WEBVTT - Listener Mail: Trip the Light 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:06.560 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:13.000 Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind listener Mail. 0:00:13.119 --> 0:00:14.600 My name is Robert Lamb. 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:17.759 And I am Joe McCormick. And hey Rob, you're back. 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:18.840 It's good to have you back. 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:22.160 Man. Yeah. Yeah, it was out out for a week there, 0:00:23.079 --> 0:00:28.400 traveling with family, resetting the brain a little bit. So yeah, 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:32.840 happy to jump back in with a softball of an episode. 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:34.880 Here jumping in with a listener mail. 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:38.400 Oh boy, Well, if you don't have any issues, I 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:39.840 guess we should dive right in. 0:00:40.400 --> 0:00:42.599 I mean I have issues like all of this, but 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:45.600 none that really pertain to listener mail. So let's do it. 0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:49.599 Okay, Wait, I almost forgot. At the beginning of these episodes, 0:00:49.600 --> 0:00:53.320 I give out our listener mail address, so every Monday 0:00:53.400 --> 0:00:55.840 we read back listener mail. If you've never gotten in 0:00:55.880 --> 0:00:58.600 touch before, you should give it a shot. Email us 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:02.720 at contact at to Blow your Mind dot com. Whatever 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:04.880 you want to send us, fair game. But we especially 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:07.160 appreciate if you have something interesting to add to a 0:01:07.200 --> 0:01:10.280 topic we've recently talked about on the show. So this 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:13.600 first message we're gonna mention today is actually a follow 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:16.200 up to a previous listener mail. Remember we got the 0:01:16.440 --> 0:01:21.080 message from Jeremy after our episode on Strange Ice where 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:26.280 Jeremy sent us some pictures from a tunnel in Switzerland 0:01:26.400 --> 0:01:28.440 that was frozen over. It was either a tunnel or 0:01:28.480 --> 0:01:32.720 a cave that was showing what appeared to be ice stalagmites, 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:36.760 and we were asking, wait a minute, are these the 0:01:36.840 --> 0:01:39.679 kind of spike ice formations that we talked about in 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:42.960 the Strange Ice episode. Where As a pool of water 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:46.920 freezes because of the expansion of water as it makes 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:50.720 the phase transition to a solid, sometimes it will squeeze 0:01:50.800 --> 0:01:52.920 up out of a hole in the surface of that 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:55.440 pool and form like a spike that goes up into 0:01:55.440 --> 0:01:58.680 the air. Or we were wondering is that the case 0:01:58.880 --> 0:02:01.880 or was it a gin and stalagmite like the kind 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:05.720 that would form in a cave through gradual accretion through dripping, 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:13.639 and Jeremy has the answer to the question. Jeremy says, Hello, 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:15.799 Robert and Joe, thank you once again for reading one 0:02:15.800 --> 0:02:20.040 of my emails. The ice formations are definitely stalagmites in 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:23.600 this case, as there are matching stalactites on the roof 0:02:23.639 --> 0:02:27.480 of the tunnel. Please see attached. These are three to 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:30.800 ten feet or one to three meters long, and Jeremy 0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:34.640 does indeed include photos for us that are photos of 0:02:34.680 --> 0:02:39.920 the stalactites dripping from above. These are normal looking icicles, 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:42.680 very sharp spikes of ice coming down from the ceiling 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:46.080 and then directly below them on the floor are a 0:02:46.480 --> 0:02:51.760 matching pattern of these ice stalagmites, though interestingly, the ones 0:02:51.760 --> 0:02:54.880 on the ceiling are very sharp and the ones on 0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:59.680 the floor are very rounded and bulbous. Jeremy mentions quote 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:02.400 the floor lower ice formations remind me of the water 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:06.800 probes in nineteen eighty nine's The Abyss, one of our 0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:12.240 beloved nineteen eighty nine underwater movies. And Jeremy, that comparison 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:14.680 is spot on. That is exactly what they look like. 0:03:15.240 --> 0:03:18.200 Yeah. These are beautiful, very very clear, very crystal clear, 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:23.640 not like the some of the formations you find ice 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:27.120 or otherwise and like you know, sort of industrial settings 0:03:27.160 --> 0:03:30.920 and subway tunnels and whatnot. Very clear, very glass like. 