Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - 260: What Happened To Link's Face? | Ear Biscuits Ep.260

Episode Date: October 19, 2020

Some might say he looks like a Na'vi from Avatar. Others might say he looks like the Babyman mask from GMM. Listen to Link recount what led to an unfortunate facial injury from a mountain biking accident over the weekend, the backstory behind a Golden Globes picture with Patricia Arquette, and what the guys believe to be the Achilles' heel of humanity in this episode of Ear Biscuits! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This, this, this, this is mythical. Shop Best Buy's ultimate smartphone sale today. Get a Best Buy gift card of up to $200 on select phone activations with major carriers. Visit your nearest Best Buy store today. Terms and conditions apply. Welcome to Ear Biscuits, the podcast where two lifelong friends talk about life for a long time. What if I started doing that? What if I tried to introduce that? I've gotten it in a few different places.

I mean, why are we still talking about this intro? It's old news now. No, but I almost changed it. There's something freeing about just letting something just go, you can do it on your part. You can't change it. No, don't change it. Until you've established it.

Just, I'm saying. And we've messed with it so much. Sometime, as you explain what we're gonna talk about, just hold out a vow. Holding out a vow brings health and vitality. And who are you? I'm Rhett. This week at the round table of dim lighting.

Oh, and I'm Link. See, you messed me up. Unless we say it. It was all a test. This week at the round table of dim lighting, we're talking about, what are we talking about? We're gonna be answering some questions. You know, we've been talking about a lot of things

about trips and preparation for trips, and we've been, you know, arguing about things. Just gonna shoot the breeze today. We're gonna just talk about some things that, I mean, it may get heavy, you know, you never know. It may get heavy, that's what we should have said. It should have been, welcome to Ear Biscuits, it may get heavy.

But the general disposition- Is that it'll be light. Is that it's light, we come in that it's light. We come in light. Very light. We come in light. But then things start getting a little saturated and we get heavy. I have got to give an update on my medical condition.

Okay, it's getting heavy right from the top. I suffered an injury. I tangled with wildlife and messed up my face. I saw this yesterday. For a number of days. On a video chat. I actually started to get scared. Christy confessed last night as we were going to sleep.

She was like, you know, I got a little scared that you were never gonna be the same. That your face was gonna look like that forever? Yeah, she was like, you might have to wear a mask when we make love. I was gonna think about that. And I was like, yeah, I could wear a mask of what my face used to look like.

This is the conversation we had last night while falling asleep. And I think that's the moment I fell asleep. I was like, yeah, I would just wear a mask of my own face of what it used to look like. That raises some interesting questions that we can discuss a little bit later. Our mask work?

I've never done any mask work. No, I mean, I- That's what you're asking. Not to make it serious, not to make it heavy, necessarily, but like, it happens quite often, not quite often, but it isn't uncommon for like one of the people in the relationship to undergo some sort of transformation. Like sometimes it can be extreme,

like the woman who had her face torn off by a chimpanzee. Oh gosh. No, I'm saying for real. And then she had to get a face transplant. So I guess what I'm saying is, is that I don't know if she was in a relationship at the time, but like to think that, and I know I'm not throwing Christian under the bus.

I know she was probably joking, but you know, I don't think you can, I don't think the answer is to put on a mask. She was joking. I think it's to find the acceptance in the new face. Yes, of course. I mean, yeah, I wasn't, I didn't take it personally. I mean, I immediately fell asleep.

I wasn't, I didn't take it to mean anything. While you had a run-in with wildlife, it was not nearly as serious as a run-in with a chimp. It was, not to minimize it, but I did notice it on our video call though. I know you did. And that was many hours later. Okay, so let me tell the story.

So I went mountain biking on a Saturday morning and we're near the end of our ride. And well, first of all, we're like trucking up this, I'll call it a mountain, more like hills, but a lot of uphill, working, working, working, and then finally you get to the top and then you got a lot of downhill on these single tracks and some of it was quite sandy.

And Nick, who I go with, he's faster than me. So I never like to go in front when we're going downhill. I always let him go first, go at his own pace. I don't want him breathing down my neck and forcing me to go faster than I wanna go. He got his new fancy bike yet? He got his new fancy bike. So he's going even faster.

He's going even faster. He's got dual suspension and I still got the hard tail. So my butt's taking a beating. I just don't think I can ever get back into it, man. I'm just too worried. not about what happened to you, but I'm just worried about eating it. Add this to the list. So I'm coming down the single track

and I took a wrong turn and then I finally caught, I got back on the trail and caught up with Nick who was waiting for me and then to finish out the run, I went ahead of him and like two minutes of going ahead of him, just trying to get the end of the run taken care of, I'm going faster than I actually wanna go because like just subconsciously, I don't wanna be like the chump

that's slowing somebody down. And I hit this sand patch and my wheel turns to the left but my bike keeps going straight. Yeah. And there's this moment where everything slows down and you're like, well, am I gonna fight this or am I just gonna, am I gonna fall in the most controlled way possible?

Which I elected to do. You fell. Oh yeah, I went off of the bike in front of the bike. This is why I'm not going. I hit the ground and did like a stuntman roll. And in the back of my mind. And you don't have on like pads or anything. No, he was Sandy.

I could have hit a rock, but not with my head, but with my shoulder or something. Yeah, I did a stuntman roll and part of it was not to injure myself and part of it was to kind of look cool and purposeful because I knew I was being watched by Nick who was coming up behind me. You know, not that he gives a crap

or that I give a crap that I fell off the bike, or you know, but still subconsciously, you don't want to look. Or when you're falling, you got to look like you're something. You got to turn it into something. So then I'm like, I'm fine, I get right back on the bike and I let him go first. And then we get down and we exit off the single track

and we're on this fire road going the rest of the way the exit out. We're going pretty fast, but it's no longer treacherous territory. So my guard's down. And that's when I get hit in the forehead with a bug of some sort and I'm like, dang, that was a hard bug, like a windshield.

Exoskeleton. And then I realized I feel a crawliness happening under my sunglasses in between my eyebrows. So I instinctively- What kind of sunglasses? You got eyebrows. So I instinctively- What kind of sunglasses? You got like bike sunglasses? I have these- Like NASCAR a little bit?

Prescription sports sunglasses that- They fit tight. They're Oakley's and they look really stupid. But you know what? They're like NASCAR driver. But they're the best. But they're really light and they- From a practical standpoint- Yeah, that's why I got them. They're the best. But they're really light and they- From a practical standpoint,

they're so like, I hate that like, they became associated with a certain- Well, yeah, they're- But they're the best glasses. I wish I could make them look good because when you put on like cool sunglasses, they let too much light in the sides and you can't really see.

You put on those Oakleys that are like, nah, man, I'm going to a NASCAR race. Like you can see everything, man. They're not the most aggressive tint either. So I can wear them in lower light because I need them for the prescription. They don't hurt your face. And I'd rather not wear my normal glasses

like I'm wearing right now, you know? Well, they don't protect you from what you're about to tell us. Yeah, so it's like, I feel the crawliness and I'm still trucking down the road. And so I just grabbed the arm of the sunglasses and I just yank them off my face and then like throw them down behind me.

Like I don't throw the glasses down, but I like, I try to, well, how would you describe that for the listeners? Just kinda jerk. Jar them off? Jar the insect off. Fling, but. So I fling it, yeah. I fling the glasses in order to get the thing off

and then I flung pretty aggressively and I'm still pedaling pretty aggressively and then I just slammed my glasses back on my face. And I got stung by a bee right in between my eyes. Like not in between my eyebrows, right in between my eyes, right there. Did it not cross your mind to inspect the glasses? Like you flung, but then just like.

I flung so hard, there was no way, I thought there's no way this bee or bug or whatever it was could be. Bees can hold on to anything. Well yeah they can. You just like look and be like, oh he's still there. I should've, I'll do that. Next time.

I'll do that next time because let me tell you, it hurt and it was, I was like, I just got stung by a bee. I was like, oh shit. And then I like stopped, you know. And that bee died for you. He thought he was protecting his colony or something. His colonies are like 300 yards behind at this point. Oh yeah.

