861 – Mondays Am I Right? | The Good Place to Sleep S4 E11

EPISODE 861 – Mondays Am I Right? The Good Place to Sleep S4 E11

 

[START OF RECORDING]

SCOOTER:           Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and friends beyond the binary, it’s time for the podcaster whose voice…I’ve never been described as like the sweet sounds of a two-stroke engine but I’d say well, which engine would you compare your voice to, Scoots?  I’d say well, a two-stroke engine.  Those are usually small.  What are those things called?  Like a lawnmower or some other outdoor equipment.  I mean, one day, I’d prefer…personally, I prefer battery-operated, those things.  But like I said, the only podcaster who strives to be…to have a subtext tone of a two-stroke engine in a distance when you’re lying in grass looking at the blue sky and the clouds.  Then, it’s pretty good; that’s my personal opinion.  When you’re lying there under a tree, warm summer breeze, maybe a lemonade, and off, maybe 2.5 miles away, someone’s mowing the lawn and you say oh boy, shoes off.  Oh man, that’s what I try to recreate with the show, really.  If you’re confused, you’re in for a treat.  You’ll be more confused in a minute ‘cause it’s time for Sleep With Me, the podcast that puts you to sleep.

 

INTRO: [INTRO MUSIC] Hey, are you up all night tossing, turning, mind racing, trouble getting to sleep?  Trouble staying asleep?  Well, welcome.  This is Sleep With Me, the podcast that puts you to sleep.  We do it with a bedtime story.  Alls you need to do is get in bed, turn out the lights, and press play.  I’m gonna do the rest and here is what I’m going to attempt to do, just so you know.  Give you a little heads up; I’m gonna try to take…I don’t normally say that, so now of course, I got mixed up.  Are you up all night tossing…sorry about this.  I guess I tried something different.  You know, we all trip and stumble.  Are you up all night tossing, turning, mind racing, trouble getting to sleep?  Trouble staying asleep?  Welcome.  This is Sleep With Me, the podcast that puts you to sleep.  We do it with a bedtime story.  What part did I get mixed up on?  I don’t know if you all heard that.  Trouble getting to sleep…I’ll just start again.  Hey, second chances.  You’re the best, thanks so much for that second chance.

 

Are you up all night tossing, turning, mind racing, trouble getting to sleep?  Trouble staying asleep?  Well, welcome.  This is Sleep With Me, the podcast that puts you to sleep.  We do it with a bedtime story.  Before I get distracted again, I think that’s where I got mixed up.  Alls you need to do is get in bed, turn out the lights, and press play.  I’m gonna do the rest.  That could have also been the moment I got mixed up.  You know more than me; you’re definitely…I’m gonna do the rest.  What I’m going to attempt to do is create a safe place where you could set aside whatever is keeping you awake.  Whether it’s thoughts, repetitive thoughts, or thoughts about the past, present, or future, feelings, anything coming up for you emotionally or you’re experiencing physically, travel or potential travel, changes in time or temperature.  Here’s one that I don’t bring up too much but scents and smells.  I mean, senses, of course, but I guess smell is a sense.

 

But I meant scents, but that’s hard to enunciate on a sleep podcast ‘cause I don’t want to…you don’t really pop your t’s but I don’t want too much with the t’s.  Whatever’s keeping you awake, I’m here to take your mind off of that.  What I’m gonna do is I have this safe place and I don’t know if you can sense it, but I’m making circular motions with my hands now because I want to…I’m smoothing and padding this safe place.  I’m rubbing it down and I’m saying safe place, just like I was in a…just like if I had got some 90s R&B to…maybe that’s playing somewhere in the distance, if you wish.  I’m also gonna send my voice across the deep, dark night.  I’m gonna use lulling, soothing, creaky, dulcet tones, pointless meanders; I think you’ve caught a couple of those; superfluous tangents.  I’m gonna go off-topic.  Here’s the thing; I’m here to keep you company and take your mind off of stuff, to be a friendly voice here and if you’re new, of course you need a little bit more information.

 

You may be doubtful, you may be skeptical, you may have that face that’s common to a lot of Sleep With Me listeners which could be…you could say did that person just have a Sour Patch or a lemon?  Or are they experiencing consternation?  Consternation.  You look consternated.  You say I’m sorry, what?  I say yeah, I guess that’s not…no one ever says that.  They say consternation but they never say oh boy, did you look…I looked at you across…’cause that’s probably the look on my face a lot of times.  Here’s a question; is consternation like the stern version of concentrating?  You know, I mean, I wish I…I don’t look up words normally when I’m doing the intro because…it’s kind of like you’re concentrating but in my case, my brow and my forehead are…it’s like a triple furrow up there.  You say how’d you get your crow’s feet, Scoots?  I say well, which tale would you like me to spin?  Generally, a stern version of concentration.

 

No one ever says you look consterned but I may even be…the original word may not even exist that I think I’m using.  But yeah, oh no, these ones, those are from…I had a Sour Patch Kid.  That’s why.  What was my point?  Oh, if you’re new, you may be experiencing some of that because it's natural.  When you come to a sleep podcast, maybe you heard about it, maybe someone told you about it.  It’s tough to have an expectation for a goofy sleep podcast.  That’s what I make, so welcome to Sleep With Me.  I want to give you some information just in case ‘cause maybe this is…I hope this is the podcast for you and that it can put you to sleep, or that you’re a regular listener and you’re mildly amused at once again, me describing this.  I don’t think I’ve talked about consternation before.  Maybe it’s concern…overly concerned stern concentration; the consternation.  There you go.  That’s what…if I had a call-in show, it would be called Consternation Nation.

