Barflys & Butterflies

After a month long break, the fellas are back in a fun episode that goes all in on Attention. Ground covered includes an old pic of Brian’s ass featuring in Jamal’s recent breakup, the overwhelming competition for people’s attention, the difficulty of breaking through the signal-to-noise ratio, what grabs us enough to click and why, the share button as word of mouth, ADD/ADHD and Adderall, negative attention (embarrassment), Turkish Guy’s good looking yet non-photogenic family, breathing into it, preening/peacocking/flexing, withholding attention to get attention, intentional social media hiatuses, wooters, the art of the subtle flex, the importance of self-attention, attention balance in relationships, being in the room vs. being present, getting attention vs. holding it, and, of course, the latest rebrand of I$H.

The fellas go all in on Inspiration, using the undeniably authentic courage shown by Ukraine's president as a jumping off point.

Brian talks all things Ukraine and why it matters to you. 

The fellas go all in on Trust. Ground covered includes Dan’s ramped up segue game, the (mis)information wars, the Joe Rogan/Spotify controversy, trust as a vital source of happiness, Moldova, the disproportionate response to inconvenience in America, the played out red/blue binary of our society, the confusing nature of random/unnecessary lies, the importance of logic/rationale/consistency in building trust, Britney Spears, the importance of friends who will always be straight with you, the danger in selling paranoia, civil war, motivation as a source of distrust, celebrity crypto shills, not-for-nothingisms, and Newt Gingrich’s long history of glamouring GT. 

The fellas go all in on Anxiety. Ground covered includes Dan's return to NYC, Brian’s inherited anxiety regarding time commitments, a Liam Neeson-less rendition of the movie ‘Taken’, sourcing in relation to anxiety, Earth Runners, American Utopia, positive forms of anxiety (pre-performance butterflies), the hell that is moving, the pitfalls of being too constricted or too loose, the technology-fueled creep of work life into personal time, ignoring all inner commentary after 10pm, the Sunday Scaries, GT’s love for his weighted blanket, fidget spinner tricks, using physicality to affect mentality, and the danger of devaluing real issues through the over/incorrect use of terminology. 

The fellas go all in on Narrative. Ground covered includes buzzword overuse in everyday life, the devaluation of overworked language, the double edged sword of repetition, the mainstreaming of storytelling jargon and formulas, Jamal’s sexy underwear, the stories we tell in how we present ourselves, inside jokes as a form of layered narrative, everyone being the hero of their own story, inclusion/exclusion in narrative (IYKYK), the danger of weighting all information as equal, cherrypicking a narrative before having all the information, untrustworthy narrators, Dragon’s Lair, the Venn diagram formed by overlapping lives/narratives, Disney Princesses and, of course, a 6’8” Tom Cruse.

The fellas go all in on Analytics. Ground covered includes Jamal’s return after a long hiatus, Ken’s dominant victory in fantasy football, triaging your day, analytics already present in our lives (screen time, steps, floors climbed, views, listens, likes, downloads, bank activity, etc), applying analytics to your personal life, memory as an untrustworthy narrator, fighting the last war, pattern recognition, Brian’s personal test from the Matrix, the vulnerability of data to be skewed to a desired result, pleasure vs. gratification, feelings vs. metrics, leveling up, experience as data, and paralysis through analysis.    

The fellas go all in on Boundaries in a very fun episode. Ground covered includes personal space, buffer zones, red lines, the potential Russian invasion of Ukraine, a whole lot of examples involving “friends”, trolling and provocation, texting style by age group, the importance of communication in establishing boundaries, the pitfalls of using clinical language in emotional situations, Dan’s hangry cat, the usefulness of resting bitch face, managing expectations, proportionality, the power of attraction to override established boundaries, and a fantasy football conflict gone nuclear. 

The fellas go all in on Gratitude. Ground covered includes the emptiness of relative/negative gratitude, the awkwardness of dead people on Facebook, the performative underbelly of gratitude, Brian’s comeback vehicle for Katherine Heigl and himself, the ties between gratitude, guilt and selfishness, the overwhelming value of awareness and assessment, the human tendency to take things for granted, the personal nature of gratitude, spiritual bargaining and porcelain prayers, fiscally challenged vampires, and the importance of appreciating the good stuff when it happens.

The fellas go all in on Perception, using the Kyle Rittenhouse trial as a jumping off point.