SciShow Tangents - Bonus Backlog Bonanza - Ep. 13

Episode Date: June 3, 2025

This bonus episode was originally posted on Patreon on March 31, 2022 titled "Tangents Bonus Pod Ep 13: Dear Ceri and Sam."Original Patreon description: The totally not a copy cat podcast where Ceri and Sam answer your questions, give you dubious advice, and bring you the latest news from the Muppets and Pokémon franchises!SciShow Tangents is on YouTube! Go to www.youtube.com/scishowtangents!And go to https://complexly.store/collections/scishow-tangents to buy some great Tangents merch!While you're at it, check out the Tangents crew on socials:Ceri: @ceriley.bsky.social@rhinoceri on InstagramSam: @im-sam-schultz.bsky.social@im_sam_schultz on InstagramHank: @hankgreen on X

Hello and welcome to Dear Sarian Sam. Or as I like to call it, Dear Sarian Sam. I like that title. I have no notes and I feel confident enough in myself that I don't need to be first, you know? That's fantastic news because this is a podcast where two friends answer your questions, give you dubious advice, and bring you all the week's news from beloved media franchises, The Muppets and Pokemon. A little less intellectually rigorous than, uh, than, than Dear Hank and John, huh?

Oh, it's extremely rigorous. We are, I feel like, the prime news sources aside from the media franchises themselves. Sam, do you know what day it is today? Oh, well, today won't be this for the listeners. So we're dating ourselves, but it's St. Patrick's Day today. Merry Irish. We're in a bar right now, both of us, a very quiet bar. We told everyone to shut up. Tuna's guarding us like a guard dog.

He's walking around the perimeter of our recording session being like, shh. He's snarling. His hackles are very raised. Mm-hmm. And so in the spirit of St. Patrick's Day, I have a riddle for you. Do they do riddles on Dear Hank and Joan? I don't know. It's a joke, I guess.

I didn't know what to call it because I guess it's kind of a joke. Okay, let's hear it. It's a little bit rude, like St. Patrick's Day humor tends to be. Okay. Okay. Perfect. So Sam, what do you use on St. Patrick's Day when you don't want to get pregnant? Birth control, condom. I don't know what.

Well you were close. A leprechaun-tereception or a leprechaundom. That's great. Thank you. That came right out of my brain. My garbage, cesspool of the brain. Yeah. Yeah.

I didn't want to accuse you of thinking that up yourself, but I'm glad to hear that you did. Yeah. Do you want some others? You can try and guess them if you'd like. Yeah. Okay. I think one thing worth noting is that you are in the most St. Patrick's Day town of

all here in Boston. No joke today. I was trying to think of a funny anecdote that I could use to talk about on the podcast, but as I was working today, I work from home, I heard Irish bagpipes on the street outside and I looked out the window and I couldn't see anyone, but someone was either playing music or playing the bagpipes and walking down the street just because. Well, tell me more of your riddles. Okay, they get worse.

What do you call the home of a half-elf, half-hermit crab mythical creature that I just made up? A half-elf, half-hermit crab mythical creature that you just made up. It's gotta be like leprechaun based, right? And the home of that creature? A half-hermit crab, a mythical creature that you just made up. It's gotta be like leprechaun-based, right? Uh... And the home of that creature. A... shell... layly?

Oh, that's pretty good. (*both laugh*) Well, what's the real answer? A leprechaun shell. Oh, it's pretty close to leprechaun-dom. I wasn't expecting it to be that close. Okay, now I think I know that maybe there's a pattern. You know the pattern of the jokes. Okay, so what do you call it when you drink too much green beer on St. Patrick's Day and

think you're going to get away with it, but then actually you're old and wake up with a hangover and are miserable? Lepre-karma? Oh, that's good too. Lepre-consequences of your actions. Oh, that's much better. That's much better. I have more, but I feel like we shouldn't waste the whole podcast on them. We can put them on Patreon. Will you please tell me a couple more, please?

Okay. If you want. What do you call a humongous multi-industry company run by little guys in green suits? Lepre-conglomerate? Yeah. Phew. run by little guys in green suits. The leprechaunglomerate? Yeah! Ah, phew. You got it! What do Irish... What do mythological Irish elves use

when they don't like to wear glasses? Leprechaun tax. Yeah. Are they elves? The elf thing keeps throwing me out. I think they're elves. What are they? Little guys? I feel like they would not like elves, and they would beat up an elf, probably. This thing keeps throwing me out. I think they're elves. I think it's a little considerate of elves. What are they? Little guys? I feel like they would not like elves and they would beat up an elf probably. You know?

Yeah, they do seem like quite gruff in our modern depictions of them. An elf gives you presents and the leprechaun tries to keep you from getting stuff, you know? It takes your presents and then squirrels them away. They are, if you will, the Wario of Elves, I would say. I mean, Wario is kind of just a yellow leprechaun, if you think about it. He loves gold. He loves gold.

He loves garlic. I'm sure leprechauns also love garlic. Uh... I guess so. I don't know. That one seems a little bit more tenuous. Okay, well, he really loves gold. All of his games, all of the WarioWare games are entirely based on him getting rich.