 

You say okay, hold on, we’ve got a caller from…oh, no, they’re still thinking about their call.  Okay, we got another…oh, no.  They said they need a minute; they’re working their jaw and thinking about what they’re gonna say.  They’re concerned.  Okay, so we don’t have any calls here on Consternation…everyone’s…so, we’ll be back after this break.  If you’re new, here’s a couple things to know; I really want to help you fall asleep.  That’s the most important thing but also, this podcast doesn’t work for everybody.  I’m being totally honest.  I hope it works for you, like I said.  Most listeners say it took two or three tries before they became…like I said, oh, okay, this show is weird and it doesn’t make any sense.  I try to…I’m really trying to deconsternate things ‘cause you say okay, I’m not gonna…I’m gonna go off-topic.  That’s one thing.  The podcast is best confused or consumed in a way that’s a little bit looser than when we’re doing that stern concentration with the other word that I thought of.

 

Concerned and stern concentration.  That sounds like when I list my hobbies on profiles.  No wonder nobody…so, we try and get through that.  I’ll tell you some info; I’m here to keep you company.  Okay, so listen to it a few tries and see how it goes is what most regular listeners say.  But so, here’s a couple other things; this is a podcast you can consume loosely.  If you try to pay attention too much, it’ll really get on your nerves.  I’ve gotten that message from people that don’t listen to the show or that listened, took a year break, and then came back and became a regular listener.  It’s kind of a dilemma that ideally, you see your way through and the show eventually grows on you.  Obviously, I’m not a great marketer but that’s one thing.  You might not like the show, but still give it a few tries.  If someone came from outer space and we told them about a lot of things we enjoyed, but not everything; the ten-minute version.  They said hey, what’s some good stuff about humanity?

 

Compassion, empathy, ice cream, hugs, you know, I don’t know what you call it on your planet, but you know, [00:10:00] other stuff.  Yeah, there’s a lot of good stuff, like hubba-hubba, that’s what…Hubba Bubba gum, that was once a good thing.  It might still be around; I’m not sure.  Eventually, what if you then gave them a Sour Patch Kid, right?  They wouldn’t know…I mean, I’m projecting here, fictionalizing things, but they’d say what did you just give me?  I thought I came here in peace to learn about what’s good.  If you knew what to say, you’d say hold on, give it a minute, [GIBBERISH]. Give it a few minutes, you’ll eventually…oh boy, we didn’t check for if your taste buds are the same as ours.  Oh, they are…I’ve simulated your taste buds.  Oh, then give it a few minutes and then I think you’ll realize that Sour Patch Kids or Sour Patch whatever tend to grow on you.  I guess that was a long-winded way of saying see if that method applies for Sleep With Me if you’re new.

 

That’s one thing; also, this podcast really isn’t here to put you to sleep.  It’s here to keep you company as you drift off.  The reason the shows are about an hour is to give you plenty of time.  If you can’t sleep for some reason, I’m here for you.  These episodes are complete.  From start to finish, I’m here to keep you company; awake or asleep.  Those are two things.  Structurally, this is way too late to tell you this, but just for future knowledge, the show starts off with business, or a little teaser, we call it, then the ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and friends beyond the binary, yadda, yadda, yadda, business.  Then an intro, then business, then tonight will be our Good Place coverage, and then some thank yous of the show.  That’s how we’re able to keep this coming out to you twice a week on a regular basis at no cost to the listeners.  Whenever you need it.  That’s the structure of the show.  But also, structurally, you say the intro…timewise, the intro takes up…the show’s about an hour.

 

Ideally when I record, the Good Place part is fifty minutes when I record it.  It probably gets trimmed down to forty-five minutes or maybe it’s…or something like that.  Then, there’s an intro which ideally, I record somewhere between twelve and twenty minutes and then that get trimmed down, and the business is tucked in on those sides of that.  The reason the intro though, can throw people off; the intro’s around twelve to twenty minutes of me just kind of rambling pointlessly for a couple reasons.  One, so you know, you get a sense of the show, and you say okay, it doesn’t make any sense.  I kind of barely don’t get it and I guess that’s the kind of thing…or you at least get a feel for the…like I said at the beginning of the show, those creaky, dulcet tones like a two-stroke engine, and the pointless meanders.  But really, the intro gives listeners, regular listeners that enjoy it, a chance to get ready for bed or to get comfortable in bed.

 

Give it ten, fifteen, twenty minutes to wind down so there’s no pressure to fall asleep.  But this show becomes part of your getting comfortable.  Maybe you’re doing a little something, you’re listening to the show, maybe you’re doing some…a puzzle or you’re drawing or you’re just sitting or you’re petting your pets, or just relaxing.  You don’t even have to…you don’t even have to keep your eyes closed yet.  You could, but you could just be looking up.  Maybe you could…you’re adjusting your fans.  Some people are getting ready for bed.  Then two to four percent of people, they start the show around twenty minutes and they just listen from there.  Kind of see how it goes, if you’re new.  The main thing is the intro’s supposed to be barely fun for regular listeners.  You say oh, it’s familiar and it’s barely entertaining and fun in a good way.  Scoots, I love almost laughing at your nearly-completed jokes and I say well, we get each other for sure.  That’s the structure of the show.

