EPR Minisode 15: Happy Halloween!

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Transcript

So Laura, it's Halloween. It's Halloween! I love this time of year, orange and black, you know, what fun topic. Uh, I, I didn't know that was a thing for you. Uh, I mean, I always enjoy it. Like I like Spooky season. I like horror movies in general, like just as is. I, I find it quite fun, uh, so this is a great time of year and it's like the falls, you know, coming and you know it's not hot anymore. All the bugs are going away. It's, it's a wonderful time of year, truly. I mean, are you not the same? Is that, I love it. I love that, uh, it's eating season. Um, yes, the start of the, you know, like, oh, I can grab this Reese's because it's Halloween. It's Halloween, it's for the kids, really, you know, and they're not gonna eat all of these, yeah. It's not a habit I'll have all year, but this week, this couple of weeks, yeah, right, exactly. That's what happens. That's what happens. Like it's almost Thanksgiving, which is the best meal of the year, so we might as well just keep eating the candy, so much of it. I can't believe we only had 3 kids this year. Yeah, I could buy 4 bags of candy knowing that no children don't come to your house. Yeah, especially if you're like in an apartment or something. Oh man, it's so funny. It's like we got to make sure just in case, you gotta be gotta be prepared. 

Actually, you know, we had the film festival two weeks ago and we had to go get snacks for our meetup and it was like, oh, Halloween candy, how fun. Don't mind if I do some of that didn't end up at my apartment. Yeah, right. Yeah, I won't tell, so I think your secret safe. Oh yes, very safe. And um, but yeah, I just, I thought today, you know, let's just do a quick episode. People have family, food, fun, costume. You gotta finish that costume before you get out there tonight. That's right, yeah, it's important. And yeah, so I have a series of rapid fire questions for you. Sure, let's do it. All right, ready? Start, start the clock. And first question. Scariest movie. Uh, the Shining. That was fast. Well, you said to be fast. I mean, like I know you're doing it right. Yeah, yeah, go go go go go scary Furby, obviously it's not even close. I don't even, I don't feel like there's even a 2nd or 3rd place. Scat family member. My dad, is that what you mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. 0, 100% my dad. Yeah, not even close. Retired cop, that's how you know. Yes, uh, scariest song. Scariest song? Uh, no, you know what, my favorite, one of my favorites is like, uh, the band Dragon Force, uh, I can't remember the name of the song, but they have like a 7.5 minute like metal song, and that's the first thing I thought of when you said that. Yeah, perfect. And scariest costume. Um, it's. Have you ever been to like um uh it's, it's actually to me there are scary costumes and then there's like a normal person at a hallway Halloween party not talking to anyone. Um, that's scary. Uh, there was one person at one party I went to who uh dressed up as a soldier and was a little too accurate with the, uh, stuff, and that was scary. I'm like, if you hurt someone tonight, uh. We're all gonna know is you, like we're all gonna know is you, um, yeah, so yeah, that's it, creeps, scary scariest food, scariest food. Oh, Halloween candy, does that count? I mean, I don't know, I'm not afraid of food. 

Oh, durian, there you go, something gross to eat like haggis, yeah, yeah, I was doing so well earlier. Oh jeez, travel destination. Yeah, right. Scropodus, um, oh, volcano, uh. It's uh yes, active. I'm glad you threw that part in there. Yeah, yeah. Scariest client. Uh, no comment, no comment. You're not gonna cancel me today, no way, uh uh. I am on to you. They're all great. Uh, I think that's all I got. OK, OK, all right. There's other scary stream. It's a scary stream I've ever had. Scariest dream, uh, you know what? I had a recurring dream when I was a kid, and I'll tell you, I'll tell you the story. Um, you've seen, um, Chronicles of Narnia, the cartoon. Yes. So like in the cartoon there's these giant white wolves, right? And like I saw the movie Wolf when I was far too young and I was like afraid of wolves, specifically wolves, not dogs, wolves, I don't, and werewolves, uh, because of that movie. So. Uh, I saw that movie and there were wolves in there and they're scary to me as a kid. And so I had this recurring dream where I would be, and I grew up like I had 1 acre and a quarter yard, so like a football field size yard, which was awesome as a kid, truly wonderful. Um, but my dream was I was at the far end of my yard and I had to walk from there to my front door and all the whole field is littered with gigantic white wolves, and they are all like twice my height, like huge, and so I have to navigate through them all, navigate through the mall, and as I'm going through, they're all starting to wake up and then by the time I'm at the edge of the field near my house, they're all awake running towards me and I am sprinting to the house and. I'll either wake up right there or I'll open the door and there's one inside that gets me and I was like, oh, you know, and that's. Yeah, and I haven't had that dream in forever, but that was like a recurring dream as a kid, yeah. That is crazy because I have the exact same thing with alligators. Really? 

