EB10: Star Wars 5) The Last Last Jedi

Ok folks - we didn't love this one. And it sounds like a lot of fans didn't either. I was watching the Today Show this morning and Willie Geist mentioned the rave reviews from critics. And it's true, all over instagram it's clear, the critics are in love with this movie and the fans are not --- listen, this thing has a lower audience score on rotten tomatoes than the PREQUELS.

I'm floored.

Anyway, there are some cool parts, there are some terrible parts. We share our immediate reaction in the ride home from the theater in our podcast. And I went a second time an hour after recording that podcast, and, frankly, it was a little bit better. We'll see what Dustin says after his New Year's re-watch.

So now we're freed of our Star Wars curse and we can move on to more pressing topics, like Net F**** Neutrality and the NFL Playoffs, etc.

Until next time, cheers.

EB06: Star Wars 1) Ranking the movies, and what's still Star Wars Canon

We are big Star Wars nerds on this podcast. But who isn't?

We wanted to commemorate the launch of Episode VIII: The Last Jedi with a few episodes leading up to December 15, so, without further ado, here they are.

This is the first of five Star Wars episodes, and we wanted to kick it off right. We talk about what might make us such fans. Without diving too far into the rabbit whole of what makes human psychology work at all, we guess it might have something to do with how it unlocks our imaginations, both our own imaginations and that of any child who has ever stepped into a theater and wondered just what it might be like to swing a real lightsaber through the air.

Then we rank the episodes. Spoiler alert, here are Justin's rankings -- Dustin's are very similar:

1. Episode V: Empire Strikes Back
2. Episode VII: The Force Awakens
3. Episode IV: A New Hope
4. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
5. Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
6. Ep 3
7. Ep 2
8. Ep 1

Then we discussed what George Lucas did with the Star Wars canon through the 80s, 90s and up to his sale to Disney and how he kept a tight leash on it. What's canon? Wikipedia says canon refers to the concept of "the conceptual material accepted as 'official' in a fictional universe's fan base." So -- yeah, it's important to us Star Wars nerds.

In the 90s, Lucas let out the leash a bit, by having Timothy Zahn write the first official novel since the canon was on lock down. Star Wars: Heir to the Empire, launched to positive reviews and breathed life into a relatively stagnant franchise. This new line of story telling turned into what we assume was a money making machine for Lucas, which helped him fund the creation of the prequels (blech).

So we then presume that after every parsec of the Star Wars universe was written about and Lucas had nowhere to go, he did the only thing he could do: sell it to someone who was ballsy enough to wipe out the thousands of pages of extended canon universe:Disney (Star Wars sold for more than $4B, by the way). Now, to that day, the all those stories in the extended universe were canon, which Star Wars nerds throughout the land held as sacred as the Bible.

Today, Disney is cashing in on the ability to turn a blank slate into a blank check by re-writing each minute of the Star Wars universe starting with the minute the second Death Star blew up--which they literally did by selling the "Shattered Empire" comic series and the "Aftermath" book trilogy.

While Disney is filling up this new blank slate with money-making materials (many of which I am happily throwing my money at), they are indeed keeping an equally, if not tighter, leash on the creation of new story lines through a story group much a modern-day Jedi council telling each author who has the right to become Star Wars story telling Jedi Master--Anakin still does not have that right. It’s clear Disney is being very strategic with their baby and, I think, ensuring they maximize the return on their investment.

In fact, supporting this theory, it's widely known that Disney has fired several directors from the Star Wars movies (we're not even halfway done with this new trilogy), and hired trustworthy Hollywood mainstays like Ron Howard or Star Wars' own J.J. Abrams to fill their place.

We discuss whether or not this is purely money driven or if it's in the best interest of the fans. Of course we'll leave the final decision up to you.

Check out some of the materials we mentioned below. Enlightened Bros uses affiliate links and may get a small portion of a commission if items are purchased.

-Justin

EB04: Meat, Design Thinking, Russian roulette questions

History of, and five tips for better meat

• Types of cooking meat
• Dry heat 
• Roast 
• Broil
• Bbq or grill 
• Thought to originate in the Caribbean 
• Spanish settlers called it Barbacoa which has obviously evolved into the word barbecue 
• Grilling is technically a method of broiling 
• We used to be idiots about this. In in Minnesota we thought grill was barbecuing. Hot dogs and dry charred ground beef pucks. 
• Now the event barbecue and the food category barbecue might be two different things but lest we be too enlightened I don't want to get into the etymology there.
• Pan broiling
• Stir frying 
• Deep far frying
• Wet heat 
• Great for less tender cuts of meat 
• Braising 
• Stewing
• Simmering: Used for less tender
• Poaching: More tender cuts
• No sear so I always thought this sounded lame. Like boiling your chicken and it tastes like um watered down chicken, but there are obviously delicious ways to braise in different liquids

