Episode 95 features Charles Bates, who you may know as Chaz, Yahzick, The DM, or The Bard.
We discuss his many hats and projects, his creative pursuits, a few fandoms, reading, the abundance of choice and so much more.
Throughout the conversation, we discuss:
- Charles is Great
- A writer who raps
- Always been a writer
- Storytellers
- Reading
- ADHD
- Harry Potter
- Tolkien
- The desire for discovery
- Underdogs
- Abundance of choice
- Florida
- Mann Shorts
- Rational people don’t create
- Art is Vulnerable
- Do the thing
- Star Wars
- Worldbuilding
- And much more
Mentioned and Helpful Links from This Episode
Music created and provided by Henno Heitur of Monkey Tongue Productions.
–End Show Notes Transmission–
–Begin Transcription–
00:00:00:01 – 00:00:17:44
Agent Palmer
Previously on Agent Palmer dot com did Anderegg’s nerds reveal Tom Bombadil to be my shibboleth villain. Shit, you don’t have to be bad to look cool. And if Rob wants to have his head in the clouds, I’ll be happy to greet him when he lands. This is The Palmer Files episode 95 with Charles Bates, who you may know as Chaz.
00:00:17:49 – 00:01:01:03
Agent Palmer
Yahzick, the DM or the Bard. We discuss his many hats and projects, his creative pursuits, a few fandoms, reading, the abundance of choice, and so much more. Are you ready? Let’s do the show!
00:01:01:08 – 00:01:23:54
Agent Palmer
Hello, and welcome to The Palmer Files. I’m your host, Jace Sturgis. Also known as Agent Palmer. And on this 95th episode is the DM the Bard. Chazz. Yahzick. The man, the myth, the legend Charles Bates. Perhaps you have heard of one of those names, all of which will answer to or perhaps not. So let me explain. Charles is the DM in a series of videos on the YouTube channel.
00:01:23:54 – 00:01:47:18
Agent Palmer
Mann shorts. That’s Ma N N shorts. That channel also hosts a series titled Drunk Before Noon and many other videos. If you enjoy this conversation, you should definitely check out the channel. Also on that channel and on other podcast platforms, you’ll find him as the Bard in his podcast Bard Advice. And of course, there’s his music where he creates albums as Yahzick.
00:01:47:22 – 00:02:15:41
Agent Palmer
We do touch on many of these pursuits throughout the conversation you’re about to hear, but we also discuss being storytellers and artists. The desire for discovery, the abundance of choice, the concept that perhaps rational people don’t create art, and separating art from the artist. All of that and a whole lot more is coming your way shortly. But first, remember that if you want to discuss this episode as you listen or afterwards, you can find all contact information for Charles and myself in the show notes.
00:02:15:45 – 00:02:38:01
Agent Palmer
You can watch Charles’s content on the Man Shorts channel on YouTube. That man and shorts. There you can find the D and D editions, Drunk Before Noon and the video of his podcast, Bart Advice. You can also listen to his music on YouTube or Spotify by looking up Yahzick. That’s why a H. Zakk. Don’t forget you can see all of my writings and rantings on Adrian palmer.com.
00:02:38:01 – 00:02:49:18
Agent Palmer
And of course email can be sent to the Palmer files at gmail.com. So without further ado. Roll for initiative.
00:02:49:23 – 00:03:08:04
Agent Palmer
Charles. I know you as many things, but I have to ask. Like when you walk into a room and just general room, right? Not a specific room. Like, is there one that you want people to know you wear more than any other?
00:03:08:09 – 00:03:23:33
Charles Bates
Not particularly. I guess that Charles is great. Charles. Charles, I know and respond to the most often. Probably because my wife calls me Charles. Okay. But, I mean, it really depends on who’s in the room. I’ll answer to whatever you throw out there.
00:03:23:38 – 00:03:31:46
Agent Palmer
But, like, do you want people to know, like, I’m a rapper, I’m an artist, I’m a writer. I’m a guy on YouTube, writer.
00:03:31:51 – 00:03:54:48
Charles Bates
Writer. I like, I like that. That’s a good question. Yeah, because I do do a lot of stuff. There’s a lot of different hats that I wear and a lot of different things that I do, and a lot of different streams of creation and income, and it’s a little all over the place. So I don’t want to be known as a rapper, although I do rap, I don’t consider myself a rapper.
00:03:54:48 – 00:03:58:00
Charles Bates
I consider myself a writer who raps.
00:03:58:04 – 00:04:14:57
Agent Palmer
Okay. I mean, look, I’ve been I’ve got into this place where if you are a content creator, which is a word I absolutely two words I absolutely despise, like a year to me, I would simplify it as you’re just an artist.
00:04:15:02 – 00:04:16:40
Charles Bates
Yeah.
00:04:16:45 – 00:04:23:33
Agent Palmer
Yeah. So I like writing one. I like, I think the writing aspect of that kind of leans into all of it.
00:04:23:38 – 00:04:44:24
Charles Bates
Yeah. You know, I had a, I got my I got new glasses recently, and when I was at the optometrist and I was filling out the paperwork, I put barred under occupation, and I didn’t even think about it. I just did it. And then as I handed it back to the receptionist, I thought, you know, that’s actually kind of great because that’s really what I am.
00:04:44:33 – 00:04:53:01
Charles Bates
I mean, that’s what I do. I’m, I’m earning my income through one form of entertainment or another. So I mean, what is that if not a barred?
00:04:53:06 – 00:05:03:05
Agent Palmer
That’s. Yeah. I mean, I guess then do you you’re a barred in real life. But when you role play, do you also play a barred.
00:05:03:10 – 00:05:26:11
Charles Bates
Yeah, I like support stuff. Honestly, most of my experience with PCs, have been, have been tax have been like either tanks or DPS do and fighters like a lot of 3 or 5 fighters. And if it’s support, it’s usually like Druid. I mean, you could tank as a druid in three, five, two.
00:05:26:11 – 00:05:28:03
Charles Bates
So that’s fun.
00:05:28:08 – 00:05:37:49
Agent Palmer
It’s true. I the the I have to tell you, I think you might be. Well, you may not want to be a rapper. You might be my favorite rapper.
00:05:37:54 – 00:05:39:42
Charles Bates
Well thank you I that’s high praise.
00:05:39:42 – 00:06:03:29
Agent Palmer
I appreciate it’s not it’s not as yeara that ever really I, I and look I think this is, this is the compliment you want I think is the writing. Because it’s not that the beats you know, I’m, I, I’m a wannabe musician. I’m a bass player that can dabble in guitar and and and drums. But like, it’s the words that connect with me like I can.
00:06:03:33 – 00:06:19:30
Agent Palmer
That’s a nice beat. That’s fine. But I don’t care about the song because it. I don’t relate to it. And then, yeah, I heard your stuff and it I like the beat and I can relate to it. So I feel like it’s definitely the writing there that’s kind of brought you to me. Yeah.
00:06:19:30 – 00:06:35:59
Charles Bates
I mean, I’d say so. I’ve always written, I wrote when I was a kid, I got published when I was a kid, like in a, in like a book of poetry. Like not, I mean, not not that I’m boasting. It wasn’t a huge deal. I just mean, like, it was something that I liked and was good at early in life.
00:06:35:59 – 00:06:54:56
Charles Bates
So I kind of I’ve always done it, and then everything that I’ve done has been kind of an extension of that. So like in high school, I had a school band, and then there was a while there where we had, what started as an emo screamo band that eventually evolved into like a four piece Red Hot Chili Peppers Incubus funk situation.
00:06:55:01 – 00:07:17:03
Charles Bates
But all of that stuff was, you know, centered around the writing aspect. And just like with rap, like, that’s how I consume hip hop, that’s the kind of rap I listen to is conscious where it’s. And I actually kind of like it about the music, because a lot of people that that I talk to, that don’t listen to hip hop are like, well, you know, it’s kind of repetitive and it’s like, yeah, but that’s the point because you’re not so focused on what they’re doing musically.
00:07:17:12 – 00:07:30:23
Charles Bates
It allows you to focus on the words. Yeah, and commercially that’s not so fun, but there’s a lot of really, really gifted rappers out there that have a lot of really great, smart, wise things to say.
00:07:30:28 – 00:07:54:16
Agent Palmer
I like the idea that it was like early poetry that started for you because, yeah, I like yeah, it’s not a badge of honor necessarily, because we were children and we didn’t really know better. But like, I got a poem. Yeah, I got like a fifth grade poem in, like the local paper or whatever. Yeah, yeah. And then you some, you just end up as a I mean, look, it’s a long journey.
