Latest / The Delicious Culture with Jon Francois / Horror & Addiction Recovery Are Delicious w/ Alex Grass

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Horror & Addiction Recovery Are Delicious w/ Alex Grass · The Delicious Culture with Jon Francois

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staff .com. One of the last things, you know,
0:49
me and my uncle were recalling about my grandmother
0:51
is that he had gotten her to promise that she
0:55
wouldn't drive. because, you know, she was 90
0:57
and you know how it is. And then he came to visit
1:01
her and her, my grandmother's friend who's there
1:04
every day. And so my uncle says to says to him,
1:09
Oh, you know, I'm just so relieved that mom isn't
1:12
driving anymore. And he's like, what are you
1:14
talking about? It's like yesterday, she was driving
1:16
on the lawn, chasing deer around, trying to get
1:21
them out of her yard. What? She was trying to
1:24
run over the deer? She's trying to run down the
1:27
deer. Hey, delishies, grab a plate and taste
1:35
the delicious culture. I am your host, Jon Francois.
1:38
We're feasting on food, pop culture and lifestyle
1:40
with independent horror author. Alex Grass. Alex,
1:44
thanks for coming on, man. John, a pleasure to
1:46
be here. Yeah. Where are you based by the way?
1:48
Oh, you know, you're based in Brooklyn, New York.
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You're so not so far away. That's right. Yeah,
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I'm curious about you, Alex, because I was reading
1:54
into your backgrounds. Not only are you producing
1:58
horror content, but I'm looking at this background
2:02
of yours and I'm like, oh, my God, this guy has.
2:04
uh, studied law, he's drove auction cars, he
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studied, uh, how do you pronounce it, mortuary
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science? That's right, mortuary science. Which
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might be the closest to what you do in horror,
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right? Because mortuary isn't that, doesn't have
2:17
to have to deal with, like, dead people? Hey,
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you know, the funny thing is, I only end up going
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to mortuary school because my mom had a distant
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relative in the admissions office, you know?
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Oh! OK. I hate to take the wind out of my own
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sails and tell people that. It's just sort of
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happenstance that I ended up there. So is it
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a mixture of you were interested in that field,
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but also, like you said, a distant relative worked
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there and you were able to get in easily that
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way? It was both. I was a bit of a rolling stone,
2:50
a little bit restless. you know, go wherever
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the wind took me. And I just, I, I had, if you
2:57
ever met friends like this, or if you've been
2:58
like this yourself, you know, like I, the constant
3:01
rap about me was that like, I was always going
3:03
from one thing to another and I couldn't finish,
3:05
you know? And, uh, and I get that. I get that.
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Like I've always said that I have, and I hate
3:12
this phrase because it just doesn't make any
3:14
sense. Undiagnosed ADHD. Like I, I can certainly,
3:19
yeah. You know what I mean? Like, cause like,
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It's like, it's only legit if it's actually diagnosed.
3:25
So don't even say it if it's undiagnosed. But
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yeah, no, I'm with you, man. I mean, I've certainly
3:31
had a lot of instances where I've like started
3:33
something and just not finished it all the way
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through. So the mortuary science, like what a
3:39
about what does that entail? So how are you dealing
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with dead people? It was super interesting, actually.
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I'll give you the curriculum and then I'll give
3:48
you the actual work. The curriculum had like,
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it was basically you took classes that had to
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do with anatomy, including a class called anatomy.
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Couldn't get more basic than that. No. Anatomy
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I find to be the most anatomical of anatomy related
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classes. And then you took like, biochemistry,
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but you also took the history of death and culture.
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Okay. And you took like a clinical, um, you know,
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like not quite grief counseling, but you know,
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things to say and not to say, you know, like
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if you are like a funeral, uh, sort of like director.
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Exactly. Exactly. You know, like a kid, like
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an eight year old comes up to you and says, can
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I get a glass of water here? Here's a glass of
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water. What happened to my mommy? You don't want
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to say she's sleeping, you know? Right, right,
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right. You want to be honest. But I would, but
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I would imagine be like a sort of politely and
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softly honest, like, you know, mommy is, has,
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has gone to a, another place, the afterlife.
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How, you know, actually, how would you phrase
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that to an eight year old? Like what would you
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say to them? You know what? The, the, the answer
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is that there are no really good answers, you
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know, because there isn't like an adequate way
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to explain. you know, the breadth and depth of
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mourning and the existential terror that is ultimately
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is the truth that we ultimately all will die.
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So what you end up doing is just like trying
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not to say the worst things, you know, like you
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just like don't say that mommy's sleeping. Don't
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say, you know, one day you and mommy will be
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together in heaven, you know, because then the
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kid will wonder like, geez, is this going to
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happen to be soon? Right, right, right, right,
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right. And then, you know, like honestly, I would
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probably, you know, this is, thank God I'm not
5:37
actually doing it. I would probably ignore the
5:39
question and try and ask about something that
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kids like, like, you know, like what's the latest
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Marvel movie you saw or something like that,
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which is probably a terrible answer, but I just
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would not. I leave that to the parent. I can't
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be telling kids, strange kids, why their parents
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died, you know? So based on that difficulty that
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you mentioned of talking to kids about death,
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I wonder if that's an example or represents your
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overall experience with mortuary science, like
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what you're saying was... successful? Would you
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say that it was something that you had a hard
6:14
time completing through? Like, like, how would
6:16
you how would you describe, like, your education
6:18
there? Academically, I was terrible. And I am
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a huge underachiever. So they, you know, they
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had like, like an intake examination. So it's
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like, you know, I don't know what the equivalent
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is. But you know, like, it was like, I don't
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know, GMAT or GRE or SAT for, you know, morticians.
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And, and I took it. Go ahead, go ahead. No, no,
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no, I was just curious. It's a question that
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probably does not have to do with what you're
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talking about, so you go ahead, actually. But
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now I got to know, because I'll remember. I could
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talk all day, but you might not remember the
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question. I probably won't. No, I think what
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I was caught with was what you said earlier about
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the history of death in culture. Because death
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is something that fascinates me. You know, just
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the fact that we come into this world and we
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make the most of what we can with life. We're
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all active and whatnot, hopefully. And then we
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die and that's it. Like, we just go into this
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blank, black space, this void, and that's it.
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It just, it's so bizarre to me to think about.
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So... I guess what I was wondering is what have
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you learned about the history of death and culture?
