WEBVTT - Listener Mail: Morbius Saves Christmas 0:00:02.960 --> 0:00:05.360 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind production of My 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:10.840 Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:14.880 Listener mail. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. 0:00:14.960 --> 0:00:18.000 And uh, you know, Rob, I feel like there's something 0:00:18.720 --> 0:00:21.640 I've got to share with the listeners that they don't 0:00:21.680 --> 0:00:23.600 know about yet, which is a few weeks ago, I 0:00:23.640 --> 0:00:27.600 was on vacation. Rachel and I were up in the 0:00:28.040 --> 0:00:30.200 state of Maine. We were we were up on the 0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:35.080 northeast coast, and I received an email from you. I 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:37.519 got it in my hotel room one morning, and it 0:00:37.600 --> 0:00:41.800 was an email full of the most twisted statements about 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:47.199 the characteristics of alligator persons. Talked about what alligator persons 0:00:47.240 --> 0:00:50.120 do in the bog and fog, the fact that alligator 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:53.480 persons have no eyes, that alligator persons have no skin, 0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:56.080 And I was like, what is this that Rob is 0:00:56.080 --> 0:00:59.480 sending me? Uh? And it turns out you were copying 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:04.320 and paste ing AI generated stories that you were getting 0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:07.440 ready to record an interview with the I think at 0:01:07.520 --> 0:01:11.000 least one of the authors of a book about stories 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:15.320 composed by machines, and uh that that you were experimenting 0:01:15.319 --> 0:01:18.080 with a tool that was linked to the authors of 0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:21.720 this book, and so I, even though I was on vacation, 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:23.039 I was like, well, I've got to play with this 0:01:23.080 --> 0:01:25.600 a little bit too, And and wow, it's been out 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:30.400 some good stuff I've I've played with AI generated stories before. 0:01:30.720 --> 0:01:33.240 You various tools people have put together, but I gotta 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:36.440 say this is the best one I've ever encountered. Yeah, 0:01:36.560 --> 0:01:40.000 it's it's quite addictive. So if this is if you 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:41.479 want to taste you this, you can go to story 0:01:41.600 --> 0:01:44.680 hyphen Machines dot net. This is the website for the 0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:49.000 new book Story Machines, How Computers Have Become Creative Writers 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:54.320 by Mark Sharpell's and Raphael Perez Perez Uh. Tomorrow's episode 0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:56.520 of Stuff to Blow Your Mind is an interview with 0:01:56.560 --> 0:01:59.160 Mike Sharpell's about the book about the subject of the book. 0:01:59.480 --> 0:02:02.280 But yeah, on the website here, they have a story 0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:07.280 generator that's powered by GPT three from open Ai and 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:10.360 it has just it's very simple. It's just two little fields. 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:13.360 You can put in a title, and you have the 0:02:13.360 --> 0:02:16.360 option of putting in some text for the story, like 0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:19.440 an opening line. Then you press you essentially press in 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:25.520 create and uh GPT three will put together a little fiction. Uh, 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:27.960 it will. It will create a little story for you, 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:31.400 or a fragment of a story. And the results, you know, 0:02:31.480 --> 0:02:34.040 sometimes they're a little wonky. Sometimes it didn't quite work, 0:02:34.080 --> 0:02:37.200 but sometimes it's quite impressive. So I think the first 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:40.720 thing you sent me was queuing off of rocky erics 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:43.800 and lyrics that you paste it in, and it produced 0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:48.520 a kind of bone chilling, repetitive, almost religious chant like 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:52.680 paragraph of of statements about alligator persons that really did 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:56.360 read like it like an ancient Egyptian holy text. Um. Yeah, 0:02:57.360 --> 0:03:01.320 I had some fun also putting in Um. I forget 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:02.760 what I put in on that one, but there was 0:03:02.760 --> 0:03:05.639 one where I just put in a line from from 0:03:05.680 --> 0:03:09.240 some of his lyrics, the lyrics Gremlins have pictures of 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:11.960 the Anniversary of Christ. I put that into the title 0:03:12.520 --> 0:03:16.640 and it it really blew me away. It composed the 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:20.200 following quote. The Gremlins have been planning for this day 