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Speaker 1: Your first kiss was on camera with Fred in the pilot.

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Speaker 1: How did that bring some extra nerves for you, especially

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Speaker 1: because at the time I had a huge crush on

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Speaker 1: him and I was just so excited and so nervous.

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Speaker 1: And I still remember after the first take when they

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Speaker 1: said cut, the whole crew started a plodding, and I

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Speaker 1: don't know who started that, but it was mortifying. I mean,

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Speaker 1: you can only imagine all the nerves, anticipation. You know,

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Speaker 1: you're about to have your first kiss, You've got a

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Speaker 1: crush on the guy, you know, and then it finally happens.

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Speaker 1: It's the most amazing moment ever, and it's like, wait,

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Speaker 1: that wasn't a private That wasn't real, Okay, right. Hi.

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Speaker 1: My name is Danika McKellar. I act in Christmas movies

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Speaker 1: and I write math books for kids. Hello, my favorite

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Speaker 1: listener and also my not so favorite listeners. Welcome to

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Speaker 1: another episode of Off the Beat. I'm your host, as always,

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Speaker 1: Brian Baumgartner. Now, as you just heard, my guest today

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Speaker 1: is Danica mckeller, who, well you might know from her

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Speaker 1: time playing Winnie Cooper on The Wonder Years. Everyone who

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Speaker 1: I have told that I have talked to Danica has

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Speaker 1: been so excited. Apparently there are a lot of Wonder

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Speaker 1: Years fans out there, or maybe you know her from

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Speaker 1: the many rom coms that she started the Winter Palace

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Speaker 1: Christmas at Dollywood with of course Dolly Pardon, but there's

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Speaker 1: also a subset of you who might know her for

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Speaker 1: a totally different reason. That's right, Danika is gonna out

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Speaker 1: math even me today. Yes, she does do the numbers.

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Speaker 1: She literally has a mathematical theorem named after her. I mean,

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Speaker 1: is that normal? It is certainly not normal on this podcast.

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Speaker 1: And to think her big splash in the world of

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Speaker 1: academics happened after she'd already kicked off her acting career.

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Speaker 1: Danica has truly led an exceptional life, which has included

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Speaker 1: things like writing an advice column for Teenbeat magazine and

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Speaker 1: appearing in one of Avril Levine's music videos. I'm so

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Speaker 1: excited for her to tell you all about it, and

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Speaker 1: so much more so. Let's bring her on my new

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Speaker 1: best friend, Danica McKellar. Everyone, Bubble and Squeak. I love it,

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Speaker 1: Bubble and Squeak, Bubble and Squeaker cooking at every month

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Speaker 1: left over from the nut before. What's up to Entica? Hey, Hey, Brian,

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Speaker 1: I'm good. How are you good? Where are you? I

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Speaker 1: am at home, but I just got back from Canada.

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Speaker 1: I just shot a Christmas movie. I was so much fun.

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Speaker 1: It actually comes out in November. Nice. Yeah, I got

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Speaker 1: me like Christmas stuff in the Christmas The movie is

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Speaker 1: called Christmas at the Drive In, by the Way, and

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Speaker 1: it will be on Great American Family is a new

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Speaker 1: channel very similar to Homemark. I know all about it.

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Speaker 1: We're going to talk about that and your your history

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Speaker 1: with Christmas. Uh, movies of of varying types. I want

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Speaker 1: to I want to start back with you though you

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Speaker 1: were You were born in Lahoya? Is that right? Very

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Speaker 1: close to where I live now? Yeah? I mean what

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Speaker 1: was it like being born in Paradise? Oh? I know

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Speaker 1: you just you just take it for granted and don't realize. Wait,

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Speaker 1: Laoia is this incredible vacation spot. And to grow up

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Speaker 1: there and my dad still lives there. I go there

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Speaker 1: all the time. In fact, my family built the Laoia

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Speaker 1: beis and Tennis Club a couple of generations ago. No, well,

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Speaker 1: I grew up at the beach club. I mean I

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Speaker 1: have a lifetime membership just because I'm family. I'm actually

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Speaker 1: a part owner um technically speaking. So yeah, that's buying

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Speaker 1: my roots. I need a discount. I need a friends

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Speaker 1: and family discount. I love that place. For those of

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Speaker 1: you who don't know, this is a it is. It's

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Speaker 1: private on the beach. It's one of like two in California.

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Speaker 1: It is absolutely And you think, what difference does that make? What?

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Speaker 1: What the difference it makes is? You can do anything

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Speaker 1: you want. That's basically it. If you want to make

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Speaker 1: a bonfire, you can have a bonfire. If you want

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Speaker 1: to put a grill out, you can do that. It's

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Speaker 1: an in doable place. I don't live quite close enough

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Speaker 1: that it makes sense for me, but it is a club.

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Speaker 1: By the way, if you if you there's it's a

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Speaker 1: hotel as well, so you can stay at the hotel.

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Speaker 1: You can stay there, that's right, you can stay there

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Speaker 1: all the same benefits as a member. That is what

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Speaker 1: I have done. Yes, so that is very cool. I'd

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Speaker 1: always tell people it's only bad if you don't like perfect. Yes,

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Speaker 1: but you fairly early on age eight, you moved up

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Speaker 1: to Los Angeles. Why did you leave Paradise? So my

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Speaker 1: my parents divorced and my mom was producing music videos

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Speaker 1: of all things. She was a answer before and work

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Speaker 1: brought her to l A. And then my sister and

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Speaker 1: I decided we kind of wanted to try acting, and

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Speaker 1: she put us in acting classes at LEA Strassburg like

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Speaker 1: that same year, I think, and so very quickly it

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Speaker 1: like we started working, and then I started doing commercials

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Speaker 1: and things. We both did, me and my sister. About

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Speaker 1: a year and a half later, I booked The Wondering Years,

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Speaker 1: and then I was working as well. Okay, so the

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Speaker 1: Lee Strasburg Institute, for those of you who don't know,

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Speaker 1: there's like three who are considered to be the greatest

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Speaker 1: theater teachers Udahgen Lee Strasburg. I mean, this is this

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Speaker 1: is serious business. And so like at age eight and nine,

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Speaker 1: you're already taking classes there. Yeah, your classes kids, you

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Speaker 1: know well, of course, but we loved it. We loved

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Speaker 1: it so but my mom had she said my my

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Speaker 1: mom's rule was this, She said no projects would take

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Speaker 1: us away from home and no series. So I wasn't

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Speaker 1: allowed to audition for any series. The part of Winnie

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Speaker 1: Cooper was only supposed to be a guest role on

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Speaker 1: the pilot episode only, so that's the only reason I

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Speaker 1: was even allowed to audition for it. And when I

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Speaker 1: got the job and we were midway through shooting, the

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Speaker 1: producers saying, hey, toll my mom, we really think that

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Speaker 1: Danna Kinfred had this really cool chemistry. So I would

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Speaker 1: like to extended cotton in. The network agrees we want

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Speaker 1: to if I never had to go to network for

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Speaker 1: that show. Uh, they like to to make for a

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Speaker 1: series regular. My mom was really torn about him. No, please, please,

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Speaker 1: please you because I loved working and I was I

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Speaker 1: loved the group, and because the other moms Joanne Savage,

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Speaker 1: James Saviano, Marsha Hervey, they were very much about their

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Speaker 1: kids and protecting their kids. They weren't that typical stage

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Speaker 1: mom do you think of like mom's shoving their kids

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Speaker 1: in front of the camera and you know, kissing after

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Speaker 1: the producers. These moms were all like, you know, our

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Speaker 1: kids or kids first. And because of that, my mom said,

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Speaker 1: you know, this might be an okay environment, but I'm

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Speaker 1: getting a really expensive lawyer, and if there's any issue

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Speaker 1: of bread, have a loophole and you tell me, you

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Speaker 1: just say the word and you can just leave the

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Speaker 1: show at anytime, Like okay, I'm not going to do that.

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Speaker 1: But your sister, Crystal you mentioned, is active with you

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Speaker 1: as well, and presumably you both enjoyed it. Now I

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Speaker 1: read that both you and your sister were up for

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Speaker 1: the role of Wenny Cooper. Now was this? Did this

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Speaker 1: cause issues when you got cast with the family at

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Speaker 1: home and it was just a one time role. It

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Speaker 1: wasn't like a big deal role that I got, you know,

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Speaker 1: it was a one off. But they loved her so

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Speaker 1: much they said they were going to write a role

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Speaker 1: for her, and they did. She played Becky Slater. She

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Speaker 1: did I think nine or ten episodes. That's awesome. So

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Speaker 1: because you weren't auditioning for serious roles, this ends up

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Speaker 1: becoming a really big deal for you. Do you remember

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Speaker 1: anything about the audition? Yes, I remember. I remember we

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Speaker 1: auditioned on a Thursday callback for that Friday, and I

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Speaker 1: remember there's like a group of girls all reading for

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Speaker 1: the part of Winning Cooper, including me and my sister,

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Speaker 1: and the room got small and small, and I kept

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Speaker 1: having us come in and read again, and I said,

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Speaker 1: we're taking a dinner break. You come back and you're

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Speaker 1: gonna read with Fred Savage, the boy who's playing the lead.

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Speaker 1: After dinner, I was like okay. So we all went

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Speaker 1: to dinner and there's a restaurant down belows the studio city,

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Speaker 1: and H remember seeing Fred and wondering if that was

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Speaker 1: the kid, and I was like, oh, he's cute. I

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Speaker 1: wonder if she's the guy who I'll be reading with,

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Speaker 1: and it was. I'm not sure I ever said in

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Speaker 1: this in an interview, but it came down to the

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Speaker 1: three of us, Me and my sister and this actress.