He loves gold enough to get him 99% of the way to be in the Leprechaun, that's for sure. Yeah. He needs to grow a beard though. He's kind of like a little guy who's running around all over the place too, you know? He looks like he could down a couple green beers and be just fine. I could really onto something here. And I think that we are doing just as good a job at bullshitting as Hank and John do. They're kind of nailing it.

Yeah. I think you sold us short at the beginning when you were like, this is not as intellectual. This is highly intellectual. And then people will see where Hank gets his cool facts from. We're the ones who talk about Wario. Well, you want to answer some questions? Sure. Dear Sam and Sari, what are the benefits and drawbacks of being a podcast host? What do you think is superior? Breakfast for dinner or dinner for breakfast? Lastly, how long does a nap last before it becomes asleep? We got to handle, we had to tackle this one

one at a time, I think. Yeah, this is three completely, completely, completely, completely, completely, completely related questions. Why didn't you just choose one of these? Why does Emily M get three? Well, I was trying to get the most out of it. What if we never do this again, you know? Oh, we're gonna take over for Hank and John. If they die mysterious deaths, it was definitely not us. Oh no. Or if they just go on vacation. Yeah. Okay. I jumped a little bit ahead in our life plan.

Yeah. Okay. So what are the benefits and drawbacks of being a podcast host? One of the benis of a podcast host is hanging out with your friends. Oh, that's a really good one. Yeah. I think a benefit is, well, a benefit of doing one at Complexly is that sometimes at Complexly we can be a little bit serious, you know? We get a little goofy with it, but I like that I get to get real goofy with it on Tangents. But also, oh, I like having Twitter followers. I wish I had more, because you have twice as many

as I do, which sucks. Do I now? I have just over 5,000 at this point. I have like 2,300 or something like that. Everyone who follows me, go follow Sam also. And everyone who follows SciShow Tangents, follow both of us. What the hell are you doing? So that's a drawback too, feeling like you're competing with your co-hosts. That's a drawback.

And we're always losing against Hank. He's clearly... Oh, Hank has like... Think of like five million followers or something like that. I don't think five... I think like one point something million, but... Oh, yeah. A completely unachievable number because I will not become a TikTok man.

No, I don't want that many followers. Yeah. I kind of am okay with the amount I have, but... But you want more. 1.5 million. You want that many followers. Yeah, I'm I kind of I'm okay with the amount I have But but you want more point five million you want a little more I mean, I'd like at least twice as many as I have okay somewhere between five thousand and one million Yeah Just shy of one point five million one point four million. That sounds about right. Well, that's the sweet. What is the drawback for you? Um, I don't know if I have a drawback. I think Time commitment,

but I find the time is definitely worth it. Like feeling like I really want to have the time to do a weekly episode, but knowing that realistically we're humans and our schedule pops up, like I wish. A weekly bonus episode? No, just even like recording a weekly tangents episode. Like sometimes we don't have a back, Well, this is behind the scenes knowledge,

we don't have a backlog. So we record and then we post. And I would love to be able to record some extras so that we can release a new episode every week instead of reruns. But we have other jobs. Record twice a week a lot of times. That would be really nice.

Okay, let's move on to what do you think is a superior breakfast for dinner or dinner for breakfast? Dinner for breakfast sounds bonkers to me. Really? Except pizza. Yeah, pizza. Pizza, I could see. Pizza for breakfast is great.

I actually maybe would think that that's my favorite one because breakfast for dinner to me is always a little unsatisfying. Why is breakfast unsatisfying to you? Or is it just like you're expecting one thing for dinner and then... It just doesn't hit the same at night, you know? It feels weird to eat pancakes at night. It feels weird to eat like a big thing of scrambled eggs at night. Just feels so weird that your brain is like, you can't enjoy this.

So pizza for breakfast, which I guess is dinner for breakfast is my choice. Yeah, I agree, but my rationale is different. I don't really like breakfast. I'm not a breakfast fan. Oh, that's my favorite food of all. It's my least favorite food, I would say, is breakfast. That's why we're in Archinibus. Yeah, that's why.

Or that's why we're best friends. I eat all the breakfast you leave behind, and you eat all the dinner I leave behind. Yeah. My actual favorite meal is lunch. Solidly in the middle of the day. It can be whatever you want. I think lunch is overrated. Oh, well.

I only like breakfast. My ranking is definitely lunch, S-tier, dinner, like A- tier, and then breakfast, E. Very low. Oh, shit. E tier? Like garbage. But there's so many different things. You could have fruit, you could have cereal, you could have yogurt.

They're all E tier? No, I guess the concept of breakfast is E tier, but then like yogurt, I would say, is B. Smoothie, A. Smoothie is in any time of day, food. Pancakes and waffles, I'm so sorry. Those are E. I just... Oh, pancakes and waffles suck. Yeah. I agree with you. Okay.

If given the choice, I'm getting a piece of sourdough toast over a pancake. Even though you get more bang for your buck with a pancake, pancakes are just a waste. They're a waste of stomach space. They're cake. I don't even like cake, so I'm not gonna cake for breakfast. Oh, I like cake, but I think a pancake is a waste of a cake space in your tummy.

