The Grey NATO – 171 – The 2021 Holiday Gift Guide

Published on Thu, 25 Nov 2021 06:00:29 -0500

Synopsis

The podcast discusses a new system for listeners to financially support the show, either through a $5 monthly subscription for bonus content or a $100 annual subscription that includes merchandise like a branded NATO strap and decal. The hosts also share their holiday gift recommendations across various price points, ranging from affordable items like playing cards and books to more expensive products like a jerrycan minibar and an electric utility bike. They emphasize that the show will remain free for those who cannot contribute financially.

Transcript

Speaker
Jason Hello and welcome to another episode of The Grey Nado, a loose discussion of travel, diving, driving, gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 171 and we thank you for listening. James, how's it going? We're a bit of a short week here in the U.S. and it's a holiday when we're launching this one.
James Yep. Yeah, this one will come out, I guess, as the sort of American Thanksgiving kicks off. You weirdos down south decide to do things pretty late. It's already Christmas as far as I'm concerned up here, but to each their own. And of course, happy Thanksgiving to anybody who's celebrating it. I guess aside from that, I don't have a ton to talk about, but we do kind of have some big news that I hinted at last week. You think we kick off there? Yeah, let's do it.
Jason Let's get right into it.
James It's been a long time coming that we've wanted to try and find a way to have the audience support the show if they want to. And I think in the past, we haven't been very good at asking for money. We certainly haven't been good at liking doing the business side of anything. That's why we're both creatives and big stressors on our accountants and business managers. But I think we've come up with an interesting way of kind of supporting the show and it's all done through Substack. So if you're already on the subscriber option, you'll have the ability to quickly up your subscription if you want. We think it's pretty straightforward and simple. Obviously, if you have any questions or problems, you can email us at at gmail.com. But, uh, Jason, why don't you walk them through the levels?
Jason As James mentioned, we're running this, this program through Substack, which isn't, you know, it isn't a perfect format, but it's what's been working for us lately to deliver show notes and to provide an embedded player. If people want to listen to the show that way, if you're already subscribed to the Graynado on Substack and are getting those weekly emails, it's pretty simple to upgrade to a paid subscription to support us. When you go to the graynado.substack.com, If you're logged in, you'll see a big orange subscribe button in the top right corner of the screen. And when you click that, you will see the, we basically have two subscription options, which I'll walk through in a minute. But if you're not already on our sub stack and getting those weekly emails with the show notes, just go to the graynado.substack.com and you'll find a place right on that page where you can enter your email address. And then when you click that, it'll take you to the subscription options. And for those, we have two. We have a $5 a month option, which basically gets you, you know, the standard weekly episodes, which everybody gets, even if you're, you're staying with the free option, but then you're also going to get an extra episode a month. And at this point we're, we're going to make that our Q and a episode. So starting in the new year, the Q and a episode will be an extra episode available only to those who pay for the $5 a month level, or we have a hundred dollar a year level. If you want to pay once, for the entire year, you get the, the weekly episodes plus the Q and a episode and drum roll, please. A supporter kit. So the supporter kit is our TGN logo. It's a decal, a three inch decal that you can put on your laptop or water bottle or car or whatever you want, as well as a gray Ute NATO strap. Um, this is, uh, the, the strap we provided in the supporter bundle years ago. It has a signed TGN buckle. This is an all new crop of them that we got from Terry. These are lovely straps, some of our favorite NATOs. So when you sign up at the $100 a year level, you get the decal and a strap of your choosing, either 20 or 22 millimeter. Once you sign up on Substack, you're going to get a thank you email that's going to have a link in it where you can choose your strap size and enter your shipping info. And then we'll get those expedited. Probably in the first week of December, I'll be getting those shipped out to everybody. Yeah, pretty straightforward. It's all through substack. And as James mentioned, if you have any problems, you can just send us an email at the great NATO at gmail.com.
James Yeah. And you know, the thing that we want to make clear is the show will remain free. If you're listening and you think this isn't worth five bucks a month or, or I don't have a hundred dollars this year or whatever, that's fine. We're still going to do about 48 episodes a year, which is what we've been doing for some time. Well, I mean, since we went back to weekly, we can take some time off around Christmas and then there's usually one or two weeks a year where it just, the schedule becomes difficult. So. We'll say something like 48 a year. Just like with the last bundle, Jason, I want to make this very clear. This isn't a great deal. If what you want is a, is a great NATO, you can get the exact same one. It just doesn't have the, the TGN engraving on the buckle from Hodinkee for about 25 bucks. This is how you can support the show. And if you're enjoying it, basically the annual option ensures that Jason and I won't lose money on the NATO, the sticker, the shipping, the processing time, et cetera. These are being shipped by hand. There's, we don't have like a fulfillment center or any of that kind of thing. We don't really know how many of you are going to clamor to get after this, but we hope it's enough to have made the investment in the NATOs and the rest of it make sense. And then as far as the Q&A goes, that'll become a fifth episode a month. And again, if you're in either of the paid tiers, $5 a month or $100 a year, which again is only like eight and a half bucks a month, a little less than that, then you get the Q&A. Obviously we have a backlog of questions that have come from people who sent them in assuming they would get an answer regardless of spending money. So we're not going to kick off the paid Q&As. until later in the year, probably January or February of next year. So that way we can get through the backlog of the questions we have. If you sent us a Q&A question, you know, before, say, November 25th of this year, you're in the log, you'll get your answers. We're going to go through those and do a couple like super Q&A shows to get through those questions. And then moving forward, it'll be something where, you know, if you want to be able to send in a question and get a direct response from Jason and I, that'll be part of kind of the the paid level. Kind of predicting other questions that might come up. We're not going to be selling a strap separately. We kind of see it as the easiest kind of most fun way to signify yourself as a TGN supporter, if that's something that you're keen on doing. We may do merch in the future. It depends on what we learn about shipping and the rest of it.
Jason Yeah, I would also add that this is open to listeners worldwide. There are very few geographies to which I cannot ship things from the U S. I think, uh, I think I've, I've had experience, uh, in the past shipping to, uh, I think it was Taiwan. And I think, uh, I think, uh, Russia, of course, uh, North Korea, I think Iran, you know, there's just a handful of places that I can't ship. And certainly we will get in touch with you if there's a shipping issue, but otherwise, you know, it's fair game. Uh, we've got listeners all over the world and happy to happy to get this stuff, uh, distributed. So.