And it, I mean, I knew I got stung, it did hurt, but it didn't hurt that bad. But then a few seconds went by and it started hurting a lot more. Face is a bad place to get stung. I mean, it could have stung me right on the eyelid or the eyeball. Eyeball?

It could have if it was crawling right in front of the lens when I slammed it back on my face. I think- My eyes open. You would have closed your eye. I bet you it could happen, but I think it's pretty unlikely. You would have gotten an eyelid stung. You know what happens if you get- Stung in the eye, in the ball? In the ball closed your eye. I bet you it could happen, but I think it's pretty unlikely. You would have gotten eye-lid stung. You know what happens if you get- Stung in the eye, in the ball?

In the ball of the eye. I don't think an eyeball can swell. It probably doesn't even hurt. Yeah. It's probably awesome. Probably can't even feel it. Probably makes you see better. Probably be like, man, what is that? I see a fuzzy bee really up close

that's stuck permanently to my eyeball till I blink it off. The pain spikes after a few seconds as it turns out. And then it sent an immediate headache across the whole, the whole stratus of my head. When's the last time you got stung by a bee? It's hard to remember, Rhett. When you had a bee beard?

The last time? I think that was it, yeah. When we did the 50,000 bees all over my face and then after you blew them off with a leaf blower, one of them was clinging to my neck. It was 10,000, but 50,000 does sound better. Yeah, let's say 50,000. And it probably wasn't 10,000, but that's really good at the time.

And that one didn't hurt that bad on my neck. Yeah, neck's not as bad as face. It was like a glancing stamp. Also, that was a different bee. Those were juvenile calm bees. And I think they probably, I don't know, maybe they don't have as big of a stinger. This one was so wild, man, and aggressive.

Could have been a killer bee. So I'm like, well, let's get one of those murder hornets that's around. No, just like an Africanized bee. So I was like, well, let's just get back to the car before my whole face swells up. But by the time I got back to the car, which was like maybe 15 minutes later.

You were on your way back anyway. Yeah, yeah. If you had been on your way out, would you have turned around and gone back home? No. Okay. Cause I'm not allergic to bees. It's not that big of a deal, you know?

But then by the time I got back, the pain was subsiding. And I was like, okay, fine. Now the thing I didn't do that I wish I would have done was inspected to see if there was a stinger and then like try to like scrape it out with my fingernail or something, just to make sure that it wasn't still in there. And then eat it, which like I did

when they took the stinger out of my brother when I was a kid, I don't know why. It's like a ceremonial rite of passage. I was just sitting there watching my parents take it out. They put it on a paper towel. I was like, I'm gonna eat that. And I ate it, it was so weird. I know I eat everything, but it's just such a weird choice.

Yeah, that is weird. I'll eat this thing here. And then they're like, what happened to it? And I was like, I was embarrassed. I was like, oh, I ate it. You were embarrassed. I don't know why. It was super impulsive.

Wow. That's strange. I don't do that many things like that. I don't just eat things that aren't edible unless I'm being paid. Must've been starving. Must've been absolutely starving. It wasn't for hunger.

It was so strange. I think maybe I thought it would be like a honeysuckle or something. Like, is that what the honey comes out of? It's like eating a honey nozzle. You wanted to suckle the honey, the honey maker. I think maybe I took it and was like, I'm gonna suck the honey out of it.

And then I just ended up eating it. I know that's not how honey works, okay? I know honey, but I was like five. I'm gonna suck the honey out of it. There's gotta be some residual honey in that. No, it's venom. I know, it's a completely different part of the body. I mean, when a bee stings you,

it's not injecting you with the honey. I know, the honey is just, comes from the stomach and they spit it out. Oh man. Honey is bee vomit, the other end of the bee. And they don't die when they give it to you. So I drove home, I told the family the story, I didn't think much about it.

You know, that was, I mean, like nine o'clock in the morning. That evening was just, you know, it was just a normal Saturday. That night, I stayed up till like 1 a.m. Wasn't, I started to notice that like, there was a red line when I would take my glasses off, but I just thought my glasses had been on my face. I, you know, I just wasn't concerned.

And I, going to bed that late, I was planning on sleeping late, but then I woke up at like 6.30 in the morning, kind of frustrated, but even before my eyes were totally open, I could tell that out of the bottom of my periphery, you're laying down and you're kind of looking, trying to see what time it is without opening your eyes all the way.

I noticed that all I could see was flesh. When you can see yourself, you know something's up. Yeah, I was like- You could see your own face. And then I immediately got scared. And I didn't wanna wake up Christy because I didn't wanna scare her. But I went downstairs and I went to the bathroom.

I mean, that's the first picture I took. That's in the morning? That was in that morning. So, and it got worse than that. But like I tried to take like a video where like you could really see that it was- What is the redness on the- The redness on the right side of my,

the bridge of my nose is where it stung me. And then it's just, that redness is just swelling. And then it's starting to swell, not like the eye gap, you know, the flesh on the bridge of your nose in between your eyes, like below your eyebrows, whatever I call that, the eye gap, the flesh on the bridge of your nose in between your eyes, like below your eyebrows, whatever I call that, the eye gap, that started to really swell up. And then my cheeks started to swell up

right under my eye as well. And then- It doesn't so much- Later on that day, I tried, it kept swelling and I took a selfie because I was gonna send it to Nick and tell him like, remember that bee sting? And then I took that one and then I was like,

nah, I'm gonna take one where I smile. Cause I don't wanna look miserable. That doesn't look like a smile. That was a smile. Are you allergic to me talking about bee stings? Well, the funny thing is, is it doesn't strike me because of the way it's so perfectly symmetrical, it doesn't strike me as you with an injury.

It strikes me as a different person who actually exists. Like a fat nose bridge. And when I put on my glasses, it covers most of it up, so you really can't tell. You look almost the same. I look kind of normal. But I was kind, it covers most of it up. So you really can't tell. You look almost the same. I look kind of normal. But I was kind of scared and I looked it up and I was like, you know, is this gonna close my airway? Am I gonna have a major allergic reaction?

Not a day later. Yeah, not a day later. It was what they call a moderate reaction, which is I wasn't having any hives or any other, any reaction anywhere else except right where it stung me. And then I felt better when I read from the Mayo Clinic that it will be 24 to 48 hours of swelling before it goes away.

And of course this is now the third day and I'm looking pretty normal again, right? But no, what's today, Tuesday? Yeah. You know, it's interesting because I was already under the impression that, and we talked about this before, that you look different without glasses

than you used to look without glasses. Yeah. That like you wearing glasses for an extended period of time has done a very slight something to the bridge of your nose. Has it? That makes you, but now I don't know if it's just,

I'm seeing the residual beasting, but I thought, I've thought that for years that like, Whenever I removed my- You started wearing glasses in like 2005 or six or something like that. Yeah. And then like seven or eight years- It's morphed my face.

Into it, I was like, oh, Link looks a little bit different than he used to look. I mean, you also had aged eight or nine years, but like, can that happen? Is my nose bridge starting to slouch because of- It's not slouching, it's just slight, it's very slightly wider. Wider?

What's wider? Right here in between your eyes. No, no, no, it ain't wider, man. That's from the bee sting. Well, no, that's what I'm saying. For right now, that's what it is, but it's definitely the bee sting right now. Cause it's not all the way down.

When you take your glasses off, I'm like, that doesn't look like Link with glasses. That looks like a very slightly different person. Yeah, and it's like, kind of like my dad too. My dad doesn't look like Link with glasses. That looks like a very slightly different person. Yeah, and it's like, kind of like my dad too. My dad doesn't wear glasses. I'm starting to look more like my dad. But when I came home, I mean, when the kids woke up, they couldn't look at me.

They were like so freaked out that like, dad, you look like a different person. And Lily was like, you look like in the movie Avatar, when like the guy goes under and then he becomes his avatar and it looks like the guy except the space in between his eyes is bigger. Yeah, because they almost make their eyes look like cat, like what happens on a cat's face right here.

Yeah, yeah. It's a little bit wider. Fat nose bridge. And yeah. I got the avatar. I don't know if you- It's not as much. Well, so- It's not that much right now. We did our, you know, once a month,

we do like a company-wide Zoom call and Link was a little bit more swollen yesterday and he was telling the story and he like showed himself. And then Emily said that he looked like the baby man mask. That I wear. That you wore, I guess the first time you wore it was exactly Levi's. It's got a wide nose bridge too.