00:07:54:16 – 00:08:12:24
Agent Palmer
It’s not like just, every day. This was always what I was going to do, but you just end up as a storyteller somehow. I. I’m writing and talking now, but that’s what I do. And that’s kind of where it started, because, like, you know, I wasn’t the kid who only wrote in class, like, I wrote as a kid.
00:08:12:24 – 00:08:15:59
Agent Palmer
Like, yeah, I got notebooks around with, like, poems.
00:08:16:02 – 00:08:17:36
Charles Bates
And I’m.
00:08:17:40 – 00:08:22:02
Agent Palmer
Yeah, a billion unfinished short stories like.
00:08:22:07 – 00:08:26:21
Charles Bates
Did you like to read? Were you a reader as a kid?
00:08:26:26 – 00:08:45:33
Agent Palmer
Yes. And then it stopped, which, by the way, I cannot pinpoint when it stopped. And then it started again. Right. I think, oh, good for you. I think it was, Yeah. So I don’t know when I stopped. I just know, like, I’m, I’m at college and not really a reader. Like, there’s the forest reading and stuff, but I wasn’t a reader.
00:08:45:45 – 00:09:03:47
Agent Palmer
And then, like, my, my senior year, I started like, people would be like, what are you doing? I’m like, I’m reading because like, my my senior year, like I was an overachiever. So I had a lot of extra classes in the early part of my undergrad. So like when I got to my senior year, I didn’t I had like three classes, like I didn’t have it.
00:09:03:48 – 00:09:33:39
Agent Palmer
So I’m, I’m reading for myself just to fill time, I guess, or to get back into it or whatever. And like that start to trickle down, where then like seven years later, I actually become like a full fledged reader again, which kind of takes me back to what I was in, like middle school, during the formative years when I became like, geek and was playing, like early magic in early D&D and like, spell fire and all like any, any, any geek thing that I could get my hands on basically.
00:09:33:39 – 00:09:42:25
Agent Palmer
And so I’ve kind of come full circle, but like, there’s a dead period in there and I don’t know, like, I, I don’t know what happened.
00:09:42:29 – 00:10:09:54
Charles Bates
I know I kind of live in that period now. It’s kind of it’s kind of a shame because, you know, I, I consumed a bunch when I was a kid and I was, you know, again, not to be bragging, but just it’s how it was, like I, I always was reading a little above my level. Sure. And so as a result, like, by the time I got to high school, most of all of the stuff that we were like introduced to in class, I had already read, or I had at least like known of.
00:10:09:58 – 00:10:11:02
Agent Palmer
Sure.
00:10:11:07 – 00:10:32:54
Charles Bates
And so, you know, I don’t know what it was like after, you know, what it is really it’s probably the ADHD. It’s really difficult for me to focus on stuff, man. It’s really hard. And it’s gotten easier. I’ve gotten better at it. But, it’s it’s got to be something that really captivates me. Now, I have been reading manga lately, which I think that counts.
00:10:33:05 – 00:10:42:03
Charles Bates
I mean, I gotta tell you, I have fallen in love with Japanese. I’ve re fallen in love with Japanese storytelling again in the last, like year and a half.
00:10:42:08 – 00:11:04:04
Agent Palmer
So do you have, like, but you can just read manga without a problem. Like, I mean, would it be. Yeah. So is it just. Well, I guess the question would be to do you do you have a, a strict like, I have to finish this kind of a deal or like, if I put a book in your hand and you were like, dad, I’m feeling this.
00:11:04:04 – 00:11:07:06
Agent Palmer
I’ll finish it. Or like, I’m not. It’s okay. I’m going to leave it.
00:11:07:06 – 00:11:10:44
Charles Bates
So I will put the book down. I left the Harry Potter series.
00:11:10:49 – 00:11:11:35
Agent Palmer
I never started.
00:11:11:35 – 00:11:13:23
Charles Bates
Talk about that. Oh, you didn’t.
00:11:13:23 – 00:11:29:20
Agent Palmer
No, no. Like I, I, you and I are about the same age and so I am I, I was a little too old. I say, I, I was a little too old for the target demographic. I because I can’t say I’m too old because my mother read the series. Right.
00:11:29:20 – 00:11:31:01
Charles Bates
So it’s like, right.
00:11:31:06 – 00:11:53:03
Agent Palmer
But like, I just kind of had moved on to other things at that point. So like, I know yeah, there were people around me, and our age that did get in. I was just like, I’m like, I, I think for the there’s a, there’s a generation of us who read Tolkien way too early.
00:11:53:08 – 00:11:57:48
Charles Bates
Yo. Yeah. And and so going that way of putting.
00:11:57:57 – 00:12:14:23
Agent Palmer
Yeah. I mean, but just going back where it felt like, I don’t know, maybe because of the way it was marketed, maybe if it was just like, here’s this wizard book, you might be interested. I might have picked it up, but it was so like, why would I read a kid’s book? Like, that’s where I was at that point in my life.
00:12:14:28 – 00:12:40:47
Charles Bates
Yeah, I can see that. I think I was like 9 or 10. And I unfortunately wasn’t introduced to Tolkien until like seventh grade because we actually were assigned to read The Hobbit in seventh grade. And then my dad, or rather, my stepdad, but I call him my dad. My dad, introduced me to the trilogy because he was like, well, if you think that it’s cool, take a look at this.
00:12:40:52 – 00:12:41:53
Agent Palmer
That’s about when I started.
00:12:41:53 – 00:12:42:43
Charles Bates
Awesome.
00:12:42:47 – 00:12:59:04
Agent Palmer
Sixth grade. I read the, well, maybe fifth grade. My father was reading The Hobbit to me as, like, to get me to read. And then by the time sixth grade rolls around, I think I finished The Return of the King on my own.
00:12:59:09 – 00:13:19:48
Charles Bates
It’s just so dense and so good that it’s almost like it makes me feel like that those astronauts that go to space and then they’re supposed to come back and just live life like it’s normal. It’s like when you’re if you’re 12 and you read this epic, yeah, story, and then it’s like nothing else is ever probably going to be close or I mean, certainly not the same.
00:13:19:54 – 00:13:49:01
Agent Palmer
Oh no, no, no, no. And I so I’ve been reading more of late. Mainly because I got, let go from my job and I was like, I’m going to use this time wisely. And then the pandemic hit and I’m like, I’m going to keep using this time wisely. And I just kept reading, but like in the last maybe 5 or 6 years, I started a friend of mine, he’s a fellow Tolkien fan, but he was also a Terry Brooks fan.
00:13:49:01 – 00:14:13:47
Agent Palmer
And he’s like, you have to read the Shannara stuff. And I was like, okay, like, I’ll, I’ll do it. And so I kind of read like the, the, the main, anthologies, like the first and the first three trilogies, one of them’s got four in it, and a whole bunch of that stuff. So like I, I put, I think I needed to be in the right place to read them because they’re like, not quite as dense as Tolkien.
00:14:13:52 – 00:14:36:03
Agent Palmer
And so you have to come at it with an open mind. And that’s my this is my Kryptonite, is making sure my mind is open because, like, I can I can like almost anything, but it’s all about how I feel when I open the book. Like I have to be like, yeah, like, let’s open like, let’s do this and make sure that, like, okay, we’re good.
00:14:36:03 – 00:14:43:54
Agent Palmer
Like, I watched recently for the first time, the Batman, the not the newest or.
00:14:43:54 – 00:14:45:46
Charles Bates
The newer one. Yeah, I’ve not seen it yet.
00:14:45:47 – 00:15:05:14
Agent Palmer
I’m not I’m not like, I need to be in the mood to watch a dark, DC gritty film. Just like I need to be in the mood to watch a horror film. So, like, we finished it and I was like, nah, it’s not. I just don’t either my mind wasn’t open or I just wasn’t in the mood. Like, I’m not saying it’s a bad film.
00:15:05:14 – 00:15:17:35
Agent Palmer
It just didn’t hit me right at the time. And I think that’s what I struggle with is, I know I’m my own worst enemy for that. Like, I know I’m putting up blinders when I try and experience new things.
00:15:17:48 – 00:15:43:57
Charles Bates
Yeah, I, I’m, I’m less that way about content. Because I’ll kind of consume anything. The reason that I think I’m that way about like, being open to consume anything is because I have, like, a secret desire of discovery. Okay. So I just like the idea of, I don’t know, like being the first to introduce something to my friends, you know, that it’s always kind of cool.