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Maybe like how it's treated in different cultures,
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like anything, I don't know, anything profound
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that you want to share? Yeah, the common thread
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is reverence, you know? Reverence, what do you
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mean by that? It's important to show respect
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and to sort of honor the process of grieving
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however people do that. But you can't be, you
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know, you can't be like, Making jokes and screwing
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around and you have to take it very seriously,
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you know, and it's it's not like You know, no
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one's Like raised in the flag of glory for morticians
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or for people handing out, you know the in beloved
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memory pamphlets at the ceremony but you know,
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you have to take it very seriously as seriously
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as anything else because you know, it's like
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It's strange to think but one of the last memories
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that people have about someone they love their
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entire life is their death, you know? And, you
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know, you want it to be, for what it is, to be
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a good memory. So I know that you've dabbled
8:39
in stand -up comedy, correct? New York and Philly,
8:41
like, you were dabbling in those scenes. I read
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that in your book. No? Every Jewish man who comes
8:46
up to New York does stand up at some point. Well,
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I didn't know you were Jewish, so that's good
8:51
to know. But... tying back to the death thing
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because I mean, I've seen a lot of dark humor
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that deals with death and stand -up comedy. So
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where in your timeline did the stand -up comedy
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happen? Did you have jokes about death? Does
9:12
that hit different for you since you have studied
9:15
this? Tell me about that, because that's what
9:21
was going through my mind when you were saying,
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you know, hey, death is not something to joke
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about. You know, I've made as many jokes about
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death as the next person. Whether or not that
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has anything to do with my experience in mortuary
9:35
school, I'm not exactly sure. I can tell you
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that, you know, there's nothing that... Jokes
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about death could be healing. They really can
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be. Or jokes at least about the departed can
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be healing. It's a unique circumstance to be
9:57
in where you're sitting and you're remembering
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somebody. Most recently, my grandmother lived
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to be 90 and we were sitting around and we're
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recalling recent stories about her. And there's
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a special pointedness and I think... poignancy
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to the memory if the person is gone. And so you
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can laugh a little harder when you're recalling
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some of these things. Like one of the last things
10:27
me and my uncle were recalling about my grandmother
10:30
is that he had gotten her to promise that she
10:35
wouldn't drive because she was an ID and you
10:38
know how it is. You get older, night vision goes
10:41
and it's a little harder. and she promised that
10:43
she wouldn't drive. And then he came to visit
10:46
her and my grandmother's friend who's there every
10:51
day, my uncle says to him, Oh, you know, I'm
10:57
just so relieved that, you know, mom isn't driving
11:00
anymore. And he's like, what are you talking
11:01
about? It's like yesterday she was driving on
11:04
the lawn chasing deer around. Trying to get him
11:08
out of her. What? She was trying to run over
11:13
the deer? She's trying to run down the deer.
11:17
You know? Jesus. If you could just imagine. And
11:20
my grandmother was like, you know, these are
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over you. overused adjectives, but like very
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cultured, very educated, very, dare I say it,
11:31
refined woman. Usually you are getting into accidents
11:37
with deer. I've never heard a situation where
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somebody actively was trying to drive towards
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deer to run them over with their car. I don't
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know. I saw it as like a very, like a, I don't
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know, like a Rambo moment or like not in our
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town. Those deer must've been annoying for your
11:52
grandmother, for your grandma. to just go ape
11:54
shit like that and just be like, ah! You know?
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Well, she was particular about landscaping. She,
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you know, she had concerns for aesthetics, so
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she was, she probably did not. And, uh... And
12:05
poor deer, because, like, deer, like, even though,
12:07
yes, they can be dumb, like, they're also, like,
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uh, I find them to be very harmless, delicate
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creatures, and I can only imagine their face
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as, like, they're seeing your grandmother just
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going high speed at them. Well, I think it depends
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where you grow up. Because everybody I've met
12:24
who's grown up in New York, specifically the
12:26
city, you don't see a lot of deer here. You see
12:29
a lot of other crazy shit, but you don't see
12:33
deer here. Now, I talk to people who like me
12:35
grew up in Pennsylvania, sometimes in the city,
12:39
but mostly in more rural areas, and you hate
12:43
deer. They're the worst. They're dangerous. They're
12:47
dumb. they destroy, this is not gonna engender
12:51
goodwill to me, but I just gotta be honest about
12:54
it. I get it, man. I was born and raised in Connecticut,
13:00
a more urban, suburban sort of hybrid, but ever
13:04
since I moved to Iowa back in 2017, and then
13:08
eventually Vermont, the last decade of my life
13:11
has been rural. where, you know, you'll see deer
13:15
signs every few miles. And there was one moment
13:19
in Iowa where, you know, a deer and I had to
13:22
collide, because I just didn't see it in time,
13:25
and it fucked up my bumper, and I had to, like,
13:27
have purple duct tape all over my bumper of my
13:30
Saturn Ion for quite some time. So, thank God
13:33
that car is not in my life anymore. But, yeah,
13:36
no, I mean, you know, and even though that was,
13:40
like, the only true accident that I had with
13:41
a deer, like... there have been other instances
13:43
where I've just come close to having another
13:44
one. And so, yeah, I get it. I get it. They can
13:48
be, like, while they can be very delicate, sweet
13:50
creatures, it can be frustrating to deal with
13:51
them on the road, because you would think that,
13:54
like, oh, I'm putting my high flashers on, I'm
13:55
putting my brights on, like, I'm coming from
13:58
a mile or two ahead, like, get out of the way,
14:00
but sometimes they just don't, they don't get
14:02
that signal. That's why they have the saying,
14:04
like a deer in the headlights, you know? Yeah,
14:07
right? Oh, my God, I totally forgot about that.
14:09
I totally forgot about that. Alright, so yeah,
14:13
so you had this like like I say got this interesting
14:15
background. I mean in addition, I mean you've
14:17
been in construction you You've tried powerlifting.
14:22
I mean, so I guess how does this segue into you
14:28
Becoming a poor author because I know the mortuary
14:32
science I mean that that can certainly be the
14:34
most related past experience you have to writing
14:38
horror so How do you get to that path? I think
14:43
that excellent horror writing, and I'm not saying
14:47
I'm an excellent horror writer, but I aspire
14:49
to it, excellent horror writing, you have to
14:54
be mindful of authenticity, and that means that
14:57
the people that you have as characters, they
15:00
have to be like real people. you know, and the
15:03
scenarios that you have, notwithstanding, you
15:06
know, the phantasmagoria and the ghosts and the
15:08
cannibals and stuff, they have to be, you know,
15:11
reasonably lifelike, you know? So, you know,
15:15
you might have a monster that's eight feet, nine
15:18
feet tall, right? But that doesn't mean that
15:21
in the meantime, the human beings who are a part
15:23
of the story, that their life gets put on hold.
15:26
And in fact, the more interesting horror stories
15:28
are ones in which you see the challenges that
15:31
people have, not only the uncanny threat, but
15:33
the challenges they still have in their life,
15:35
you know, infidelity, divorce, alcoholism. behavioral
15:41
problems, dealing with children, concerns about
15:44
money. None of this stops just because some supernatural
15:49
thing is trying to kill you. At least not in
15:52
very, very well -written horror. John Francois
15:58
here from the Delicious Culture podcast where
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donate whatever you choose, whatever you think
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I'm worth. I'm a one man operation. I got to
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or Venmo. Any donation is much appreciated. Thank
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you. Notwithstanding that there are some experimental
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forms that don't do that at all, you know, like
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HP Lovecraft did do that at all and You know,
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but there's always the exception that proves
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the rule, right? So my experience in in life
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was that you know I met so many different kinds
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of people doing so many different kinds of things
17:13
that I I just started to I don't know, it started
17:18
to blur together, so it just seemed like, you
17:20
know, the differences that seemed so consequential
17:25
proved to be completely inconsequential. And,
17:28
you know, I... it learned a little bit of humility
17:32
and that like everybody had something that they
17:35
could impart to me. And that people always surprised
17:39
you too. Like I remember when I was in mortuary
17:43
schools in Pittsburgh and we were very, very,
17:46
very close to West Virginia, you know, less than
17:48
an hour drive away. And, you know, as like an
17:53
educated Jewish kid from... the Northeast Pennsylvania,
17:58
I had certain preconceptions about people from
18:00
West Virginia. I'm sure you can imagine. What
18:02
are the preconceptions that you had? I'm not
18:04
going to do that. You could say that it's not
18:10
true or that it's a stereotype. No. I mean, I
18:14
expect it to see people in overalls. Sure. Nothing
18:18
wrong with that. You know, like I don't know.