I'd rather eat a slice of cake for breakfast, which I've done. So dessert, dessert also S tier. Dessert for breakfast, yeah. Okay, and then how long does a nap last before it becomes asleep? I don't think there's any way for a nap to turn out asleep, no matter how. You'd have to sleep all the way till the next morning to me for it to be asleep. It's always a nap, even if it's four hours long, it's still a nap. Yeah, I think I was going to use similar logic where like in college, the running joke was between

me and my friends, but I think across a lot of students was like, if you go to bed by 4 a.m., you're still in bed by the previous day. So instead of midnight being the time the day changes, it's 4 a.m. So you can say like, oh, I got to bed good last night, even if you went to bed at 2 a.m. And we're up working late or something. And so I think similarly for naps, as long as it's like sleeping in the middle of the day, during daylight hours or during a time when you would normally be awake, it's still a nap. But if you can't nap at nighttime, it's just a short sleep.

So if you like take a nap from 1 to 2 a.m. A pre-sleep. I like to call it a pre-sleep. I'm remembering pre-sleep now. If you sleep between 7 and bedtime, that's a pre-sleep. 5 and 6, you can still take a nap, I think. Okay. So nap, we'll give you the ranges.

A nap is from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. 8 a.m. might be going back to bed. You think? I think it's, sometimes I get up, well, it might be going back to bed. Okay. No, 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. is going back to bed. Yeah. Yeah, I agree.

10 a.m. to, what's your cutoff for pre-sleep? 6 p.m.? I think all of 10 a.m. should count as going backoff for pre-sleep? 6 p.m.? I think all of 10 a.m. should count as going back to sleep, as going back to bed too. I think starting at 11 to- Okay, you give the ranges. You started this and I hijacked it,

but 11 to five, no, 11 to six. Okay. The end of six, 11 to the hour of seven is nap time. Seven to actual you are going to sleep on purpose, 11 to the hour of seven is nap time. Seven to actual you are going to sleep on purpose, that's pre-sleep. And then like your sleep time, your bedtime until seven a.m. is sleep.

Yes, and then it's sleep. And then, and then it's sleep. And if you wake up in the middle of the night, walk around for a while, go back to sleep in that period of time, you're going back to sleep. You're not taking a nap. But you could sleep from 11 until 6 at night, and that's an eight hour nap. Not asleep. Mm-hmm. Agreed. Absolutely. Like that's what we're agreed on. Solve that. Yes. We had to take the long way there of what we got. There's no such thing as a daytime

sleep. They're all naps. Heidi asks, dear... Oh, did you say... You didn't say Emily M at the end of your question, did you? Whoops. Bye, Emily M. Love, Emily M. Okay, yeah, we'll give them sign-offs. Your turn.

Okay. Dear Sari and Sam, I would like to ask how to get kids interested in science. If there is a startup fun thing that you always go to when talking to kids about science, what would it be? Also, what is your first thing that got you interested in science? Best wishes, Heidi. Oh, thanks, Heidi. Best wishes to you as well, you and yours.

What do you think, Sam? I feel like I'm more interested in your, like, are you interested in science? No, I feel like all these are the same answer. How would I get a kid interested in science? Never tried, but I produce a little show called SciShow Kids that might help out. I would watch SciShow Kids. It's a great show and you should tell all your friends.

Sincerely, that's my answer. That's what I would try to do. Or just like any like, Bill Nye the Science Guy. That was probably the most hardcore attempt at the world to get me into science. It failed. And I'm not interested in science, but like television, I guess TV would be my answer. My first thing that got me interested in science...

Bill Nye, I guess. No, this? Is this it? Because you're... Are you interested in science... Bill Nye, I guess. No, this? Is this it? I think it's this. Are you interested in science now after talking? Is it me? Is it Hank? Well, you're asking me too many questions. Sorry. I got too excited. I do think it probably actually was this. This show, Tangents, not Dear Sarah and Sam,

the show that doesn't exist yet. You probably had a big hand in it because you are very excited about science and you also make it fun. Hank probably had a big hand in it because you are very excited about science and you also make it fun. Hank probably had a big hand in it too. Like the whole SciShow team probably did. I wouldn't say that I'm interested in science. I know a lot about science and I could research something and be like,

that's true or that's bullshit, which is fun too. But yeah, honestly, like working here probably. That was very sincere. I, yeah, I got, in the way that you get embarrassed when people say nice things, I also like was like, I can't even joke. I just got embarrassed and was like, oh gosh, now you're saying nice things.

You got embarrassed about what? You said that working at Complexly and people like me and Hank being excited about science. I was like- I said that after you told me to say it was you. I know, I prompted you to it, and then I got uncomfortable because I can joke about it self-deprecatingly, but I cannot hear you, my friend, say it seriously.

Well, yeah, talking about science with you is the funnest version of science that I know of. Look at that face you're making. Now you go. Oh, well, it's not you. You didn't get me interested in science. I would hope not. You went to MIT way before you knew me.

Yeah, I'll answer the question. I guess I'll do backwards then. So my first thing that got me interested in science is I was a freaking nerd. And I don't know. I can't remember a time when I wasn't interested in science. When I was little, I always really enjoyed video games, which I guess were not science directly but like...