 

The reason I make the show is because I’ve been there.  I know how it feels.  Last night, believe it or not, was the first night I slept in my own bed in like, I don’t even know, over two weeks.  I think…what’s two…maybe even like, three weeks.  I kind of was…I was tired and I was very excited to sleep in my own bed and I think I over-hyped it.  This is what I try to do with the show; no pressure.  I’m gonna be here for an hour ‘cause I get…kind of when you think something’s gonna happen, I kept waiting for it to happen.  I got in my bed and I said well, I mean, my bed couldn’t have felt too good about it.  If I was a pet, it’d be like I missed him so much, can’t wait for him to come and move around my pillows and move him around some more, and then put one over his head and then tuck one under his arm, and toss and turn and do his whale-breach move which is one of my moves.  Usually it’s when I’m trying to get the covers from somebody else so that’s not an issue right now but where I stay asleep and I jump up and I twist in the air to roll some covers up, just like a breaching whale.

 

Looks exactly like that.  What was I talking about, though?  Oh, so then it wasn’t the idyllic situation.  Eventually I got to sleep, NBD, but I guess I probably owe my bed an apology tonight.  I said man, I don’t remember this.  When I was in these other places, I guess ‘cause I also got adjusted to sleeping in the other place that I’d been sleeping at, and none of them were optimized.  Well, I was in a hotel for like, four nights recently, and that room could get pretty dark.  Actually, I could get it cold so that was pretty decent.  Wasn’t quiet but it had the other ones; darkness and coolness.  Anyway, what was my point?  Oh, I’ve been there, even recently.  That’s why I make this show, is to try and help ‘cause I know how it feels.

 

I also truly believe you do deserve a good night’s sleep and your life will be a little bit better or a lot better if you get the rest you deserve and you need.  I’m happy to be a part of that if it’s possible.  If you’re new, give this show a few tries.  Really, I don’t think you have anything to lose; if you don’t, you don’t need to listen anymore.  But I really hope it works for you.  I really, really appreciate you coming by.  All my regular listeners here, let me…and new listeners, of course, let me tuck you in.  What do you want me to do with your feet?  Okay, how about that?  Okay, should I push this under your calf, there?  Okay.  Alrighty.  I’m glad you’re here.  I work very hard.  I yearn and I strive.  I really want to help you fall asleep.  Thanks again for coming by.  Here’s a few ways we’re able to keep this podcast free for everybody.  Awesome, huh?

 

Alright, hey everybody, it’s Scoots.  We’re talking about The Good Place here.  I’m still actually loading up.  I just started recording while I’m still prepping.  Why?  I don’t know why but I just said hey, let’s start talking.  Actually, already, the episode is playing.  It opens in the bank-like lobby of the place that is not so good.  I’m on my notes from You’ve Changed, Man, so I gotta change my notes.  Mondays, am I Right?  Open office; there’s somewhere between twenty-six and twenty-eight desks there and of course, there’s that bank vault in the background, there’s some books on desks, there’s old-fashioned adding machines.  A lot of the old steel-style furniture.  Once upon a time I had a job where I would have to…I would install ergonomic workstations for people.  Nothing like knowing when you climb under people’s desks…work for a living.  You say well, I know where…but this one…yeah, a lot of metal desks.  Is that a kitty cat on that one desk?  Some people are working…what do they call those things?

 

Filofaxes or however you look up phone numbers; Rolodexes.  Probably the original Rolodex, metal adding machines, desks, lamps, there’s some books or ledgers on desks, and some Bad Place employees have been talking about hey, there’s no humans coming in.  It’s kind of bored.  It’s not the same.  Then, a Bad Janet says special meeting.  Everybody has a laugh.  Then they go into the conference room, the one we’ve seen from the web-series and other things.  Also, there is nice sunlight coming in, or some sort of light coming into the workplace, not enough that I would say it makes the workplace good.  What was that?  I just noticed somebody was playing with something at their desk there.  May have to pause it.  But some light…yeah, so one of the workers in the background seems like he has a cat toy he’s playing with on his desk, a little bit like one of those volleyballs on a string.  But anyway, they go into the conference [00:20:00] room, a few of the Bad Place workers, and they walk in.

 

The first thing you see is plans on an easel and then it’s a conference room.  On the left side wall of the conference room are some green computer-type screens.  One has bathroom icons.  I don’t know if that symbolizes Jason, Tahani, Chidi and Eleanor or not, and then there’s a radar, there’s some printing.  Michael and Janet and Sean are there as well.  The Good Place people actually think that the humans got caught.  They go oh, good.  Michael says no, no, no, I’m your boss now.  Then Sean can barely get out that they’re gonna be working together.  Nice tie and pocket square on Michael, by the way.  Really pop on that…a pocket square that pops.  Nice colors in his tie; I’m not sure if it’s fish.  It might be koi.  I’m not being coy about the kois that could be on Michael’s tie.  Sean doesn’t like sand.  They go hey, you’re hand-selected.  First Bad Place architects are in the new system.  New system?  It already works.  This is the way it’s always been done.

 

Then Tahani points out the danger of that statement but the Good Place people take it literally.  Somethings…then it opens Chapter 50 which is Mondays, am I Right?  Then we’re in the file room with Chidi and Eleanor.  The computers there have a file for every human in the Bad Place which is pretty much every human.  Jason’s there, too.  I think they have to look up…they say what are we gonna do with all this information?  These are some old school, one-piece computers, too.  ‘Cause Eleanor wants to look up stuff about past humans; past presidents’ behaviors.  They say okay, well, Michael’s trying to train the architects.  Our job is to find the first thousand humans to be the test people, people that will sail through it so we can build confidence in the system.  I say okay, the people with the highest point totals or greatest hardships?  What about just the best people who ever lived?  Those are some gimmies.  Then Jason lists some of his favorites which is hilarious, including a Janie.