18:21
It's it's it's cartoonish. But you know, you're
18:24
young and I was young at the time. I was, you
18:26
know, like 20. And, you know, you expect to see
18:30
like, I don't know, like dude dudes and overalls
18:35
covered in cold soot. And, you know, like they
18:37
spent their time afterwards, you know, like scrapping.
18:43
doing bare knuckle boxing when they weren't playing
18:45
banjo. What did you see instead? I don't know,
18:49
a variation of that, I guess. So not too far
18:52
off from the stereotype. No, I mean, there are
18:55
certain things like, listen, I went with my friend
18:58
and he's a great guy. I'm not sure where he is
19:01
now. His name is... Dustin Hardesty, but his
19:03
name was so we called him dusty right and he
19:07
took me down there and I used to go with him
19:08
like a couple times a year Maybe almost once
19:11
a month and we went to like this. Let's call
19:14
it like an associational bar for a motorcycle
19:18
enthusiast right and I go in and like everyone
19:22
in there is like a leather bat vest with patches
19:26
on it And these are all guys were like probably
19:28
you know if you if you needed someone to you
19:32
know smuggle methamphetamine somewhere, they
19:34
would know someone if they couldn't do it themselves.
19:37
And, you know, they generally did not have trouble
19:40
in their lives because if trouble presented itself,
19:42
they in turn would present themselves along with
19:45
20 of their biker friends and chains and baseball
19:48
bats if you were lucky. And I went into this
19:51
bar, that was for, you know, broadly speaking,
19:54
hells, angels, pagans, folks like that. And I
19:57
sat next to, you know, I forget why we're there,
20:00
but we were there to pick something up. We weren't
20:02
there long, it was about 20 minutes. And I sat
20:04
next to Dusty's uncle, right? And, you know,
20:07
I'm kind of a fool. So I talked to everybody
20:09
no matter why, you know, I have very little in
20:13
terms of like the human regulation or self -regulation
20:18
that protects us from danger. And I sat next
20:21
to him and we started talking and like... He
20:24
was a really, really nice guy and he was just
20:27
like super receptive to, you know, experiences
20:30
that I had to talk about that were nothing like
20:33
his. And we sort of found common ground. And
20:35
I think that's like more common than not between
20:38
human beings. You know, the truth is no matter
20:40
how far apart we are or where we grow up or how
20:44
little or how much money we have or how much
20:46
we read or didn't read or whether we got in trouble
20:48
or didn't got. get in trouble. You know, we have
20:52
more in common than a human being and you know,
20:56
a grizzly bear. You know, we're still the we're
20:58
still in terms of the species, we're still family
21:01
and like we respond similarly, as one another
21:05
to uh, you know, similar problems and everybody
21:08
has similar problems, whether they're vaster
21:11
in scale or smaller in scale. Everybody worries
21:14
about money. Everybody worries about relationships.
21:17
Everybody worries about the future. Everybody.
21:20
Yeah. No matter what. Yeah, absolutely. And you're
21:23
reminding me of, um, you know, my experience
21:26
here in Vermont because, uh, For those not watching
21:29
on video right now, I am a person of color. There's
21:32
not too many of us here in Vermont. And particularly
21:36
like in the town where me and my wife live, small
21:40
town, Richford, it's like many rural small Vermont
21:44
towns where it's not only very white, but it
21:50
tends to lean conservative. That's not where
21:53
my wife's politics lean. Um, so, you know, you'll
21:57
see some Trump support signs, you'll see, um,
22:00
since, you know, Richford is a pretty poor town,
22:03
you'll, you'll see very, uh, sketchy looking
22:06
characters that, um, are stereotypically like
22:10
they kind of fit the mold of, of what a lot of
22:13
people might think a Trump supporter is. Um,
22:17
so at first glance you think, all right, well,
22:19
I don't know if I want to have anything to do
22:22
with that person, but. It's this interesting
22:26
thing where, like, even though I may not agree
22:29
politically with them, they still have this Vermonter
22:33
thing of like, oh, if my car broke down and I'm
22:38
in the middle of the road and this person saw
22:40
me, like, they'll help me in a pinch. Like, and
22:43
it was kind of like that when we had a rough...
22:46
Start to the winter as we usually do It was a
22:51
pretty big heavy snowstorm and it was very hard
22:54
driving up the hill with my non snow tires and
22:59
I was just kind of stuck in this neighborhood.
23:00
That's not my neighborhood and this guy who I
23:03
otherwise would have never had any business with
23:06
outside of this situation Again, one of those
23:10
sketchy looking characters. He saw that I needed
23:13
help I you know, took a chance and asked if he
23:17
could help me out, if he could help me with his
23:18
Toyota Tacoma or whatever. You know, he had,
23:21
he had one of those like, um, things where it
23:24
could help pull your car, uh, up toward a hill,
23:27
uh, up toward a very snowy hill. And, uh, yeah,
23:31
in that brief interaction, he was just a very
23:33
kind man who pulled me up the hill because he
23:37
saw that I was going through the same thing that
23:39
he would go through, which is like, hey, it's
23:41
winter, we're in Vermont, the roads get tough,
23:44
and we need to help each other out if we're gonna
23:46
survive this winter. So yeah, yeah, I mean, what
23:49
you're saying definitely resonates with me is
23:51
that, you know, it's easy to judge a book by
23:55
its cover when you first see somebody, but then...
23:59
Have a conversation with them for five ten minutes
24:01
and as long as you guys are not like, you know
24:04
hurting each other or starting off with like
24:06
very aggressive words Then more likely than not
24:10
you're gonna find things in common You're gonna
24:11
walk away from that conversation and see that
24:13
human being differently than what you initially
24:16
perceived So yeah, no, that's a very beautiful
24:18
thing that you said. I want to go back to what
24:21
you said earlier about like the role that addiction
24:25
can play like within the horror universe because
24:29
I know that you yourself have your own story
24:33
of, as you say in your pod match profile, that's
24:37
how we found each other. Uh, shitty childhood,
24:40
you were dealing with addiction, alcoholism,
24:43
violence. And I wonder if that background of
24:47
yours, uh, is part of what really resonated you
24:51
with the, with the world of horror writing or
24:54
no. Can you tell me more about that? If you don't
24:57
mind? I mean, it definitely plays into it and
24:59
it makes it easier. First of all, I want to qualify
25:01
just in case the old man's listening to this.
25:03
Shitty childhood has a lot of different meanings,
25:06
you know, I'm not, you know, Things that I did
25:11
not struggle with is, I did not struggle with
25:14
having clothes on my back and food to eat. What
25:19
we struggled with, and this is maybe where it
25:21
connects to horror, is very sudden and brutal
25:26
violence. And when that happens, it informs how
25:33
you act with everything. If you are randomly...
25:38
You know, as a small child, if you're randomly
25:40
hit very hard out of nowhere, you know, then
25:43
at a basic, almost physiological level, the thing
25:46
that you recognize about your universe is that,
25:49
like, something very painful can very swiftly
25:54
happen to me for no reason at all. And... You
25:58
know, I think that that is a common thread through
26:00
horror. It's like, listen, you know, there were
26:03
certainly, um, in terms of the progenitors of
26:06
the genre, you have, you know, like there's certain,
26:08
a certain moral result in stories, but, you know,
26:11
the more common horror, I think at least these
26:13
days is that, um, it doesn't necessarily matter
26:17
if you're a good person or a bad person, or if
26:20
you do the right thing. Sometimes terrible things
26:22
just happen, you know, and that is. you know,
26:27
that's not only the horror genre, that's life.