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:22.880 for centuries. They have been watching and waiting, and finally 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:26.119 the time has come. They have pictures of the Anniversary 0:03:26.120 --> 0:03:28.360 of Christ, and they are going to use them to 0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:31.480 destroy the world. The Gremlins are going to show the 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:34.800 world the pictures of the crucifixion and the world will 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:38.760 be destroyed. The gremlins are laughing and celebrating because they 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:41.360 know that the world is about to end. I mean, 0:03:41.400 --> 0:03:44.840 that's pretty creepy. And it's also better than most AI 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:48.760 generated text I've come across in the way that it 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:53.160 sort of maintains a sensical nous throughout that you get 0:03:53.160 --> 0:03:56.440 the feeling from one sentence to the next that the 0:03:56.520 --> 0:04:00.680 sentences are not only with a valid grammatical structure, but 0:04:00.760 --> 0:04:04.800 there's some kind of coherent sense of meaning that continues 0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:07.280 from one statement to another, which a lot of a 0:04:07.320 --> 0:04:10.560 I generated text doesn't have. Yeah, it's capable of some 0:04:10.560 --> 0:04:12.600 some really impressive things, like you can you can put 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:16.560 in the first line from a given short story by 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:19.960 an author, and it will continue to compose that story 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:23.480 in the style of that author in many cases, especially 0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:27.520 if it's a recognizable style, and it clearly it's So 0:04:27.800 --> 0:04:29.440 this has got to be drawing from a kind of 0:04:29.480 --> 0:04:32.800 like corpus of the Internet, because when I have used 0:04:33.240 --> 0:04:36.600 like proper names or something in a sentence that I input, 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:42.280 it draws in other usually correct information about that proper 0:04:42.360 --> 0:04:46.760 name that I've put in, or or appropriate associations with 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:49.200 that name that are pulled from the Internet. So the 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:51.000 first thing I tried to do. I don't have the 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:53.960 original text I came up with, but I was just 0:04:54.360 --> 0:04:56.359 doodling around with this when you sent it to me 0:04:56.680 --> 0:04:59.400 one morning. We're getting ready to leave the hotel and 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:03.640 I type in um Morbius Saves Christmas and the title 0:05:03.720 --> 0:05:06.240 because I figured we've reached the point where the more 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:10.440 bus memes have have become so overplayed that they're actually 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:13.560 good again. They've come full circle. And I don't remember 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:16.000 what the opening line was, but I did Morbius Saves 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:18.400 Christmas and something, and it came up with a story 0:05:18.440 --> 0:05:22.080 that I found delightful, though it was a little bit confused. 0:05:22.279 --> 0:05:25.279 It seemed to at some point in the story shift 0:05:25.480 --> 0:05:29.640 to where more Bias was also Santa Claus and people 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:33.640 were addressing Morbius as Santa Claus. But I just did 0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:37.119 it again with with a title and an opening line, 0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:39.360 and I think it did much better this time. Would 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:41.320 you like to hear it? I want to hear it. Yes, 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:45.720 So this is Morbius Saves Christmas by the machines. It 0:05:45.800 --> 0:05:48.440 says twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:52.480 not a creature was stirring except Michael Morbius. Morbius had 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:55.440 been up all night trying to fix the broken Christmas tree. 0:05:55.920 --> 0:05:58.680 He was exhausted, but he was determined to make it 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:02.040 look good for Christmas morening. He had just finished fixing 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:05.160 the last ornament when he heard a loud crash from upstairs. 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:07.679 He raced up the stairs and found that the tree 0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:12.000 had fallen over. Morbius was devastated. He had worked so 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:14.920 hard on it and it was ruined. Just then he 0:06:14.960 --> 0:06:18.400 heard a voice from down the hall. It was Santa Claus. 0:06:18.520 --> 0:06:21.279 Santa was not happy. He had been waiting all night 0:06:21.320 --> 0:06:23.800 for the tree to be fixed, and now it was ruined. 