The Grey NATO - Ep 97 - Our Best Bits Of 2019
Published on Thu, 02 Jan 2020 06:00:43 -0500
Synopsis
The hosts reflect on their favorite adventures, content, and experiences from 2019, as well as discuss their hopes for 2020. Some highlights include Jason's road trip in his new Jeep, travel for work like the Formula 1 race in Monaco, diving trips to places like Bonaire and Mexico, and hiking in Wales. They discuss their favorite movies like Parasite, TV shows like Succession and Barry, podcasts, audiobooks, and music albums. For 2020, Jason hopes to find better work-life balance and take more personal trips, while the other host plans to finish writing a novel and do more hiking and outdoor activities.
Links
Transcript
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| Jason Heaton | Hello and welcome to another episode of The Gray Nado, a Hodinkee podcast. It's a loose discussion of travel, diving, driving, gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 97 and we thank you for listening to the first episode of 2020. Jason, how you doing, man? |
| Other Host | Good. Yeah, we're straddling the new year here. We're recording just before New Year's and this goes live one day into the new year. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, it's gonna be, I think it's gonna be a great year. I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, new decade. Yeah, you know, it's funny, I don't always enter the new year with like a lot of optimism. Sometimes it feels like there's a loss of momentum this time of year, with holidays and everything else where it really starts to drag on me. It's also a lot of socializing, which I find weighs me down in a big way. But I'm feeling pretty crispy about this coming year. I think it could be great. I think it's going to be a great year for TGN and for the sort of work that you and I like to do, the stuff that we really enjoy doing. Yeah, I agree. And yeah, how about the holidays? They've been going fine for you so far? |
| Other Host | Yeah, I kind of got in the spirit this year. I mean, it was fun. We saw some friends for dinner, went to a show, spent Christmas with my parents. Uh, did a little baking and cooking and I don't know, just, it felt more festive this year. It was really fun. And then, uh, I got a really cool gift. Uh, my parents obviously were listening to our gift guide episode, uh, a couple of weeks ago and I got the Lego defender. Hey, there you go. So I'm super excited. The box is here and that might be the new year's day plan. I'm not sure, but, uh, I've seen pictures, you know, people have been posting this, uh, people that have built it and it looks amazing. I mean, there's like the pistons go up and down and the, You can raise and lower the suspension, and I'm super excited. I mean, I feel like a kid, truly. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, for sure. I feel for you. I just did my family Christmas a couple days ago, and we do it a little late for my family. And my brother actually bought me the same kit. And so I also have an entire LEGO Defender to build, and it's got a four-speed transmission and a functionally correct engine. And yeah, this crazy suspension and some off-road gear that clips onto it. It's like 2,500 pieces. I don't know for the life of me when I'm going to have the time, but I might be able to start it on the first or something like that. So maybe we'll be Defender build teams. We should, I don't know, YouTube live stream it or something as we click our way through 2,500 pieces of Lego. |
| Other Host | Yeah. It's a little intimidating. And I, you know, I've got the Saturn V rocket that I built and it's, I can see it from my desk here. It's over on a side table and I always think If that fell on the floor and broke, there's no hope to putting it back together because you build it, you know, in modules, um, based on the instructions. And, you know, if it's shattered, that'd be, I'd be ruined. I don't, I mean, or it would be ruined. I guess I would be, I don't know. It's like a, it's like those Buddhist sand mandalas that you build and then you throw into the wind when you're done with it. But, uh, I don't want that. I don't want to do that with this. |
| Jason Heaton | No, I think, I think if, if such a time comes to one of our defenders has a, you know, a bad crash and it has to be written off, I think that's the end of it. |
| Other Host | That's the end of it. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah. So it's a pretty killer gift. You know, your parents crushed it with that one, as did my brother. That's, uh, it, you know, it's probably 10 hours of like fairly intense focus, uh, to build something like that. And then, uh, did you, did you snag anything else? Uh, any other gifts come to mind or little experiences or. |
| Other Host | Well, I mean, you know, we, we, uh, just kind of, it was just sort of a nice, nice family Christmas and, and got to spend some time with some friends and get together with, uh, some old high school buddies. And so, you know, I think the season's been, you know, gifts aside, it's just been kind of all about being a little more social, getting out of my comfort zone, which, you know, I think you and you can sympathize. We're both sort of introverts and, but, but I've, I've kind of enjoyed the socializing this year, just sort of getting together with, with friends and family and, and exchanging small gifts and cooking and just hanging out. So, uh, like you, I'm, I'm also optimistic about the new year and I think, you know, finishing a year in good spirits kind of bleeds into the new year. If you kind of finish on a, bit of a downer that doesn't bode well for the next couple of months, but I feel good. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I'm glad. And certainly we've got some good stuff to look forward to in the next couple of months, which we will... I mean, the people who listen to the show frequently or have for the last few Januaries will know that there's an event coming up, which should give us some face-to-face recording time, which will be fun. And yeah, other than that, the only thing that I came across, aside from normal sort of day in day out holiday, driving around, seeing family, that sort of thing is I got lucky, you know, there's a camera that I've wanted for a while that I didn't really talk about on the show, because I didn't want to change the value of them. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Or to, you know, have them suddenly disappear from the market. Because there just aren't there aren't that many that are worth having. And it's a but I got lucky. I was in this kind of format where I would occasionally hit up eBay and just make random offers on ones. I would, you know, kind of sub, sub the person by 40% and see what they came back with. Yeah. Uh, but I got an Olympus XA for like 80 bucks, uh, which, which I'm pretty thrilled about it. It's this absolutely tiny, like nineties, 35 millimeter film camera that has a clamshell design. So there's no hoods or lens caps or anything like that. Oh yeah. Really pocketable. Yeah. It's super tiny, but it's still a range finder. So it's still this manually focusing with like a little tab. It's a 35 millimeter 2.8 lens. I'm pretty excited. I've really enjoyed film, but what I haven't enjoyed about the process is all of the film cameras that I had invested in or were given by various people. And a big thank you to those people. But all of those cameras I came across, they were roughly the size of the camera I would carry for work. Yeah. Whether it be a 5D Mark III or my Leica Q or something like that. And I really wanted something where I still had the ability to shoot film, but it was more like the size of one of those like department store winders. Right. Just tiny and light. I could tuck it into a pocket and if there was a shot that I thought would be more meaningful on film or maybe take a picture of a friend versus something I'm going to put on Instagram, I could do that with this camera. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | And there's a cult among relatively small 35mm cameras, and this one is in that cult, but it's on the much lower side of some of the more expensive stuff where you get into the Contax, the T3s, the T2s, the really expensive stuff. And this doesn't have autofocus, it's a fairly rudimentary thing, but it seems to have a somewhat reliable meter, which is what I find quite handy about the cameras that are, say, one step above a really old Nikon. is you have some metering and I'm excited. I don't have it yet. It's one of these things eBay isn't like Amazon when you buy something they give you a window of like three weeks when it should arrive. So yeah, that's kind of my next thing. And certainly I think from now on, if it ends up being what I hope it'll be, which is kind of a fun little camera, then it'll be the thing that I kind of always have in my pocket. And if I'm having a moment that I want to remember, I'm going to try and commit it to that camera versus you know, these, these things were like, for example, for those of you who maybe don't operate in the, the upper echelons of like digital camera work, it's like both of my digital cameras have 256 gig cards in them. And I only do anything with those cards when they're full. Oh yeah. So it's suddenly like my, my laptop's only half a terabyte. So, I mean, you, you can really cause some problems when, if the Q and the five, uh, the, uh, five D or the Q and the M10 are full. I mean, that's a half a terabyte right there. So like, it's a lot of like, did I take a picture of that moment? Do I have like, imagine trying to find one or two frames in there when you don't remember when you shot it. Whereas like, if you, it's only 36 right on a roll. So if I, if I kind of crack this out of my pocket and frame up a nice little portrait or something, I think that that should be more fun, maybe a little bit more meaningful and certainly a little bit more focused in terms of knowing where those photos are. Cause it's really easy to keep the 36 scans. dated in a folder in Dropbox. Right. Versus when I, when, when I'm suddenly going to take a picture with the queue and it's like full and you're like, all right, well there's thousands upon thousands of images I now have to go through and decide which ones I might want as a sort of a secondary backup. Yeah. Cause if you don't clear the card, but then two months down the road, someone's like, Oh, I need those pictures you shot. And you're like, I have no idea where those are. And you can just go back to the card and kind of search them out based on the date. But if it's like a picture of one of my kids, I'm never going to find it. I won't remember the day I shot it and that sort of thing. And it's something I have to get a little bit better with in terms of like organizing my catalog. I used to use Lightroom mobile to do that because it operates as a secondary kind of catalog. So you could have 20 gigs or so of images that you had pulled off the camera. But if you forget to pull them off the camera and it's a month later, then it's a thing. So I'm going to try and do that a little bit more with film and and enjoy that process a little bit more. So with that in mind, I bought an Olympus XA. If you're listening and you've got advice on shooting an XA, hit me up, thegrenadoatgmail.com. But that's what I'm kind of looking forward to. I have some travel I'm really excited about, some of which I can talk about, some of which I can't just yet. But I have some stuff coming up in the next little while where I think a fun film camera with a good emulsion would be, you know, an ad. |