Yeah, and it was like, yeah, that's exactly what it looks like. Yeah, so I mean, I'm sure that Christy would be fine sorting mail with me in the long term, but in the short term, she was joking, but I mean, there's some truth in a joke that's like maybe I need a mask. Like I need to make a mask,

if when my face goes back to totally normal, I need to go ahead and make a mask of it. It could also be something that we give away to the Mythical Society. We could give away like- Well, you know they make those like hyper realistic old people masks. Halloween masks of us.

They're like, you know, they're like made of like silicone or something, silicone, whatever the correct word is for that. And then they, the way they fit around the eyes is like really perfect. Yeah. Like I wonder how much it costs to get one of those made. Like that would be crazy to get.

Very creepy, but kind of cool. How come, and I'm sure this does exist. Doesn't that exist? Don't they make like that old man mask that you see people wear and it really legitimately seems to transform them into an old man. Why are there celebrities that you can just become? Or is that a bad idea because then people

will just become those celebrities and do heinous things? It doesn't look that real. I mean, have you seen one of these things? Are you talking about like Mission Impossible? Like Tom Cruise ripping off of- Just recently on Twitter, I saw- I haven't seen it. A dude just put one of the old man masks on

and like pull his collar up above the thing. And it's just like- But you have to glue around the eyes or something. No, it's fitted to his eyes, I think. Oh, really? And so, and of course, the old person thing works because their eyes are a little bit, you little bit more sunken and like fleshy around there anyway.

So like you just see like an extra fold and you don't really think about what it is. Maybe we should have these masks made. Old man versions of Rhett and Link. No, we're becoming old men. So let's just get the masks made now. Mythical.com. We'll merge it up.

So I'm feeling relief that this morning, A, the air quality was better, you know? At least the fire, as of the recording. It was weird though, yesterday morning, it smelled like smoke in the morning. Yep, but this morning. But the air quality, it looked fine. I don't know.

There's like three different things that happened. This morning was great. And my nose was normal-ish. Sometimes it's smoky. Sometimes it's ashy. And sometimes it just smells like smoke, but it's clear. I don't understand the logic. Then today was the first time it was like totally

in the green air quality. Seemed normal. And you know what? I appreciated it for the first time it was like totally in the green air quality. Seemed normal. And you know what? I appreciated it for the first time. I was like, I'm walking around, I'm in Los Angeles, but I'm actually, I'm free to breathe for once. You know, it's the little things once they're taken away because the whole place is burning.

So I'm feeling good. I'm feeling like- I'm glad you're okay. I'm back to my norm, back to myself. Of course, then I get in here and I'm waiting for you to get here and I'm trying to do something on my computer and my day gets ruined again.

I don't know if we can talk about that if you want to, but I don't know if you want me to go, if you can withstand some negativity. Oh, well, let's see. We might come back to that. Wherever you're going, you better believe American Express will be right there with you.

Heading for adventure? We'll help you breeze through security. Meeting friends a world away? You can use your travel credit. Squeezing every drop out of the last day? How about a 4 p.m. late checkout checkout just need a nice place to settle in enjoy your room upgrade wherever you go we'll go together that's the powerful backing of american express visit amex.ca slash ymx benefits vary by card terms apply um i will note that note that I am wearing the shirt

that you wore of mine on the podcast a couple of episodes ago. Your shirt that became my shirt. And I just wanted to demonstrate that. I wasn't wearing your shirt. When I was wearing it, in my mind, it was my shirt. You had given it to me. Here's the thing.

And then you took it back. I have given you some shirts because some shirts are like borderline too small for me and then they get washed and then they become too small. But because I have a precedent, there's a little bit of a precedent of doing that, sometimes my shirts get put into your area. I know you didn't give me the shirt now.

Right. But I did think you gave me the shirt then. But this shirt is not too small. And now that I, I don't know me the shirt now. Right. But I did think you gave me the shirt then. But this shirt is not, I mean, this shirt's not too small, so you can still fit. I don't know how I ever wore that shirt now that I see it on you. I mean, it's almost too big for me. It fits you just right.

Yeah. I was actually experimenting with wearing larger shirts and now I'm done with that. Well, that one's, I mean. Is this one larger? That one is larger. I mean, we both went through a tight shirt phase, but- I'm going back.

Your tight shirt phase was so tight. Too much, too much. Did you see The Rock? Yes. Yeah, what was up with that tightness? Well, he did his endorsement of Biden and Harris. Famously, independently political, He did his endorsement of Biden and Harris, famously independently political, The Rock came out in support of Biden and in the video-

But he had on half a shirt. Some of the things people have said about this shirt and how he gets it on is like, I think it was Eddie from Gus and Eddie, he tweeted, breaking, Dwayne the Rock Johnson endorses the tightest shirt of all time, which just struck me as- Yeah, it was a bit strange.

But the, he almost looks like the grapes from Fruit of the Loom. You're like, like his muscles, his pecs and everything is so developed and it was like so tight. And then somebody observed, how does he wear a shirt this tight and you can't see even a hint of his nipples? Oh really?

I was like, man, you can't see the nipples. And he's like, it's a video. I think because he puts tape over. He doesn't tape his nipples. He puts tape over them. I think he just has really small, soft nipples. He might've had them removed surgically. For that reason, for the smoothness of his tight shirts.

Smoothness and tightness. But when you see a dude that's that muscular wearing a tight shirt, you kind of just like, okay, first of all, I get it. You've got those muscles, might as well show them off. Also, I assume that it's hard to find a shirt that, like imagine the Rock in a shirt that fits like the one that you have on right now.

Like how big would the shirt have to be to have this extra in the sleeve? I mean, he would look ridiculous. But if you go back to, I don't know what year it was. I mean, what do you think was peak tightness? I mean, I got pretty tight, but you got extra tight. What was peak tightness, like 2000 what? The thing is-

2012, 2014? I don't know. I'd like to develop some sort of excuse or rationale as to how it happened. It was in the style. I think it was also, I would get really attached to shirts and then they would shrink, but I would really like the shirt

and then I would keep wearing it. Yeah, I have a built-in sort of- Cause I get very attached to shirts. I have a built-in buffer for that because if the shirt gets tighter, it also gets shorter. And then it's so, then it gets where I'm just like, you can see my belly when I reach for things and I'm like, uh-uh.

So I don't even have the, you know, I don't have the option. I gotta get long shirts. I get long shirts, wash them, and then they become normal shirts for me. This is an extra long shirt, which I'm surprised is why you wore it. I feel supported in a tighter shirt. I prefer sleeping in a tighter shirt

because I feel snuggled. Really? Yeah. Yeah, so it actually makes me feel more secure. It's like a dog in one of those security blanket things where you like, when you cinch a dog up with something on its back. Like a baby in a burrito wrap. That's like me.

I didn't do it for anybody. I didn't do it for the look. I did it for the feel. So you feel like you're in the womb? Yeah, yeah. Interesting. Or in the loving arms of my mother. I mean, maybe your mom had a much tighter uterus

than my mom. I don't care to comment on the tightness of our mother's uteri. Man, that's messed up, man. How big of a baby were you? You know, if I- I wasn't that big of a baby. If I put a gun to your head and I wouldn't do that,

but if I were to do that, and I would say, if you can't tell me how much you weighed as a baby, I'm gonna kill you. I'm gonna sting you with a B. It's just a gun that has a B on the end and I'm gonna sting you on the face. I'd say I was seven pounds, six ounces with confidence. Put the gun away.

Really? I don't know. I don't know either, a seven something. Yeah, I would just go for something believable. Let's answer some questions. These are questions that we liked that you asked a while ago that we never got to. First one comes from Shell, the Velvet Hook.

Oh, here we are. Long time Mythical Beast. She's got a picture of you. You're in an upper right hand corner. My nose and beard is in it, but we've got Patricia Arquette. Patricia, Patricia. This is after the Golden Globes.

We did not go to the Golden Globes, but we went to a Golden Globes after party, which we talked about on Ear Biscuits. And we've done that several times. We've gone to after parties, even wearing tuxedos. And it makes you seem like you went to the awards, but you didn't because you couldn't get into the awards, but you could get into the after party.