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Speaker 1: I don't know her name, but she ended up with

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Speaker 1: like a couple of lines in the pilot episode. She's

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Speaker 1: the girl for people who are super fans of the

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Speaker 1: Wonder Years. Kevin is talking about love, you know, Junior High,

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Speaker 1: and there's this couple who's holding hands across his desk

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Speaker 1: saying I love you, I love you too, And she

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Speaker 1: was one of she was one of the three of

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Speaker 1: us who were the final contenders or Winnny Cooper. So

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Speaker 1: of the three of us who were sitting there reading

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Speaker 1: with Fred after dinner, we all ended up with Roles

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Speaker 1: on the show. With Roles on the show, that's awesome

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Speaker 1: that I love That's a BTS everybody. That's a behind

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Speaker 1: the scenes nugget. Um. I did talk for a while

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Speaker 1: to to Daniel Fishel about what I understand is the

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Speaker 1: same with you that you're your first kiss was on

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Speaker 1: camera with Fred in the pilot. How did that bring

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Speaker 1: some extra nerves? Oh for you, especially because at the

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Speaker 1: time I had a huge crush on him and I

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Speaker 1: was just so excited and so nervous. And I start

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Speaker 1: remember after the first take when they said cut the

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Speaker 1: whole Who started a plotting? And I don't know who

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Speaker 1: started that, but it was mortifying. I mean, you can

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Speaker 1: only imagine all the nerves, anticipation. You know, you're about

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Speaker 1: to have your first kiss, You've got a crush on

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Speaker 1: the guy, you know, and then it finally happens. It's

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Speaker 1: the most amazing moment ever. And it's like, wait, that

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Speaker 1: wasn't a private that wasn't real, Okay, right? Did you

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Speaker 1: did you think for the rest of your life every

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Speaker 1: time you kissed someone that would it would break out

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Speaker 1: an applause all around you. I remember when I had

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Speaker 1: my first real kiss at least two years, no year

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Speaker 1: and a half later, with Jeremy Miller, by the way,

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Speaker 1: who was the little boy on Growing Pains. That was

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Speaker 1: my first kiss. He was my first little boyfriend. I

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Speaker 1: was fourteen and he was thirteen, and and uh, it

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Speaker 1: was actually at my dad's house in Lahoya, were they

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Speaker 1: were down there for some reason, and so we all

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Speaker 1: hung out and then we're my dad's house and we

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Speaker 1: had a moment alone and and I remember thinking, wait,

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Speaker 1: is this gonna be my first kiss? And it was like, oh,

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Speaker 1: this is so different because I don't know, oh you know,

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Speaker 1: but not scripted, it may or may not happen. Yes,

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Speaker 1: So no, I didn't think You're gonna be cameras. But

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Speaker 1: I was like stunned at how addit felt to not

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Speaker 1: actually know how I was going to go now how

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Speaker 1: it was going to go down. Yes, um, you are

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Speaker 1: on the Wonder Years, basically your entire teenage years, right

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Speaker 1: twelve to eighteen. What was it like for you growing up?

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Speaker 1: And this is a huge show at the time, and

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Speaker 1: everybody is talking about it, and everybody is talking about

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Speaker 1: you and and about Fred at the time. What was

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Speaker 1: it like for you growing up in the spotlight with

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Speaker 1: all of that attention during what for most is awkward

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Speaker 1: teenage years. I was not in touch with it. And

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Speaker 1: that's the truth. I was not in touch with it

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Speaker 1: at all. At some point some point. I think I

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Speaker 1: was probably sixteen, and someone on set referred to me

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Speaker 1: as America's sweetheart, and I was like, what we're talking like,

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Speaker 1: I just I was very busy with school and work

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Speaker 1: and family life and my mom on both my parents

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Speaker 1: always emphasize the importance of basically everything over show biz.

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Speaker 1: So health, family, school, and then sure showbiz. But that's

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Speaker 1: that was the prioriest game. In fact, when The Wonder

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Speaker 1: Years got nominated for the first time for an Emmy,

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Speaker 1: in fact, we won that year. I wasn't there because

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Speaker 1: there was a river trip like a river rafting trip

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Speaker 1: scheduled with my dad and my sister that and he

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Speaker 1: had a really busy work schedule and we couldn't move it,

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Speaker 1: and so we went on the trip, I mean, and

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Speaker 1: it was kind of like, well, we have this invitation

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Speaker 1: we could go to the Emmy's where we could go

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Speaker 1: in this river rafting trip, And my parents decided together, know,

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Speaker 1: the trip is more important. And I remember being in

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Speaker 1: this tiny, little more Tell room in Oregon. We're gonna

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Speaker 1: get in the Rogue River the next day, and it

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Speaker 1: was like a TV from the nineteen seventies. I don't

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Speaker 1: know where. It was, tiny, little screen and we watched

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Speaker 1: The Wonder Years win the enmy we jumped up and

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Speaker 1: down the bed and like the we won, and we

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Speaker 1: went to sleep, got up at like five in the

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Speaker 1: morning and hit the river and had the trip of

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Speaker 1: our lives. I mean, I remember click picking black berries

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Speaker 1: on the side of the river with my dad and

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Speaker 1: my sister, and it's some of the most precious memories.

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Speaker 1: So that kind of thing, you know, that's that was

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Speaker 1: my life. My life was all the all the regular stuff.

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Speaker 1: And then I went to work and I loved it,

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Speaker 1: but it wasn't the focus. I didn't go to Hollywood parties.

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Speaker 1: I mean there would be like ABC affiliate parties here

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Speaker 1: and there that would go to with my mom, you

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Speaker 1: know what I mean. But I was never I was

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Speaker 1: never in that scene where I would have been offered

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Speaker 1: drugs or gotten going wrong group, but just that just

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Speaker 1: wasn't my reality. I was going to a challenging school

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Speaker 1: and it took up a lot of time and that

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Speaker 1: was my that's my focus. Were you doing set school

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Speaker 1: as well? Yes, So any day that I missed, I

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Speaker 1: actually I just take the homework and do it on set.

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Speaker 1: And we had a fantastic teacher David Combs. He was great,

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Speaker 1: and he was great at everything except for math. Like

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Speaker 1: he was fine. But when I got into pre calculus

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Speaker 1: and stuff, they brought in somebody else, so I had

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Speaker 1: my own personal calculus tutor. I mean, in some ways

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Speaker 1: you could say that being on the Wonder Years helped

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Speaker 1: me in my math education. And ultimately, yeah, I became

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Speaker 1: a I don't want to jump ahead, but but like

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Speaker 1: I became a math major e c l A. They

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Speaker 1: love math so much, and I had all that wonderful

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Speaker 1: private tutor in for caculus um. I love that you

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Speaker 1: went river rafting instead of going to the Emmy's. I

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Speaker 1: love that that your parents were trying to keep that

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Speaker 1: normalcy and put their importance on on family and those

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Speaker 1: and those experiences. I do want to ask you, though,

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Speaker 1: what are some of your favorite memories from your teenage

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Speaker 1: years that that either were outside of the show or

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Speaker 1: or happened because of the show. Oh my gosh, it's

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Speaker 1: a huge question. I mean I went to prom you know,

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Speaker 1: and uh, I would go to the Homecoming games. The

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Speaker 1: producers of the Wonderings were really really good about like

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Speaker 1: if we had some event coming up, they would try

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Speaker 1: to work around it. They weren't always able to, but

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Speaker 1: they always tried, so that was really special. Kent to

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Speaker 1: fulsky Um and Bob Brush. They were just wonderful and

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Speaker 1: really really cared about us being kids, So that made

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Speaker 1: a huge, huge difference, and I remember being really grateful

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Speaker 1: to them on several occasions, so that that's a happy memory.

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Speaker 1: It seems to be, though, as big as the show God,

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Speaker 1: as much as your parents wanted to shelter you and

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Speaker 1: give you, as you say, a normal life, the experience

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Speaker 1: at what became Harvard Westlake, you must have been getting

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Speaker 1: some attention. There was that positive or was that a negative?

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Speaker 1: You know, it's in l A. I mean, it's not

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Speaker 1: that big a deal. Tori Spelling was a couple of

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Speaker 1: years ahead of me. It's not a big deal. Okay.

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Speaker 1: In l A. It was every now and then somebody

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Speaker 1: would have a problem with me, but it was really

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Speaker 1: not a big deal. And the guys definitely stayed away.

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Speaker 1: I don't know it's just intimidating or what. But I

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Speaker 1: have a boyfriend eventually, but not from school. So yeah,

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Speaker 1: I felt pretty normal, okay. And I'll say because we

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Speaker 1: were not one of those shows that taped in front

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Speaker 1: of life, suit of your audience. There, I only worked

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Speaker 1: on the days that I was in scenes. And if

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Speaker 1: you really watched the show, Winnie Cooper wasn't in that

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Speaker 1: many episodes until the very ill season. The sixth season,

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Speaker 1: I was in almost every one. But I would like

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Speaker 1: have a couple of weeks where I was just in school,

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Speaker 1: and then I have a week where I was only

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Speaker 1: worked two or three days. I would say I was

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Speaker 1: in my regular school at least half the time. Now,

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Speaker 1: it was an interesting skill set to go back and

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Speaker 1: forth and back and forth. It's an interesting It would

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Speaker 1: have been a little easier if I just known kind

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Speaker 1: of what the deal was. But I'd be in school

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Speaker 1: and they say, Okay, we've got a history test next Friday,

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Speaker 1: and I wouldn't know if I was going to be

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Speaker 1: there for it or not. And I remember when I

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Speaker 1: got to U c l A, how much of a

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Speaker 1: relief it was, like, Oh, wait, I can like set

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Speaker 1: mind the schedule. I can be dependable. I know what

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Speaker 1: next week looks like. Right when you start hearing things

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Speaker 1: on set about being America's sweetheart or whatever, when you

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Speaker 1: started to realize how important that relationship was too people

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Speaker 1: outside of it, do you think that that increased the

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Speaker 1: pressure of you portraying it or how did that affect

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Speaker 1: specifically your performance do you think I don't think I

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Speaker 1: was aware enough of it to have affect my performance,

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Speaker 1: but I did affect the way I related to the world,

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Speaker 1: especially when the show was done. I mean, even through today,

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Speaker 1: having a certain sense of responsibility to people because of

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Speaker 1: the character that I play. I mean, I'm very similar

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Speaker 1: to any Cooper, to be quite honest. But it also

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Speaker 1: just so I did have a sense of responsibility the

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Speaker 1: whole time. We just didn't affect play the role, but

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Speaker 1: affected me in the world. Remember where I was probably

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Speaker 1: fortunate or fifteen, and I was offered a contract to

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Speaker 1: represent some sort of granola bark and it was a

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Speaker 1: lot of mine. And I looked at the ingredients. I'm like,

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Speaker 1: with a sugar in hand, I don't like, you don't

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Speaker 1: need sugar. And my mom was like really proud, and

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Speaker 1: I said, no, I can't. I can't tell people to

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Speaker 1: eat this because they might listen to me and this

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00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:46,960
Speaker 1: isn't what I would eat, so that's not healthy. So

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Speaker 1: we said no, and I remember my mom was like

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Speaker 1: so proud because of just no understanding that I had

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Speaker 1: a responsibility to the public and I wanted to be

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Speaker 1: a good leader and take this gift of being the

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Speaker 1: block I and do something positive with it. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I look and I've certainly continued that I love mathematics.