| Other Host | You know, speaking of file management film, Our friend Enrique Mushant sent me a roll of Velvia slide film back in, boy, gosh, it was early summer or spring. And I was really excited. I loaded it up in my Nikon F3, and I took it over to Wales when we were over there hiking around. And I filled the roll. I can't remember if it was a 24 or a 36 exposure. And I brought it home, and I took it to the local lab to get developed. And they said, well, we don't do slide film. So I tucked it back in my pocket, got in the car to drive home. And I was going to send it off to one of these labs to do a slide film. And somehow between the local lab and home, I have misplaced that roll of film. And I'm dying to know what's on that roll of film. And all I can think is it's going to turn up somewhere in a jacket pocket of a jacket I never wear. Absolutely. Or under the seat of our car or something like 10 years from now. And it'll be so rewarding to get it developed. I only hope that that that's the case. Or, you know, maybe somebody will have found it on the parking lot at the lab and get it developed and enjoy some photos from Wales or something. But it was very frustrating. And, you know, it's funny you mentioned the file management and sort of retrieving things from digital cameras. And certainly that's a problem. But boy, I haven't lost a roll of film in a long time. It's really, really annoying. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I haven't lost one yet. But I've definitely had the thing where you go through you're like trying to find the roll and you're like, it's in one of these pockets. It's just like, it's not small, like a memory card, but it's also like, they're still fairly small. And yeah, it's, it's, it's easy. And it's one of those things where like in the Pantheon of all the things that you do to deal with digital photos, I feel, I feel like I'm like very much an expert in many levels of it. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | But when you get to the managing your digital catalog specifically in and around Lightroom, It's really a free for all. I don't use the Lightroom import feature. I do my own rough file management. But then at a certain point, I've now gone into several offline hard drives because we're talking about terabytes and terabytes of photos. I've been shooting for 12 years, roughly. And now you get into larger cameras and you're dealing with that Nikon. The new Nikon is a huge file. I have some of those files and I've edited them and they're gorgeous, but they're 100 megabytes of file. Yeah. And, uh, and you know, I'm, I'm soon for a Q2, which I'm quite excited about. And it, again, will be about a hundred megabytes of file, especially files that are, have a lot of, um, uh, light in them, brighter, brighter images. Right. And, uh, and, and so that's going to really change, change the deal. You know, I've, I've been a strong proponent of these Samsung T drives, these T5 drives and they're, you know, they work, they work beautifully. They really do, but it is still, you're running whole libraries offline and you kind of like there has to be some sort of mental structure. And I just, I'm not bright enough to keep it all organized. |
| Other Host | It's a different skill set, you know, from actually taking good photos and making images and being creative. Suddenly you have to switch your brain over to this very left-brained sort of organizational, you know, side of things. And, and, and suddenly you're, you're thrust into this world of file management and organization. And it's just so, I don't know. I'm terrible at it. And, uh, even, you know, if you're using keywords and labeling things are well, uh, it, I find it just so frustrating, but, you know, speaking of cameras too, there was one other thing I forgot to mention when you asked if we had any new acquisitions this month and, um, as kind of a year end business purchase, um, we bought a new drone. So we got the Mavic, uh, the Mavic two pro, um, which has the Hasselblad, uh, camera on the front. Um, It's not the Mavic 2 Zoom, which is the one that you can, you know, it's got a different camera on it. You can zoom in and out. I think it's more for people that are maybe worried more about panning and video and that sort of thing. This is more for, for high resolution, good still shots, but, uh, I've only played with it for, I don't know, maybe an hour, just two or three flights. And, uh, I love it. I mean, you know, when we were working on that project in Canada together and you had the drone, I mean, I think you were kind of new at it too. And remember how. incredibly easy these things are to kind of fire up and get used to. It's a little intimidating, but, um, boy, is it a blast? It's so fun. And I realized that I'm a few years late for this, uh, kind of a late adopter with these drones, but, uh, I just can't wait to use it. |
| Jason Heaton | I got, um, I got really tempted when you were like, oh, I bought this one. It's like, this is my year on write off. Cause I'm in a similar position. I maintain my own business. So our write off this time of year is always smart. And I didn't pull the trigger. Maybe I'll regret that. I have a few write-offs from the year which are pretty solid. And then I did talk myself into something called a loop deck. Do you know what this is? |
| Unknown | No, I don't. |
| Jason Heaton | So a loop deck is a console editor for Lightroom and Photoshop. Okay. So it looks kind of like a MIDI controller. It's the size of a larger keyboard, like a QWERTY keyboard, not like a piano. Yeah. And this one is the Loupedeck Plus. I've been on their track for several years, reading about reviews, and people didn't love the first version. But the second version, they seem to approve the software and the hardware But it's basically a console so if you've ever seen the way that like video is edited It's typically not done at a really high level when you get into Avid and other things that's done with a console, which is a specialized layout of keyboards and Keypads for various tools. |
| Other Host | Oh sure like roller balls and that sort of thing |
| Jason Heaton | Uh, yeah, this is the same thing. So this way you would have, it's a, it's a simple, it's about 300 bucks, uh, Canadian. So that's a two, say two 50 us. I bought it in Canada cause it was actually a little less here with, with currency. And what it does is it gives you dials, switches, buttons for all of the editorial controls on the right-hand side of Lightroom. So not only can you edit in full screen, which is awesome. Um, but you have these, the ability to really tweak things finally without being concerned with what the number is. the number attached to the slider or the dial or whatever on the right hand side of Lightroom. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | I know this is like borderline. So inside baseball, it's actually not applicable to TGN. I live in Lightroom. It's, it's like, I'm not great at a lot of software. I've done some premiere. I'm like just passable at Photoshop, but I'm really good at Lightroom, but a mouse and keyboard, it really just isn't that functional. Like it's fine. And then I do a lot just on with my track pad. Right. Cause I work with my laptop a lot. But my goal for this year is to make a few conscious steps to take my photography to a new level, both in terms of what I shoot and how I, how conscious I am of editing it. So I'd like to develop things like presets and have a more defined path, um, to, to dealing with various images. And, and part of that is this, uh, this thing called a loop deck plus. So you have these, you have, you know, wheels and control wheels for various color channels you have. little knobs and dials for contrast and clarity and exposure and blacks and whites, and it's all fully customizable, and it works in a ton of other pieces of software. You can customize it to do that too. So it's something I may end up using quite extensively to edit the show, assuming I can get it dialed in to edit and move around clips in GarageBand, which is what I've been using for a long time for TGN. But yeah, that was kind of my There was a few things on the list. I was like convincing myself I needed some stuff and I'm going to try and like dial that back. Um, I think 2020 might be a year to get rid of things for me. Um, but yeah, so the, the loop deck plus, and in your case, uh, a dope drone, I, I did have a blast with the drone on that project. We shot up north. |
| Other Host | Yeah. I'm going to, you know, make, make excuses to, to find good reasons to get out and use this thing. I mean, I think, uh, one thing that Kashani and I have been talking about is You know, just find some kind of open area and go do some drone footage of the Land Rover kind of cruising around. Just, just make fun videos. I mean, it'd be so fun. You know, I think you and I are in a similar boat, you know, so much of our travel and our work and everything becomes a project, um, for, for work. And I think we often forget, or at least I do too, to just go do stuff for fun sometimes. And I think, you know, making a short video just for the, just for the heck of it would be a, just kind of a neat little thing and it builds skills too. So we'll see. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I agree. There's some of that that I can bring up at the bottom of the show. We have a segment that's not really resolutions, but more like hopes for 2020. And that speaks to some of the type of travel that I do and certainly that you do. But I think now it's probably a decent time to transit. We've talked a bunch about product for the last couple of minutes. And the main topic for today's episode is actually just a look back at our favorite bits of 2019, but excluding product. So two of the last three episodes were based in our holiday gift guides, which are like super product focused. We tell you things to buy, fun things that we bought that we enjoyed, that sort of thing. This is very much based on a look back at what brought us happiness in 2019 and things that we, uh, content that we took in that we appreciated to try and reflect that back out. So it's, it's less about like, Oh, buy this or this is on sale or that sort of thing. And more like. What did we do that we liked? What did we do that, like, what could we learn to try and repeat in 2020? And then a lot of like, and a lot of sort of stuff where it's, we watched this and liked it. We listened to it and liked it, that sort of thing. |