Design thinking

• Design thinking - A project and product management and planning methodology - has been around for decades 
• Today it really represents a multi-disciplinary approach to human-centered projects that leverages research and rapid ideation. 
• I describe it at work as a project design and management methodology that is better at innovation and human centered approach than some other boring business project methodologies. 
• Has gained in popularity recently 
• Back in history
• In the 1960s - product and environment design began to evolve to try and solve programs more effectively
• This resonates with me, think of the funky designs from the 60s like ergonomic chairs and the like 
• We go through history with everyone designing their balls off - Scandinavians started IKEA at some point. Thanks.
• In 1991 the design firm IDEO is formed out of a 3-way merger. 
• Then in 1992 - a guy by the name of Richard Buchanan tied process of design thinking to innovation - and it looks like he said design has no subject matter which makes this a powerful discipline. 
• Going forward, Ideo While most design firms hire people with backgrounds in designing furniture or spaces or graphic design, this place hires people from academia, business strategy and other disciplines. Their firms starts to win all kinds of awards with their multidisciplinary teams attacking their projects. 
• Today, design thinking is gaining a foothold in the business world 
• Business schools are teaching it
• A young coworker of mine told me an assignment of his was to attend a sporting event and chart his high and low emotion points through the experience. 
• So what is design thingijng? 
• A lot of different ways you can attack it, but I've started to use this basic process, which I adapted from the IDEO handbook
• As discussed in the podcast, the IDEO "Design Kit: The Human-Centered Design Toolkit" can be found to download for FREE on their website 
• Five basic steps: 
• Research 
• Brainstorm 
• Prototype
• Launch 
• Iterate 

Mentioned in this podcast:

EB03: Coffee, Dating, and butter

In episode 3 - we discussed the history of coffee, our favorite brewing methods, and why we should probably open a coffee shop.

• Our favorite brewing methods
• Justin: Aeropress: the best-tasting cup of coffee you will make at home (or anywhere, really). Downsides: you only brew one cup at a time.

• Dustin: French Press - it's "as coffee as coffee can get," as a wise Batdorf and Bronson employee told us once. It's a quick, dang tasty cup of coffee and clean up is quick and easy

• Coffee History
• 11th century - goat herders noticed their goats getting all crazy after eating these red berries off bushes. So they checked it out. It was coffee. Boom.
• 15th century - Arabian peninsula - started cultivating coffee. They brewed at home but also at public coffee houses. The wifi was terrible, but the coffee was the FRESHEST.
• A lot of intelligent conversations so they were dubbed the “schools of the wise”
• 17th century - coffee made its way to Europe and started to become popular. Of course some thought it was from Satan like everything else that's become popular in history of everything. But I guess cooler and more caffineated heads prevailed.
• Pope clement 8 gave it his stamp of approval so that helped.
• Same century - coffee made its way to New York
• Thomas Jefferson called coffee "the favorite drink of the civilized world"
• Different waves of coffee
• 1st wave - Folgers - this is what pushed coffee into omnipresence throughout the U.S.
• 2nd wave - European espresso became popular in the states
• 3rd wave - single origin specialty rosters, high end boutique coffee shops - manual brewing

Dating profiles -

• History of dating services
• Personal experience
• Call on the phone and work up the balls to say out loud “will you go out with me?”
• Now you just ask 300 girls if you wanna get a drink and you're going to succeed on some level as long as you're not 100% creep or 100% gollum from lord of the rings in your pics
• Our generation and using them now
• Texting, insta, Snapchat, messaging - if it's bad it's tough to get to the date
• Lack of personal connection

Wild card

• How fancy do you want your butter and in what applications?

EB02: Effing IPAs & Top Google Search Terms

In episode #2 we had a great time blasting IPAs and then basically say we'll drink em. But we don't like em. Then we talked about the top unbranded Google search terms and made fun of the general populace, because, why google the word "calculator" when you can just type in "2+2"? And then Dustin surprised me with a topic near and dear to my heart. He blurted out the question "Kirk or Picard?" You be the judge.

Here are my pre-show notes on beer history:

Here's the article I mention several times through the episode: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/drink/2013/05/hoppy_beer_is_awful_or_at_least_its_bitterness_is_ruining_craft_beer_s_reputation.html

Effing IPAs. Why? Because I'm sick of IPAs

Every brewery on earth wants to make the hoppiest IPA that exists.

But let's explore IPAs a bit so we're not just complaining.

Here's some serious beer history:

• Beer goes way back - one of the earliest beverages we have a record of dating back to somewhere around 5000 years BC. It's believed that civilizations independently developed beer on their own. Not like “pizza is from Italy and they introduced it to the world.” It's a little bit like beer is from the whole earth.
• Mesopotamia - 3900 years ago someone writes a poem in stone honoring the patron goddess of brewing.  