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Speaker 1: But what I do with that now is I don't

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Speaker 1: go in a corner and do mathematics by myself. I

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Speaker 1: have all these books to help kids. You know, I

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Speaker 1: know that that the parents normally from the Wonder Years.

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Speaker 1: Some of the kids normal me from my Christmas movies,

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Speaker 1: but the parents definitely know me from the Wonder Years.

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Speaker 1: And so to be able to take my position as

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Speaker 1: this public figure and people somebody who people look up to,

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Speaker 1: a character that people look up to you and say, oh,

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Speaker 1: well I can do something positive with that and help

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Speaker 1: these parents with you know, their kids math issues and

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Speaker 1: help do something to that. Well, you've transitioned beautifully. I

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Speaker 1: have not spoken, for sure in all of my guests

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Speaker 1: to a math genius until today. Um, you go to

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Speaker 1: U c l A. Well, first off, did you make

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Speaker 1: a conscious decision that you were going to take a

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Speaker 1: hiatus from acting like you were going to go to

359
00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:14,480
Speaker 1: school and focus on school? So I first went to

360
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Speaker 1: U c l A with the idea of being a

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Speaker 1: film major and learning the other side. And then for

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Speaker 1: the first year I still did jobs. I did a

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Speaker 1: movie with the Week for NBC, and I did like

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Speaker 1: an episode Bad one five, and I was doing things

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00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:27,920
Speaker 1: here and there. But it's funny because I realized, wait

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Speaker 1: a minute, because it was it's so stressful going back

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Speaker 1: and forth, not again, not knowing if you're gonna be

368
00:19:32,119 --> 00:19:34,600
Speaker 1: there for something, leaving town, coming back, trying to make

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Speaker 1: up assignments, find out what the work was, get ahead

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Speaker 1: of the curb. All that stuff really really tough. And

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Speaker 1: I was like, wait, so the wonder years and in

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Speaker 1: high school, like the law told you you have to

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Speaker 1: go to high school. Well now I'm an adult. I

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00:19:46,119 --> 00:19:47,680
Speaker 1: don't even have to be school if I don't want

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Speaker 1: to be. And I don't have to take any of

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Speaker 1: these jobs because they're all one off jobs, and that

377
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Speaker 1: it's less serious, Like what am I doing to myself?

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00:19:53,040 --> 00:19:56,480
Speaker 1: So about a year into it, and I kept getting incomplete.

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Speaker 1: The professions, weren't letting me make up the exams. I'm like, what,

380
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Speaker 1: why would you just let me take it again? And

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00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:01,919
Speaker 1: I'm like, well, if we just don't do that, like, Okay,

382
00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:04,639
Speaker 1: different fault, this is a different this is a different

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Speaker 1: landscape here. So I decided to take a break at

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Speaker 1: that point and just focus on school work. And at

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Speaker 1: that point, by that point, I had taken a math class.

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Speaker 1: It was multi variable calculus, and it was as tough

387
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Speaker 1: class I was. I was so nervous about because I

388
00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:22,680
Speaker 1: hadn't taken math since high school. Its's been almost a

389
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Speaker 1: year since I've taken any math. Well, I still had

390
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Speaker 1: all my high school math notes, because that's just the

391
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Speaker 1: kind of first I am. And I studied them, learned

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Speaker 1: all the trigonometric identities for calculus, for doing integrals and

393
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Speaker 1: all that stuff, and so I get to multiple calculists

394
00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:38,440
Speaker 1: and I was like really prepared, and I had no

395
00:20:38,560 --> 00:20:42,040
Speaker 1: idea that I was so like overly prepared for this class.

396
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Speaker 1: It was a class of like a hundred and sixty

397
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Speaker 1: three people. And I remember the first mid term exam.

398
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Speaker 1: I studied so hard for that. I memorized everything, I

399
00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:51,879
Speaker 1: knew everything, and yet the test was ridiculously difficult. I

400
00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:54,359
Speaker 1: got like a forty four or something out of a

401
00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:57,159
Speaker 1: hundred and um. As it turns out, it was a

402
00:20:57,240 --> 00:21:01,840
Speaker 1: weader test. The professor raft the scores on the chalkboard.

403
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Speaker 1: Forty four was by itself, and there were a couple

404
00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:07,680
Speaker 1: of fifteens, and then it was like nine below and

405
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Speaker 1: this is the class of a hundred and six to

406
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Speaker 1: three people. I'm looking at my test. I'm looking up

407
00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:14,840
Speaker 1: and like, that's that's met working get the number wrong.

408
00:21:14,880 --> 00:21:16,239
Speaker 1: But it was it was like it was all by

409
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Speaker 1: itself and everything was blow. It might have been twenty.

410
00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:19,359
Speaker 1: It was twenty two out of forties. Twenty two out

411
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Speaker 1: of forty. So I'm getting mixed up anyway. Point is

412
00:21:21,640 --> 00:21:24,520
Speaker 1: I'm a numbers person because matters and don't getting the

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Speaker 1: numbers right. So I was like, I was like, oh

414
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Speaker 1: my gosh, this is amazing. And the professor pulled me

415
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Speaker 1: aside afterwards and said, like, you've got a gift. I

416
00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:33,960
Speaker 1: mean you you're really good at math, and like, I don't.

417
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Speaker 1: I studied really hard. I don't know, but as it

418
00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:38,600
Speaker 1: turns out, that's part of it, studying really hard and

419
00:21:38,640 --> 00:21:40,480
Speaker 1: wanting to study hard and wanting to become a master.

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Speaker 1: It's something that's part of It's not like you're just

421
00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:44,399
Speaker 1: a math genius and so it's just easy. That's not

422
00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:48,320
Speaker 1: what makes you good masking. Yeah, but hold on it.

423
00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:52,320
Speaker 1: Since I stopped talking about the Wonder years and started

424
00:21:52,359 --> 00:21:56,359
Speaker 1: talking about math, your energy has changed. So there is

425
00:21:56,480 --> 00:22:00,359
Speaker 1: something inside you that you love. It's of her from

426
00:22:00,400 --> 00:22:03,000
Speaker 1: being a genius. I love it. I want to learn it.

427
00:22:03,040 --> 00:22:06,080
Speaker 1: I want to study. It's a puzzle. It's it's beautiful

428
00:22:06,119 --> 00:22:07,920
Speaker 1: if these proofs are beautiful. And he was just reading

429
00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:10,080
Speaker 1: a book she's talking about. She's trying to like bridge

430
00:22:10,119 --> 00:22:12,200
Speaker 1: mathematics and literature, and she says, if you happen to

431
00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:14,680
Speaker 1: be a mathematician, then you already have poetry in your soul.

432
00:22:14,920 --> 00:22:17,680
Speaker 1: And I was like, yes, she gets it, she gets it,

433
00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:21,000
Speaker 1: because math is beautiful when you are doing this proofs

434
00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:24,400
Speaker 1: and you understand, it's like crystallized beauty. I don't even

435
00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:25,880
Speaker 1: know how to but you don't get to that until

436
00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:28,119
Speaker 1: you've gotten through calculus and gone through all that stuff.

437
00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:31,440
Speaker 1: So that's all fun and good, and I would hope

438
00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:33,280
Speaker 1: that some people might get that who may not have

439
00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:36,639
Speaker 1: having been exposed to me talking about it. Yes, no,

440
00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:39,320
Speaker 1: I'm with you, but just hold on first. She's a

441
00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:41,639
Speaker 1: three time New York Times bestseller, by the way, so

442
00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:44,360
Speaker 1: she knows what she's talking about. But four time, four

443
00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:49,040
Speaker 1: times our research was wrong. I'm gonna yell at somebody later.

444
00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:54,440
Speaker 1: You have a mathematical theorem with your name on it.

445
00:22:54,800 --> 00:23:02,480
Speaker 1: The chase is that right, Chase McKellar in theorem? She

446
00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:06,280
Speaker 1: has a theorem? All right, you gotta talk slower, and

447
00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:09,520
Speaker 1: you've got to explain elevator talk. What what is that?

448
00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:13,560
Speaker 1: What is the theorem relate to? It relates to a

449
00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:18,920
Speaker 1: two dimensional mathematical model of magnetic material that has to

450
00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:22,920
Speaker 1: do with temperature, and based on a temperature, whether or

451
00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:26,920
Speaker 1: not the magnetic material will hold its magnetic charge as

452
00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:29,640
Speaker 1: you pull the magnets farther and farther away. That's kind

453
00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:32,520
Speaker 1: of based on temperatures in temperature. So the colder it is,

454
00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:35,280
Speaker 1: it's mathematical physics. Really, the colder it is, the longer

455
00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:38,000
Speaker 1: they'll stay magnetized. The low stone. But it's a two

456
00:23:38,040 --> 00:23:40,399
Speaker 1: dimensional model of it, and it's kind of amazing and

457
00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:42,600
Speaker 1: an only con point in four directions the electroc theat

458
00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:45,320
Speaker 1: the polls, which is not anything like the real world.

459
00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:47,800
Speaker 1: But what's really cool about math is that it's the

460
00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:50,280
Speaker 1: language of the science is right, and it's amazing. Even

461
00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:52,720
Speaker 1: with a two dimensional model of the magnetic material, you

462
00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:55,119
Speaker 1: can still get a lot from it. But if you

463
00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:56,480
Speaker 1: look at the paper, it's not like a bunch of

464
00:23:56,560 --> 00:23:59,440
Speaker 1: pictures of magnets. It's all this crazy looking math, Like,

465
00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:04,119
Speaker 1: what is all this? I did that during college. It's

466
00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:05,720
Speaker 1: a long time ago. And I look at the paper

467
00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:09,879
Speaker 1: now and I'm like, kind of sort of, yeah, I

468
00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:14,879
Speaker 1: was there. Did I listen? I here's the crazy thing.

469
00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:18,200
Speaker 1: I kind of understood what you said. Yes, I kind of.

