Podcast Updates and Closing Remarks

Take your flexibility beyond the mat PayPal Pay nothing at checkout. Then enjoy a flexible monthly payment plan that works for you. W no sign up or late fees. Find yours then, and an easy way to pay. With PayPal. Download the PayPal app to get started. sububject to approval. pay mononthly consonsumer loans made by Webank. available through PayPaling N ML nine one zero four fivety seven. Learn more at payPal d. com slash pay Monthly. This summer, Prime Video takes you back before legally blonde, before law school and into the world of Elle Woods in high school. Set in nineteen ninety five, this Gemini vegetarian knows exactly who she is until her family moves from Belair to Seattle. Packed with iconic fashion, nineties nostalgia, and a throwback soundtrack, Elle proves one thing Law school was hard. High school was harder. From the world of legally blonde, watch L, a new original series only on Prime videoide. Watch now. Your summer weekends fill up fast, but Crocs has your back. Road trips, beach days, last minute getaways, whatever's on the agenda, swing by your local store and find your new goat too. Try it, style it, make it yours. becausecause the right pair doesn't just show up, it shows off Wlock out ready for whatever's next. Visit your nearest crox store today What does Oscar the Crouch keep under that bin lid? Do you really like it? Is it? Is it? Wicked? We start with some very sad news. We have a death to announce and that is our phone number. U pour one out forzero twoo eight one two three, five eight d seven. We did pay for the rest of the year, thank you, Skype. Fuckers Well then Skype, as you may have noticed, has closed its services forever And so if you call our phone number which we used to take questions on, it says We're sorry, but the number you called is incorrect. please hang up and try again. Oh it doesn't even play you a clip of John Hannah reading W H Oorden of. And the amount of people who have approached me in real life, I mean, I reckon we're in double figures now and told me that that was the only landline number they knew apart from their dead man's number is off the chart. That and my childhood phone number. Those are the only two phone numbers I remember. But the good news is you can still send us a question with your voice by attaching a voice note to an email. It's simply not the same, is it as drunk dialing us from a place with no reception? That's the thing. Where are we gonna to get all the questions are like I' really there That's true. we are going to miss those. No, we're not going to transition our number to Microsoft teams. We're not a bunch of accountants here, we're creative professionals. I was wondering if we could have the phone number still and if someone calls it drunk at three in the morning, it just plays them a random bit of answering this. Can someone set that up for us? That would be nice. Now, the following question from Chloe is going to shatter illusions, possibly break hearts So get ready. Chloe says in the TV show, Fs Phoebe tells Rachel that lobsters find their soul mates and mate for life I have spent twenty years believing this and idealising lobster romance only to recently discover that this is not true. Lobsters don't mate for life At all Yeah, In real life, the alcoholics in cheers would be less witty. You know, I'm not sure sitcoms are the best place to gather factual information. Especially from Phoebe She's an unreliable narrator, isn't she? She's faniful Whimsical. Yes She's vibes based. She'd be anti vac. She totally would. She also said that lobsters walk around their tanks holding claws, which is obvious bullshit, so why would the rest of the statement ring true Ollie answer me this. Why did they say that lobsters make for life? Why didn't they pick an animal that actually does rather than spreading this misinformation? Because Phoebe is, as we're alluding too quirky, unusual, eccentric. She's cooky, isn't she? Like That is the cadence of every joke that comes out of Lisa Cudreau's mouth in that series. She's not a marine biologist. Exactly. You're not supposed to take what she's saying seriously. and if you remember the scene, she's describing Ross's relationship with Rachel to Ross and she's saying that in her perception parallel in the Animal Kingdom between Ross and Rachel's relationship is lobsters who mate for life It's funnier to get it a bit wrong, isn't it? Like she then embellishes it, as you're saying by talking about lobsters holding claws walking down the beach. If she said something that was accurate then that would be less funny than the word lobster which is intrinsically amusing H Although having looked into it, because I was thinking like they had a big writer's room on friends like they'd have had this idea and they would have settled on lobster after like a half hour discussion Were there other animals they could have used? And actually, I think beavers would be funnier. Oh yeah. Ros, she's your beaver, right? W And actually beavers do or sometimes do makeate for life. So that would have been accurate and funny. They couldn't have got it through standards and practice. I think That's right. I mean, we're not Haze Codeerer, but you know, inappropriate for NBC family programming in nineteen ninety seven, I think. So that's why she talks about lobsters Some penguins form a pair bond for life, don't they? Penguins do bond for life, That's right? Yes. Some, again, some, like they all bond for a season But some then go off serial monogamy route after that. I had to search this because we did a song for a friend's wedding recently that was animal based. Oh right, yeah. But there's quite a few. I imagine Phoebe did a song about this, too. Maybe you're the Poebe of this group. Oh, that is absolutely true, exxcept Martin does have a science background. Martin, can you sing us a bit of the song Oh please. Which bit do you want me to sing? A bit that's about animals that makeate for life, obviously You know has slgs at adult time twist around each other, That's how our lives entwine. and that might sound gross, but it's really nice. likeike Vultures Beavers Gibbons. Flatwims wolves and mice. M have sweet hearts for a long time too, but none of them are quite as lucky as you And that was that that was first friends woring That's a really nice song Martin, you did really good job. And also quite phebish. Yeah, a little bit. People remember Smelly Cat because they lingered on that as a trope in the show. B I was looking back through some of her other songs from the series to remind myself. These I think stand up as jokes as funny song titles Owe to a pubic hair. A, that's I think, Racey for, you know, prrimetime NBC at the time Balad of the circised man and the food here will kill you. That's really good. If Pidi had been twenty years younger, she would have had such a big career on L Tikok Yes, exactly. I wonder whether this misconception arose because lobsters don't lose fertility with age So they can go through their whole decades long lives staying just as fertile. That's the opposite of mating for life. Right? That's shagging around tntill you die, isn't it? Well, that's the lobster way. Lobsters don't mate for life They have many short term partners in a mating season The male lobster might mate with T females The female lobster We'll makeate with one male per season if she gets what she needs from him, which is enough sperm to birth loaded little baby lobsters. And the whole lobster mating ritual is competitive. It is brutal. the female lobsters want to mate with a big mask lobster So the male lobsters will fight for dominance First They hit or slap each other with closed claws for an hour and then the fight amps up They pull off each other's antennae or limbs. Sorry, these are the boy lobsters in competition. Yeah then the losing lobster will back away Th then the female lobsters line up outside the winning male lobsters' borrow be chosen by the male lobster to mate. How they do that is They all shoot urine out of their faces Wow, God, I wish I could do that What a skill. It travels up to seven times the length of their bodies. It contains pheromones So that's how the maail lobster decides. Al apparently the she urine calms him down after the fight.? Then A ready for some romance? Was that not the romantic bit? The winning lady lobster goes into the male lobster's burrow and sheds her exoskeleton us fully naked. Oh wow Th thenen they play fight And then they mate. The male lobster flips her onto her back. uses his swimmaretts, which are sort