| Other Host | Yeah. Cool. Well, we sort of divided this up into a few rough categories, I guess, you know, there are things that, as you mentioned, things that we've, we've done or places we've been, and maybe that's a good place to start. I think, you know, we, we both have done extensive travel this year and some different experiences. And what's interesting is kind of looking at our lists, it's been such different stuff. I mean, for both of us. Um, uh, so yeah, I mean, we, we can, we can dive into that. Uh, I don't know if you considered it in terms of chronological. I, maybe it's a sad commentary, but I kind of was scrolling through my Instagram feed, looking back at, you know, photos. Oh, what did I do back in January? Did they do anything in February or March? And, uh, so that's sort of the order I went in. It was just sort of from, from the beginning of the year towards the end. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, no, that makes sense for me. So I mean, the first category that you have is, you know, amazing adventures and travel. So why don't you kind of give us a little rundown on on the stuff that stood out in your year? |
| Other Host | Yeah. So, you know, looking back to the kind of last winter, you know, I was home quite a bit in January, February. And then when Baselworld time came around, you know, I spoke about this on an episode way back then, but I took that extra day after Baselworld and I took the train to to Murin, which is the town about three hours from Basel, and just kind of took successively smaller train lines up to Murin, which is this little ski village up kind of in the shadow of the Eiger, and then took the cable cars up to the Schilthorn, which is the mountaintop restaurant slash movie set that was used in On Her Majesty's Secret Service in 1969. And it was just such a neat sort of palate cleanser or decompression point from Baselworld to go and get some fresh air and sunshine in the mountains and bright, you know, bright snowy peaks and just sort of hike around a bit and then go someplace that I've always wanted to go. And, you know, certainly it's a very accessible place. I would have preferred to spend a little more time there than just one full day because of all the, just the travel time on the train. I left very early in the morning and got back quite late in the evening that day. I recommend that to anybody that, you know, whether you're traveling to Switzerland for kind of the watch stuff that you and I do or just passing through Europe or, you know, maybe you get to Zurich on business or something. It's a fun little side trip whether you're into the whole James Bond stuff like I geek out on or you just like to be in the mountains. That part of Switzerland is just beautiful. |
| Jason Heaton | So I just rewatched The Night Manager, which is a John McRae novel, and goes up, I believe, not the same place, but not a dissimilar part of the world, certainly, next to the Matterhorn in the first couple of... Or I guess in the middle, a couple of the middle episodes, that's where Jonathan Pine is living. I guess shout out to some level to The Night Manager, it's incredible. Maybe read the book. Jason, you've read it, I assume? I haven't. |
| Other Host | I have not read the book. I remember loving the |
| Jason Heaton | The series is so special. Yeah, the series is incredible. But yeah, that's that part of the world. And that was like, probably if we if we had had a section that was like, peak FOMO for the year. Oh, yeah. Your Instagram, like I was still back in Basel still writing up, you know, the latest watches, which is an absolute like pleasure. Yeah, it's a hard week, but it's great. It's where you like sharpen your really like get to get to put your skills to use. But to be sitting there at two in the morning and writing about, you know, this, uh, you know, fun Ferrari Hublot and then like refresh my Instagram for the first time in six hours and see like, this is what you did for the day. And I was like, well, Jason's got something figured out that I don't have figured out for sure. |
| Other Host | But yeah. Yeah. So that's kind of my first one. That was, that was sort of my wintry mountain activity. Um, and then, and then you had, you had some kind of snow fun in the snow too, didn't you? |
| Jason Heaton | I had some, like I had some incredible, stuff this year. This is a banner year for me. You know, very regrettably, it was the end of my tenure as an editor with Nouveau magazine. Once I left Vancouver, I couldn't quite make it work. You know, I had been their editor at large for automotive. So I really, just to give you an idea of how good I had it, and this is me saying, like, Nouveau was excellent to me. They've been great. And they were very kind in having me as an editor. And I put out a lot of great pieces for them for sure. But like I had, it's one of the sweetest gigs in the whole world to be the guy at one of the upper levels of people being included in automotive press trips. So I mean, last year I drove Porsche 911s all over like a frozen rally stage in Quebec, outside of Montreal. I did two of the hottest craziest McLarens in the world, the 720S Spyder and the 600LT Spyder in Arizona. And then I had the 720 Spyder again in Vancouver. And I will make a point because it wasn't something we could include in the video. The second time I had that car was for this Leica profile. I was very much honored to be asked if I could be one of the four editors from Hodinkee who was going to have a profile about their use of Leica. And I thought this was special because maybe I had owned my Leica by that point for about seven or eight months. Yeah. And it is absolutely my most favorite camera. So I said, yes, but all the while feeling like, well, like I know Mo and Steven and Jack all shoot better photos than I do. And I got a chance to kind of shoot my idea of an ideal how I work. So it was with Hallios watches. It was with McLaren, but that McLaren was provided by Some very good friends of mine, some very generous people at FAF McLaren. So that's a little shout out to them. If you're in Canada and looking to buy any sort of vehicle, certainly anything from a BMW to a McLaren to a Pagani to a BAC, they carry some of the craziest stuff. They carry some very casual stuff and everything in between. Definitely consider FAF. That's P-F-A-F-F. This isn't an ad. My friend Lawrence has no idea I'm going to say this, so he'll catch it when he listens. But they did, they did me a solid and hooked me up with a car that would suit that video and suit my sort of wants for the video and a car that I already genuinely loved. And then yeah, and then I had a chance to, you know, drive through a bunch of the American South that I hadn't seen in many years. Some of it I had never seen in a BMW X7, this like come very long road trip style press launch. And then I was, I borrowed a Lamborghini Huracan Evo in Vancouver, just like as, as something to check out. So despite the fact that I'm not necessarily maintaining the same editorial position I had with Nuvo, I was lucky to get into a few cars and then certainly we extended that into the Hodinkee Magazine with the piece in issue five for the McLaren F1, my favorite car of all time, which was fantastic and beautifully shot by my buddy Josh Perez. And then, you know, to kind of seal the deal, I bought a Jeep and I road tripped it to NYC and back. I think my next road trip should be to Minneapolis. It was a, it was still a pretty solid year for cars. |
| Other Host | Yeah. I mean, geez, I was thrilled when you finally got the Jeep. I mean, we, we'd been batting back and forth ideas for vehicles and, you know, we think we talked about everything from, from, you know, Volvo wagons to, uh, I don't know, old Land Rovers and, and the Jeep seems like a perfect, perfect fit for you. And I, That long road trip you took to and from New York, that must have been interesting. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it really isn't a vehicle for road tripping, but in a weird way, it is also pretty good at it. Yeah. Because it's not that comfortable in terms of like if you compared it to a luxury sedan or something like that, but it's also a nice upright driving position. You know, I'm six foot three and I drove in that car for 10 hours straight and was perfectly comfortable. I've probably done more than 12 hours in the car this week. a My kids like it. It's not great on fuel, but you know, you make your trades one way or another. If I was in something more economical, it might be lesser on other metrics. So it's been pretty good. And for me, I mean, it's funny because while I know a fair bit about cars, you know, my actual ownership experience is very limited. So I think I could have been happy with many different vehicles. What I really wanted was something with a manual transmission. and something where if I opened the hood, I could kind of understand what I was looking at from a mechanical standpoint. And the Jeep really gives me that thing where like, unless something really major breaks, I kind of feel like not only do I drive so little that I could be like, well, I guess I'm not driving it because it's broken for a little while. But I also think I could watch enough YouTube videos and maybe order in a couple of the tools and fix it myself, which I find that I like versus buying something that I might understand more from driver's perspective like a luxury vehicle. |
| Other Host | Right, right. Yeah, I agree. I mean, I just just changed the carburetor in my old Land Rover. I saw that. Yeah, and you know, I feel the same. I mean, you know, we have a Volvo, it's an 04 Volvo, but still, you know, I pop the hood, there's no way I'm going to be doing any work on that, especially out in the driveway here, like I did with Land Rover. And, you know, it's just, I can see why old timers really lament the the passing of really simple vehicles. And that's what I like about it. I've been able to do a fair amount of work on it myself. And, um, yeah, YouTube has just changed the game. You know, you talk to people and they're like, Oh, have you looked in the manual? And it's like, well, no, I actually, I actually watched a guy do the whole thing on YouTube. And it's, uh, it's pretty simple. |