470
00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:20,280
Speaker 1: I kind of understood. What you say. Is way easier

471
00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:23,600
Speaker 1: than mass. If you can look at in the real world,

472
00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:27,159
Speaker 1: there's something you can grab onto tangible. But if you

473
00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:28,840
Speaker 1: if you don't, if you want to be kind of

474
00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:31,639
Speaker 1: not feeling is on top of this um, we'll just

475
00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:34,560
Speaker 1: say the title that's percolation. It gives its multiplicity for

476
00:24:34,680 --> 00:24:38,240
Speaker 1: fair magnetic Ashman teller models and two dimensions. It's fara magnets,

477
00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:41,280
Speaker 1: not regular magnets. Anyway, all right, what you lost me?

478
00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:44,159
Speaker 1: But I can tell you why to be lost. I

479
00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:49,040
Speaker 1: think you were happy when you were lost. No, you're

480
00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:52,359
Speaker 1: exactly right. Here's a fun fact for everybody here. Now,

481
00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:58,200
Speaker 1: many people haven't an Urdos number. Burtis Iritish. It's actually

482
00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:03,119
Speaker 1: pronounced British Kurdish. Okay, so Danica has an Urdish number. Okay,

483
00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:05,639
Speaker 1: do you know who Paul Urtish is. Uh, He's an

484
00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:11,400
Speaker 1: Huggarian mathematician. Of course, he's a very prolific mathematician, much like. Okay,

485
00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:13,440
Speaker 1: so let's think we should start with the Kevin Bacon number,

486
00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:17,119
Speaker 1: because Kevin Bacon number, that's what people know about, right,

487
00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:21,800
Speaker 1: Urgish number. Yeah, people have Kevin Bacon number. That's that's

488
00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:24,120
Speaker 1: how many degrees away from Kevin Bacon. You are, right

489
00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:26,320
Speaker 1: with Kevin Bacon. So I've got to baking a number

490
00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:30,480
Speaker 1: of two. Yeah, yes, and my Iurgish number. He wrote

491
00:25:30,600 --> 00:25:35,040
Speaker 1: many many mathematical papers. My my Iritish numbers four. So

492
00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:38,119
Speaker 1: together my Bacon Iurgish number, and there are only a

493
00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:43,480
Speaker 1: few people who have the can work with Kevin Bacon

494
00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:45,119
Speaker 1: at some point, which I really must do, then I

495
00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:47,480
Speaker 1: can bring it down to five. I think I'm tried

496
00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:50,399
Speaker 1: with Natali Aportman right now. I'm not totally sure she

497
00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:57,160
Speaker 1: has an Earnish number. Yeah, oh yeah, Natalie Portman's your number.

498
00:25:57,600 --> 00:26:00,600
Speaker 1: What's what's her number? There's also six, but but I'm

499
00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:02,400
Speaker 1: not sure. I haven't looked in years. It was years

500
00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:04,399
Speaker 1: ago that I saw that. I was like, hmmm, because

501
00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:06,560
Speaker 1: she has written she she went to Harvard and she

502
00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:09,200
Speaker 1: did something really smart. It wasn't math, it was something else,

503
00:26:09,240 --> 00:26:11,600
Speaker 1: but it was something in the sciences. So this math

504
00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:13,800
Speaker 1: person did something with this science, and that science person

505
00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:15,760
Speaker 1: did something over there. And so it's still linked your

506
00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:18,120
Speaker 1: back to Paula Artisi. So you can crush her in math.

507
00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:23,439
Speaker 1: I mean maybe, but I he's super smart. She might

508
00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:25,840
Speaker 1: do on the side for all I know. It's all

509
00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:30,600
Speaker 1: about a competition for me. Um. So yes, you have begun,

510
00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:33,920
Speaker 1: not just begun. You've been doing it for for quite

511
00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:38,680
Speaker 1: a while now, writing children's books related to math. Four

512
00:26:38,920 --> 00:26:43,680
Speaker 1: time New York Time best selling author. Why what was

513
00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:47,240
Speaker 1: missing in this category? Well, so in the year two thousand,

514
00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:48,800
Speaker 1: I was I was invited to speak in front of

515
00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:51,119
Speaker 1: Congress about the importance of women in mathematics. I just

516
00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:54,399
Speaker 1: graduated from college and it was known that oh, Winnie

517
00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:56,720
Speaker 1: the math whiz okay and to auch a kind of

518
00:26:56,760 --> 00:27:00,280
Speaker 1: funny story. So this commission wanted to get more money

519
00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:05,040
Speaker 1: for scholarships for women in college to entice more women

520
00:27:05,119 --> 00:27:08,119
Speaker 1: to study the STEM careers. So they invited me to

521
00:27:08,359 --> 00:27:10,840
Speaker 1: testify basically about the importance of When my mathematics so

522
00:27:10,840 --> 00:27:12,119
Speaker 1: they could get more money for this thing. But I

523
00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:13,840
Speaker 1: wasn't really thinking of it in that way. I was like, yeah,

524
00:27:13,840 --> 00:27:16,480
Speaker 1: I'm gonna help solve this problem in this country. So

525
00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:20,639
Speaker 1: I read the hundred page report, okay, hundred pages, and

526
00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:24,600
Speaker 1: it was detailed. And in this document and this hundred

527
00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:27,200
Speaker 1: page document, it was clear that middle school was the

528
00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:29,679
Speaker 1: time when girls started to shy away from Matt. That's

529
00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:32,000
Speaker 1: when their confidence really started dropping, and then their grades

530
00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:34,280
Speaker 1: would drop after that. And I was like, wow, this

531
00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:36,640
Speaker 1: is really, this is this is crazy, this is kids

532
00:27:36,800 --> 00:27:40,440
Speaker 1: need support in middle school. Like it's too late by college.

533
00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:42,680
Speaker 1: So I get up there and in my four minutes

534
00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:44,760
Speaker 1: I was given to give a speech, I say all

535
00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:47,359
Speaker 1: this and I say, look, it's too late by college.

536
00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:51,200
Speaker 1: So unwittingly, like like ruining their their whole plan for it,

537
00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:54,359
Speaker 1: invited me out there, um and uh. And they didn't

538
00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:57,280
Speaker 1: get the money, by the way, my fault. So I said, look,

539
00:27:57,320 --> 00:28:00,080
Speaker 1: it's too late by then. Middle schools the time. And

540
00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:02,400
Speaker 1: here's the other thing my dad loves to tell people

541
00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:04,560
Speaker 1: because he was there. He came with me in the

542
00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:07,560
Speaker 1: executive summary, which is what the Congress people usually read,

543
00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:09,760
Speaker 1: because how they're not gonna read a hundred page report

544
00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:12,640
Speaker 1: on every single issue they're looking at. Right, it wasn't

545
00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:14,399
Speaker 1: in there. The thing about middle school was not in

546
00:28:14,480 --> 00:28:17,800
Speaker 1: the executive summary. So this commission had paid for all

547
00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:19,760
Speaker 1: this research and put this paper together, but then they

548
00:28:19,840 --> 00:28:22,240
Speaker 1: put the argument that they wanted to try to get

549
00:28:22,240 --> 00:28:24,680
Speaker 1: their money because that's what I'm sure that's how politics works. Fine, whatever,

550
00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:27,399
Speaker 1: So I tell them, I say, I said, you know what,

551
00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:29,120
Speaker 1: the information that I had to tell you, the most

552
00:28:29,119 --> 00:28:32,080
Speaker 1: important stuff, wasn't in the executive summary. And my dad

553
00:28:32,119 --> 00:28:35,000
Speaker 1: says that the congressman put glasses dentists will why don't

554
00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:37,520
Speaker 1: you enlighten us, young lady? I said. I was like,

555
00:28:37,560 --> 00:28:40,280
Speaker 1: no problem. So I'm like, go on and time. I said, like, look,

556
00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:42,360
Speaker 1: middle school as the time the grade started to job

557
00:28:42,400 --> 00:28:44,080
Speaker 1: in this country is fourth grade. When you start to

558
00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:45,600
Speaker 1: see if it really by eighth grade. This is the

559
00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:48,120
Speaker 1: middle problem. I said, math. I said, if you have

560
00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:50,720
Speaker 1: your money to help a math education, give it to

561
00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:53,440
Speaker 1: middle school teachers. We need better middle school teachers. A

562
00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:55,800
Speaker 1: lot of them are underpaid. You know, they're like gym

563
00:28:55,880 --> 00:28:58,560
Speaker 1: teachers who then are pulled in because they're they're low

564
00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:00,960
Speaker 1: on math teachers. We need to attract more math teachers

565
00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:03,560
Speaker 1: to middle school. This is when we really need that support. Also,

566
00:29:03,880 --> 00:29:06,040
Speaker 1: mathews better pr and I said, and I will be

567
00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:07,880
Speaker 1: working on that. I pledged to you that I will

568
00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:11,000
Speaker 1: do everything that I can to improve the image that

569
00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:12,880
Speaker 1: people have of math in this country because when you

570
00:29:13,400 --> 00:29:15,120
Speaker 1: started growing up, and I even talked about like on

571
00:29:15,160 --> 00:29:17,080
Speaker 1: the Wonder Years, it's that time and life when you're

572
00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:19,000
Speaker 1: worried about who you are and trying to figure out

573
00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:20,760
Speaker 1: who you are. Well, if you're like, I don't know

574
00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:23,880
Speaker 1: who I am, but you're seeing all these stereotypes about mathematicians.

575
00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:26,520
Speaker 1: But but I'm not. I'm not that, I'm not a

576
00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:28,880
Speaker 1: math nerd. So I'm gonna just not look at that

577
00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:31,520
Speaker 1: plus be here that math it's too hard, it's too boring,

578
00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:34,360
Speaker 1: it's just for boys. It's whatever. It's it's other, it

579
00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:36,360
Speaker 1: doesn't apply to our lives, it's not relevant. I'm like,

580
00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:39,160
Speaker 1: this is all untrue. But let me, you know, let

581
00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:41,760
Speaker 1: me like work on that. So I told him I

582
00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:43,520
Speaker 1: will pledge to do what I can. So at that

583
00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:45,080
Speaker 1: point I was like, Okay, I'm not sure I'm gonna do.

584
00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:47,320
Speaker 1: But I started a website and then it was in

585
00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:51,080
Speaker 1: July of two thousand five when I did a lingerie

586
00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:53,760
Speaker 1: spread for Stuff magazine because I was thirty and I

587
00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:56,040
Speaker 1: was like, hey, I'm gonna show that you can still

588
00:29:56,080 --> 00:29:57,840
Speaker 1: look hot at thirty, which is so funny now in

589
00:29:57,960 --> 00:30:01,040
Speaker 1: my forties. Um. So it was a class every tasteful.