I believe this was the first- It's a PR tactic. This was the first and last party that we attended wearing tuxedos, which we now own because they said, "'Don't rent the tuxedo, you should just buy it, that way you'll have one whenever you need one again, and I've never worn it again.

Well, because, I mean, COVID happened. I mean, no one's wearing tux. Well, this is Golden Globes 2019. This was like January, this is a long time ago. But the question is, I'm forever wondering what happened at the Golden Globes after party last year that led to Link Neal holding Patricia, I don't know why I can't say your name, Arquette's award.

Y'all never said anything about it when you talked about the party on Ear Biscuits. Please tell us. Does this moment that's captured here, does it, I mean, I'm firmly gripping and looking down at her award. She's making eye contact with me and starting to grab the award.

Does it look like she's trying to take it back or that she's finishing handing it to me? What is she looking at? She might be looking at you. She's looking a little, I think she's making eye contact with me. I think she is too. It's a little too high for you.

Yeah, she's looking at me. She's like, why aren't you grabbing my award? That's not what she's thinking. Her husband's right beside her. Don't make this stranger than it is. I don't know if that's her husband. I do. You do?

Yeah, because I remember that I met the guy and I just got that vibe that it wasn't like, it wasn't a handler, it wasn't like an agent or like a professional person. This is a personal person. And the other reason is because, here's how this happened. This is what I do remember. Yeah.

A girl came up to us, like a teenager. Yep. And she was a fan and she was like, oh my gosh, it's so cool seeing you guys here, I'm a mythical beast. And then she ended up saying, I'm Patricia Arquette's daughter. And then was it in the same moment that then she walked up

or I think then she was like, sorry, I gotta go. And then she like followed her mom and I think her dad somewhere else. This is the whole family right here. That is Harlow, is the daughter. Okay. Shout out to Harlow, mythical beast. But then we were mingling-

She's got quite a name, Harlow Olivia. How do you say that? You know, you need to preserve her privacy, man. She's a celebrity's daughter, man. Yeah, but she's not a celebrity. I think she's a- Well, she is. I think she's an actor.

Okay. So we're mingling around this party, and the best that I can recall, we like say hello to her again, and then we started talking to, like Patricia was talking to a lot of people. I mean, when you've won, she won the Golden Globe for best performance

by an actress in a TV movie or mini series for Escape at Denimora, which was the true story of a woman who worked at a prison helping two guys escape. Seems pretty cool, never saw it. Directed by Ben Stiller. You know a lot about this. Well, I had to look it up

because I couldn't remember any of it. And she gave an acceptance speech, like a lot of it was bleeped because she was talking about her janked up fake teeth and her janked up real teeth. And then she was using the F-bomb a lot. But she's a very spirited person. And she always, she wins a lot of stuff because she's super talented.

And she has these famous speeches where she like takes a stand on issues. She's like, I'm up here, I'm gonna take advantage of it. And so people, she's always the talk of the town the next day, so even that night after she won and had given this memorable speech, I believe about voting actually, voting in 2020, ironically enough.

Might have been voting in 2018. No, this was 2019. So she was way ahead of the game on that. And so a lot of people are trying to talk to her and get a little time with her, but like we had an end because of her daughter and then she turns around and I don't remember what happened but I'm sure we said something that made sense

or at least you did. And then I'm like, like congratulations or something. And I'm pretty sure I was just like- Can I hold it? Can I hold it? Yeah. I mean, how often do you get a chance to hold a Golden Globe?

Well, I think our only opportunity is probably gonna be- Then. At the after party when we ask someone who won one. Right, I'm like, can I hold it? What was the last thing that filled you with wonder that took you away from your desk or your car in traffic? Well, for us, and I'm going to guess for some of you, that thing is...

Anime! Hi, I'm Nick Friedman. I'm Lee Alec Murray. And I'm Leah President. And welcome to Crunchyroll Presents The Anime Effect. It's a weekly news show. With the best celebrity guests. And hot takes galore.

A news show. With the best celebrity guests. And hot takes galore. So join us every Friday, wherever you get your podcasts and watch full video episodes on Crunchyroll or on the Crunchyroll YouTube channel. I wonder if anybody else asked her that, or does anyone ask anybody that? It's, I mean, it's a little,

it kind of comes full circle though. You know what I'm saying? Because- For a man who gets embarrassed for falling off of his bike in front of his friend who doesn't give a shit. I don't think- I don't know why I'm saying? Because- For a man who gets embarrassed for falling off of his bike in front of his friend who doesn't give a shit. I don't know why I would- I don't think you get embarrassed by much. Yeah, I wasn't.

I think that the- I held it, look, I'm holding it right there. The instinct- Proof. The instinct to ask if you can hold it, which I completely relate to and understand, is sort of based in being from Harnett County, right? It's because we're just a couple, when you boil it all down,

we're just a couple of guys who grew up in Harnett County, who the idea of a Golden Globe is like, can I hold it? You know what I'm saying? It's like- Because it's foreign. I mean, by definition, it is foreign. And so, but then the difference between me and you is I'll think that and wonder and think,

but I don't want to necessarily just reveal that I'm from Harnett County. And then you're like, well, I don't care. But the interesting thing is what I'm saying when it comes to full circle is that by actually going full circle and asking if you can hold it, I don't think that Patricia Arquette thinks that,

oh, this guy's a redneck. I think she's just like, oh, this guy just, he wants to hold the Golden Globe. Patricia is the realest of the real. I'm gonna hand it to him. And I'm like, you might as well just check all pretension at the door when you're interacting with Ms.quette, she grazed it a little, she was like, sure.

But the thing that we have- And I held it, and I think I said something about how heavy it was. Of course, that's the only thing you can say. Yeah, because what else? It's kind of like meeting a celebrity and saying, you're shorter than I thought you'd be. Right, right, right, right, right. What are you gonna say?

This is much lighter, must be hollow. This is cheap, is this the real one? Yeah, right. No, it was heavy. One of the things, and we've talked about this before that we've learned about these after parties is- Streamies are not that heavy. The photographer, you know,

there's people going around taking pictures and like you wanna create these moments, that's why one time we faked a fight at the GQ party or wherever it was and we got a picture taken. But the- Look on my face, is that what you're gonna talk about? No, I'm just saying that- It's a dumb look.

You holding the Golden Globe- I'm staring at it. You could think, oh, this must be someone that she really knows and is connected to because she's letting him hold, you know what I'm saying? Like you don't- It kind of looks like she's trying to take my award. It's like, oh, did this guy, who's that guy?

Did he win one? Right. So I'm saying that doing these kinds of things is ultimately a good thing because you will get good photos taken. Yeah, I have many people congratulate me on my golden globe. No, that's not true. Let's ask another question.

So we cleared that one up, Shell. Long time coming, but we did it. One iron four. Put the rumors to rest. One iron four, this doesn't keep me up at night. I think because we asked you guys, does there anything that keeps you up at night? But that, when we sleep, we just see the back of our eyelids. Like our eyes don't turn off or anything.

It's just covering them like sunglasses. The way you just read that seemed like you were just reading it to yourself. Can you read it again in a way that makes sense to me? Well, it's not really phrased as a question. It's just, it's a statement. When we sleep, we just see the back of our eyelids. Like our eyes don't turn off or anything. It's just covering it's a statement. When we sleep, we just see the back of our eyelids. Like our eyes don't turn off or anything.

It's just covering them like sunglasses. I know what's up here. For the longest time, I thought whenever I would sleep or even just close my eyes, I honestly thought, I'll say as a child, okay, that my eyes rolled in back of my head. I thought that like, as the shades came down, the eyes rolled back.

You mean like a baby doll? Yeah, like if you lay one of those baby dolls down, isn't that, that is what happens to them. Their eyelids are weighted so they come out. There's a weight on the back of a baby doll, some baby dolls eyelids so that when you turn it like that, it swivels and covers. But the eyeball. The eyeball stays the same on the baby doll.

Yeah, I thought the eyeball rolled back in the head. And then. Can you feel what that feels like though? Because then when you open your eyes. I guess they. When you open your eyes after being close for a while, it kind of has a sensation of them rolling back. Well, they might go back a little bit.

