Luke McCredden

The real health concern

Let’s be clear, I understand the health issues around this pandemic, but I do have serious health concerns for Australia way beyond the virus……

As a Victorian, like many, I have not enjoyed the constant in and out of lockdowns. No one likes it, bottom line. But I don’t think it’s just a “like/dislike” type scenario. From my personal experience, this is more than just a physical lockdown that stops me going out and about. There are many who feel the same, I have spoken to lots of friends, family and even strangers through social channels that have a similar concern I do.

What I am saying in this article, is that in my opinion, the reaction of a “lockdown to avoid a potential viral infection”, is way more of a health risk than the virus itself.

The mental state of Victorians, and Australians wider, is deteriorating. I acknowledge I am generalising here, but, I’m going with it.

The impact lockdowns have had and continue to have, from a mental health perspective, is frightening……really frightening. In my opinion, much more frightening than a viral infection. I’m not playing down covid, I’m outlining the harsh severity of mental health illnesses like depression that is being drawn out, magnified and increased among so many of our friends, colleagues, family members and loved ones.

The minority that are at high risk of serious and deadly reactions to the covid virus absolutely need to be protected with all our efforts. But for the vast majority, there are far more deadly illnesses like the mental health illnesses that need more focus and attention and going into lockdown after lockdown is not the answer. Is the opposite. The pressure and heavy loads that are forced upon so many people during lockdowns unfortunately has been too much to bare for so many already, and lives are being lost far too often because of it. The death toll during this time from suicide will far outweigh direct covid related deaths. That is just the way it is, yet the attention and spotlight is all wrong and focussed on the wrong thing.

I am not a medical expert, I’m not in a political position, but I am part of the Victorian community at ground level and have seen first hand the effect these lockdowns are having and have had.

The idea of not being allowed out to participate in “normal” activities is not ok. Sorry the 2 hours on your own just doesn’t cut it. The closure of business and workplaces, and subsequently income being cut off completely in a lot of cases is not ok. Imagine living alone with nowhere to go and no-one to see or talk to regularly, now add staring down the barrel of not being able to afford rent or home loan repayments. This is a recipe for disaster. Whatever the support is supposed to be, it’s not enough.

My other real issue here is kids. The notion from the political types that “kids are resilient and will get through this unscathed”…….horse shit. Yeah kids are able to withstand a lot and in a lot of ways are quite resilient, but I think we are in a world now where we understand that impacts and trauma from early years reverberates through their future years. Kids are going to be impacted in ways beyond our ideas of what we think they can withstand. In fact, they already are in my opinion. School, sport and birthday parties are all social activities that are far more important than the actual learnings and programs that are undertaken at school, let alone the “remote learning” experience.

With kids, we have an opportunity to set the support up that they need before it gets too late and they are impacted the way so many Australians are every day. We lose too many people, too many friends, too many loved ones, too many humans, every day. It is my opinion, that lockdowns are increasing and amplifying depression here in Australia and ultimately, taking too many lives. Let’s think about that as a priority.

I’m not breaking any news or ideas here, I just wanted to express my deep concern for the health of the Australian population. And not just the viral health, there are far greater concerns.

Lockdowns are not the answer for one of Australias biggest health risks.

