David Perell on the cultural tutor, Hollywood's risk aversion, and the architectural malaise stripping America's soul

Speaker 2: Your AI agents can now create and modify your Figma files with design system context. We have David Perrell here with us live in the TVPN UltraDigm. David, good to see you, man. How you doing? Not much. Hanging out, doing the news, talking about new iPhone,

Speaker 1: talking about AI You you were excited for another screen. Two screens in one. Yeah. Yeah. Was doing the news. An Uber over. Yeah. Yeah. You getting one? Of course. Really? Of course. Okay. The fold thing. Yeah. He's gonna be writing by hand on the screen more. What we're just saying bookish that

Speaker 2: look to it. Yeah. You don't need an iPad mini anymore, know? Yeah. Yeah. Alright. Do you do the the the iPad for the notes when you do an interview? Have you toyed with that? You know how Chris Williamson, a lot of people have their iPad there? Not the full I do the full computer, but You know, I've actually gone That's the key to a good interview. I've actually gone full smartphone. Okay. I've gone full smartphone. Interesting. So what I do is. Yeah. If you watch the interviews Yeah. On the right side, I just kinda keep the phone. And

Speaker 9: then what I can do is I can just do quick pulls of like, hey, check this thing, check that thing. Feel like if I pull out I feel like if I go on my computer right now, it's like, oh, he's doing something serious. But if I pull out my phone right now, you're like, this guy's really distracted. He's scrolling reels. It it feels a little disrespectful, but I you've gotten over that hump. Well, the other thing is I don't do it live. Yeah. So I do a bunch of editing. Right? Yeah. Yeah. So I think So you might say, hey, I'm gonna look this up and then hit you with a I say, hey, if I'm looking something up, just keep talking. Yeah. Prep them on this. Cool. Cool. Cool. And and then what I do is I watch every interview back Yeah. Which I've now done a 130. So I just that's

Speaker 2: that's my game film, you know. Yeah. What's been the biggest one? Dark room. Yeah. Dark Exactly. Screen on, just locked in. Just locked in, sitting there. What's been the most recent interview that you that that that you came away from being like,

Speaker 9: this is what I want the show to be? There's an interview I did with Dana Joya. Yeah. He's Ted Joya's brother. You might know the Substacker. And Dana is just so so well read. Mhmm. He lost a son when he lost his first son, I wanna say, to sudden infant death syndrome when he was four to six months old. True. And you can just feel Yeah. You know, our friend Jeremy Giffon has the line where there's pre fall and post fall. Yeah. Seriously. And you can feel when somebody is post fall, they sort of wrestled with grief. Yeah. And then you combine that with these really well written. So I flew out to Sonoma. We recorded for seven hours, chopped into a three hour interview. Wow. And it was it was phenomenal. You know, it's funny because you're asking about recent interview. And this is what I love about YouTube is that interview did okay Mhmm. And then the algorithm found how to distribute it like fifteen months in, and now it's riffing. So like Wow. Last month That's cool. That interview was our most watched interview in terms of watch time, and it's two years old. Wow. That's fascinating.

Speaker 2: How much are you thinking about booking guests that can go viral in the YouTube algorithm? Are you sitting down with Clav anytime soon? Yeah. Yeah. You know, you know, there's always, like, these people who come up on the cusp. I don't care about that. And it's if you get this person this time, you got one of the first interviews, you know, playing that game. No. The game I'm trying to play is I think Patrick O'Shaughnessy is crushed it. It's like, you know, you have these people who are coming on.

Speaker 9: You don't hear a lot of, who's the guy who he did the the the hedge fund guy with that, like, John Paul, speak slowly. Paul Tudor Jones? Paul Tudor Jones. Exactly. Like, I wanna do interviews like that. Totally. Right? Like, Paul Tudor Jones hasn't done a bunch of podcasts Yeah. Get them on. I don't really care about having something that crushes right away. Yeah. I want I want it to be like the Paris Review interview series where you look back and I want in fifty, sixty years Yeah. People would be like, this was