590
00:30:01,200 --> 00:30:04,240
Speaker 1: But that same month, in July two thousand and five,

591
00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:06,720
Speaker 1: the New York Times decided to do a story about

592
00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:09,240
Speaker 1: my math paper that I had written years before. So

593
00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:11,440
Speaker 1: it was this great article that came out. And so

594
00:30:11,520 --> 00:30:14,320
Speaker 1: those two things came out the same month, and it

595
00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:17,520
Speaker 1: just kind of showed this duality, you know, like breaking

596
00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:20,000
Speaker 1: stereotypes about who's good at math. So I had a

597
00:30:20,040 --> 00:30:22,200
Speaker 1: couple of different literary agents reach out to me until

598
00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:24,520
Speaker 1: my manager saying, hey, we would we think that Dannicus

599
00:30:24,520 --> 00:30:26,840
Speaker 1: should write a book of some story. And at that point,

600
00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:29,200
Speaker 1: I've been doing so much studying about middle schools, like

601
00:30:29,320 --> 00:30:31,160
Speaker 1: I know exactly the book. I want it right, And

602
00:30:31,440 --> 00:30:36,240
Speaker 1: it was this one math doesn't Suck? I think, how

603
00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:38,440
Speaker 1: does provive middle school math without losing your mind or

604
00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:40,920
Speaker 1: breaking a nail? So this is the book that came

605
00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:44,520
Speaker 1: out in two thousand and seven, and uh runaway bestseller

606
00:30:44,840 --> 00:30:47,040
Speaker 1: like crazy, like couldn't keep it off. Shelf kept having

607
00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:51,400
Speaker 1: to reprint it because this book it teaches fractions and

608
00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:54,320
Speaker 1: decimals and percents and you know, proportions, solving for X,

609
00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:56,960
Speaker 1: all that stuff, but it does it like a girlfriend

610
00:30:57,000 --> 00:31:00,920
Speaker 1: talking to my girlfriend. And it was it's friendly, it's successful.

611
00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:04,240
Speaker 1: I have real world examples. Every single chapter shows you

612
00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:06,400
Speaker 1: how you might use that in real life. So I

613
00:31:06,480 --> 00:31:08,120
Speaker 1: had to, you know, tackle k It doesn't have to

614
00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:10,200
Speaker 1: just be wos. You can be a glamorous girl if

615
00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:12,320
Speaker 1: you want and still be good at math. Picture. Math

616
00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:14,840
Speaker 1: is the thing that's making your brain sharp and preparing

617
00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:16,880
Speaker 1: you to be in charge of your finances, preferring your

618
00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:18,760
Speaker 1: brain to be good at problem solving, and then you

619
00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:22,160
Speaker 1: can tackle anything any goal you have. But aspire if

620
00:31:22,160 --> 00:31:24,120
Speaker 1: you want to be glamorous, aspired to be the woman

621
00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:27,120
Speaker 1: in for in shields, holding your briefcase, walking down you know,

622
00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:29,320
Speaker 1: Wall Street, and go into a super important job like

623
00:31:29,440 --> 00:31:32,080
Speaker 1: make that the type of glamorous that you aspire to.

624
00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:35,520
Speaker 1: And so that whole message was it just hit a nerve,

625
00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:37,640
Speaker 1: It just struck a chord, and everyone seemed to get

626
00:31:37,640 --> 00:31:39,120
Speaker 1: on board, and I was like person of the week

627
00:31:39,200 --> 00:31:42,600
Speaker 1: on ABC World News and like this crazy time, and

628
00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:44,400
Speaker 1: I thought that was just gonna be the one book

629
00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:47,720
Speaker 1: that I would write. Well, eleven books later, here we

630
00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:50,920
Speaker 1: are writing book number twelve right now. And um so

631
00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:54,560
Speaker 1: next one was kiss My Math, showing creology with his boss.

632
00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:57,800
Speaker 1: And then I have hot X the Algebra book, and

633
00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:00,360
Speaker 1: I've got girls Get Curves. John Ashul takes shape. So

634
00:32:00,360 --> 00:32:02,360
Speaker 1: it goes all the way up through high school geometry.

635
00:32:02,400 --> 00:32:04,360
Speaker 1: And then I had so many people saying, please write

636
00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:07,000
Speaker 1: little kid books. We want maths support even younger. And

637
00:32:07,040 --> 00:32:08,920
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, it's true, even though you might

638
00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:11,080
Speaker 1: middle school at the time when you really see it

639
00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:14,520
Speaker 1: falling apart, the problem starts sooner and you can't. There's

640
00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:18,000
Speaker 1: no time. It's too soon to start showing kids that

641
00:32:18,120 --> 00:32:20,360
Speaker 1: math is part of your life, part of your life.

642
00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:23,680
Speaker 1: It's friendly. So this book Ten Magic Butterflies, it teaches

643
00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:26,720
Speaker 1: different ways of making ten from two numbers. It's a

644
00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:29,760
Speaker 1: story of these ten flowers who, one by one they

645
00:32:29,840 --> 00:32:32,240
Speaker 1: ask a fairy if they can become a butterfly, and

646
00:32:32,320 --> 00:32:34,280
Speaker 1: they do and then but in the meantime, it's teaching

647
00:32:34,360 --> 00:32:36,920
Speaker 1: you how to make ten from two numbers one and nine, two,

648
00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:38,720
Speaker 1: and eight, three and seven. It takes you through the

649
00:32:38,760 --> 00:32:43,360
Speaker 1: whole thing. So and then very good Kevin. This is

650
00:32:43,440 --> 00:32:45,160
Speaker 1: the book that I can't believe it just called you, Kevin.

651
00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:47,160
Speaker 1: Do you have people to call me Winnie? Like they

652
00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:49,280
Speaker 1: call me Winnie and I'm like, I can't, but I

653
00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:52,600
Speaker 1: forgive them. You must be in the same space. It's

654
00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:59,600
Speaker 1: just did that to you, and oh stop. The crazy

655
00:32:59,680 --> 00:33:01,920
Speaker 1: thing is this just happened to me today, right? You know,

656
00:33:02,080 --> 00:33:04,920
Speaker 1: you go into a Starbucks and they make you and

657
00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:08,080
Speaker 1: especially if they're playing it very cool. You know, I'm

658
00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:10,880
Speaker 1: not thinking about it, and I give my name, which

659
00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:16,000
Speaker 1: is I know I don't And then I'm standing there

660
00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:18,280
Speaker 1: and you hear names start to be called up Kevin.

661
00:33:19,360 --> 00:33:21,400
Speaker 1: I don't turn around because I'm like, oh no, I

662
00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:23,800
Speaker 1: mean clearly. And then I turned around and they're looking

663
00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:26,160
Speaker 1: at me, and it's like, all right, it's written on

664
00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:31,520
Speaker 1: the car exactly. Wanted to call you, Kevin. Exactly. They

665
00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:33,920
Speaker 1: just love your character and that's why people love the

666
00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:36,080
Speaker 1: character so much. Anyway, what I'm saying was, this is

667
00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:39,520
Speaker 1: the most recent like teaching book. It's the Times Machine,

668
00:33:39,920 --> 00:33:41,680
Speaker 1: and it might be the one that I'm maybe the

669
00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:43,680
Speaker 1: most proud of it came out in which is just

670
00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:46,680
Speaker 1: in time, so many kids were falling behind. Already teaches

671
00:33:46,760 --> 00:33:49,400
Speaker 1: multiplication and division for third and fourth graders to help

672
00:33:49,520 --> 00:33:53,360
Speaker 1: memorize multiplication facts. And so I have this whole section

673
00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:56,280
Speaker 1: where I do like a story and a poem and

674
00:33:56,360 --> 00:33:59,640
Speaker 1: things for all the difficult ones, for example, six times seven?

675
00:34:00,040 --> 00:34:01,840
Speaker 1: Do you know that one? I know them all. I'm

676
00:34:01,840 --> 00:34:07,000
Speaker 1: actually not bad for two. Go ahead, go ahead, quiz man.

677
00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:10,799
Speaker 1: Now here's the story of Mr Masse. Mr mass loves

678
00:34:10,880 --> 00:34:13,480
Speaker 1: cheese because what mouse doesn't love cheese? Well, magine Mr

679
00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:17,600
Speaker 1: Mouse eats a six sided block of cheese every day

680
00:34:17,640 --> 00:34:20,319
Speaker 1: three weeks at seven right, six times seven. Well, by

681
00:34:20,360 --> 00:34:22,919
Speaker 1: the end of the week, Mr Mouse is pretty full

682
00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:26,960
Speaker 1: and farty too. I got what you did. I see

683
00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:32,600
Speaker 1: what you did there. Kids will then seven is forty two.

684
00:34:33,160 --> 00:34:35,719
Speaker 1: This is what this book does. The Times Machine, well,

685
00:34:35,719 --> 00:34:38,040
Speaker 1: I gotta tell you something with all sincerity and all

686
00:34:38,160 --> 00:34:43,640
Speaker 1: joking aside. I have a second grader and she is

687
00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:48,839
Speaker 1: in love with math and is already at the start

688
00:34:48,880 --> 00:34:51,600
Speaker 1: of second grade, is already doing third grade math. The

689
00:34:51,719 --> 00:34:55,120
Speaker 1: Times Machine sounds like for her, I'm going to get

690
00:34:55,160 --> 00:34:58,000
Speaker 1: her the Times Machine. We'll do it together. She was

691
00:34:58,120 --> 00:35:01,520
Speaker 1: just doing her eights with me the other day. We

692
00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:05,200
Speaker 1: do math together. She teaches me daily. So I want

693
00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:09,319
Speaker 1: to say to you, one, I appreciate what you're doing.

694
00:35:09,680 --> 00:35:13,520
Speaker 1: And I appreciate this, particularly as a father of girls,

695
00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:17,000
Speaker 1: that you are doing this for the girls. And I

696
00:35:17,080 --> 00:35:18,880
Speaker 1: hope she sticks with it, and you know what, if

697
00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:21,879
Speaker 1: she doesn't and she finds something else, that's amazing too.