 

Right after Jazzy Jeff which was interesting because Will Smith played Janie and was in with the Jazzy Jeff.  Jason says yeah, come on.  Then he lists even more people and he says okay, let’s call it a day.  He goes out, leaves…who’s that, Eleanor and Chidi alone.  Kool-Aid man; that was one of them.  I had to say somebody.  Then we’re back in the conference room.  They say okay, the government gave out Tahani [inaudible].  They say oh jeez.  Michael says I’m gonna hand out Tahani’s file.  She’s a test subject and they get an idea.  No one really is excited.  Then they say jeez, this isn’t gonna be easy for them.  Michael gets really enthusiastic.  He says they’re having to learn a whole new system, you know.  They’re set in their ways but this is the fun part; the work.  No matter what happens, we’re putting in a better, brighter future.  Then Phil says, you know what?  I don’t want to work here.  He was in the performative wokanist apartment.  A lot of funny jokes there.

 

Phil’s out, then we have Jason reading his own file.  He’s cracking up to Eleanor, talking about siphoning.  Car, boat…always got that gas.  The way he says it is the best.  You could watch that a thousand times over.  She goes, what is that?  He goes oh, I printed out all our files.  Then Eleanor kind of gets a little stressed by that.  She says jeez, I love you so much, honey, to Chidi ‘cause she starts worrying oh, are you gonna read my file?  Also, you could pause it multiple times in this episode to see some of the names.  I guess right now it’s out of focus.  We’ll talk about some of the people whose…one or two of the people whose names you might not be familiar with.  There’s someone’s name on the…this’ll probably be a mystery but I just e-mailed the person who I associate with this.  There’s someone whose name is on the board.  This is a little behind-the-scenes Scoots life, a long time ago.  There’s someone who’s name is on the board.

 

Very exemplary life; did a lot of things for other people, who was the subject of an Oscar-winning short film, a fiction, a short fictional…well, I guess short film.  It was based on real life but it wasn’t a documentary.  I don’t know what you call those; short bio pic, I guess, that I happened to be an extra in.  I was cut from the movie before it won the Oscar, though my roommates that were also extras were all in it.  The camera panned across my roommates and then cut to…probably heard that story before.  You know, that’s not my claim to fame.  All my other roommates from the time, they were in an Oscar-winning movie as extras.  Or maybe two out of three; maybe one of my roommates couldn’t make it, like, she had to work and now she’s an actress which is, I guess that’s irony.  Anyway, I thought of that when I looked on the board.  Where was I though?  I got lost.  But if you want to pause it, there’s some good names up there.  But let’s see, Eleanor’s stressed about her file.

 

Possible test subjects…it was on a chalkboard.  We’re in love, oh boy.  Chidi’s like, I don’t know about your tone.  She goes oh, I don’t want you to read my file.  Will you still love me?  Maybe you should read my file, Halloween 2013.  Actually, it’s funny, ‘cause Halloween 2013 was the end of my Halloweens, too.  I think that was…right?  2013, or was it 2012?  Anyway, they go back and forth.  Don’t read my file.  We’re gonna spend eternity together; maybe you should read my file.  Chidi, of course, is like, I don’t understand.  Just read my file.  He goes okay, once I’m done with this one file, this really…another person has done a lot.  Eleanor’s a little bit worried.  Then, we go…we get a hint of about the Good Place’s sound when someone passes…a human passes a test and goes to the Good Place.  Oh, there’s this cheesy video; that’s what it is.  It’s really cheesy, it’s really good.  A lot of good fake acting in this episode, acting like you’re fake acting.

 

But Chidi’s in a green thumbs-up Good Place architect t-shirt, Tahani’s in a human…I think it’s off-white with purple writing shirt, and Jason’s in a red Bad Place architect shirt.  What does that say?  Gold onion, bad acting.  Let me see, video’s about to roll, here.  Oh, gold chain, that’s what it is.  Jason also has a gold chain on but they say jeez, that’s the sound you hear if a human passes the test.  New system’s great.  It just felt great.  I mean, really good.  They say who do we have to thank for implementing this?  Michael says by me, and then they say okay, thanks everybody.  The Bad Place architect people are like, you gotta be kidding me; you’re making us watch this?  They go, is this over?  Then there’s another…simply the best part that is simply the best.  Then they argue about what’s lamer; this work video in the new system or the old system?  Michael says the old system was basic.  You didn’t even know anything about the humans.

 

You just used a few things and this way, we’re gonna work with our specific…we’re gonna help them.  We’re gonna really dig deep.  He goes trust me; humans are very flawed.  This is a chance to be part of a bold new future.  Also, Michael played keyboards in the video.  They put Michael on keys.  Then Vicky shows up.  She calls herself a stone-cold fox, which I liked.  Then there’s an ad.  Yeah, I guess she says I’m a stone-cold fox and they say Vicky, what are you doing there?  Then they cut to an ad.  Then Vic…they’re like, why are you back…Vicky, what are you doing here?  She goes, I want to be part of this new system.  I love the idea.  Michael goes, I’m not sure I trust you.  She goes, well look, after I went into goo, I was thinking while my goo was reforming and I want to change as things change.  [00:30:00] I guess she says a [inaudible] line because all the actors are…she says, change can be scary but an artist’s job is to be scared.  They say well, I must be doing my job because that’s how I feel 90% of the time without trying.