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:34.000 Some of them are shaped like the alien water probes 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:36.160 from the ABYSS. A few of them are shaped more 0:03:36.200 --> 0:03:37.440 like Matrioshka dolls. 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:42.040 You see that, Yeah, yeah, yeah, I can see that. Yeah. Now, 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:44.400 speaking of the ABYSS, Joe. Have you seen The Abyss 0:03:44.480 --> 0:03:47.240 in recent years? I don't know. I've seen it since 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:49.280 it came out initially. 0:03:49.240 --> 0:03:54.280 It's been quite a while. I recall liking it when 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:57.080 I saw it many years ago, but thinking that maybe 0:03:57.120 --> 0:04:00.360 it was a bit too long and that some of 0:04:00.400 --> 0:04:03.200 its themes didn't fully cohere, but that it was like 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:07.760 an admirable, ambitious movie that had some very enjoyable performances 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:08.040 in it. 0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:11.360 Yeah, I guess that's That's sort of the way I 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:14.680 hold it up. But again, I haven't watched it in 0:04:14.720 --> 0:04:16.719 so long. I remember the last time I was looking 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:19.560 into seeing it, it had not yet been released on 0:04:19.600 --> 0:04:21.920 Blu Ray, I want to say, or it hadn't been 0:04:22.200 --> 0:04:26.920 hadn't been re released and given the additional care it deserved, 0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:29.120 And I think it has subsequently. I think they even 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:31.920 re released it in theaters for like a very limited 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:33.120 run in the last year or so. 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:35.480 I would be very interested to see it again. I've 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:39.640 actually more recently seen the trashier eighty nine underwater movies. 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:44.200 I've seen Leviathan, who knows how many times? You know, 0:04:44.320 --> 0:04:48.960 Deep Star six, the the Roger Corman one that's just unwatchable. 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:52.200 Oh oh, I'm blanking on that one Warlords of the Deep. 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:56.520 Maybe maybe not, but the Yeah, you named the two 0:04:56.640 --> 0:04:59.400 really good ones that are in the wake of the abyss, 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:00.600 and there are more. 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:03.880 All right, let's see, Rob. Do you want to do 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:06.320 one of these messages? In response to our series on 0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:07.799 the illusion of control? 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:15.200 Yeah, this one comes to us from Brett Brett Wright. 0:05:15.279 --> 0:05:18.000 Senen says, Hello, stuff to blow your mind. Team. I 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:20.640 really like your research on the illusion of control and 0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:24.520 the comparison of chance versus skill. Control is a topic 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:26.880 I have thought deeply about and wanted to share a 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:29.560 little with you to take your topic in a slightly 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:32.160 different direction. Have you ever wondered how you reached a 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:35.200 certain point in your life, your life choices, what has 0:05:35.279 --> 0:05:37.839 happened along the way, and realized that a lot of 0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:40.440 what has gotten us to a certain point we really 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:42.800 did not have much control over. Control to me is 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:45.840 a liability that attaches us to certain outcomes that can 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:49.760 lead to disappointment as well as satisfaction. Personally, I've learned 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:51.800 to just let life happen, and I have seen it 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:55.280 lower my anxiety and improve my mental health. By not 0:05:55.400 --> 0:05:58.640 having so many expectations, I find life more enjoyable and 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:03.679 less stressful podcast called Inner Cosmos, where the host, Professor Eagleman, 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:06.839 discussed a similar topic on control and how the brain 0:06:06.960 --> 0:06:10.640 runs simulations about outcomes that are possible. I found it 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:14.120 interesting because of how the brain likes to make predictions 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:18.400 similar to the examples you guys used in chance situations, 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:21.799 and how we like to control outcomes. Always a pleasure, 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:23.320 have a good day, Brett. 