They're made by science. ...adjacent to it. Yeah, they're like technology. So I was already secured as like a nerd child. And then from there, I'm pretty sure I just started imagining playing Pokemon in real life and this like, oh my gosh, that's animals. And then started like making little notebooks about animals and I would just like,

I would combine art and science a lot where I really like to draw or really like to write or take observations. And so what else is there besides the world to observe? And so then I started doing that. And then I would say the thing that got me interested in science for a career is biology, I think, because it was so, one, it was easy for me, like in the way that I was, I think I was like generally a really good student, but like all the memorization

and like the intuition that came with biology was easy for me. So then I felt good about myself when I was in biology classes of like, I understand what a cell is, I understand what an animal is, I can explain what's going on in my body." And then I just kept going from there in college and beyond. But getting kids interested in science, I feel like showing them something and then explaining it as weird is the best way. So I used to volunteer as a camp counselor at the Science Museum in Seattle. And I ran kids' summer camps, but also ran exhibits sometimes. And my favorite thing was working at the Tidepool exhibit,

because you get these kids in and you get them touching weird animals, like a sea anemone. And then you start conversations with them. And I'm horrible at starting conversations with people, but good at starting conversations with children about the weird things that they're interacting with. And so I would always ask them to touch the sea anemone and then they'd be like, oh my gosh, it's sticky.

And then I'd be like, do you know why it's sticky? And they were like, I don't know. Go away. Go away, old lady. Go away. And then I'd be like, well, it's actually trying to hurt you. It's like trying to sting you like a bee, but your skin's so thick that it can't actually sting you.

And then they'd pay attention to me and then ask me more questions. And I was like... And then they started crying. They went home early. But it sounds like you have inspired children to be interested in science. Do you have any like confirmed cases of kids

being coming scientists after talking to you? Not confirmed cases of kids. I have definitely had confirmed adults who have like either seen my work and Complexly stuff or listened to Tangents or other things and they they're like, Sari, you inspired me to go back to undergrad or grad school and like get a science degree. Gosh, people never say stuff like that to me. Interesting. Well, I don't know what to say. I always get really flustered when people say those things too because it's like, you did that. I may have played a small role, but like you chose to do

that and like go back to school. And that's really amazing and incredible because school is hard. Directly my way. I had a part, I played a part in this as well. Yeah, okay, next time I'll be like, I'm not listening, go tell Sam, shower praise among him, follow him on Twitter and then tweet him, like tweet him these nice things. Okay, ready for the next one? Dear Sam and Sari, I have been in a group chat from a show I did at my community theater in November and I don't know what to do. I don't really know these people because I was

up in the booth running lights and sound, but I cannot leave the group chat. What are those called? The little things? Parentheses. Open parentheses. Yes, parentheses. That option does not exist. Close parentheses. They text in this thing literally every day several times a, and I've never participated, but the only way to leave is to ask them to make a new group chat that doesn't include me. What do I do?

I still volunteer at the theater doing tech, so I will see them again. Any advice is greatly appreciated. This is actual real. This is real life shit. How can you not leave the chat? First of all, I would check in a little deeper in your settings, because I check in a little deeper in your settings.

Because I definitely have a bunch of group chats and I've seen people, it says, so-and-so has left group chat, at which point everyone left in the group chat, this is probably won't be helpful to you, is mad at the person who left. So be really careful. Do you get mad immediately when you see someone has left your group chat? We more like make fun of the people who left. We're like, oh, they couldn't hack it, huh? People are going to notice.

So that's the first thing you got to you got to get over. Even if there's no sneaky way to do this. But on the same note, I am still friends and talk to people who have left group chats like frequently. There's just some people who can't hack a group chat. And that sometimes often is a group chats fault because they can be a big burden on your life. But it doesn't mean you don't have to be friends with these people anymore.

I would say, like, my strategy, because I am also anxious about the exit, is muting them. I feel like no matter what platform you have, group chats, You can find a way somewhere in settings again to mute them so that you are, you can be passively engaged. Like if you ever- You can pop in when you want to. Yeah, or you just never have to pop in

and no one will ever notice that you're not there. I think this is one of my strengths is once something is out of my brain, I forget about it pretty quickly. You don't have good objects permanence? No, it's gone. I muted the chat. I might feel guilty for a day or two.

And then as soon as it gets buried in my texts or whatever, it's like, I don't even know this thing exists. Or if I do remember, then I can go back and scroll through and be like, ah, that conversation was boring. I'm so glad I wasn't a part of it. Yeah. And I think there's a built-in excuse too, if they're like, oh, you didn't see that thing

in the group chat? And you could be like, oh, I had to mute it because I was taking a test or I was in the theater or something and it was buzzing. So I had to mute it. That's the right answer. Yep. Do we ever get follow-ups to these?

Does your Hank and John ever get like, yeah, thanks, your advice worked. Please let us know if our advice worked. Abby, you have four months to write in and tell us if it worked. And if not, then we'll assume you didn't follow our advice or that you did something not following our advice and you died somehow.

Love it in memoriam for you. Yeah, it turns out that the other tech folks in that theater were actually serial murderers. Or they were group texting about a fire that had broken out. Oh, yeah. And you didn't see it. That's even worse. It's like SOS, get out of the theater. The fire alarms are broken.

And you had to go and mute it. Yeah. Hmm. Well, that can be avoided if you write back and tell us if it worked or not. Mute. I feel like we're not gonna get our own show this way if we vaguely threaten the people who write in. And Heidi, tell us if the kids watch SciShow Kids.