 

But they say okay, check out Tahani’s file.  She goes oh, I don’t need it.  I know her well.  They have a good joke about shade and casting shade.  Then, we go back to Chidi and Eleanor.  Chidi’s finishing up Eleanor’s file, they have a discussion about sunk cost.  Chidi is very impressed because she’s lived such a full life and overcome so much, gone on so many journeys.  He goes, my file size is one-tenth the size.  He says, I’m a dame drip which I thought was interesting.  I said, can you say that on there?  He goes, you were more confident at thirteen than I ever was.  She goes, will you still love me?  He goes yeah, but I might not be good enough for you.  She goes, you’re confident, Chidi.  He goes yeah, I don’t know.  What about Nicholas, that fireman?  She goes yeah, he was pretty H-O to the T but I love you.  She goes, we could always have a conversation about it but if you know me, then…she goes what have you done?  Not returned a library book?  He goes, yeah, okay, yeah.

 

He goes, I put the…he goes, I’m making up for it, trust me.  Watch the episode.  Chidi’s in his doubtful place which they say let’s get back to work.  Rainbow sweetener.  I thought that said it’s…Eleanor has her rainbow sweater on.  I guess technically it’s not a rainbow; it’s just a striped long-sleeve T.  Neither a sweater nor a rainbow, now that I’m thinking about it.  Stan Smith’s has three colors plus pink arms.  What colors, Scoots?  Lime green, a royal blue, and maybe a magenta, brick, somewhere between those two colors.  Could be a T or a sweater, a light sweater.  Okay, so then we go to the…running the tests on Tahani.  Lots of knobs to program the testing thing which is in a radio booth.  Then they say no furry forest friends.  The first test ends with furry forest friends.  They say okay, no furry forest friends for people.  Use something else.  The challenges the subjects face should be smaller and more relatable.  Tahani’s at a fancy party, first time a forest friend shows up.

 

Second time, it’s a talking smaller forest friend who has a shirt on that says Mondays, M-O-N-D-A-Y-S apostrophe S comma, am I Right? Question mark. Oh no, that was the title of the episode.  But the t-shirt says Epic Bacon, Much?  With bacon on the side.  Then they stop the test again.  They say no forest friends.  Oh, sorry.  Smaller, more relatable, like humans relate to Mondays and bacon.  Then Vicky says what about if I try?  I think I got this.  She goes first, you gotta get into Tahani’s head space.  Hello, love.  Pish-posh, tunas and pickles.  She does this with Tahani, and then she goes okay, let me think about this for a second.  Then we’re back at the office and Eleanor finishes up a book.  She leaves, goes to look for a snack bar, I think.  Then Jason says what’s up, dude, to Chidi.  He goes, you have a tell.  I know you’re upset.  He goes, really?  He goes yeah, you told Eleanor you’re upset.  Chidi goes, she’s gonna get bored with me.  He goes, I’m a boring person and she’s an exciting person.

 

Jason goes yeah, you’re different, though.  Opposites attract.  He goes well yeah, there couldn’t be more…bigger opposites than you and Janet.  Then Jason says, is Janet gonna get bored with me?  Jason kind of walks out, sad.  It’ll get a quick call back, though.  Chidi says oh man, oh boy, Charlie Brown style.  Then, we go back to the test.  Vicky’s running the program now and she says places, action.  Then it’s a party at…oh also, at about eleven minutes into the episode without ads, there’s a lot more names on the board.  But we go back and there’s a dinner for Camilla which again, I’m waiting for…I’m a little bit ahead of this show ‘cause I’ve been pausing it so much.  But it’s a dinner for Camilla.  Tahani’s there.  Very fancy dressed people.  They say oh boy, Camilla’s album’s not gonna work out.  She may have to fly coach and check a bag.  But then her parents are there; they say something not nice to Tahani.  They say do you have any praise for Camilla’s latest album or any other aspect of Camilla?

 

So many to celebrate.  Tahani, why don’t you go first?  You’ve had so many failures.  Say something nice about your sister.  Also, there’s even more jokes in there.  Then the test ends and Tahani…this is really great acting, by the way.  She goes, well done, Vicky, and she puts her hand on her tummy.  I just thought that was such a nice extra touch after the test.  Vicky’s pretty happy and then the Bad Place people are like oh, okay, so her parents are like the forest friends.  Instead of forest-friending him, they forest her self-esteem and they go yeah, yeah, and they go yeah, flattening the blankety-blank of their hearts.  They go let’s look deeper in her file and figure out how to challenge her.  Then Michael goes, slow down; Vicky, C+.  Not good.  Maybe you should just leave.  C+ again.  She goes, same old Michael; can’t share the spotlight.  She goes, goodbye, everyone.  That’s a wrap on Vicky.  Then there’s an ad.  Then, we have Tahani, Michael, and Janet.  They’re like why would you fire…they’re walking in a hall.