James We think this is good value. I support a handful of different Patreons and sub stacks and such. And we think that this kind of balances out where it's not just additional content for all the ranges. And it's a level of work that we can manage and the rest of it. The last thing that I'd like to clarify, in the past, I've said that we read and reply to every email. And that has been the case up until now. But honestly, I can't keep up with it anymore. kind of too many messages coming in. A lot of them are double ups or things that we end up talking about, you know, a week later on the show or something like that. So the email will remain open, thegraynadoatgmail.com, but we can't promise that you'll get a reply anymore. We'll do our best, but I'm no longer able to make that promise as there's just that many messages and the workload and such to go weekly has really, you know, kind of eaten up some of that time. So that's kind of the big business update for the show. If you want to support us and you've been enjoying the show, We're 171 episodes in. You can pick either five bucks a month or a hundred bucks a year. I think the hundred bucks a year, I think the hundred bucks a year is a sweet deal because I think these NATOs are pretty rad, but I don't know that I could be more biased in that opinion.
Jason Well, I think, you know, we've had, we've had people write us unsolicited asking how they can support the show. Several times. Yeah. You know, Hey, how can we give you guys money? We've had other emails asking, you know, are you guys ever going to sell merchandise again? I'd love to get one of those straps. Hopefully this, this solves a few of those, those problems, if you can even call them problems. But I think, you know, James and I put, put a lot of time into doing these episodes, especially James editing every week. And, and, you know, we, we sit down and try to, you know, put our best, best foot forward with, with every episode of TGN. And I, I know we have a really loyal following of folks out there, listeners, and I'm excited to kind of kick this off and see where it goes.
James Yeah, me too. And lastly, if you're, if you're listening, we can end on this point. If you're listening, you love the show, but it's not, you're not in a position to put the money out. That's fine. If you want to do us a favor, swing by your podcast aggregator of choice and leave a review. We typically try and ask once a year. I probably asked more than that this year, but leave us a review. It makes a difference. It helps grows the show. It helps people have some faith in what they're subscribing to if they're brand new. And if you're not much for leaving reviews or, or, you know, logging into stuff and such, then just, uh, tell a friend.
Unknown Yeah. Yeah, definitely.
James Other than that, any issues, the gray NATO at gmail.com, uh, Jason, I haven't done anything other than work Uh, since we recorded the last episode, uh, and any, any of the big news to go over, you want to jump right into risk check.
Jason I think we can jump into risk check. I mean, for me, the past week, you know, we've been kind of testing out and trying this, uh, kind of protocol to get things set up for, for what we just discussed. So, um, that's kind of been the big news on my end. And, uh, yeah, let's, uh, let's get into risk check. What are you wearing?
James I put on the Explorer too. Um, you know, this, this feels like kind of a big day, 171 episodes in we've decided to try and, you know, fund the show in a way that we're comfortable with. We didn't like advertising. and the rest of it. And whenever I kind of am doing something that I would like to remember in sort of a specific fashion, I try and wear this watch. It's one of my sort of good luck charms, if you will. So I've got the Explorer 2 on and it's a, it's a winner still is. And I think it will be for a long time for me.
Jason Yeah. Nice. Well, um, on, on my wrist, uh, Steve from Raven sent over a watch for me to try out. Now I've never worn a Raven. Um, you've talked a lot about them and have tried the Trekker and a few other watches from that for sure. Yeah. He sends their latest, which is the airfield. Um, Oh, nice. And you know, it's really an amazing watch and, and having not handled a Raven before, I mean the photos have always looked great, but I'm, I'm pretty blown away by the quality of this watch for something that's, you know, less than $600. This is a, he sent me, uh, the no date green dial and he put an orange sweep hand on it. So it's, it's this really cool, colorful version of that kind of field quasi pilot's watch style. Um, and it comes on a really nice bracelet for, you know, for this price point, the bracelet is swings well above its weight. And then it has these like little touches like the kind of the, the bevels on the, on the bezel are pretty amazing. And then it has this black, Ceramic ring kind of around the the inside of the bezel but kind of before you get into the dial that just adds this sort of glitter to it in certain light and and just kind of changes the whole look of the watch and It's just it's it's a sweet little watch. I I haven't actually sized the bracelet I'm kind of eager to do that, but I put it on one of these artem Sailcloth straps, which looks surprisingly good but I had it on a nato for the first couple of days and it wears, you know perfectly on that as well, but uh, You know, when, when Steve sent it, he sent me like a screenshot of it on a timing machine and he had adjusted it himself. And, and, you know, it keeps, you know, within just a couple seconds a day, it's just like chronometer spec for a Seiko NH36 no date movement. So it's a lovely, it's a pretty amazing little piece. Yeah. So, you know, Steve, thanks so much for, for sending this over. I'm, uh, I'm enjoying wearing it and I'll definitely put up a photo or two on Instagram in the next couple of weeks. So, uh, yeah, that's, what's on my wrist.
James Yeah. I, you know, the Raven stuff has always impressed me. I've, I've kind of, been following Steve's work for a long time before Raven. He was part of Benares watches. I owned a handful of their stuff. The customer service is great. Steve's an awesome dude. Another one of a product related to him is going to come up in our gift guide, which I'm excited about. I think it's just another one of those small brands that I really like to support. They do nice work. I'm glad that you've got a chance to check it out. The airfield looks great. We talked about it back in our upcoming watches we're excited about episode. And I'm glad that one of us has a chance to check it out. That's rad.
Jason Yeah. Well, speaking of the gift guide, we should jump into it. We do this every year. It's been kind of a fun tradition. It kind of crept up on me this year. I was like, oh, we probably need to do a gift guide. I think somebody actually wrote me and said, Jason, are you guys going to be doing a gift guide? Because I rely on you guys to like get my gifts. I'm like, okay, that's no pressure, but that's good.
James Good enough for us.
Jason It is. Yeah.
James So, so here we are. Well, yeah, the goal is to pick something we've enjoyed this year. That's not a watch. The great NATO at large is kind of a year round watch buying guide. And then to make it clear, this is not sponsored in any way. None of these brands know that they're going to be mentioned. And, um, and in cases where we were given the product, uh, we can also make that pretty clear too, but, It's not sponsored. These are ones that we picked. We see it as sort of like the equivalent of a consumer-driven sort of award show if TGN were ever to produce one. Yeah. And basically with the consumer side of it is we do four things that are under $150. It used to be $100, but things feel more expensive this year. And I think they are. So I wiggled it up to 150 bucks. And then the final item, we each pick something that breaks the bank. So that's a no budget, something we bought this year that we really enjoy. So, uh, Jason, if you want to kick it off with your first one, um, I'm keen to get through this list. I love doing this episode.