Speaker 2: Snapshot. Yeah. Exactly. That makes sense. But to give to give Patrick even more of his due, I feel like he has a couple of products in one in the sense that, yes, he does those interviews where it's like, well, I haven't heard from this person in a long time. I'm so glad I did. This is amazing. But then he'll also do, like, the a super timely interview with, like, Sam Altman about the news and the expectations for that company right then at the turning point. Yep. And then he'll also do, you know, a catch up with Gavin Baker regularly, just getting up to speed. And so it feels like he has a couple series, a couple like, okay. This person's coming out of stealth, it's Gavin Newberty at etched, and it's the first time you're hearing from this person. He's almost breaking the news. And I'm wondering how calcified you think about different products if you want to add. We've we we have a few. We have, like, a lightning round interview. Founder Young not hasn't done hours and hours of interviews, comes on for ten minutes, tell us about we hit the gong. Another person we might yap with for thirty minutes. We might have somebody in studio for an hour. We have different products. And I'm wondering if you're thinking about where How I Write goes Yes. And whether you wanna have different SKUs within the main feed. Dude, a 100%. Okay. So here's how I think about it. I wanna get the best riders in the world. That was my first goal. Yep. And so, like, this month is Andy Weir did project hail Mary, Jillian Flynn, Gone Girl, Michael Lewis, Malcolm It's so good. We're like, let's get the best riders. Yeah. Yeah. You nailed it. Nailed it. Wait. Wait. Are you the reason that you're in LA? JK Rowling's yacht is in LA? Is it happening? Oh, I mean. Is it happening? You saw this. Right? I wish I was here for the big JK Rowling's. The way the mystery yacht? The mystery yacht has been unveiled to be JK Rowling. I love But but I I mean, you're gonna get the like, I'm just so excited for that level of interview to happen soon. And so then the game is it's like a t. So then you go up, you kinda reach the top here, and then break into I wanna do music.

Speaker 9: Oh, music. I wanna do music. Cool. I wanna have screenwriters. And then just trying to break into that. But the thing is, we're kind of in a local maxima with the YouTube algorithm. Sure. So this is sort of the grand irony of the whole thing. I got into this because I love posting. Yeah. I love posting. That is my thing. Like Wait. Wait. Wait. Isn't posting on YouTube a form of posting? It kind of is. But the people who I, like, really feel like kindred spirit with, it's like you guys. Like you, you know, you had the YouTube channel, like you're kinda going But then what happened but then what happened was the novelist, the poets, they were the best interviews Yeah. And they were the ones that that that crushed. Yeah. And so now I'm in this like weird situation where like, that's what I do. Yeah. But I like I don't know. But but but it's just being a Nimsel in a particular community. It's niche, but that's valuable. What's a Nimsel? Nimsel is niche internet micro celebrity.

Speaker 2: It's like it's like, you know, if we go to YCW, they will get recognized. Like, sound effect back. We'll get a sound effect back. But but we can walk around anywhere else, and you don't get recognized. Like, there are certain areas where, like, there'll be some cooking influencer where, like, chef knows them or, like, an auto influence or, like, every car guy, Cars and Coffee, everyone will stop Doug Jamuro. But, like, you know, he doesn't get stopped if he just goes to, like, a Costco. Right? Yeah. It's just the modern the modern incantation of celebrity as we've created these pockets. But interesting. What what are you excited about in terms of actual growth? You're growing on YouTube. You're also growing on Instagram. Mhmm. There's some stats for us. I wanna hit the gong. What you got? You got some stats? I got some stats. Yeah. Give me some stats. How how is the how is the product doing? Been a crazy year. So we're gonna do 6,000,000

Speaker 9: views on Instagram this What

Speaker 2: about YouTube?

Speaker 9: 3,000,000 on YouTube. Woah. Okay. No. That's been good. That's been good. But the big thing I think this one deserves the big gong. So we started a a YouTube channel. I found this guy named Sheehan Quirk. Crazy story. Yes. And we made this pilot episode with him. His last name is Quirk? Quirk. Quirky Quirk. Yeah. That's what I call him. Quirky Quirk. He's the cultural tutor. The cultural tutor. Yes. And so I found this Twitter account Yeah. 2022. Yeah. And I was like, this account rips. Like, this is so good. And so it's Anon, and I was like, hey, we gotta talk on the phone. Mhmm. So I get on with him and I expect, like, 65 years old. He's writing about, like, culture and, like, bollards and, like, buildings. And he's, like, 24 years old. And I'm, like, what? He's, like, yeah. You know, I live in the North Of England. My parents just got divorced. I have no money. I'm, like, cool. Like, what do you do for work? He goes, I just quit my job at McDonald's. And I'm, like, okay. That's a little bit weird. He's, like, yeah. That's why I started this cultural tutor thing. So I'm gonna tutor people in culture to make some money. Terrible way to make money. Mhmm. And then he goes, yeah. I'm gonna go join the British military if it doesn't work. It's been my dream to die for my country. And I'm just like, I've known him for ten minutes. Yeah. Like about as long as I've been on the show right here for, you know, today. And I'm like, dude, that is a bad idea. So I just raised some money from my writing business at the time Yeah. And I made him a writer in residence. Okay. He had a 100,000 followers at the time. Yeah. Three years later, 1.6 mil on Twitter. Insane. We're in London Yep. Last year, walking around. He's giving me a tour every day. I'm like, dude, you can write well. But you are an amazing speaker. You are the next Bourdain. Sure. So I said, hey, let's make a pilot episode, put in a $150 of my own money. I really believe in this guy. And we went to Hollywood. They said, no, we're not interested. Go make a pilot episode. So we had a pilot, Tommy Lee, the director, in the There back right we go. And we published it from an account with zero subs. It was our goal to get a 100,000 views and then go pitch Hollywood. And we did a 100,000 views in eighteen hours and then five point six million views now. Mhmm. Wow. And just from that one video, almost a quarter million subs. You optimistic