| Jason Heaton | So I remember when I first got into car ownership, that was my thing was like, if something broke and like the car still ran and it wasn't going to like eat a piston or, or, or, you know, blow a rod or something like you, you could just kind of like, All right. Well, I'm going to describe this problem into a forum or, or Google it and hope that someone said the same words in a forum and find the, find the resolution. And it usually is a YouTube video. Like when I need to do so far, anything I've needed to do on the Jeep the other day, the, my, my dad, as I was leaving his house, he said like, Oh, you're, you have no rear running lights. Oh yeah. And he just couldn't see the one. Cause it was obstructed by the tire, but the, the passenger side running light was dead. And these things are like, they're like roughly in some ways like World War II design. Yeah. So to replace that bulb was literally four screws and the entire rear tail light housing comes off in your hands and you just turn the bulb out, turn a new one in and put it back on. It was like less than two minutes with a flashlight in the middle of the night and I had a... And I like that, that kind of... That works for me to a certain extent because I've been around I've helped friends with more expensive cars, more complicated cars. It's not even expense, it's just complication. Right. And there's something about the Jeep that is so anti-complicated in many ways. Yeah. The whole experience is relatively like what you see is what you get. If you see a bolt, it's because you probably intended to take it off at some point. Right. Or unscrew it or, you know, it's part of the roof assembly or whatever. And like, sure, it's a little light on creature comforts, but it's, you know, it's a nice, honest vehicle. And I think it should be fairly reliable. And, you know, the reputation, I like things that have a cult around them, whether it's music or movies or watches or cars. And like, there's obviously like, it's arguably the iconic American vehicle. Yeah. Maybe it will be displaced by the Ford F-150 at some point, just certainly on numbers there already has been, but on like just general enthusiasm, I don't think it could be. Right. And I'm not like a Mopar guy. I wouldn't even say I'm necessarily a Jeep guy, but I do really like a Wrangler and I like my green Wrangler and it's a fun thing. It's been a fun part of the year and part of my whole Christmas scenario with my family was also supporting an entire new camping setup. Oh, nice. So to go in the back of the Jeep, a new tent, sleeping bags, pads, headlamps, like all of it, walkie talkies, the whole gig to try, like, because that's something I would really like to see happen way more for me in 2020 is I'm now no longer in a scenario where I'm directly adjacent to nature, which I had in Vancouver. If I wanted to be in the woods, I was 30 minutes from the woods. I'm two minutes from Hyde Park in Toronto, but it's not really like It's not wilderness. You're not going to camp there. Yeah. No, you can't. And you can't camp in Hyde Park, but the, uh, so the, the new goal would be to take that vehicle and actually do a little bit of stuff off road and get it back into some areas where you could set up a camp and hang out for a weekend. So. Oh yeah. Yeah. |
| Other Host | That's awesome. Yeah. I mean, speaking of kind of getting out in the woods, uh, you know, we, uh, we had this trip to, I mentioned it earlier with the lost film, but, uh, one of another highlight of 2019 for, for me was the trip that we took to Wales. We were over in the UK for, um, sort of a family thing back in, in June and, and took an extra, I don't know, four days, I guess it was. And we went to North Wales and stayed near Snowdonia National Park and, um, you know, bagged a few peaks and just sort of hiked around in the rain and ate at pubs. And, um, it was just such a, you know, truly refreshing experience from, you know, admittedly over the past, I would almost even say 10 years now, every, possible bit of vacation or time off has been going on some sort of a dive trip. And I think a goal for me, you know, to kind of, uh, uh, give a little preview of my, my goals for 2020, um, is just to do more, you know, terra firma kind of adventures, do some more hiking, cycling, skiing, and that sort of thing. Just, just for variety. I remember, you know, years ago I always used to take such pleasure from, from backpacking and just getting out in the woods and the whale strip sort of rekindled that in me. Um, you know, just, just walking, just, just moving under your own power, uh, with a backpack on. And, and that trip was really memorable. It really made an impact on, on both Kashani and me. Um, you know, everything from the pub food we ate to the, um, you know, taking pictures in the rain and, and, you know, leaning into the wind as you're going up a, uh, kind of a barren peak. And, um, so that, that was a, that was a real sort of eyeopening, fun, fresh, new adventure. And we're planning something like that again for, for a different part of the UK, uh, probably in April this year. So I, I'm looking forward to that. And, um, uh, as part of that trip, we also spent some time in London and I got to see some, some friends over there from, from CWC at Silverman's and had lunch with the Bremont folks and, uh, um, went to, um, uh, the internet, uh, sorry, the Imperial war museum. I know you went there as well. So good. Uh, Churchill war rooms and, uh, the Naval College and just, um, just had a blast, went up to Cambridge and, um, you know, I'm, I'm a bit of an Anglophile. If anyone can't tell that from my Instagram, you're, you're, you're not looking closely, but, uh, um, so that was, that was a really rewarding, uh, great trip. Um, very much a, a land-based trip, which, uh, which I really want to do more of in, in 2020. Um, but you know, certainly there was plenty of diving this year. In April, uh, it's sort of become an annual tradition that we go to Bonaire. I'm not sure we'll do that in April this year since we do have a UK trip planned, but this year was really a wonderful time. I've talked at length about Bonaire and I've gotten a lot of emails and messages from people asking about kind of my intel, my local intel about Bonaire because I've been there so many times and I'm always happy to share my enthusiasm for that great island down in the Caribbean. And this year was particularly nice because we kind of kind of took it a little easier. You know, we, we used to go down and dive four or five times a day. And this April we, you know, we'd get up late, we'd kind of look out at the sea, maybe take a swim or, or snorkel around a bit and then say, ah, do you want to go diving? And we'd go out in the afternoon and, um, and, and it just, it was really a, a really pleasant, relaxing, relaxing time. Um, and then, you know, further diving adventures, this was a little more hardcore. I went to, uh, uh, down to Veracruz, Mexico with, um, The Lost Ships of Cortes Project. That was in, I think, late July or early August. And it's pretty exciting to join an active expedition that's looking for, you know, truly history-making shipwrecks. And this was the lost fleet of Hernan Cortes, the conquistador who sailed there from Cuba to kind of claim, lay claim to Mexico on behalf of Spain. And he famously sunk 11 of his ships just offshore to prevent his men from a mutiny. And no one has found those ships yet. So I joined this expedition there, and these guys were out there surveying with magnetometers and metal detectors, and then dredging the deep sand and clay just offshore looking for clues. And lo and behold, they had found an anchor in 2018. And then this past summer, just a few days after we left to come back home, the guys that stayed behind found two additional anchors. So they're really getting close to to narrowing down where those ships were sunk. And I think it'll be a really interesting 2020. I've actually joined the expedition as kind of a partner. I've been helping them out with some social media stuff and some writing work. Oh, very cool. And so they've kind of taken me on as a partner with the organization, the nonprofit that's running that project. And I'll be down there again this summer helping them out with some underwater archaeology work. Given that's not my expertise, I I am good at carrying tanks and, you know, sticking probes in the sand and that sort of thing. So I'm really, really excited for that. And that was just a really fun sort of unique way to get underwater. And then I had my usual Great Lakes trip that I take with my buddy Chris. We were up in near Whitefish Point in the upper peninsula of Michigan, kind of the shipwreck coast they call it up there. And we dove a couple of really interesting wrecks up there. did a piece for Houdinki on the two-tone Rolex Seadweller, which was a fun, you know, it's always fun to take a watch along and I know my buddy Chris gets a kick out of it. You know, usually I do these, these photo shoots and articles with Ghoshani and he always enjoys taking part in those. And it's fun to kind of do some, I like to keep up my cold water chops when I can. So that was, that was a really cool, cool experience as well. And yeah, and then we did, we did two, sort of photo projects that involved diving this year. We did the, um, the wonderful Hodinkee Blancpain, uh, launch piece, um, out in Catalina, out in California. And, uh, that was really rewarding. It was really fun to, to kind of go out there. It was, it was hard work, but, um, you know, we were out in the kelp beds off of Catalina Island and, uh, and then you and I met up in, uh, in Ontario to do some work for that, um, that Tudor piece for Hodinkee as well. Yeah. So those were kind of the, the highlights for me is in terms of, you know, hiking and underwater stuff. And then I guess, uh, um, we finished up with a proper vacation in October, which I talked about just a few episodes ago. And that was our trip to, to Goldeneye down in Jamaica where, you know, we didn't do any diving. We just snorkeled and kind of hung out and I've sort of soaked up the, the Ian Fleming, James Bond vibe of that place and got to visit his old house down there. And that's awesome. So that was, I kind of consider that sort of the capstone, sort of the, the, the end of a good year of just getting out and doing some really varied travel. And, um, I just hope to do more of that, uh, in, in the coming year. |