00:15:44:12 – 00:16:11:32
Charles Bates
And as a result, also, like, I’ve always felt in my life as, like an underdog. So I always have related to underdog. So like, especially if something is established as an underdog, like if people are hating on a show or a movie or something, I’m checking that out because like, I’m going to give. Not to mention I don’t always I find I’ve found myself several times in my life butting heads with the general populace in terms of like what is good or quality or enjoyable.
00:16:11:37 – 00:16:44:51
Charles Bates
So I try and keep my eye out for like hidden gems. And then sometimes I just blatantly miss stuff like my wife and I just discovered for the first time. And I’ve been watching Schitt’s Creek, which is just like in it’s simplicity. Brilliant. Eugene Levy is just a genius, and he has a new show to, where he’s it’s called, the Reluctant Traveler on Apple TV, where he it’s just like him traveling around the world, like one of those Rick Steves guys, just like doing informational stuff about travel.
00:16:44:55 – 00:16:51:50
Charles Bates
But it’s Eugene Levy, so he’s, like, prissy and complaining the whole time. And I love that. Like, that’s my whole esthetic.
00:16:51:50 – 00:17:11:50
Agent Palmer
See, I there’s two things. One, when it comes to discovery, I’m all about discovering it within the thing. Like, this is why I don’t really do trailers, and I try not to read book covers because they give away. I think that we’re in a world where we give away too much in order to sell the thing, and I want to discover, like I.
00:17:12:01 – 00:17:33:01
Agent Palmer
The twist might be on the back cover, but I want to experience it in the book on page 50, and not in the second paragraph of this synopsis on the back of the book. So like that’s where my discovery is. But like, I know Schitt’s Creek is brilliant. People tell me I’ll like it, but there’s a lot of stuff out there and there’s just so much.
00:17:33:01 – 00:17:55:11
Agent Palmer
And like, I don’t want to throw you under the bus, but like, man, shorts was something that was like on our periphery, like within my YouTube algorithm for a while. And then I was like, look, I’ve liked almost everything I’ve seen from these guys. Let’s just do it. And so my partner Stephanie and I, we just, we just watched all your stuff.
00:17:55:15 – 00:18:18:00
Agent Palmer
But here’s the thing. She’s got a full time job, so there’s only so much stuff I can watch without her. So it took us a while. But like, we watch these things together. And so that means that we can’t get to Schitt’s Creek or we can’t get, like, look, yeah. And then Marvel puts out a thing and we get behind on Marvel, and then Star Wars puts out a thing and we get behind on star.
00:18:18:02 – 00:18:18:42
Agent Palmer
Like, it’s just.
00:18:18:47 – 00:18:22:10
Charles Bates
There’s so much in a marvel or a Star Wars movie in years.
00:18:22:17 – 00:18:36:20
Agent Palmer
But. And the, the TV series, like, I know they’re all great or so people tell me, but like, I, it feels like a full time job. Like, these are some of my fandoms. I have a lot of fandom. I still even watch Rings of Power.
00:18:36:24 – 00:18:59:07
Charles Bates
Like, dude, it’s about to get a lot worse. I hate to tell you, because once I gets involved, they’re going to just have 24 seven stream of the Star Wars universe, and it’s going to be some people’s job to sit and curate the best moments of that for reproduction or redistribution, rather on the other format, like.
00:18:59:07 – 00:19:31:35
Agent Palmer
I wonder though, like I feel like that could be where we’re going. But I also feel like we’re wait, I’m waiting for this streaming implosion, which seems to be happening where I think, like the thing people forget about, like TV, that we’ve gotten away from, is that some of the crappy programs that filled the hour or hours from the networks paid for those networks and so like, yeah, it’s great that you decided that Peacock’s your thing and you love and NBC or like Paramount your thing and you love CBS.
00:19:31:35 – 00:19:59:49
Agent Palmer
But the benefit was go not going from one show to another, but from checking out what was on NBC, ABC, CBS, like channel surfing in itself was not like ADHD. It wasn’t like, you know, whatever. But it was a way to browse across companies. And I think that there, you know, you and I may like similar things or different things, but they all prop up the same general cable infrastructure.
00:19:59:49 – 00:20:08:45
Agent Palmer
And that kind of gone away. And I think we’re seeing how rough that can be when people are like, well, I only watch CBS for this one thing, so I’m not buying them.
00:20:08:59 – 00:20:26:02
Charles Bates
Yeah. You know, it’s funny that you bring that up too, because, you know, YouTube has actually it looks like we’ve already overcorrected because I’ve got. So I work with a guy, I work part time at a vape shop, just so that, like, you know, supplemental income and it gets me out of the house, lets me communicate with human beings.
00:20:26:02 – 00:20:55:01
Charles Bates
So it’s just something I like to do. But this new kid that we just hired is 21, and I have loved it because I’ve been able to have these conversations and really kind of like, pick his brain as to like how he sees and and what his experience is. Yeah. And it’s just been so interesting. And he was telling me about YouTube TV, and it’s just so funny because it’s like, you know, it’s like, I’m sorry, did a Zoomer just sell me cable?
00:20:55:08 – 00:21:15:38
Charles Bates
Like, what? What just happened? Because really, that’s what it is like. He was explaining it to me and he was like, yeah bro, you got to get it, man. Because like you get ESP, you get all the like regular channels, but then you also get like, you know, anything that’s on Hulu or like Paramount Plus. He’s like, there’s a list that has like a breakdown of and it’s like, you know, it’s like whatever it is 60 bucks a month.
00:21:15:38 – 00:21:32:10
Charles Bates
And it’s like, well, how is this any different than cable? Is this, is this this cable? Yeah. Which look, I’m not mad at it. If it’s, you know, I’m going to I’ve been actually looking into it. And if it’s worth the money, I might very well make some switches because, my God, my wife and I have every streaming thing there is, I think, except Peacock.
00:21:32:14 – 00:21:55:54
Agent Palmer
Where, I’m pretty close. I’m pretty close to that because we have sling, which we, when we cut the cable. But like, I still have my local cable because I want my, like, local channels, which is very specific because and I’m not talking like local chain. I’m talking like local, like channel two, like whatever. You’re local, not ABC, not like an unaffiliated local channel.
00:21:55:59 – 00:21:56:09
Agent Palmer
And.
00:21:56:13 – 00:21:57:00
Charles Bates
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:21:57:00 – 00:22:17:40
Agent Palmer
And they, they do the arts program and like the local sports and college stuff and I, I want that. But like then we also have Disney and Hulu and ESPN plus. So I’ve got that bundle. But we also have like Amazon Prime we pay for and Netflix we pay for. And like I know they.
00:22:17:46 – 00:22:35:52
Charles Bates
Yes, and BritBox and Apple and it’s so funny because it’s exactly what my dad and I posited would happen is that we would go to an ala carte system, but then but everything would cost you. Yeah, it’s that would be like, you got to get your weather over here for five bucks a month and your comedy over here, and that’s essentially what we’re doing.
00:22:35:53 – 00:22:36:27
Charles Bates
Yeah.
00:22:36:32 – 00:22:41:34
Agent Palmer
Yeah. Although I will say I save on BritBox because I bought a VPN.
00:22:41:39 – 00:22:42:34
Charles Bates
Oh okay.
00:22:42:38 – 00:22:49:07
Agent Palmer
So that was that. With that. That’s like the one. But I pay for the VPN, so I don’t know if I’m saving.
00:22:49:18 – 00:22:54:25
Charles Bates
They get you, they get you, and they’re going to get you one way or another, you know.
00:22:54:30 – 00:23:06:36
Agent Palmer
Well and it’s it goes back to like this ridiculous like, abundance of choice, which is kind of you free, but I don’t know.
00:23:06:40 – 00:23:09:37
Charles Bates
I think sometimes we suffer from being too free.
00:23:09:42 – 00:23:09:58
Agent Palmer
Yeah.
00:23:10:11 – 00:23:30:30
Charles Bates
Some people might think that that’s, like, really sacrilege or out of pocket for me to say. But I was thinking about it recently, and I really do believe that, like, one of the things, far be it for me to shit on America, I love this country. But I will say that autonomy, freedom in some ways may have hurt us.
00:23:30:30 – 00:23:34:47
Charles Bates
Like, look at the car, okay? Like, look at the automobile.
00:23:34:47 – 00:23:35:52
Agent Palmer
Sure. We should.