Jason Yeah, me too. I'm going to start, uh, I guess we will probably go low to high. I'm going to start with a set of playing cards. These are from, uh, Haviston. So Haviston is, um, you know, those of you are probably familiar with it, um, because I've, I've mentioned their straps in the past, but Haviston, their kind of tagline on the website is vintage military industrial design. And primarily what, what Haviston does are kind of cool canvas and NATO style straps with a nod towards, you know, the color schemes of old battleships or, you know, airplanes or whatever. And, and I've got one of their tool watch rolls for, for storing watches, which would have been a nice pick for, for a gift guide in itself. But today what I'm doing is their, their vintage military playing card deck. And these are $24 and 30 cents. That's a, like a direct, uh, translation from, from British pounds. Cause this is a brand out of, uh, out of England. And, you know, I'm not a card playing guy, but Alex from Haviston sent these over to me, uh, a few months ago. And I had a couple of nights where, you know, Ghoshani was working late and I was kind of sitting by the fire and I was like, I pulled out these cards just because they're really a pleasure to look at. And I just started playing solitaire with them and it kind of got hooked on it. What they are is it's kind of a nod to, you know, back in, in world war two and through the cold war, different militaries would issue these aircraft spotter cards. So they would have like an outline of, of certain enemy aircraft so that you could identify them from the ground. And what he did this using military watches of various types. So, you know, there's everything from a Marine chronometer to, you know, an RAF chronograph to, you know, a standard field watch, something like the Benrus type one, but none of them list the name of the watch specifically by brand. It's more just kind of this generic sketch of it with the Haviston name on the dial. And they're really beautifully done. Of course, they're colored black and red for the, for the different suits. You know, you can tell that Alex at Haviston is a designer cause it's, it's really, um, nicely done in terms of, you know, the different suits, the clubs, the hearts, the spades, Um, as well as kind of the way he's tied it all together and, and the cards just feel really high quality. They've got a nice gloss to them. Even if you're not into, into playing cards, it's, they're just kind of neat to have around and thumb through and look at. And, and I think at, you know, 25 bucks, this would be like one of those quote unquote stocking stuffers for, for kind of a watch nerd or a military buff or something. So, uh, yeah, that's my first one. Yeah. Really cool.
James I like that. Those, I just clicked the link and checked it out. Those are super cool and a great gift idea, you know, low stakes. Yeah. Sometimes it can be hard to buy people gifts. And I feel like if, you know, if, if, if that seems to align that that would work pretty well. My first one is a $20 watch travel case that I know we've talked about before. I don't think I went back through the backlog. I don't believe it was ever in in a previous gift guide, but this is the vario.sg watch travel case. So I find that when I travel, I've really started only taking one other watch, whatever's on my wrist, plus something else. At most, I'm not going to Red Bar stuff these days where you have the watch roll or a box of watches or a whole case or whatever. But when I travel, maybe this is where the Garmin goes or a quartz backup or something. And in many ways, I like these because they're really nicely made, $20, so not expensive. They have a nice zipper and they kind of get wider at one side for where the case of the watch would be. Oh yeah. And then they work really nicely because they, unlike, you know, let's say I have a watch on a mesh bracelet, that's not going to lay flat in a watch roll or a sleeve or one of the little pouches. And I like these because it feels a little bit more robust than putting it in a couple of pieces of leather that are stitched together and then having it kind of sandwiched between a bunch of camera gear in my bag or something like that. I have the same one I bought probably four years ago, three or four years ago. I don't remember when we, when we talked about it, but we were definitely in a two digit shows. Uh, yeah, I love this for the $20. Uh, whenever I think about like, what would I buy if I had to buy something for, let's say a colleague at Hodinkee or something, this would be a no brainer. Um, I think everyone should have one. It makes carrying a watch with you really easy. It kind of suits, it fits in your hand. It looks, um, inconspicuous. It doesn't look fancy or like something expensive isn't necessarily inside it. Really, the design is something that I think used to be attributed to Oakley. It was called the Watch Vault. And this is the same idea, it's just cheaper and I don't think Oakley still makes the other one. So that's the Vario SG watch travel case for $20 that kicks off my list at a nice entry-level price point.
Jason Yeah, I love it. Yeah, I'd like to get one of those. All right, next up. Let me go up my list in terms of price. All right, my next one. I'm surprised this one's next. This is a really nice book. It's called The Handcrafted Life of Dick Preneke. And it's $52.
James This is one of several things on your list that I would have picked, but I didn't have any right to pick this one because you actually gifted it to me. So this is an active gift. It's literally sitting on my desk here and it's just incredible. It's worth every penny of 52 bucks, for sure.
Jason To give it to you as a gift was sort of my test case for today's episode, I guess. You know, I love a good book, good kind of a coffee table sized book. This is a bit oversized. It's hardback. Um, it just feels kind of a throwback, you know, in terms of books, uh, it's well bound, really good paper quality. Um, the book is by Monroe Robinson. Now, if this sounds familiar to you, well, it should for several reasons. We, we've talked about, about Dick Preniky. He's kind of a TGN hero. We've talked about him many times, every episode, way back, probably two single digit episodes. And then recently, uh, a listener had, uh, had written in and recommended a, uh, a blog post by Monroe Robinson's son who did some of the sketches in this book. Monroe Robinson was a guy who had met Dick Prenike and kind of was a caretaker of his cabin in Alaska. And, uh, and his son did, did the, the line drawings, the sketches that are peppered throughout the book in among the, uh, the archival photographs. This book is, you know, it's all about, uh, if you're not familiar with Dick Prenike, please go back and listen to, um, one of several past episodes in which we've talked about him. He was a guy who moved to Alaska in the sixties, built a cabin and even the tools that he used to build the cabin by hand out of wood that he cut. Um, he, he lived there year round for many years. Um, and, uh, he's just a bit of hero of ours. He's, he's kind of this calming presence in the world or, or was who kind of lives on as this, uh, a bit of a sainted figure, um, of everything that, that maybe the world is less of these days. And, um, so that the book kind of, Perpetuates that you can kind of read excerpts from his diaries and Reminiscences and comments from people that knew him and then all these wonderful photos. So yeah, 52 bucks for a really good book It's from lost art press and that's my second pick.
