Transcriber: Ida (@gentledownpour / ida.m.ailes@gmail.com)
JANINE: ...have to… set up my new planner this week. Um…
ALI: Ohhhhhh… That’s exciting…!
JANINE: [short sigh] I should’ve done it like, this week– I should’ve already done it, and I just didn’t. I just… didn’t…
[Cut in audio.]
JANINE: And it’s fine, it’s not like—you know, I don’t do… bullet journaling, so it’s not like I really have to do all that much. But…
ALI: Ohh, sure sure sure, yeah…
JANINE: I use the Mossery planner, which has a bunch of pages at the front about like, movies you wanna watch, and blah-blah-blah, and… I have to like, transfer some stuff over from… from my 2020 planner, and I have to like… do a bunch of stuff with tape to make it look less vanilla, and, you know, all that kind of thing.
ALI: Yeah… I, um... I, uh… [breathing in] So the planner I bought last year, [Janine: Mhm.] that I did not use all of, is undated. So, it’s like, ohh...
JANINE (overlapping): Ohh, so you’re set.
ALI: Yeah, but I want a new one. [laughing]
JANINE: Mmm. Mhmm. [chuckling]
ALI: The one that I– The thing that I know that I want is a new planner. Um…
JANINE: Yeah...
ALI: So, it’s the… it’s the first day of January... [chuckling]
JANINE: I had like, a… I had like, an undated… it was like, a long desk calendar kind of thing.
ALI: Ooo-oo.
JANINE: Um… It was sort of– It was like, rectangular, and it has a little spiral top, and I had it… back before I’d committed to real planners, um, just because I could prop it up behind my keyboard. But there is really that thing of like—I think I respect an undated planner less. You know?
[Ali laughing quietly.]
JANINE: Like, if I have an undated planner… I don’t feel any obligation to keep up with it, in the– in the same way, like, sometimes I’ll use it, but then I’ll just not use it for months and whatever, and it’s like, “Yeah, well, you don’t care, planner. You’re undated, like…”
ALI (overlapping): Riiight. Yeah.
JANINE: “You’re never gonna know. You’re gonna hide all of these secrets. To anyone flipping through this, it’s just gonna look perfectly normal.”
[Ali chuckling.]
JANINE: Like, there’s no… there’s no sense of shame if I don’t… use a bunch of nice tape on one week, and like… you know, there’s a couple weeks in my current planner where there… there’s really… it is… It never went past the… um… past the like… “Here’s stuff that’s upcoming” stage, where I’ll like– For, for weeks in advance of something, I’ll write in with erasable pen.
ALI: [quiet] Oh, right.
JANINE: I have a gray, erasable pen, because I don’t wanna use pencil, but I do want [chuckling] gray.
ALI: Yeah…
JANINE: Um, so I use this gray erasable pen, and I use that to fill in steps temporarily, and then when I get to that week, I erase that, and then put it in in like, a nice pen, that matches the tape scheme and all of that. Um…
ALI: Ohhh…
JANINE: And there are few… There are definitely a few weeks in my planner where it never got past the gray erasable pen stage.
[Ali laughing.]
JANINE: And those weeks, like, stand out. It’s like—yep, I know what was going on that week, like… [chuckling]
ALI: [chuckling] [amused] Mhm…!
JANINE: I know what happened there… Um… It tells a story, but then the next week it’s like, “Well… You know… Lemme get the tape out, lemme...”
ALI: [softly] Yeah…
JANINE: “Do an extra nice job this week… because I didn’t… I didn’t… fucking bother this week.”
ALI: Yeah, with more flexibility comes less responsibility.
JANINE: Mhmm.
ALI: And then it’s just… You know. [chuckling] Like… [amused] It just gets out of control from there. I feel like I should go back to bullet journaling, like I should just get like, a notebook again.
JANINE: Mhm.
ALI: But… [sigh] [whispering] I don’t know… [regular volume] It’s tough to know. [laughing]
JACK: Hello!
JANINE: Yeah…
ALI: Oh, hi!
JANINE: Hi!
[Someone yawning.]
JANINE: We’re talking about planners.
ALI: Mhm.
JACK: Oh, wow, I’m very—[sudden realization] Oh! [excited] It’s the first of January! I can crack open my Hobonichi!
[Janine and Jack chuckling, Ali laughing.]