I don't know what the consequences of them not watching it would be. I don't want to speculate on children's lives, but you know, let us know. But speaking of speculating on children's lives, this episode was brought to you by Ceres Object Permanence. It doesn't exist. Oh man, okay. And this episode was also brought to you by Sam's deep-seated confidence. It's called Dear Siri and Sam. Don't worry about it. It also doesn't exist. And this episode was also brought to you by Disembodied Bagpipes. They're festive and spooky.

And this episode is also brought to you by Wario, our great financier. He's rich, he's loaded. I love the idea of Wario as an angel investor. Yeah. He's secretly like a generous man, which is why he's always looking for more money because he's one of those billionaires that doesn't hoard. He, like, kickstarts small businesses for women

or something like that in his spare time. Then Mario comes over and just, like, bonks him on the head. And people really just think he has a bad rap, because he's kind of short, kind of grumpy, kind of has, like, a villainous color palette. But really, Wario's got a heart of gold. Yellow and purple is a tough one to pull off. Is that all that that part is?

Then there's like a commercial break or something. We don't have commercials, unfortunately. Maybe someday we can have commercials in our Patreon show. That would be cool. It would be so popular. Please, someone sponsor our Patreon show where we're even goofier. Do you want to do another question? I'd love to.

Okay. Dear Sarian Sam, I am an art person. My boyfriend is the most sciencey person ever. How do I talk with him about what he's passionate about when I haven't taken a biology class since I was 14? Yours, forever and always, Asia. You could listen to Sides for Tangents together. How about that?

Oh, that's good, yeah. Oh, you gotta find stuff that has a dumb guy on it and a smart person. That's probably the secret. He might already listen though. In that case, we have to think of a different answer. Yeah. I love to hear about, like if he does science for work,

I love to talk to Rachel about her job. It's like there's some fun things, there's some boring things that are still fun to hear about. And you can just be like, uh-huh, uh-huh. Because it's like problems that aren't your problem. I bet he has problems that don't have to be your problem. And he's like, oh, man, scientist John down the way at the other station where they do DNA or whatever. He did his DNA all wrong. He made it, he put

his G in front of a T. What a moron. And you can be like, wow, that's really cool. Tell me more. Why shouldn't the G be in front of the T? Ask questions. That's another thing. You got to ask a lot of questions. Even if you don't care what the answer is, you still got to ask questions. That's how conversation works. You just ask questions and then nod your head and go, uh-huh. You are more in this situation, I think, right? Kind of, but I feel like I'm an everything person.

You're a Renaissance man. Yeah, I'm a regular Leonardo da Vinci over here. My wife to be is less sciencey than me. And I think part of what makes her relationship work is also her telling me when she doesn't care. And I'm like, okay. Or particularly, I would say she is interested sometimes, but also gives me very important feedback about when I'm talking about something that's boring, but interesting to me, like particularly when I'm about to go on the podcast, then you can say, like, run some stuff by me.

If you have to do a presentation, then I can tell you what's interesting or not, or if you're doing it in an understandable way. And if he has ever accidentally mean sciencey knowledge to you, absolutely call him out because science people need that in their lives. One time, I think I've told this story on the podcast before, but one time Sylvia asked me if the viral video where they put a charcoal briquette in peanut butter and then put it in the fridge and then take it back out that turns into a diamond was real. And I laughed and we fought because she was like, that hurt my feelings.

And I was like, it's so ridiculous though. And she was like, I didn't know, I'm not a sciencey person. And we had a good conversation. That's a rough run too, because you watched that and you think I'm gonna be all right. Yeah, or just like, and she was like, I don't think it's diamond, but I thought something cool happened to it. And I was like, no, it's a lie.

And I could have done that like much more empathetically, much more gently. So I guess that's not how do I talk with him? That's not answering that question. It's like, be mean to him sometimes because he probably deserves it. So that's healthy in a relationship. Yeah. I don't know.

Yeah. I do have to say, I'm not sure that the, uh, tell people when they're being boring advice necessarily can apply to everyone in the world. But you know the limits of your own relationship. Yes, you do. And this probably is healthier to be like, shut up. I'm snoring over here. Sometimes you gotta take your lumps,

talk about something boring. And he probably has questions about art too, right? Yeah, art and science, this is the better answer. Scrap what I said before, art and science are this is the better answer. Scrap what I said before. Art and science are- Here comes some Leonardo DaVinci knowledge. Let's hear it. Yeah.

So art and science are intertwined in so many ways. And so like, if you have an art thing that you're interested in, like you could learn some of the science behind it or he can teach you some stuff. Do you know paints made out of eggs or something like that? Yeah, egg tempera paint or like ways they tell forgeries or like ceramics are all like science and heat and whatnot.

If you do ceramics, you and this guy, you could really collaborate on some stuff, I feel like. So start learning ceramics. Yeah, I don't know what medium you do your art in, but it's got to be ceramics now. If it's not ceramics, you've got no hope. Mm-hmm. Okay, ready for the next one? Yep. Kind of related. Dear Sam and Sari, what advice do you have to get out of a creative slump?