00:23:35:52 – 00:23:55:06
Charles Bates
Have. We should have bullet trains in this country. Yeah, but we have. But we’re so it’s so integrated now into this system of these cars. And it’s like, just think about it realistically for a second. Like just from a statistical standpoint, it has to be the most inefficient system that you could possibly think of.
00:23:55:08 – 00:24:20:41
Agent Palmer
Oh, it it. Yeah. But one of the problems is and I live in a, in, in the northeast where we’ve taken all of our old rail infrastructure and turned it into parks. So even if you wanted to reuse the infrastructure that was already there, because we blasted holes through the mountain and we built the bridges, yes, that’s fine, but then you get to land and there’s a park.
00:24:20:46 – 00:24:38:32
Charles Bates
And then, of course you can’t. You couldn’t possibly talk about getting rid of the park for the rail, because then that’s a whole nother problem. And we have some of those issues down in like Jacksonville with like the historical stuff. And it’s like, look, I get it. You want to protect stuff that’s historical, but also like maybe put in a drainage system down there in Riverside.
00:24:38:32 – 00:25:02:35
Charles Bates
Right. Because like it floods every time there’s a hurricane and there’s nowhere for that water to go. And it’s just ultimately going to be disastrous for the city. I think that they are putting something in there. But truly, there’s so much red tape involved with doing anything with I think it’s called rap and I forget what it stands for, but it’s like Riverside at or Association of Protection or something.
00:25:02:40 – 00:25:15:47
Charles Bates
And it’s like you have to get a permit and, right off to do any kind of thing because it’s all historical. And again, I’m all for preservation of historical stuff, but at what cost are you going to flood your cities? That doesn’t make sense to me.
00:25:15:51 – 00:25:21:40
Agent Palmer
Well, and like, I worry about, I mean, I know you’re in Florida and I worry about.
00:25:21:40 – 00:25:22:05
Charles Bates
Oh, yeah.
00:25:22:05 – 00:25:53:13
Agent Palmer
I worry about Florida in particular. Like. And I know people can go off on the politics of it, but like, I want to know, like, how high are you comfortable with your seawall being like if that. Because at a certain point, at a certain point, normally let’s say in the spring the sun goes down at 830. But if you put up a high enough seawall as every day the sun will go down at six, like just because it’ll be behind the seawall.
00:25:53:13 – 00:26:11:27
Agent Palmer
Right. And I wonder like, yeah, at what point does it become like, look, I’m in eastern Pennsylvania. And the joke everybody here makes is that eventually Jersey will flood and we’ll have waterfront property. And that’s fine for a joke, but at a certain point you stop laughing and you go, oh.
00:26:11:32 – 00:26:31:29
Charles Bates
Well, yeah, it’s been, it’s been kind of crazy, just across the board the last couple of years in the state. And. Yeah, that’s a genuine concern. Look, man, the only reason that I’m still here is because I have family here and my wife’s family here. And if money were not, were not an issue. I would probably live in Switzerland.
00:26:31:44 – 00:26:57:49
Charles Bates
Okay. But, that or at least Colorado. But, that said, like. Yeah, I don’t know, it’s weird. I think that one of the things about this place and it’s certainly been put center stage these last few years, is that this state is kind of like one of the last bastions in the country of that, like Wild West.
00:26:57:54 – 00:27:14:42
Charles Bates
Do whatever you want to do. You can’t tell me what to do. Kind of attitude. Us and Texas are kind of holding that down. Yeah. And then of course, Montana. But I mean, they’re, you know, those people are doing their own thing.
00:27:14:42 – 00:27:15:58
Agent Palmer
They’re also importing.
00:27:15:59 – 00:27:17:04
Charles Bates
Tana, Idaho.
00:27:17:04 – 00:27:21:56
Agent Palmer
Yeah, but they’re importing. They’re they’re they’re crazy. It’s not naturally grown.
00:27:21:56 – 00:27:40:41
Charles Bates
Yeah. So are we, man. They’re coming here. They’ve been coming here. Oh my gosh. I’ve seen more out-of-state tags in the last 12 months than I have in the last ten years. People from South Carolina, New York. It’s like, what are you doing here? Stop moving here. It’s not. It’s not what you think it is. Let me just say that like.
00:27:40:52 – 00:27:52:36
Charles Bates
And also what we don’t what we don’t pay and sales tax. Yeah. We pay or rather state tax. We pay in all kinds of other stuff with this state. Yeah.
00:27:52:41 – 00:28:09:21
Agent Palmer
I mean I yeah, I love the people that like move around for taxes because it’s like they’ll get the money out of you somewhere. You don’t, you don’t. If it’s not retail, then, you know, when your friends come to visit and they stay in a hotel, they’ll get you in the hotel tax or they’ll get you in the.
00:28:09:21 – 00:28:18:22
Agent Palmer
Yeah, the the the government. Well, it does us some good will always find a way to get it money.
00:28:18:27 – 00:28:26:22
Charles Bates
Yeah man. It’s honestly the the it’s a great idea in theory the government.
00:28:26:27 – 00:28:28:27
Agent Palmer
Yeah. No I mean it’s.
00:28:28:31 – 00:28:43:48
Charles Bates
It’s all it is I think that it’s a matter of more efficient. That’s why I’ve always butted had a heads with left and right. Because it’s like my friends on the left are like, we need more government. My friends on the right, like we don’t need any. And it’s like, okay, but but the reality is there’s a middle ground there, right?
00:28:43:48 – 00:29:01:46
Charles Bates
Like where at? But you know, you can’t get people and now they’re more divided than ever, I think in terms of just like knee jerk snap judgment reaction to letters, I think we should take letters off the people’s names. Well, they wouldn’t do that. They wouldn’t vote for that.
00:29:01:56 – 00:29:26:45
Agent Palmer
Yeah, well, I, I think there’s a it’ll it’s all up to the generation after the kids that are in high school right now will determine everything. Right. Like if they grow up, if, if enough of them grow up sick of the division, we might see some change in our lifetime. But if they grow up being indoctrinated into left and right mentalities, then nothing’s going to change.
00:29:26:45 – 00:29:58:27
Agent Palmer
And I, I don’t, I told myself, like, I’m not going to pick up specific episodes of man shorts because it would be horrible to be like, well, and that whatever, but fine. But you have tackled many different things, the left and the right and Florida and like, like you’ve, you’ve kind of played both sides, which, by the way, I’ve tried to like not for nothing, but having the left and the right be like back to back episodes.
00:29:58:31 – 00:30:15:47
Charles Bates
And they were essentially the same script like truly the, the I, I wrote the first one and then I reopened a new document with the original and went back through it and just changed whatever the argument, whatever the straw man was.
00:30:15:47 – 00:30:16:27
Agent Palmer
Yeah.
00:30:16:32 – 00:30:42:01
Charles Bates
Because and like the the formula of the script, if you I mean I’m sure you’ve seen it’s they’re the same which is the point. You know, that’s the whole point is that they’re just mirror episodes. Yeah. But yeah, I, I don’t know, it’s tough. I, I feel like as, especially as I’ve gotten older, I feel like, I feel like I’m, I’m starting to get a little bit out of touch.
00:30:42:01 – 00:31:02:13
Charles Bates
And I also, like, I’ve never been a person who wants to, like, hurt somebody or offend somebody. Sometimes I get into existential crisis about stuff when it comes to like whether or not it like speaks to my character or whether or not people would assume that that makes me a quote unquote good or bad person. I don’t know, it seems I’m I’m I’ll say this.
00:31:02:27 – 00:31:12:02
Charles Bates
I’ve not ever cared about what others really think of me. And so I guess these last few years, with this success with the channel and the music and stuff.
00:31:12:08 – 00:31:29:25
Agent Palmer
Well, I guess the the real question would be, does that hinder your ability to create? Because like, I’ll, I’ll speak to to me, like I’ve always said that I’m not afraid of failure, but I am absolutely afraid of massive success. Like, yeah.
00:31:29:25 – 00:31:30:10
Charles Bates
Yeah, it.
00:31:30:10 – 00:31:57:58
Agent Palmer
Would be great to have 200 or 300 or even 1000 people listen to every episode on release day. But anything more than that where like, it’s a million, like every time like that. I don’t know what. I don’t know what it is about like that. Like next level of success that scares me. But like, I would much rather face plant.
00:31:58:03 – 00:32:10:35
Charles Bates
Yeah. What we do. Right. So we would we I mean, at least I do. I won’t speak for you, but like, my experience with that is that like I, I definitely worry I guess too much.