James It's such a good one. Thank you again for for sending it Yeah, it's a lovely thing. Yeah, my second pick is $38 for a set of four Phillips whiz bulbs This may seem like a strange pick Um, but I recently was tipped off to these. I've been a fan, uh, kind of a conceptual fan of the hue system for years. It's these, you know, smart controlled bulbs. You can change the color and the timing and do light that comes on when you're away, when you're traveling, like all sorts of different options. It's just kind of a very techie light bulb, but the hue stuff has always been too expensive for me to bother investing in it. I've had some of the more entry level hue stuff. That's that's kind of has just some Bluetooth features. And then you kind of attach it to like a Google assistant. And basically what they've done is expanded that concept into something called the whiz line. And it doesn't have as many options as what you'd see in, um, in the hue, as far as like fancier lights and bulbs and stuff, but all your standard sort of normal bulbs, even GU tens are represented and led lighting, like strip lighting and stuff like that. But it's really the cost that works. And if you already have a scenario where you like to change the color temperature of your light, I like to change mine throughout the day. depending on how I'm working and if I'm editing photos or writing or these sorts of things. So I was very much an instant kind of buyer or market case for these sorts of things. And it's $38 for four 60 watt equivalent bulbs. You set them up with an app on your phone, you can control everything from like they can automatically adjust the bulb for the circadian rhythm of the day.
Unknown Wow.
James So if you're really working inside or you spend a lot of time in one room and you'd like to not have your lights kind of mess with sleep or sleep patterns. You can set that up. It's all done through an app on your phone. And then if you're a Google assistant fan or an Alexa fan or any of that kind of thing, you can link that up and, uh, and, and it'll, it'll pull to that. So then, then you have the voice commands to turn lights on and off, or even change the brightness. You can tell, uh, you can tell Google like the, what percentage of brightness I want the ball back. So that's really nice. If you're watching a movie and you have everything off or very low, and then you can't find something or remote or whatever, you can just say it. And it brings the lights up 20, 30%, whatever it is for $38. I'm really impressed with it. I found a lot of value in it. I've had it for maybe a week now and made it to the gift guide. So I think this is absolutely something I would buy for pretty much anyone who spends a lot of time at home, which is a lot of us these days. And, uh, or, or, you know, kind of cares about these sorts of things for me, a fantastic product.
Jason Wait, this is, so this is, this is an absolute revelation for me. I'm, I'm, Trying to understand this. This is incredible. So the, the, the all, everything's contained in the light bulb. There's no box you have to plug in or configure anything. You literally just screw in the light bulb and configure it with your phone.
James Yep. It's just the bulb. Everything's in the ball. And they have multiple different sort of sizes, not just the base size, but actual like the length size. And I have a very bright light right next to my desk that I face up to the ceiling for diffuse light.
Unknown Yeah.
James So they have a hundred watt equivalent. It's very bright to 1300 lumens or something. So you don't even have to run it a hundred percent. So I have that one. And then I have a bulb kind of behind my monitors to backlight them.
Unknown Yeah.
James And you can actually go into the app and link them. So if I change the brightness of one, it does the other and they link in color as well. Wow. I love this product. I think it's killer. I love this product. No expensive controller, nothing to plug into your router. It's just, just your phone. Wow. You basically screw the bulb into where it would go and then cycle it on and off a few times. And it starts to pulse like blue and purple. Yeah. Yeah. And then you open the app and you say, add a bulb and it takes about a minute. It finds the bulb and you go from there and it does all the weird colors too. So if you want red or blue or purple or green, it does every color. Huh. If my kids find that to be hilarious.
Jason I don't, I don't want to get us on a sidetrack here, but can you schedule on offers it?
James Uh, easily. Yep. Oh man. All right. Yep. You can have it follow the sunrise and sunset in your area. You can have it, um, come on at a certain time of day and off. You can have an await, like a travel schedule. So it comes kind of randomized like somebody's home.
Jason All right. Done deal. I see it's available for store pickup today at Home Depot. I think I'm going to have to run over and get some. I love it.
James Yeah. I think in the States I checked, there's a lot of options for where you can get in the States, but I think it's mostly a loose exclusive to Home Depot or maybe places that also buy from Home Depot. In Canada, it's Home Depot and Home Hardware. Nice. Nice. That's my second pick.
Jason Very, very cool. All right. My, uh, I guess I'm on my third pick now. This is a product we've talked about before. We both got these on my list too as gifts, uh, from our friend Wesley at standard H. Uh, he runs a podcast and website sells a little bit of merchandise. One of which is his Avanti. You know, I've, I'm not one to typically rave about t-shirts, but, uh, I do appreciate a good one. And his Avanti is a $68 cotton t-shirt. that we've both been enjoying. In fact, he sent us one each. Uh, I think it was in gray. And then I went back and I ordered a couple of more because they're just, they're, they're so good. It's just the right thickness of, of cotton. They have a well-shaped pocket on the, on the chest, which is a vastly underappreciated part of a good t-shirt is kind of the shape of the pocket. This one's just deep enough to fit a pair of sunglasses and kind of hold it steady. Sleeve length is just right. I think particularly I just like kind of the thickness and kind of the, Yeah. The hand, I guess is the term that clothing guys use, like the hand of the cotton itself. It just has a good feel. It wears well. It's kind of a fitted feel, but not like skin tight. I was wearing these all summer and he was out of stock for a while. And I was like, you know, bugging him like, when are you getting these in stock? I want to order some more. And, uh, yeah, these are great. So, you know, if you know somebody's size who, I mean, who doesn't like a t-shirt, this is a, this is a great gift.
James Yeah, no, I, I couldn't support this more. If you hadn't put it on your list, it would have been on mine and easy option. I'll buy more when I need more t-shirts. Yeah. It's a really nice product. I really like Wesley. We've both been on his podcast. Hit the show notes and check it out. What it is, it's just a great t-shirt. It's a really simple thing that everybody can use. Yeah.
Jason Right. All right. Number three for you.
James Yeah. Number three for me is also an apparel product that I never, ever thought I would be including on a list. I've mentioned them on the show briefly because I picked up a pair of these Birkenstock Arizona EVA sandals. back at the start of summer, I decided I would attempt to be a sandal guy. I'm still not super sure about it. I like wearing them with camp socks. It's kind of nice. They work around the house as slippers. But your normal Birkenstock is that sort of cork sort of stuff with leather straps. These are sort of the vegan option that they developed a few years ago. And I guess it became quite popular because they're inexpensive. $45. I have the green ones. They're like a dark green. I couldn't find green on their website, so maybe the color is kind of stock dependent or time of year dependent. But I've seen these in everything from black to bright blue, reds, whites, yellows. I bought the sort of olive drab green, and I really like them. I didn't know how well they'd hold up because they're foam. Yeah. Super lightweight, waterproof. They have some shock absorption, so they're actually kind of okay to walk around in for a day. And they're pretty much known to be fairly skin friendly. If you have sort of sensitivities, uh, to bear, you know, weird materials on, on bare feet. Uh, I I'm really impressed by these. I think if you know someone who enjoys a sandal, it's, it's also just kind of a no brainer that they're as stylish as you believe Birkenstocks to be, it would be kind of the last, uh, last stage for me to, to do something like a crock. But I feel like this is in that zone in terms of the comfort, but not as many sacrifices in, in, you know, wearing what looks like a little spaceship on your feet.