Felicitations, Luke Richardson. I don't know what felicitations mean. I think it means hello. I did read it in a Heathcliff comic recently, so. I have creative slumps my entire life, and I think the thing for me is to not beat yourself up about it, and probably it's your brain or your hand or your body

just being like, just take a break, man. So you gotta just let yourself take a break and not feel bad about it. The second part of that is hard. It's very easy to take a break. It's very hard to not feel bad about it. And eventually you do have to go back to it, which is another hard thing that I think like, I feel like doing art is always like, is this the time I'm never going to do art again? No, you can't let it be that.

But also it's okay to not do stuff for even like a few months. I follow plenty of people on Twitter who are like artists and then I just don't see anything from them forever And then I go to their profile and it's just like I haven't posted here in six months I just gave up doing art basically so it happens all the time You know Just keep doing it again Just do it again and plan to start again someday in the future and everything will work out just fine.

I think that that's my advice. What do you think, Sari? I think I've been in a creative slump. I think that's something that I have done where it was like, oh, I like art. I like doing creative things. I would like to creatively write. And then I'm like, actually, I think the last time I did that was like six years ago. Or I guess I did a Missoula Monster project or something.

But like very few and far between, and it didn't feel like I was being creative. It felt like I was like completing an assignment or something like that, rather than generating something because I wanted to. So I feel like you're a better expert at this because you generate art for yourself. And do it in your, like draw in your free time. So I feel like you're a better expert at this because you generate art for yourself and do it in your, like draw in your free time. Do you draw even when you're in a creative slump? Yeah, another thing I was going to say, and this is what I've been trying to do more lately,

is just power through it. Because you don't have to post everything you make. Some of it's just for you, some of it's bad, and you know it's bad. And that doesn't matter. Cause you know, like I'm watching, I have a podcast called commitment or I'm watching every Muppet thing that's ever existed and, um, a lot of Muppets have sucks bad and it's fine. But once you see that it sucks, it's like Jim Henson made some real shit. Then it's easier to be like, well, who gives a shit if I make

something that's kind of stupid? So it's also OK to just like draw a thousand pictures of Mega Man or whatever you like. Like if you like Twilight or something, draw Twilight fan art. Maybe it's just for you. If you like, you know, drawing like flowers, just draw some flowers. But even if you don't feel like they're good, just keep doing it. But also it's okay to stop doing stuff. I think both are okay.

And you have to decide which one's the right one for you at the time. Yeah, and I think that like with the stopping doing stuff, I've basically stopped doing stuff. I'm hoping that I'll feel creative again at some point, but I tell- I think that's fine. I think to hope that you will is Yeah. Is like pretty powerful too.

And not give up on it completely. But yeah, anything you like, if you think about it as like you are a human and you are, your brain is made up of a lot of different experiences and feelings. Like as you just live your life, you'll find creative inspiration. And I think if you spend so much time thinking

about why you're not feeling creative, then you just get into the spiral of like, ugh, all I've been doing is staring at my work and I don't feel creative about it. So I would also say, like, go for walks, watch TV, try something that you haven't tried before. And see like what- Ooh, yeah. Draw with a different thing if you draw with one thing or like write, I don't know. I don't know anything about writing. Write a different kind of thing

if you write one kind of thing. Yeah, write some fan fiction if you write serious or write like fun fact for a podcast if you normally write creatively or something. Yeah. I also feel like fan art in all forms is a great way to just like, because you don't have to have an idea, kinda. You just get to draw something and like put your own spin on it or whatever, but the hard part is already done for you. So that's a good way to like practice if you want to still draw but you don't have any

good ideas, you can do that. That's what everybody who does fan art, that's why they're doing it I think probably. And it gets them money because we'll buy prints of the fan art stuff. Maybe you'll get rich with your fan art and then you can have all the time in the world. That's another thing. Time. Capitalism.

Yeah. That's gonna grind you down. You're not gonna have any good ideas. You're not gonna have as, it's harder to have good ideas if you're working all day, which you have to work all day. But that's also another like, there's outside forces hurting your idea generating abilities. It's not all your fault. We're all stuck in a system and we're all a little sad and miserable. So, you know, don't feel too bad.

That's speaking of being stuck in the system. Here's one last question. Dear Sarian Sam, should I go to graduate school? I have my bachelor's in biology and I'm currently working as a research tech in a molecular bio lab. There are lots of things I love about bench work and would also like about being a PhD student, but I'm afraid I would hate grad school because it's so stressful or that I would commit myself to a career direction without being confident about it. At the same time, I feel a sense of guilt for not charging into a life as a scientist because previous mentoring relationships

have been based on preparing me for that. Then there's the added factor of finances. I can make more as a lab tech than as a PhD student, but I also might be able to make up for that 10-ish years from now. Sure, I could always go back, but I also want to have kids, and balancing both seems extra challenging.

Looking forward to adding your advice to my long list of considerations. Your obedient servant, L. I am not going to be helpful at this at all because I just have a bachelor's in art and wanted to get out of school as fast as I possibly could. I also have a bachelor's in science. Oh, I thought you had a master's or something. No, I don't.

Oh, Christ. I also wanted to get or something. No, I don't. Oh, Christ. And also wanted to get out of school as fast as I could. I started my first full-time job. Well, I was halftime, but I started working at Complexly in my senior year of college because I was so ready to be out of school. Oh, right. We were so young then. Yeah, I was so young, so naive.