Speaker 2: about being able to break into Hollywood? This year has been like the crossover year with Markiplier, Obsession, Backrooms. Right? Like, Hollywood is seeing that they can print on adaptations

Speaker 1: of Internet IP. Do you need Hollywood? Do you need Hollywood? This is Now you walk in with a with your pilot. It's like I shot your your freaking pilot. Yeah. Here you go. Yeah. But then it's like, do you actually need them? Can you figure out a way to This is the driving question in my life right now. Yeah. This is we're trying to figure it out. I mean, we went to Spych.

Speaker 9: Went to one of the major studios here yesterday. We had a meeting with them. Yeah. This is what Hollywood tells us. They want exclusivity of person or exclusivity of place. Sure. So if you can go film in the Sistine Chapel and other people can't, they love that. Yeah. And then if you're you're like, hey, Brad Pitt's really interested in architecture. Let's have Brad Pitt be the host. They also love that. Yeah. They're like, we'll give you money for that. Brad Pitt in the Sistine Chapel and they're like, one more change. It needs to be a low budget horror film. Low budget horror.

Speaker 2: We're just gonna have a one note.

Speaker 9: No. But I don't think I I

Speaker 2: don't think we're gonna go that route. No. No. I mean, I I would I

Speaker 1: don't think we're gonna go. Their pitch isn't compelling. Yeah. Well, yeah. I mean, thing is is that What is what is the actual pitch? It's it's capital and then we'll get you

Speaker 9: Yeah. I would say even more, like, in what way is a streaming service exciting? I think that streaming service is exciting in two ways. One, you have Amazon, HBO,

Speaker 2: Apple, whatever. They can give you budget to make something awesome. That's the first thing, budget. The second thing is prestige. And, you know, I think the root of prestige translates to illusion. And I just always try to remind myself of that because YouTube is you know, you can really get views now. Yeah. They are not going they're not in the business right now of talent development. They will attach Brad Pitt, but they are not gonna allow you to spend their money building the cultural tutor into the next Anthony Bourdain. You're gonna have to do that on your own platform. And then when you're ready and you've ready to rest on your laurels, they'll be like, welcome. Well, this is Door's finally open. So this what's funny about that. So Sunday, I was at Sundance

Speaker 9: in Utah Mhmm. Not at the festival, but just at the just at the hotel. And that's where Robert Redford started the film festival. Yeah. And so as you walk through the main room, they just got all these photos of old Hollywood. And it was so cool. It was like a bunch of risk taking and all that. And what happened, the reason why Hollywood is boring and the reason why a lot of the modern world is boring, and I credit Derek Thompson with making this observation, is the money ballification of our world. Okay. What happened is things are boring now because we've gotten smart. Yes. And it's they've gotten good at pricing risk and all that sort of stuff. But the problem is, then you end up getting Spider Man 74 Yep. Lord of the Rings seven rather than some new show. And that's just the state of our world. The funny thing is that the late I feel that No. It's over. I feel the We're

Speaker 1: also

Speaker 2: the Internet will strike back. And also and also the latest Spider Man made a billion dollars. So so, like, the the the irony is, like, I feel the same, you know, of Marvel fatigue that everyone does. And yet the latest Spider Man was a fantastic But but here here's a counter example. So, like, the mom's name worked for them. Nathan Nathan Fielder Yeah. Like In '25. Is on an incredible run. And

Speaker 1: I feel like that is a set of new ideas and and forms of content. Right? Where that are that are like that are meaningfully novel, that are rooted in this like talent. So I would almost argue there's not a shortage. Like, anybody can make media now. It's cheaper than it's ever been, production and distribution. And, like, as much as you can argue, like, all the capital is flowing into these, like, big bets, Spider Man 12. Mhmm. At the same time, for talented people, it's, like, the best time in the world to do anything. I agree. And and and in and in some ways, like, Nathan Fielder is like the best modern instantiation of like being yourself in Hollywood. Mhmm. And like finding that mix of commercial appeal and and new ideas. Where like for me, I'm more excited to see the new Elizabeth Holmes movie than anything. I'm I'm if you if I could only watch like the Odyssey or

Speaker 2: the new Nathan Did you see the Odyssey? Yeah. Yeah. I did. What'd think? I thought it was a good movie. It was a good movie? Have you seen it? Yeah. I liked it. It was good. It was a lot. I don't think it's like a rewatch it every year like The Dark Knight. Yeah. That was my take. So I got to see the Chinese theater, which if you Yeah. Went there. We saw Amazing place to watch a movie. Holy cow. Nah. You