26:29
Sometimes just like, you know, the nicest guy
26:33
in the world gets pancreatic cancer, you know.
26:38
You know, sometimes like the wonderful woman
26:41
who's the best school teacher, you know, slips
26:44
and falls and can never walk, you know, walk
26:46
right again. It happens. It's terrible. It's
26:50
terrible. I mean, I, you know, you say that and
26:52
I automatically think of... uh, my, my first
26:55
boss, uh, in radio when I used to work in that
26:58
industry and never smoked a day in his life,
27:01
but he unfortunately came down with lung cancer.
27:04
And, uh, I mean, God, uh, survived 10 years of
27:09
that before he unfortunately passed away recently.
27:12
Um, so yeah, I mean, it's, it's so easy to just
27:15
like, kind of like, pout or be angry at the universe,
27:18
like, oh, did I do something wrong for you to
27:20
give me this health condition or have me run
27:23
over by a car? But yeah, I mean, the unfortunate
27:25
thing about those kind of life circumstances,
27:28
as you said, is that it's just out of our control.
27:30
Sometimes things just happen. We can't do anything
27:32
about it. The best we can do is just manage it
27:35
as best as we can. I think that mostly. Most
27:38
things are, you know, people I think delude themselves
27:40
when they think they have control. Most of life
27:42
is not within your control. You know, the only
27:45
way that life can be, you know, given the sort
27:48
of like bumpers or parameters is through the
27:52
collective efforts of human beings over the course
27:55
of thousands of years and we're still trying
27:57
to figure it out. You know, the most you can
27:59
hope for out of life is indoor plumbing and an
28:03
electrical source. That's, you know, that's.
28:08
Now, and you can tell me if this is like a personal
28:12
out of boundary kind of question, but this makes
28:15
me ask, because as someone who's never struggled
28:19
with a serious drug or substance addiction. I
28:24
kind of wonder if what we're talking about, about
28:26
like, oh, sometimes things just happen if it's
28:28
out of your control. Um, in your opinion, uh,
28:33
personally speaking, you know, from your, from
28:34
your addiction side of things, is that something
28:36
that can just happen? Is that inevitable based
28:40
on, I don't know, genetics, history, whatever,
28:43
or is that something that is always completely
28:45
in somebody's control as to how they like begin?
28:50
into it, if that makes any sense, you know, I
28:52
think there's choice, but choice is different
28:54
from control. You always have a choice to pick
28:57
up, you know, a drink the first time you have
28:59
a drink and you always have a choice to pick
29:01
up, you know, the needle or the glass pipe or,
29:05
you know, roll up a $20 bill, however you like.
29:08
But control is a different thing. And I think,
29:12
you know, I think the answer is like. Yes to
29:15
all of the above there's certain behavioral Influences
29:18
that are always gonna push you, you know, like
29:21
the more unsettled you are the more that the
29:23
world makes you nervous The more that you're
29:26
afraid of it and people respond to it in different
29:28
ways You know, lots of people develop sort of
29:31
um, like the defense mechanism of sociality and
29:34
I've done that You know, I've learned to speak
29:37
and make jokes because you know, that's guarded
29:39
me preemptively against the future and You know,
29:44
so those people are always going to be predisposed
29:47
to addiction, I think. But, you know, I've met
29:50
people. I met people in rehab who it seemed to
29:53
be purely physical. They tried it one time and
29:56
they were just like, wow, I love it. And now
30:01
nothing's purely physical. But, you know, in
30:03
terms of like the two ends of the spectrum, I
30:05
think there are people who are closer to that.
30:07
For me, for me, my father was an alcoholic. His
30:12
father is an alcoholic and there are many alcoholics
30:15
in the family. And so, you know, sometimes you
30:18
just have the bug. It happens, you know, what
30:21
you do have control over is not ultimately what
30:26
will happen when you choose to try and get sober
30:29
or clean. What you have control over is just
30:33
being willing to do it, you know, because it's
30:37
monumentally difficult, you know, at best. I
30:40
would say that one in 20 people are able to maintain
30:44
a sobriety or, as they call it, in a clean time.
30:49
And, you know, I think that they're like special,
30:53
you know, behavioral, you know, nurture and nature
30:58
conspiring together to make people just like
31:03
out of their minds. And there are some people
31:05
who have no chance. I have met people like that.
31:07
I've met people who are just like, it doesn't
31:09
matter. It doesn't matter what you do. You're
31:12
not going to be able to do this. And it's, it's
31:14
difficult and it's, you know, it's like galling
31:17
to, if you are raised with, you know, like a
31:21
moral sensibility where you think that maybe
31:23
things will shake out, right? If people are decent,
31:25
you know, it's galling. It's like, it doesn't
31:28
matter what this person does. Their life is going
31:30
to be a misery. They're going to die early. It's,
31:33
it's, it's hard. Okay, so you're running a trade
31:39
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to you are office staff .com. Once again, that
32:19
is you are office staff .com. Matthew Perry comes
32:26
to mind. That's an example of somebody who it
32:30
seems like, I mean, had this ongoing struggle
32:33
with addiction and had moments where he was able
32:35
to recover from that. You know, he's written
32:38
a book about his full experience and then just
32:40
the bizarreness of like, oh, like he's dead because
32:44
of the addiction that he was continuously struggling
32:47
with. Yeah, it's very sad. Can I ask? how, uh,
32:53
your addiction and rehab journey, like how, where
32:57
is that in terms of like your role as a husband
33:02
and father? Cause, um, I know that, you know,
33:07
you have loved ones in your life and going through
33:11
what you've gone through, that can take a toll
33:13
on not only you, but them. So where does that
33:18
fit in your timeline? I mean, did you go through
33:20
all this before you got married and had kids?
33:22
Were you going through this during those? No,
33:25
you never go through it before you're married
33:27
and have kids. Because if you're not married
33:30
and you don't have kids, you don't have the incentive
33:32
to get clean, you know? This is true? Of course,
33:37
like, listen, there's exceptions, but when I
33:38
was in my early 20s and I wasn't married and
33:40
I didn't have kids, it didn't really matter if
33:42
I went out and got loaded every night as long
33:44
as I came home in one piece, which didn't always
33:47
happen, but, you know, for the most part it did.
33:49
And, you know, when you have, it's, you know,
33:55
the more you have to lose, the more you have
33:58
to do to keep it, you know? And that doesn't
34:02
mean that you have to do, like, incredible things,
34:04
but, like, for instance, Being a father, I find,
34:08
is not uncomplicated, but doing it serviceably
34:13
is simple. And you have two things that you have
34:17
to do. You have to show up and not be mean. And
34:20
that's basically it. And, you know, so the things
34:24
that, you know, you have to do in order to maintain
34:27
sobriety, there is some, you know, some crossover
34:30
with the things that you have to do to be a decent
34:33
husband and a decent father, you know? You have
34:37
to, you know, be accountable for the things you
34:40
get wrong and, you know, admit when you get them
34:43
wrong. And you have to ask for help when you
34:45
need help. And, you know, a good marriage is,
34:48
I think, like... Well, a good marriage is really
34:52
unlike anything, you know, because it's it's
34:55
so rare and every you know It's like every single
34:58
one is its own animal species Like every marriage
35:01
is like a zebra with a giraffe's head or like
35:03
a hippopotamus with the Eagles Claws You know,
35:06
they're just so wildly different when they're
35:08
done, right? but the you know, if you have a
35:13
very good partner you can rely on them and That's
35:17
the sort of thing you also need to be able to
35:20
stop drinking or using drugs. Whether or not
35:24
you are married, you just, you need people, you
35:27
know, and that's, that's, I think more broadly,
35:30
you know, the takeaway just from existence, just
35:35
from living our day to day lives, you need people,
35:38
you can't, you can't do it on your own. You can
35:41
try, but you know, like, I don't know, maybe
35:43
you'll be, you'll be that one guy who who lives
35:46
in a cave and he has a three foot long beard
35:48
and, you know, he hunts, you know, salmon with
35:50
a pike and, you know, I'm sure that guy's out
35:53
there, but for the most part, we need each other,
35:55
you know, and we need to want to help each other
36:01
without getting some sort of benefit from it.