I can't believe anyone still wants to be friends with me after experiencing me as like a chaotic, fresh out of college student. My biggest piece of advice is that I think you have more time than you think you do because a lot of our society, especially American society, is like, go to high school, go to undergrad, go to grad school, and not really encouraging taking breaks. But particularly with grad school, I know so taking breaks, but particularly with grad school, I know so many friends who have gone back after a time, like they really wanted to make sure that they were going to get something out of more school, particularly with conversations

around debt. Like you were saying, you want to make sure it's going to be worth it and that what you're learning from there and what career you're pursuing with grad school is going to be worth it for you. And I think that's okay to take a year or two and work as lab tech or five years and work as lab tech or have a kid and then be like, actually, I want to be a scientist. I want to be like in academia. That's not unheard of, even though it's not like the dominant narrative pushed by society. And I think we should all try to, when you can, allow ourselves to take a little more time

to make big decisions instead of rushing into them. I feel like I personally, I'm not going to grad school. I've thought about it, but I can't think of anything that I would get out of it that I don't already have in my everyday life, besides like paying money to have the time to learn. But I can learn anything that I want to, I think, outside of grad school.

Like I don't know what skill I would develop outside of what I think. Unless you want it to like totally change your career path or like, cause it's not like necessarily you're gonna make more money in your job these days. I feel like it is a trickier decision to make. Let me try to alleviate the guilt for not charging into a life as a scientist because I also felt that guilt and now I'm fine. Like I felt really bad when I switched my major

from engineering to science. So I used to be, I tried out a bunch of different flavors of engineering, like bioengineering and stuff like that. And then I switched to just biology and media and I was like, uh-oh, am I going to an engineering school and am I wasting like my quote unquote talent or like my spot? And I think I'm doing just fine. We're all just trying our best. And so whatever you do with your science degree, even if it is like becoming a stay at home parent and teaching your kids critical thinking about science, like that's contributing. Like that's a perfectly good use of your time and your energy and your passions. And so I would not feel beholden to decisions that your past self made because you're not them anymore. You're like a different person.

You're so smart. I just do a lot of introspection and I need, I usually just say things that I need to hear. So Sam, would you like to hear some news from the world of Pokemon? Sam Brace Sure, I guess for some reason. Lauren Henry It's because it rhymes with Wimbledon, Pokemon, you know? So this is slightly older news. Any Pokemon fans worth their salt will have heard of it. But they're gonna be laughing. They are gonna be laughing at me. They are gonna be laughing at me, because it's not breaking. But the first teaser trailer for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet launched on February 27th, 2022.

It was a very weird trailer, because it was like a live action guy security guard walking around a museum, mixed with some gameplay footage. He like got sucked into a painting. He like found an old painting with the new starters on it. It was in a museum. What the fuck was that? Yeah.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is slated to release sometime in late 2022, which seems very soon to me, given that Pokemon Legends Arceus just came out and I haven't had a chance to play it and you've played once. I played it one time. How did you know I only played it one time? Because we talked about it.

Okay. Did you like it? I thought it was very fun, but whenever I play video games, I feel intensely guilty that I'm not doing something else that I should be doing. So it's hard for me to play them. Yeah, I agree. I have not. This is my great secret.

I love Pokemon. It is deeply rooted in my heart, but I haven't played a Pokemon game in a very long time. But I try and stay up to date on the news so I can talk about it. But I could not recognize any of the recent guys that are in games. I am almost exactly the same way, where I also like read stuff about it and I'm interested in it, because I loved it when I was a kid. I hate Pokemon games. I haven't liked any of them since like Red and Blue.

But the new one is so fun because you're just like walking around throwing balls. You're not just like walking back and forth through grass or whatever. You can see them and that's really fun. So I enjoy this one, but I haven't liked other ones. I feel like I, well, I stopped playing and diamond and pearl and my, my like favorite generation was Ruby and Sapphire. I've played so many, so many hundreds of hours on the Sapphire cartridge. You don't mind walking back and forth in the grass? I don't mind walking back and forth in the grass. I really like...

Do you catch any shinies? Do you catch any shinies? One time I saw a shiny Graveler and I didn't realize what was going on and I was just training a Pokemon and I killed it. Oh no, and it's stuck with you ever since. Yeah, it's haunted me. I think I have a shiny unknown that I found, like a blue unknown, but that's just because I was running around trying to catch one unknown.

A worthless one, huh? Yeah, I was trying to catch every letter of the alphabet, which involved running into a lot of them at once. But that Graveler would have been really fucking cool if I caught it and evolved into Golem, but I didn't. I was a fool. I think more recently, the Pokemon games, they've been mapping onto real world locations more directly. So like for Sun and Moon... I think the first few were all based on different islands of Japan. Yeah. Yes, that's true. And had some thematic, but recently they've been going international from Japan. So Sun and Moon was the Alola region and it was based on Hawaii.

Galar, I think it's pronounced region and Sword and Shield was Great Britain. And there's speculation, I watched the trailer with my partner who's Hispanic and the next game is going to be Spain. Oh, cool. So there are a lot of like Spanish landmarks in it, like the windmills across Barcelona or like a lot of the color palettes, for example. But most importantly of all, like you mentioned,

there was a poster of the three starter Pokemon in the trailer. There is a grass cat Pokemon named Sprigatito, who is a capricious attention seeking. There is a fire crocodile Pokemon named Fuecoco, who does things at its own pace. And then there is a water duckling named Quaxley, who is earnest and tidy. And so- He's a little guy.