Speaker 1: don't like it? Absolutely not. I I came out of that and I was like, you gotta be kidding me, guys. How do we end up how do we end up Universal is you're much closer to the screen. And I Same same size IMAX screen, but you're closer. No. But it's more you you have to walk out of the theater. The theater's fine. I I thought it would I I I didn't I didn't personally like that it was grungy and and dirty feeling. But that was The store I did feel like I was gonna get work a done my way. But the second that you get out of it, you're it's like, you know, you're you're watching this beautiful film work of art, and then you come out and it's like the worst place on earth, you know. Sunset Boulevard. It's like How the guys are completely completely brutal. Hollywood

Speaker 9: is so seedy. That's been my biggest takeaway being here. What is going on? Kinda always has been. That's like they I didn't realize Yeah. It's crazy. Right? Because you're just like, wow. It's my dream to go to Hollywood. And then you get here, you're like, this what it's like? I'd like to go to West Hollywood instead.

Speaker 2: I'd like to go to Beverly Hills. What's on your wrist?

Speaker 9: Oh, good question. I just went to the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. Yeah. So this museum opens September 22. Okay. So it's just kind of like these Previews. Preview tours.

Speaker 1: Dude, so good. Yeah. Oh, my goodness. What's good about it? Okay. The reason I have is that not is the whole project not like a massive white pill that we can still make? Honestly, it is such such a massive white pill. The only thing that bums me out is San Francisco and Chicago said no, but then LA got it. So Let's go. Well, is that not the Victory for Los Angeles. Were they saying no? Like, this needs to be in LA. This this don't it's got it would just be wrong for us to To take us. Or they were just like, yeah. The idea is kinda mid. Like, it would suck to have a billion dollar museum. It's like 44,000

Speaker 9: pieces of art in George Lucas' collection. Wow. 13,000 at the exhibit or at the museum. Yeah. Only six of them on loan. Yeah. And so I thought that what I was gonna walk into was like Star Wars Yeah. Yeah. That's actually not what it is. Get ready to dress up as Chewbacca. So this is what the narrative art museum gets, which is modern art, most of what you see kinda stinks because it's super abstract and you're like, what is going on? Yeah. This is the best non canonical collection of modern art museum I've seen. What is And what I mean by that is I think the MoMA has a better collection. Okay. But at the MoMA, you see the canon pieces of modern art. Mhmm. You see everything from Van Gogh's Starry Night to, you know, Cubism to then stuff that comes out of World War two. This is very different. This is a lot of paintings that I did not know. And almost every painting feels like a freeze frame in a movie. And you almost feel like somebody stopped it. So the lighting is super dramatic. There's like these dramatic scenes. That's cool. Then there's a whole range of styles. And then the other thing for people like Norman Rockwell, it's must be one of the largest collections of Norman Rockwell paintings of all. That's great. Yeah. Love it. And then also the way that they organize the museum is super different. So usually, it's all around jargon Yeah. Or time period. This is different. This is around family, school, like friendship, stuff like that or specific artists. So because of that, it doesn't feel like heady Mhmm. As a museum. Mhmm. It feels like the kind of art that'll be both good and super

Speaker 2: mass market. That's cool. Almost like Star Wars itself. Is there at least one Chewbacca?

Speaker 9: Do you see any Star I only saw so this is why I have this. Okay. Here. I just went and I went up to the front desk. Yeah. And I was like, this is Can so I leave, go on TV Yeah. And then come back? Yeah. And she was like, fine. We'll make an exception. Okay. So we're booking it back to downtown Okay. There to see the Chewbacca for. And I will send you I will send you a selfie. I will send you one Chewbacca selfie. I want that. I I I see this modern art. I love Star Wars.

Speaker 2: What do you think of Mark Zuckerberg's new castle? You know, the critique is that tech wealth is not going into beautiful things. Which is true. And he just bought a beautiful castle in Ireland, and it feels like the beginning. You know, I think the Stripe founders bought a castle in Ireland. Yeah. There's there's the seeds. And I think that there I I understand the critique of tech wealth is not going into beautiful things. We're not getting the museum, the libraries. Yeah. But I think that there is a world where wait until they're 45. They'll buy the castles. They'll get sick of them at 65. The kids won't wanna live there, and then there'll be museums and libraries because that's what happens when you renovate an eighteenth century castle. Yeah. Museum of wanting to pay the $5,000,000

Speaker 1: a year to maintain it. The museum of Zaki's Bunky is gonna go is gonna go so hard. Okay. All these what will then be antique

Speaker 2: If he has a needler and we don't know about it, that's a that's a major issue. It's interesting those two examples.