JACK: [chuckling] I’ve been exc–
JANINE: Did you get a Hobonichi?
JACK: I’ve been excited about this since I got it in, um… maybe October? Uh…
ALI: Ohh…!
JANINE: Which one did you get? What cover? Very important, what cover?
JACK: Uh, it’s just the—it’s black, it has two kanji characters and three crossed keys on it, like [amused] from The Grand Budapest Hotel.
JANINE: Ooo! Is it—[chuckling] oh, nice—is it the… the tall skinny one, or the more square one?
JACK: It’s more square. Um…
JANINE: Oo, you got the big one? The, uh, what the fuck’s that one called… That’s not the Weeks, the Weeks is the skinny one.
ALI: Yeah, the Weeks is the skinny one.
JACK: “One– One page per day,” it says.
JANINE: [impressed] Oh, wow! Okay!
ALI: Yeah, I think that’s just the Techno, right?
JANINE: A page a day, all right!
ALI: Yeah…
JACK: My… My journaling method when I do it, is just write, um… a small amount of garbage about what I did that day, uh, and…
[Ali and Janine chuckling.]
JACK: I find that a page per day is pretty… is pretty good for that. I got– I was– I was journaling in Moleskine—a blank Moleskine—[Janine: Mhm.] that I would have to like, draw a month’s stuff in every time, which was like, meditative and fun, but also a disincentive, because when… like, everything went to hell this year, I got less and less inclined to like, um… structure months.
JANINE (overlapping): Yeah…
ALI (overlapping): Sure, uh-huh…
JACK: I was like, I was fully prepared to write in it. I was just like, “But I have to draw a bunch of boxes for each… you know… [sighing] day or whatever, so I’m ex–”
JANINE: You can get stamp sets– They make like, stamp sets that come in these like, wooden boxes.
ALI: Ohhh…!
JANINE: And they’re these wooden block stamps that are like– [Jack: Wow…!] Like, different frames and squares and stuff.
JACK: And that’s fun, ‘cause stamping is an enjoyable activity.
[Ali laughing.]
JANINE: Yeah, and it looks– They package them like, old, like, printing press letter sets. Um…
JACK: Sick!
[Ali quietly murmuring.]
JANINE: Which just looks so satisfying, [chuckling] right?
JACK: Um…
ALI: When I was dating… When I was like, “Here’s my monthly page for a blank planner,” what I would do is write… a list of the numbers in the middle of the page in a row, and then write like, normal things that I had to do on one side, and work things I had to do on the other side. [chuckling]
JACK: [impressed] Hoo-hoo! [chuckling]
[Janine chuckling.]
ALI: Um…
JACK: Wow.
ALI: That got me out of the habit of having to draw boxes.
[The sounds of wrapping being torn.]
JANINE: Mhmm…
JACK: Yeah. That sounds gr– This is me opening it now, [tearing wrapping] I’m– [chuckling]
[Ali chuckling.]
JACK: Now I’ve realized it’s January 1st, I’m like– I’m stoked. Um… I’ve never had, uh, one of these before. I’ve had a six month one, years ago, that I… [pausing] [sound of something light falling] Hoo! Something fell out.
ALI: [softly] Oh…? [chuckling]
JANINE: They usually package in like, some…
JACK: It’s a little guide book.
JANINE: Is it sticker tabs, or like a guide– yeah, guide book.
ALI: Yeah.
JANINE: I think—a little pamphlet to tell you about their… their… Tomoe River paper and how sick it is.
JACK: Oh my god, Ali! The ba– [chuckling]
ALI: Huh?
JACK: The back… of this book… has a full double page spread on different kinds of Japanese bread.
[Ali laughing, Janine chuckling.]
ALI: Perfect. Get your studying in.
JACK: Yeah, I’ve got to, I, um… Art and Jess, and… KB and I are going to… maybe try and go to Japan when it’s safe to do so. As like, a… “We got through this bullshit,” um…
JANINE: Tokyo Disney. It’s right there.
ALI: [breathing deeply] Yeah…
JACK: Tokyo Disney, and Tokyo DisneySea… is attached. [chuckling]
JANINE: Tokyo DisneySea!
ALI: Oh, Tokyo DisneySea rules.
JACK: [excited] Is it– Is it really good?