| Jason Heaton | My 2019 beyond the car stuff was like largely, uh, I spent a lot of time in New York. Like I almost New York became in some ways a second home, you know, the Brooklyn areas where I was staying and, uh, working in the hody key office a lot. And, uh, and along with that, I, I have not only moved from, uh, uh, one photography platform to another. I went from the Sony platform, which I'd used and really loved for a couple of years to, uh, you know, I broke, you'll remember almost a year ago today, really. I broke, um, I broke my favorite lens, the 24 Zed-A. Oh yeah. And very quickly went out and grabbed a high-end lens for my Canon, my backup body. So I had a Sigma 35 Art, the 1.4. And I shot that for a while. And then, uh, in March I had the opportunity to move to a Leica Q and I had, I had had some experience with the platform and thought it really offered a lot in terms of the packaging and the ability to shoot things like a wrist shot or a dial macro, and also a car or a person. And I made the jump to the Q and I mean, that's 10 months or whatever of just complete camera perfection. I'm really, really happy with it. They are very expensive things and. You get the value out of them. If you're in my line of work, I don't think you could find a better option. Um, unless you really do need the ability to change lenses. I find that to be less and less valuable for me. Uh, you know, I don't do true macro work when we're covering a watch and I don't do true, uh, portraiture work, which would require say a 70 to 90 millimeter view versus the 28 with a crop. Uh, so it, it all works out pretty well for me. I took that camera. Along with the Canon and a long lens to Monaco for the formula one. This is a highlight of my year in terms of travel. Uh, that's, uh, you know, I, I can pretty much cross formula one off my list. I've been to Monaco. I've seen it. Um, I would love to go in a year where they have Monaco historics. Where they run the vintage formula one cars on the track. That would be pretty great. But the, uh, this year was a fantastic thing to, uh, to do with Tag Heuer and really, uh, an incredible event and, and, and all told I flew about 85 flights. I mean, it was a busy year. I was on the West Coast a lot. I went to a couple of brand new states I'd never been to before. You know, we had some pretty incredible work as far as the, we had the Tudor Vietnam project, the long return home. Oh yeah, that was incredible. Yeah, I'm very proud of that. And the fun thing about that, it's not unlike this, like a profile where like I was arguably one of the faces in the video, but I did almost none of the work. They told me when I needed to be in the city to record it and I read the background of these two amazing guys and Will and Gray and Dave, they really stepped up and did what they do best and they built these incredible videos and told a story. The lift from my side was very light, but it will forever be a pleasure, not unlike being involved in the Talking Watches with Moki Martin. Um, you know, to, to be able to meet these guys and sit down with them and hear their story was very special and very much one of the most rewarding things of my year. Um, I also had this Leica profile, which was a huge treat for me because I don't see myself as the type of photographer that needs to be profiled for anything. Uh, but you know, I, I really appreciate it and, uh, it, it got a great reaction and, and it's really fun to be connected with a brand like, uh, like Leica at some level. Um, TGN had an incredible year and that, like we've said in the last couple episodes is really up to you guys that are listening. Uh, Jason and I are going to keep cranking out episodes, but the fact that you're telling your friends and reviewing the show and clicking the links and the show notes all makes it all possible for us to keep, uh, keep this train kind of running. And it's, it's been hugely rewarding to see the direction that the show went this year. And the fact that Jason and I have retained the autonomy, that's very important to us and, and those sorts of things. |
| Other Host | Yeah. And I think, you know, I think we, in our last episode, which was the last of last year, we thanked our wonderful sponsors that we had last year. But, you know, I think another thing that TGN has done for us, especially in this past year was just the interesting people we've been able to meet and talk to. And, I know you've, you've, you mentioned the, a couple of the guys, the Moki Martin, and then the two chaps from the, the long return piece, the Tudor piece, but. |
| Jason Heaton | Barry Jones and Laurie McLaughlin. Yeah. |
| Other Host | Yeah, and we've also done some great interviews for TGN. I mean, you had the Corey Richards thing. I was able to talk to Paul Schofield and to Nims Purja, which was a real highlight for me, and certainly Andy Mann. And then you did a couple of things with Hodinkee as well. And I think that's just, you know, what we do certainly, I don't take it for granted. And there's a lot of hard work that goes into it. we're really fortunate that our jobs put us in the position to meet some truly extraordinary people. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. It's, it's, I mean the people behind this and, and, and especially for you and I, where the watch is one thing and the, the product and the connection to a brand is, is one thing that's all fine. That's maybe say 15 or 10% of the value, but the people that you get to actually chat with these other, whether they're other creatives or people who have, you know, they deal in very extreme environments or just whatever they get into, whether it's a guy like Nims or a guy like Andy, or I got to sit down with Tom Stafford for Hodinkee Radio with Steven. And there's not another scenario in which I get to sit down with Tom Stafford. I mean, that just doesn't exist. You get to ask him anything you want, as long as you're okay with making him angry. You can just say anything you want to Tom Stafford. I mean like it's rad. It's super fun. Corey was incredible. You know, Laurie McLaughlin and Barry Jones, just like Moki Martin, like just absolute sources of inspiration and like stoic platitude for me. I got to work with some incredible people. I finally got to meet and work with your wife, Ghoshani, a huge inspiration for me. Yeah. She, uh, just incredible to get a chance to see her work and, and to team, team up on, on a project. And we, you know, we all kind of work together to conceptualize and then create this, uh, this tutor shoot that went live late in December. And I think it came together beautifully, you know, it's the kind of thing that came up over Christmas. So I hope everybody had a chance to see it, but we can link to it. That's easy if you happen to miss it. And I also got to shoot with a new photographer that had been recommended to me by some other friends, Josh Perez, who I mentioned earlier in the show. He shot the McLaren F1 for issue five of Hodinkee Magazine. And we had like an absolute blast for two days. I would love to work with Josh again. The same issue also featured some incredible work from a friend of mine, a friend of ours, Brett Curry, a great dude and an insanely talented photographer. So it's really fun to not only feel that like my work kind of went up a level this year, but also the people whose work I got to experience is still so it's light years ahead of what I can create. Uh, you know, it's that concept of you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. And if the five people I can spend the most time with are people like Brett Curry or Josh Perez or Ghashani, like I I'm doing okay. I'll keep finding work. |
| Other Host | Yeah. And as long as you're spending time with people like that and getting inspired, um, you know, especially looking forward to 2020, it's, it just keeps driving you to, kind of more challenges and kind of upping your game even more. So, yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, it was a, it was a fun year. And then, uh, you know, uh, selfishly I'm going to toot my own horn a little bit. This is my only goal when I write pieces for Hodinkee is the hopes that I would make the number one post of the year. Uh, so I've squared that away two years in a row. The two years I've been writing for Hodinkee, I've, I've had the most, the highest trafficked piece posted to the site. Uh, so I was proud and I will, I will, you know, I, I laid low in the comments on, on the top 25 posts of the year. Uh, but people were very kind and supportive and, and, uh, you know, thrilled to, I'll, I'll have to find a pretty solid piece to, to think up for 2020 to make it a hat trick on, uh, on best, uh, you know, most trafficked pieces on, on Hodinkee for, for a third year in a row. But it's been an incredible year. And how about we transition out of kind of work or adventuring and into some of this stuff that we took in some content made by other people or, or things that we appreciated. Anything that stands out for you? |
| Other Host | Yeah. I mean, you know, we've done certainly our, um, we've done a couple of, um, film club, uh, episodes here on TGN, but you know, it was another good year of, of movies. Uh, I don't, I can't say I saw a lot of movies. I, my, my movie viewing habits have changed a little bit. I don't really go to the theater unless it's really compelling, a really compelling movie. So a lot of the stuff is streamed or maybe just after the fact. And, um, I've been watching a lot more TV series and there's some really good ones. Um, we just finished, season one of succession. And if you haven't watched that, it's, uh, I've heard only incredible things. |
| Jason Heaton | It's really, I should be watching it. |
| Other Host | It's really amazing. Um, you know, having, you know, you get a glimpse, I guess when you're sort of in the watch business of kind of into the, the world of high end stuff and luxury living and that sort of thing. And this, um, and you spending a lot of time in New York, I think a lot of that show would be familiar to you, just, um, the scenes and where it's shot. And, um, that's, that's been really good. Um, I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that we binge watched all eight seasons of Game of Thrones this year, and boy, I am not a fantasy fan. I'm not really Lord of the Rings or Star Wars or whatever, but Game of Thrones was just next level. I mean, it was just tremendous. Tremendous. I don't even want to say TV. I mean, it's just the production quality, the acting, the writing, the themes. It was very literary. Really enjoyed that. Mindhunter, I think we've talked about that. That was season two this year. That was really good. Real good. couple of sort of spy type series. There was one called the game. Um, and we'll have to link to these or look it up later, but I can't remember, you know, which platform this was on, but that was really good. That was sort of a 1960s, I believe, M I five sort of mole type, uh, scenario like, uh, like the Brits love to do. And then there was another series called the spy that was about, it was a true story about a, an undercover, uh, agent, um, for Mossad Israeli, uh, Secret Service that infiltrated in, I believe it was Syria. That was really good. Killing Eve, I know you're also a fan of that. Huge fan. That was really good. Another one that, you know, I just wouldn't