Yes, I have dreams where there sometimes there's lots of them and sometimes there's only one, sometimes they're huge, and sometimes they're small, like I like there's been some where they're just like everywhere like bugs, and then there's others, there's one. They were like swimming in the water and there were two blue ones and they had, there was a little like white baby and they came and ate the baby and then so I think I wonder if that what that has to do with like something you're scared of. Yeah, I don't know you were young. Yeah, my very first one was one chasing me. I was swimming and it was chasing me and my family was on a dock, and I, we had moved just moved to Florida when I was 5. So I think moving to Florida when I was 5 and maybe seeing or hearing about alligators just terrified me. And then I had this, the very first one I remember was swimming away from this one and trying to get to my family desperately. But you know, when you're swimming you're not moving, like it was that kind of thing. It's trying to get to safety. That's what you're not safe, you're trying to get to safety and that's like such a weird. Uh, parallel. I don't know. That's crazy that we just discovered that, but I have 3 more, 3 more. OK, scary bugs bug. Oh man, I don't, you know, I don't even like the shame bugs. I think they're all kind of cool in some ways. I'll say gross's bug is the dung beetle. What are you guys doing? You know, like maybe we work on that. I don't know. People don't like spiders. I'm like not afraid of them. So I don't know. I like bugs in a way. Gary to me. Cockroach. 00, you know what? I take it back. You're right, you are 100% right. Um, I had one crawl across my lip once. OK, you know, I'm sorry bugs. I'm sorry bugs. I forgot about cockroach. Yeah, there, there, there you go, done. There's no, it's OK if you shame them, they're not going anywhere. Yeah, that's true. Uh, same though with scariest animal. I think we just talked about wolves though. We might have answered that already. 

For me, it's not like that anymore, you know, it's like scariest animal like I think a lot of honestly, like any actual large predator is supremely terrifying in the wild because you. I do not understand. People don't even understand how big wolves are. People think wolves are dog size. They are not. They are much larger. They're like the size of Great Danes like that the biggest dog is the size of gray wolves. Like that by itself should be scary enough. I mean, like, although those Great Danes are not scary at all. They're like the biggest whips. Like you make it like, uh, you know, a wild animal designed to do one thing, um, yeah. Mm. All right, and scariest video game? Scariest video game. I mean, I'm, I'm really partial to the Resident Evils. I love that. Yeah, it's like, but it's a classic. They're probably not the scariest game, I think, honestly, Dead Space, the first time that I played that game, um, it's a game that's like basically like zombie-ish, uh, but it's like that basically people become deformed and monstrous and like all kinds of these, it's creepy and scary and gross. And then there's one scene where you're like, you go outside for the first time, you go through an airlock. And you're walking out and I'm like, man, it is dead quiet out here because there's no sound in space, right? That's the idea. And I was like, you know what would be the scariest thing in the world? 