698
00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:25,439
Speaker 1: But I want you to know I appreciate that. And uh, yeah,

699
00:35:25,719 --> 00:35:28,600
Speaker 1: the Times Machine and by the way, I'm sure the

700
00:35:28,760 --> 00:35:31,120
Speaker 1: Little Kid books all the way up through the Times Machine,

701
00:35:31,160 --> 00:35:34,160
Speaker 1: those are very co it's really starting with math doesn't stuck.

702
00:35:34,320 --> 00:35:36,120
Speaker 1: By the way, all the books can be found at

703
00:35:36,239 --> 00:35:59,360
Speaker 1: McKellar math dot com math dot com. You still have

704
00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:05,279
Speaker 1: a math going on, but a career, a math author career. Yeah,

705
00:36:05,440 --> 00:36:08,920
Speaker 1: but anytime you have a theorem, you're an act of

706
00:36:09,080 --> 00:36:12,919
Speaker 1: math mathy. What brought you back to your acting career?

707
00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:14,799
Speaker 1: I mean, you have so many credits I can't even

708
00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:17,600
Speaker 1: begin to name them. You've been doing this for so long,

709
00:36:18,239 --> 00:36:21,520
Speaker 1: but also a voiceover career as well, doing things like

710
00:36:21,680 --> 00:36:28,320
Speaker 1: Young Justice, DC, Superhero Girls, Generation rex Um Acting on

711
00:36:28,520 --> 00:36:32,640
Speaker 1: camera or voiceover? What do you on camera? I love

712
00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:35,319
Speaker 1: I love them both, but on camera, I just there's

713
00:36:35,320 --> 00:36:37,800
Speaker 1: so much more you can do. There's so much more innuendo,

714
00:36:37,960 --> 00:36:41,239
Speaker 1: and there's a lot of subtlety. But look, voice, that

715
00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:44,080
Speaker 1: was super fun and you're done right away. It's fast,

716
00:36:44,320 --> 00:36:46,560
Speaker 1: and you could could fully be a character that maybe

717
00:36:46,560 --> 00:36:49,240
Speaker 1: you wouldn't normally get to play otherwise. And Young Justice

718
00:36:49,520 --> 00:36:51,960
Speaker 1: my character and Miss Marshall has gone so many places,

719
00:36:52,520 --> 00:36:55,479
Speaker 1: dark places, places that you know that I haven't gotten

720
00:36:55,520 --> 00:36:57,759
Speaker 1: to do on camera because I don't come off that

721
00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:00,440
Speaker 1: way like I'm, you know, wholesome girl, light story and

722
00:37:00,480 --> 00:37:01,880
Speaker 1: I always happen and I was over and it was

723
00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:04,320
Speaker 1: and I love it. I'm I'm very grateful. But you

724
00:37:04,360 --> 00:37:07,560
Speaker 1: asked me what brought me back? Um, it was missing

725
00:37:07,719 --> 00:37:11,480
Speaker 1: connecting with people. Matt is so much fun, but you're

726
00:37:11,719 --> 00:37:14,600
Speaker 1: why yourself most of the time. And I missed Sharon.

727
00:37:14,640 --> 00:37:15,960
Speaker 1: I would even just try to have lunch with my

728
00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:17,439
Speaker 1: mom and talk to her about what I was doing,

729
00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:20,120
Speaker 1: and I would have to keep defining all the words

730
00:37:20,160 --> 00:37:21,880
Speaker 1: I was using, and it just by the time we

731
00:37:21,960 --> 00:37:24,720
Speaker 1: finished lunch, I had just finally finished all the definitions.

732
00:37:24,760 --> 00:37:27,040
Speaker 1: It couldn't even really by that point, she'd forgotten the

733
00:37:27,040 --> 00:37:29,239
Speaker 1: first one, because it's just not it's a totally different

734
00:37:29,320 --> 00:37:31,560
Speaker 1: language when you get up into the high crazy you know,

735
00:37:31,680 --> 00:37:35,719
Speaker 1: specific math stuff. So writing the books also turned out

736
00:37:35,719 --> 00:37:38,319
Speaker 1: to an amazing way of connecting with people got math.

737
00:37:38,800 --> 00:37:40,959
Speaker 1: But long before that, I had already gone back to acting,

738
00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:43,759
Speaker 1: and um, I've done a few independent films. And then

739
00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:46,200
Speaker 1: The West Wing came up and I got to read

740
00:37:46,239 --> 00:37:49,879
Speaker 1: for Aaron Sorkin and some of that audition and he goes,

741
00:37:50,120 --> 00:37:52,520
Speaker 1: I am crazy about you, and I was like, I'm

742
00:37:52,840 --> 00:37:57,640
Speaker 1: crazy about you. Amazing moment. I did like nine episodes

743
00:37:58,080 --> 00:38:00,680
Speaker 1: for The West Wing and it was fantastic. And then

744
00:38:01,080 --> 00:38:02,800
Speaker 1: and then I got really into the math book writing

745
00:38:02,960 --> 00:38:05,560
Speaker 1: for a while. And then I had a baby, and

746
00:38:06,040 --> 00:38:09,360
Speaker 1: then I year now after that, I got divorced and

747
00:38:09,800 --> 00:38:11,879
Speaker 1: kind of restarted my life and moved with my mom.

748
00:38:12,120 --> 00:38:15,160
Speaker 1: And then um, yeah, I think I started doing I

749
00:38:15,239 --> 00:38:21,719
Speaker 1: started doing Hallmark movies in and I did like seventeen

750
00:38:21,760 --> 00:38:24,479
Speaker 1: movies there in the space of like six years or something,

751
00:38:24,640 --> 00:38:28,400
Speaker 1: and started your love of the Christmas movies. Absolutely, Christmas

752
00:38:28,480 --> 00:38:32,960
Speaker 1: at Dollywood with Dolly. Did you film at Dollywood for

753
00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:34,960
Speaker 1: a few days of it? Yeah, we shot mostly in

754
00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:37,360
Speaker 1: Vancouver and then a few days at Dollywood, which and

755
00:38:37,440 --> 00:38:39,800
Speaker 1: it was during Christmas to so they don't turn on

756
00:38:39,840 --> 00:38:42,239
Speaker 1: the Christmas Lives until the beginning of November, and these

757
00:38:42,280 --> 00:38:44,440
Speaker 1: movies come out like that movie came out the beginning

758
00:38:44,440 --> 00:38:47,239
Speaker 1: of December, so we shot the entire movie before and

759
00:38:47,320 --> 00:38:49,759
Speaker 1: then had like a couple of days at Dollywood. They

760
00:38:49,800 --> 00:38:52,080
Speaker 1: had to just cut stick in the movie to be

761
00:38:52,120 --> 00:38:54,160
Speaker 1: able to have that air on time. Instaying, I was like,

762
00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:55,520
Speaker 1: how is this going to happen? What was it like

763
00:38:55,600 --> 00:38:59,480
Speaker 1: working with Dolly? She is such a professional, she's so

764
00:39:00,440 --> 00:39:02,479
Speaker 1: she's just she's larger than life in the best way.

765
00:39:02,920 --> 00:39:05,600
Speaker 1: She walked into the room, this big theater which is

766
00:39:05,600 --> 00:39:07,360
Speaker 1: where we shot the first stuff with her, and she

767
00:39:07,480 --> 00:39:11,120
Speaker 1: was like Mary, Christmas everybody and you just everyone was happy.

768
00:39:11,280 --> 00:39:13,360
Speaker 1: I mean everyone was like waiting. It's like she's getting here,

769
00:39:13,360 --> 00:39:15,160
Speaker 1: so okay, well yeah to Dallas, come and say okay.

770
00:39:15,200 --> 00:39:17,480
Speaker 1: It's all this is anticipation. She walked in put everyone

771
00:39:17,520 --> 00:39:21,919
Speaker 1: at ease. And she also knows how to make things

772
00:39:22,040 --> 00:39:25,359
Speaker 1: sound good no matter what she's saying, so even if

773
00:39:25,400 --> 00:39:28,239
Speaker 1: it's like threatening, this is one moment where so it

774
00:39:28,280 --> 00:39:29,719
Speaker 1: was it was on my clothes up and she was

775
00:39:29,800 --> 00:39:32,279
Speaker 1: walking past the camera to be to be over her

776
00:39:32,320 --> 00:39:34,960
Speaker 1: shoulder onto me, and there was a chord where she

777
00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:38,040
Speaker 1: had to walk and the DP said, um, I don't

778
00:39:38,040 --> 00:39:40,040
Speaker 1: want you to trip on that. She goes no, you know,

779
00:39:40,160 --> 00:39:49,600
Speaker 1: and honey, right right, so good. So she's so good

780
00:39:50,520 --> 00:39:54,480
Speaker 1: and anyway, so she I I absolutely adore her. That

781
00:39:54,640 --> 00:39:57,160
Speaker 1: was twenty nine and then it was last year that

782
00:39:57,239 --> 00:39:59,560
Speaker 1: I made the move from Hallmark Channel to Great American

783
00:39:59,600 --> 00:40:02,600
Speaker 1: Family and the Bill Abbott so he he left Hallmark

784
00:40:02,640 --> 00:40:04,160
Speaker 1: and went to Great American Family and he kind of

785
00:40:04,239 --> 00:40:07,080
Speaker 1: just starting another Basically, it's another Hallmark. I mean, he's

786
00:40:07,160 --> 00:40:10,920
Speaker 1: creating what he created before. He revived the whole Christmas

787
00:40:11,040 --> 00:40:14,319
Speaker 1: movie genre, and then he really gave me this whole

788
00:40:14,360 --> 00:40:16,120
Speaker 1: section of my career that I love so much. And

789
00:40:16,160 --> 00:40:18,880
Speaker 1: it's been so much fun and playing these roles in

790
00:40:19,120 --> 00:40:22,759
Speaker 1: these movies where everything is going to work out. It's wonderful.

791
00:40:22,880 --> 00:40:27,279
Speaker 1: I just I love giving people happiness and giving them

792
00:40:27,800 --> 00:40:30,040
Speaker 1: It's nut's not just an escape to people talk about

793
00:40:30,080 --> 00:40:31,800
Speaker 1: this as being an escape, but it's more than that.

794
00:40:32,400 --> 00:40:35,520
Speaker 1: It's a reminder of the good side of human nature.

795
00:40:36,200 --> 00:40:37,960
Speaker 1: And the Christmas movie is, in particular one of the

796
00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:41,080
Speaker 1: things that Bill Abbott is always really specific about is

797
00:40:41,560 --> 00:40:44,399
Speaker 1: you always want to talk about traditions within the Christmas movie.