That ain't true. But they move around a lot during REM. But no, but what One Iron Four is talking about is what you see. So early on, when I was a child, and I don't return to this as much anymore or think about it, but like, I just noticed that when I close my eyes,

if I really stopped and focused, I could lock into basically a light show that has the sensation that I'm like traveling through space and seeing stars pass by me, like a bunch of little dots, right? And the way to enhance this is if you just take your eyes and you press on them, it will enhance that effect. And also potentially hurt your eyes.

No, I'm just pressing very lightly. But then there it is, okay. Now I have focused on this like membrane. This has not happened to you? No, but- I think you haven't focused on it. I haven't. I think you have to see something.

I looked up an explanation for it and when I read the explanation, I was like, I've never experienced this and it is what you described. So let me read the explanation and then I'll try it. A Huffington Post article. You close your eyes and right before you fall asleep, you notice something, a twinkling,

a swirling pattern of stars and colors producing a makeshift light show on the inside of your closed eyelids. Yeah. That's what you're describing. Many people who have seen this visual phenomenon think it is a light-induced after image of what they had seen before they closed their eyes, which- It's not.

I mean, if you stare at a light or something brightening and close your eyes, you still see an after image. That does happen. But that's not at all mean, if you stare at a light or something brightening close your eyes, you still see an after image. That does happen. But that's not at all what I'm talking about. And this agrees, but an after image may only be part of what they are seeing. The real reason we are treated

to this fuzzy fireworks display behind closed lids has to do with phosphenes, P-H-O-S-P-H-E-N-E-S. Phosphenes are the moving visual sensations to do with phosphenes, P-H-O-S-P-H-E-N-E-S. Phosphenes are the moving visual sensations of stars and patterns we see when we close our eyes. They are thought to be caused by the inherent electrical charges the retina produces, even when it is in its resting state. So it's like you're looking at a wire

that has electricity going through it essentially. So- See, I just closed my eyes and I feel like I'm seeing, I'm definitely seeing some after images. We got some like strong light sources. You got, cover your eyes with gently, and press on your eyeballs gently. Man, I've still got swelling.

No, and then, okay, and then you have to stop. And then there is like a, it's very difficult to acknowledge it, but once you acknowledge it and focus on it, you can actually follow like the fabric of space time that you're seeing inside your eyes. It takes, sometimes it's really, really easy and obvious. But hold on.

Okay, there it is, I'm locked in again. And I can literally see like this, it's like stars, but they're super tightly packed stars and are very, very faint. Do they move? Yes, it's like constantly moving, like you're moving through them. It's very hard to finally focus on and see,

but I did it as a kid and ever since then I've been able to do it. I can't seem to do it. I think you just have to like, I think you just need some time alone and a lot of time. You know, just like- A lot of time alone? You need a lot of time alone because it's, you know what it is?

It's the same exact sensation. It's a totally different principle, but it's the same sensation of staring at one of those weird things in the mall and all of a sudden seeing it. Oh, it was there all along, but I had to like cross my eyes a little bit. Like that's how it feels.

Staring at the strange, you talking about that weird guy who would always sit in front of Mrs. Fields cookies and like make you not wanna get a cookie because he was like, why is he always on that bench? You know what I'm talking about. The things that you look at where you see, what do you call them? The hidden images.

We put one in the book of mythicality. Can't remember what it's called. Did it work though? Did the one in the book of mythicality work? No, once we decided that we didn't have the capability to create one, we made it a joke that on the next page, we revealed that there was nothing there. Right, cause it's not easy to create one.

Like we thought, oh sure. We did not want to spend the money to hire the person. Surely there's a company that does this, but it's not as easy as you think. Well, sometimes if you're just, with your eyes open, if you're staring, like if you're just like relaxing and then your eyes just kind of, you're like, your eyes are open,

but you're not really using them. See floaters. You can start to see floaters and it's like you're seeing things on the surface of your eyeball. Looking at a- Moving around. Looking at a clear blue sky. Like, I mean, funny thing is, as a kid,

I already had floaters. I guess I've got more now, but I don't sit around and look at them anymore. But like as a kid, I would just look at the sky and then I would start following the floaters and I would try to like move my eye. Right. Not too fast. I can do that.

You know, that's a totally different thing. Cause it'll start drifting and that's really your eye drifting I think. Cause then when you try to focus on it, it moves back. I think that it's slowly moving across the surface of your eye cause your eye is wet. But then if you focus on it, it will move. It moves with your eye.

It will move, yeah, and that's when you can start to feel like it's on there. But I highly recommend the phosphenes. Just closed eye visualization. Okay, it's gonna get a little heavier. Let's get a little heavier. Okay, yeah, let's do it. Swain, Michael Swain.

What is the Achilles heel of the human race? We always talk about finding the Achilles heel to aliens if they came for war to defeat them. What is ours and can we do anything to bolster it? What is the Achilles heel of the human race? I think because my mind is still in this, largely in the same place it was when we recorded the last episode,

which I know kind of ended on a downer when I started talking about how we're hopelessly divided as a country and I have this hopeless feeling. It's been weighing on me. I think as we get closer to the election and so- By the time this comes out, we're barreling down on the election.

Like two weeks, yeah. And who knows what will happen between us talking about this and being that much closer. But the rhetoric and the heated dialogue and the people getting into their trenches, it is so pronounced right now. And so I've been thinking about this, and just one thought I have,

I'm not gonna say this is the Achilles heel, but I think one of the things that has happened, because I've also been thinking, I've been thinking about like longer term, more global things and like, you know, it's one thing to talk about the impending demise of democracy in the United States, which- Let's say potential.

I'd like to have some hope. Well, I'm just saying, yeah, the potentially impending demise. I'm not saying it's definitely gonna happen. But again, when you think about the United States, I mean, we're still talking about, if you think about all of human history, we're still talking about a very small period of time

that the United States has been around. It's not gonna be around forever, right? What worked a generation ago might not work now. Like, but if you think about like the human race and the history of just us as a species and our future, which I think is kind of the sort of the 50,000 foot view that Michael Swain is talking about, like the whole human race.

So I think that a big issue is that our technological evolution has outpaced our moral evolution. So you're talking social dilemma. Well, to me it's bigger. Which I watched recently. It's bigger than the social dilemma, but yeah, the social dilemma is like a symptom of it. But I guess ultimately what I'm saying is like,

just from a general, like almost a mathematical logical equation, we've developed the ability to destroy ourselves before we've developed the collective will to protect each other. And so if we don't continue to evolve morally to a place where, you know, empathy wins versus sort of this self-absorbed group mentality.

Yep. It ain't gonna, it's gonna, it will end. As we know it, civilization will end. I'm not saying that the human race will go extinct. Well, I mean it- But what we understand human civilization to be will not last unless those things balance out. Not that we have to just talk about the social dilemma,

the documentary connecting the dots that I was already, I felt like I was aware of, but it was like, it was a nice packaging of it, of just connecting the dots between how the information is served up to you is so customized for you that it's not about truth, it's about whatever you will click on and that we are the commodity,

our eyeballs are the commodities that are being sold to advertising. We're the product, yeah. It felt weird to be, you know- In our business. To be in the business we're in, that we're creating content that then, you know, we attract certain eyeballs

and then people buy that, you know, even on this show. So it's like, I don't wanna- That's a whole different podcast. That's a whole different conversation, but you know, just being struck with the reality of how divisive, how customization leads to division. You know, when everything's just for me and everything is presented to each person,

whatever they will respond to the most, not what is the most truthful or the correct thing, then you get in these bubbles where if you Google, the things that stand out for me is like, if you Google climate change is, depending on who you are and what Google knows about you and where you are, who you are, the more information they can get,

the more that it's gonna fill that in with something that you are going to respond to, not something that's gonna give you facts. Because the algorithm. Global warming is a hoax. Right. Or global warming is true. You know, it's just one example.

The thing that was news to me, again, like you said, like I think everybody has a little bit of a sense of this, that this is the polarizing effects of like your Facebook feed and your newsfeed. But the Google thing was striking because you start seeing that like, oh yeah, this algorithm,

which is, the algorithm is not programmed with truth in mind, right? It isn't fact checking itself. It's just like, my goal is to keep you, user, on the computer, connected online as long as possible to expose you to as much advertising as possible. So it's definitely, like one of the things that happens is, you know, some people are super, super fear-based.