ALI: Yeah…
JACK: I’ve only seen pictures, and it looks like fucking Myst, which makes me excited to go.
[Ali chuckling.]
JANINE: Every picture makes it seem like the best Disney that no one talks about. That’s the impression I’ve gotten.
ALI: Yeah… Well, it’s just does the really good job of like, “Here’s an area, in a city,” um, that Disney is really good at.
JACK: Yeah.
ALI: And it’s nice to walk around and be like, “Here’s a bunch of different waterfront… environments.” [chuckling]
JACK: There’s like, fake Venice, right?
ALI: Yeah.
JACK: That’s—that’s the gold standard, if you’re doing a waterfront environment, has got to be Venice.
ALI: Uh-huh, yeah.
JANINE: Yeahhh…
JACK: I’ve been– I’ve been watching the prequels to keep up with, uh… A More Civilized Age, Ali, a– this is the first time I’ve seen them.
[Ali laughing.]
JACK: And… I [laughing] am so mad that these beautiful, Italian, like—I don’t know, I don’t even know what that area is called, like—riviera style sets are being wasted on the single most rancid romance I have ever seen.
[Janine and Ali laughing.]
ALI: It’s not fair, that little balcony that they’re on is really good…
JACK: [mournful, desperate] The balcony…! And– and, you know, and they all have these—well, they don’t have cool boats, they have things that look like goofy DisneyLand boats—[Ali chuckling] but the rest of Naboo looks gorgeous. Um… But no, it sucks, and I’m not enjoying that… that bit at all.
[Ali murmuring something.]
JACK: I think, weirdly, I had more fun with, um… Hi, Austin!
ALI: Hi!
JANINE: Hi!
[Silence from Austin.]
JACK: Oo!
ALI: Oh?
AUSTIN: I– I did not say I have not had their coffee cake, I’m not missing out on their coffee cake.
ALI: Okay—well, you were just, you know…
JACK: Oh, you’re coming in hot, [amused] refusing that… [chuckling]
ALI: You were saying their streusel wasn’t good and I was like, “Wait a minute…”
[Janine laughing.]
AUSTIN: I…
ALI: It is, though…
AUSTIN: I… [exhaling] Is that the same thing as coffee cake? Are strudels—no, those are different things.
JANINE: No…
ALI: Well, streusel is the… the… the crumbly stuff on top.
AUSTIN: No no no, a streusel and a strudel are different things.
ALI: [while chuckling] O—okay…! Fair.
AUSTIN: Streusel is the crumbly stuff on top.
ALI (overlapping): Ohhh, okay.
JACK (overlapping): And is the little girl in...
AUSTIN (overlapping): A strudel is a light, flakey… pastry. And that’s the thing, is like…
JANINE: Usually like, icing drizzled and…
JACK (overlapping): Or apple filled.
ALI (overlapping): Ohhh...
AUSTIN (overlapping): Right, it’s a little bit more like a Danish, maybe, is what you would compare it to, or like a toaster str—a toaster strudel, you know how like, a Pillsbury toaster strudel has like, a… flakey…
ALI (overlapping): Yeah, yeah yeah yeah. I’m seeing this, yeah.
AUSTIN: Yeah. Mhm.
JANINE: Meanwhile, toaster streusel is the stuff you dump out of the bottom of the toaster tray.
AUSTIN: Uh-huh. [chuckling] Gross!
[Ali chuckling.]
AUSTIN: Gross.
JACK: [while chuckling] Deeply, deeply cursed. Oh, god…
ALI: Okay, that was a misunderstanding on my end.
AUSTIN: No worries. No—no worries.
ALI: What did you end up getting?
AUSTIN: A le– Like, a lemon… loaf thing.
JACK: [approving] Okay, that’s probably…
[Ali quietly murmuring.]
JANINE: Ooo, yeah!
AUSTIN (overlapping): I still think that that’s–
JACK (overlapping): They probably sell that here in the summer.
AUSTIN (overlapping): I’m playing a pretty sour character, so I felt like that was appropriate.
[Ali laughing sharply, Jack chuckling.]
JANINE: Lemon loaf’s not very sour, though. There’s so much sugar in that, it’s…
JACK: God…
AUSTIN: Yeah, but like… You know, let me do the bit.
ALI: Bet there’s a little tartness, yeah.
[Janine laughing.]