798
00:40:44,640 --> 00:40:47,560
Speaker 1: And it's a reminder of people to, oh, you know what,

799
00:40:47,719 --> 00:40:50,440
Speaker 1: it's good to have little Christmas traditions, however small they

800
00:40:50,520 --> 00:40:53,520
Speaker 1: might be, especially for kids, because it tells them what

801
00:40:53,640 --> 00:40:56,759
Speaker 1: season they're in, it tells it's a grounding effect, and

802
00:40:56,840 --> 00:41:00,440
Speaker 1: it connects people. It connects the family together to have traditions,

803
00:41:00,560 --> 00:41:03,719
Speaker 1: whatever they are. So these movies give ideas for traditions

804
00:41:03,760 --> 00:41:06,560
Speaker 1: as well. And just kind of hearing that word makes

805
00:41:06,560 --> 00:41:08,600
Speaker 1: you go, oh, right, it's Christmas time. We should do

806
00:41:08,680 --> 00:41:15,959
Speaker 1: a tradition. I love that. November. Uh, your latest Christmas movie,

807
00:41:16,080 --> 00:41:19,239
Speaker 1: Christmas at the drive In? By the way, how many

808
00:41:19,360 --> 00:41:20,800
Speaker 1: of your viewers do you think have been to a

809
00:41:20,920 --> 00:41:24,880
Speaker 1: drive in? I don't know, you know what, honestly that

810
00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:28,640
Speaker 1: I mean, I have not been doing well. Okay I

811
00:41:28,800 --> 00:41:30,480
Speaker 1: have because of the movie, but I'm not sure if

812
00:41:30,480 --> 00:41:34,840
Speaker 1: that counts. And and to be honest, they've built the

813
00:41:34,960 --> 00:41:37,360
Speaker 1: drive in. It was a working it's a working drive in,

814
00:41:37,520 --> 00:41:40,080
Speaker 1: like they built it projector and they built the whole

815
00:41:40,120 --> 00:41:44,200
Speaker 1: big screen in the whole thing. I don't know, I

816
00:41:44,360 --> 00:41:47,759
Speaker 1: don't know, but they it should be because they well,

817
00:41:47,800 --> 00:41:49,400
Speaker 1: they built it on the on the back lot up

818
00:41:49,440 --> 00:41:51,719
Speaker 1: in Canada that they have So I don't know, but

819
00:41:52,920 --> 00:41:55,000
Speaker 1: I think I've been to a drive in once, like

820
00:41:55,120 --> 00:41:57,600
Speaker 1: with my dad a long time ago. Yeah, I think so,

821
00:41:57,800 --> 00:42:00,120
Speaker 1: when I was a kid. Yeah, but this is the

822
00:42:00,239 --> 00:42:03,319
Speaker 1: nineteen fifties style drive in the decor and the story

823
00:42:03,480 --> 00:42:05,600
Speaker 1: is that was built in the nineteen fifties. So my

824
00:42:05,760 --> 00:42:09,160
Speaker 1: co star, played by Neil Blasto, his father owned the

825
00:42:09,280 --> 00:42:11,719
Speaker 1: drive in, and his father passed away last year and

826
00:42:11,760 --> 00:42:13,960
Speaker 1: now it's his, but he doesn't live there anymore. Hasn't

827
00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:16,080
Speaker 1: been profitable for years, so he's gonna just sell it,

828
00:42:16,400 --> 00:42:18,319
Speaker 1: and he's selling it to a place it's gonna knock

829
00:42:18,360 --> 00:42:20,680
Speaker 1: it down and building distribution center. And you know, my

830
00:42:20,800 --> 00:42:24,400
Speaker 1: character like loves the drive in and wants to save it.

831
00:42:24,480 --> 00:42:26,600
Speaker 1: I'm a lawyer of property lawyer, so I get into

832
00:42:26,640 --> 00:42:29,359
Speaker 1: the weeds. And the thing is he and I used

833
00:42:29,360 --> 00:42:32,600
Speaker 1: to be high school sweethearts, so we have to um

834
00:42:32,880 --> 00:42:35,640
Speaker 1: find it out. And then and then the Historic Commission

835
00:42:35,920 --> 00:42:38,359
Speaker 1: they say, look, we'll give you three weeks to prove

836
00:42:38,440 --> 00:42:40,480
Speaker 1: the drive in is more important to the town than

837
00:42:40,520 --> 00:42:43,400
Speaker 1: the distribution center. And they say to Holden when I

838
00:42:43,480 --> 00:42:45,440
Speaker 1: coast if she has to prove that it that it's

839
00:42:45,520 --> 00:42:47,960
Speaker 1: more important than you have proved isn't, and then we'll

840
00:42:48,040 --> 00:42:50,600
Speaker 1: judge it from there. So that's that's the setup for

841
00:42:50,640 --> 00:42:53,000
Speaker 1: the movie. And it's really fun and sweet. And this film,

842
00:42:53,040 --> 00:42:56,760
Speaker 1: of well, starts of just nostalgia because breaks nineteen fifties

843
00:42:56,800 --> 00:42:59,960
Speaker 1: style drive in and also because there's all this memory

844
00:43:00,239 --> 00:43:03,080
Speaker 1: of the relationship they had as high school sweethearts and

845
00:43:03,200 --> 00:43:05,680
Speaker 1: how things have changed. And it's great. And I know

846
00:43:05,800 --> 00:43:07,760
Speaker 1: my fans, the fans of the Wonder Years are definitely

847
00:43:07,800 --> 00:43:13,960
Speaker 1: fans of nostalgia. So great American Family Channel November the Friday,

848
00:43:14,040 --> 00:43:17,040
Speaker 1: the day after Thanksgiving, there you go, and I will

849
00:43:17,080 --> 00:43:20,239
Speaker 1: be live tweeting with that broadcast. Well you know, it

850
00:43:20,440 --> 00:43:23,239
Speaker 1: is the most wonderful time of the year. Yes, I

851
00:43:23,400 --> 00:43:25,919
Speaker 1: prefer it starting on exactly the day that this movie

852
00:43:26,040 --> 00:43:30,239
Speaker 1: is coming out, So that's what I prefer. We're a

853
00:43:30,280 --> 00:43:33,839
Speaker 1: little early right now, but by the time we get there,

854
00:43:33,880 --> 00:43:36,719
Speaker 1: I'm ready. I'm all in. All right, I gotta ask

855
00:43:36,800 --> 00:43:40,120
Speaker 1: you about one more thing. Is this math or is

856
00:43:40,160 --> 00:43:44,160
Speaker 1: this entertainment or is this both? I understand you are

857
00:43:44,239 --> 00:43:47,720
Speaker 1: a judge on My Good Buddy Show. Eric stone Street

858
00:43:47,920 --> 00:43:50,640
Speaker 1: Domino Masters. How did that come about? What did you

859
00:43:50,840 --> 00:43:55,239
Speaker 1: learn that was so much fun? Yeah? So I heard

860
00:43:55,320 --> 00:43:57,839
Speaker 1: they wanted to have a meeting with me and they

861
00:43:57,920 --> 00:44:00,320
Speaker 1: sent me a video. So, first of all, Domino Stors

862
00:44:00,360 --> 00:44:02,120
Speaker 1: For those who don't know, it's a show that was

863
00:44:02,200 --> 00:44:04,719
Speaker 1: on Fox this past summer, still on Hulu if people

864
00:44:04,760 --> 00:44:07,439
Speaker 1: want to check it out. It's a competition reality show

865
00:44:07,840 --> 00:44:10,560
Speaker 1: kind of like Lego Masters, but instead of Legos, it's Dominoes.

866
00:44:10,760 --> 00:44:12,840
Speaker 1: And the thing that Domino's you build these huge structures

867
00:44:12,880 --> 00:44:16,000
Speaker 1: with dominoes that also chain reaction machines, so it'll be

868
00:44:16,160 --> 00:44:19,080
Speaker 1: you know, a ball rolling down inclined plane and nots

869
00:44:19,120 --> 00:44:21,080
Speaker 1: in new domino and then the domino things swirls around

870
00:44:21,120 --> 00:44:22,719
Speaker 1: and they hit something else when the baseball back comes

871
00:44:22,719 --> 00:44:25,920
Speaker 1: around and falls down or whatever. It's it's a lot

872
00:44:25,960 --> 00:44:28,120
Speaker 1: of physics, a lot of math and physics. Well you

873
00:44:28,200 --> 00:44:30,360
Speaker 1: don't you don't have to use numbers so much, but

874
00:44:30,400 --> 00:44:35,160
Speaker 1: it's it's physics to well. Yeah, and that was actually

875
00:44:35,200 --> 00:44:37,440
Speaker 1: my challenge when they when they when I had my

876
00:44:37,560 --> 00:44:41,200
Speaker 1: like audition, they sent me a video of a domino

877
00:44:41,320 --> 00:44:44,279
Speaker 1: structure and chain reaction machine knocking down and they wanted

878
00:44:44,280 --> 00:44:46,160
Speaker 1: me to like you know, judge it and a headshine,

879
00:44:46,280 --> 00:44:48,680
Speaker 1: thinking like what kind of Mathew things can I say?

880
00:44:49,040 --> 00:44:51,680
Speaker 1: Like the mathemetition. I appreciate that they were what do

881
00:44:51,719 --> 00:44:53,560
Speaker 1: you thousand dominos used? Because they didn't tell me how

882
00:44:53,600 --> 00:44:57,080
Speaker 1: many dominoes they were became a joke with me and

883
00:44:57,160 --> 00:44:59,560
Speaker 1: my son. He was like, yes, well, as a mathemetician,

884
00:44:59,640 --> 00:45:01,640
Speaker 1: so we was aren't every sentence with asthmam petition? I

885
00:45:01,680 --> 00:45:04,520
Speaker 1: think this book weighs a certain amount of palms. Yeah, whatever.

886
00:45:04,719 --> 00:45:06,640
Speaker 1: So but I did talk about the physics of it

887
00:45:06,680 --> 00:45:09,320
Speaker 1: a bit, but well, I'm not really a physics expert.

888
00:45:09,360 --> 00:45:12,560
Speaker 1: I'm no math more than physics. But I studied about

889
00:45:13,000 --> 00:45:15,000
Speaker 1: the angle of the dominance hid and how much faster

890
00:45:15,040 --> 00:45:18,000
Speaker 1: it goes and it closer together. I read, watched all

891
00:45:18,000 --> 00:45:20,640
Speaker 1: those videos and and become a camera expert, and I did.