Jason Yeah, no, these are great. Kashani has a pair and, uh, I've always eyed them jealously. You know, I, we, we've done our share of kind of tropical dive vacations and, and Birkenstocks are like what I wear around the house, like year round, but they aren't like sand and water friendly, uh, as you know. And, and so, um, you, you kind of get the best of both worlds when you can like wear them in the truck, driving to the dive site, get in with wet, sandy feet, slip them on, not worry about ruining them. I think they float too. I would guess. Right. Which is I believe so. I mean, they weigh nothing. I would think they do. Yeah. But, uh, yeah, that's a good pick.
James Yeah. I love it. Yeah. I'm surprised by how much I liked them. It's definitely one of those things where I, I used them all year since I got them and they just kind of became part of the kit. And at $45, I really don't feel, you know, that it's that hard to suggest them. Uh, you can, you can extend the straps if you want to do what I do and where I'm with camp socks around the cottage or when it gets a little cooler. or you can tighten them down and they make it just a normal sandal. So yeah, super easy, nicely made. And, uh, from what I understand, more environmentally friendly. I don't, I don't know if that's the case. I didn't look into it. Uh, but that's definitely how they've been reported upon, uh, when I tried to find some links. Yeah. Nice. And that's my, uh, what are we at?
Jason Third pick. Yeah. I think I'm moving on to number four here. This is another product that we were both given earlier as a kind of something to check out. And I think we both, uh, croat about them a bit on a past show. Um, and it makes it onto my list as my, I guess the Haviston cards were tangentially watch related. This is my watch related gift. This is the Artem sailcloth watch strap. And as I mentioned, uh, when I first tried this, uh, this strap, you know, I was looking for, for a longer sailcloth to fit my Blancpain, which came with a sailcloth, but far too short for my wrist. Right. And Artem is an Australian brand that on their website, they say that they also created these straps with the Blancpain sailcloth in mind to kind of mimic the quality of those straps. And sure enough, I mean, these are super high quality. Sailcloth can be stiff and these are certainly like that when you first pull them out of the box. But the buckle's high quality. You can get certain width straps come in long sizes, long lengths. So if you have a big wrist, that's also a bonus. They carry them in 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23 millimeter widths, which is really a nice Nice set of options. At this point, they're just doing the color black, which I would say is kind of a mark against them if you, you know, aren't someone who wears a lot of black. But they do have different stitch colors, and we've been told that other colors are on the way. But these are $85 US. They take a little while to ship from Australia. But now I've, after getting that first one, I've gotten a couple more for 22mm strap watches that I have. Um, and you can get them with a really excellent, uh, fold over deploy and buckle, um, or just the standard pin buckle. And, uh, I, you know, I can't recommend them enough. So if you're looking for options besides, you know, bracelets, leather or NATO, you want to kind of a cool sale cloth. This is a, this would be a good gift for somebody, I think at, at 85 bucks, a kind of a watch nerd. Who's got everything.
James Yeah. I think these are great. We took, like you said, we talked about it on the past episode. We can put that episode in the show notes for sure. Really high quality product. Can't wait to see them in other colors. They work really well in, uh, in black as it stands in the buckle is impressive. So I agree on all counts. Good pick. Cool. All right. All right. My fourth pick is also the last of mine that has a sort of a sub $150 budget. And I went to try and push the limits of that budget. And I'm picking a Finch folding pocket knife Finch knives, uh, was co-founded by Steve Laughlin from, uh, Raven watches. And in back in the day that when they were first launching, they had this really fun yellow knife called the Runtly, which I dug around and found a retailer who was willing to send one and sent it to Jason. Jason sent it to me and I've carried that for some time. They were then kind enough to send me a couple other knives, including the Cimarron, which is a larger kind of more of a stiletto style. with a curved blade and really nice overall quality with a green handle. And I've basically carried it all year. So I bought one. I got another one for free. Really, really nice knives. You know, I like a knife quite a bit, but as I get a bit older, I really don't like the ones that are overly tactical. You know, for years I carried a Benchmade Mini Grip, which is a fantastic knife. I absolutely adore them. but they are a little bit intimidating to people who aren't knife people. And I think that the, the sort of brighter colors and, um, and more fanciful blade shapes and that sort of thing, make these feel a little bit less intimidating than, um, than the sort of tactical look that you get from some of the more common big name brands. Yeah. And, uh, yeah, for my money, it's a, it's about $140. I'd go with their, it's a new one called the devil's finger in Sequoia green with the satin blades. We'll put a link in the show notes to this, of course, to what's on offer. They kind of do runs of knives, and then you'd have the option of finding a retailer that might have other stock. So you can go back through their catalog and really find the one that would kind of suit your style. and go from there. But a knife isn't an easy thing to make. There's a lot of people out there making really nice, super expensive knives, right? Yeah. There's like a fantastic cottage industry. They're kind of like there is for watches. Yeah. But these are being made at a nice price point. And I just have enjoyed having them. They feel kind of special and they look kind of uncommon. And it's just been one of my favorite products for the year. I keep the Runtly on my desk and it's my go-to. Basically anything knife. It's great for opening boxes, even if you have to be very kind of specific with it. And I like the shorter blade size and the fact that it fits nicely in the palm of your hand. Obviously with knives, you need to know your own local regulations. I don't know the rules where you live necessarily. Don't buy something that you can't have shipped to you or whatever. But if you're allowed to carry a pocket knife and it's something that you're keen to do, I highly recommend the Finch stuff.
Jason Yeah, that's a good one. I remember handling that before I shipped it to you and I guess I think this is, this is like the sweet spot of, of holiday gifts because you know, it works for so many different people, you know, obviously like kind of a cool Seiko watch or something is a fun gift for like a nephew or a, you know, son or cousin or something like that. Someone special who is kind of coming of age and whatever. I think a pocket knife fits that perfectly as well. I think, uh, one of these Finch knives, you know, could be a nice introduction to knives for somebody. It could be, you know, kind of a great, I think you, your term of grandpa knife in the past, it's like, you know, this could go to an uncle or a father or something like that. Good stocking stuff are obviously, you know, within reason and with, uh, with safety in mind. But I think, you know, someone who, who either likes knives or, or wants to get into knives and you can kind of make this a, their first or, or kind of an addition to a collection. I think, uh, I think it's a great gift.