 

They go why would you fire Vicky, Michael?  What are you thinking?  He goes, it was beginner’s luck.  He goes, this is a secret sauce only I know how to put on the steak of this process.  They go, not only is Vicky good at the design; she’s good at teaching.  Michael goes, that’s going too fast.  They go, whatever.  Michael’s not happy.  Then they go just come on Michael, you just want your nemesis to help or solve things.  Janet says you know, I had to ask Alexa something.  He goes no…he goes, hundreds of years…this is another one of these beats where it’s really touching.  Michael says I had a job coming up with this system and then trying to fix the system, rolling a rock up a hill over and over.  It would roll back down again and I had something to do.  Then Vicky comes along and just lifts it right over the hill.  He goes, pushing a rock up the hill gave me a purpose.  Who am I if the rock is gone?  Then a great joke after that.  But they say jeez, if we don’t get Vicky back…Vicky’s our best chance, so focus on that right now and then deal with the future in the future.

 

Then, Chidi and Jason are in the lobby and Chidi’s like, sorry Jason, I didn’t mean to…he goes no, Janet and I are different.  Maybe it won’t last, like a mongoose in the Capulets.  He goes, I read some books, man.  But Chidi says well, even if it doesn’t make sense, who cares?  You have a beautiful relationship and you love one another.  That’s all that matters.  Jason goes, really?  You believe that?  Then Chidi goes, yeah.  He goes, okay.  Then reverse…basically gives Chidi great advice.  Put it back in your head and realize it was you talking about you and Eleanor.  Chidi’s very impressed.  Then Jason goes, chess mate.  Classic.  Then Michael and Vicky are in the lobby.  Is that where they are?  Oh no, they’re in the lobby.  Michael and Vicky talk; Michael says, she’s…oh, they’re in the office.  Yeah, where all the desks are.  She’s got yoga stuff.  He goes jeez, I’m sorry about that.  It was my own insecurities.  Please come back.  She goes, nope.  She goes, I’m a strong, independent…in the suit of a strong, independent woman.  Headed out to ice-cold yoga class or [00:40:00] something.

 

He goes, you were the best part of my neighborhood.  I took you for granted and that was wrong.  He goes, now I want to give you the role of a lifetime; run the whole project, all my plans and notes, then I’ll step back, you take over.  Full creative control, like a director.  But she goes no, no, that won’t work.  You can’t just put me in charge.  He goes well, I’m not gonna give it to you; you’ll take it.  She says well, interesting.  I don’t want to be your puppet.  Then we have Chidi and Eleanor back and [inaudible] see even more names on the board.  Chidi says sorry, and then he goes, I’m gonna learn the guitar so you won’t get bored with me.  She goes actually, I like drummers.  Read my file.  Yeah, but they re-touch base of love which is nice.  Then, more bad acting ‘cause…or good bad acting ‘cause Michael says okay, for this next phase of training…then Vicky goes stop right there.  They go, I can’t believe you’re here.  She goes, that’s right, I’m taking over.  You’ve gotta watch it.  I’m still standing, Mikey-boy.

 

Explain what you mean for me and everyone else.  She takes over, says is everybody with me to take over for Michael?  They go oh, yeah.  Then Vicky wants to take it a little bit farther with a little dance battle from West Side Story but they say no, no, no, we’re out.  Eventually, we get to this big final scene or series of scenes.  Maybe there was one more ad break; I'm not sure.  Vicky says [inaudible] takes over, Michael storms out, Vicky wants to have the dance battle but they still leave.  Then, it’s 1.28 Jeremy Bearimy later.  We have a tag and then it’s…we’re in the Good Place, or Michael’s neighborhood, the Good Place, the new afterlife architect training school.  Then a picture of Vicky; it says Artistic Director Vicky.  It’s a very prototypical sign they’ve seen, but then…it’s definitely worth a re-watch ‘cause people are coming in from the train station, it’s a bit like adult-college orientation or something.  At some point a panda bear just appears but there’s check-in desks, Vicky’s talking.

 

I don’t know, there’s probably even more cookies hidden in other places.  She says, welcome everyone.  Good Place architects to the left, Bad Place to the right.  Grab your pack.  Classes start in thirty minutes.  My movement for volcano friends is full.  Everything looks smooth.  Oh, also, someone was holding an auction sign that said E32.  I think those are people that work there ‘cause I’m seeing another person in the background to help know where to go.  Everyone has tote bags.  I’m not sure what’s on the tote bags; it’s like a circle with someone’s profile.  Oh, and looks like there’s Good Place and Bad Place ones.  The Bad Place ones are red and they say oh man, Michael, you got that rock up the hill.  Janet says now, we just have to find your next rock.  The first neighborhoods are up and running.  Soul Squad is all together here.  Then the chime comes, the Good Place chime.  They say that means someone got into the Good Place.  Michael and Janet have these big smiles.

 

They go, who is it, Prince?  It got to be princess…but Eleanor says…and they go no, it’s you guys.  Judge agreed saving the universe worth a few points.  You’re in.  Everybody’s cheering and happy.  They go, I can’t believe this is real.  Then, a hot air balloon comes, a gold one.  They go yeah, let’s do it, I guess.  Holy moly, let’s do some traveling.  You coming with us?  Michael and Janet are of course coming with us.  They get in, everybody’s gathering around.  They got all their name tags and their tote bags, and the balloon starts to take off.  They say see you, bye!  Jason calls them folls, like Nick Folls, F-O-L-L-S, and the episode comes to a close.  That’s that.  Let’s just keep going here with what else came up on this episode.  Hey?  Am I Right, Mondays?  Am I right?  Let’s look up some stuff.  What about the Happy Mondays?  They were a English rock band formed in 1980.  Let’s see, bridged the Manchester Independent Rock Music of the 80s and the UK rave scene, drawing influences from funk house, psychedelic…that word, you know.  They had a first incarnation on Factory Records.