of like the little frrondy mini legs along the tail Puncture her abdomen and deposit sperm packets into her sperm receptacles, which takes eight seconds Then they Netflix and Chill Pretty much she hangs out in the burrow for a week or two because she needs to grow a new exoskeleton, otherwise very dangerous for her to go outside with predators. She and the male lobster might eat her old one for nutrition. They can eat. They're an exoskeleton. That's good as. Yeah. She shoots out more face pists so that other female lobsters outside the burrow known that she's been mating and not to come in. This is what you don't hear in the David Atenbur version, isn't it? Left alone, she shoots out more face pers. And then she can hang on to the sperm packets for A year or two years until she wants them. Oh like a spare bag. And then she releases three thousand to a hundred thousand eggs which take nine to twelve months to hatch and become more baby lobsters. But then they drift in the ocean on their own. She's not an active parent after that point. Right. okay Yeahah, yeah. well, she's done a lot to get there So she only mates with one male per season unless his sperm packet is insufficient, in which case she crawls out of his borrow presumably still naked of exoskeleton and goes another male lobs. Oh It it's a walk of shame, isn't it Oh shed my exoskeleton. Shedding the exoskeleton is so exhausting that ten to fifteen percent of lobsters die doing it. and the reason that lobsters die of old age is that they're too exhausted to molt their exoskeletons anymore.s Fascinating relatable. It's as funny as Phoebe'sine, it' just less quick isn't it They just needed a nine second joke. And actually, Ross and Rachel are each other's lobster because they're an on and off couple with several other partners. They were on a break. They were on a break. And also Ross and Rachel did have a very brieflyom which did result in a child. And they did piss on each other's faces in that famous episode, the one where Rachel pisses in Ross's face. The one where Ross pisses seven times his body le They could shoot that naked guy from across the road. Yeah, the answer me this cart of friends, I think could be Yeah,'s sururprisingly popular Here's a question from Katie who says, I'm so glad you're back. I was always hoping you'd make a reappearance on my feed. We sense that, Katie, we sense it. Since you left my ears, I've had a son who's just at an age that he is starting to watch cartoons. and so naturally I end up watching along with him. So Helen answers me this What on earth is an anvil I don't think I've ever seen one in real life And who decided this would be the weapon of choice in the cartoon world I suppose actually it is possible in this day and age to go through life never seeing an anvil Yes. I saw Rambles, My doubt for some reason had two. a big one and a little one. They despair it's like he had three sledgehammers. I don't know why you need three, mayaybe they have subtle differences like how Martin's guitars have different pickups or whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah So was this just because he liked doing things with his hands, the wanted anvil, or is it an essential part of the process for being a sculptor? Well, if you are doing metalwk That is what an anvil is right for. An anvil is a heavy steel now made of steel, they have been made of stone, bronze and iron in the past impplement, it's usually got two protruding ends, sometimes pointy, sometimes not. And they are this heavy because they need to absorb a lot of impact because they are used for hammering hot metal into shapes. Like if you want it flat, you hammer it on the top If you want it curved like a horsese, you put it around the curvy end. All right, so it's not just like a hot plate equivalent, you are using the shape of the anvil to shape the metal. You bend the met around it. ye. So because you're hammering it really hard and you've got this red hot metal, the anvil needs to be a pretty solid piece of kit. so a lot of them mill three hundred pounds hundred and sixty kilos in weight As a cartoon weapon A number of reasons for this choice, I think It's not a gun. Yes. guns aren't fun Although in the nineteen forties when animated anvils came around I'm not sure guns weren't fun. I mean, you had my f and that sort of thing It is a very distinctive shape that is easy to draw. Yes. Other heavy things like a piano are much more complicated to draw from all the different angles Anvils are really heavy, obviously, so they're going to fall. they're going to hurt. they're going to make a big impact noise And in the cartoons, they are almost always appearing in an inappropriate, unexpected place, which is funny. Yes. it's also This maybe relies on people having experience of seeing anvils in our L But nonetheless, I've never seen one in real life, but I still know this. because of Home Alone two actually, specifically what I'm about to say, but it'sviously in Home Alone two because cartoons It's that thing of you know that if you pull the rope that's tied to an anvil that's on a beam or a rooftop above you, it's not going to immediately fall on your head. So then you get the joke, don't you? Joe Eeshy looks at Daniel Stim. Ah Yeah He thinks he's got me but this rope is solid And then as they climb up it, then the anvil falls down They fall down, then as they fall bang, bang. hits them straight in the nogin. Yeah. Yank once doesn't fall, Yank twice doesn't fall putut your whole weight on it Tweety Pie has fucked Sylvester in the face. Also when it plunges to the ground catching the personal creature in its wake, it can make an anvil shaped hole in the ground. and then someone pulls it out the ground and you've got a flat silvvester plasted on it and someone gets to peel them off and then like shake them out so that they become three dimensional again. Also, like as you're talking, I just remembered the alternative to this. They sometimes do that thing in Loononey tunes where instead of the anvil They've just got like a triangular box and they write ten thousand tons on the box. Yes. it's a weight It's a away Yeah. It's not an empty box. Fine That's not as funny. It's not as funny no. because you have to do that connection, don't you have to be like ten thousand tons. o so that's heavy. o so that's going to hurt Whereas like Anvile is comic shorthand, isn't it immedily throughrough the lineage of people actually doing it Its all it doesn'tatter who did it first. point, someone did it first once you've done it, it'sort end Yeah, exactly. And Because of that, kids growre up with an acquaintance with Anvil's light landline telephones with the curly cord that they may never ever have seen in real life. Yeah. But it's a trope. Here's a question from an anonymous questionnaire who says, I'm a straight man and I've been happily married to my wife for over a decade Recently, I started to experiment with painting my nails, brackets, fingers and toes Nice. My wife doesn't like this, Ellen, she doesn't think it's nice. She says that it's quote, not manly for a man to paint his nails For now, I only paint them when she goes away for work and remove all signs of having painted them before she comes home. I'm sorry, anonymous I love my wife very much and I won't do anything to upset her, but I do quite like painting my nails. Helen answered me this. How can I persuade my wife that there's nothing wrong with a man painting their nails? T be fair, she hasn't said wrong, She said not manly It isn't manly, it is a traditionally feminine thing to do. I mean, that's a fact. Beingorrect is not a fact. Really Go on, tell me about the history of nail painting if it goes back prere women, I'm interested in that. If it goes back pre women, well, it's like a lot of things like like eyeliner, that was a real kind of male power move. Yes. Nail painting is an ancient practice for men Babylonian warriors were doing it. three thousand five hundred BC to intimidate their enemies. It was common in like Egypt China, in fact there ares so many things that are considered manly are really recent Like people being like, o pink's a girl's color. It used to be considered such a powerful color it was a mask color. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like even twenty years ago people like, o my god, you're a man carrying a bag. Oh But not a mon. The ideas are so fragile There's a couple of things anonymous correspondent that I think are important. It's quite complicated because I think Not manly is a concept that really needs to be interrogated So what would happen If you have a conversation with your wife where she tries to articulate what she means by that What is manadliness to her Why is that important And why in her opinion is nail paint, not it? She might just be finding the immediate word that comes to mind to mean This isn't what I was attracted to in you. And I do understand that. like you're in a straight relationship. You've never painted your nails before When she says it's not manly, the manly things she might list might be things that she thinks are attractive to her. And that wouldn't include what she sees as being feminine this way I think it's a big conversation because it is about gendered ideas and I think a lot of people have still not thought about constitutes gender and what is the performance of gender Better late than never for her to do that. And then I wonder if you could also have a gentle conversation with her to her to think, how would she feel if you were imposing your preferences on her about how she dressed, Asuming you don't do that Yeah, so she started doing a thing that she saw as manly And you said, no, I like feminine things. Right if she was wearing trousers. Yeah The thing is there is a practical answer to this, that's the thing. If she genuinely doesn't like it, for whatever reason, like you can interrogate intellectually and culturally why she doesn't like it. But if she genuinely doesn't and you are trying to be considerate and not get on her nerves You don't have to paint all your nails. I mean, off course, it's your autonomy in the end, but actually like you could just start by painting your little pinky, right? I think that is a good tip. Paint your pinkies, maybe another nail on each hand I think also what colors he using? other colors that she would think were manly enough that she might be able to get behind, like olive green being very common on a lot of rock stuff. Glf salads. Yes, ye. Teal, brown, slate Could you paint tiny monster trucks on your nails? Oh yeah joints of meat Well anvils. Anvils would be so nice.oses a good suggestion. Or is there a sports team that she loves? Paint your nails in the sports team colors because some people that shit really works on sports lovers I'm not into painting my nails, but because of what we do for a living, I do need to buy makeup. and Because I don't know what I'm doing, I've involved my wife in the purchasing process to kind of get on top of that thing of If there was any awkwardness about me having a makeup bag in the bathroom She comes to Super Drug with me. She helps me choose my shade In case you're interested, Holllyman uses Mabbeelin ani age eraser concealer I'm saying that as much as anything for the transcripts, if I forget next time I'm Superdrogg I can just search annapp a podcast. But she helped me pick out that shade and it was actually quite fun. L she was actually clearly enjoying making me up in that scenario. Yeah. And it sort of diffused any awkwardness around it for both of us, I think. That's cool. So a way maybe is to have her with you choosing the shade. Yes and let her be part of it rather than doing it and saying, what do you think Well, also, maybe you could go for a manicure together as a couple and she could choose the color for you Like I wonder to what extent this is in her mind as like, oh, this is something that he does that I'm not involved in that has made my mind go down all these paths about What if he's gay? What if he's trans? whereereas for you it is part of your expression as a Cisheret man but she doesn't understand that There are a lot of famous Cis men that have their own nail polish signs like Harry Styles. AJ from the Back Street Boys Machine gun Kelly, Tyler the Crreator. Are any of these men ones that your wife fancies and would be pleased for you to copy. I do think discussing it is the way forward is as basically what we both say. You need to communicate about it more. it's something you want to do, it's something she doesn't want you to do. so you need to discuss how can make it work And you're absolutely not alone, questionnaire. There is the lovely subreddit R slash mail polish for a start It's nice. I' sure it like showing the colours they've chosen I would say always use a basecoat so you don't stain in your nails. Right. Here is a question from Tarin from the Land downown U Who says I have been doing some rel listening to old episodes, and in episode three hundred and seventy four you mentioned that Judy Dench had been the narrator on spaceship Earth at EpCOot since two thousand eight And then you pondered about who it would be after the reopening in twenty twenty two I couldn't rest until I found out who was the current narrator Unbelievably ool tells me it's still Judy Dench It is can confirm I remain oblivious to exactly what this ride is all about, but Ollie answers me this Does this mean that the current narration is the original one from two thousand eight? orr did they do a refresh and get a new record from her because she's just that good Okay. well, thank you, Tarin for giving me an opportunity to talk about my Easter family holiday to Orlando. Pull up a chair. Spaceship Earth Aot was scheduled for refurbishment, but The refurbishment was due to commence almost exactly when COVID hit So obviously Disney then had other priorities like rescuing the theme park division from going into administration with No visors in it. So when EpCOot reopened They hadn't refurbished sppaceeship Earth despite the fact they trailed it years in advance because it takes theagineers years, obviously to do a new design on an old building. It's difficult to reverse engineer a new concept for not just an existing structure, but like a world renowned architectural structure. So for people who don't remember, sppacehip Earth is what you even if you don't care about Disney at all, right? when I say the word EpCot, I think that the image you've got, the big ball, the spherical dome. Big ball. That's spaceship Earth and It's an issue because the ride is shit. It's the symbol of the park And it's shit in a sort of nostalgic way. It's been shit for so long that people who are now my age remember it being shit when they were ten And they want their children to have a shit time when they go on it too That world of shit. So they can keep that generational experience going. And it's sort of because of the whole creation of EpCOot was all about you know, Walt's idea of the prototype city of tomorrow, but then he died and he never got to see it. And they've made everything else in there, sort of Disney IP, you know, there's a Gard of the Galaxy Ride where there used to be stuff about science You sort of think, it's sweet in a way that they've kept the original attraction, but it is Well out of date now. likeike it is just You know, you say I don't understand what this ride is about having never been on it I've been on this ride at least three times in my life. I went to EpCOot in I think nineteen eighty nine the first time and then again in Probably two thousand two ish and then again, in twenty twenty five. I have no idea what it's about either. when come off. I remember saying to my kids because they were asking me like, What was that about? I was I'm not really sure. history and science But what they have done is maintained the dome, I can say. The sphere is an amazing architectural feat. when you get close up, it's Flawless and clean. I don't know how they've managed to keep it still looking like it's brand new when it was built in nineteen eighty two It's partly apparently because it's got built in gutters in it. So it doesn't get mkey rain. becausecause obviously in Florida when you get a storm, that's a big deal. The rain goes straight through it If you think about like if you held a ball up in the rain, what would happen to everyone standing underneath Epcock queuing to get into sppachip bur that get drenched But they thought about that and it channels the water through it. so it's not monkey. That's impressive because also geodesic domes are notoriously leaky. as structures for buildings they have not been super successful The history of it is that Ray Bradbury actually helped the Disney compompany create it. It's the story of human communication with the metaphor of the Earth as a spaceship It's a ride that sort of begins with Caveman, goes through the Romans and Greeks and says, Look, NASA. that's the through line. Okay it's It's weird. And then what happens is the last five minutes because it's a fifteen minute long ride The last five minutes you go backwards. That sounds