0:06:23.520 --> 0:06:26.680 Oh, Brett, Well, we have had, as you say, Professor 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:30.560 Eagleman on this podcast before. David Eagleman was a guest. 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:32.440 Well when was that sometime last year? 0:06:32.880 --> 0:06:36.400 Yeah, and right as he was launching the Inner Cosmos podcast, 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:38.920 we had him on to talk about that, and I 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:41.839 believe he was on a year or two prior to 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:45.520 that as well, during the height of the pandemic, podcasting 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:47.039 from the Closet days and so forth. 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:51.720 But yeah, so his podcast is called Inner Cosmos if 0:06:51.760 --> 0:06:54.599 you want to go check that out. But I agree 0:06:55.320 --> 0:06:58.120 that there is a lot of overlap between the idea 0:06:58.200 --> 0:07:02.560 of prediction and what we mean when we say control. 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:06.080 Control is one of those it's one of those very 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:08.800 tricky words. In fact, like another word that'll come up, 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:10.880 I think in the next email we're about to discuss 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:13.840 where it's like we think we know what we mean 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:16.560 when we say it, but actually the closer we examine it, 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:18.760 the more difficult it becomes, and the more it seems like, 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:20.960 I don't know if we're really agreeing on what we 0:07:21.040 --> 0:07:25.240 mean when we use this word. But yeah, at least 0:07:26.000 --> 0:07:29.120 part of the idea of control is an action having 0:07:29.200 --> 0:07:35.400 some kind of not just physical causation connection with an outcome, 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:40.080 but a predictable physical causation connection with an outcome. That 0:07:40.120 --> 0:07:42.760 there's like a way that you could have seen in 0:07:42.880 --> 0:07:46.920 advance that this action would result in a certain outcome, 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:49.720 and that that seems to have a big overlap with 0:07:49.880 --> 0:07:51.360 what we think of as control. 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:56.360 Yeah, yeah, I mean the bigger question here. Yeah, you 0:07:56.400 --> 0:07:59.200 really get into the quagmire of human consciousness when you 0:07:59.200 --> 0:08:02.520 start picking this apart, you know, and asking well, how 0:08:02.600 --> 0:08:05.360 much control did I ever have in reaching this point 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:08.880 in my life? And what control was in place, what 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:11.040 choices were made? Were those made by me or they 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:12.840 made by some other person that I used to be 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:16.080 And you can really get lost in all of that, 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:20.800 and in ways that maybe doesn't reduce anxiety. Though in 0:08:20.840 --> 0:08:23.040 the end, I would say that like the idea of 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:25.520 sort of letting go of a lot of that and 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:28.120 living in the moment, as they say, is perhaps the 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:32.480 better direction to go in. There's actually a great quote 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:35.800 from Cormack McCarthy and Cities of the Plane that goes 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:38.480 as follows. Quote, he said, a long time and he 0:08:38.520 --> 0:08:40.679 thought about his life and how little of it he 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:43.040 could ever have foreseen, And he wondered, for all his 0:08:43.160 --> 0:08:45.520 will and all his intent, how much of it was 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:49.440 his doing. That one has always resonated with me. So yeah, 0:08:49.480 --> 0:08:53.280 when I think about these these quagmires of consciousness, I'll 0:08:53.480 --> 0:08:58.600 often envision some sort of stoic cowboy from one of 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:02.000 Cormick McCarthy's novels, staring off into the middle distance, trying 0:09:02.000 --> 0:09:04.200 to figure out who he is and how he got 0:09:04.240 --> 0:09:07.000 where he is, and indeed where he is going in life. 0:09:08.360 --> 0:09:12.200 Well, on a similar topic, the next message comes from Chris. 