And I turned around and there's like 3 like right in my face, you know, again, I'm glad there's no video of that exact exchange because it scared the crap out of me. I was like, oh my God. So that was, that was probably, that's probably it. Yeah, I have to go with Resident Evil. My friends used to play that all the time and like, you know, overnight and you're like, oh my God, it's dark, it's scary. Can we play Nintendo now? Yeah, I mean, so, so Resident Evil always a nostalgic thing for me and I remember in college I was playing the Resident Evil on the GameCube and my friends were watching me play and it was like two to my two roommates were just like hanging out. We were just like, I was honestly like getting ready to stop. I was like, oh, let me just get to the thing and we'll do, we'll watch like Scrubs or whatever. And um, so I, I go around a corner, I go around a corner and I'm like trying to, oh, I was like, oh, an item, and I pick up the item and then I just hear like. And that's like one of the zombie dogs running after you. So I like turned around, the dog jumps at my face and I pull the trigger and shoot it and kill it, and all three of us go, it was, it was the music, the timing of the dogs, and it's just like, I don't know, however they set up that game was brilliant. Yeah, I totally agree. But you mentioned uh the Shining. Yes, so my uh my family is a bit morbid and they love horror movies. I'm the only one for, I used to love scary movies when I was a kid, like, really my dad had us watch stuff and then somewhere along the line. 

A switch flipped and I just couldn't. I remember hiding beneath my little sister while Gremlins was on, and I used, I had watched it. I'd seen it before, and all of a sudden I was like this. Yeah, you know what, maybe, maybe it's because you had all those nightmares about alligators you're like, you know what, I'm done because I stopped having nightmares about wolves. I don't know. So still, I still have them, but anyway, the um. My sibling, my sister and brother and her kids, they all dressed up as the shining cast. Oh, that's pretty good. A few years ago and it was amazing. That's pretty good and we're planning a trip now to Colorado for the winter family trip and my brother's first response is, we should go to the Stanley. Yeah, yeah, you should, you really should. Like someone will needs to hold my hand the whole time, thanks. That is really funny. Um, but I don't know, I, I, The Shining is just like a classic example, right? There are, are really good ones. I think the, the most recent good one I saw was Midsommar, and I think that movie. It is so opposite of what a horror movie normally is. It's bright for one thing. It is, it is very vibrant and. I think honestly that's what makes it a little bit unsettling and it's excellent. It's excellent, you know, um, that one was really great. Smile is really good like I think a lot of people saw that and that's a pretty good recent one too, but like, uh, you know, it's hard not to depict The Shining. It's just a classic, classic horror movie, you know. Yeah, I did not, um. I mean, I've seen The Shining many times.

That one I can almost logic myself into because it's classic and, you know, but the Amityville Horrors is another one I really liked. Like I liked these classic movies. I just now they scare me so much I can't do it like that feeling. I did see Sinners though was the last thing. Sinners. I like sinners a lot and I'm rewatching the um. Stranger Things because season 5 is coming out. I don't know why I can watch that. It's not really scary to me, for whatever reason. It's very nostalgic. Maybe that nostalgia factor like outweighs the scariness. I just love the kids in this thing. Yeah, yeah, I think that's very fair because it's like, it's like it's scary enough, you know, it's not like it or you know, it's just maybe a little too, too intense, but. It's a bit scary, but yeah, I mean it has scary it really does have scary elements of support, you know, so yeah, yeah, for sure. They do a good job though of like it's scary and then they on one scene and then they go back to like the kids doing something and heartfelt. So then it's not like I have a hard time with scary from start to finish and for two hours I'm having a panic attack. Yeah, yeah. I know what you mean. Yeah, it's like, um, whenever I watch movies, I'm like, uh, if it, if it's, if it's British, I'm like, I go out, you know, and all this, I can't help like, but, but like feel like I'm in immersed in the movie and then that becomes, uh, you know, a problem. That's true. I think, uh, Simon Pegg's zombie movie. Oh yeah, yeah, um, Shaun of the Dead. 