fun, but it's not fun because it's going at two miles an hour to go backwards down from the top of the dome to get you back to the beginning where you started And there is Nothing happening at all. Apparently on the most recent design in two thousand five, whatever it was when they put Judy Dentch on it They did have scenes that they've since like tarped over with cloth. And so you're just looking at nothing And then they've got a screen in the car which takes your picture and puts it on things It's the sort of thing that now you'd see in your local shopping centre. It was so unimpressive to all of the children that we brought with us, this technology. and they can do it on my phone. Maybe they don't give you anything to do because they want you to think about all that you've learnnt in the course of the ride about human invention I mean, I love EpCot. So having said everything I've just said, I went there on holiday because I love EpCot Do you love it Ionized way or just straightforward love way. That I love the the I love the optimism of You know,, the human race is constantly progressing and let's celebrate that It's a shame when the world expxpo closes. let's have a permanent one around a lake. Let's have a big fucker fireworks display about how wonderful all the countries the world are. I love the whole part but it just needs a bit of a needes a bit of a brush up that ride. But actually this is my hot take for those of you who are thinking of travelling to Florida I think it might have been my favorite or second favorite Disney Park The food and drink is actually good. You can get pissed at Epcott you can walk around drinking. The Turi is incredible. Who doesn't appreciate a good Turi. They had a Kermit and Miss Piggy Topury, which was just o yeah. superb Judy Dench commentary It's the two thousand eight recording. No, it is just the same. They have not updated the rise, yes. Does it still work? Does the power of the Dench transcend the datedness of the ride in the decades? It's a classy performance. Of course. And to be fair, She was replacing Jeremy Irons, which I'm sure, was an equally classy performance, And actually he was replacing Walter Komkitees. I mean, they've always had good narrators, to be fair. I don't know who they're gonna to get. Who has that trust these days? We're available We both do voice work Yeahah, I' do it. definitely. I wonder if she even knew what she was doing the narration for or if it was just like, Ohh yeah, sure. it's an hour's recording in London and I don't care Yeah, I think it's so easy to get caught out with that sort of thing as a voiceover artist, actually isn't it L you don't know how your voice is going to get used you do a thing and then you give someone the rights to use it They can chop it up, they can move it around, they can choose different bits of it. Yeah. They can take out all the negatives so it sounds like you're being positive. Do you do soc voiceo for seven? I've never been asked to do one of those. Oh yeah Try this product. It's really good. Oh yeah, you're gonna love it You know, some of us can't help the fact that we come across as very sarcastic. Even Martin sometimes doesn't know that I'm being sincere. That's my curse. What I found in voiceover is that as so long as the last two words sound like you're smiling, then it sounds like a voiceover Wow. Even Martin doesn't know that I'm not being sincere Good m me it's just. Smile the last word, sounds like voice overver. That's an incredible tip. Eugenics, let's create a better race just take the last words. Yeah, someone's going to kick that and use it.. you're going to be the spok throat for and it's well done you've got a question The email your question to answer me this Podcasted Google mailot com Answer me this P casted Googlemail dot com Answer me this Podcasted Google mail Dot com answer me this pod casted bugle mail D's come Introducing Taco Bell's new Jalapeno citrus salsa with bright citrus real red jalapenos, guailo chiles. Usually, you add sauce to the food, but when the sauce is this good, the food is just there to get the sauce to your mouth. That rolled quesadilla, not a rolled quesadilla anymore. Now it's a sauce shovel. 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Visit STEemforbugs. com to learn more Here's a question from Kristen, who says, At every single job I've worked at in the last fifteen years, I will have at least one coworer try to rope me into either buying their MLM bullshit or recruiting me to sell it too Quick definition, please MLM is multi level marketing similar to a pyramid scheme, but different in that Payit schemes are illegal Some MLMs are also illegal and some territories have banned them. and I think Islam as well is like pretty not on board with them A lot of them are legal because technically they are selling products onli pyramid schemes, even though The real product is in recruiting more people to the scheme and selling products to them rather than to customers. Yes So in some of these, it's not even about making money by recruiting people. It's making money by selling the product to people you've recruited to sell it to other people. That's right, yes So you're like, oh, okay, to start as a sales operative or whatever the f they're called in the different MLMs You have to buy a starter pack that costs you like fif five hundred dollars And then you just sell those things to people and then you can buy more, but it's very difficult to actually sell product on in most cases. So people are like, well, I need to make my fifteen hundred dollars back first.ight, then they become the kind of unbearable coworker that Christin's describing here. Right. She says they could be selling tears from a literal deity and I wouldn't care I don't want to buy and I definitely don't want to sell. Very sensible, Kristian, very sensible Side note, I've worked in different educational capacities in the US where teachers are underpaid. so that explains all the side hustles. Yeah It's a painful reality of many people's economic circumstance that has allowed MLMs to proliferate and make things even worse. So, Helen answers me this, what can I do so that people know that one, I am not now and never will be interested, and two, the harder they try, the more resentful I will become Here's the issue you and they have opposite goals. Yes, sounds like it. Your goal is to end the interaction as soon as possible.. theirirs is to prolong it because the longer you interact, the more likely it is that you will do what they want They've been prepped Yes by their organization. deeal with this conversation? Absolutely. MLM's Teach MLM practitioners. Martin, can you remember what they' called? We listen to the podcast The Dream a few years ago, which was a very interesting season about how MLM's work. So so you famous music, consultant, advocate, ambassador. Something like that. Yeah Yeah Sales ner Bpreneur. They teach them no isn't no. It's just a not right now. Yeah. Because if the people in the MLMs aren't recruiting, they're not making money. So they are constantly hustling and they have been taught how to deal with nearly every kind of rebuff. So what you need to do is you have to be very firm and you cannot be subtle. It has to be overt rejection of this and you cannot give them anything to go on Don't give them information. 