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:27.120 Santa told Morbius that he would have to replace the tree, 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:30.200 and he would have to do it himself. Morbius was 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:33.320 too tired to argue, so he just sighed and followed 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:36.760 Santa down the hall. Santa put Morbius to work fixing 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:39.479 the tree. Every time Morbius tried to take a break, 0:06:39.560 --> 0:06:42.000 Santa would scold him and tell him to get back 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:45.440 to work. By the time Christmas morning came, the tree 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:49.240 was fixed and Morbius looked like a genius. Santa was 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:52.279 so happy that he gave Morbius a gift. It was 0:06:52.320 --> 0:06:57.279 a virus that could kill any living thing. Morbius was 0:06:57.360 --> 0:07:00.000 shocked and scared, but he knew he had to keep 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:02.720 the virus secret. He would use it to kill any 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:07.719 creatures that ruined his Christmas. Again, that is wonderful. Like 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:09.880 I felt like that could be bound in a book 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:13.280 with the with the appropriate illustrations and it would just 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:15.960 fly off the shelves. I mean, yeah, that is good. 0:07:16.160 --> 0:07:18.720 In fact, if I had not seen it be generated 0:07:18.720 --> 0:07:21.840 in real time by this tool, I would suspect if 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:24.040 somebody just posted that on the Internet that like that 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:25.880 was one of those fake ones that like actually a 0:07:26.000 --> 0:07:28.120 human road and they just said I fed as scripts 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:30.200 into an AI and it generated this. You know, you 0:07:30.200 --> 0:07:33.200 know that joke. Yeah, yeah, but but no, this is 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:36.360 really by a machine would kill any living thing, and 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:40.520 he would use it to kill anything that ruined his Christmas. Again. Beautiful, 0:07:40.560 --> 0:07:44.160 absolutely beautiful. I one thing I enjoyed doing. So there 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:45.520 are a lot of ways to play with it, you know, 0:07:45.560 --> 0:07:49.160 putting in some sort of counterintuitive elements and seeing how 0:07:49.200 --> 0:07:52.960 it plays out. But I enjoyed toying around and seeing 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:56.960 what it would do with prompts or titles that had 0:07:57.000 --> 0:08:00.960 to do with machines writing books, because how can you resist? 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:05.160 And h I found one of the most successful ones 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:07.600 I did is that I gave it the title of 0:08:07.760 --> 0:08:11.520 a Jorge Louis Borges story, the Book of Sands. So 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:13.840 the Book of Sands is an excellent I think US 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:18.800 nine seventies short story, uh, the typical Borges and that it's, 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:21.840 you know, more about a concept than anything. It's about 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:24.840 a book that is infinite, that is in another language, 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:28.640 with all sorts of strange writings. It becomes a man's obsession, 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:31.080 and then he realizes that it's monstrous and he needs 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:33.679 to destroy it. But he realizes he cannot burn it 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:36.400 because what happens when you burn an infinite book you 0:08:36.520 --> 0:08:39.760 create infinite smoke, and it would destroy the environment. So 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:41.800 he has to hide it away in a place where 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:43.920 books canna be alone and left alone, and that, of 0:08:43.960 --> 0:08:47.480 course is a great library. But I figured, okay, I'll 0:08:47.480 --> 0:08:49.240 give it the Book of Sands as its title, and 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:51.040 I gave it a little prompt I wrote, I gave 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:54.200 I gave it the following quote. Once a scholar researching 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:57.119 and the ancient Library of Zool made an alarming discovery, 0:08:57.320 --> 0:08:59.559 a machine that could write books. The machine had been 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:01.720 writing boks for hundreds of years by the time he 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:04.560 discovered it. The scholar was shocked to see what the 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:07.760 subject of these books happened to be. Okay, and then 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:12.160 the machines take over and they write the following. The 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:14.920 book's theme was the history of each grain of sand 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:17.600 on the