Yes, I was able to watch that at least once, yeah, yeah, zombie movies in particular, give me a bit of panic, but the, I love vampire stories. Oh, so funny. That's, I just don't like them to be overly gruesome. I want, I want the romantic part, like Interview with the vampire, the, the classic Dracula, you know, like that kind of stuff. Oh, I think those are much better. I think I like gruesome is like for the sake of gruesome, like the, it's just not for me. It's not my favorite thing either Sinners was too gruesome. I, I like a good. OK, I can handle it. same as I can handle it, but like I saw one, bring her back. I saw that recently and like uh it is way too gory and weird. Uh, some of it's so gross it makes me. I'll stay away from that one for sure. Yeah, yeah, it's just too painful truthfully, like some of it's like, oh my gosh, that looks awful. You don't have to make it that realistic people. We don't have to be, uh, it's like now and now I know what that looks like now. Thank you. Um, but like Jordan Peele's movies have been good. I like, I like those, uh, get out and nope, we're both good. I like those actually. People, people tried to get me to watch those and I just couldn't, I think that. I think you could handle it. I think you could handle it, but I don't know if you'd enjoy it. If you don't like horror movies. It's a lot of like in sick intense like I, I've figured out like, um, you know, I don't like Meet the Parents, um, and I'm not going to like Neighbors, for example, because like. Um, and I have a term for it now. Secondhand, secondhand embarrassment. Like I cannot stand watching someone else fail so spectacularly. It's a kills me because I, I feel their embarrassment. I'm like, I'm for them and there is no end in sight. We just started this movie and it's another hour and a half of watching this one person fail, fail, fail, fail, fail until the end. No thank you. So I'd rather not watch those. That's hilarious. OK, I thought of another one.

And now I forgot it. Scariest thing, losing your memory losing your memory scariest disease, um. No, seriously, it was a good one. I love it. Um, are you doing anything for Halloween? Um, not really, no. I mean, I actually don't even know if I'm gonna put up decorations. Like I like that thing, but I just, you know, moved and so I'm like, I need to like, and I've been gone for like 2 or 3 weekends, so I'm ready to like undo that, um. Uh, and just sit, so I don't know. I, I mean, it doesn't mean I can't like, you know, throw on a, uh, a shirt and be like, I'm a doctor or whatever, but, uh. We'll see, we'll see. I don't know. Are you doing anything? I will probably just walk around Brooklyn. I first for whatever reason. Seeing people out in the city in costumes is a whole different experience than suburban life, which I've always experienced my entire life. Yeah. So it was, it was cool last year and I think I'll probably, I think last year was during the week, so now it's Friday. There probably more people out. So yeah, I go experience Halloween in the city. Yeah, that actually sounds quite delightful. I mean maybe I can take the metro, just ride the metro in and ride it back out, you know, and just leave. I'm sure I'll see that there was a I knew there was trains between DC and New York, but I didn't know there was the train. Yeah, yeah I realized that you could just like fly down there. Yeah, yeah, and it's, uh, I mean, it is embarrassingly slow compared to Japanese trains to other trains, it's, it's pretty fast. And yeah, you can take a train from New York to DC. It's great. It's funny, um. The, the train from DC to New York is like when you get to DC, it switches from electric to diesel and when it goes south down like to Raleigh or whatever, it's, it's diesel. And I remember switching once there and it literally, uh, they're like, hey, the diesel engine broke, so we're gonna have to like get a new one. You know, hauled in, that's the scariest thing, missing your travel plans, you know, oh my gosh, that took like 5 hours in the middle of summer with no air conditioning. It was missing or weather delays. Yeah, oh man, yeah. 

Oh, I'm trying to think like, um. Yeah, most scared you've ever been in your life, don't want to know that. I don't wanna know that. Yeah, uh, I can tell you though, I know my scariest moment. Yeah, uh, it was on a trip to Africa in Kenya with, uh, Kevin Shelton who put this trip on. He was a member of the TBAP and he had, he's doing more trips. So if there are people listening who are interested in going to Africa, Kevin Shelton be terrified. Yes, no, uh, it was well worth it. We stay in uh Lewa Conservation, which is north of Mount Kenya. It is an amazing place, and he's been taking people there for 20+, maybe pushing 30 years just to bring awareness and money into it, and they've grown and expanded and you can go do the whole safari thing, beautiful camps. So we're staying in this camp and, you know, you have to The etiquette is you have to walk with a guide from just the hangout area to your tent, right? Someone has to come with you and for whatever reason this particular evening. We walked back to the tent by ourselves and I heard something like a huff, a huffing noise in the bushes, and it was dusk and it was like, OK, so I went back to get a guard and so they came with us and sure enough there was an elephant out so the way that the shape of the place, it was kind of like our tent was the closest down to the fence. There is a fence and which doesn't really matter to yeah, yeah, yeah, so there's a fence and then But it's like horn of the horseshoe shape, so the elephant was in the middle of what would be like the horseshoe, right? And then So he leaves and then a little bit later there's a lion. Growling Yeah Stalking growling, and it sounds like it's about to put a step on the porch. I have never been literally scared stiff. I didn't know what that meant until this moment. Yeah, I can totally understand that. There's a walkie-talkie on a table that you have to walk to. And I kept thinking, this is like a movie. 