James I think it's a nice step up from your Swiss army knives of which I think everyone should have an experience in, in like I've sent you a buck knife. Right. And I think they make a fantastic knife, but these are flippers. So you can open them with one hand. There's no assist on them. There's no spring or whatever, but you can open them with one hand. Whereas with the true grandpa style, you're really, you know, it's a, it's a back lock and you're kind of opening it to slice an apple or something like that. Right. So it's a little bit more modern of a style, a little bit more knife guy than, than the buck options. But yeah, I, I dig it. It's cool stuff. Yeah.
Unknown Yeah. Good pick.
James All right. You want, let's, uh, let's do one without the budget.
Jason Yeah. Time to blow the bank. I don't remember where I've come in in the past in terms of, uh, blowing banks. Uh, this one isn't outrageous. Um, I think it's, uh, but I think it's arguably the coolest thing I've gotten this year. Um, this is from, uh, a company in Scotland called Campbell's of Bowley. Now they're, uh, a small, very traditional family owned shop that goes way back that, that typically made like, you know, traditional tweeds and kilts and caps and jackets and things in this small town in Scotland. This is a jerrycan mini bar and they have three different types and you know, I mean, come on, someone who owns a Land Rover Jeep, whatever. I mean, I think, I think you need something like this. They actually take Wavian, which is a kind of the popular kind of predominant brand of, of actual jerrycans for carrying fuel in. And they're upcycling them. So they're taking old ones, um, and, and cutting them to make a hinged door and then outfitting them with kind of a wood insert that holds a bottle of your favorite beverage, as well as, uh, glasses. And, uh, they make a larger version that, that will hold, uh, uh, cans of, you know, tonic water or whatever else. But, um, the one I have is the, is the mini upcycled mini bar and it looks like they're actually out of stock. So if you're getting this for a holiday gift, you might have to get creative or, or give a, give an IOU or something like that or get on a wait list. But, um, this is the smallest size, the one I have. And, um, it came with, with an empty bottle with kind of a cork closer on it and four, uh, 90 milliliter glasses. So the, the bottle itself is 300 milliliters. It comes empty, obviously. labeled with a beautiful kind of vintage style Campbell's of Bowley label. It hinges shut. It has a nice clasp that holds it shut. And, you know, lately when Ghoshani and I have been doing, you know, road trips where we're, you know, renting a cabin or camping or going somewhere like this comes along, you know, I, I fill that, that small bottle with, with some whiskey and and just close it up and pop it into, you know, with the rest of our luggage. And, and then it kind of creates this, little bit of an occasion on that first night when we're settled in at the cabin, build the fire, pop open the Jerry can and pull out the bottle of whiskey. And, and I just think it's a, I just think it's, it's such a unique, cool product. There are definitely other brands that do this sort of thing, but this is the one that I have and I just find it so cool.
James Yeah. And what maybe about two months ago, I got a random big package from you. I didn't know what it was. It was kind of heavy. Uh, and I never really know, like you, you and I enjoy sending each other gifts occasionally, but we tend not to hit any mark.
Unknown Yeah.
James Yeah. Uh, sometimes it's kind of around Christmas. Sometimes it's kind of around, you know, a hundred episodes or something like that. But just when something kind of hits it, we go. And I know like last year I'd sent you some, some flasks and you in turn really sent me what, what I think is the nicest flask I've ever come across, which is one of these upcycled or mini upcycled mini bars. So I have one as well. Yeah. It's so fun. I have it sitting on the shelf at my desk because it just kind of looks like a normal jerry can. But if you have somebody over, which I don't really do that much, but someday I'll return to a time when I have people over, I'll probably have it in the living room kind of next to other stuff, speakers and things like that. And then when somebody wants a drink, you can just kind of reach over, pull it out, open up this door. And what it instantly reminds me of is, do you remember, I'm going to get the name wrong, but there's several companies that would do like bespoke shooting or picnic stuff for the back of like Range Rover? Yes.
Jason Yeah. I know what you mean. Yeah.
James Yeah. I want to say one was like, it couldn't be Finch or that might be a gun manufacturer. Finch is right. Um, I know we, we, we just talked about Finch knives. It's unrelated, but this is what it kind of reminds me. I remember the first time I saw that on top gear where the idea was that you went out shooting out into the field on your own property. So you're not talking about driving after having a Scotch on, on, on roads is more of an estate product. And you could stop and pull out a little chair and sit and have a little picnic or a drink or something. And it was all built in, it held your guns and these beautiful consoles. And that's the first thing I came across. I'm sure there's other people, like you said, that are doing this, but this has that sort of old world, sort of British-y charm to it. And you and I are suckers for this, and you even more than me. It just speaks to a certain level of it. And pulling this out of the back of the of the Land Rover and people maybe assuming it's kerosene for the fire or something like that. And then just popping the side of it. It's a little bit of stage. It's a little bit of theater. And I think it's super fun. Thank you so much again for sending me one. I love it. Yeah.
Jason Yeah. This is this is this is the splurge gift. And I think it's worthy of someone who's who definitely would appreciate this. And yeah, that's my that's my break the bank one. How about you? You get the last last word here.