• Generally speaking, women did the most brewing. 
• Beer was almost always culturally inferior to wine. Roman emperor Tacitus insulted Germanic beers of the time while wine was more popular. 
• Then in the Middle Ages, beer was very popular from kings to peasants. Hops was mentioned as a flavoring agent by a European abbot. Wikipedia says it was only adopted slowly because of the difficulty in getting the flavors right. Today, clearly, brewers don't give a shit.
• But then hops is credited with greatly improving the quality and flavor of all beer in the 15th century. 
• At that time an unhopped beer would be an ale and hopped beer would be beer. 
• In 1516 Bavaria passed a beer purity law restricting the ingredients of beer. This law was formally adopted by Germany in 1987 and is considered the oldest food regulation still in use.
• Flavor and quality of Beers were likely relatively inconsistent until the invention of thermometers in the 1700s, which allowed the brewer more control and knowledge of what they were doing. 
• So brewing beer locally was great. The Brits were blasting out tasty porters for their chilly climate. And as they started chopping their way through hot and humid India, the company supplying them with beer wasn't cutting it. The thick porters warmed by the long trip across the ocean and through the Indian climate were no good. The company tried several things including making beer concentrate and diluting it in India. Barf. They then tried a pale ale which was brewed by cooking over less smoky fuel. These ales were also known to last years in a barrel, which would likely help them survive the boat trip to India. And, to top it off, hops were added to help preserve the brew and keep it tasting fresh. 
• Fast forward to the 1900s - US brewers we're making darker heavier beers but the prohibition shut down all legal beer brewing. 
• Then through prohibition, the bootlegged beer that continued to be circulated was often watered down, which some say contributed to the US’s penchant for weaker beer flavors. 
• Fun side story - Viking mythology has it that Thor brought god Aegir a cauldron for brewing beer for the gods and as the gods drink the beer, their cups would magically refill. This was alluded to in the post credits scene of doctor strange when Thor met with strange. Strange handed him a cup of tea and Thor said it wasn't really his thing. When he glanced back at his hand, he had a giant beer stein which he happily chugged. It then refilled itself. 

Other beer facts and musings:

• Grains are steeped in water which makes the starches turn into sugars. This is what's called wort. Brewers then add hops to that mixture to tone down the sweetness -- one beer writer said beer would taste like soda without hops -- to add flavors, and to provide anti microbial properties. So the hops are multi-taskers (Alton Brown--who hates "unitaskers"--would be proud). 
• One beer writer even said in an article that not all craft beers are hoppy. That's like saying not all American cars are pickup trucks. Like- why should that be a normal thing to say? However, it is, because of the craft beer climate we are now living in.
• A term has come to use with beers called “session” beers. I guess it makes sense that not all beers can or should be chugged at a frat party, but to relegate the ability to have a few to one type of brew is kind of weird to me. 
• This writer argues that the hops flavors are a good way to differentiate their product from mass market brands like Coors and miller. Which kind of blows my mind. Like hops is the only option. 
• But the writer also points out it's an easy way to get creative with brewing. The highly fickle and scientific process of brewing beer doesn't leave much opportunity for experimentation. At least not like making a dish in a skillet does. And also, the hops let brewers disguise mistakes. When making bitters several years ago, I extracted hops into alcohol and it was crazy how much the hops extract tasted just like a hoppy beer. The flavor is so strong and prevalent, you could mask nearly anything with it. 
• In the beer world, hops flavor is measured in international bitterness units. Seriously. I've known that for years, but I still can't believe it when I read it. International bitterness units. As hilarious as I find that, experts (yes international bitterness unit experts) say we can't detect differences above 60. 

EB01: Action Movies, Investment tips and word association

In our first ever Enlightened Bros Podcast, we really unleashed some real enlightenment on you all. We opened in the first minute talking about fart jokes, Family Guy and the first joke ever told. We then talked about our top 5 Action Movies, and with nearly no prep, I think I definitely nailed it. I had to cheat and picked a Star Wars movie as my #1 action movie. Deal with it.

I then surprised Dustin and asked him on the spot to come up with bullet-proof investment advice to Enlightened Bros and Sisters across this land. Although it was a sneak attack, he did a great job listing some practical advice to get your investment game in order. Because, jeez, what on earth have you been doing with that 401k for the last five years? Gross. (I'm talking to myself here more than anything...)

Then we launched into some real serious Mensa mind game stuff and did some basic word association. It slowly devolved into baloney wagons and blankets, so... you're welcome.

This is, without a doubt, the best Enlightened Bros Podcast episode in the history of earth.

Check us out wherever you get your podcasts!

And hit us up with questions or ideas at enlightenedbrospodcast@gmail.com