Speaker 9: Both of them bought existing places. They did not didn't okay. So building's important. They did not build them. Okay. Like you look at Hearst Castle, You know? William Randolph Hearst. I'm actually staying. I love

Speaker 2: the story of Hearst Castle. Yeah. And I and I both aspire to personally embark on such a crusade that I die with it unfinished like he did. And, also, I encourage other people to take on projects that are so unwieldy that they will ultimately never be,

Speaker 9: never see the fruits of their labor and only the next generation will. Yeah. I mean, beyond that, you know, it's really easy to talk about castles and palaces and stuff like that. What about just like the tech initiative to make the Panhandle, like one of the most beautiful parks in America? Sure. Sure. You know what I mean? Or like, let's restore Fillmore Street. I heard of a project that's exactly that. It's like four or five blocks of Fillmore. Like, we I think that the beauty conversation is way too much about these giant big buildings. You gotta start small. Corgi Cafe.

Speaker 5: Corgi Cafe?

Speaker 9: They they they started with the cafe. You scale that up. Corgi Library, Corgi Museum, Corgi Central Park. Save the world. Could happen. You never know. They're a reinsurer now. Well, this is what's so great about New York. Like, think it was is John Paulson the investor I think so. Who made a lot of money in the financial crisis? He's the one. The one. Yeah. Exactly. One guy. But he donated a $100,000,000 to Central Park. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2: It's cool. It's good. Okay. The simple stuff for the people. Yeah. What what about on the overall architectural malaise and just this, you know, is there a linkage from housing prices, we can't build anything, stagnation, and the critiques

Speaker 9: from you and the cultural tutor on? Oh, that's interesting. So I think that the way that people see it is something like this. Mhmm. We can't build, and because of that, we need to make it cheaper and uglier Mhmm. And it's like a cost problem. Actually, there's a new article in Works in Progress that basically makes this point that one of the reasons why it's hard to build is that things aren't beautiful enough. Yeah. So like if I look at Yeah. Why go through the hassle? Yeah. And and also for the neighbors, they're like, I don't want something new being built. It's be butt ugly. It's gonna make my neighborhood less less nice. Yeah. It's gonna be a square box. And so it's this weird kind of compounding loop where things are ugly, so then there's more regulation. Then there's more regulation, so it's more expensive. Then we need to save money so things get ugly. And maybe there's a way to reverse that where you have nice buildings and people are excited about building a little bit more and you begin to change that. Mhmm. Yeah. I I've been there's some there's there's things coming down the pipeline. I I I was

Speaker 1: hanging out with a friend of a friend who's an architect based in Europe and he was just showing me like all the stuff that he has in the works. And to me, I got incredibly excited because I was like, every single one of these things, you know, he's a rising star. Every single one of these things will end up being in every mood board. Like, they are like net new creations inspired by the past but also just new ways for buildings to exist. And I have another friend who does does real estate development in the American Southwest and he is showing me things that he's actively building right now. And I'm like, that entryway to the home is gonna be iconic. And so a lot of these are like I still in some ways, I think you're gonna see, like, the world is so Instagram driven now that there are beautiful things being built purely for the feed to basically, like, stop people and to get attention. And I think that I'm I'm excited to see what you're pulling up.

Speaker 2: Oh, you got it. I'm trying to get them to pull it up. I gotta show you this. Yes. So I think

Speaker 9: that the side by side format will change the world. It already is. And all the side by side format is super common on Twitter Yep. Super common on Instagram. All it is is you show one old thing versus one new thing, and you just say, what happened? Yep. And this is one of those formats that we've all seen that no one has taken seriously. Yeah. So this is oh, hold on. Okay. We gotta cut that for the clip.

Speaker 2: Well, we're gonna pull it up with a big board detail. Old Home Alone house. Here you go. Here we got both of them. Is the old Home Alone house. Scroll scroll up. Scroll up. This is 1990. 1990. This is the old Home Alonex that we all love. Iconic. Yes. Okay. Wallpaper, carpets on the stairs, lots of texture,

Speaker 1: lots of warmth. Yep. What happened? Now scroll down.

Speaker 9: This is what they did to it.

Speaker 1: Stunning. Very Stunning and brave. Okay. So The white white the the the the different shades of white. It's so much white.