't give them excuses, donon't give them anything to work with. Oh wow. okay. So don't say, Oh, I don't have time, sorry, or I wouldn't be good at it because then they can say, Oh, here's how you can have time. Yeah. or here's how you'd be good at it.. But you can sell whenever and wherever you want. You can be your own boss with products that have a lifetime guarantee. So you got to say like No, I'm not interested. Do not ask me again and just repeat that every fucking time. The repetition might feel really rude. But you have to establish this firm boundary. You've got to just keep saying no. But I think there's a nice way to say that canannot be too nice. No but firm, I agree with you. Asertive. But isn't there a way to say just basically I've been approached for this kind of thing before. And I have a policy that I don't get involved with any don't want to say it's MLM scheme because they'll say itn' I don't want to get involved with any kind of side hustle or selling products in my workplace. No, because then they'll just They'll be like, Well, it wouldn't be in workpl placeace. No, no sorry, I don't want to. I do not. No. I do not. That's what I'm trying to say. No I don't do that. If you say in my workplace, that is a qualifier and they can work with that. You have to be more firm than that. I don't do that then. I don't do that. That's better than Yeah, that's what I'm saying. You've got to say no. And I think saying I don't do that full stop is not particularly softerter than what I said. I think you might also need to throw in, I understand what this means to you, but I cannot help you. Yeah or I cannot participate. And if they keep going, you might have to say, if you're going to talk about this, I will have to leave the room. Wock off. And I've already told you no, the fact that you refuse to stop asking shows that you think of me as a revenue stream, not a friend If you respect me, stop asking. If you don't respect me, don't talk to me again I think we've discussed this on the show before, but there was a very committed Christian who lived in the same Staircase they called it in our college, but basically block, right, block of the halls of residence that I did Mh. And she was lovely and I really liked her in every other way She believed that Jesus was going to save everyone's souls from eternal damnation, so she took every opportunity to convert people. And That's sort of like being hustled into someone's MLM, isn't it? A L lot of the same techniques and characteristics. She's more like to heaven and if gets me into heaven I'm going to get to he everyone's winner. That's she sees I couldn't find these words. I said so many times I was like Stop inviting me to those things and I'm not going to go to those things. I appreciate that you're a Christian and you enjoy it It sounds great, but I won't be coming because I'm not a Christian. And she just went so it and it got to the point where you might remember we all had pinbards on our doors because this is sort of pre social networking And she was putting invites onto my pinboard the outside of my door so that people could see it when they walked past, that I was invited to her thing Oh And I just found it really it was getting to the point where I just felt really like She was in my personal space with it And there was I'd said no, there was nothing left to say apart from being rude. and I didn't want to be rude becausecause she was a really sweet Christian girl who was like, really nice and I didn't want to be reed. It was really difficult. I mean wasn' there was no way to say no. The fact is you did say no. I did say no. they didn't work. Yeah, you said there's no way to say no. You did say no, and they didn't respect that And that is them being very impolite. Yes, yeah sure. But I guess the point is if they believe it that much, if they've been sold so much, there iss a cult like atmosphere to some of thisyram sell stuff isn't there? Whatever you say, they won' they won't understand. And I don't think it's down to you to convince them that what they're doing is a scam because they probably don't want to hear it. but I think you can say Can I see the financial records of the business for the past two years? I want to see the profits and losses. Be often when you get down to like real numbers. They fuck off because they don't want to have to deal with that reality. Yeah, maybe. I don't know, that suggests that you're interested though I'm gonna guess it depends what the product is though. So like if it's skincare Simple thing you can say is I've got sensitive skin, I can't use that No, because like they don't care whether you can use it because they're like, well, you're selling on to other people Yeah I've got Don't give them anything. donon't give them any excuses. Excuses are things to work with. It's like when you're telling a lie and you want it to be convincing, donon't add too much detail. The detail is the tell Hm I know that even when it's not about likeike you joining the company to sell yourself initially when it's just about, wouldould you like to buy this product That can be awkward when you know that there's grooming business model going on behind the scenes, even if the product is good And I've been in that situation? So like as a parent, there's a particular brand that offer sort of expensive face creams for newborn mums and stuff Newborn mums Yeah, mums who've just had a newborn baby. Not mums when they're born. There was a lady in our NCT class who was selling it and it is a good product You know that she's selling it so that you then might end up selling it yourself one day And it's kind of difficult because you're almost want to give her the false hope. It's almost kinder not to. Correct. it is kinder not to. yes, but you don't think that when you're going to shop, do you You don't think, Oh, I'm not gonna buy face cream forty pounds from John Lewis becausecause John Lis is going to think I'm going to buy forty pound face cream every day. You know, I'm only going to buy one once a year and that's their problem if they think that. Whereas when it's someone in your house, someone that you know You feel like Oh, you've given this sense of loyalty and optimism and now I'm letting them down. But I think what hurts about it when it's friends, from the question, it's unclear whether they are her friends or just colleagues, but when it's your friends in particular feeling like you are just being tapped as a revenue stream That can really damage a friendship It's to Kristin's advantage if she's like theseese are just coworkers. and I don't really care whether they talk to me or not againgain Like it feels very inappropriate to the workplace that they're in anyway that they're using it for their bpreneurism Imagine that their employers would be quite pessed off. Yeah that they like using the workforce as sales opportunity. A resource. You know if you're pissing people off, it means that they're going to work less well with that cow workker. Yeah because you don't want to talk to them. I guess you could maybe offer an exchange sell them your MLM in return Whoa. Yeah, why are't you see this as a sales opportunity I don't know if you've ever helped your mum build a website. It is the kind of torment from which there is no resrepite if she asks what's a widget again? I will kill her with a rusty spike Or a brick or a spade or a chainsaw. Squarespace is so easy even your mum can use it. She can drag and drop and cut in case that's all there is to it. So Hel and put that spike down. I beg you for Christ's sake, don't do it Sorry M Thank you very much to Squarespace for sponsoring this episode of Answer me This. We appreciate it so much. It fills us with Joy, I was thinking. Great. Okay, just checkking We heard from some listeners, Archie and Abigail, wedding photographers who shot a wedding in Denmark last year. Ohes, because we talk about the weird traditions. And they said, Ohh yes, we saw all those weird traditions you talked about in the last episode. And I was like, yeah yeah but I was looking at their website bowl offcorks. co. uk. I was like, I bet this is a squarespace website' exquisite photo to exquisite photo with the clear layout. I could easily find everything I needed. yeah I know it. squarespace all over this. There is no finer way to showcase your offerings And it's easy to start with as well. L I think sometimes when you see a finished website like that, it can be a bit daunting. I could never. you could ever. You could, you could. If you want to try out for yourself with whatever you're doing, whether it be photographing Danish weddings or something else head to squarespace. com Sash Answer to use the two week free trial, have a play around, buildild yourself something. And when you're ready to launch, use the offer code Answer to save ten percent off your first purchase of a website or domain. Hello, Helen and Ollie. It's Martin from Leicester. There are approximately ten cafes and coffee shops in Leicester and Leicestershire, England which I visit over the course of a few months I have just noticed that the ones which serve the nicest coffee haveave the least comfortable chairs and the places with the most comfortable chairs are the ones that serve the least delicious coffee. Perhaps this has something to do with the places with good chairs and mediocre coffee being part of large chains and vice versa So this isn't always the case And I don't know why that would be either I choose cafes and coffee shops for their coffee and for somewhere nice to sit I don't often work at one But neither do I often take my coffee away with me I've tried to choose independent shops But about a third of the places I frequent are part of larger chains Ollie, answer me this Why is the level of comfort of chairs