JACK: I’m so… I– I… When we were picking the connections, for a quick second I thought we were picking connections that were like… that… that we would then—I thought we were picking other people’s connections rather than picking our own, which sucks because I drew the perfect Mr. Bingley to Austin’s Mr. Darcy.
AUSTIN: [soft chuckle] Oh…
JACK: [amused] And that would’ve been really fun!
[Janine and Austin laughing.]
JACK: Just like, this naive friend, who you’re like, [defensive, uptight] “Yes, I– I… I stand by Mr. Flint…”
[Austin chuckling, laughing.]
JACK: Also, Austin—you know you’ve picked the most pirate name on the planet?
AUSTIN: Uh-huh!
[Ali laughing.]
JACK: Great. Is that–
AUSTIN: It’s a military family, what do you want from me?
JANINE (overlapping): Mmh. “Military” in quotes.
JACK (overlapping): And down on the coast, do you know what they call military families? [chuckling]
AUSTIN: Uh-huh. Um… I think there was a specific thing I’m referencing with Flint, but I don’t remember what it is now…
JACK: Isn’t Flint, the old– the old pirate in Treasure Island? I think Flint–
AUSTIN: I don’t know, I’m not a… I’m not a pirate person.
ALI: Mmm!
AUSTIN: Unfortunately. I don’t have my… my… Oh, oh, oh. He was briefly going to be Diego… Waterstone, but I kept slipping into saying “Waterst’n,” and that’s wrong. That’s not it.
ALI: Ohh, sure.
AUSTIN: But like a whetstone, a waterstone, something that would sharpen something.
JACK: Ohhh, sure.
JANINE: Powerstone.
JACK: Or the–
[Ali laughing.]
AUSTIN: Powerstone. Do you want me to be Diego Powerstone?
[Ali laughing.]
JACK: Waterstones is the… [chuckling]
JACK: Hang on– Hang on, I have an OC to pitch to Sylvi.
[Austin and Jack laughing.]
AUSTIN: Um…
JACK: God, Waterstones is the UK equivalent of Borders, or um…
AUSTIN: Oh, is it? That’s funny.
JACK: What’s the, like… What’s the, like… the big franchi– bookstore franchise?
AUSTIN: Uh, Barnes & Noble. Or Borders.
JACK: Oh, Barnes & Noble, yeah. That’s Waterstones in the UK.
AUSTIN: Barnes & Noble… sounds so much like a fake British… name, to me, do you know what I mean?
[Ali chuckling.]
JACK: It does, it sounds like the MaGuddans of…
AUSTIN: Yeah. Yeah.
[Janine laughing.]
[Short pause.]
AUSTIN: Um…
JACK: Originally, the company was called Ottakar’s, [Austin: Oo. I like that.] but, uh, Waterstones were the bigger company that bought out Ottakar’s.
AUSTIN: [disapproving] Mmh…
JACK: Ottakar was the– was the name of a fake, I believe… [uncertain] Byzantine? country [Austin: Huh.] in the Tintin books.
AUSTIN: Oh!
JACK: Um… Or, Ottakar was the leader of that country, and I kind of love that this like, bookstore chain [Austin: (amused) Yeah.] named itself after an obscure Tintin reference.
AUSTIN: That’s good.
JACK: Very British. Um… But yeah, they got bought out. As…
AUSTIN: [disapproving] Mm… So it goes.
JACK (overlapping): As it… So it goes.
AUSTIN: Oh, I need the… [typing] Uh, Good Society… There it is. The sheets.
JACK: We have [while chuckling] forty-five sheets.
[Someone snorting.]
AUSTIN: There we go! O—kay.
JACK: Um…
JANINE: Somehow, I pat– my crop… changed on this screen capture.
AUSTIN: Uh-oh. That’s all right, it’s a different video. It’ll be fine.
JANINE: I know, it’s just annoying. There’s just like, a big magenta stripe at the top, because I use a browser theme, because I’m that person.
AUSTIN: Mm…
ALI: Ohhh…
JACK: [intrigued] Oh, what browser theme do you use?
JANINE: [sheepish] I use the Cath Kidston Chrome theme. [chuckling] Um…
JACK: Oh my god! I have to see this.
