so uh which means that it was filmed you know three years ago or so so i mean is art imitating life or is life imitating art uh i don't know i don't know room 104 though i think that had three or four seasons it was up on i don't know HBO or

Netflix or you know, one of the, a lot of the things I started watching some of the episodes on. Yeah, it's still going according to it was up last year, four seasons of Route 104. Wow. Mark Deploss and Jay DePlas are the creators. And that guy has done some work, man. He is a hardworking guy. He's created a lot of content for a lot of different people, man. Good for him.

He's a talented guy. Oh, and speaking of that, I did finish Nomad Land, which one. best film of the year at the Golden Globes the other day, which by the way, their numbers were sad. I was looking at their ratings, and they, I mean, for the Golden Globes, they had six million viewers Sunday night, which probably will win the night

as far as television shows. But it, Doesn't, I mean, for the Golden Globes. What did they have? Let's see what it says here. They average 6 million on Sunday nights. And, oh, wow. 60 minutes.

And the rookie and American Idol had more viewers. Holy cow. If that's true, network television, that is bad. If they didn't win the night with the $6 million, that's horrific for the Golden Globes. And good. I mean, we don't want to get preached at it. I told you about, you know,

we've got Barat winning, come on. And we got What's his face telling us how Mother Earth is dying. Shut up. I can't take it. And there's all socially distanced, and they're all from their homes. And we're,

They're all from their homes. I love this. We're all socially distanced. We can't come together. And I didn't go back and watch it. I do have it recorded and I probably should. I didn't go back and watch the lactating mother commercial. I didn't go back and watch the commercial on having the kids in L.A.

get their special pass to go back to school. But I did see stories on people, you know, the stars from their homes or other people homes that they were accepting their awards from. And they talked about every time they showed the stars from their different homes, they all had three, four, five, six people around them for makeup and lighting and cameras. Are you kidding me? We're socially distant, but each house is bringing in all these, all these helpers

and workers. Okay, I mean, sure. I'm sure that every helper was wearing a mask and was tested. I'm, you know, I would be sure of that. But come on now. Come on. Anyway, bad numbers for the Golden Globes. So, uh, anyway, room 104.

Where was I? Oh yeah. And, uh, Francis McDormid, no man land. So I figured that it would end with her just dying in her van. All right. I know this is going to be a spoiler, but it's about the life of this lady who is living her life in a van. And all the people that are who they call nomads in today's world.

And they live, you know, most of them are out west. And they, because it's, you know, wide open land, right? I mean, you can, and they have different campgrounds and she's living in a van. This is Francis McDormand. And it's the best film of the year. I got it. And there's some great, you know, photography and videography. And Francis McDormand is great.

She's always, you know, she always does a great job. And she's a great actor or actress or, you know, person performing in a film. But I figured that the end was going to be. All right, this is a spoiler alert. All right. So if you're watching and you haven't seen it yet, it's up on Hulu, you could go watch it. And I had started watching it, you know,

before Sunday, this weekend, I thought, oh, there's no man that's a new one. I probably should watch that. And I made it, I don't know, 20 minutes, 30 minutes in, something came up, and then I hadn't gotten back to it yet. That's what we talked about yesterday. I hadn't gotten back to it. So, and then it wins.

And I thought, oh, no, I'm going to have to watch it. So I know, I'll get back. So I watch it. Watch the rest of it yesterday after the show. And I thought for sure she was going to, you know, the end was going to be her in the van, you know, in the middle of the desert, dying, dead. Right? That's the end. Credits, roll credits.

She died as a nomad in her van in the middle of the desert. Nope. That's not how it ends. But it kind of is. But it kind of is. And it's all for it. all, you know, it's dedicated to the nomads of today.

For all of those who, oh, shoot, I can't remember they're saying now, all the nomads have their saying. What is it? Something about we'll see you down the road. They never say goodbye. They say we'll see you down the road. Anyway, it's dedicated

to them. And it, uh, it it was okay. It was okay. Was it the best movie of all time? No. But it was okay. And I haven't seen, I haven't even seen Tom and Jerry yet.

And that's the biggest hit at the box office this year so far. 13.7 million of ticket sales over the weekend. That's huge in today's world. Right? And it's up on HBO. So, I mean, and it looked, actually I was making fun of Tom and Jerry laughing and I watched the trailer. It looks actually funny, so I got to watch it.