I'm thinking like, I gotta go get the Walkie. I've got to go get the Walkie, but I couldn't move. Right. I'm like I'm literally like, this this could be my last moment. I'm picturing a few steps on the porch and it like flying through the tent window and just this is the end. Yeah, and I mean like. There is nothing that like a regular person can do if you do not have a gun, and even if you do. Yeah, the, the, the strength that these animals have, yeah, and speed. It was like I, I was picturing going for the walkie and then it can hear me and then it just attacks, you know. Yeah, and like, yeah, the best you can do is confuse it. So it's like, why are you not scared of me? That's weird. Should I be scared of you because they are there, there are things, you know, there's buffalo and such that can cause them. So it's just, it's, it's crazy and it's like, um. Yeah, that's, that's intense. I don't know. It's, I think mine was probably saving someone from drowning. Uh, I think I told you that. I don't know if I've told you that story actually, like we're like this, uh, one of the, one of my best friend's cousin's friends was out just like getting dragged away because they went out into the, you know, ocean during a storm. Not smart. They're like 1210 somewhere in there. They're just young enough to, you know, not know better. And so it's like, like, and I was getting dragged out to see, you know, and I'm like, uh, like my, my friend Dave and I are looking at each other like, uh, I guess we're the only adults here, so we got to go get her, right? Like, OK. And so we don't think anything of it. Like we're getting out there. It's not pleasant. Like going out there is like it's rough, it's, it's tough, and she's on a boogie board. So we grab the boogie board, we turn around and kick forward and don't go anywhere. We start to slide further back actually. So we're like in like a rip current. And like, uh, that is probably the most panic a nightmare that is scary, right? 

Yeah, because I'm like, oh gosh, and like someone telling me like after the fact, oh, you should swim parallel to shore. I'm like, you tell your brain that when you try to go forward and you can't, you need to take a second before you can even think to do that, um, let alone you have, you know, two other people with you, and I mean like by like just. Happenstance, I'm like, OK, I'm gonna try to stand, right, to see if I can do it, and I am just barely, and I mean like. The water is like over my nose up past my eyes, and I can put my foot on the ground and my friend David's a little taller than me, so he can actually breathe and we just slowly march our way back in, but it takes us like 1015 minutes or what I think is 10 to 15 minutes is probably only 2, but like it, it took forever for us to get back there and we're exhausted and like we just collapse on the beach like dragging. And, and she's like, you know, she, and she doesn't say anything. She just gets out of the boom gone, doesn't say thank you, doesn't say yeah, yeah, she's like, whatever no idea how scary that was for us and we're like. I think we almost died. I think we almost died. Oh my God, I'm gonna lay here for a while. You just don't, just, just let me be in my space, you know. And uh yeah, yeah. Well, let's give you thought of that. I've been surfing before and drowning in 2 ft of water and then you go after a few minutes, you're like, put your foot down. Right. Honestly, like it took way longer for me to think that and I mean like it was, it was for sure, I think we were trying to swim for like 20 or 30 seconds, full on trying to swim and not going anywhere. And if anything, inching back, back. 

And yeah, and I was like, OK, got it, we got to try to step and like I don't know why, but. Oh man, that's probably the most scary. So there you go. We got two good stories out of you, out of us just by asking that question. So there you go. That's it, that's it. Well, let's, um, get on with our evening and everyone, thanks for listening. We appreciate all of you. Yeah, let us know what we missed if there is anything that uh is really scary that we didn't cover. Um, yeah, let us know. Don't forget to subscribe, rate and review. See you, everybody. Bye.