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:21.120 Chris says Robert and Joe in response to the illusion 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:24.760 of control. Episodes mostly focused on psychology studies of people's 0:09:24.800 --> 0:09:29.600 feeling they had control of various circumstances. Listener John's comment 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:33.200 prompted Joe to expand the idea of quote, where's the 0:09:33.280 --> 0:09:36.400 clear evidence that my conscious will is in the driver's seat. 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:39.200 I had been wondering if the series was headed in 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:41.760 that direction, but it might really deserve one of your 0:09:41.800 --> 0:09:46.800 signature dives into the deep subject of free will versus determinism. 0:09:47.200 --> 0:09:49.679 Maybe you can get interviews with, or get into the 0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:54.920 writings of Daniel Dinnett, philosopher and cognitive scientist, and Sean Carroll, 0:09:55.040 --> 0:10:00.440 theoretical physicist and philosopher. Meanwhile, since your latest Weird House 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:04.480 Cinema episode with Flash Gordon has fueled yet more of 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:07.640 my descent into nostalgia, even though it came out only 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:10.560 forty four years ago, I'll continue to compile a list 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:14.320 of suggestions, including a comment or two, for future episodes. 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:17.560 Due to my keen editing skills and overwhelming modesty, I 0:10:17.559 --> 0:10:21.360 should be able to keep it under novel length. Chris Well, 0:10:21.360 --> 0:10:23.880 thank you for the message. Chris, So, the issue of 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:27.959 free will has come up on the show in recent years, 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:30.880 and we have also talked about both Daniel Dinnett and 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:33.400 Sean Carroll. That we haven't talked about Sean in the 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:37.080 context of free will, just stuff in his main field 0:10:37.160 --> 0:10:40.000 of astrophysics and cosmology. I don't think I was aware 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:43.160 he had extensive thoughts about free will, but I'd be 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:46.959 interested in his thoughts. I guess I know. Daniel Dinnett 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:51.000 has long been considered what is called a compatible list, 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:56.200 meaning someone who believes that our behavior is wholly determined 0:10:56.280 --> 0:10:59.720 by antecedent physical causes, so that is what is sometimes 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:04.719 called determinist position, but also believes this is fully compatible 0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:08.200 with the existence of something called free will. So it's 0:11:08.240 --> 0:11:11.160 just the belief that determinism and free will are actually 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:15.280 not in conflict. It's been a while since I've refreshed 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:18.040 my mind deeply on this topic, but what I've said 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:21.680 on the show in the past is that when somebody 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:24.520 claims that humans have free will, it's not that I 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:27.960 think they're wrong. It's that I think the concept is 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:33.000 poorly defined, and thus it's not even necessarily clear what 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:36.000 they're talking about. If you want to hear a deeper 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:38.520 discussion of this, I remember we did a big segment 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:41.280 on free will in our episode about the Black Mirror 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:44.720 episode Bandersnatch, actually, so you can go back and find 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:47.760 that one. We got into a lot more detail about 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:52.000 what philosophers have said about this, and some cognitive science 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:56.200 and neuroscience research that might inform our opinions on it 0:11:56.280 --> 0:11:59.400 and then what our own thoughts were. But in short, 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:03.600 I'm in to say that I have a partially kind 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:07.360 of early Wittgenstein take on free will, which is that 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:11.439 probably not all, but most of the debates about free 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:16.560 will are just confusions that arise from unclear use of language. 