And so they're gonna just, any news that is telling them about all the shit that's going down somewhere and how things are getting really, really bad, like they're addicted to that type of information, that kind of doomsday situation. And so they're gonna click on those kinds of things. And you're like, oh crap, it's like,

how have I been susceptible to this? If you're scared, you're gonna, if you feed off of fear, then you're gonna, you're gonna be fed more fear. If you're fed off of outrage or anger, you're gonna be fed that. On either side, you're gonna be pushed to an extreme because that's what we respond to extremes.

And the crazy thing is if you're scared of something, being told that you shouldn't be scared of something is not a strategic way for an algorithm. You don't wanna assuage the fears. You want to enhance and feed the fears. So you wanna keep giving you the stuff that all the cities are falling apart or whatever. And it happens to, it doesn't happen to one group.

It happens to, the more entrenched you are and the more involved you are with algorithms on whatever platform it may be. It polarizes you in both directions. And then you, because for me, it's you've got people like for years now, I think like Sacha Baron Cohen, I think, Sasha Baron Cohen, the comedian, Borat, has been very vocal

in sounding an alarm about this. He's not the only one, but it's just like, I didn't, I was like, I think he's in an interesting position because of how he kinda, his entertainment has been to psychologically manipulate people and expose people's true colors, right? So he's, but he's very outraged in how people are being manipulated without them knowing. Yeah.

But it's not something that, you know, okay, it's not that fun to listen to somebody get that upset. And it's not that, but then you, the documentary's really well made. It makes it a little more palatable to explore the ideas. But then it's kind of like watching Supersize Me and then saying, are you really never gonna eat McDonald's

or fast food again? Not really. You know, it's or fast food again? Not really. You know, it's like, it's so entrenched. And like, I don't, we're not on Facebook. And the way that we're on Instagram and Twitter is like, it's professionally and it's different. But like, so I feel like we've been on the outskirts of a lot of this.

And I just haven't understood the extent to which people will only get information that works for them. And so it's like that whenever you think, how could anybody believe fill in the blank? I mean, all this information I'm reading, it's a foregone conclusion that X, Y, and Z. And then it's like, well, because someone else is getting a completely different set of information and it's scary.

But I don't think you're getting at this being the Achilles heel of the human race, right? Well, I am in one sense. You are? Because if you think about it- Because I thought you were gonna say like, is it ego? And I do think there's a tie. Yeah, well, I guess what I'm getting at is this is not like, this isn't unexpected at all, right?

So if you think about the history of humankind, like we actually have not adapted to believe truth, right? In fact, it's more strategic from a natural selection, evolutionary standpoint to believe things that aren't true. In fact, I think it was in Sapiens where he explains this really, really well, where he just talks about like, as a matter of fact, our ability to believe things that aren't true

that are kind of outside of the natural realm to kind of hold onto a thought, an ideological idea is what enabled us to kind of come together and do things. But we're always coming together at the expense of another group of people. So take it like, if you just take it like two examples, like you've got two villages. It's more advantageous for my village to believe things

that are not true about your village and also to believe things that are not true about my own village. Because if I'm trying to pass my genes on and my village wants to win versus your village, it's like, I'm gonna make things up about your village. Like they're nasty. They believe crazy stuff.

They deserve to die. And if I can believe that, then I can go and I can feel justified in killing them, right? And we're kind of seeing a version of that. We're not necessarily, I mean, people are killing each other but the more common thing is people are just completely writing off a whole group of people and thinking certain things about them,

having all kinds of assumptions about them and then feeding themselves with all this information that makes them feel better about being able to believe that and kind of perpetuates it. So if it gets back to this idea of like our technology, I mean, you could say things like, well, we developed the ability to literally destroy our planet,

like if you want, like nuclear weapons, right? Before we developed a respect and an empathy for one another where we wouldn't be the enemy, because what did we do? We developed a nuclear weapon and then we used it on a population. We dropped two atom bombs on two cities, like within a couple of, you know,

decades after, I can't remember, I don't know the timeline, not many years after developing the technology, it was used and it's a wonder that it hasn't been used again. But I mean, listen, I go back to- And you've got these really smart computer dudes who've just like created these algorithms in order to engage people and connect people socially.

But it has all these, they're not, I mean, you see the hearings, you see Mark Zuckerberg at the hearings, it's like deer in headlights. People come into grips with, and I haven't read all the articles about it, Jack Dorsey or whatever the head of Twitter is and like the journey that he's gone on,

like finding yourself in this position of you've created this thing which may very well be a monster. That it's like, that's not what you set out to create. And it's, but now you have to, you have that amount of power. Like, it's like, it's scary. Yeah. And it is, it's comparable.

I think it's a huge piece of it. Like, yeah, exactly what I'm saying. Like the technological advance to be able to connect the world in this way that seems so promising, but yet you're connecting people who haven't morally evolved. We haven't morally evolved to a place where we can actually be more interested

in the interest of another person than ourselves. Like we just, we haven't gotten there yet. And you know, you take- So selfishness and, I'm trying to pinpoint that Achilles heel and just trying to pinpoint what you're saying. I'm just saying, ultimately, it's the pacing of the technology getting ahead

of the moral evolution, because I do think that there is a place that, you know, I think the natural, it seems to me that the natural progression of humanity, even though, especially from the background that we come from, like an evangelical Christian mindset is what we were raised in.

And the narrative is that things are getting worse. It's one of the reasons that evangelical Christians tend to be conservative because there is this idea that things used to be good and the world is in decay and things are moving towards the end times up until the point where Jesus will come back. So things are getting worse as you go. Whereas a progressive mentality is,

actually things used to be pretty shitty. Like people got killed all the time by each other and by disease. And as time has gone on, we've actually gotten things, have gotten better for more people. Steven Pinker has a great book about this that kind of explains how things have actually gotten better just by the raw numbers.

Things are moving towards more connectivity and more equality for more people, right? I mean, it's tough to get there, but I just think that we haven't gotten to a place where we can really put ourselves in someone else's shoes. And now, it would be one thing if we got to a place where it was like, yes, we were super empathetic

and we were cooperative and we saw ourselves as one human race. We saw ourselves as stewards of the planet. And then we developed the ability to be interconnected. Like the things that we could do would be amazing, but we haven't gotten there yet. I mean, think about this, it's 2020. We've known the science behind global warming

for decades now, right? It's relatively simple science. It's that very small changes in the concentration of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere and other greenhouse gases leads to more retained heat. It's pretty, it's complex, but the overall principle is pretty simple, right? And lots of people sounding the alarm,

seeing all kinds of the beginnings of like more and more evidence building in this direction. Everyone who looks at this is seeing more and more evidence. But yet there's a whole group of people, including the president, who are saying that this is not happening, right? They're saying this is not happening. And in fact, this is a government's attempt to overreach and control and all this stuff.

And the amount of misinformation around this issue that could be the only thing that matters a hundred years from now. It could be, I hope it isn't. And it's hard not to see that as just trying to protect the people entrenched on that side, trying to protect something that they want to hold onto dearly that benefits them personally.

Well- And maybe that's an oversimplification by being on the other side of the issue. Well, here's what I'll say. But it's- So to me, it doesn't, like you don't even have to get into the science of global warming to like be pro green technology.

I mean, like if you just think about it logically, if you think about, we currently are based in a system that is taking advantage of a finite resource that took millions of years to develop and we're depleting it in a couple of generations. Like it doesn't matter, even if global warming wasn't a thing, transitioning to primarily renewable energy

would be a no freaking brainer. And we'd be like, who knows what's gonna happen? Maybe we're gonna get hit by an asteroid someday and we're gonna go into a nuclear winter for a few years and we're gonna need to burn this coal and need to burn this oil. We need to hold onto it. There's the only thing that you can point to.

And again, this is somebody, I was a evangelical Christian conservative for most of my adult life or a good portion of my adult life. And so when I thought about the issue of global warming, the only thing I thought about was, I'm not supposed to believe that that's real because it's not consistent with my ideology and my platform.