at a cafe Inversely related to the quality of the coffee served by that cafe. And is this a trend elsewhere? We faceed this exact issue, didn't we, Helen on our recent excursion to London? Y We wanted to support decent coffee shops independent or not, but if I want to sit on a bench, I would go to a fucking bus stop. Wow was so objection wasn't it? We kept choos coee shops to be like, o, yes, that looks like a place that would do a good ice mocker, wasn't it? Your order Yeah, I smocker. You're like Oh sit on a sharp spike while I drink it thans. You'd get close and you'd be like, Oh, they've got exactly what we want, But look, we have to sit over a sewer. I don't want to do that. Same the time when you're evacuating the co. It does make you wonder whether there is a conspiracy here in exactly the proportions that you suggest, that it's like good coffee equals bad seating and why would that be? I suppose it's two things, isn't it? You are signalling as the coffee shop. We have shit chairs because we care most about the coffee. L over your comfort, over your desiire to hang out here, our coffee is so good Yeah You will sit on this tyire and you will fucking love it. Torrid luxury The other reason, I suppose, is It gets you out of there, doesn't it? That's the other point. It shouldn't be so flagrantly obvious, but I suppose that's the thing, isn't it? they make more money by moving you on and mean, that's what Starbucks did isn't it? The the Tabbit cooffee shop And you can sort of see the origins of both of what I've said in their story. The original Starbucks after all, was just a shop selling beans. It was about going in Get your coffee and then go away because it's not about sitting around. Did you just describe Starbucks as the tootemic coffee shop? I did. That's very mythical. It does have a mythical creature on its logo, as we've discussed before, Martin. That's true. Yeah withith a splayed tail. You know, also in Starbucks you've seen that journey, haven't you from the sort of central perk style thing where you'd have a sofa that would get covered in body odor in Grease So over the time, it becoming a place where they put in such utilitarian furniture that people don't want to be in there anymore And I feel like there should be a happy medium. I think we all agree on this Yes, move me along. Yes, signal that the coffee is important But let me sit on a chair. let me sit on an actual chair with a padded back. Yeah. It hurts to sit on just a plank. Exactly. Is it that the bad coffee shops are like, Hey, but at least we've got cofee chairs What is your priority? I fear that. I don't think it's that. I think it's likeike a small independent coffee chain is trying to project a certain kind of Urban chick isn't it? And that very often translates to like hard surfaces and hard seating That sort of bare brick, bare pipework kind of vibe, which still seems to be the dominant, you know vibe for an independent Artisal coffee shop They're filament bulbs. Theyre filament bulbs. Nothing wrong with lamshades. Al good. I mean, this is the thing. So like we've been podcasting for long enough. that Lot enough, I'll say? Too long, some would say. When I used to go and do interviews, I'd suggest going to a coffee shop because soft furnishings, right? I'd excuse the background noise to the audience by saying we were recording at the coffee shop and that would be kind ofs like nice background hum Youd know that they'd be sitting on a soft seat that there would be, like I say, lampshades Whereas now the acoustics are appalling because it is all those hards It sounds like you're in an aircraft hanger Also there's the Here's a reference for longtime listeners. There's the Brancher giraffe aesthetic isn't there whichich is also a sort of global ubiquity to all the designs of coffee shops. It's the same with Airbnbs, it's the same with all kinds of like contemporary stores where It's designed to be Instagram friendly, isn't it? It's designed to look good on social media. But that means actually it's particularly unorriginal and tedious because it looks the same as everywhere. I was reading a little interview with Stuart Murdoch of Bll and Sebastian recently in which he was recommending a sort of like rubberised seating pad he takes everywhere with him. So then you can sit on an uncomfortable chair and They on a comfortable chair Yeah. Yeah. But then I suppose you're back to then, why don't you just have a coffee at home In a sense, like if you're bringing your own furniture with you, what are you actually buying? What's enjoyable about the experience you're paying for, really? What you're paying for is the renewed sense of appreciation of your own home when you go Here's a question from Lewis who says It's summertime. This means sunscreen is necessary even where I live in the usual grrey and cold Scotland.Q a lot of people shouting, You have to wear it year round anyway or even if it's gray because of UVA. When I apply sunscreen, says Lewis, The smell takes me back to holidays as a child which made me realize that the smell of sunscreen seemingly hasn't changed for decades. Ollli answers me this, What gives sunscreen its characteristic smell? Why can't I easily buy sunscreen with different scents And how hard is it to get sunscreen that smells different or indeed which has no smell at all Okay it isn't difficult to get a sunscreen that smells different. I mean, you can pretty much do the obvious things and type into search engines and say what you want it to smell. The one I use is Ultra suun, I'm a fan of that which is the sort of neutral efficient Swiss one that smells of nothing at all. If you like the sort of vacation vibes that you're describing There is a brand called Vacation which I found. According to them combines notes of coconut, banana, pool water, pool toy and swimsuit, Lycra Wow, that's what the sunscreen smell is. Yeah. Yeahah, ye likero So okay, the whole panople seriously of fragrances are available to us. check them out. Really onion? Yeah. Inevitably. That's what I want for my summer smell In all seriousness, Tommy Bahama do a cucumber once, it's like cucumber ey mask smells. nice U I know what you mean, like in a Tesco in Scotland, can you easily buy a sunscreen that doesn't smell of sunscreen? And the answer to that perhaps with the exception of Hawaiian Tropic being the only sort of mainstream brand that at least smells pgently of a particular Like you know that's why Iian droping that smell, don't you use either that or malibu being bffed up. You're right that they do basically all smell of coconut, cocoa butter, jasmine, and essential oils. and that's because that's what they have in them. Oh, okay For any reason other than just scent presably they're not. some filtering no. No, it's speech vibes and it is nostalgia, but In sunscreen in particular, there are fewer masking ingredients because that might stop the active ingredient from working. And so they don't put loads of extra chemicals in it basically smelling the ingredients more than you do in other products. I sort of interpreted this question as Lewis asking canan I buy sunscreen that? smells different once, but why isn't there a rangeway? it's like lavender flavour, apple flavor? Well again, I think because people would be suspicious of it, you know, that's not what sun creream is, so no one's done it It links us well into the next question, which is all about variety, and it's from Lindsay who says Helen asks me this, why do manufacturers only sell stock cubes in single varieties? Hm No one needs twenty four cubes of beef stock. Well, they'd sell them in like little boxes with like six or eight cubes. Yeah also like a professional kitchen, making beef soup would need twenty four cubes of beef stock. Also some people use a lot more stock cubes than you'd imagine, like they'll sprinkle them on food like seasoning Why don't they make a sort of stock selection box so that you can have a variety of stock cubes Is it just to make more money by forcing you to buy hundreds of stock cubes For hundreds, hundreds. Well across a lifetime. Like I said, they come in boxes of a. I mean, are you yearning for a pick and mix counter that is just hot cubes? I can already see the issue with a variety box of stock cubes. Go on. Well, it's dietary concerns, isn't it Hindus don't eat beef You know, what's Halal, what's kosher? Allerogens infecting alla cubes. So like, you know, you could sell just the vegetarian ones, but that's not what she wants. She wants Well I imagine most people would want, which is beef and chicken and