Speaker 9: It's so much white. So this sells better rug. I mean, how who who would be bold enough? Is that why they did this? Well, so here is what happened. So Yeah. There's a few things that changed. One is that housing went from something that people would build for themselves to something that was done by real estate agents Sure. Sure. Or and and real estate companies. Mhmm. And so housing became a market that you thought of as something liquid. Yeah. And then you basically need to increase the how generic something is so that it basically is a more liquid asset. Yeah. Right? Sense. And then the other thing is a lot of these projects are built by people who won't live in them. Yeah. And so they sort of see the world through a spreadsheet. Yeah. Spread shit. That's exactly what I was gonna it's called a spreadsheet. It's called a spreadsheet. So they see the world through a spreadsheet and

Speaker 2: Yes. But I when I look at this, I think buying opportunity, buy this and and remodel it to look like the home The whole house one. It can't be that hard to put carpet down on the staircase. Right? I like the style. I think it's called pre modern. This is generally the the like, what what this is referred to now. Yeah. Yeah. You're you're saying something that's very real. I I a friend of mine

Speaker 1: bought a place years ago, invested a bunch of money into it, and and I think, like, legitimately for 99% of people made it way worse. Oh, I know what you're talking about. Yeah. For for him You know, so many him, he's like he's like, yeah. It's like a so much character. Like Maybe too much too character. Much character there, buddy. Like, some some of the rooms I'm just like, this is horrific and and you need and it actually even though he invested a lot of money into the property, you actually have to deduct Yep. That basically an equal amount from the new purchase price which is gonna be lower Right. Than what they paid because you have You to rip all this you look you like blue. You made your house blue. But but I do think that I I think that mac like, maximalism is a 100% coming back. Yeah. And and you're you're seeing this in think it loud opulence might Like even look look at car look at cars. Like cars are a wonderful way to express yourself and just enjoy the road and it's this like symbol of freedom and all these things. And cars got very boring to the point where if somebody was like spicing it up, they're like, I got a green car Yeah. And a tan seats. And then it's like, well, now there's a whole for years, there's been Instagram accounts dedicated to this combination, which I think is beautiful. I have a green car with brown seats. But it's almost to the point where it's no longer even a way to express yourself. It's just like, it's as basic to me as like a black car. Right? So I've been I've been intentionally going the other direction. I'm I'm What's the next color you're going with? I'm I'm I'm in the process of specking a car that is is like a rose metallic and and it's like completely insane. I've shown it to some people and they're like, oh, yeah. We need that. That's interesting. We know. Like, it's gonna be We need to be TVPN car that looks like a NASCAR that you guys can drive around with all the sponsor logos. That would actually be brought. We we we we have play TVPN over there. Right there. And and I and I I think that you're not just naturally seeing a shift. People are rejecting minimalism. And I I actually already as much as as much as this is happening, again, I don't think you're gonna ever get back to spec like the spec house is naturally designed to appeal to it's like, I view a spec house like the one you're showing here, basically Mhmm. As like a canvas on which someone else can come on and paint. Right. It allows you to have that liquid The thing is asset. I'm not pro maximalism

Speaker 9: or anti minimalism. I'm just pro quality and anti crap. Yeah. And I think that what has happened is we're like, okay, here's minimalism. And we're like, okay, minimalism is cool. Like, Johnny Ive really understands minimalism well. The Japanese really understand minimalism well. Yeah. But then what happens I got a house I got a house to I got a house to sell you. If you don't really understand the form, you end up with that meme of the guy who just has his mattress in the room and nothing else with like the little video game. You're like, that's minimalism. Yeah. The ultimate male living situation.

Speaker 2: I love it. Hey, you know, gotta invest in that guy. Would you like the glass or the cup for whatever you're drinking? I'll

Speaker 1: wash these sheets in six months. Do you know the What you got, Jordy? Do you know the the architect John Lautner?

Speaker 2: No. Oh, you're talking about a place in Alaska?

Speaker 1: You you blew the punch line. Oh, I'm sorry. You blew the punch line. But but yeah. The The open lock in back Lautner is the protege of of Frank Lloyd Wright Okay. Has created some of the most, to me, most beautiful homes in in The US. There's there's even like this weird sort of like roadside motel out in in Palm Desert area that you can go stay in that's a that's a lot there. I I recommend you check it out. I think you would enjoy it. But I track John Lotner homes that are for sale and there's two right now that stand out. One is in Pasadena, is like seemingly like an extremely at the time, it would have just been like, I'll take one home, please. You know, it's like a two bedroom, two bath. But then there's this other one that's Wow. That's only 1,370,000, potentially a great starter home candidate. And This is the one Alaska. One issue, it's in Alaska. That's not an issue. That's a And so this is two acres. You got a John Lautner, an architecturally significant home in nature. And I think you gotta I think you gotta go for it. I think you gotta like, you know, take some of your own Yeah. Medicine here. And I want I I think you need to eat? No. No. No. This is Redfish. Is for sale. This is for sale. 1.3. I've been extremely tempted just because I'm like

Speaker 9: Yeah. Start a group chat. See if we can pull 1.37

Speaker 2: bunky too. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 9: It's bunky villain. This would be good for like a TBPN