James Yep. So mine's it's a pretty expensive one. It's probably I think it might be Unless I picked my Leica Q one year, I think this is probably as expensive as we've ever gone. And it's a product that's kind of changed my life in Toronto a little bit, and certainly enough to warrant hitting down on this list, especially in the coveted, you know, no budget option. So this is the RadPower RadRunner electric utility bike. It's $1,300. It's considerably more in Canadian. It's made by a Vancouver company called RadPower. It's a sort of Dutch style, low step, a utility bike that has a fully assisted pedaling system. So you get 45 miles of range, maybe a little bit more than that, four different levels of assist, or you can simply twist the throttle and go. And it'll go up to about 22 miles an hour. I think that's the law. So that's mid thirties here, 33, 34 kilometers an hour for Canada. The battery is removable. It has a So it has a controller, not like a screen, nothing that you have to worry about being damaged or water or the rest, like a controller, some buttons with LEDs above them. It has a built-in headlight, really nice brakes, high-end hardware. You know, bikes became a real thing during the pandemic. My wife is actually the one that got this in my family. And we kind of considered getting a second car for her to get around Toronto. But the truth is that our footprint isn't really that wide. We go up to the nearby shopping streets, you know, a few things, maybe an art studio, that sort of thing. And with 45 miles of range, unless it's really bad weather or very snowy or whatever, this kind of does what another car does, right? It definitely, you know, it's a 300 pound payload. So if you, if you outfit it, there's like hundreds of accessories, bigger racks, other seats, you can have another whole person on the bike, use like a little motorcycle really nicely made me being me with my kind of faulty wiring. the 22 mile an hour limit is nowhere near fast enough. Like I want to be, I would, I would like to be able to go say 30 or 35 kilometers an hour and still have another 10. Yeah. If I needed to make a maneuver, because if you're keeping up with traffic in this bike, even in a bike lane or whatever, but if you're keeping up with traffic and kind of moving around, you might be at full speed a lot of the time. Right. And you know, I'm the better part of 200 pounds. So uphill, I think we could use a little bit more juice. Obviously there's rules about that. You know, the idea is to match something that's, under 100 cc of internal combustion engine. Yeah, they don't let you go that much faster. There's some loopholes in the states. Sometimes it's second keys or race mode or that sort of thing. And those are all awesome. But I would even be at the point where if they made some sort of a different license that would allow you to get the faster one. And it wasn't I don't want a motorcycle. That's not what I'm asking. I really like the platform of this and the way it fits me and the rest of it. Really killer product. They make a handful of different bikes. I think this is kind of in the middle price range, they make one that's more like a traditional mountain bike frame that I think is where their pricing sort of starts. Yeah. I highly recommend it. If you're, if you're wanting to, you know, maybe lower your carbon footprint or make moving around a dense city a lot easier. And this is in your price point. I don't see how it would let you down. You, you just unclick the battery and bring it in to charge it. I like it. It's a, it's fun. It's really fun to drive. It's super fun to share with other people when they get to try it for the first time, because it feels like you're breaking the law. You know, it's got this little whine to it from the motor. It's a, you know, a powered hub, uh, on the wheel. And then the assist is nice. It's single speed. So you, you, you can kind of choose how much assist you want. I would find the bike probably pretty hard to kind of pedal if you had no assist. Oh yeah. Uh, just cause it's heavy. Everything about it is heavy. It's this big beefy, it's got great tires and big wheels and the, the actual like componentry and frame of the bike are kind of big and beefy. It's heavy. If you have to lift it up, that sort of thing.
Jason If you don't need to pedal, um, do you find that you ever do? I mean, is it, is it, is it kind of fun or is it kind of, does it give you an extra boost or is it, uh, is it tempting to just kind of cruise around and not pedal at all?
James I typically just run it on the throttle. Um, but I took it for a longer ride the other day, maybe 10 kilometers one way, and then came back when I went to Rolex, which is on the other, other kind of loosely the other side of Toronto. You rode a bike to Rolex. I love it. I rode a, yeah, I rode a, an electric, uh, power assist bike. And that one I found it was just kind of nice where it, and it's some battery conservation. So if you were running it more at like the second, uh, like the second level of, of assist and pedaling, you're still kind of doing right around 30 kilometers an hour, but you're using less power. And it also, if I'm on a bike, it feels weird to not be getting any exercise. Yeah. Right. Like at all. Yeah. So part of me was like, no, you're on a longer ride. It's cool out. You're not going to be sweaty when you get there. Yeah. Move your legs a little bit. You, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Cheeseburger eating monster. Yeah. And you can put a ton of stuff on it. You can put racks on the front and the back. Like I said, other seats and dry cases and helmet buckets and the rest. It's a, it's killer. I like it by that. Uh, plus a really good lock is what I'd recommend. Oh yeah. Yeah. Which, you know, is it going to be another couple hundred bucks? Yeah.
Jason Well, that would be a pretty, pretty special gift. I think that would be like a spouse gift, parent gift. Yeah. I would think so. Whatever. Yeah. But, uh, that's a good one. Good below the budget. Yeah.
James In the right scenario, I think it replaces a car. And at that point, that's a lot less, you're not insuring it. Yeah. You don't need a special license to drive it. It's really easy to park and lock places. Um, and if you live in a city, they're probably pretty tolerant to bikes these days. It seems like most places are. Yeah. But then obviously keep in mind that with great power comes with great responsibility. Try and be a good cyclist. I'm doing my best to do the same.
Jason All right. Good one. Well, that, that wraps, uh, that wraps the gift guide TGN gift guide 2021.
James You want to do a quick list for anyone who's, uh, who just wants a summary?
Jason Definitely. Yeah. My five starting in, uh, in order from low to high price, uh, the Haviston playing cards for about $25. The handcrafted life of Dick Preniky book from Lost Art Press for $52. The standard H Avant Tee t-shirt for $68. The Ardham sailcloth strap for $85. And finally, my blow the budget was the Campbell's of Bowley jerrycan upcycled mini bar for $288. That's such a good gift too.
James I can speak from experience. It's a delight. My five in order, the Vario SG watch travel case for 20 bucks. The Philips whiz bulbs four kit, 60 watt, $38 worth every penny. the Birkenstock Arizona EVA Sandal for $45. A Finch Folding Pocket Knife is going to run you about 140 bucks. And the blow to budget, which we certainly did, the RadPower RadRunner Electric Utility Bike. Killer product. That's the 10 for this year. That's the 2021's gift guide. There's something from 20 bucks all the way up. You can pick the number of digits you're looking for with that list. So let's finish this off with some final notes. What do you got, Jason?
Jason Um, you might remember episodes ago, several episodes ago, I talked about a book I read called the moth in the mountain about, um, this kind of crazy Englishman back in the 1930s, who decides he's going to learn how to fly by a plane and fly from England to the base of Mount Everest and then climb it. And, uh, kind of a, just a crazy quixotic tale, true story written by a writer named Ed Caesar, uh, who Um, has also written for, for several publications, including the New Yorker. And I've got an article, uh, that just came out a couple of days ago, actually from, from Ed Caesar in the New Yorker. Uh, it was linked to it from Instagram and I read it last night and the story is, it's just crazy. It's, it's got kind of a boring title. It's like the new luxury vacation being dumped in the middle of nowhere. And it's a long story. I actually listened to it read by this wonderful, uh, narrator named Simon Vance. It's a 41 minute listen. If that gives you any sense of how long it'll take to read. Ed put his journalist cap on and took part in a luxury trip by an outfitter called Black Tomato that if you sign up for this, it costs you $15,000 or something. And he was given two days notice and some basics of what to pack. And then they flew him to the Atlas mountains in Morocco from England. And where he met up with one of the guides from, from black, uh, black tomato and they dropped him somewhere in the mountains, uh, told him to, you know, turn in his phone, gave him a GPS tracker and a map and some basic supplies and said, in two days you need to be here. Uh, basically pointed at a point on the map and we will keep an eye on you, you know, via satellite. Um, but it's your responsibility to get from A to B. We'll teach you a few skills before you get started. Um, but that's going to be your, that's your vacation. That's what you paid for. And so he did it and he wrote about his findings. And then at the end of it all, they, they collected him. He did, he was fine. He survived. And then they, they finish off the trip at a kind of a swanky hotel in the desert, you know, one of these really high end luxe places. I found it kind of funny as someone who, and you'll be able to relate to this as someone who's been on press trips with, with some high end watch brands before. it kind of rings familiar, you know, this sort of idea that, you know, if, if you have a lot of money, sometimes the greatest luxury is to kind of do something so exclusive, so unique that it feels adventurous. But then, you know, you realize that, that it's all being very packaged and very controlled and almost over orchestrated. And there, there was a certain irony in a lot of the different things that, that he found on this, on this walk, it was on the one hand, it was very, revelatory and awakening for him to kind of get out in nature and kind of feel the sort of raw sense of survival. But knowing that he was kind of on a schedule and had to be in a certain place and was being watched, kind of detracted a little bit from it. So like his experiences meeting like local, like, uh, you know, sheep herders that, that invited him for, for tea was like this wonderful experience for him. But then he like looked at his watch and thought, Oh, I need to be at my next camp by this time. So I got to leave these guys and like, And it was, it's just a great article and Ed's a great writer. And, uh, I just highly recommend it. I think, uh, I think a lot of us will, we'll be able to relate to this, uh, for on a number of levels, but, uh, good story, very interesting concept.