And so anyway, I caught all that for tell you that, you know, the rapper cut his friend's penis off and now the friend is admitting that it was him. He did it to himself, but they still want to charge him. And it looks like art imitating life with Room 104, the series, Room 104, Or is it life, imitating art? All right, just a reminder that if you're listening to this show right now and you are not a subscriber to this show, you need to do that, okay? You should stop doing what you're doing right now

and look at the platform that you're listening to the show on and become a subscriber. Now, if you look at that platform and you think, oh, I don't really like that platform, I would rather subscribe on iTunes or IHart Radio or Stitcher or Spotify. Do that because it's available there too. In fact, there is a plethora of platforms that are carriers of chewing the fat with Jeff Fisher, and you should choose the one that warms a little cockles of your heart and subscribe to the show.

Okay? Okay, then. And if that particular platform allows you to rate and review the show, you should do so. And I've made it easy. You shouldn't think about it or try to comment. up with something cute or I know you've got a lot to do during your day. So just 20 stars, best podcast ever, then you can move on with your life. You're good to go.

And it's all good and it brings, you know, it makes people aware of the show that might not normally be aware of the show. So subscribe on the platform of your choice, rate and review, if allowed, 20 stars, best podcast ever. And you're good to go. Well, I mean, then you can, you know, go ahead and subscribe to the YouTube channel, chewing the fat as well and click the little notification bell so you can, you know, be alerted when new content arrives, which is, you know, often. And then you might as well just, you might as well just follow me on social media at Jeffrey JFR on Twitter, Jeff Fisher Radio on all the others.

And you'll be, then you are, your life is darn near complete. Okay? Thank you. Can we make a pact with these streaming companies just to make good content, please? Let's just do that. I see where Netflix is launching a global fund that will direct $100 million to initiatives supporting underrepresented groups in entertainment. Now, are there underrepresented groups in entertainment anymore? I don't believe so.

but if you say so, okay, there is. You got me. Okay? So I guess the program is going to expand on the company's existing efforts to donate tens of millions to groups that support the black community following the racial justice protests last summer. A new study at the University of Southern California's Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, who doesn't love the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, found that underrepresented groups accounted for 36% of Netflix film leads in 2018 and 2019.

That sounds pretty good. That's, of course, according to the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, 8% more leads and co-leads from underrepresented groups than were in the top 100 grossing films for the same years. So there was huge, really good content, but it didn't have underrepresented groups in the content. So we've got to do something about that. So I guess Netflix has industry standard levels of minority writers and directors, and the company's first ever inclusion report, well, we can't wait for other companies to get their inclusion reports out,

revealed that 46% of the U.S. employees come from underrepresented communities. Well, gosh, darn it, that is so good. That is so darn good. So I guess, I don't know if this actually came from the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, but they found that more than half of the leads and co-leads in Netflix films and shows are women, meaning the streamer has hit gender parity for those roles. It's also ahead of its peers and hiring female creators and writers. You know what?

I don't care. Just create good content. That's all I want. Just good content. That's it. That's all I want is good content. I know that we have the Rutterman Family Foundation, and they give out their awards for the,

they're the Disability Rights Group, the Rutterman Family Foundation. And they give out awards for, they call it the seal of authentic representation. Yeah. So, Will and Grace, Revival, was honored. Fear the Walking Dead was honored. Sex education was honored. Emmerdale was honored, Call the Midwife,

what the latest round of recipients for the seal of authentic representation. So, congratulations. Congratulations to those. those shows for receiving the Ruderman Family Foundation seal of authentic representation. Just create good content, please. Just create good content. Please, that's it. That's all I want.

So, did you see where Alec Baldwin and wife, uh, hilarious? Um, I guess that's, I mean, that's how I say it. hilarious Baldwin because she's married to Alec showed up with another kid so I mean they had I guess five and

then all of a sudden I mean she just had a kid back in September little baby back in September and now she just posted a picture with the big kid Alex kid and then all of a sudden a real little baby brand new and I mean there's no explanation

it was just her with six kids saying, you know, hey, here's a new kid, a new family. And look, she's had all kinds of trouble as it is. Her and Alecman, you know, arguing with people for quite some time now over her cultural appropriation. And her, you know, whether she was Spanish or whether she's not Spanish or whether she, you know, has a Spanish accent. And she was she born in Boston or was she born in Spain?

and where she came from and it's all it's all agonizing and she has all kinds of details she likes to post their entire life online about their postpartum life and the new baby and then all of a sudden there's a new kid a new little baby and no explanation and so the comments are turned off on the post so it's just a matter of hey there's us with a new baby so we don't know where it came from who it belongs to and fans took to the comment section of Alex photo post to say, hey, what's up? You know, you're just doing clickbait. What's going on?