vegetable and fish, but then you've got a product that doesn't appeal to everybody. Yeah, or maybe doesn't appeal to anybody. I have a couple of thoughts. One is Do the different flavors really taste that different to each other? Because the main outrageous Point of them is like saltiness and savoriness. So are people like, well, I'll buy beef, but if you made me taste that or vegetable with my eyes shut, I couldn't really tell you what I was having Do most people only really want one flavor Also, if you had the multip pack. and you're getting like two cubes each of flavours. You're probably not using the flavours at the same pace. So then one will start piling up. So yeah like lamb stock How often are you going to do that? If you do want multiple flavors, you probably do want separate boxes and replenish them at the rate you use them. Yeah And it's a small cheap purchase and they'll last forever. So like shelf instability is not really an issue I was trying to think why is this different to other variety packs of like crisps or Kellogg's variety packs of little cereals? Don't just chuck in the Kelloggs one like that's just a random example. I mean, that's the king of all variety packs. It is as the variety pack we all grew up wanting and loving. Yeah. and even the ones that no one wanted and were left behind you still ate them. Yeah, is the difference that there you might think, o A full size pack of crunchy not corn fllakes, whereas with stock, you're not scaling up to anything. I did so much web browsing to try to find palable answer or variety packs of stock and I thought I had found variety packs from Knor, but what it is is a three pack with like a box each of chicken beef and tomato plus chicken. So you could assemble that yourself. They're not Yes together. S. So Lindy is They don't have They don't have stock selection boxes. I quite like the idea of a stock advent calendar Wow, but there's only like four flavours. No, there aren't. I've already named five. I reckon there must be a pork one as well. That's six Or like some exotic, you know, Swedish herring stock. do you what I mean? Like if you're a stock fan and you're getting a stock advent calendar, you'd want some weird stocks And they could even actually, because I get the fever Tree advent calendar each year and you get a gin alternating with the tonic. They could do what they do with that and they could alternate a flavor pairing with the stock cube. Wow. So like a little recipe on alternate days that tells you how to use it. All right. I think that's an okay idea with a very limited customer base. You know, what would make more sense is a stock stocking. Yes, I see what you've done. Yeahah. it's got a natural pun built in. Ad it to our merch store in time for Christmas. If you got miss J. is better S send me this podcast to Googlemill. com I get so many headaches every month. It could be chronic migraine, fifteen or more headache days a month, each lasting four hours or more Botox, Autobota linum tooxin A prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine. It's not for those who have fourteen or fewer headache days a month Prescription Botox is injected by your doctor. Effects of Botox may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away has difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems or muscle weakness can be signs of a life threatening condition. Patients with these conditions before injection are at highest risk. Side effects may include allergic reactions, neck and injection site pain, fatigue and headache. Allergic reactions can include rash, welts, astma symptoms and dizziness. Don't receive Botox if there's a skin infection Tell your doctor your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, including ALS Luar' disease, myastheniaravis or Lambert Eaten syndrome, and medications, including botulinum toxins, as these may increase the risk of serious side effects Why wait? Ask your doctor, visit Botoxchronicmigraine. com or call one eight hundred four four Botox to learn more Did you know Sam's Club isn't a store? It's actually a club Yeah withith cool finds and like a whole community. It's a club. Of course, Jason, it's in the name. Sam's Cub Yeah. Come join us Sam's Club Here's a question from Andrew from Melbourne who says, I've recently gone back wading into the dating pool. Spish blush. Dipping a toe into the various apps For context, I'm a cis man looking for women On one such app I have recognized a few women who are not quite celebrities people with public profiles whose work I am aware of. . It's got me thinking What is the etiquette of dating app flirtation with someone who's got a public profile Where on the spectrum between I've never heard of your work. and OMG, I know everything about your work and love it all Do you think is the optimum position Is it just best to acknowledge that there's someone who's well known and then move past it and actually get to know them as a person Answer me this please. I you said, please. The last sentence of your question, yes, acknowledge them then move past it and get to know them. Don't be creepy and say, well, I know all about what you've been doing you could say So what are you working on today or this week and then see what they want to talk about Yeah, let them lead. Maybe Although I suppose if they don't, then okay, let's I'm trying to think of a famous person this could plausibly be Carol Volderman, right? It's Carol Volderman. Yeah Right. Now, imagine you know it's Carol Volderman. She doesn't know that you know it's Carol Volderman You've decided to let Carol Vorderman lead because why wouldn't you And Carol doesn't say at any point. When you say what you've been working on, what' you know, how's life? She's not mentioned anything at all about science, technology, I'm a broadcaster, I'm interested in left wing politics. She said nothing, right? You're giving her agency not to say I am Carol Volderman. That could be a second date thing to say that you're Carol Volderman. At some point then You've made it more awkward by leaving her the opportunity to raise it by not raising it because it's then an unspoken thing Whereas if you'd said right off the bat Oh, you're Carol Vorsabin Nice to meet you I'm Andrew from Melbourne and this is about me. That might have negated it ever being an issue in your own head, you know? We have interactions with people who know who we are and we don't know who they are. They know us via podcasts. Yes and I always try to like equalize the interaction as quickly as I can by asking them questions about them because they know stuff about me and I don't know about them. And that tends to be fairly cool very quickly But I haven't done dating because I've been with Martin for twenty odd years. twentywenty odd years. So I asked a friend of mine Andrea Selenzi, who used to make a podcast called YOY, which recounted her dating adventures. She sent some advice She says, one, connect over something completely unrelated to her career We are all rich multidimensional humans outside of our professional personas, so focus on getting to know her first agree. So ye. you might need to figure out what is involved in getting to know her and what they choose to tell you is things that you can then ask follow up questions. That's good, but it doesn't negate my, Hey Carol Volderman nice to meet you and then talk about other things. That's still a possible approach. Point two If there is mutual interest, banter etc, share revealing details about yourself, your full name, what you do for work pin number This helps balance the fact that she's already somewhat exposed while you're relatively anonymous. Okay, there's an element of pretend, isn't there? Pretend you don't know who this person is, That's all. I think all first dates are kind of that, aren't they? Yeah, that's a really good point. of course. playaying versions of yourselves and also having to test whether you're safe whether they feel like there's a lot going on. I think a difficulty with that tip is just not talking too much about yourself and the other person thinking this guy is so boring. he's just talking about himself So Be mindful of that. Andrea's point three, O then You can mention that you recognize her work with a genuine compliment Don't dwell on it. Yeah. Don't be like you were great on countdown. When you used to host looose women, I found it kind of patchy. Yeah. Oh yeah yeah yeah, don't be like, I need to prove that I'm better than you. likeike, o yeah I better I' better of mus than you. I think when people say something to