James Yeah. I skimmed through this cause you were kind enough to share the link and, uh, hilarious. It's so funny. Uh, and, and a really, you know, well-told story, like you said, and just a great idea. I think that, you know, talk about a gift for somebody who has everything, you know, essentially nothing. in some ways, depending on how you look at it. But yeah, it's a wonderful concept of, you know, even though we just listed, you know, 10 things that we recommend buying. Yeah. You could also not buy any of those things and try and find a way to have an experience. And this is quite the experience for sure. Yeah. Right. Super fun. All right. What do you got? Mine is a new TV show, which is on Paramount plus streaming platform. Maybe other places. I'm not really sure how all of that, that kind of stuff works. It's called mayor of Kingstown, very similar name to to Mayor of Easttown. Oh, yeah. Which was another show from previous. So this isn't the Kate Winslet drama, which was excellent. Yeah. Mayor of Kingstown is a new crime thriller series created by Taylor Sheridan, who we've mentioned ad nauseum on film clubs in the past. He's a favorite of mine and also a fellow Canadian and actor musician Hugh Dillon. So they came together to make a show that kind of talks about the the sort of organized crime element that weaves through a prison town in Michigan called Kingstown. And so I'll read the synopsis here. A crime drama about an important contemporary issue, America's prison system. Mayor of Kingstown follows the McCluskey family in Kingstown, Michigan, where the business of incarceration is the only thriving industry. The family of power brokers between police, criminals, inmates, prison guards and politicians as they tackle themes of systemic racism, corruption and inequality. The Crime Thriller series provides a stark look at their attempt to bring order and justice to a town that has neither. The cast includes Jeremy Renner, Diane Wiest, Kyle Chandler, and Derek Webster, to name only a few. Good cast. Renner is the lead, and he's absolutely incredible. Obviously, you know, I think we lost a lot of great Renner stuff because he became the guy with the bow and arrow in the Marvel movies. I'm sorry, I'm not a Marvel fan at all, and I really don't like when they take amazing actors away from other great movies that they could have been doing. But Renner is simply incredible in it, like he is in other Taylor Sheridan things like Wind River. It's much less campy than Yellowstone, which I think I've talked about my appreciation of Yellowstone on the show in the past, which is another one of Sheridan's TV shows, which he does with, at least for me, with Amazon Prime. This is more tonally in line with Sicario, so it's exceedingly violent, pretty dark, pretty gritty. All the things you would say about these sorts of shows, not at all. for kids or younger viewers or those who are even remotely sensitive. So mom, I know you're listening to this. This is not a show that you would like, uh, at all. It's not as real world as the wire. It's still entertainment, uh, like strictly entertainment. Um, but it is kind of an interesting look at a sort of power structure that I didn't really realize existed. These kind of people that work in the shadows to, to connect to various levels of crime or even the prevention of crime, but all kind of at the same time. Wow. Uh, so far there are three episodes in and I've, I've enjoyed all three.
Jason Yeah. The fact that you mentioned the three episodes makes me think, uh, whenever we see what these shows that are now being released, like one at one week at a time, I'm always tempted to like watch them. Like the new season of Shetland just came out and we love that show, but like, we got to wait until all six episodes are out because we're just like total binge people. Like we'll just blast through them all. But, uh, I've seen this one advertised quite a bit. It looks, yeah, it looks good. It looks right up our alley. I'm sure we'll check it out at some point. I like Jeremy Renner and Kyle Chandler's great too. So.
James Yeah, he's lovely. Yeah, for sure. No. And Dianne Wiest is great. And the show does make an attempt to step away from the normal Sheridan route of kind of angsty, problematically violent white guys that also have access to weapons and a reason to use them. Yeah. And don't get me wrong, that like that's in my wheelhouse, but you have to recognize it for what it is. Yeah. And they're painting, not immediately, but they're painting more facets into the show between Dianne Wiest and the prison system and trying to understand it has that sort of the wire feel of, of showing you how a system's built and how difficult it would be to change anything. And it's, you know, it's difficult to show that in three episodes and it's hard to compare anything to the wire being, being as amazing as it is. But I think it's, it's worth watching if anything that I've said in the last few minutes is even remotely up your alley. Good. Plus it's just nice to have something to watch. Yeah.
Jason Cool. Wow. Packed episode. We had a lot, a lot going on today. Jeez.
James Yeah, we're not not short on stuff for sure. But I think it was a good one. You know, we got a solid hour. It's always fun to do these gift guide episodes. And and then, of course, we started the show chatting about the new support system, which I think is going to kind of usher in the next kind of generation for for us. It means that we're not going to have to do ads, which is something you and I really hated doing. Yeah. And we're thrilled that we're not going to go that route. But this also means that we can kind of be made whole for the time and the effort and hopefully you know, be able to show to guests that we want to have on that there's some serious interest in the show, even if it is, I think, still kind of a niche thing. Right. We get a feeling from you guys that we have more depth than maybe breadth. And we'll see if that actually works out in terms of supporting the show. So, yeah, as always, we can't say this more strongly than than today. Thank you so much for listening. You can subscribe to the show notes via notes dot the gray NATO dot com, or you can check the feed for more details and links. You can follow us on Instagram at Jason Heaton and at J.E. Stacey. And we leave you with this quote from John Steinbeck, who said, anything that just costs money is cheap.