00:32:10:40 – 00:32:32:53
Agent Palmer
Well I mean, I think we own that. No, no, I mean, I think we but here’s the thing. I think we all worry, right? I think the thing about the, the, the massive success and the massive failure is very different. But like in general, we’ve we’ve all failed a lot because as creatives, we all try a lot of things.
00:32:32:58 – 00:32:34:37
Charles Bates
Oh yeah.
00:32:34:42 – 00:32:35:32
Agent Palmer
And you have.
00:32:35:32 – 00:32:51:40
Charles Bates
To you have to. Yeah. And that, that’s, that’s what I was going to say about the, success thing is that like, we self-sabotage as a result of that because it’s like, I know deep down that it’s like, yes, there’s a part of me that wants that, but like, there’s a larger part of me that’s like, I don’t want that.
00:32:51:45 – 00:33:14:50
Charles Bates
And maybe it’s because of the fear of losing it. And maybe that’s what I’m experiencing now, you know, because, like, this is probably the most success I’ll say each year, pretty much since 2016 has been better than the last for me in terms of like, finance and exposure and just like what I’m doing with life. So, and that’s inclusive of all of the craziness that happened with the pandemic.
00:33:14:50 – 00:33:35:09
Charles Bates
You know, like that actually was a very weird silver lining for us because we did very well that year because everybody was at home watching YouTube. So like, I guess it’s me. I guess reconciling, like all of this stuff that’s going on that it’s like, okay, now that I have this, like, you have to maintain it now that you have this, now that you’ve made this monster, you have to feed it.
00:33:35:14 – 00:33:36:37
Charles Bates
And it’s not always fun.
00:33:36:48 – 00:33:58:53
Agent Palmer
Well, I guess the question would be, but you but you just started a podcast within the last six months, and so, like, it’s not like you’re not doing. I mean, that’s a new thing, right? Like potentially there’s people out there that are like, well, it’s not a new single from his next album, and it’s not, a daddy from Man shorts or like a Drunk Before Noon.
00:33:58:53 – 00:34:13:57
Agent Palmer
So what the hell is he doing? Just talking. Like there. There was always a possibility, right, that it wouldn’t work, and yet you still did it. So. Like how? I don’t know, I guess it’s like the other guy. Like, how afraid could you be? You still do? Yeah.
00:34:13:57 – 00:34:35:43
Charles Bates
Yeah, yeah, it’s an obsession, I think. And I’ve, I encounter this with, like, my friend Justin is this way with the, with the creatives. It’s like you obsess so much about the piece and then you release the piece and it’s like, everybody look at it, and then everybody looks at it, and then there becomes this whole, this emptiness, this sort.
00:34:35:54 – 00:35:00:46
Charles Bates
This happens every week with me, man. With the additions. We put all of this work into, you know, putting the script together and having fun on shoot day and then doing the edit. And I put it all together and I get it up there, and then it releases, and then there’s this moment where everybody’s praising and liking and sharing and that moment has gotten smaller and smaller over the years.
00:35:01:01 – 00:35:32:14
Charles Bates
And then that feeling of longing for the next thing has gotten heavier, which is why probably I’ve started these new things, like the podcast. I’m like, Justin today dropped this, thing we’re going to start doing where we create the characters based on existing people or characters. So he made Rick Moranis a D and D character. And I want to do John Candy and like John McClane from Die Hard and like, there’s a bunch of them that I want to do too, but I like yeah, it’s just that idea of like, keep, keep going.
00:35:32:27 – 00:35:47:57
Agent Palmer
And I want to let you know you’re not alone. And I’m going to tell a story that some of the regular listeners have heard. But my buddy, I helped my buddy make a movie, a legit 93 minute, a documentary full length. Right.
00:35:48:02 – 00:35:49:30
Charles Bates
Nice.
00:35:49:34 – 00:36:13:38
Agent Palmer
Where we’re at, we did the premiere and like a bunch of the friends that came to the premiere with us, we go out to this like Barcade type thing. And I literally leaned over. I went, so what’s next? Right? Like I gave him an hour after the premiere ended, before I was like, what’s next? Now? A little backstory, like, we’ve worked on a lot of projects together.
00:36:13:38 – 00:36:36:39
Agent Palmer
We kind of started like some design and marketing agencies together, and he’s with me weekly a bit as a as a somewhat mostly editor on the blog. And, you know, so we always do these little projects, really small projects, kind of like man shorts where you’re doing the one and then you always have a next one. So we did one big one and I was like, yeah, what’s next?
00:36:36:39 – 00:37:08:10
Agent Palmer
Like, I, I, I’m with you in that like yeah, it was like six months of like intense editing. And then all of a sudden it’s gone and you’re like, well, hold on, I should be doing something else. And I think it is purely just the creative mind. I don’t see it. Which, by the way, is not rational because rational people don’t create art in my in my experience, that’s not like.
00:37:08:19 – 00:37:23:45
Charles Bates
Well, that’s the thing too. I’ve said that too before to my wife and talking about this stuff, it’s that it’s like, you know, because she’s she made a point one time where I was like, you know, you don’t always seem happy with the thing. And I was like, yeah, but I feel like if I was, I wouldn’t keep making stuff.
00:37:23:45 – 00:37:30:39
Charles Bates
You know, that’s kind of like, if you like, we recently, within the last year went and saw that Van Gogh exhibit that was going around the country.
00:37:30:41 – 00:37:32:22
Agent Palmer
That’s live one year.
00:37:32:27 – 00:37:53:26
Charles Bates
Yeah, yeah, it was super cool. And it was me and her and my mom went and did it. And, you know, obviously Van Gogh’s life is tragic and, you know, so much just like, oh, man, a lot of those poor guys just untreated mental illness. But like with Van Gogh in particular, just like you can tell through his story and like how he lived his life and what he was do.
00:37:53:26 – 00:38:19:07
Charles Bates
And it was there was just this longing and and it’s kind of across the board. You can find it in Shakespeare and Poe, and you could probably even break it down with the with Trey Parker and Matt Stone or the guys from It’s Always Sunny. Like there’s a longing. Yeah. That is just like, you know, the that if Michelangelo had been happy with one piece, then the others wouldn’t have existed.
00:38:19:12 – 00:38:21:27
Charles Bates
Well, I mean, in my opinion, no.
00:38:21:27 – 00:38:40:36
Agent Palmer
No, I agree, and I think I’ll take it one step further, because while we’re recording to tape, I guess we would call this fresh because there’s no live audience. I still get nervous. Right. It it could be you. It could be my friend. It could be anyone sitting across from me, either in person or digitally on the platform.
00:38:40:36 – 00:39:06:14
Agent Palmer
And I get nervous, and I think I’ve finally just like, you know, you do this for long enough and people are like, well, when are you going to stop? Right? And I think I’ve gotten to a point where I can honestly say when I start getting nervous before I go and record because, yeah, if I can get nervous like my mother was on for episode 50, and when I get to episode 100, I’m going to have my dad on.
00:39:06:19 – 00:39:28:55
Agent Palmer
I still get like, I don’t know, my mom, right? Like and I was still nervous recording. Right. So it’s not. Yeah, it’s not about who’s sitting across from me, but if I don’t get the nerves for whatever that says about me, I feel like that’s when I have to reevaluate what this is. But I think it’s the same for everything else.
00:39:29:00 – 00:39:47:49
Agent Palmer
Repetition does help though right. Like I’ve been a weekly blogger for like ten years now. So like hitting publish every Thursday. The anxiety’s not quite there. However, when I’m writing that first draft, it’s kind of a little bit there, right? And when you’re editing and like it’s still in the process.
00:39:47:49 – 00:40:12:55
Charles Bates
Yeah. And well, I think also like just like art in general is really vulnerable, like because what you’re doing when you do any kind of art in my opinion, like whatever your medium, if you’re like a photographer or you’re a filmmaker or like a musician, like what you’re doing when you create that art is like attempting to evoke an emotion, or at least like create one that people could find themselves attaching to for whatever reason.
00:40:12:55 – 00:40:49:55
Charles Bates
It’s about relatability and also about, I feel, I think like in that in that vulnerability, we’re reminded of our humanity, which is why it’s so beautiful and, and important that people keep doing it. I always try to make it a point with anything that I make to serve as a example, or maybe not even an as an example, or really just like proof that, like, you can make your thing, you know, if I, if if this goober goofball can like, make a living doing what I do, like I think anybody could.