have thought I would have gotten into, but, you know, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who's actually doing some of the writing for the next Bond film. And of course she did Fleabag. Fleabag I couldn't quite get into, but Killing Eve was just a really wonderful TV. And then, uh, you know, in terms of movies, I mean, I saw the Irishman liked it, you know, but it felt kind of of the people that were in it. I mean, it wasn't really surprising when you get like Pacino and De Niro and Joe Pesci with a, in a Scorsese film, it sort of felt, um, what I expected it to be. But then just shortly after that, I saw the two Popes, um, with Jonathan Price and Anthony Hopkins. And it was, Oh, it was so good. I really recommend that movie. Uh, Once upon a time in Hollywood was, was tremendous. That was really good. Loved it. I loved it. Yeah. Um, didn't know what to expect. I mean, I'm never disappointed by a Tarantino film, but that one, um, was just fresh. It felt really good. It had these sort of, um, surprising elements to it. And it was such an interesting sort of slice of history that was taken from like a right angle from the view you normally look at it from. Um, so I really enjoyed that. And, uh, And then back in, I guess it was July or June, um, the, the big Apollo 11 documentary I saw on IMAX with all the, the great old, um, original footage from, from NASA, which, uh, boy, that seems like ages ago now, but, uh, that was, that was really rewarding as well. And then I guess one more, I think this was probably, boy, it's hard to pick a favorite, but if I had to, I would almost say the one that I recommended most people watch was, um, the last breath, which was that documentary that we both saw. I want to say it was Netflix, um, about the, uh, the saturation diver. Um, and I don't really want to give it away because it was had such an impactful moment when, when the, kind of the crux of the story happens. But, uh, if, if you haven't seen that for some reason, um, despite all of our gushing about it, uh, do check out the last breath, uh, the documentary on Netflix. So that was, I mean, sorry to monopolize, um, you know, you can jump in here, but, uh, those were kind of my highlights for, for watching stuff. |
| Jason Heaton | I would, you know, I've seen some of that. I will, you'll never catch me, you know, going for a game of thrones. I don't, that's just not my zone. You'd be surprised. The last breath was incredible. Once upon a time, incredible Apollo 11, crazy. I watched the trailer for the Irishman and the like fake de-aging of the actors really took me out of even the trailer. So I did not get one step closer to that. Here's a very unpopular idea, but it could be like the Americanism the American-ness of a mob movie. I don't like any mob movies. I mean, like Casino's fine. Goodfellas is fine. These are incredible character actor portrayals. The closest I ever come to loving one wasn't even a mob movie. It was like a drug kingpin movie. It was, you know, it was a blow with Johnny Depp. And even then I watched that again a couple of years ago and didn't like it nearly as much. I think I had to be younger to like it. Um, so the Irishman, maybe we'll get to it. I know it's very long and I, and I think if you love the, the like casino and good fellows and Donnie Brasco and those movies, these really line up. Yeah. It doesn't line up for me. Um, for me, this movie this year, I watched very few movies. I saw two movies in theaters and I would only recommend one of them. And that's John wick three. was great to see in theaters. If you're going to watch it at home, I hope you like action movies, I guess. I mean, like it's kind of mindless. It's incredible from a filmmaking standpoint, but from a, from like a conceptual or a philosophical standpoint or an emotional standpoint, it's very vapid. But as far as things that I've watched this year that I go back and watch again and again, or have really loved to watch and then talk about, the best movie of the year for me easily is Parasite. Um, nothing came close. You know, there's a handful of stuff on the best of 2019 that I haven't seen. Um, but Parasite is exactly what I want from a movie. And this is a Bong Joon-ho, uh, film, a Korean, uh, director. He also did Snowpiercer, would be an English language movie he did with Chris Evans a few years back. Um, Parasite is, and I'll link to the trailer, really just like, even if you, even if you don't like the idea that it might be horror, that it might be horror adjacent. I don't think it's so much scary as much as it is like incredibly tense and thoughtful. Because I can't watch horror movies, like I really struggled to make it through Us, the latest of Jordan Peele's movies. Oh yeah. Just because it was so, I found it so scary. And I know there's some people in the audience who will side with me on that, like horror movies are too difficult. And that there's some that are laughing at me because it barely qualifies as a horror film. And like, I get it, you're both right and I'm willing to be wrong. Horror is not a genre that speaks that strongly to me, but this, the treatment of several different genres within one film for Parasite is, I think, groundbreaking. I think it's an absolutely incredible movie. I really like movies with subtitles, so that doesn't slow me down so much. Beyond that, I thought that the latest season, which only started a few weeks back, of Rick and Morty is as good as they've ever done. It's just simply incredible television. It's absolutely like next level writing, deep philosophy, hard science. They do a bunch of really fun stuff. They deal with time travel in a really fun way. Other than that, The Killing Eve, I thought was one of my favorite. Certainly the first season, I thought was really incredible. The second season, had some trouble finding momentum, but it had these incredible moments that I thought were great. And then Barry, I think is the best, probably the best show on TV for me. And that's Bill Hader playing an assassin who tries to leave being an assassin and become an actor. And it's about those two worlds kind of colliding. And if you want evidence that there's nothing in the world that Bill Hader can't do, whether it's being insanely funny on, you know, the previous generation of SNL, or moving into things that are much more drama, deep drama. Yeah. Uh, I would say give Barry a try. It's full of incredible actors. Henry Winkler. Uh, I absolutely adore it. I think it's super clever and really funny. So it kind of dances the tone between a breaking bad. It has a lot of the structure and the plot elements of a breaking bad, but then it's also has these comedy elements that are so specific and pointed and sharp that it's just a very, uh, very fun thing. It's one of these things where you can't touch your phone while you're watching it. I love it. So those would be my four. It'd be Rick and Morty, Parasite, Barry, and Killing Eve. Other than that, I'm sure there's like, I know that there's so much I've left on the table. It's just been probably the busiest single year of my life. So my TV watching really regressed into things I had already seen. So things I had on my laptop that I could watch at an airport or on a plane that didn't need like a streaming service or whatever. So I rewatched a lot of like Alone in the Wilderness and 30 Rock and Community. And so I was still watching stuff, but it's all stuff that's like passed us by. It's like comfort TV, like comfort food. A little bit, yeah. It's a little bit more passive. My brain already knows all the jokes, so I can write while I listen to it, or I can just kind of decompress. Yeah. Whereas like if you watch... If I watch Parasite, I'm not decompressing. For that movie, I should probably wear a heart rate monitor. It's... It's great. It's, uh, it's fantastic. I highly recommend it to, uh, to anyone. And then beyond that, I would say that we could jump into stuff. We listened to my list is a little longer than yours, so I can try and blitz it. Yeah. Um, album of the year is super easy for me. We try not to swear on TGN. So it would be Norman effing Rockwell by Lana Del Rey. Um, well, I mean, without comparison, the finest album of the year, uh, it's another Jack Anatov album. It's her, I think it's her best work. Um, musically. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | The lyrics, it's up to you. It's very much down the same road that she's been doing for years. So if you didn't like Lana Del Rey's music or lyrics, especially to begin with, I don't think this is the album that's going to change your mind. I've been on board since her first album. She's one of my favorite artists. And I think that this one conceptually takes her entire work to a different level, especially in terms of the ballads. And there's a complexity that wasn't present on some of the other albums or maybe only a one or two songs from like Ultraviolence or one of the previous albums. And I'm blown away by it. I absolutely adore it. The other side of that would be a band called Yolklore, which I've mentioned on the show before. I got to see them live in March and they're simply incredible. An entirely different type of music, sort of hipster pop adjacent sound. It's one guy and It's a really, really incredible live show and a great album. I would say they're the kind of band you just kind of, you can just kind of go onto Spotify and just click shuffle and you'll get an idea if they're in your kind of sonic landscape, if that kind of lines up for you. But I loved it. Beyond that, if you want to talk podcasts, my favorite podcast remains All Fantasy Everything. It's the only one I try and listen to only when I know I don't have to do anything else. So I can just sit and listen to a podcast, everything else. It's, it's kind of like filler, mental filler for boring folding laundry or driving or something like that. But all fantasy, everything had an incredible year, you know, their Patrion's doing really well. Uh, Ian's broken into another TV show along with being the head writer of James Corden. And those guys are doing really well and I'm really happy for them. And the show's incredible and I hope they're able to keep doing it as they become more successful. Uh, other than that, if you want a really quick list of podcasts that you should try, if you think you have the same taste as me, there's one called, uh, JRVP, the Jessalynick Rosenthal vanity project. It's incredible. So it's Anthony Jessalynick, the standup comedian and his friend, Greg Rosenthal, who is an NFL personality. Uh, they very briefly started the show under the guise that they would talk about football and that went away. So they kept me as a listener. Um, you know, I don't know anything about football. I'm not saying I wouldn't listen to Anthony. He doesn't like talk about football. I just wouldn't know what he was talking about. Um, beyond that freedom, uh, collecting cars with Chris Harris inside skunk works, which I know we spoke about on the podcast and then rewatchables, which we also spoke about on the podcast. Those are kind of like, I listened to a lot, um, almost constantly. I have some headphones in and, uh, and these are the stuff that really, really stuck out for me. |