892
00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:24,279
Speaker 1: I actually even talked about math and some like how

893
00:45:24,400 --> 00:45:27,000
Speaker 1: you can prove with physics of the calculus that the

894
00:45:27,080 --> 00:45:30,759
Speaker 1: physics of a catapult fourty five degrees is the is

895
00:45:30,840 --> 00:45:34,160
Speaker 1: the best angle for the maximum distance. So I put

896
00:45:34,239 --> 00:45:36,279
Speaker 1: all that stuff in. But as you may know, in

897
00:45:36,360 --> 00:45:39,640
Speaker 1: reality shows, they use like a fifth or like a

898
00:45:39,760 --> 00:45:42,640
Speaker 1: tenth of what you actually say so some of made

899
00:45:42,680 --> 00:45:45,200
Speaker 1: in a lot of it didn't. But yes, there was

900
00:45:45,200 --> 00:45:46,919
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of be figuring out what's

901
00:45:46,920 --> 00:45:49,160
Speaker 1: the physics angle, what's the Mathew angle on this? But

902
00:45:49,200 --> 00:45:51,320
Speaker 1: I also made my audition about this. I said, this

903
00:45:51,440 --> 00:45:53,320
Speaker 1: was a great knockdown. You know what it was missing?

904
00:45:53,760 --> 00:45:56,239
Speaker 1: It's a story. I want a beginning, in middle and

905
00:45:56,280 --> 00:45:58,000
Speaker 1: the end. Just like good choreography and a dance. You

906
00:45:58,080 --> 00:46:01,239
Speaker 1: want to have a sense of where the stories have

907
00:46:01,320 --> 00:46:04,120
Speaker 1: a climax and then have a resolution, as opposed to

908
00:46:04,280 --> 00:46:06,120
Speaker 1: just a lot of really cool things being knocked down.

909
00:46:06,280 --> 00:46:08,800
Speaker 1: And that became part of the show. One of the

910
00:46:08,880 --> 00:46:12,920
Speaker 1: criteria was okay, what's the story, So that became I

911
00:46:13,080 --> 00:46:17,240
Speaker 1: became sort of the dual like physics slash storyteller expert,

912
00:46:17,640 --> 00:46:19,839
Speaker 1: and like Vernon Davis, he was all about the art

913
00:46:20,040 --> 00:46:22,280
Speaker 1: and just the aesthetic of it. That was his main focus.

914
00:46:22,360 --> 00:46:24,759
Speaker 1: Then Steve Price, the other judge, of course, was he

915
00:46:24,880 --> 00:46:26,360
Speaker 1: knows a lot of a dominant because he is a

916
00:46:26,440 --> 00:46:30,320
Speaker 1: dominant artist. Not well, this is this is you, this

917
00:46:30,520 --> 00:46:35,280
Speaker 1: is an artist, this is a mathematician. It's fascinating because

918
00:46:36,080 --> 00:46:38,760
Speaker 1: I don't know someone created your left and right brains

919
00:46:38,880 --> 00:46:42,200
Speaker 1: to be of equal strength, which is very strong. So

920
00:46:43,040 --> 00:46:45,759
Speaker 1: thank you so much for coming to talk to me.

921
00:46:46,040 --> 00:46:49,279
Speaker 1: I don't know that I fully grasped the math, but

922
00:46:49,400 --> 00:46:51,960
Speaker 1: I think I pretty much did. I think we're pretty

923
00:46:52,160 --> 00:46:54,839
Speaker 1: you got you got you know, six times seven equal

924
00:46:54,960 --> 00:46:57,840
Speaker 1: party too that you were facts and I got, I

925
00:46:57,920 --> 00:47:00,799
Speaker 1: got all that. I got all that when incid if

926
00:47:00,840 --> 00:47:03,120
Speaker 1: you're a daughter, it sounds awesome. And I want to

927
00:47:03,160 --> 00:47:04,560
Speaker 1: say about your darter, you said something I didn'te a

928
00:47:04,640 --> 00:47:06,440
Speaker 1: chance to address, and that is you said, even if

929
00:47:06,440 --> 00:47:09,239
Speaker 1: she finds something else that she likes instead, that's fine too.

930
00:47:09,360 --> 00:47:12,520
Speaker 1: And yes, here's the thing about math. It trains your

931
00:47:12,560 --> 00:47:16,240
Speaker 1: brain to be a problem solving brain, and it helps

932
00:47:16,280 --> 00:47:18,160
Speaker 1: you to distinguish between what do I know and what

933
00:47:18,200 --> 00:47:21,240
Speaker 1: do I think? What am I assuming? It is the most,

934
00:47:21,840 --> 00:47:24,399
Speaker 1: to me, the most useful skill for a kid to learn.

935
00:47:24,800 --> 00:47:26,200
Speaker 1: It has nothing to do with whether or not they're

936
00:47:26,200 --> 00:47:28,160
Speaker 1: gonna use math in their career, because they will use

937
00:47:28,239 --> 00:47:30,520
Speaker 1: math and their finances they will not. Kids who are

938
00:47:30,520 --> 00:47:33,280
Speaker 1: afraid of numbers tend to be adults who avoid numbers.

939
00:47:33,600 --> 00:47:36,480
Speaker 1: And you know who doesn't avoid numbers? Credit card companies,

940
00:47:36,840 --> 00:47:38,719
Speaker 1: whoever is on the other end of the contract that

941
00:47:38,719 --> 00:47:40,719
Speaker 1: you're about to sign all that all these details. The

942
00:47:40,800 --> 00:47:43,080
Speaker 1: devil's in the details. So be good at math, feel

943
00:47:43,160 --> 00:47:45,360
Speaker 1: confident about it. And then if you use it, if

944
00:47:45,400 --> 00:47:47,719
Speaker 1: you love it, great, you know, because you're gonna use it,

945
00:47:47,960 --> 00:47:49,800
Speaker 1: love it or don't love it, but know that you

946
00:47:49,920 --> 00:47:51,360
Speaker 1: can do it though. And that's what I want for

947
00:47:51,480 --> 00:47:53,719
Speaker 1: kids from you know what, I can do this and

948
00:47:53,840 --> 00:47:56,799
Speaker 1: to get used to doing challenging things because when you're

949
00:47:56,960 --> 00:47:59,799
Speaker 1: when you practice doing challenging things, then when another challenge comes,

950
00:48:00,360 --> 00:48:03,279
Speaker 1: whatever it is, whatever category of life is in you'll

951
00:48:03,320 --> 00:48:05,320
Speaker 1: learn to save yourself. Well, it's the good thing. I

952
00:48:05,360 --> 00:48:07,719
Speaker 1: got me in my side because this looks tough, it's

953
00:48:07,719 --> 00:48:09,480
Speaker 1: a good thing. I'm here. And that's all through on

954
00:48:09,560 --> 00:48:11,960
Speaker 1: my books, these math books. Math doesn't s kiss my math.

955
00:48:12,080 --> 00:48:15,919
Speaker 1: It's all sorts of this positive reinforcement and teaching kids

956
00:48:15,960 --> 00:48:18,799
Speaker 1: that when things when you're struggling, that's good because that's

957
00:48:18,840 --> 00:48:20,359
Speaker 1: like going to the gym for your brain and when

958
00:48:20,360 --> 00:48:23,279
Speaker 1: you lift a heavy, heavyweight ear like that's when you're

959
00:48:23,280 --> 00:48:25,680
Speaker 1: getting stronger. To sort of celebrate all that to tell

960
00:48:25,719 --> 00:48:29,200
Speaker 1: your daughter, because I wanted her to embrace the idea

961
00:48:29,280 --> 00:48:32,319
Speaker 1: of doing challenging things as a good thing on its face,

962
00:48:32,400 --> 00:48:35,440
Speaker 1: like that's just by itself, just for the fact that's challenging.

963
00:48:35,760 --> 00:48:37,839
Speaker 1: That is the benefit. That is one of the great

964
00:48:37,880 --> 00:48:42,200
Speaker 1: things about math, makes it stronger. Awesome, Dannica, thank you

965
00:48:42,320 --> 00:48:44,680
Speaker 1: so much. I so appreciate you taking the time to

966
00:48:44,719 --> 00:48:47,560
Speaker 1: come on. And good luck with Christmas at the drive end.

967
00:48:47,800 --> 00:49:04,040
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Anica. That was incredible. Happy Holidays

968
00:49:04,120 --> 00:49:06,719
Speaker 1: to you. Good luck on the movie. I know so

969
00:49:06,960 --> 00:49:09,800
Speaker 1: many we'll be watching. Thank you for coming on the

970
00:49:09,880 --> 00:49:12,920
Speaker 1: podcast today. I can't wait to see what you come

971
00:49:13,000 --> 00:49:17,080
Speaker 1: up with next. And to you listeners, even my not

972
00:49:17,239 --> 00:49:20,440
Speaker 1: still favorite ones, thank you for stopping by. If you

973
00:49:20,520 --> 00:49:24,600
Speaker 1: haven't already, give us a follow on Instagram at at

974
00:49:24,880 --> 00:49:28,160
Speaker 1: Off the Beat, review us on Apple podcast, tell a

975
00:49:28,200 --> 00:49:30,759
Speaker 1: couple of friends about it and uh and if you

976
00:49:30,880 --> 00:49:33,800
Speaker 1: do that, well, then I'll be back next Tuesday with

977
00:49:33,920 --> 00:49:37,840
Speaker 1: another great guest. And probably I'll be back whether you

978
00:49:37,960 --> 00:49:49,120
Speaker 1: do it or not, We'll see you next week. Off

979
00:49:49,200 --> 00:49:53,160
Speaker 1: the Beat is hosted an executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner,

980
00:49:53,480 --> 00:49:58,600
Speaker 1: alongside our executive producer Langley. Our senior producer is Diego Tapia.

981
00:49:58,840 --> 00:50:02,400
Speaker 1: Our producers are Liz Hayes, Hannah Harris, and Emily Carr.

982
00:50:02,760 --> 00:50:06,640
Speaker 1: Our talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary and our intern

983
00:50:06,920 --> 00:50:11,040
Speaker 1: is Sammy Cats. Our theme song Bubble and Squeak, performed

984
00:50:11,160 --> 00:50:13,600
Speaker 1: by the one and only Creed Breton,