 

That was in the mid-80s.  They were an important part of the Manchester scene rave culture.  Even Paul McCartney was a fan.  Then they disbanded in ’93, kind of split up, formed some other groups.  Let’s see, another reincarnation The Mondays would be later.  Yeah, had a couple other reboots.  Oh, ‘cause they were in…oh, the 24 Hour Party People, wow, has them in the movie.  Some of the…oh no, they’re played by…oh, they did have…Paul Ryder had a cameo.  Then a third incarnation was…reformation with some of the original members formed in Liverpool in 2006.  Toured in late aughts and in 2012, they had a fourth incarnation.  A lot of stuff.  I just wanted to bring it up ‘cause I thought of it when I thought of the Mondays.  What about easel?  I said what would happen if I looked up easel?  How do you spell that?  E-A-S-E-L which is an upright support used for displaying or fixing something resting on it at an angle of about twenty degrees to the vertical.

 

Traditionally used by painters for paintings or to display paintings.  Typically made of wood.  Easel-painting is even considered a style of painting.  It’s an old Germanic synonym for donkey.  In other languages, the only equivalent is for both the animal and apparatus.  They even used it at least at early as the ancient Egyptians.  There’s tripod designs, there’s H-frame designs, there’s multi-purpose designs that you can see more modern ones, even.  They can be full height standing on the floor, or shorter for a table.  You got artist easels, children’s easels, display easels, dark room easels, facilitation easels, and paint stations, or studio easels.  A field easel which we saw…someone was painting something in the first or the second season of The Good Place that we saw, too.  I don’t know, that’s just a little bit about…that’s the easy on easels.  I thought of…there’s these one-piece computers which I looked into a little bit.  I think they’re probably Wang computers, is my best guess.

 

But I couldn’t find anything super interesting about it so anyways, we talked about One Piece on this show, a Japanese manga.  It’s been serialized since July…’cause when I was a librarian, it was extremely popular.  It’s by Oda.  It was started July 22, 1997.  It’s come out in ninety-five of its own volumes.  It follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, a boy who’s about a…gained the properties of rubber after taking a special fruit.  He hangs with the straw-hat pirates.  I never actually read any of it.  I’d just gave it out to the youth I worked with at the library.  But it sounds like it’s episodic too because they’re in search of a treasure, the ultimate treasure known as One Piece to become the king of the pirates.  It’s now a media franchise, it's a festival film, an anime series which started in 1999.  Fourteen feature films which was one film and then thirteen television specials.  Several companies have done merch, video games.  Eventually it was released in the North America and the [00:50:00] UK in 2004 and 2007.

 

It’s received praise for its storytelling art, characterization, and humor.  Several volumes of the manga have broken publishing records including the highest-initial print run of any book in Japan.  The official website for Oda says that it set the Guinness Book of World Record for most copies published for the same comic book series by single author.  462 million copies in circulation, forty-three countries.  That’s pretty, pretty, pretty successful, huh?  Yeah, Monkey D. Luffy whose hero and idol is Red-Haired Shanks.  The world of One Piece is populated by humans and other races; fish people, big people, you know, forest friends and humans, a lot of other stuff.  This does really sound interesting to me.  Yeah, there’s a lot more about it here.  Media…let’s see what else we have.  The festival films, anime series, theatrical films, the video games, music, light novels, arts and guidebooks…oh wait, a theme park here.  A restaurant modeled by the same name opened in 2013.

 

Fuji Television headquarters, an indoor theme park located inside the Tokyo Tower.  Also opened…they may have done a live-action series or they may be trying to get a live-action series made.  Yeah, it looks like they just ordered…Netflix ordered a season of ten episodes of live action.  Reception…let’s see.  Oh, there’s reproductions of the two pirate ships, Going Merry and Thousand Sunny.  I just remember waiting for these to come out.  It was like, when does the next one of these come out?  I would look and try to have it pre-ordered for when they came out.  What volume are they on now?  I don’t know.  I was just trying to look that up too, but…yeah, that’s a little bit about One Piece.  Okay, so one of the names on the board was Toyohiko Kagawa who lived from 1880 until 1960, a Japanese-Christian pacifist and labor-organizer.  Kagawa worked and spoke lengths away to employ Christian principles in the ordering of societies and cooperatives.

 

He had a vocation to the poor, advocated for women’s suffrage, and peace.  He was born in Kobe, Japan, went away to school, was taught by some missionaries.  He learned a lot, learned about Christianity.  Later would go to college and then the seminary.  But he wasn’t so sure about the technical side of doctrine.  He believed in Christianity and action, like the parable of the Good Samaritan.  In 1909 he stared becoming a missionary social worker sociologist.  Wanted to work hard at combating poverty.  First published researches in the psychology of the poor based on the experiences he had that brought attention to more middle-class Japanese people.  A lot of other stuff that people needed to know about.  Then he got into labor activism in the 20s.  Authorities weren’t pleased about that.  He wrote a few fictional novels during that time.  He was involved in a lot of labor, peace work, advocacy for a lot of different people.