36:04
I agree. You have a book coming out. July 15th,
36:08
we're recording this on July 12th. So do you
36:12
mind sharing with us about it? Like, obviously,
36:14
I don't want to, you know, have you tell the
36:16
whole story and not have people buy the book,
36:18
but can you share the title and what the sort
36:22
of elevator pitch summary is that could get people
36:24
to, you know, go out and get it on the 15th and
36:27
beyond? Sure, absolutely. The title is Infernal
36:30
Tramps, Tales of Weird Terror. It's a short story
36:33
collection. ranging in length between flash fiction,
36:38
approximately thousand words or less, to novelettes
36:41
close to, I would say, eight or nine thousand
36:43
words is the longest one. And they are indeed,
36:48
as the subtitle touts, very weird. Tales of Terror,
36:52
I'd say the elevator pitch would be, if you can
36:55
imagine David Cronenberg and Clive Barker getting
36:58
together in Miami Beach and deciding that they
37:02
would like to smoke a lot of bath salts and then
37:07
write short fiction, this is what they would
37:09
come up with. You know, the stories are strange.
37:14
There's one about a man who finds a... an antique
37:21
dog collar while he's working at the Philadelphia
37:23
Art Museum. He spills blood on it and it sets
37:26
into effect the course of events that has the
37:29
entire city worshiping a dead dog. You have another
37:33
one with a - Wow. Yeah. It's dark, but they're
37:37
also all funny. No, I wasn't thinking dark. I
37:40
just think what an interesting concept. That's
37:42
great. I mean, they're just - They're weird.
37:47
And if you like weird, you're going to like this.
37:48
And if you don't like weird, you're probably
37:50
really not going to like it. The people who don't
37:53
like weird are the boring people that I don't
37:55
want to be around. So I'm all for this. This
37:57
is great. David Kornenberg and Clive Barker,
38:02
I'm not familiar with their work. When you mentioned
38:05
that reference, if they were gonna be together
38:07
and smoke bath salts, what kind of works do they
38:10
do? Do you know the horror movie from the 1980s,
38:14
The Fly with Jeff Goldblum? I've heard of it.
38:17
I've always wanted to see it. Okay. How about
38:20
Dead Ringers, where Jeremy Irons plays a twin
38:23
gynecologist? I've not heard of that. So are
38:28
those from the David and Clive cannons? Those
38:32
are David Cronenberg. You know Hellraiser, right?
38:37
Yes, I've certainly heard of Hellraiser, yes.
38:39
Okay, so you've seen Pinhead with the Tenpenny
38:42
nails hammered into his bald head? I believe
38:45
I have, yeah, absolutely. OK, that's that's Clive
38:48
Barker. Clive Barker is like more straightforward,
38:50
you know, sinister. I mean, for lack of a better
38:53
term, this this isn't in terms of affiliation,
38:57
but, you know, like slightly satanic, I guess,
38:59
you know. Yeah. Yeah. Imagine imagine saying
39:01
that 30 years ago. It's just a little satanic.
39:06
A lot of a lot more people would have had a problem
39:07
with it 30 years ago. Oh, my God, for sure. And
39:11
David Cronenberg is, you know, he had it's. about,
39:15
it's body horror, but it's about identity, you
39:18
know? It's about, for instance, in Dead of Ringers,
39:22
you know, there's these twin brothers, they're
39:25
alone, they're sort of, you know, they're both
39:28
gynecologists and they live this, like, isolated,
39:31
strange lifestyle. And as you can imagine, people
39:33
who have, you know, sort of morbid thoughts and...
39:36
perverse inclinations, if you have access to
39:39
somebody who looks exactly like you, you know,
39:41
you start to play around with it. And so there's
39:45
a lot of questions about identity in that way.
39:48
And there's many, many, you know, perverse ways
39:50
to play with identity. And that's the most fun
39:53
as a horror writer. And I think that, you know,
39:56
in the way that Cronenberg did that, I've tried
39:58
my best to do that, too. You know, there's a
40:02
story called the EP Implant, where a woman gets
40:07
a plastic surgical device implanted in her and
40:11
it ends up transforming her into not just her,
40:15
but several hers, you know? Wow. Yeah. And, you
40:20
know, it's like, there's a great satisfaction,
40:23
I think, in mashed potato horror. And I don't
40:27
say that disparagingly. That is a term I've never
40:30
heard before. Tell me more about that. Well,
40:32
I've heard it with, like, someone Someone said
40:36
it about my book actually because uh saying that
40:40
it was not And you know, is that like a compliment
40:44
to say that it's mashed potato horror or not?
40:45
Um, I think it I listen I think it's it's it's
40:49
it's part of a taxonomy You're just describing
40:52
something, you know, right, you know, it's like
40:54
saying like like listen like, you know That's
40:58
american food. That's french food. It is what
41:00
it is, you know you know, maybe you want a hoagie,
41:05
maybe you want a baguette, but you know, it's
41:07
like, it's just, it's what it is. But this is
41:10
one of my favorites. It's from Robyn's review.
41:14
This is not plain mashed potato horror. This
41:17
is the weird dish at the table that you side
41:19
eye, taste anyway, and then keep eating while
41:22
wondering if it's legal. That, I mean, if I was
41:28
you, I would say that's a compliment. Yeah, yeah.
41:30
I loved it. I loved it. I loved it. I would perceive
41:35
like, because it sounds like that critic is like,
41:38
you know, mashed potato horror, like, oh, this
41:39
is like just simple common denominator mainstream
41:42
stuff that like a broad audience can enjoy. And
41:44
what they're saying is that, you know, what you
41:47
have is something really special. The Delicious
41:52
Culture with Jon François, proudly hosted by
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RSS. Why not join them? If you are starting a
41:58
new podcast and especially if you are like me,
42:01
you were with a hosting provider for a certain
42:03
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42:09
And I want to go to something like RSS where
42:11
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about that? A great way to start your podcasting
42:20
career. start today with the link in my show
42:24
notes. So I got some three delicious questions
42:28
I want to ask you that I ask all my guests. What
42:31
is a delicious meal that you've had lately, Alex?
42:35
There's a place called Fornino here, and they
42:39
make sort of like specialty pizzas. Brooklyn.
42:43
Yeah. Well, I mean, you know. If you're going
42:46
to get a pizza, you're in a pretty decent place.
42:47
Yeah, and New York City is the place to be. Yeah,
42:49
yeah, yeah. Listen, if you're asking me this
42:52
question 15 years ago, I'd probably say cheesesteak
42:55
every time. I was in Philadelphia. Oh yeah, me
42:58
too. Yeah. Yeah. I was there for three college
42:59
semesters. Yeah. I, I don't think I had a genuine
43:02
Philly cheesesteak there. I think I made the
43:05
mistake and I was just like, Oh, let me just
43:06
go to some food court and get a cheesesteak.