And they asked, you know, for details. They want to know, hey, what's going on? You use a surrogate or adopted. And so one fan asked, who's the mother? she wasn't pregnant she gave birth six months ago if it was a surrogate

just say that if the baby was adopted just say that if the baby was the product of an affair and you've decided to raise it with your wife just say that if you don't want to say anything

why don't you both stop constantly posting and begging for clickbait just raise your hundred children in private. Alec responded with the grace

and kindness that is Alec Baldwin Alec response was you should shut the fuck up and mind your own business Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha it is awesome And then he snapped back at another

commentator who brought up hilarious Spanish heritage scandal wondered why anyone cared that the yoga instructor born Hillary Hayward Thomas changed her name and he responded a little bit better this time

because basically they're not very smart. Americans are people who know less about how to live a peaceful, healthy life than most of the civilized world. Well, also, Alec, I would say that most Americans, you know, kind of figure, why do you pretend that you're something, you're not?

You know, outside of acting in films and stuff. I mean, she's, whatever, it doesn't matter. I don't care. You know, she can be, she can say she comes from wherever she wants to come from. Why don't you just shut the half up and mind your own business? Right, Alec? Right. Dude, man, go smoke a cigarette and take your meds, man.

Calm down. It's okay. It's just a social media post. Okay. That's it. Take care. It's all right. It's all right. I know. I know. It's okay. So, uh, I had an opportunity to talk to John Waterman. And he is the one who helped put together the Atlas of National Parks for the National Geographic. This Atlas is awesome. And we've talked to John before, but this particular, um, The new Atlas of National Parks is really awesome. And I had an opportunity to talk to him the other day. And I posted the interview up on my YouTube channel as well. So you can see the interview if you'd like. But I wanted you to be able to hear it here on the podcast as well.

So this is John Waterman, who put together the Atlas of National Parks for the National Geographic. I'm joined by John Waterman, who has joined us before here on Chewing the Fat. Now, you know him as, he's just an award-winning filmmaker, you know, works for National Geographic,

takes picture, travels the park, does nothing but travel national parks. That's all he does for a living. That's what he does. It's a good gig. Now, John, first, welcome to Chewing the Fat. How are you, sir? Pleasure to be here. I'm great. Thank you. So, I have my, I have my,

I have my hiking boots on. I've got my parachute strapped to my back. I've got a helicopter waiting. Which park should I be dropped off at? And do I need to wear a mask when I'm dropping down? I think you should be dropped off in the middle of the greatest non-polar ice fields on earth. The middle of the largest national park, Rangel St. Elias National Park and Preserve, along the border of Canada.

The park is the size of the state of the country of Switzerland. It's an enormous landscape. I've been there several times on month-plus expeditions. And it's just a glimmer of the diversity that our national parks offer us. How long do I need to stay there just to get a full feel of it? Well, the last time I was there, I spent about 50 days there. And I still have to go back because it's so bloody big that I don't know it all. And I'll never know it all in this lifetime.

And therein, yet again, is great explanation for why these parks are so great. Yeah. You know, we've heard a lot of stories about, you know, but there's new television shows now coming out. about the crime at the national parks and of course you were a ranger so you have been witness to some of that how much of that is true well it's all true you know when i was a ranger several decades ago there was a ring of thieves hitting some of the more popular national parks one of which i worked in called rocky mountain national park and they went to the national parks because they knew that people took all many of their valuables with them in their cars so it was an easy

prey um i don't think it's the problem that it used to be but um some of our more popular national parks have millions of visitors a summer just in a summer uh so there are crowds and uh where the crowds there can be a few miscreants always always always. So you've once again created the Atlas of National Parks for National Geographic. I'm jealous. My wife is jealous. My wife, I just want to say that my wife hates you pretty much because you're doing what she would love to do. So just, you know, just, I just throwing that out there. That's all. It's a love, hate relationship. So the park that you mentioned, I should helicopter in. That obviously is one of your favorite places. If in today's world,

How difficult is it to get into these national parks with some of the new mandates? Well, not terribly difficult. They're public places. They're open to all. And that's, you know, one of the great attributes of our national parks. This is, you know, exemplar of the democratic ideal that they're open to all. or only a national emergency greater than COVID would shut them down. So in times of COVID, we have to visit them like we would any other public place,

thinking social distancing masks in hand. But if you are going in helicopter being dropped off as you are in Wrangleson, Elias, you are not going to need that mask. I like that. I'm not going to have to worry about social distancing. In fact, you are going to be dying for some social. company because you'll be alone as you've never been before in this great wide open space. I think I can handle it.