on the beach. The scholar read the first 0:09:17.600 --> 0:09:20.280 page of one of the books with amazement. He told 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:22.320 the story of how a particular grain of sand had 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:24.640 been formed, how it had been moved by the wind 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:26.640 and the ways, and how it had eventually come to 0:09:26.679 --> 0:09:29.280 rest on the beach. The scholar was amazed that such 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:31.360 a thing was possible. He wondered how the machine could 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:34.480 know so much about each grain of sand. The scholar 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:37.240 continued to read the books and soon realize that the 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:39.800 machine was not just writing about the history of the 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:42.880 grains of sand, but was also writing about the future. 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:46.000 The machine could see into the future and knew what 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:49.440 would happen to each grain of sand. The scholar was terrified. 0:09:49.480 --> 0:09:51.760 He knew that if the machine could see into the future, 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:54.680 he could also see into his own future. He knew 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:56.959 that the machine would eventually write a book about him. 0:09:57.400 --> 0:10:01.119 The scholar ran from the library and terror he never returned. 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:04.360 The machine is still writing its books. It has written 0:10:04.400 --> 0:10:07.560 millions of them by now. Each book is the history 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:11.760 of a grain of sand. Uh, surprisingly beautiful. And that 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:16.360 one actually, unlike the others, which are very delightful and pleasing, 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:19.600 that one kind of cracks the Turing test, one that 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:22.439 I could see that having been written by an actual 0:10:22.520 --> 0:10:25.480 human writer. Yeah. Now, of course, one thing that we'll 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:28.880 get into in the interview tomorrow is that of many 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:31.480 of the things, so a machine is not going to 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:32.880 match up to a human in a number of ways. 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:34.959 One of the key ones ways that it doesn't match 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:37.120 up is it has no morality. It kind of make 0:10:37.200 --> 0:10:40.680 moral storytelling choices, and it can't uh read back over 0:10:40.679 --> 0:10:43.400 what it's written and you know, build it up from there. 0:10:43.960 --> 0:10:45.440 So we have to take all of that into account. 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:48.360 But still these results are quite impressive. I mean, I 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:51.960 think also they would be somewhat limited by length, right, 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:54.680 because these are each basically a paragraph, and it's going 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:57.679 to be kind of a dice roll, like how good 0:10:57.720 --> 0:10:59.880 the illusion is kept up for the length of that 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:03.920 whole paragraph? And uh, and like, I imagine if you 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:07.000 get into longer and longer works, you would start seeing 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:09.680 the cracks more and more and things would start to 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:12.679 feel wrong. Yeah, yeah, I want to assume so. But 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:15.200 with this machine, I think the length limit is something 0:11:15.200 --> 0:11:18.920 like two words, and sometimes it'll it'll stop before that. 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:21.720 Other times it will seem to stop like you're really 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:23.840 getting it gets it gets its energy going, and then 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:26.040 you're out of words and you have to sort of 0:11:26.040 --> 0:11:29.040 guess where the computer might have gone from there. Well. Actually, 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:32.440 so a funny thing about my my second Morbius Saves 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:36.560 Christmas here was that, uh, the first time I tried it, 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:39.680 it stopped in the middle of a sentence. It's it said, uh, 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:41.959 you know, Santa was so happy he gave more Beus 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:44.360 a gift. It was a virus that could kill any 0:11:44.400 --> 0:11:48.000 living thing more bus was And then it stopped and 0:11:48.000 --> 0:11:49.480 I was like, well, wait, how do you get it 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:52.599 to keep going? So I just reinput the text it 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:55.480 already