43:08
And then that is a Philly cheesesteak. But I
43:10
don't think I ever went to Pat's and Geno's when
43:13
I was actually at Philly. I went to like an airport
43:16
Pat and Geno's, but not an actual Philadelphia
43:21
based Pat and Geno's. And I, and I feel guilty
43:23
about that because I spent long enough there
43:25
to actually be able to taste that. Oh my god,
43:28
that's like the difference between like an airport
43:31
Hudson booksellers in the New York Public Library.
43:34
Geez. Exactly. It's just not the same thing.
43:37
But anyway, go ahead. The pizza in Brooklyn that
43:39
you're raving about. It's called a Fungi Misti
43:42
and it's mushrooms, mozzarella, white truffle
43:45
oil. And I have no idea what this is. So I could
43:48
be eating anything, but it's called caciocavallo.
43:50
You know, I don't know what that is. Wait, wait.
43:53
So it was one of those things where you just,
43:55
you saw it on the menu and you're like, oh, this
43:57
is something I've never tried before, but it
43:59
seems interesting. Let me give it a shot. I saw
44:01
mushrooms. I love mushrooms. Not a lot of people
44:04
can say that. Yeah, I'm part of a very, very
44:09
select community. The bald mushroom lovers. What
44:11
about mushrooms do you like? Because like, I
44:13
don't mind them mixed with something. I don't
44:15
know if I would eat them on its own. I was at
44:18
my cousin's gender reveal in Springfield, Mass.
44:20
Recently, and they had like this mushroom lasagna
44:22
thing, and I thought it was fine. But my wife
44:24
and my brother were just like, oh, God, they
44:27
like they didn't even want to try it because
44:29
I guess just something about mushrooms repulse
44:31
them. So what do you like about mushrooms? I
44:35
don't know, maybe I'm drawn to what repulses
44:38
other people. It certainly seems to be the case.
44:41
Horror is a great field for you if you're drawn
44:43
to what repulses other people. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
44:46
Body, horror, and mushrooms, you know? I don't
44:50
know, I guess it's like the... There's nothing
44:54
very similar to it, it seems to me. If you're
44:59
eating sushi, you have rice, you have fresh fish.
45:03
If you're having, you know, a hamburger, you
45:06
know, and you don't like meat, you can always
45:08
go to grilled cheese. If you like lasagna, you're
45:10
probably going to like some spaghetti. But mushroom
45:14
is very unique. Um, actually, uh, I'm remembering
45:19
the best mushrooms I ever had in my life. Cause
45:22
you were talking about, you know, like, you're
45:24
not going to eat them on your own. I actually
45:26
ate them on their own, if you can imagine. You
45:28
tell some people this and like their stomach
45:31
royals. Yeah. My dad was over in, um, and this
45:37
is too long a story to explain, but he was getting
45:39
a liver transplant in Minsk, Belarus. And. Yeah,
45:45
I know. Where is that in the world? Yeah, that's
45:49
right on the border of Poland, Eastern Europe.
45:51
Gotcha. Go ahead. Yeah. And I went there and
45:55
just the mushrooms there were tremendous. Oh
45:59
my God, they were the best I've ever had in my
46:01
entire life and I never would have had them unless,
46:03
you know, my old man had... kicked the shit out
46:07
of his liver and needed to go and get a transplant
46:09
in Eastern Europe, which is, by the way, the
46:12
premise for a horror movie. It really is. And
46:16
is that coming soon from you via a book or a
46:19
movie? Yeah, I would say look retroactively.
46:23
You're describing hostile, you know? So you took
46:29
that mushroom experience in Belarus and you were
46:32
like, all right. I think this pizza in Brooklyn
46:35
is gonna be good because of this past experience
46:37
that I had. I thought the pizza in Brooklyn was
46:38
gonna be good because pizza in Brooklyn is almost
46:40
always good, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
46:43
But I do like mushroom, yeah, very much. Wow,
46:46
mushroom, mozzarella, and did you say olive oil?
46:49
Truffle oil. Truffle oil, okay, okay. And what's
46:53
the name of the place in Brooklyn in case I stop
46:55
by and visit? Fornino, F -O -R -N -I -N -O. And
46:59
the pizza, like I would never remember the name
47:01
of the pizza that you just said. What's the name
47:02
of it? Fungi Misty. All you have to remember
47:04
is mushroom pizza. That's all. It's the only
47:06
pizza there with mushrooms. Unless there was
47:09
another one I missed. Maybe there's another one
47:11
with mushrooms in it, but it's the mushroom pizza.
47:14
So you're like, I want the mushroom pizza. They'll
47:15
bring you that. Love that. What's a delicious
47:18
pop culture obsession that you have at this moment?
47:21
The movie obsession. Oh, yeah. Okay. Talk about
47:25
that because I've only seen like the headlines
47:28
about obsession and back rooms and how this is
47:31
like, you know, the, I don't know, the era for
47:35
Gen Z YouTubers getting into Hollywood and, oh,
47:40
they could be the ones to save the sort of plunging
47:45
Hollywood box office numbers. And it's interesting
47:48
how It seems like Hollywood just came around
47:51
to this idea because Gen Z and what they've been
47:54
creating on YouTube has been around for quite
47:57
some time. So what is obsession about? Why did
48:01
you enjoy it? It's a man who is sort of infatuated
48:08
with a close friend that he doesn't have the...
48:10
the guts to say that he likes her, find something
48:13
in sort of like a mystical woo -woo store, you
48:16
know, where they sell like crystals and tarot
48:18
cards and all that. I mean, and he picks up,
48:23
it's like sort of, it looks like a Chinese finger
48:25
trap that you just snap in half, you know, and
48:27
you snap in half and you make a wish. And then
48:29
the woman he's infatuated with becomes obsessed
48:33
with him. Obsession, obsessed, right? Tracks.
48:36
Yeah. And it becomes dangerous, you know, to
48:40
the point where she starts being possessive of
48:42
him, you know, or he can't even have female friends.
48:46
And, you know, she and it's very, very, very
48:50
dark because what you learn over the course of
48:53
the film, and I mean, listen, if you don't want
48:56
to hear this spoiler, skip ahead two minutes,
48:58
I would say. But what you learn over the course
49:00
of the film is that it's not really her that's
49:03
obsessed with him. it is a new version of her
49:05
and the original her is trapped inside and so
49:08
if you can imagine all the implications for a
49:11
relationship you know which as an adult includes
49:15
sex you know imagine what that means it's bad
49:18
you know it's bad and the ending is so I you
49:23
know this word gets overused but it's like so
49:27
viscerally affecting because everybody loses
49:31
in the end, even the survivor loses. And just
49:35
the way that the actress keens and screams and
49:39
just sort of is wrenching her heart out in sorrow
49:43
seems very, very, very real. And it was so disturbing.
49:50
I don't get disturbed by horror movies. Yeah,
49:52
I was going to say, like, this is your genre.