I'm pretty sure I can handle it. It would be okay. But that's what makes this book so important and so great, really, is that you don't have to actually go there. It can leave you wanting to go there. But you're able to go through this book, which is unbelievable. I just, I go through it. and I'm just in awe, but I don't have to actually go there. I can experience it through National Geographic and your eyes.

Well, thank you. And I think that's one way to see the book is a virtual entree into our national parks. Because I'm a map lover and we have almost 200 maps in the book and all kinds of graphics along with the maps. and of course the usual National Geographic photos that I have to admit as a photographer myself are stunning. They wouldn't deign to look at my snapshots. But we created this book to inspire people, not only to protect these parks,

but to go visit and enjoy them, because we can never take them for granted. Have you been to, everyone now? I have not. Wow. And so I open. What are you doing with your life?

What are you doing? Yeah, got to go. John Waterman, on his way to every national park. I think that it's important. You might be getting the picture that I like to go and get into

the back country instead of just quickly checking them off. Right. And doing them all. You know, I like to get off in on these expeditions. And many of these parks are suitable for kind of world-class expeditions. Because they're so remote and they're challenging mountains to climb rivers,

to run places to just walk to. You can spend a month more walking through that place where you get dropped off by helicopter. It's incredible to me. how much history is there as well. You know, I was looking through some of the, some of the prenotes and it talked about a carriage road through Acadia National Park. And that's fascinating that,

I mean, I'm sure that there's still places in these national parks that, you know, obviously people, humans have been to before, but not often. And we forget about that. You know, I mean, it's a road less traveled, but still a road. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, the parks were created at the dawn, many of them, at the dawn of the automobile age. And the whole, you know, National Park Service system was, in fact, created in 1916 with the Organic Act. So these parks were made with the automobile in mind so that you don't have to be an explorer or a rugged type. You can stay in your automobile. And that's one of the wonders of the parks.

You can see these magnificent things from your car. And many times it's advised. Yeah. Well, and these roadways are in a sense of protect the parks because the people, most of the millions of people who visit the more crowded national parks stay pretty much on the roadways. Right. And you can see some interesting things from the roadways. And for the agent and the infirm, which I will soon be, I will have the opportunity to do just that if I choose to do it that way, not bloody my knees by crawling through the outpatch. So if I have the Atlas of National Parks from the National Geographic and you, sir, what of the parks that you have not been to that you really do,

want to go to that you're disappointed you haven't been to yet well there are there a couple on top of my list and and i um without hesitation recommend that your listeners go to dry tortugas some 60 miles off the coast of florida yeah it's 90% water there so you have to bring your snorkel and fins if you really want to see it which is what i plan to do and or iio royale out in the middle of Lake Superior, it's Michigan's only national park, where you can see this very unique ecosystem where the wolves have managed to make their way out

once in those rare occasions like Superior has frozen over. Right. And they live off of the moose out there on that island. So it's a unique island ecosystem. And those happen to be some of the lesser visited parks in the lower 48. But there are also many other gems. I'm particularly fond of Canyonlands National Park in Utah,

where I can go and poke around and find ancient thousand-year-old petrocliffs that the ancestral poeblins carved into the sandstone walls or run the creeks and the rivers or just walk the canyons in a state of wonder. just lost to nature. I know, it's incredible. Well, John, I know that you're busy and you're ready to, you know, hit the road and get to another park. And I've got a helicopter waiting.

And, you know, I've got to get dropped in. So I appreciate the Atlas of National Parks from National Geographic. Now, if I want to get it, do I, you know, have to come by your house and knock on the door and pick up a copy or can I get it someplace else? Well, because the parks are. popular and I think we've done them justice with this book myself and the many good people I think so too.

The geographic. You can find it in many libraries or your local bookstore. Amazon is carrying it and the book is selling because we love our national parks and this is an inspiration.

My best advice for your listeners is yes, get the book by all means, but get the hell away from the book. and the coffee table charter your helicopter or take your car and get out there. Amen. John Waterman, thanks a lot for being on chewing the fat today. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. Good to see you.