 

His economic theory was expressed in his book The Brotherhood Economics which advocated that the Christian Church, the Co-operative Movement, and the Peace Movement unite in a powerful working synthesis to provide a workable alternative to capitalism, socialism, and fascism.  His work in the cooperative movement consists of founding several consumer cooperatives in 1921; Co-op Kobe, not a consumer cooperative; Kyoto Consumer Co-operative, Tokyo’s Student Consumer Co-operative.  A lot of those.  Three-dimensional forestry; he tried to persuade many of Japan’s upland farmers in the 1930s that the solution to soil erosion was tree planting to preserve soil, food supply, help animals, three-dimensions of one system.  There’s a lot more about it but I wanted to bring that to your attention, too.  What about siphon?  Siphon, from the ancient Greek pipe or tube, is a wide variety of devices that involve the flow of liquids through tubes.

 

In a narrower sense, it refers particularly to a tube in an inverted U-shape which causes liquid to flow upward above the surface of a reservoir with no pump and then powered by the fall of the liquid, flows down a tube under the pull of gravity and then just discharges at a level lower than the surface of the reservoir from which it came.  There are two leading theories about how…this is all from Wikipedia, everything I’ve been saying today…theories about how siphons cause liquid to flow up a tube against gravity without being pumped, powered by gravity.  The traditional theory for centuries was that gravity was pulling the liquid down one side of the siphon which resulted in reduced pressure at the top of the siphon and the atmospheric pressure was pushing the liquid from the upper reservoir into the reduced pressure at the top of the siphon like a barometer or a straw, and then over.  However, it’s been demonstrated that siphons cannot operated in a vacuum.

 

Jason would be happy to know that, and in heights exceeding the barometric height of liquid.  Consequently, the cohesive tension siphon…cohesive tension theory of siphon operation has been advocated where liquid is pulled over the siphon kind of like a chain.  It also need not be that one theory be correct, that circumstances may determine it.  I’ll link to that article [inaudible] or you could read about siphons.  What about The Best?  A lot of us are familiar with Tina Turner’s version or Janet and Michael’s version.  But Bonnie Tyler originally recorded it in the 1988 album Hide Your Heart, written by Mike Chapman and Holly Knight and produced by Desmond Child.  Reached number ten in Norway and number five in the UK.  Then Tina Turner released a version in 1989 that became highly successful.  Edgar Winter plays the saxophone on Tina Turner’s version.  It was on her album Foreign Affair.  Holly Night said you know, it’s a song that’s positive and not cheesy.

 

I don’t know what movie it was on; I think it was in one of the movies is why it was so popular.  But I don’t know.  Let’s see, popular culture in the United States.  Let’s see, the last sports teams use it and it was on…oh, HBO.  That was why.  That’s probably where I heard it, was the HBO promos.  That’s definitely where I heard it.  Okay, what about sunk costs?  Let’s get real quick.  In economics, a sunk cost is known as a cost that’s already been incurred and cannot be recovered.  I think there’s a sunk cost…let’s see what that Concorde effect is.  Sunk costs do, in fact, influence people’s decision.  The sunk cost fallacy, or Concorde fallacy, is the fallacy that investments justify further expenditures.  The Concorde fallacy derives from the fact that the British and French governments continued to fund the development of the Concorde supersonic airplane even after it became apparent there was no longer an economic case for the aircraft.

 

The British government privately regarded the project as not going well commercially and it should have never been started but there was political and legal issues.  Or, if you [01:00:00] had to take it to a baseball game, the ticket buyer could choose between two things if he doesn’t like the game.  Paid the price of a ticket and sat through a game you don’t want to watch, or pay the price for the ticket and done something else fun.  There’s a lot more about sunk cost and that’s something that comes up sometimes, you know?  Then another person’s name on the board, and I’m not sure the pronunciation, Derek Parfit, or Parfit, was a British philosopher who specialized in personal identity, rationality, and ethics.  One of the more influential moral philosophers of the 20 and 21st Century.  He’s come up on this before; personal identity, I think Chidi may have had one of this books, Reasons and Persons, On What Matters.  Let’s see, his ethics and rationality.

 

Non-religious ethics as a young and fertile field of inquiry.  Self-defeating…he discusses self-defeating moral theories, the self-interest theory of rationality, ethical frameworks, morality and consequentialism.  He’s positive that self-interest has been dominant in Western culture for over two millennia, mixing with religious doctrine which united self-interest and morality.  When self-interest is our supreme rational concern, it instructs us to make our life go as well as possible.  Self-interest makes temporally neutral requirements that would be a rational act for ways we know we’d prefer later to undo is an example of irrational for fourteen-year-olds to listen to loud music or to do stuff they could get in trouble for if they knew it would detract from their future wellbeing and goals.  But it would be rational to commit any acts of self-denial or things that did negatively.  It would be irrational to do that if it effects negatively our wellbeing.

 

This is just the things he talks about, not necessarily his spouse’s.  In his second book, On What Matters, argues for moral reasonism, assisting in moral questions have true and false answers.  He also suggests that the three prominent views in moral philosophy; consequentialism and contractualism which I’ll talk about.  Ultimately converge on the same answers.  The affluent have strong, moral obligations to the poor.  I think that’s a pretty good thing.  Talks about personal identity.  A lot of stuff for you to check out and read through and enjoy there.  Then, I’ll link to an article about West Side Story.  You could read more about West Side Story the film or the musical.  I’ll link to the musical.  It’s inspired by William Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet.  It’s set in the upper West side in New York in the 1950s.  It’s one of those great musicals, well beloved, and then also film, and has a dance battle that Vicky really likes.  Thinking about Vicky dancing as you dance off into dreamland.  Goodnight.

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