49:54
So if you're getting disturbed, it must mean
49:56
it was really good. I felt like I walked out
50:00
of the theater like I just had, you know, like
50:02
four cups of very, very strong coffee. I was
50:05
jittery. Wow. Damn. And are you a part of the
50:11
Gen Z generation? I think I'm millennial. I'm
50:15
41. 41. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you're definitely
50:17
millennial. Yeah Okay, so, you know because I
50:23
asked that because like when they say like, you
50:25
know, oh my god Like Gen Z youtubers are taking
50:28
over Hollywood like the all these Hollywood reporter
50:31
and variety headlines would make you think that
50:33
like the audience that are coming out to see
50:35
this are primarily Gen Z audience members, but
50:39
it sounds like you and I, both being millennials,
50:43
we're of an older generation, that this just
50:47
can span across any generation. This is just
50:50
purely a great horror movie, not just a horror
50:53
movie for a specific younger generation of people.
50:55
Good is good. That's the thing. You tell a good
50:58
story, someone will listen. It doesn't matter.
51:03
Listen, Quentin Tarantino was young once. So
51:06
was Martin Scorsese. Believe it or not, everybody
51:10
who gets to the age of 50 or 60 or 70 was at
51:13
one point 20 years old, you know, and the I think
51:19
that there's this sort of like intergenerational
51:21
conflict that's inherent in human beings so that,
51:24
you know, people want to pick out the differences.
51:27
But, you know, the truth is, is that like, I
51:30
don't know, like probably the the director of
51:32
obsession has, you know, as much in common with,
51:36
you know, the The tobe hooper when he was 20
51:39
years old making you know, texas chainsaw mass
51:42
massacre. Maybe he wasn't 20, but he's young
51:44
and um Like people aren't going to stop creating
51:49
because the world changes and because they're
51:51
part of a different generation They're just going
51:53
to do it differently, you know um, they'll they'll
51:57
seek to circumvent the um, the gatekeepers and
52:00
the power brokers and you know Recently, they've
52:04
been much more successful at that. You know,
52:06
there there aren't like the media monoliths that
52:10
there used to be, you know? The three -letter
52:14
big networks that control essentially what people
52:18
are watching because they have the highest podium
52:22
and the loudest microphone. What do you think
52:25
about, because I've seen this debate happen often
52:29
lately, where it's like, oh, the past era of
52:31
horror movies, like, I don't know, you go back
52:34
40, 50 years ago to your Halloweens and your
52:37
Shinings and your Exorcists compared to, you
52:40
know, the modern day stuff, like, you know, your
52:42
weapons, maybe you throw in the Conjuring movies,
52:45
throw in obsessions, back rooms. Is there a distinct
52:50
difference from the horror movies of yesterday
52:52
and the horror movies of today that justifies
52:56
this debate that people have? Like, what in your
52:59
opinion is that difference? Like, what would
53:04
you say? Because like right now, I mean, you
53:06
could arguably say that horror movies are getting
53:08
the recognition that they deserve. I mean, you
53:11
have a... movie like Weapons, where Amy Madigan,
53:14
she won the supporting actor Oscar for that.
53:17
So like, you know, whereas it seems like in the
53:20
past, they were sort of more in this like fringe,
53:24
culty territory. Now they've seemed to have more
53:28
like mainstream acceptance, like people are coming
53:31
out to see them, awards are even considering
53:33
them more and more. So what's your perception
53:36
of the past and present for horror movies? I
53:39
think, you know, there is There's some truth
53:42
to it, you know, for instance, just as an analog,
53:47
if you could imagine, you know, try finding a
53:53
class for pole dancing 50 years ago, right? Yeah.
53:59
But today, they're everywhere, you know? So it's
54:03
sort of like horror was looked at as, you know,
54:06
like it was vaguely associated with societal
54:10
phenomenons, like, you know, like, it's the opposing
54:14
side of the satanic panic. It's the tempter of
54:17
children. And I think that's less so now. Like,
54:20
now you have, like, you know, grannies and peapaws
54:24
who like to, you know, read horror and watch
54:26
horror. And, you know, I think that happens slowly.
54:31
But there's two things that happen when you have
54:35
any sort of... media popularized. Two amongst
54:39
many things, but there are two things that happen.
54:41
One is that you're going to bring in a lot more
54:45
talent because the popularity has more draw.
54:51
That's how it is with everything. You know, more
54:53
people means more people, you know? And so all
54:56
of a sudden you'll have people who are at USC
54:59
film school and maybe they only would have been
55:01
interested in sort of like highfalutin dramas.
55:04
But now because, you know, the thing that their
55:07
desires of meaning critical recognition is available
55:10
through horror, maybe they'll consider horror.
55:12
So you just have more people doing it, right,
55:15
which means that it's, it's less of a closed
55:18
club. And like, the more open a club is the more
55:22
capacious the rules have to be, you know, it
55:25
can't just be it can't be just like all hack
55:28
and slash it has to consider all the things that
55:31
those new people who are part of the the horror
55:34
filmmaking or horror fiction writing world that
55:37
they bring into it and and then I think that
55:41
you know like the the cop the flip side of that
55:44
is that like you also invite in people who are
55:48
like maybe not as I Don't know. They're not hardcore
55:52
adherence. You know the way that that people
55:55
used to be because it used to take like really
55:57
some some obstinacy to love horror and to consume
56:05
it in any type of media because people frowned
56:09
upon it, frowned on it so much. You know, it's
56:13
like all things. Some stuff's better, some stuff's
56:15
worse. You know, basketball is one of the, like
56:18
basketball, I never thought I'd see basketball
56:20
played like it is today. It blows my mind, right?
56:23
At the same time, there's a tremendous value
56:26
to people staying in the same, you know, like.
56:29
Like Michael Jordan, you buy the Bulls jersey.
56:32
I don't know, it appealed to me. He stayed with
56:34
the Bulls. I like that, you know? Yeah, yeah,
56:37
yeah, yeah. I mean, aside from those last two
56:39
years with the Wizards, yeah, pretty much 99
56:43
% of his career was with that one team. And,
56:45
you know, he went six for zero in the finals,
56:49
and not a lot of people could say that. So that's
56:51
definitely fascinating. All right, so you're
56:56
like me and you're like I need to have a podcast
56:59
with people I can talk to so I don't feel so
57:01
lonely and weird, but you don't know where to
57:05
find guest after guest after guest. You're like
57:08
me, maybe you're releasing a podcast episode
57:11
once a week, twice a week. It is a consistent
57:14
beast that needs to be fed. And that's where
57:17
pod match comes in. Pod match gives you a wide
57:21
pool of guests to choose from based on your specific
57:24
type of podcasts, based on the specific type
57:26
of guests you're looking for. They give you three
57:29
matches every single day to choose from. And
57:32
guess what? you publicly release those interviews,
57:35
you get paid from Podmatch. As long as, of course,
57:38
you prove it. Don't be, you know, talking to
57:42
yourself and claiming that you talk to Bob Johnson
57:46
from the milk company when it's just you, scammer.
57:52
Podmatch. Get paid to release interviews from
57:55
guests found through their platform. Join Podmatch
57:58
using the link in my show notes. What's the delicious
58:04
thing that's happened in your life lately? I
58:06
booked a vacation with my wife Ah, yay! Yeah,
58:11
my wife and I have been trying to do that for
58:13
the longest time, pretty much ever since our
58:15
honeymoon like three years ago. But you know
58:18
how it is, life is so busy, money is so little,
58:22
it is what it is. But tell me more about that,
58:24
where are you and your wife going? I forget the
58:26
name of the place, I think it's called Palm Point,
58:29
it's in the Grand Caymans, I don't know, let
58:31
me see if I can find it up. The Grand Cayman
58:33
Islands? Yeah. She picked Palm Heights in the
58:37
Grand Cayman Islands. Okay. Now where is that
58:40
in the? And you can tell I need to brush up on
58:43
my geography. Where is that in the world on like
58:46
on the globe? I don't know any better than you.