00:40:50:08 – 00:41:16:52
Charles Bates
And I think that people now more than ever should be anyone listening to this on the on your radio dials. If you’re if you’ve ever considered starting your own business or starting a podcast or starting a YouTube channel, do it. Do it yesterday. Yeah, because it’s gonna become required as I takes away jobs. So besides, you know why?
00:41:16:52 – 00:41:19:01
Charles Bates
Why work for somebody else when you can work for yourself?
00:41:19:16 – 00:41:41:14
Agent Palmer
Well, and that’s so the blog I started as a a writing exercise, for lack of a better word. The podcast. I wish I had started sooner, like I enjoy, I enjoy this, I enjoy the discourse, I enjoy talking to creative people or new people. Right? Like, when was the last time you talked to somebody you didn’t know?
00:41:41:19 – 00:41:49:25
Charles Bates
You know? Well, I do, I do get to talk to new people because of the store. Because working at the vape shop. Okay. Yeah, I know what you mean. Not certainly not like this.
00:41:49:30 – 00:42:21:27
Agent Palmer
And so I like the look. I’m not I haven’t figured out the merchandise aspect of it yet, but, like, bringing conversation back seems like my, my deal right now. Because, like, I don’t I don’t want to, you know, the dirty secret about this show is that if it turns into an interview, then my guest probably didn’t want to have a conversation with me or was so nervous and like, I think I’m good enough as a host that like by the second half hour or whatever, we’re talking and conversing.
00:42:21:27 – 00:42:33:21
Agent Palmer
But the interviews aren’t fun. Like, I want you to ask me the question or give me a thought provoking answer that like, we can dissect together. That seems fun.
00:42:33:35 – 00:42:49:48
Charles Bates
Yeah, no, I agree. I think that, and too much lately has gotten to be. Well, I don’t know, I honestly, I don’t have much frame of reference because most of the podcast I could see more comedy podcasts like I just listen to like most of the podcast, I listen to her comics. So like, they’re just being goofy goofballs.
00:42:49:55 – 00:42:53:19
Charles Bates
Silly goose having a silly goose time anyway, well.
00:42:53:19 – 00:43:17:21
Agent Palmer
I didn’t that’s that’s the those were the podcasts I was listening to until I started this one. And now it’s like, well, I’m, I the the truth of the matter is, I listen to a lot more of your music than I do podcasts because I’ve, I turned a corner about two years ago, like right at the height of the pandemic where I went, like, I love listening to podcasts, but music makes me happy and I think I’m going to choose happiness.
00:43:17:26 – 00:43:34:12
Agent Palmer
Oh, it doesn’t matter. The music. The music doesn’t matter. Like that’s that’s, it almost doesn’t matter. It’s just like, yeah, I enjoy these people, these hosts, and they’re sharing their life with me, and that’s great. Or they’re sharing their comedy or their craft, but I just want to listen to some tunes like, yeah.
00:43:34:17 – 00:43:51:14
Charles Bates
I should I really should get back more. I do listen to music, and this is not nearly as much as I did. And I’d spoken. I’ve spoken before publicly about like I used to work for this guy and in my early 20s who didn’t listen to music, and I thought it was insane.
00:43:51:14 – 00:43:51:47
Agent Palmer
Like, not, I was.
00:43:51:47 – 00:44:06:09
Charles Bates
Like, what are you talking about? Yeah. He he was like, I don’t listen to music. And I was like, what? And he’s like, yeah. And I was like, okay, well what’s. And now keep in mind this is like, oh wait. But I was like, what’s in your CD player right now? And he was like, a book about vinyls.
00:44:06:14 – 00:44:27:54
Charles Bates
And I just, I he’s it seemed so alien to me. And now here I am at 35 and it’s like, I mean, it’s not that I don’t ever listen to music, but like, it’s not my first choice. I honestly usually will throw pod stuff on in the background of what I’m doing. I actually actively listen to music. I don’t really listen to it passively.
00:44:27:54 – 00:44:30:50
Charles Bates
I usually listen to podcasts passively.
00:44:30:50 – 00:44:38:24
Agent Palmer
So do you like when you’re talking about actively listening? Do you like put on an album like and like start to finish or like,
00:44:38:28 – 00:45:03:16
Charles Bates
And I usually I don’t have the attention span, I, usually I when I consume music, I usually do so through YouTube and I’m just like usually pulling it up by individual song. And it could be anything. I do have a, I do have a couple of playlists that are kind of like have like a 90s hip hop playlist and like a Sky playlist, and, I actually have a, a playlist that is Game Grumps remixes.
00:45:03:16 – 00:45:27:45
Charles Bates
Okay. Which I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of or seen the Game Grumps, but they, they’re these two guys that do like, let’s play as they play video games, and I think they’re really funny. But over the years, they’ve said all these kinds of crazy things. And there’s this guy. Well, there’s several people that make remixes, musical remixes of stuff that they’ve said or done in the games and some of them are just really, really good pieces.
00:45:27:45 – 00:45:27:58
Charles Bates
I mean.
00:45:28:11 – 00:45:58:51
Agent Palmer
It’s it’s funny because like, Stefan, I started getting into Minecraft content. Oh, okay. And so, while we do watch, like the big ones like Hermit craft and, and empires, what’s funny about that is there’s this sub sect of fans that do create songs based on storylines or things people say in those games, and they just put it out.
00:45:58:51 – 00:46:11:41
Agent Palmer
And so, like. You can find the weird world. I yeah, there’s there’s something for everyone, right? I mean, it’s the yes, every movie, everybody has a favorite.
00:46:11:46 – 00:46:51:54
Charles Bates
Yeah. Yeah. Everybody’s every movie is somebody save it. Yeah. Well I don’t know man. You might be hard pressed to find. Well, the thing the thing about that is, is that the worst movies you’re going to find people that love, either ironically or, you know, to be a contrarian, like, honestly, Men Play a nine is one of my favorites, like, unironically, just because of, like, what it says about cinema and like, what was going on at the time and the whole idea that Bela Lugosi died and then they just, like, put a dude on there and covered his face up like, it’s just I find that kind of stuff really interesting.
00:46:51:54 – 00:46:55:05
Charles Bates
And I’ve always been a really, like, big fan of B horror. Anyway.
00:46:55:10 – 00:47:22:22
Agent Palmer
Yeah, I, I’m trying to think of what I’ve watched recently, but like for me, right now, I have this ongoing discussion about the the most recent Star Wars trilogy where I’m like, I, I it was a popcorn flick. I enjoyed it like, I, I’ve, I’ve finally separated my fandom from religion I guess is is the word I would use and like I can I can accept that they had an impossible task, right?
00:47:22:23 – 00:47:56:09
Agent Palmer
Like I have, I don’t know what magazine is, but I got one of those, like, sci fi rags from like the early 80s that has an interview with Lucas where he’s like, yeah, we’re going to do nine of these. And this is like before The Return of the Jedi came out. And like, obviously before the prequels. So like, even after the prequels, like going into this final trilogy, it just the sheer fact that they were doing a another three was amazing to me because of how I don’t I how how the prequels are perceived.
00:47:56:09 – 00:47:58:19
Agent Palmer
Right? Because like I, I watched the first.
00:47:58:21 – 00:48:00:23
Charles Bates
One remember how they’re perceived now.
00:48:00:23 – 00:48:01:19
Agent Palmer
Well, and yeah.
00:48:01:25 – 00:48:10:56
Charles Bates
Because we were all, at least myself included, was under a bit of a spell of, I think being so happy that it was just back.
00:48:11:01 – 00:48:11:27
Agent Palmer
Yeah.
00:48:11:32 – 00:48:41:21
Charles Bates
Yeah. That we because like, I don’t know if you’ve seen like the I think it’s red letter media is the name of the guy that that rips episode one. Just like so hard core. He goes in on it and like some of the stuff I think he’s a little too harsh on, but a lot of the stuff I was like, wow, I just ignored this stuff because I was so happy for a new Star Wars movie because I was like, what, 13 when the when episode one came out, dude, I was crazy hype.
00:48:41:26 – 00:48:41:55
Agent Palmer
Well, like.
00:48:41:57 – 00:48:43:59
Charles Bates
Star Wars was one of my favorite properties.
00:48:43:59 – 00:49:07:24
Agent Palmer
And it’s it’s funny, you bring it up because I, I watched, movies with Mikey, film Joy did a series on Star Wars, and I literally just watched it last this past week. And he talks about the reviews and the fan and critical reaction from release week of all of these films. And it’s like, very different than how we remember.