| Unknown | Huh? |
| Other Host | Yeah, I don't, uh, admittedly, I don't listen to many podcasts, uh, which is ironic since, uh, we were here doing a podcast. Um, but I just find that during work, I just can't have that sort of audio distraction while I'm writing or doing something creative. But, uh, um, I've have gotten into audio books this year more than in the past. Uh, I did a couple of longer road trips, um, and as well as on flights, I just find, uh, the continuity of audio books, which is, it has a, uh, very different sort of pace and sound to it than a podcast, which is a little more dynamic. And oftentimes you get two people or frenetic. Yeah, exactly. Um, and you know, two that, that stood out for me this year were the outlaw C by William Langewiesche, which I think I talked about on a past show. Um, and he reads it and he's a tremendous reader. Uh, so if you like his writing, he does a lot of aviation writing. He's done it for the New Yorker and the Atlantic and the New York times. And, um, just has such insights into, sadly, aviation disasters and kind of analysis of modern piloting. But this book is actually about, kind of exactly as the title suggests, the outlaw sea and kind of the high seas and the current state of shipping and shipwrecks. ship breaking and sort of all things in that realm, and that was really good. And then The Pigeon Tunnel, which is memoirs and sort of stories and essays by John le Carré, aka David Cornwell, which is his real name. And he sort of revisits his life and history of the creation of his books and his career working in MI6. And he reads that as well. And boy, does he have a great voice for reading. And it's just, he just Oh wow. It just oozes. I mean, it's just, it's wonderful to just hear him. He sort of just, it's just delicious the way he sort of takes his time reading and then forms the words and, and to hear him recounting his own history, uh, is really, um, really quite good. And I'm still working my way through it. It's one of those books that you can, uh, come back to and kind of put down for awhile and whether you're reading it or listening to it. Um, I just find it delightful and it's not necessarily a, chronological history or memoir. It's just anecdotes and stories that he tells, and I've really enjoyed that. And if we're still kind of focusing on listening, there is one band that I kind of latched onto this year, and I listened to this album by a band called the Magnetic North, and they hail from Scotland and from actually specifically the Orkney Islands. And I latched onto this album of theirs. It's actually from 2012, but it's called Orkney Symphony of the Magnetic North. And it's just this really moody, sort of thematic music inspired by the Orkney Islands, which is a very sort of windswept, remote series of islands off of the north coast of Scotland. And the lyrics and the mood, it's a bit Bon Iver, I guess you could say, but in a much more spare sort of fashion, a bit melancholy, but just beautifully produced. If I have to recommend music, which I don't often do on the show give that definitely give that a try So yeah, that's you know, it's not podcast, but it's a couple of audiobooks and and music and then I'm just gonna add in a book here something I read or actually currently reading and that is the book sea salt, which is a Book that I've waited for years to read I think it's out of print But I got it for Christmas actually just last week and and I'm just devouring it and it's the memoirs of Stan Waterman So Stan Walker, legendary underwater cinematographer and photographer, um, was diving well into his nineties. He's still alive. Um, studied at Dartmouth, um, you know, chartered a boat in the Bahamas. He was a blueberry farmer for a while, just a fascinating life. Studied under Robert Frost, the famous poet. And of course, uh, you know, relevant to, to TGN, we've, we've talked about this before, but he was the cinematographer that, uh, took part in the, the great, uh, the great white shark hunt that was, um, Blue Water, White Death, the great documentary film from the early seventies that we've talked at length about. And Stan is just such a character, such an interesting erudite articulate guy who also has done some amazing stuff in his life. And it's, it's very much about his adventures around the world, both, both diving and topside and kind of, he has a very interesting history. So if you can find the book, Sea Salt, it's well worth, well worth a read. |
| Jason Heaton | Oh man, I got to read that. That sounds incredible. Yeah. Yeah. Love Stan. Uh, that's so cool. Uh, the only book I would add before we wrap up the show with, uh, final notes and some sort of, uh, a swing at some resolutions would be, uh, where men win glory. The, uh, Pat Tillman book written by John Krakauer in 2009. It was the best book I read this year. You know, I didn't read that many books. I will be, and I think I'm forever designed to be an internet reader. Uh, so maybe I should get into audio books, like some of these ones that you recommended. Um, but with a lot of subway time, in New York city this year, I did start to read some books on my phone. And the first one I dug back into was, yeah, we're, we're men, men glory, which is an incredible look at Pat Tillman, an American football player who, you know, left his career and enlisted in the army after the September 11 attacks. He was later killed in 2004 and it's look into his death and his family. And, um, even as I say this, that doesn't sound that interesting. Um, but Pat was a different sort of person. Um, I would say read this. It's not that long a read. I think you get through it pretty quickly. And it's a, it's a really incredible look at not only like the, the way in which the military, the American military can work to raise people up as heroes, but then also operate these sort of coverups and different things like that. But also it's like, it's a Testament to the way that Krakauer writes. Oh yeah. He's so good. Because the book is, is chronologically managed just in the same way that he did Into thin air. So it's very it's very easy to understand what he's what information he's trying to lay out Yeah, it's so thoughtfully combined and and portrayed and it's really a beautiful story of an excellent guy That ended up in in a less than excellent scenario Yeah, I mean I've seen that book for years and I've always hesitated just for the same reasons you mentioned it just didn't seem like my kind of subject matter, but |
| Other Host | I should give it a go. I mean, he's written other books, you know, Under the Banner of Heaven and... Under the Banner of Heaven's a really tough read. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. A really tough read. Yeah. I would say where Men Win Glory is closer to a really strong in-depth narrative. Yeah. You know, Under the Banner of Heaven is, I found quite depressing, quite troubling. Yeah. But he's just one of my favorite writers. Yeah. You know, I think Into the Wild is one of the finer books of its age. And then Into Thin Air, while it's essentially formulated not on like a very long outside article, to be able to take in that much data and then turn it around into something that built a story is incredible. From a writer's standpoint, I don't have that skill set and I'm very envious of it. |
| Other Host | Well, what do you think? What about, what's, what's, what's a hesitate to use the word resolution, but what are you hoping for, for next year? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I'm going to call this, I'm going to call this hopes for 2020. So when you, when you get to listen to this, we two days into 2020, so we'll have, you know, a little over 350 days left to make any of this happen. But for me, I would love to, you know, I had mentioned that this was a pretty busy year and I would love to find a stronger delineation between work and not work. So much of what I tried to qualify as relaxing or, you know, restorative time in my life, I was also working. Um, you know, just because you're in a nice place doesn't mean you're on vacation is something I might need to remind myself of occasionally. Cause I, you know, this is one of the first years where I really kind of substantially dealt with the, the idea of burnout. Uh, I fought it a lot. I complained a lot. to you about it, uh, Jason. And, uh, I, I appreciate your, uh, your kind ear in that. Uh, but yeah, you know, I would, I would just like to find an ability to say like, well, I'm there, you know, I'm working and that doesn't also count in. I shouldn't count that also as my vacation. And when I'm on vacation, I shouldn't be saying like, well, I'm in this interesting place. I should also be diving with a watch or interviewing this person or something like that. Just, I just want to try and sit like church and state to a certain level. Yeah. Um, I'd love, I'd love to find and develop. And I think we had a couple examples of this this year, but find and develop some new types of work. Um, I, I like the work and I like what I'm working on with Hodinkee, but I really do feel like I have, I have a couple areas in my mind that go in other directions and I'd like to fulfill some of those. Um, like I said earlier, I, you know, I, I need to go, I would love to get back into camping and get really good at that and, and be something where it's not even that hard. Because I had been through all the pitfalls, like I want to get over the hump of learning how to camp again, especially with kids. Yeah. So then it's just like every weekend is kind of the default. Oh yeah. Um, and then, yeah, continuing with a very similar theme, but, uh, I'd like, I'd like to do some travel for me. Uh, so I think my, my, I think I'm going to start by, you know, in scenarios where I'm flown somewhere else for work, I'm going to extend that trip and put a few days in just for me. Yeah. Good idea. Um, you know, because it's just something that it's so easy to let go the idea that, especially in our line of work and this, I don't, I genuinely don't mean this as a complaint, maybe even the opposite. We get to go to some of the most amazing places, but you wouldn't in some ways, many people wouldn't believe the schedule once we're there. Yeah. I've been to cities. I've been to fantastic cities where you see one hotel, right. Or the inside of a car, a hotel and an airport. And you're like, Oh, well I had two days, I think. But it was presentations and talk to this person and go to this dinner and be at this meal. And it's a lot. And I think I just need to be more, I guess, more thoughtful in terms of, again, separating the idea of what I'm there for work and what I could be there for myself, for my own experiences. And then, yeah, just continuing on that episode from five episodes ago, but just to continue to develop a functional fitness routine, something that's very much adaptable to moving around a lot and not having a lot of gear and that sort of thing. Those, those would be my hopes for 2020. How about yours? |