0:12:16.640 --> 0:12:19.400 And if you could like sit everybody down and force 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:23.720 them to be like really excruciatingly specific about exactly what 0:12:23.760 --> 0:12:28.360 they're saying, I'm not sure which disagreements would still remain 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:31.120 after that process. I think it's one of those cases 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:35.440 where like language and imprecise use of language is causing 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:38.800 a ton of confusion, like what do people mean when 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:41.880 they say free what do people mean when they talk 0:12:41.920 --> 0:12:46.880 about control? And so forth? I think people are equivocating 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:49.840 on these terms, using them and to mean different things 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:51.079 even though it's the same word. 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:54.360 Yeah, yeah, I think that's a good point. And yeah, 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:56.280 we've talked about this a number of times in the 0:12:56.280 --> 0:12:57.880 show in the past, and I'm sure we'll come back 0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:01.120 to it. Of course, from my that we talked about 0:13:01.120 --> 0:13:05.120 this with author R. Scott Baker at one point as well. 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:08.000 Who I don't want to sum him up by saying 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:09.720 that he's a determinist, but I will say that in 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:14.040 his maybe and I just maybe I'm not remembering correctly, 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:17.280 but I do know that in his fiction work there 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:20.800 is certainly a determinist trend with his characters. Like most 0:13:20.920 --> 0:13:25.280 of his characters are sort of trapped and they are, 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:29.800 you know, shackled to the darkness that comes before. And 0:13:29.840 --> 0:13:34.199 you have only certain characters who, through you know, fictional 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:37.360 fantasy means and in one of his other books sci 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:40.680 fi means, have sort of unshackled themselves from the past 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:45.840 and become true free spirits in a way in their world. 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:48.080 And then you know, what does that mean for a world? 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:50.760 And what does that mean for a character if you 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:54.760 actually have something like one hundred percent control over what 0:13:54.800 --> 0:13:56.280 your choices and decisions are. 0:13:57.120 --> 0:14:01.400 Yeah, that's interesting playing with like variable levels of whatever 0:14:01.440 --> 0:14:05.760 your understanding of free will is in characters in fiction, 0:14:05.920 --> 0:14:07.760 and like how that would affect how we perceive them 0:14:07.800 --> 0:14:08.760 as characters. 0:14:09.240 --> 0:14:12.600 Yeah, Yeah, And and ultimately he ends up landing on 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:16.800 this model by which a character with true free will 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:20.520 is ultimately going to be someone that is more or 0:14:20.600 --> 0:14:22.800 less than human, depending on how you look at it 0:14:22.840 --> 0:14:26.960 like they are no longer creatures that we can fully 0:14:27.040 --> 0:14:32.200 relate to. But I but Baker also is one who easily, 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:34.440 you know, drives home that there is a lot of 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:38.280 like illusion and self illusion going on in consciousness. And yeah, 0:14:38.360 --> 0:14:40.840 you know, even if even if we don't even if 0:14:40.840 --> 0:14:42.680 you were to say we don't have any free will, 0:14:42.920 --> 0:14:45.280 if we have the illusion of free will, well that's 0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:49.120 part of the illusion that makes life livable. That that's 0:14:49.160 --> 0:14:52.400 part of the illusion that makes up our entire world 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:53.680 that we build around ourselves. 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:57.520 I guess another way to articulate my position is like 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:00.680 I it's not that I do or don't think we 0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:04.000 have free will. Uh. I guess this technically would make 0:15:04.080 --> 0:15:07.800 me some sort of compatibileist. But I don't necessarily see 0:15:07.840 --> 0:15:11.320 how it would make me any freer if there were 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:15.000 some way in which my behavior were not influenced by 0:15:15.040 --> 0:15:19.400 preceding causes, you know, like if if I wasn't physically 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:22.880 if my behavior were not physically determined, why would that 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:24.120 be more free? 0:15:24.720 --> 0:15:27.600 Yeah? Like I said, you can chase your tails and 0:15:27.640 --> 0:15:30.040 circles over this one. You know what, what other choice 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:33.240 would you make being what you are? And vice versa. 