00:49:07:31 – 00:49:17:13
Agent Palmer
Yeah, like vastly different. Like it’s it’s now cool to hate on the prequels, right. Not not one, not one. Not the least.
00:49:17:13 – 00:49:24:50
Charles Bates
Week. People loved it, dude. They had those like, remember those Pepsi cans you could collect that had all the Star Wars characters on? I’m like.
00:49:24:50 – 00:49:34:47
Agent Palmer
Yeah, no, I because I remember drinking a 12, 24 pack of those cans in line for the midnight showing, right? Like, yeah.
00:49:34:48 – 00:49:35:22
Charles Bates
That was.
00:49:35:27 – 00:50:02:16
Agent Palmer
I. So like, there’s that piece of it where like and maybe like, look, I never jumped in on the Phantom Menace hate. But that could also be because I stood in line with friends of mine after school for 6 or 8 hours, just hanging out in the sunshine, you know, drinking way too much caffeine and, like, waiting for the midnight showing on a school night, by the way, which I still still boggles my mind.
00:50:02:16 – 00:50:03:43
Agent Palmer
Right?
00:50:03:48 – 00:50:26:51
Charles Bates
Yeah. Well, nostalgia is a powerful drug, ma’am. Like, I feel like a lot of stuff gets away with, like, I was just seeing this thing about, about NBA two K and Madden, which I don’t know if you’re much of a gamer or if you play any of the sports games, but yeah, I like, I don’t I don’t play at Madden as much, but I usually play two k, I like I’m a big basketball fan.
00:50:26:56 – 00:50:48:46
Charles Bates
And I’m finally starting to see people speak up and allow me to be a person that speaks up about this publicly to these, to. Yeah, I don’t know what kind of lazy stuff they’re doing with the career modes on these games, or really just the games in general as to like any kind of advancements on the way they’re played or their graphics.
00:50:48:51 – 00:51:07:22
Charles Bates
They’ve for me, they’ve looked the same for ten years. It’s just been like a clown. And we all keep buying it because we want to buy it. Yeah, but it seems a little shitty that like they’re not being held to a standard of improvement that like, I don’t know any other mediums. Well, like there’s.
00:51:07:36 – 00:51:31:11
Agent Palmer
You and I get held to that if we have a fan, like if you have a fan subscribes to your channel, like listen to the podcast like they expect you, they expect a certain level of quality, sure. But they also expect that after ten episodes, it’s not going to be just the same old thing. Like you’re not going back to the well and doing the same thing.
00:51:31:22 – 00:51:44:35
Agent Palmer
And yet I think bigger companies, it it’s almost the nostalgia, right. Like bigger companies get a little bit of a pass. Some of it’s the collectors market of like well who’s on the Madden cover, who’s got the cover, blah blah blah.
00:51:44:35 – 00:52:09:49
Charles Bates
But like I it’s also I think online, I think because of the competitive aspect of the online player, they get away with a lot of it too, because like, I don’t even play two K online. I’m not a competitive person. I get two K because I like to just play, I like to I actually treat it like a role playing game, like I make my guy and he’s got like a story and they run through the thing and like, I just play the career mode against the computer.
00:52:09:49 – 00:52:28:30
Charles Bates
I don’t care about like flexin online, but because that’s so ingrained in the culture and especially when you add streaming on top of that. Yeah. Then, you know, I mean, how much can we really blame EA at the end of the day? Because they’re just, you know, people are still buying it. Like it’s not like people aren’t buying the games.
00:52:28:35 – 00:52:53:16
Charles Bates
It’s just that they’re just putting out the same game pretty much every. And honestly, dude, especially this year, the essentially the two K storyline for the basketball game this year for the career mode is that everybody hates you. That’s the storyline. It’s just like it’s you, you, it’s you and another guy like your rivals in college. I guess, because it’s not like you have any kind of college story in this one.
00:52:53:20 – 00:53:16:59
Charles Bates
And like literally the team that drafts you didn’t want you nobody. Nobody. So so I went with the Lakers because I’ve never played for the Lakers in my career and I’m run out of point guard. So and I wanted to play with LeBron. So I went to the Lakers. Nobody wanted me. That’s the whole story. It’s like, oh man, you’re really going to have to show them that you belong here.
00:53:16:59 – 00:53:18:04
Charles Bates
And it’s like, what?
00:53:18:13 – 00:53:19:13
Agent Palmer
Well, also.
00:53:19:18 – 00:53:21:56
Charles Bates
You wouldn’t have come up with anything more dynamic than this.
00:53:21:56 – 00:53:42:26
Agent Palmer
Well, with the exception that like, that’s true of any sport of like it’s not even like unique to basketball. Like you want to be a formula one driver, an NFL quarterback, a major league pitcher, like you. You you have to show up and do the thing. You have to drive the car. You have to throw the strike. You have to throw the touchdown.
00:53:42:38 – 00:53:48:08
Agent Palmer
Like, you can’t just, you don’t just get drafted to sit on the bench like.
00:53:48:13 – 00:54:03:30
Charles Bates
Yeah, it’s very, very weird. It’s it’s and it’s just lazy and and honestly, even stuff with like some of the cutaway scenes and stuff when you can just I mean, look, I don’t know a whole lot about game design, but it’s like you can tell that it’s like, oh, well, this is just lazy. Like, I just got finished.
00:54:03:30 – 00:54:13:02
Charles Bates
I just got done playing the Hogwarts game, which by the way, that’s another one of those things I was talking about earlier with reconciling in my head as to whether or not it makes me a bad person.
00:54:13:07 – 00:54:40:02
Agent Palmer
Yeah, I, I’ve long since decided that, like the art look, if it’s not circular, it goes back to the art and the artist being separate like most of the people are. Like, there’s like, you know, it’s the ones that have an internal problem that we look back more fondly on than the one with the external problem. But that doesn’t mean all of these creatives are 100%.
00:54:40:07 – 00:54:41:30
Agent Palmer
Yeah, like, well.
00:54:41:30 – 00:55:03:19
Charles Bates
And I also I’ll say two because I wanted to bring this up earlier when you had said it like separating the art from the artists. Like I also feel like and maybe it’s just lately, but maybe it’s always been this way. I find myself far more in love with the world than the plot for a lot of this stuff, right?
00:55:03:19 – 00:55:28:37
Charles Bates
So like Star Wars, for example. I love the original trilogy. Looking back at the at the prequels, critically, it’s not very good, and I haven’t seen any of the new stuff other than Rogue One, which I did enjoy. But I guess my point is like, I still love Star Wars. Like as an entity. Yeah, I just don’t give a shit about what your new story is, you know?
00:55:28:37 – 00:55:47:46
Charles Bates
And I feel that kind of way with Harry Potter, too, because, like, I didn’t even finish the trilogy or the trilogy. I didn’t even finish the series. She lost me in the fifth book. I was in high school. I got halfway through the fifth book, I got bored, I put it down, I never finished it, and then I never really watched any of the movies actively.
00:55:47:51 – 00:55:58:44
Charles Bates
But, you know, I was like nine or something when the first book came out. So when the game came out, you know, my inner child would not allow for me to not play it.
00:55:58:44 – 00:56:00:02
Agent Palmer
Sure.
00:56:00:07 – 00:56:15:55
Charles Bates
And I really enjoyed it. I think that it was good. I think maybe, you know, I think some people are probably going to argue that it’s a little too short because I’ve, I’ve completed the main stuff and I’m getting close to 100%. And I haven’t even put 50 hours in it.
00:56:16:00 – 00:56:39:45
Agent Palmer
I would say I would argue that this also speaks to the art you create because you’re creating worlds, as well. So I think it’s just and and you know what I mean? Like, I get to be the third party here because I’ve consumed your content and I’m talking to you. But maybe that’s just it. Maybe the reason you enjoy the world is because you enjoy building the world.
00:56:39:49 – 00:56:59:15
Charles Bates
Yeah, I’d not ever considered that. But, I mean, I guess that that’s what this whole thing is with the additions is that it’s just like, you know, once you once you set up the quote unquote rules for Florida Edition or say, well, that’s a bad example because there’s not really rules for that. But like, you know what I mean?
00:56:59:15 – 00:57:23:33
Charles Bates
Like if you established that it’s like, okay, well, this in this episode, we’re all, you know, lawyers. Yeah. Then people that watch can take from that and whether they use that in their own game as the DM, or they want to make a character that’s based on that, like, that’s one of the things that really attracted me to D and D is that it’s really just like a collective of ideas.