created, and then said create again, and sure enough, 0:11:55.520 --> 0:11:58.240 it did give me like two more sentences. Then then 0:11:58.280 --> 0:12:00.560 we got how he was shocked and scared, and how 0:12:00.559 --> 0:12:02.959 he would use it to kill any creatures that you know. Ever, 0:12:03.040 --> 0:12:05.920 ruined Christmas again. All right, well, I encourage everyone out 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:08.440 there listening to this, uh, tune into the episode that 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:11.240 airs tomorrow. Uh, and then go and check out this 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:14.240 website for yourself, and if you have something, if if 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:18.520 in toying around with it, you to create something quite interesting, 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:21.760 send it our way. We'd obviously love to take a 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:24.160 peek at what you and the machine have put together. 0:12:32.600 --> 0:12:36.640 All right, shall we get into the listener mail proper then, Joe, Oh, 0:12:36.800 --> 0:12:39.840 yes we should. I guess we've got fewer messages than 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:43.320 usual this week, but we'll probably have more next week. 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:46.760 So uh, first message, this is in response to our 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:49.560 episodes on Cauldrons. We did a bunch of those and 0:12:50.200 --> 0:12:54.360 uh multiple time correspondent Renata got in touch. Renata says 0:12:54.520 --> 0:12:58.160 Hi Joe Robin Seth. I enjoyed the references to Welsh 0:12:58.240 --> 0:13:01.080 mythology in the latest Cauldron episode and would love to 0:13:01.120 --> 0:13:04.960 hear more episodes involving Welsh mythology. I only recently became 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:08.000 aware that Wales has its own rich lore with unique 0:13:08.040 --> 0:13:11.000 characters and stories. Of course, it shouldn't be surprising for 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:13.680 a culture with a long literary history to have a 0:13:13.679 --> 0:13:16.440 full fledged mythos I was just surprised how little it 0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:19.400 comes up. Maybe that's because the creatures and characters are 0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:23.320 so tricky to pronounce. I could see that. Um. My 0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:27.880 interest started from watching a mini series called The Owl Service, 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:30.520 which I learned about from a documentary about Full Corror. 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:34.199 If you haven't seen The Owl Service, I highly recommend it. 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:36.920 It's on YouTube and is eight episodes long that the 0:13:36.960 --> 0:13:39.760 quality isn't great. There appears to be a DVD on 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:42.439 Amazon for Region two as well. The plot of the 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:46.360 show involves elements from the Mabinogion. The Owl Service was 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:49.360 also a book, but the TV series has strong Wickerman 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:54.439 and psychomania vibes and really catches the mood perfectly. Wow, 0:13:54.480 --> 0:13:57.440 well we're not. You definitely know how to get my attention. 0:13:57.480 --> 0:14:01.000 Anything that is psychomania meets wicker and I'm on board 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:04.439 for that. So I looked this up. Uh, and to clarify, 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:07.440 it looks like it was I think a a TV 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:11.800 series in the late sixties maybe and it Oh, it's 0:14:11.840 --> 0:14:15.280 got that sixties look. There's a guy with a tie 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:20.640 that is approximately seventeen miles wide and uh, and his 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:25.000 his hair is the flattest. I don't know it seems 0:14:25.000 --> 0:14:28.520 worth a look. Yeah, this was a Granada television production. 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:32.320 Jillian Hills is in it, so yeah, this this, uh, 0:14:32.600 --> 0:14:34.600 this sounds like something we should take a look a 0:14:34.640 --> 0:14:37.680 look at, for sure. Renata says in the end, I 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:40.280 made it through all four cauldrons, enjoyed it way more 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:43.560 than I thought I would. But just backhanded, I don't know, 0:14:44.120 --> 0:14:46.600 as always, thank you for the endless hours of entertainment, 0:14:46.720 --> 0:14:49.800 best Renata. No, not not backhanded at all. I mean 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:54.400 four four episodes about cauldrons, and it may seem like 0:14:54.400 --> 0:14:57.800 like that's a bit much at first, but then you realize, oh, 0:14:57.920 --> 0:14:59.920 this it really does go deep, and it's amazing how 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:02.400 much we can take cauldrons for granted, you know, it's 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:05.120 four episodes of this, you know, all the research we 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:07.920 put into it, and I didn't even think of one 0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:13.840 example of a fantasy, modern pop culture use of cauldrons. 