I can't believe that that's real because that's some sort of conspiracy that's just designed for the government to take control of everyone. And so did I ever stop and think, but like, so in other words, I was allergic to actually investigating it and looking into it. I was allergic to any sort of viewpoint

that might be the opposite of what I thought at the time. You're saying you had a blind allegiance. I think the thing that's difficult is that, I mean, if you look at the COVID experience in the United States and you look at how poorly, you look at the numbers compared to the rest of the world and there's few countries that rival the number of deaths that we've had.

It's just, I mean, there's, it's not as simple as we as Americans just haven't been willing to place the greater good above our own current needs. I mean, it's personal needs or wants or desires for freedom or ideology or whatever the reasons are. That is true for sadly a bunch of people, I think. But then there's also these people who are like,

their livelihood depends on it. When you think about like a dependence on fossil fuels, yeah, you've got all of this money. The most profitable business in the history of our planet is the fossil fuel industry. But then you've got- By far. But then you've got people like working class people who their livelihoods depend on this industry, you know?

So you've got to address that has to be part of what's addressed in order to get through COVID, to stem the tide of climate change is that there are people who are in dire straits or will be stem the tide of climate change is that there are people who are in dire straits or will be as a result of the necessary changes to stem the tide of our own decimation. And a lot of people, it's just like, I gotta survive tomorrow.

Yeah, it's a very short term mentality for sure. But it's sad when you zoom out that it's really driven by the ultra rich who are fueled by and fueling these industries when it comes to climate change. Manipulating the conversation and manipulating the information and making it seem like, well, there's a debate here, right. And I mean, I think that's true a lot of the big issues

when you look at healthcare, if you look at like universal healthcare, and you're like, why wouldn't anyone want everyone to be able to get treatment when they needed it? It's like, well, it's just a lot more complicated than that. And that's a sad reality, but that doesn't, well, I'm not saying that it's not complicated, I'm saying it is, but that doesn't change the fact that

at a certain point, we have to band together to do the right thing. And unless we do, these things will never change. That's what's so, unless we do, these things will never change. That's what's so sad is that it's gonna take all of us. Right? I mean, it's because the changes have to happen at such an accelerated pace.

It's gonna take a majority of us. Well, unless democracy completely collapses. At that point, and in some senses in America that has already happened and has been the case, it's like the people with money, they're in control and they're manipulating the conversation. They have more, a very much higher influence in the conversation.

So, but yeah, you yeah, I like saw the thing where the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, was talking about, okay, he's got this executive order where we're gonna ban the sale of gas powered cars by 2035. He didn't say he was gonna ban gas powered cars, period, if you have one, you can still drive it, but the sale of new cars in 15 years from now. And just cars, like small, mid-sized cars.

Industrial, like farm vehicles, trucks and stuff like that, is 2045, so we're giving them 25 years to get on board. Now, predictably, but still, it's so saddening to me is the response, like nine out of 10 responses but still like sad, it's so saddening to me is like, the response, like nine out of 10 responses to this on Twitter are, this guy's crazy. This is incredibly crazy. Like, so what we got is we've got a situation where

I hope that they're wrong, but the people who know a lot more about this than I do are telling me that I should be worried about this, right? That I should care about what's happening. This is what's happening on earth. And this is what could happen on earth if we don't do anything about this. And then somebody in a position of power says,

all right, well, here's what I'm going to do. And then he's just, he's treated as an idiot. So until, those people are never gonna go away. There's always gonna be people who are like, gonna just, you know, not believe. Even, you know, maybe a hundred years from now, when there's absolutely no doubt that climate change happened

and that humans were responsible for the vast majority of this particular portion of it in this point in history, it'll just be like, yeah, there used to be people who said it wasn't happening. Yeah, I mean, they were wrong. It's so frustrating. Why can't we just have a conversation about how we're going to deal with it

and not if it exists or if we should deal with it? It's just, it's maddening. But the real question is 100 years from now, have things changed so drastically? I mean, I'm an optimist, is to say as much as I might seem like a pessimist. I do think that I'm like, surely they're gonna figure this out.

Like technology, like they're gonna find some way to get the carbon out of the air. We're gonna transition to green technology. We're gonna look back and be like, yeah, there was this weird time in the early 2000s where like everybody was confused about what was happening. There was all this misinformation. There was this weird thing happening with social media. Yeah, it was this weird time in the early 2000s where like everybody was confused about what was happening. There was all this misinformation. There was this weird thing happening with social media.

Yeah. People were confused and nobody knew what was going on, but we got through it. Yeah, it's just like once we have a vaccine for COVID, everyone's gonna forget about the whole mask fiasco. You know, I don't wanna have to wear a mask because I just wait for the vaccine. You know, it's like, and I feel like we're in a position, we're in a privileged position, you know,

because we're well off, we're privileged and look at it from almost any angle. And I just, you know, there's, to me, honestly, I feel like, You know, there's, to me, honestly, I feel like, you know, just maybe this just exposes me for like a lot of critique, but I feel like it, I'm in a bit of a more objective place because, you know, I'm not going paycheck to paycheck. I'm not, my livelihood is not directly tied

to a certain ideology. I mean, us talking like this, we may lose fans, but it's not, we're not being threatened. I don't understand why, and I think that's why celebrities like movie stars and people are like, when they speak out, people will say things like, just shut up and be a basketball player

or just shut up and be a basketball player or just shut up and be an actor. You get to a point of privilege where you can say, I have so much money. These superstars like a Leonardo DiCaprio or a George Clooney, they have so much money that they can actually say, you know what? I can actually do the right thing. I can afford to do the right thing. And I don't think that's why they're doing it.

But it's like, to me, you can listen to those people who are saying these things because they're trying to do the right thing. That's the skin they have in the game. And I feel for the people who, you know, it's hard for them to do the right thing. That's the skin they have in the game. And I feel for the people who, it's hard for them to do the right thing because it directly affects their livelihood. Like, are they gonna get another paycheck

or something like that? And then you got the people who have all the money, who aren't doing the right thing, who are only thinking about themselves. I think there's a stark contrast there. And so- Well, and there's also, and we saw this when we told our deconstruction story,

it's like, we have one perspective on the world that we came from and the world that we're in right now. Well, people who are still in that world are like, well, you guys are in a cult now. You know what I'm saying? Like you guys had it right. You were in the right place.

You had the right mentality, the right ideology. And then for personal reasons, because you wanted fame and fortune and you knew that you had to adopt this liberal mindset and be vocal about it in order to receive the blessings of the masses and of Hollywood, you had to do these things. So you guys are just following a script, a very predictable script.

And that's the only reason that you talk about this stuff in the way that you talk about it now. And for somebody who believes that, which I would have believed that at this one point in my life, I can't say anything that's gonna be convincing. There's nothing that I can say. If I can say, well, the reason that I left

the place that I was in, what I was actually concerned about truth. And I feel like I followed the evidence and the data to a different place. Now, am I some fricking robot who only makes decisions based on data? No, I'm still part of the human race. I'm still susceptible to the group mentality.

I'm still susceptible to buying into ideology. I'm still susceptible to buying into a whole platform. Yes, I'm still susceptible to feeling like I have to say something just to make people feel like I believe the right thing. It's like, yes, I'm still a human. But because I came from a place that was, the ideology was very strong and it was very developed and the thinking was very systematic

and there was a herd mentality, I became uncomfortable with that. And I was like, I kind of feel like I'm being told to believe a certain set of things because this is what makes it all seem to fit together and makes us all feel connected. But like, I actually feel like some of it's not true guys. And what ended up doing is I ended up getting out of that.

And so- Which is why I now worship Bill Gates. So Jesse and I are really- A guy who can- Yeah, we're really sensitive to this because I don't want, I'm really, this is why politically I'm an independent. I'm not a registered Republican or registered Democrat.

And I'm not saying that as like a point of pride, but for me, it's a principle because I'm like, I don't want to jump out of this camp and then just go, that's basically supported and sort of bolstered by ideological thinking and then just move into this other camp. And again, this may sound like, oh, well, you've done that,

but I try to be as critical of it as I can. But when it, I mean, just when it comes to this, like the issue of climate change, which again, I think is sort of supersedes, it might not, but if what they're saying is true, then it does supersede everything else. And it is sort of the problem of our generation and the biggest threat humanity's ever faced.