Speaker 1: Satellite. Satellite studio. Look at this. The wood wood paneled interior. It's like every material in this home was actually designed to last There's for room for the Christmas tree there. Indoor waterfall ish thing. It's awesome. So anyways, what what I'm hoping to see is the the young John Lautner that just build a couple just dedicate your life to building a couple 100 homes like this. But think that the truth is that we look back and we look throughout history and we see home we we see things that were built like this and we're and people are like, we, you know, we gotta return to like that era of design. But the truth is that for every one of these homes, there was a 100, a thousand that were just cookie cutter. Yeah. The thing is, I don't wanna return to any era of design. I want us in 2026

Speaker 9: to have a sweet era that, like, reflects who we are, what we value, that, like, projects a bold vision for the future that's, like, let's go. Yeah. And we should have all these awesome visions of what tomorrow can look like. Yeah. And what I love about talking about homes and, like, making nice streets is, like, that is a way for every single human being to, like, put their footprint, their, you know, their stamp of optimism and, like, promise for a better future into the world. Yeah. And that's why I think this is important. Yeah.

Speaker 7: What's We have speed about ten minutes.

Speaker 2: No. I wanna go through the rest of the show and tell what else do you have for us in the stack. The team has the PDF you shared. So are there any other images that you'd like to share with us? By by the way, we definitely don't We do. We're we're we're rearranging the schedule, and Fletcher Richmond from Type will be joining us at 01:50 after Jim O'Reilly from Charleston AI.

Speaker 9: Have you seen, the new Obama library?

Speaker 2: I have. Yes. New Obama presidential People are going back and forth about it. Yeah. Let's get it up on the screen here. I'm a fan. You're a fan. You're a fan. Because because it's because it's clearly a data source. Data center. It does seem like aliens. It has No. I just source inside. I'm I'm generally in I I love

Speaker 1: brutalism, just a period. I think it's beautiful when contrasted right with with nature.

Speaker 9: Yeah. Here's the thing with brutalism. Okay. Good brutalism rocks. Yeah. But a good style is works when average people do it. And so the problem with brutalism is the variance is so big. Mhmm. Like, brutalism absolutely is awful and tyrannical. But like you're saying, you get some Brazilian brutalism,

Speaker 2: some DC brutalism, and when it works, it is absolutely awesome. Yeah. Every time I think brutalism, I go to a Bada Bada, Yosem bin Laden's count compound. You know what I'm talking about? The Osama bin Laden house looked is very brutalist. I lived in a house that looked exactly like this for a while.

Speaker 1: It's crazy. You were you were just would you do you practice in there in case you got the call? No.

Speaker 9: No. Keep it in counter So the new Obama library, this is where this was built in 1893. Okay. And so the Obama library, this is for the Chicago World's Fair. There's three photos And these were in 1893.

Speaker 2: Which yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 9: Basically, these were temporary houses. Mhmm. So they were made out of plaster. They were not made to last The center one was a temporary house? The Chicago winners. It was for the World's Fair. So like it was big deal. Don't get me wrong. For sure. But I think it says so much about who we are. Like, first of I'm not sure that we could build this now. Yeah. And there's no way that we would do something temporary like this now. Yeah.

Speaker 2: Okay. Yeah. What what what else is going on? How how many other photos do you have here? We don't need to go through all of them. Oh, I wanna I wanna know the story of the Well, what we did in yeah.

Speaker 9: The So I think this another Humble photo. Actually, here's one that has a personal story. So this is San Francisco. Yeah. When I was a kid I don't know if you guys have walked here. When I was a kid, this is Beautiful photo. Where I would walk. Wow. And I used to like marvel at these chains. Yeah. I think these chains are sick. Yeah. And also like, this is the kind of world I wanna be in where like, you know, it's by the bay. There's always the big cargo ships coming by. Yeah. And I'd always used to, you know, check out these chains. My my mom would say, if you touch those, you're gonna get tetanus. Yeah. Know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, it's time to replace the chains, which is fine. And they replaced them with this. And like, this is the thing. You know, each one of these is not a big deal. But if you have 10 or a 100,000 decisions like this in a country and a culture, you really stamp out the soul and vitality, the spirit of who we are. Yeah. And that's what I wanna fight against, you know? Yeah.

Speaker 2: Ralph, what's going on in the world of high fashion? What's what's wrong with stainless steel?

Speaker 9: Is that stainless steel? Well, it just lacks character.

Speaker 1: Well, I think it's because it's new.

Speaker 2: Yeah. What happens when that gets patina and starts giving you tetanus? Will you be satisfied then? Will you be satisfied then? I think we could have done better. Tetanus risk. We could have done something with, like, little Golden Gate bridges in it. Something with to tie to the aesthetic of space. Or like a Louis Vuitton monogram. Yeah. We talk about cost. There's an artist somewhere that would happily Sure. Do this at cost Sure. Sure. To make something else. Yeah. You're right. Yeah. You know? Might be a safety thing. You trip over the chain, but you don't do this. But again, yeah, you're getting into The r word. Regulation. I think they wanna keep people from

Speaker 1: surfing. They don't want you to discover

Speaker 2: the thrill. No. They want you to lock in and continue building your startup because as we know, if you go surfing, you'll be less productive. You So gotta stop people from surfing in San Francisco. They got to get the share price up.