Yeah. When you say those names out loud, they do sound very Spanish in a way that I never thought of. Yeah. Sprigatito. Sprigatito. And it's like little cat in Spanish

and Fuecoco sounds kind of like Fuego, which is, I don't know Quacksley. Quacksley is just Quacksley. Yeah, he's like a college student on a gap year in Spain. Yeah, wearing a fun hat. I think it's hair, big fun hair. Oh, like a cool guy hair. He's got like, yeah, cool guy hair,

like frat boy hair or something. Well, anyway, you answered my question that you love Quacksley. I'm Team Foy Coco, which I love. They're lazy, crocodile. How can you not look? They look like an apple for some reason. It looks like an apple.

I love things that look like food. Oh my gosh. I'm always gonna go for a cartoon duck though. I love cartoon ducks. That's fair. But that's it, that's the news from Pokemon. That's the latest and greatest. So I tried to look, I had hoped that they released

more information in the last couple weeks about it, but they just dropped that trailer and then have left people to speculate. So it does look like it's open world, like, like Legends RCS was. So I will never play another Pokemon game that's not that or be tricked into buying one. I've bought like all of them and then hated them instantly. So I don't know why I keep buying them. I just do. Do you want to hear some news from the world of the Muppets? Yes, I would love to. Like I said, I host a Muppet podcast called Commitment. You should go check it out.

Are you reusing news from there? Or is this new news? No, no. This is news that Matt sent to me this morning. Oh, I see. I'm stealing. It's from The Hollywood Reporter from today. And it's a report about how there's this position in Muppet workshops called the Puppet Wrangler. And they are basically the people who are on set repairing puppets, putting all the costumes on them, posing their arms correctly.

They're like the puppets assistants on set and they're unionizing. There's a few reasons. One is that they're being mistreated by the puppeteers. They're basically like, they literally are saying like, we get treated like shit by the puppeteers. And they treat the puppets poorly and they just throw them around and then we have to fix them. But they get all the glory and all the pay and we're freelancers and they're hired and it's not fair. The other thing is they're very lack safety standards around the industry.

So lots of puppet wranglers and puppet builders get sick from inhaling fumes from glue or like melted felt and melted stuff and like just all the materials they use are like based on, they're like oil. What's that word? Petroleum? Yes, petroleum products. So like lots of lots of like contact with them and inhaling them is very bad. So they're alleging that that Jim Henson Studios specifically has bad safety standards and that Jim Henson puppeteers are very cruel to their underlings and tell them to fuck off and stuff like that.

So they're trying to unionize, but the other problem is they don't know who to unionize under because their job is so specialized that if they unionize under IATSE, which is like the costuming thing, which seems like the natural fit, like the natural union for them to join, then people who aren't trained in puppets specifically

can like work with puppets and they don't want that to happen. It's a big mess and I think it's been a big mess for like 20 years or something. But now they're like coming out of being like, we don't wanna be poisoned by glue. We don't want Elmo to yell at us anymore. Not even Elmo, it's just the guy.

It is specifically one of the people who used to play Elmo who yells at them. So, no good. Bad. Yeah. They said he was recording a voicemail as Elmo, and the somebody, the puppet wrangler was apparently standing too close to him, and he told them to fuck off. I don't know if he did it in Elmo's voice. I don't think he did. Probably not. But he switched from Elmo to fuck off instantly, which is impressive in a way. Impressive, but either way, if I was being told to fuck off in a grown man's voice or

in Elmo's voice, either way, if I was already tired... You'd be radicalized. I would be radicalized and being like, I don't get paid enough for this garbage. Yeah. The Jim Henson company denies all of it and their lawyers deny all of it, all of the unsafe conditions. So Godspeed to you, puppet wranglers. I have a lot of respect for you putting little outfits on guys. It's the cutest part of puppets that they can wear little outfits, in my opinion.

Well, I hope that they find something that works, even if it means like starting their own union because they need specialized conditions. Protections. Protections. Because I'm also sure that there are a lot of puppet. I mean, a lot of shows used to use puppets, and now I feel like they're erring away from that in a lot of children's media. So these working conditions, my guess is,

were a lot of places and then people just stopped using puppets and the people who helped support the puppets or the puppeteers just switched to other jobs. This article says there's only 25 puppet wranglers left in the world. Oh my gosh, that's even fewer than I expected. That's like a handful. Tough out there if you work with puppets in a CGI world.

Yeah. Well, that's even sadder. They don't even have, I was like, if I was one of 25 and tired, I wouldn't have the energy to do nice. And getting yelled at by Elmo. Yeah. So really, really props to them for standing up. Well, Sari, thank you for podcasting with me. Thank you for podcasting with me. It was a delight.

It's been my great and profound pleasure and my distinguished honor. Yes, I'm your obedient servant and best wishes to you and your family. Sincerely yours. Truly. Salmon's eyes. Cheers. And as they say in our hometown, tell people about us. Thanks for listening. Thanks for supporting us on Patreon.

Oh yeah, right. This is a Patreon for a different show. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.