| Other Host | Cool. Yeah. So, you know, I, I think I'm, I just want to kind of stay the course this year. Um, I, this year, the latter half of this year, I did sort of get into more of a fitness routine, which I had been missing for the past few years. I was, as I mentioned earlier, I was doing so much, uh, diving on vacations and everything was sort of revolved around that. And I think this year was the year I sort of discovered more or rediscovered more sort of topside diversions and exercises and, you know, got back into cycling pretty, pretty hardcore, bought the rowing machine I mentioned. And then in August, I stopped drinking alcohol just because I had this blood test that showed that my liver enzymes were a little high and the doctor said, I'll take a few months off. So I've kind of stayed the course since August I haven't really drunk much of anything alcoholic and and I'm just kind of liking the way I feel so I want to Kind of want to maintain that momentum. It's certainly not to say that I'm gonna give it up for good I still you know, look sidelong at a glass of whiskey longingly to a certain degree So, you know, I'm not taking the hard line here with myself, but you know so far so good so I'll probably keep that going and You know, in October, I think I was a little, I was pretty inspired. We went to that trip to Jamaica to Ian Fleming's place and, um, you know, sort of, there was a bit of a career, uh, sort of flux that was going on at that point. And I just took a little bit of time off and I started writing a novel, um, that's kind of been kicking around in my brain for the better part of a decade. And I've gotten, you know, however you define a chapter, I've gotten about 25 chapters in, um, And I've slowed down a bit over the holidays, but I want to get back into that. And I'm just going to make a goal of finishing that novel by next year at this time. Hopefully, I'll be able to talk about that on the show. And it's a bit of a thriller. I like that genre. Of course, it's going to involve some diving. And I'm sure there'll be a watch on the hero's wrist. In fact, I know there is. So I'm not going to say any more about it. But this is sort of a public acknowledgement of the fact that I'm working on that. And hopefully, that'll hold me accountable. And I'll finish that. And then I just want to Like I said earlier, I want to hike more. I want to do more with a backpack and just move under my own power and, um, just, just do some more diverse stuff this year. Maybe not less diving, but just more of the other stuff too. |
| Jason Heaton | I love it. That sounds great. Uh, a solid list. There's our hopes for 2020. If you have a hope or anything you think we missed in this episode, something like glaring, I have this weird stress since thinking about this, like favorite things from 2019 things that meant that I've forgotten something. So if I forgot something, so be it. Thegreatnadoatgmail.com. Jason, what do you think we drop in a quick final notes and put a button on first episode of the year? |
| Other Host | Yeah, that sounds great. So I've got one that we talked about a few weeks ago, and I think you actually included it in the Hodinkee Weekend Roundup recently. And this is just a lot of fun. It's been kicking around the internet a while now, so I'll bet a lot of people have seen this, but it's on a website, a strange little website called neil.fun, and it's just called the deep sea. And it is so cool. It's so simple and it's almost like it's almost like a kid's game or something like you could just show a kid this it reminds me of something I would have seen when I was You know like 10 years old or something and it's just a scrolling website. There's no animation other than the the increasing depth and that the darkening screen as you get deeper and deeper you're basically descending into the ocean and then every so often there will be a little note about something, you know, this is the deepest point a shark has been or a human has scuba dived to this depth or, um, and then it just shows these sort of simplified representations of the different creatures that you find at these various depths. Um, and you just scroll and scroll and scroll. And it, the amount of scrolling really impacts how you, uh, you view the ocean. I mean, just when you think, okay, I've been scrolling for a while, it just keeps going and going and going. And then it says, This is the average depth of the ocean. And then you keep going and it's like, I mean, it takes minutes. It takes several minutes to kind of get through this thing. I don't care how fast you're scrolling. And if you pause every now and then to, to read and look at some of these tidbits, it's just, it's fascinating when it's such simple fun. Um, so, you know, it's just pure, pure diversion. Um, and, uh, we'll link out to that. I, I know you enjoyed this too. |
| Jason Heaton | I thought it was incredible. I thought it was super fun. I think his whole website, the whole, that Neil dot fun, He has several of these sort of loosely interactive web pages. Yeah. And, uh, this deep sea one, I picked it for a Hodinkee weekend roundup, uh, over the holidays. I think it's awesome. Definitely. Please click on this. Just, just even just give the guy a view. Yeah. Like he, he needs this type of creativity and this kind of thoughtfulness and this info based. This is like very much where education should be going. Yeah. And I think, I think this is a really fun thing to support and And really cool. I loved it. And I learned some stuff, how deep some of these animals can go. I didn't realize. It's incredible. So for my one final note for this episode, it's actually a backpack, which I spoke about previously. It's the Topo Designs X Gear Patrol Backpack Tote. And I'd said that I got it in, I'd put it on my Instagram, and I said I would try it out in New York for a while and let you guys know what I think. And not only did I do that, I also secured a fairly decent discount, uh, thanks to our friends at gear patrol who are retailing this bag on their website. So this is not an ad. This is just a, you know, we know the guys at gear patrol pretty well, and they knew that I was enjoying the bag. They had asked me for some feedback on the bag and that sort of thing. And I'd said, you know, I'm, I'm kind of loving it. It's kind of perfect for carrying a laptop and a camera and a few odds and ends around New York. because there's so many different ways you can carry it, and none of them really extend that far off your body. And the long tote straps really make it an ideal subway bag. So if that's your life, and if it is, I feel sorry for you because I've really not acclimated to New York's subways. It's not my favorite thing. It's actually largely one of my least favorite things. And if I'm ever involved in some sort of a case of extreme personal violence, it'll be towards someone who gets on the subway and starts singing that same John Legend song again. I've had about all I can stand of that concept in my life. It happens all the time. I can't believe it. You're not John Legend. I didn't like that song when he sang it, and he's an incredible vocalist. So just sit quietly on the subway. We're not asking that much. It's insane how different the subways are in Canada. It's just absolutely insane. Nobody would make any noise ever. Um, but I, I have digressed, uh, quite extensively. So this is the, uh, really fantastic, like simple bag. It'll hold a 15 inch MacBook pro. And with that, I was able to fit, um, a couple of camera bodies. Like if you're talking about like a Q size, you could probably get to that. Um, all sorts of little odds and ends, maybe a little kit bag with wires and cables and that sort of thing. And it has normal backpack straps and it has these kind of like long tote bag straps. So you can hold it under your arm while you're on something like a subway or moving in and out of a plane. I found it really handy. It's absolutely my go-to New York bag from now on. And because we know the guys at gear patrol, uh, they offered a 20% off kind of set up with the code TGN20. So that's TGN20 and it's, uh, It's gear.gp.topo. We'll take you directly to it. Of course, it'll be in the show notes. And if you have any questions about the bag or doubts or something you want me to measure, just drop me a line. Thegreatnado.gmail.com. This isn't an ad. We love Gear Patrol. Gear Patrol likes TGN. It's really just some friends helping out some friends. And when those friends make a great product, it really doesn't bother me whatsoever. So I'm thrilled by the bag. And now you can get the $140 bag for 20% off, which is a pretty good discount. And maybe you've got some Grandma, you know, card full of cash burning a hole in your pocket after their Christmas holiday. And it's time to maybe invest in a bag to carry some stuff around for the rest of the year. So that's my pick this week. It's one that I've enjoyed. I've been very happy with it. And then I was kind of thrilled when Gear Patrol offered up this discount code to any TGN listeners. So again, that's TGN20gear.gp slash T-O-P-O. Love it. Thanks, Gear Patrol. That's awesome. |
| Other Host | Yeah. Thank you. Very kind. Well, that was a That was an epic episode that was good and long, very fitting for the end of the year. You're going to have fun editing this. |
| Jason Heaton | A lot of links, a lot of links for me to dig up for sure, but that'll be fine. I think it's a nice way to start off the year. Minimal product, lots about experience and trying to consider the things that went well last year and maybe cut off some of the fat. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Other Host | Cool. Well, as always, thanks so much for listening and thanks to Hodinkee for supporting the show. You can hit the show notes via hodinkee.com. Or our feed for more details. And please follow us on Instagram at Jason Heaton and at J.E. Stacey and follow the show at The Graynado. If you have any questions, please write thegraynado at gmail.com and do subscribe and review wherever you find your podcasts. Music throughout is Siesta by Jazzar via the Free Music Archive. |
| Jason Heaton | And we leave you with this quote from none other than Benjamin Franklin, who said, be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year Find you a better man. |