Speaker 9: That's the key. Patagonia founder, his book is called Let My People Go Surfing. Oh, really? It's like the whole premise. They're like, yeah, we're gonna build a company. And that's why after we get to a billion $1

Speaker 2: trillion. Yeah. Patagonia would have been the the first trillion dollar company. It could have been. It could have been. If they had little less surfing guy. Lock in, by the Yeah. And then we got the same thing happening in logos. Yeah. Let's see. Just see. It's the same pattern everywhere. And this is what's This has to change soon though. This is insane. This is an opportunity. You you have to imagine that there are plenty of brands that see this. I don't wanna be a part of the meme. I'm gonna go a different direction.

Speaker 9: The reason why I'm just utterly astonished by this and think about it every day is I think that aesthetics people think of like little icing on the cake, Like you you put on a tie, now you look good or something like that. But the thing is, like, society's aesthetics represent the the spirit of a time. Like, it's the outer reflection of the inner spirit of an age. And all this is how we see who we are, what we value. And the thing is, when I look at these designer logos, you know, it's easy to say, oh, there's no style there. Mhmm. Really, what you see is a culture that values efficiency

Speaker 1: and Conformity. Conformity

Speaker 9: above all else. And I just I don't want that to be who we are. And also kind of global sameness. Like, I want a world where there's like radical diversity. You go to different places, they feel completely different, and that the things that are made have the unique character of the people making them. That's the world I wanna live in. That's the world that inspires me. Mhmm.

Speaker 2: How do you get into a museum if it's closed?

Speaker 9: There's actually a hack for this. Tell me. Okay. So if you go to Paris or something Spend a decade

Speaker 1: developing a personal brand reputation.

Speaker 2: Spend spend a decade building a reputation of someone who cherishes millions and millions of views on So YouTube and stuff like

Speaker 9: there is a hack for this. So if you go to Paris I was in Paris, like, a month and a half ago. Buy a flight to Paris. Any any city any city, New York, LA Yep. Chicago Any city. And you show up, often they'll say, hey, you can't get into the museum. You needed tickets in advance. Mhmm. A ticket at most museums cost like $30. If you're going with a friend, it's like $60. Mhmm. And you'll say, can I get in? There's they'll be like, there's no way. You'll say, can members get in today? They'll be like, no problem. You say, how much is a membership? $120. So if you just pay $60 more, $30 per person, you can basically get into any museum in the world, no lines. Your answer is just pay? Just pay for it. It's one simple trick. But here's the thing. It's just about the membership, which is not advertised. Yeah. No. No. No. That's a good point. Didn't hack. But but the new Luke the new Lucas gonna be some, like, go in the back door,

Speaker 1: walk you know, like, dress up. The new Lucas Museum is also I don't think if you're a mem they're not, I'll take if I walk up there and say, I'll take one membership, please. They'll be like, come back when we're open. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. You gotta get a job. That's

Speaker 9: the real hack. You gotta get the job. You gotta get the job there. That's it. Or build a great brand, build a great product. I feel like my first you can do anything moment was sneaking down at Warrior Games. Had season tickets to convince my dad to get season tickets as a kid. We're all the way up in the third day. Again, you paid to get in.

Speaker 2: Trick to sneak in. Buy season tickets. We got the cheapest tickets. I sat

Speaker 9: I sat outside of the first deck for only six games. Went to every game for the season. I just snuck through. Suck it. Okay. That yeah. This is good one. Turnaround. That's a good one. Got really good at getting the free pizzas and the t shirts. I knew, like, where the t shirts were, like, most likely to go. Okay. I got a thunder Coming out of a t shirt gun or no? Yeah. Okay. Actually, my my my my ultimate hack Yeah. For sports was when I was a kid, I was obsessed with catching baseballs at games. Mhmm. So, you know, you can get the baseballs off the bat. Yep. But what I would do is I'd go to the stadium, I'd get the away team hat, the away team shirt. Mhmm. Then sit by the opposing team dugout Less competitive. To Wrigley Field, Darren Oliver, starting pitcher. I knew the name of Darren Oliver, the bullpen catcher, walked away with six baseball. Six baseballs.

Speaker 2: I was like a fifth grade kid. Was like, that's fantastic. I love it. Well, thank you so much for coming on the show. Alright, boys. Thank you. Great to see you. Have fun. Yeah. At the museum. Great to see you. Get a Chewbacca picture. Yes. I will tell everyone about Cisco critical infrastructure for the AI era, unlock seamless real time experiences, and new value with Cisco. And I'll also tell you about the New York Stock Exchange. Wanna change the world? Raise capital at the New York Stock Up