0:15:33.640 --> 0:15:36.240 It's at the end of the day. You can sort 0:15:36.280 --> 0:15:37.920 of have those moments. In my opinion, you can have 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:39.960 those moments stand it, staring off into the end of 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:43.000 the middle distance, having those deep cowboy thoughts. But then 0:15:43.120 --> 0:15:45.240 you got to poke the fire a little bit, right, 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:47.200 You've got to You got to get down to some 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:48.480 cowboy business and move on. 0:15:56.360 --> 0:15:59.720 All right. You want to do some weird house cinema messages. 0:15:59.520 --> 0:16:01.440 Yeah, let's do it. Okay. This first one comes to 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:04.920 us from Paul on the subject of Blacula. Paul says, 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:06.840 it was nice to have a movie that is available 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:11.560 on a streaming service that is easily accessible. Yes, side note, 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:14.560 we always try and drive home to what extent a 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:18.200 film is available for viewing. And yeah, sometimes they're a 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:20.720 little hard to get your hands on. Sometimes it's more 0:16:20.760 --> 0:16:24.120 of a physical media search, but sometimes, as with Blacula, 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:28.600 it's widely available in digital format anyway. Paul continues, I 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:31.920 watched it on the one named after a rainforest in 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:38.040 South America. That does narrow the possibilities. Many movies you 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:41.560 recommend are difficult to find. Yes, I am reading the 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:46.120 book Crook Manifesto by Coulson Whitehead, and a character Zippo 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:50.360 summarizes Blacula and is inspired by it to produce direct 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:53.400 a bl exploitation movie of his own. Thank you for 0:16:53.520 --> 0:16:56.200 merging so many areas of science culture and science fiction. 0:16:56.320 --> 0:16:57.520 I appreciate the podcast. 0:16:58.360 --> 0:17:02.120 Oh, thank you, Paul. That's a cool connection. Coulson Whitehead 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:05.160 a lot of people probably know from his twenty sixteen 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:10.120 novel The Underground Railroad. Ah yes, okay, yeah, so thank 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:10.520 you Paul. 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:15.880 All right. 0:17:16.080 --> 0:17:19.439 Another short message. This is from Luisa, who says, Hi, 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:23.720 Robin Joe, I recently finished The Brother's Son series and 0:17:23.760 --> 0:17:26.119 some of the characters were watching this movie, which I 0:17:26.119 --> 0:17:30.119 thought would be would interest you for weird house Jim Katta, 0:17:30.560 --> 0:17:34.160 It's completely absurd, as she links to the wiki entry 0:17:34.440 --> 0:17:37.359 if maybe a little too violent anyway, let me know 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:41.359 if it makes the list best regards, Luisa, I only 0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:44.520 have the vaguest awareness of this movie, but it does 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:45.840 pique my interest. 0:17:46.960 --> 0:17:51.479 Yeah. Yeah, My interest was also recently picked on this 0:17:51.560 --> 0:17:54.440 because my wife and I also watched The Brother's Son, 0:17:55.000 --> 0:17:58.199 which is a mini series on Netflix, which is in 0:17:58.240 --> 0:18:02.040 and of itself very fun if you want to slightly 0:18:02.040 --> 0:18:07.960 comedic in places martial arts action adventure story. But yeah, 0:18:08.000 --> 0:18:11.560 there's an episode where you have some hinchmen that are 0:18:11.560 --> 0:18:14.960 setting around watching Jim Kotta getting excited about Jim Kotta, 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:18.800 then having to explain Jim Kotta to another character, and 0:18:18.840 --> 0:18:20.760 then one of the henchmen is like, yes, it's my 0:18:20.840 --> 0:18:23.240 dream to pull off this one Jim Kotta move in 0:18:23.280 --> 0:18:27.919 an actual battle. I will not spoil it whether he 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:28.439 does or not. 0:18:28.920 --> 0:18:31.879 So what the premise is, It's something like it's like 0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:37.240 a gymnast slash martial artist, Like his martial arts kicks 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:40.720 and stuff are gymnast moves, like working the pommel horse 0:18:40.760 --> 0:18:41.280 and everything. 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:45.439 Yeah, there's definite pommel horse action in there. And the 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:48.760 star is Kurt Thomas, who was an American Olympic gymnast, 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:51.880 and so you know, it has a lot of things 0:18:51.920 --> 0:18:53.920 going for I've never watched it in full, but yeah, 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:58.320 you have a non actor gymnast extraordinaire jumping in to 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:03.520 a an action flick that is very gymnastics centric in 0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:06.280 its execution. And you have some other names there, like 0:19:06.320 --> 0:19:08.720 Conan Lee is in there. We've I think he was 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:11.160 in The Eliminators, a film that we watched on Weird 0:19:11.160 --> 0:19:14.960 House in the past. It has just a wild following 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:17.399 so it may be one we'll have to visit in 0:19:17.400 --> 0:19:17.879 the future. 