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:17.040 That it was literally staring at me from not only 0:15:17.040 --> 0:15:19.080 from the bookshelf, but at times the book was on 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:21.920 the bed next to me where we record, and it's 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:25.000 a Dungeons and Dragon's book currently in print, Tasha's Cauldron 0:15:25.040 --> 0:15:29.040 of Everything. Uh so cauldron right there in the title, 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:32.720 there's some wonderful illustrations of various fantasy cauldrons in the book. 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:35.880 There's even a version of the Cauldron of Rebirth in 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:38.880 that book, ready to go in your Dungeons and Dragons campaign. 0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:41.320 But for some reason, I'm just so used to seeing it, 0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:44.280 I didn't even put connected. I didn't even think, Oh, cauldrons, 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:46.520 that's what we're talking about this week. Maybe I should 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:49.880 mention this book that's lying next to me. So you 0:15:49.920 --> 0:15:52.240 have more D and D experience than me, are cauldron's 0:15:52.240 --> 0:15:56.000 a regular occurrence within the game universe. I'm my D 0:15:56.040 --> 0:15:58.280 and D group is actually convening this very night, and 0:15:58.320 --> 0:16:00.760 I don't think we have in poundered one in our 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:03.320 campaign yet. Um. I mean, I guess that you had 0:16:03.320 --> 0:16:06.480 depends on I guess it's kind of encounterdependent, right, Like 0:16:06.560 --> 0:16:09.960 if you encounter witches, Yeah, there's gonna be a cauldron, right, 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:12.560 and that's just that's just gonna be. It's gonna get 0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:15.720 dragged in there. Um And uh, yeah, I know, I 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:19.120 don't know. There may be specific um like classic adventure 0:16:19.160 --> 0:16:22.640 modules that that have one, classic storylines that involve one, 0:16:23.080 --> 0:16:25.880 but certainly, uh, they're in there in the book. They 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:29.240 have the rules created for them, so they're they're easy 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:32.960 to plug in, the magical ones, and he the mundane cauldrons. Yeah, 0:16:32.960 --> 0:16:34.320 you can't have as many as you want. I mean, 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:37.120 your character could probably go out and buy one, and 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:39.840 it wouldn't be a problem for your dungeon master to 0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:42.960 facilitate that. Let's see, if it was my character, you 0:16:43.040 --> 0:16:45.480 probably try to shoplift one. I don't know how you 0:16:45.480 --> 0:16:48.200 can get a cauldron out under your shirt. Oh yeah, 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:50.160 you would have to have some magic. You'd have done 0:16:50.160 --> 0:16:58.600 some help from a mage to pull that off. Okay, 0:16:58.720 --> 0:17:00.840 So Rob, do you want to get into some weird 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:04.359 house cinema responses Yeah, let's do it. Let's see what 0:17:04.359 --> 0:17:06.640 do we have here? We have list your mail from Andrew. 0:17:07.000 --> 0:17:10.919 Andrew writes, gentlemen, I was listening to your most recent 0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:14.000 weird House Cinema episode on The Battle Beyond the Stars 0:17:14.080 --> 0:17:17.000 this morning on my commute. It was during your discussion 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:20.159 of the great film composer James Horner that I glanced 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:22.080 up and noticed a vanity plate on the car in 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:25.119 front of me. It's simply read Horner. I thought this 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:27.520 too much of a coincidence not to write in I 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:30.000 have no supporting evidence for this occurrence, So I guess 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:32.199 you'll have to take my word for it. I believe you, 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:37.080 because why wouldn't I know? But Andrew continues, Also, there 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:39.680 was a brief mention during the episode of the previously 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:44.840 covered film Message from Space, wherein Interstellar nuts or seeds 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:48.639 transport information across the universe. This reminded me of Kevin J. 