Humans Episode 28 – Chris Anstey

	Hello friends, welcome. Below you will find a transcript of a few sections from Episode 28 of Humans featuring the wonderful Chris Anstey. Chris was kind enough to give me and you some of his time and share some amazing insights into his learnings from a long career of being a top level athlete not only here in Australia, but Europe and the USA too. If you like what you read and want to hear the full episode with much more, find the links below to your favourite podcast player and check it out!! Luke: I can genuinely say you are the tallest guest I’ve ever had on the podcast. Chris: And I can generally say this is the smallest studio I’ve been in. L: I even feel like this is a small room. So I can’t imagine what it feels like for you at the moment. So well done for putting up with it. Thank you again for coming in, it’s a blast.
	I’ve got to say I, one of the things that triggered me to, get in touch was after I read an article you did, or blog you did recently on the Sports Power Australia website and thought, that’s something that kind of encapsulates what this podcast is about. It’s more than just what you see. It’s the stuff behind it. And so the chance story around around you beating Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, I suppose was, just that. That blew my mind, and I wanted to ask you a bit about that idea of, there is a chance, no matter what the number. C: It’s ironic that by pure chance, I ended up watching “Dumb and Dumber” last night and as I watched it, it’s what I kept referring back to, when Lloyd Christmas says to Mary, what the chances of a girl like him ending up with a guy like her, and it ends up being one in a million, he said, “so you’re telling me there’s a chance?” And I suppose that was my experience with basketball in general as well as in this one particular game. I always liked the fact that I considered myself naïve, so often in anything that we do in sport and in life, we presume to know the outcome before even to attempt the task. And over the years, it occurred to me, that the best players that I’ve played against and the hardest to compete against, weren’t necessarily the most talented. They were the ones who could replicate their effort every single time. They never gave you a possession.
	So often, we all know the answers, as adults, to most of life’s questions because they’re all written in front of us. They’re in books, everywhere. And you know what we can’t replicate in a book, or what we can’t add, is emotion. And when we get emotional, we make poor choices more often than not. That’s what sport gives us, because it is emotional. I found myself, back in 1998 in March, walking onto a basketball court to play against Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. He’d announced his retirement. This was the last dance, they promoted that and I went through the absolute full spectrum of emotions. I was excited. I was nervous. I was anxious, all of these different things. I got to the game, I looked down the other end of the floor, and there was Michael Jordan, and as much as I’d become accustomed to playing against some pretty big names, this was different. I’d been starting, I was playing okay, and so I fully expected to start again, and I didn’t play a minute in the first half. So with all these emotions and my family was in the crowd because they’d come, flown from Australia to watch the Bulls and my friends were there, I didn’t play a second. So all of a sudden my emotions switch to anger and frustration and all these sort of things at half time. I just thought, this is the only chance I’m ever going to get and it’s been taken away from me. But I got on in the second half, and I suppose with that whole vortex of emotions that I’d experienced over the last few hours, the first minute or two I was on, I was so bad, I just didn’t feel like I was meant to be there. I felt like they would have been looking around thinking, Who the hell’s this guy?
	The first time I touched the ball, I actually went up to try to dunk it, and Michael Jordan fouled me. The worst thing I did when I walked back to the free throw line was, I looked around and I see Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Phil Jackson, Steve Kerr, Luc Longley and I just felt, what am I doing here? And I shot two of the worst free throws I’ve ever shot in my life. I suppose that was the moment for me that I thought I couldn’t get any worse. I thought, bugger it, just get back to what you’re doing. The coach, for some reason, kept me in, and we found a way to come back, one of my teammates. Cedric Ceballos hit a three almost on the buzzer to send the game into overtime. I played most of overtime and had probably the best minutes personally of the game. I hit a jump shot. I had a dunk, I got in a little scuffle with Dennis Rodman, and we won! You probably don’t learn a lot of the lessons in sports, or in life when they happen, you learn them months and years after. It was only then it sort of occurred to me. What are the odds of that happening? It’s just would have been unheard off. But to go back to the “Dumb and Dumber” reference, if one exists, why can’t it be the first time? And if it’s not the first time, why not the next time and so on and so forth?
	But I find so many people either never attempt and will give up really quickly without ever knowing that the one is just around the corner. C: I’ve been coaching a long time now, and I hope that I remain true, that I’ll never have a problem with any of my players making a skill error because I want them to push their boundaries, and I want them to explore what they’re capable of.
	What I have an issue with is what I call effort errors, where you’re not quite attempting to be your best or decision making. Selfish errors, where it becomes about you. If you’re trying your best and you’re doing what you’re trying to fill your role and you make a mistake, that’s okay. We can work with you. We can help you improve. But if you’re selfish or lazy, that’s where you’re probably not going to find yourself on the team for much longer. I heard Hamish and Andy, and even they are horrified at what they sounded like when they first started doing a podcast. And they say that they had every reason to quit at the start because they weren’t very good. But they kept finding things to do wrong because every time they did something wrong, they learned something else that did work. It’s Thomas Edison with the light bulb, there are stories all through history. But it’s true if we’re scared of doing something because we’ll fail, we’ll never figure out if we can become better at it. L: Do you find that hard to do as a coach, to put to your team and give them that confidence. C: I do, confidence is a hard thing. One of the common threads that I continually get is, “I’m used to coach is telling me what I can’t do”. And if you look at it like parents, how often do we tell our kids not to do things? We tell them off. So we keep restricting what they’re capable of because we feel like we need to control them. I’m not for a second, suggesting we just let the kids run rampant.