JANINE: Because it’s just like… It’s just like, uh, cream and then pink floral. But then the active tab is just like, hot red pink, just like, horrid… assault, [Jack: Ohh, wow! Yeah!] and then the background is just this muted green color. Um… I’ve used it–
JACK (overlapping): That looks great, honestly.
JANINE: Like… In terms of like, themes, I’ve probably used this longer than any other theme in life.
[Jack chuckling.]
JANINE: I’m generally like, a serial theme changer. Um… but I have used this theme… since before I got a Windows machine.
[Austin chuckling.]
JACK: Oh, wow.
JANINE: Since I was using an iMac in Boot Camp.
[Ali chuckling.]
JANINE: Um… which, now that I’m thinking about it, is the better part of a decade… [Austin: Mmhm.] um… probably, that I have been using this theme.
JACK: Shoutout to Cath Kidst… Shoutout to Cath Kidston! Is she still alive?
JANINE: I… I don’t know, I don’t even know if she’s… cool. I– I’ve… [chuckling]
JACK: I get the impression that she isn’t.
JANINE: I don’t know shit about Cath Kidston. Yeah– If I had to guess, I would say…
JACK: She’s a Tory, right?
JANINE: The lady whose name is attached to a floral browser theme is probably not a cool person, I’m… I would guess she’s like, into some… I’d guess she’s like, said some things… or, put money into some things [Austin: Mm…] that I would object to. Um…
ALI: Or she’s fine.
[Ali and Jack laughing.]
JANINE: Or she’s– I mean, sure, I love– I love an optimist, Ali.
[Austin chuckling dryly.]
JANINE: I can’t be that optimist, but I love them. [pausing] It’s good to believe in people if you can.
ALI: Yeah…
AUSTIN: [while chuckling quietly] Mm-hm–mm…
ALI: I do my best…
[Musical interlude — 14:25]
AUSTIN: Can we go to time.is?
DRE: Yeah.
JACK: Time dot… war…
AUSTIN: Jack, what is the… what is the, um… little quote for tomorrow? Do you have it yet?
JACK: Yeah. Uh– [laughing dryly]
KEITH: Oh… So we’re certainly not doing the one for today.
AUSTIN: [decisively] No.
JACK: [motivational voice] Now listen, Millennium Break: [reading quote] “You hold the key to your future. The actions you take, every day, shape your future.” That is a quote by Mattias Skarin.
AUSTIN: Who is…?
KEITH (overlapping): That’s extremely on the nose.
JANINE (overlapping): [sarcastic] That’s extremely interesting.
JACK: Uh, and Mattias Skarin is a… motivational speaker!
AUSTIN: [sarcastic] Okay, great.
JANINE: Of course. That’s– Yeah, that just smacked of it.
[Austin chuckling, sighing.]
JACK: Did you know that you control the future?
AUSTIN: Wow, the actions you do today…
JANINE: A whole future?!
AUSTIN: Yeah. Huh.
SYLVIA: Already–
JANINE: Do you mean if I move a book, it’ll still be moved tomorrow, [Austin chuckling] it won’t move back on its own?
[Jack chuckling, Sylvia sighing..]
AUSTIN: God…
JANINE: Damn…!
AUSTIN: All right… Uhh, thirty seconds work for people?
[Musical interlude — 15:30]
AUSTIN: We’ll see how it– how it goes. Anyway…
ART: What are the– What are the finalists?
AUSTIN: I can’t say that. Without…
ART: Well, can you like—can you tell me?
AUSTIN: I’ll type them. Can I type them?
[Ali laughing.]
JACK: Yeah, all right.
DRE: Yeah…!
JACK: Let’s see.
AUSTIN: Uhh, one of these is more jokey. Uh, and the other one is more, like… you know, poking fun, but in a way that’s like, you know, you’re wearing your smart people glasses.
ALI: Critical.
AUSTIN: Uh-huh, it’s critical. Exactly.
SYLVIA: [understanding] Mmmm.
JACK: [understanding] Mmmm!
ART: Oh, I really like the jokey one.
SYLVIA: Yeahhh…!
AUSTIN: The jokey one’s very good, but it’s limited, ‘cause if we only… If we ever move off of Clone Wars it doesn’t work anymore. Or...
ART: What, are you gonna do this for the rest of your life? I mean…
[Ali laughing.]
AUSTIN: We’ll see– We’ll see how the numbers are!