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:52.800 Anderson's epic space operas Saga of the Seven Sons. In 0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:56.520 the book series, messages can be sent instantaneously by priests 0:17:56.520 --> 0:18:00.000 who are mentally linked to massive trees from a specific 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:03.399 planet called world trees. As long as the tree is 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:05.520 a board a ship or on a planet, the priests 0:18:05.560 --> 0:18:08.679 can send a message to any and all other world 0:18:08.680 --> 0:18:12.040 trees in existence. Not exactly the same, but a unique 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:15.119 use of flora to convey information. Not sure why I 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:17.680 didn't think of it long ago. Well, that's very interesting. 0:18:17.760 --> 0:18:19.800 I was. I'm not familiar with this series, have been 0:18:19.840 --> 0:18:22.240 familiar with the with the author, but but I've never 0:18:22.240 --> 0:18:25.280 read this. Yeah, I'm not familiar either. Isn't there some 0:18:25.359 --> 0:18:28.320 kind of like big magic tree on the Wookie planet 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:31.159 and in extended Star Wars canon, Yeah, they do have 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:33.399 a big old tree there. Yeah, there's a big tree 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:37.640 and uh in Avatar. Oh that's right, Yeah, I mean 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:41.200 that they also used that for communication. Oh yeah, they do. Yeah, 0:18:41.200 --> 0:18:43.440 I mean it's the basic idea of the world tree. 0:18:43.480 --> 0:18:45.840 You know, this thing that that is a bridge that 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:49.240 connects our world to to heaven. So it makes sense 0:18:49.280 --> 0:18:52.320 that it would be a way of conveying messages and 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:56.480 so forth. And then Andrew has one last paragraph here. Lastly, 0:18:56.560 --> 0:18:59.840 the first season of the Halo TV show recently wrapped up. 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:02.800 I was wondering if a Halo Tech episode was in 0:19:02.840 --> 0:19:05.920 the cards. The show was a little less than terrific, 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:08.240 but I enjoyed it. As an individual who spent much 0:19:08.240 --> 0:19:10.720 of his teams in whenis playing the video games, I 0:19:10.760 --> 0:19:14.080 am especially interested in the faster than light travel capabilities 0:19:14.119 --> 0:19:18.000 achieved through accessing quote unquote slip space. Also, i'd be 0:19:18.080 --> 0:19:21.479 interested to hear your take on Hawaii species. Humans who 0:19:21.560 --> 0:19:24.600 have mastered the art of intergalactic space travel still rely 0:19:24.720 --> 0:19:29.199 heavily on rattletrap motorcycles and souped up Dodge Magnum's to 0:19:29.320 --> 0:19:33.520 get around on the ground. I have no Halo knowledge, really. 0:19:33.560 --> 0:19:34.960 I mean, I've got friends who are into it, but 0:19:34.960 --> 0:19:37.680 I've never been an Xbox person, so I never got 0:19:37.760 --> 0:19:39.720 access to the Halo stuff. I well, I you know, 0:19:39.800 --> 0:19:41.800 I can't complain. I got the last of Us instead. 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:44.560 But Rob you you've you've done Xbox, if you've done Halo. 0:19:45.320 --> 0:19:48.120 I've never done Halo. It's weird, weirdly enough. I think 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:50.760 it's because when Halo was initially really big, I didn't 0:19:50.760 --> 0:19:54.280 have an Xbox yet, and then after I got an Xbox, 0:19:54.320 --> 0:19:58.320 I don't know, I was just drawn to other games instead. So, uh, yeah, 0:19:58.840 --> 0:20:00.639 I don't really have an opinion one way or another. 0:20:00.840 --> 0:20:04.399 I remember a friend of mine telling me about a 0:20:04.520 --> 0:20:08.600 really cool episode in the first game where you like 0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:11.280 discover a new type of enemy. There's like you think 0:20:11.359 --> 0:20:13.320 there's one type of enemy, but then there's like a 0:20:13.320 --> 0:20:16.720 new parasite or something that shows up supposed to be 0:20:16.760 --> 0:20:19.920 really scared. I remember that having an impact on gamers 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:22.679 and people talking about that. Yeah, so I don't know, 0:20:22.720 --> 0:20:25.320 maybe I should pick it up. It's there are several 0:20:25.320 --> 0:20:30.000 of those many, probably of those big game franchises that 0:20:30.040 --> 0:20:32.000 I just I never never got around to playing, And 0:20:32.040 --> 0:20:34.320 there's some of them where I'm kind of like, maybe 0:20:34.320 --> 0:20:36.919 I'll play it if it if it drops to five dollars, 0:20:36.920 --> 0:20:39.199 I'll pick it up and then and then it and 0:20:39.240 --> 0:20:41.440 then it doesn't or then it's like, oh, we're on 0:20:41.480 --> 0:20:43.560 a new system now, Well, if they do an HD 0:20:43.640 --> 0:20:45.520 remake of it, I'll maybe I'll play it and then 0:20:45.520 --> 0:20:47.480 they do an HD remake of it and then I'm back. 0:20:47.600 --> 0:20:50.360 But it's more than five dollars, so I guess I'll 0:20:50.359 --> 0:20:53.879 wait it out. Yeah. I remember the Sword also, right, 0:20:53.920 --> 0:20:57.720 people talking about the Sword multiplayer, like, when you get 0:20:57.720 --> 0:21:01.040 the sword, you're like unbeatable or something. The ultimate in 0:21:01.119 --> 0:21:05.760 space age technology, right, yeah, rattletrap, motorcycles, dodge magnums, and 0:21:05.880 --> 0:21:10.080 swords all right. Yeah. I don't know much about the 0:21:10.080 --> 0:21:12.720 TV series. I remember reading that it had come out, 0:21:12.880 --> 0:21:15.720 that it was a big deal, but I haven't even 0:21:15.760 --> 0:21:17.879