58:48
I'm looking at Google Maps right now. Yeah Basically,
58:52
is it is a tropical Caribbean? I think it's the
58:55
Caribbean. Okay, Grand Cayman Islands is Where
59:00
yeah, it's all right under Cuba above Jamaican
59:02
to the west. Okay, gotcha western caribbean part
59:06
of the british overseas territory known as the
59:08
caymanot yep 480 miles southwest of miami 277
59:11
miles south of cuba 310 miles northwest of jamaica
59:15
um yeah you are gonna have a i hope a great time
59:19
i mean are are you so you seem excited because
59:23
Sorry, like, you know, I meet you and I see your
59:26
vibe like you're you're a horror guy and everything
59:28
like that and I think oh would this guy be the
59:31
kind of guy that would enjoy a vacation on the
59:33
on the Cayman Islands, but But what do you what
59:38
are you guys gonna do there? Are you gonna be
59:39
on on a ship? Are you gonna be like on land the
59:42
whole time? Like what's going on? I find the
59:44
pinnacle of adult enjoyment being Doing nothing
59:49
very well And so I plan to do nothing very well.
59:55
I'm going to go there. I'm going to sit by the
59:57
beach sometimes. I'm going to sit by the pool
59:59
sometimes. I'm going to go in the pool sometimes.
1:00:02
I'm going to eat and I'm going to make no demands
1:00:04
on my time other than doing that. And I have
1:00:08
a very accommodated partner. My wife understands
1:00:11
that is exactly what I like to do. And the last
1:00:15
time we did it, we just had the best time. It's
1:00:18
also, it's not like It's it's rare ish for us
1:00:21
because you know, we have three kids So it's
1:00:24
hard to plan these things especially because
1:00:26
she's in residency And she's like two years away
1:00:30
from being a doctor. So, you know, she oh great.
1:00:33
She's yeah They hardly let her out out of the
1:00:36
hospital, you know But I'm very excited about
1:00:39
it. I mean you can't you know, you know like
1:00:43
virgin pina coladas, you know good weather and
1:00:46
You're like, hopefully a little bit of spicy
1:00:48
food. Yeah. Ain't nothing wrong with that. Now,
1:00:52
you saying that like you want to do nothing really
1:00:54
well on vacation. I wonder if that's like a contrast
1:00:57
to how you deal with your everyday life. Like,
1:00:59
are you the type of person that's like, nope,
1:01:00
I got to have a schedule. I got to be rigid.
1:01:02
I got to have a routine because that's how I
1:01:04
am. And I feel like I would be like you during
1:01:06
a vacation where it's like, all right, let's
1:01:09
not. rigidly plan anything. Let's just play it
1:01:12
by ear, see what happens. If we have many days
1:01:15
just sitting on the beach doing nothing, that's
1:01:17
completely fine. So how does your everyday life
1:01:19
compare with how you want to structure your vacation?
1:01:24
Fairly regimented. I wouldn't say that I'm like
1:01:27
the master of, this is a throwback, but I'm not
1:01:30
like the master of the date book and the Rolodex,
1:01:36
but I try and keep things in reasonable order.
1:01:39
You know, having kids requires routine. Yeah.
1:01:43
And, and, um, if you break their routine, you
1:01:46
do it at your peril. Cause they start to get
1:01:48
a little, you know, angsty and, um, Yep. Kids
1:01:52
and pets. If you don't give them routine, they
1:01:53
will go crazy and you will want to kill them.
1:01:58
For sure. Yeah. I mean, I don't have kids, but
1:02:03
my wife and I, we have five dogs and two cats.
1:02:05
So we understand the importance of like, nope,
1:02:07
they have to have their breakfast, lunch and
1:02:09
dinner. They gotta be taken out, you know, usually
1:02:12
this many times a day. They gotta always, you
1:02:14
know, go out to potty before eight o 'clock or
1:02:19
by eight o 'clock at the latest before we go
1:02:21
to bed. Like it's a whole thing. Sounds pretty
1:02:23
similar. I mean, I think there's a qualitative
1:02:25
difference, you know, like... This is probably
1:02:28
like the darkest way of saying it, but you know,
1:02:30
the consequences for someone doing something
1:02:33
terrible to your kids, to your pets is very different
1:02:36
from the consequences to someone doing, you know.
1:02:39
For sure. No, no, no, yeah, no, no. Definitely
1:02:41
not the same thing. Yeah, I know. But, you know,
1:02:46
similar principles, you know? Make sure they
1:02:49
eat, make sure they sleep, make sure they have
1:02:51
a place to lay down where they're warm and, you
1:02:53
know, try and manage the shit, literally. And
1:02:57
figuratively. This was a great conversation,
1:03:01
Alex. So the book is called Internal Tramps,
1:03:04
Tales of... Infernal Tramps. Oh my god. Infernal
1:03:08
Tramps. I'm so sorry. That's all right. The first
1:03:12
book cover that we had, it looked like it said
1:03:15
internal cramps. And my wife loved that. Loved
1:03:21
it. Please come out with a sequel called Internal
1:03:24
Cramps. That would be great. Just talking about
1:03:27
the pain that we feel in our bodies. And that's
1:03:31
probably mostly just women going through their
1:03:32
period. They got the cramps and everything like
1:03:34
that, yeah. Infernal Tramps. And then the subtitle
1:03:40
beyond that is Tales of... Weird Terror. All
1:03:44
right. And this episode will probably come out...
1:03:47
uh, beyond July 15th, but, uh, the great thing
1:03:51
is that it'll, it should definitely be out there
1:03:54
ready to purchase on Amazon and such. Uh, by
1:03:57
the time this episode comes out, we're recording
1:03:58
this on the 12th. So July 15th is when it's released.
1:04:01
So get that book. Uh, that, that I, I cannot
1:04:04
wait to, uh, to, to get it myself. It's going
1:04:07
to be great. Yeah. Hey, steal it if you have
1:04:10
to. I'm not fussy about IP. Really? But how do
1:04:13
you get paid if people steal it? Nobody writes
1:04:16
to get paid. At least not any of the people I
1:04:19
know. I guess, I guess. Yeah, writing like radio,
1:04:23
it's definitely one of those things where you
1:04:24
got to do it for the love of it because the pay
1:04:28
is next to nothing. Anything else you want to
1:04:31
plug? Your social media website? How can people
1:04:33
find you, Alex? You can find me. You can go to
1:04:35
the website. www .internaltramps. Oh god, I did
1:04:41
it. You even screwed up the title. Oh my god.
1:04:46
It's so easy to mess it up. Oh my god. Oh god.
1:04:50
You need to change the title now so people don't
1:04:52
type in the wrong thing. I gotta write the sequel
1:04:54
now. Infernal Tramps with an F, infernaltramps
1:04:58
.com. You can find it on Amazon by searching
1:05:02
either Infernal Tramps or my name, Alex Grass.
1:05:04
and you can find me on Instagram, which is a
1:05:08
new thing for me, but you know, it hasn't been
1:05:10
the worst, at Infernal Tramps. And those are
1:05:14
the places you can catch me. Alex, this was great.
1:05:16
We got to do this again and best of luck on the
1:05:18
release of the book, Infernal Tramps. Infernal
1:05:22
Tramps. I just wanted to confirm that I got that
1:05:25
right. Infernal Tramps. And for all of you out
1:05:30
there in audience land, let deliciousness ring.
1:05:38
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