SYLVIA (overlapping): It’s a lot of Star Wars!
KEITH (overlapping): I mean– I mean, where in Star Wars are there no clones?
[Short pause.]
AUSTIN: I guess that’s true, ‘cause th– they clone Luke, obviously. And so…
ART: And you can change at any time! What are you…
AUSTIN: That’s true. It’s true. Anyway–
SYLVIA (overlapping): You could also do other media involving clones.
ALI: Oooo!
KEITH (overlapping): Do they clone Luke?
AUSTIN (overlapping): That I’m not– I’m not interested in that…
DRE (overlapping): Boba Fett is technically a clone, right?
KEITH (overlapping): Is that a– Is that a…?
[Sylvia chuckling.]
AUSTIN: That I’m not interested in.
[Sylvia laughing.]
AUSTIN (overlapping): I’ll leave the other clones to other people.
ART (overlapping): I’m saying if you don’t use that name, I’m gonna have a Spider-Man Clone Wars– Clone Saga podcast by the end of the month.
AUSTIN: That’s perfect.
[Ali and someone else laughing.]
AUSTIN: I would love to listen to that, Art. You’ve– You’ve given me a gift.
ALI: Yeah.
DRE: Sign me up, Art.
[Austin chuckling.]
ALI: We’re gifting you this name now. Go take it.
[Austin laughing.]
[Musical interlude — 16:45]
AUSTIN: Let’s go to… to… Steve Kornacki over at the board, and see… [Jack chuckling] as these results come in.
[Short pause.]
ART: It’s gonna age like milk, Austin.
ALI: I know, it’s– It was a bad one, I’m sorry. I don’t know, Kornacki’s been doing this shit forever, he’s gonna keep doing it, it’s– we’re gonna al– there will always be a Steve Kornacki, unfortunately.
KEITH: This is the… I… I mean, we’re… I mean, it’s been a few… It’s been a month or two.
AUSTIN: Yeah.
KEITH: I mean, no, it’s been a month.
AUSTIN: Uh-huh!
KEITH: Uh, but… this is not the first time Steve Kornacki’s been on the TL.
AUSTIN: Yeah. Uh-huh.
KEITH: For me.
[Sylvia laughing.]
JANINE: Who the fuck?
AUSTIN: Don’t worry about it.
[Sylvia sighing, Janine chuckling briefly.]
AUSTIN: American… d– [sighing] MSNBC commentator… analyst. Analyst, more than commentator.
KEITH: He does numbers, [Austin: He does numbers.] and people think he’s nice.
AUSTIN: He just got voted hottest– one of the hottest men in the world. [pausing] [while chuckling] Which is… weird!
KEITH (overlapping): Absolutely insane. No.
JANINE (overlapping): People have the lowest standards sometimes.
AUSTIN: Uh-huh! Uh-huh.
SYLVIA (overlapping): I need to see who’s being asked about this. [drowned out]
AUSTIN (overlapping): Off-mic [drowned out, cut off]
KEITH (overlapping): Hey– Can you be– The– Th...
ALI (overlapping): Okay– The…
[Jack chuckling.]
ALI: There were different categories, and it was like…
AUSTIN: Ohh, I see.
ALI: “Hottest political guy,” “Hottest…” you know, whatever.
SYLVIA: [rebuffed] Oh-hough!
ALI: It was like– [Dre groaning.] There was like ten different things, and it was all a nightmare.
DRE (overlapping): This is like, the tweet about… Beto.
ALI (overlapping): I think it was like, “Hottest divorced dude,” and it was just like [while chuckling] so fucking weird.
AUSTIN (overlapping): [amused] Uh-huh.
KEITH: Oh, that was really funny—there was hot– there was hottest brothers!
ALI: Yeah, yeah yeah yeah…
AUSTIN: Right.
KEITH (overlapping): That was a funny one.
JANINE (overlapping): Is this like, a ranked choice, or first past the post, or what? [chuckling]
[Austin chuckling.]
KEITH: This was first past the post, had to be.
JANINE: Uh-huh…
[Short pause.]
AUSTIN: Anyway…
ALI: [quiet] Sorry.
AUSTIN: No, no, I appreciate the context, it’s important.
[Ali laughing, Janine chuckling.]
[Music plays out: The Red Moon (Clapcast, Partizan) by Jack de Quidt.]