0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:21.840 I think I've mentioned this before, but my wife Rachel 0:19:22.000 --> 0:19:25.159 is really into the Olympics. Whenever they're on, and I 0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:27.520 don't remem remember if it's summer or winter the one 0:19:27.520 --> 0:19:31.840 that has gymnastics, but whichever it is, so we sometimes 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:34.680 end up watching some gymnastics. And I got to say, 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:38.679 as a non sports fan, gymnastics are the most impressive 0:19:38.720 --> 0:19:44.080 sport to me. Seeing what people gymnastics is like, it's 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:47.159 the closest thing I've ever seen to people appearing to 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:51.640 actually have superpowers, Like you just cannot fathom how they're 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:52.480 doing what they're doing. 0:19:53.040 --> 0:19:55.040 Yeah, it is always exciting how some of like the 0:19:55.119 --> 0:19:59.520 really amazing moments, and of course high level gymnastics is 0:19:59.560 --> 0:20:03.320 full of NonStop amazing moments. But those those really amazing 0:20:03.359 --> 0:20:06.800 moments are also so short in length that they inevitably 0:20:06.840 --> 0:20:09.879 make it out, you know, in social media, late night television, 0:20:09.880 --> 0:20:11.960 and so forth. So even if you're not an Olympics 0:20:12.000 --> 0:20:14.720 watcher an Olympics fan, you inevitably end up seeing some 0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:18.480 of those amazing feats. And I guess sometimes film producers 0:20:18.520 --> 0:20:20.359 see them as well, and they're like We've got to 0:20:20.400 --> 0:20:23.960 get this individual in our movie, and I think we 0:20:23.960 --> 0:20:27.280 should see more of that, just in general with Olympic competitors, 0:20:28.480 --> 0:20:30.879 more b movies starring Olympians. 0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:33.960 Please, what other Olympic events could you turn into a 0:20:33.960 --> 0:20:36.960 type of martial arts? Could there be like diving martial arts? 0:20:37.440 --> 0:20:40.680 Could there be what that what's it called the beach 0:20:40.760 --> 0:20:42.080 volleyball martial arts? 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:46.680 Yeah? Absolutely all of these are fair game, especially if 0:20:46.720 --> 0:20:51.760 the individual in question is maybe is not an experienced actor. 0:20:51.800 --> 0:20:54.520 It's completely green because there's something great about like that, 0:20:54.960 --> 0:20:57.760 you know, like the the excellence in one area crossing 0:20:57.760 --> 0:21:01.719 over into the lack of experience in the other area, 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:03.200 which is just. 0:21:03.240 --> 0:21:08.640 You know, a prime prime zone for b sim curling katta. Yeah, anyway, 0:21:08.680 --> 0:21:11.560 thank you for the suggestion, Luisa. This this will go 0:21:11.640 --> 0:21:13.320 on the list at least for us to check out. 0:21:13.680 --> 0:21:14.840 May pop up in the future. 0:21:14.960 --> 0:21:21.520 All right, This next one comes to us from Tim. 0:21:21.560 --> 0:21:23.600 Tim says, Hey, Fellows, I was listening to the rewind 0:21:23.600 --> 0:21:27.080 episode of Weird House about scanners. You two were making 0:21:27.160 --> 0:21:30.960 some pretty understandably snarky comments about a dumb plot line 0:21:31.000 --> 0:21:34.560 around hacking through a payphone. It is an absurd thought, 0:21:34.720 --> 0:21:37.120 but I want to bring your attention to Kevin Mitnick, 0:21:37.440 --> 0:21:41.359 who is one of the country's most notorious hackers and freakers. 0:21:42.040 --> 0:21:44.879 That's with a pH if you're not familiar with the term. 0:21:45.280 --> 0:21:48.080 After finally being caught, he was left in solitary confinement 0:21:48.119 --> 0:21:51.600 for eight months because the federal prosecutor convinced the judge 0:21:51.600 --> 0:21:55.880 that Mittnick could hack into Norad by whistling into the phone. 0:21:56.320 --> 0:21:58.600 If you've not read up about Kevin Mitnick, he has 0:21:58.640 --> 0:22:01.600 some really fascinating stories and some really scary stories about 0:22:01.600 --> 0:22:05.159 social engineering his way past some pretty secure doors. He 0:22:05.280 --> 0:22:07.760 died recently, but one of his last books, called Ghost 0:22:07.840 --> 0:22:11.000 in the Wires, was my favorite. The Statute of Limitations 0:22:11.080 --> 0:22:13.280 ran out on a bunch of his Shenanigans, and so 0:22:13.400 --> 0:22:16.600 that book was a good deal less guarded. So did 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:20.199 the Scanners influence the federal prosecutors on Mittnick's case? Was 0:22:20.240 --> 0:22:23.000 Scanners the reason they thought Kevin could do this. This 0:22:23.040 --> 0:22:25.840 movie was fourteen years old when he was sentenced. So 0:22:26.000 --> 0:22:29.359 did this movie hit the prosecutors in the formidable years 0:22:29.400 --> 0:22:32.800