you like I really enjoy your work and I particularly liked This episode of the modernan that you did say. I mean, I think that's a nice compliment, right to be like, I have paid attention to it and I respect it. I have thoughts on what you just said but I want to use to the end of the list Is that the end of the list? Point four, do not use this new connection to try to network or advance your own interests beyond the chance to date her. My mum's always wanted to go to the BaFTs. Don't say that. Yeah, that's a more of a third date chat. point five Do not allow yourself to believe that any of her brillts has rubbed off on you simply because she engaged with you on a dating app. claim you dated her unless you actually you know date her. Don't mention this at a dinner party. Although Andrew said I did this on the other side, I dated a few well known men and I love name dropping them That's the thing, isn't it? This is the thing about human nature However well you're behaving, on an app with them until you're actually in a relationship with them. It is just amazing to tell your mates I think when you raise people at our level I think it is a different thing because obviously there are exceptions that prove the rule, but generally speaking I find People who make work in the public space do so because they quite like to some degree, the attention they get from it from the public, right? And so in my personal experience It happens rarely that someone comes up to me and says Oh my Godd, you're ollly man, I love answer me this. It happens, I'd say every, I don't know, six weeks. If that happens every six weeks, it's really nice. It makes me feel good If it happened every week, it would probably make me feel good. If it happened to the extent where I'm aware every time I get on the train that everyone's thinking, o my god, that's Ollie manan. That's a completely different cat of fish, right? And I think the dividing line therefore comes on the level of celebrity you're talking about. If you're Madonna orr Paul McCartney. If I am then I can imagine that you would genuinely find it a relief if someone didn't know who you were But I think that has to be a genuine you can't fake that, like either you do or don't know who they are. If it might be that the perfect match for them initially, someone who doesn't come with all the baggage about who they are Well, I think it's probably that you date other celebrities with an equal amount of baggage. Possibly because that's the only way to deal with it. But I think for most people that are just like Known but not famous, I think it's kind of fine to just deal with it head on with a compliment, as you say. It makes sense why I like Big celebrities are using RA so that the expectations are just more explicit already because that's the app that you're meeting on. Genuine issue though, I think, is If you're a super fan it's just honest, isn't it? T not just give one compliment to be like, oh my God, I loved your third album and I loveved the Christmas special and I love that bit where you did a cameo in Save it. Save it. Hold on to it. Hold on to it. Yeahah, okay. But every time you say those things you do make people more awkward. Again, I can only imagine through magnification, but even at our level, there's that thing of If someone's just outed themselves as someone who listens to this show and has done for eighteen years, I am then thinking, As I'm talking at a party, I'm thinking O do they know this anecdote Have we told that on the show? Do they want to collect a lock of my hair? And or like, is this different to what they think I am based on what they've heard of me And so that does put like a performance pressure on you, which they wouldn't have wanted to do. Listeners, I'm sure that many of you have been either side of this interaction. Yes. We would appreciate your input since all of us are inexperienced in this area. So send us your feedback to the same place you send us your questions in the form of writing or voice notes Our contact details are on our website Answer me thispodcast. com And if you go there, you can see The balloon portrait that Rob the Balloon Artist has made of us since we spoke of him last. He has come through magnificently. Thank you R. Absolutely Remember as well that you can support this show at patreon. com slash answer me this You can listen to bonus bits from every episode, which hit the cutting room floor. What's a more charitable way of saying that? Too good to put in the main show. You can hear an ad free version of the show on the Patreon wall and you can watch back Petty probleroblems, our live video stream thing Yes, where we dealt with your trivial concerns? And who knows what else is coming down the pipeline for you valiant patrons Patreronize us at patreon. com slash Answer me this And you can also check out our other work. What's the latest in Ollly Man verse I do multiple podcasts. You can discover them all at Olyman. com, but the one I want to highlight this month, Helen is a four part series that I'm hosting for the BBC all about the massive theme park that Universal Studios are going to be building in Bedfordshire twenty five minutes from my house. Oh, fuck ye. It's a big story in my life. I bet this is a perfect Olyman project. Yeah, If you've enjoyed hearing me talk about theme parks in this episode, then you can enjoy four hours of me talking about theme parks to fellow theme park nerds. I find out what we're going to see in this new theme park. how one goes about building and designing a theme park, and we ask whether Bedford could plausibly be the next Orlando. That sounds ridiculous, but you'll find out why it isn't If you like the sound of that then you can find it on BBC Sounds. What you need to search for is' a bit cumbersome this. I'll put link in the show notes as well. What we need to search for is Roller coaster Universal's Bedfordshire Journey That's what the show's called. You find it out BBC Sounds Helen. The illusionist is back with four letter words season, including an episode about bleep and an episode about and a quiz of four letter words that don't need to be bleeped. And also got some events coming up. Martin and I are participating in a live show collaboration with the podcast Material Girls used to be known as Witch Please That's on the third of July in Vancouver. and tickets are also on sale for an event I'm doing in October with Samine Noosrat, who's got a new cookbook coming out and I get to interview her about it on stage in Vancouver. So go to the illusionist. org events For tickets to those things. We're both living our lives, aren't we? You're interviewing a woman about a cookbook on stage. I am interviewing theme park nerds about a theme park in Bedfordshire. I think whoever wrote our school reports could have predicted this. Oh and Martin and I have a beast that is going to go out on radio four at fourour PM. British time on the twenty second of July. twenty twenty five. It's called souvenirs, which is A really beautiful story about two friends in the late nineteenth, early twentieth century who set up a printing press together and thenmost immediately their friendship fell apart and then they spent fifteen years fighting over the custody of their in house typeface. And it's this like very cool music e piece that Martin scored and it's very funny but also very emotional. evenven though it's about typefaces. It's a roller coaster. That sounds great. Martin, what are you doing I've been making a lot on other people's podcasts. I've been doing the music for the new movie season Oh that's a very good podcast. Really good. And I've been doing the mix on Slapped, which is a new series from Drilled about this Green Pace and the stunning protests slightly. Oh wow. Serious in tone. that's aerebral but actually intelligent podcast series. Yeah, if. you need a dose of politics and protests and environmentalism there. Also if you enjoyed Martin's little song earlier about animal love, where can they find more music? You can go to my website Martinustwick. com or search for palebird music And if you want more answer me this two hundred episodes more which we have paywalled for your convenience at Answere this store. d. com along with our exclusive albums and Best Os. There's also more than two hundred free episodes. Yeah, yeah Show it to Carol Fortermann, she'll love She can count them all. she can count up to four hundred and seven. So that should be enough, I think, to put in your ears until we return on the last Thursday of next month It thirty first of July Byesers