00:57:23:38 – 00:57:44:50
Charles Bates
Yeah. Like that’s essentially all it is, is just like, hey, it’s just a pile of ideas. Because like, I was just talking, I made a TikTok recently about how I want to make a spell caster that’s afraid to cast magic, but he’s, like, super broke and powerful. So every time he cast, he has to roll for fear.
00:57:44:55 – 00:58:15:28
Charles Bates
And because everyone else in the party knows that the spell casters Uber powerful, they’re going to encourage them to cast. I just think that that’d be really fun. Like, that’s that’s my favorite thing. And honestly, it’s a good idea that Justin started doing this thing where he builds these characters because that’s another thing that I could probably do really well, and we could just churn those out at least weekly, if not a couple of them a week.
00:58:15:33 – 00:58:37:33
Agent Palmer
As I said, I have watched the entirety of the Man Shorts YouTube channel. And yeah, Isaac’s albums can be found throughout more than a few of my Spotify playlists. This is a means to explain that I was, and remain a fan of the art that Charles Bates creates. But while we didn’t talk much about process, the discussion made one thing clear to me.
00:58:37:38 – 00:59:05:27
Agent Palmer
Charles Bates, the artist and storyteller, has an internal drive and a longing for the next thing that speaks through his creations to me as an audience member, because we are similar in that regard. Rational people don’t create, and Charles and I are hardly rational. We’ve been at it since before high school, trying things here and there until we figured it out and started sharing our creations with the world on the internet.
00:59:05:27 – 00:59:31:16
Agent Palmer
As we grew up with this interconnected digital world, we are vulnerable because art is vulnerable, and that is absolutely related to the realization that rational people don’t create. It’s all connected, all of it. So since Charles implored you to do the thing in this episode, I will ask you to check out his art, his music, his creations, and then go one step further.
00:59:31:20 – 00:59:53:53
Agent Palmer
If you don’t like what you hear, that’s fine. But if you do, let him know. Favorite a song on Spotify, like a video on YouTube, email his podcast, or even this one. Consume from the independent creators and let them know what you think it means. So much more than you could ever imagine, unless of course, you’re also an independent creator.
00:59:53:58 – 01:00:14:23
Agent Palmer
And then, you know. Thanks for listening to The Palmer Files episode 95. And now for the official business. The Palmer Files releases every two weeks on Tuesdays. If you’re still listening, I encourage you to join the discussion. You can find all related ways to contact myself and my guest, Charles Bates, in the show notes. There you can find links to watch Charles content on the Man Shorts channel.
01:00:14:23 – 01:00:35:11
Agent Palmer
That’s M, A and N, as in YouTube.com slash man shorts. There you can also find the D and D editions Drunk Before Noon and the video of his podcast Bart Advice. You can also listen to his music on YouTube or Spotify by looking up. Yeah, again. That’s why I, Zakk K email can be sent to this show at the Palmer Files at gmail.com.
01:00:35:11 – 01:00:44:17
Agent Palmer
And remember, you’re home for all things. Agent Palmer is Agent palmer.com.
01:00:44:22 – 01:01:20:35
Agent Palmer
You.
01:01:20:40 – 01:01:28:09
Agent Palmer
See? All right. Charles, do you have one final question for me?
01:01:28:13 – 01:01:35:31
Charles Bates
What is your favorite sport to watch?
01:01:35:36 – 01:01:42:15
Agent Palmer
It’s such a tough question. I think I want to go baseball because it was my first love.
01:01:42:20 – 01:01:43:15
Charles Bates
Railway.
01:01:43:20 – 01:02:08:36
Agent Palmer
And I. I love that it’s slow. Okay. I’m the one. I’m the guy under 50 still. I mean, I’m, I mean, I’m under 40, but I might as well say under 50. That’s like. I like the pace of the game. I know they’re speeding. It up. I get all that. But, like, I enjoy it. That that’s the one I.
01:02:08:41 – 01:02:29:24
Agent Palmer
And I say that because we’re recording this on the verge of March Madness, which is one of my favorite events, but it doesn’t make it my favorites. You know what I mean? Like as an event, but college basketball, I couldn’t say because, like, some of the games in the early season, I don’t really care about. And like, I love college football, but I love college football.
01:02:29:25 – 01:02:40:47
Agent Palmer
Bowl season a hell of a lot more than some of the regular season stuff. Like, so like there are moments. But as far as, like just anything goes, give me nine innings of baseball.
01:02:40:52 – 01:02:57:39
Charles Bates
Okay. I was wondering to that there’s probably a difference between whether you are maybe not for you, but at least there would be for me. Whether you were watching it on television or if you were there. No, if you were at the game. I don’t think so. You would still say base.
01:02:57:39 – 01:03:00:09
Agent Palmer
But I would still say baseball. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
01:03:00:14 – 01:03:12:08
Charles Bates
I think I would. I would, I would, I prefer to watch, basketball, but I would really love to watch cricket.
01:03:12:13 – 01:03:13:34
Agent Palmer
Do you understand cricket.
01:03:13:47 – 01:03:23:35
Charles Bates
Like, yes, I do. Oh. And I’d like to watch it physically. Like I’d like to go to like a, I would love to see like an ICC, like a World Cup, like cricket match.
01:03:23:40 – 01:03:33:10
Agent Palmer
Or one day when you have like six hours, we need to get on a call so you can because it’s the one like, legitimately speaking, it’s a bunch.
01:03:33:10 – 01:03:33:57
Charles Bates
Complicated.
01:03:33:57 – 01:03:35:00
Agent Palmer
Really. All right. But you know.
01:03:35:00 – 01:03:37:38
Charles Bates
Once it looks it looks more complex than it is.
01:03:37:38 – 01:03:59:22
Agent Palmer
But nobody’s explained it to me. So it’s the one sport I like. And I will say one of my favorite sports to watch that I don’t watch very often. Aussie rules football. It’s, it’s just so much batshit fun and crazy. It’s got oh, I bet it’s it’s it’s the best of rugby and football. Like our football all in one.
01:03:59:25 – 01:04:00:31
Agent Palmer
It’s so good.
01:04:00:35 – 01:04:23:26
Charles Bates
Yeah, cricket is great because it’s essentially. And you, you probably won’t like this, but I can’t stand baseball. Let me just say I. Yeah. And to each his own. Yeah. But that said like for me I think it’s a better baseball. So for someone who doesn’t like baseball, I think cricket is like what baseball should have been.
01:04:23:38 – 01:04:28:08
Charles Bates
In fact, I think cricket is what baseball was first.
01:04:28:08 – 01:04:28:28
Agent Palmer
Yes.
01:04:28:37 – 01:04:30:01
Charles Bates
Right. Yeah I think yeah.
01:04:30:03 – 01:04:30:17
Agent Palmer
Yeah.
01:04:30:17 – 01:04:52:58
Charles Bates
So yeah, with cricket it’s like 11 on each side. The in the middle. You’ve got the wickets that are on either side and you’ve got a batter and a bowler. The really the only thing that you have to like learn is like the rules as to like how many pitches and stuff. But it’s essentially baseball. The bowler bowls the ball, the batter hits it.
01:04:53:02 – 01:05:13:16
Charles Bates
The goal is obviously if they get it all the way out, that’s essentially a home run at six points. If they get the ball out of the circle with it being like on the ground. So like if it rolls out of the circle, that’s a four. And then otherwise any runs are scored by them running back and forth those wickets with the other batsmen.
01:05:13:27 – 01:05:14:21
Agent Palmer
Okay.
01:05:14:26 – 01:05:27:39
Charles Bates
So it’s really not as complicated as it looks. I learned how it worked in like ten minutes one day just by watching a video. And like since I learned how it worked, it’s really fun to watch.
01:05:27:46 – 01:05:30:58
Agent Palmer
I that’s now that’s the thing I have to do.
01:05:31:02 – 01:05:51:47
Charles Bates
Yeah, man, I would highly recommend it. I’d recommend anybody watch cricket like it’s totally a thing. That was random. The player AB de Villiers was retiring and this was years and years ago when I saw it. And I like you randomly was like, yeah, you know, I don’t, I don’t I’ve never known how cricket works. And so just I was like, I’m gonna learn and I learned and it’s awesome.
01:05:51:47 – 01:05:57:09
Charles Bates
It’s one of my favorite sports now. And it’s like the second most popular in the world behind soccer. So.
–End Transcription–
This transcription was processed by PalmerTech 3.1 and may contain errors for HUMINT (human intelligence).