And the one thing that we actually need to agree on and tackle together. I kind of, I'm in the boat that's like, all right, what if it's not as bad as they're saying? What if it doesn't happen? Like what does coming together and working together on a problem, like how does humanity coming together, how is it bad?

It doesn't make sense to me. Like I'm not threatened by unity in the way that I used to be. Like the idea of like our borders not being that important and coming together, this whole idea of like one world. Like I actually, I'm encouraged by that now because I think it's the only hope for humanity. I don't think that this, let's separate,

let's build the walls, let's differentiate ourselves. Like we've already seen what that does. That results in death and destruction. Yeah, I think the Achilles heel is, it's that deeply rooted drive for self-preservation. I mean, ironically for survival deeply rooted drive for self-preservation. I mean, ironically for survival on an- On an individual level. Which IE selfishness.

Well, and it's tricky, because it's not just individual, it's individual and then it's group, but it's very difficult for the empathy to spread outside of the in-group. The in-group and the out-group mentality. And now that we're, it's funny, the irony of becoming super connected through technology,

but not having developed the brain, and I'm not saying this as, not talking about stupidity or intelligence, I'm just saying our brains have not developed to a place yet where we actually can get out of the in-group and out-group thinking, all of us. And the technology, instead of connecting us, it's enhanced the in-grouping and out-grouping

in a way that like, we're more divided now than we ever were. Like people, like I saw a guy tweet, I saw this, he was a liberal dude, progressive dude. And he was talking about how his Trump supporting neighbor was locked out of his house and it was raining. And he was like, he tweeted like, my Trump supporting neighbor is locked, my MAGA neighbor is locked out of his house.

What should I do? Oh God. And like people started like saying, well, you should just let him sit out there in the rain and all this stuff. And I was just like, how is this a question? I don't care. Honestly, I don't care who the dude supports.

I mean, I may care and I may disagree, but like if my neighbor is locked out of his house and needs me to help him, needs me to call somebody, that's what we should be doing. You know what I'm saying? Like how we've lost the ability, I'm not gonna help you because I disagree with you politically? Like I'm not gonna help you because I disagree with you politically?

Like, I'm not gonna help you with a basic need? Like what the hell has happened to people? How is this even a question? And how is it that you can ask this question on Twitter and people, I mean, some people were like, you should help the dude. It doesn't, I mean, okay, yeah, you disagree with him politically.

You may stand against every value that he has, but he's a human in need. Help him. And I see that and I'm just like, there is not a lot of hope. I just, there's not a lot of hope. And that, to me, it just seems like common decency and I just don't get it.

I don't understand. I've got lots of people in my life who are gonna vote for Trump. And I got lots of people in my life who are gonna vote for Trump. And I got lots of people in my life who are gonna vote for Biden. And I can have intelligent, respectable debate with them. And I may like really, really, really

have strong opinions about this. And it may even get heated at times, but the moment that they get hurt or they need something basic, my connection to them as a fellow human supersedes my political ideology. And if it doesn't, we are doomed, doomed. I thought you said this was gonna get heavy.

All right, well, at least we just solved it. It's my wreck. I'm gonna try to turn it back to something light. I'm gonna recommend, I'm gonna go back to our board game episode. Okay, good. I talked about the board game that I had ordered called Parks.

So wreck, baby, wreck, baby. One, two, three, four. This is my recommendation. You can get it at Target, Barnes and Noble, Amazon. Parks by Key Master Games. I had ordered through their Kickstarter campaign. They raised like over half a million dollars to do the expansion pack because this game is so popular.

And you know what? It's not here yet. Because I didn't order through the places I just said, it was delayed, my game arriving was delayed until the expansion pack was produced as well. Because I joined as like a higher level Kickstarter because I was just, I was excited to get, to play a game about national parks

to hopefully get my kids into games and national parks at the same time. The artwork is really great. The workmanship on these things is really great. I've already talked this up, but then in the mail, I got the game before the expansion pack is out. And inside there was a note from the people at Key Master Games.

They had heard our conversation about- They sent you an early copy? Yeah, well, they sent, because the game itself is available other places and they had that in stock, they went ahead and sent that to me along with like a personalized note about having heard our conversation

and like getting more kids and families into playing games. It was a very sweet, I keep the letter from them in the game, which they didn't, I paid for it. They didn't give it to me for free. I didn't want it for free. And this is not, again, this is not a sponsor. And I'm still waiting on the expansion pack, but we started to play it.

It was a little, it was a bit of a learning curve having not played a lot of games. And then like the family, they just, they didn't have a lot of patience. Chris was like, you know what? Why don't you like, spend some time with this. Why don't we put a pin in this? Maybe you can watch a video that like shows

how to play the game instead of you trying to figure it out and teach us at the same time. I was like, you know what, that's fair. So we like, we reconvened, I did some research, I watched some playthroughs and then I was, I knew how to play the game. Hot tip, if you're gonna teach your family how to play a game, you should already know how to play it.

Cause it could be very- Or maybe just show them the video. Very slow and frustrating. Well, I watched like an hour and a half playthrough. I'm now that guy. I watched board games being played for an hour and a half on YouTube. That's what it took.

And then we played it. And then last night after dinner, Lily and Lando were like, let's play Parks again. Like the two of them hardly ever wanna do the same thing. And like we played again last night, very good game, well worth the 50 bucks that you have to pay to get the- What is the object? To visit Parks and have just an amazing experience

with lots of great memories. Basically, they have the most number of points at the end of the game by visiting the most parks. And there's like resources involved. How do you sabotage other players? You can block them out of getting to places on the hike that they need to get to in order to reach their personal goals in order to get there,

to rank up their points. Isn't it funny if the object of the game was just for everybody to get what they wanted and everybody to have a good time, you wouldn't enjoy it? I mean, I'm just saying, the reason I asked the question is because it goes back to the conversation we just had. There's something in Trent, there's something inside of us

that we don't want everybody to win. We don't want everybody to win. Only one person can win the game. And you have to, yeah, you're trying to do everything strategically in order to, yeah. But that appeals to us. To block people out. That appeals to something that is so deeply,

in other words, what I'm saying is, and I'm not trying to be the downer, again, I know you try to bring it up, but it may be that that mentality is so deeply ingrained in us that there is no scenario where all of a sudden we become nine, 10 billion people on a planet and it's just a utopia. Like maybe it's not possible.

Maybe there's always gotta be a winner and always gotta be a loser. It's something in our brains that we are never gonna be able to let go of unless there's some sort of deep deprogramming. And so we're gonna build the population up and then we're gonna decimate one another and then it's gonna start again

and it's always gonna happen like that. Well, I'll say because of the artwork is so beautiful and because it's about experiencing parks, it feels better. And like, so when I did, you know, I enjoyed working my brain in order to strategize to get as many points as possible. But if I lose, I still find myself being pretty happy.

Maybe the key- Lincoln doesn't though. I'll tell you, Lincoln is competitive. Okay, yeah, good for him. Here's the thing, I'm very competitive as we've established, but yeah, I still want everybody, I want the world to work together. I want us to get to utopia,

but I just kind of feel like there's not enough people on board. And that's what I was trying to say about celebrities. It's like, in a lot of ways, I feel like I've gotten what I want out of life. It's like the Bill Gates of it all. He's gotten what he wants out of life and now he's devoted his time, his energy,

and his massive resources to making a positive difference. It's like, I'm not gonna say- You mean controlling? You mean controlling your mind and manipulating the media? Does he have completely pure motives? Does anybody? But like, he's one of the,

he's in a position that makes him more, I deem him more trustworthy. And I feel like honestly, from my own experience. I think it was mostly Melinda. Okay. I think she was the one who was like, I think Bill, we're the richest people on earth. Let's do some good.

And I think she talked him into it. That's kind of what I think. I take it all back and I apply it to Melinda. It is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation after all. I was gonna make a statement about ulterior motives and like figuring all that out, but I don't wanna go back there. Just enjoy parks, the board game.

Enjoy parks. And just enjoy parks in general, if you can get into it. Oh yeah, do that. Hashtag Ear Biscuits.