	There needs to be strategy behind it, but I still think we need to explore and allow people to explore what they’re capable of. You know, it’s a really tricky one, but it really is instilling confidence from preparation on having someone who believes that they can do it. When I first came back to the Melbourne Tigers from Europe, the Sydney Kings and won three championships in a row and there was just this sense in the group of, they’re unbeatable. And as much as we, DMac, who was my co captain, and I told the group that we didn’t believe it, we had to prove it. The minute we beat them for the first time in a regular season game, the group came in like we’d won a championship, when we only won by two or three and played out of our brains. I’ll never forget DMac walking in and saying, “what are you happy about? All we’ve done is proven we can beat them when it matters. Now, next time we ask you, can we beat them? You actually believe it because you’ve seen it, you’re not just saying yes because you think it’s the right answer.”
	C: Having them understand, that if they don’t do it, it’s going to be okay, I’m not going to punish you. I’m gonna work with you to help. There’s a lot of people that are embarrassed by failure. They try to avoid it so they do things that they’re comfortable with. All of the special groups I’ve been a part of, are the ones who are prepared to just jump out on a ledge and see if they can fly. And if they don’t, someone will be there to catch them really quickly. Even a training, and I picked this one up from Al Westover as a player. We’d have ideas and he’d always give the players five or ten minutes at the end of practise if we needed it, to try what we wanted to. For him, even he was seeing if things work that he’d never thought of. It was a win win situation because if they worked, we’d add them. We’d all be on board because our our ideas is a playing group, and so we’re investing. If they didn’t work, then we’d stop bitching about it and telling him he should do things differently. But he’s only rule was we had to actively and to our best ability, try his way first, because we couldn’t assume it wasn’t going to work. L: As a young player, young athlete, did you have that belief? C: No, Brian Goorjian put that in me. My belief and my confidence was based on the fact that I knew I worked harder than most people I’ve ever met. And I certainly worked harder than what I knew myself to be capable of. And that included in the weight room on the floor, committing to my diet away from the sport before it became a thing, and everything associated with being a professional athlete because I thought that I was behind.
	So there is a sense that, the harder you work, and the more you invest in yourself, the less you want to give it up. One of my dumb little routines before every single game I played was, they always played the national anthem and so you face up looking at the other team with the flag in the middle of the floor. More often than not, I used to go down the opposition team. Look, each one in the eye. They probably weren’t looking at me, but in my head, I thought I worked harder than you, I worked harder than you. And I went down. Now that didn’t make me a better player. But I knew what I had invested to be on the floor in this time. So I wasn’t just going to be poor today and give it up. They were going to have to beat me. I wasn’t going to beat myself, which happens a lot in sport. L: What about when you stepped on the floor as a 22 year old in the states. A centre, your position, you would have had the American National anthem. You would’ve been staring in the face of Shaq, Olajuwon, Robinson, a young Tim Duncan who is dominating in his first season there. Even, Karl Malone and Rodman, what did that do for your confidence? C: I learnt really, really quickly that I needed to learn to shoot. If I had to get in a wrestle with them and play in the post, I was dead. They’re just a different level. I think that’s a thing with sport.
	Australia is very isolated, we do have a very small population when you’re involved in a global sport, sometimes we forget how big and strong and athletic the rest of the world is. It’s still my pet peeve with basketball here in Australia, we invest so much time on skill development, we don’t allow enough time for physical development. If I asked anyone at any level, or most levels, who the hardest opposition they’ve ever come across was, you very rarely say they were the best ball handler or the best shooter, but they were the fastest, or they were the strongest or that they were the biggest. So we need to continually invest time and effort into creating faster, stronger athletes as well as more skilled athletes. And that’s what the United States got. That’s what they actually have, because their populations so great, they’re able to select from bigger, more athletic bodies. So that that was the biggest difference, I was always quite quick for my size, which allowed me some advantages.
	L: So did you find that coming back to Australia or vice versa, as far as, the training regimes go, that their focus was more on the strength? C: Yes was it was. I mean, the Magic was ahead of its time. The South East Melbourne Magic where we were in the weight room five days a week in the off season, three or four during the season. No one else was doing that. It kept us on the floor. It reduced our injury. Sometimes it was the genetic pool that you’re selecting from. But they were invested in being quicker and stronger, and they trained on court a lot less. As a basketball league here in Australia, we are the most overtrained, underplayed league in the world. We play less games and train far more often. So we don’t have time because our bodies were continually being burnt down. You think about it, a normal training session’s an hour and half to two hours, where every players involved. Most minutes per game every player’s involved is 25 to 30. So the volume of work training is higher than a game. When I got back here to Australia, it was amazing how much the game slowed down for me, it just seemed slower and I seem like I could just I could read plays better.
	I could anticipate better. By the time I came home, I was able to be reasonably successful on the teams I was on because comparative to Russia, in a physical point of view, and comparative to America, in a physical and speed point of view. The game was really slow and really small. L: Is that where you see the league moving? The NBL? I remember it seemed huge and maybe I was younger and smaller, but, I felt like arenas were packed out. There was some franchise players, so to speak, yourself, Gaze, Copeland, all these sort of guys that people in Melbourne would go and see, and then obviously it sort of disappeared for some reason, and now it’s building up. I know it’s a great league now and they’ve really got some good support behind it. Is it building? C: It is. The thing is, I don’t think we need to compare ourselves to other people. There’s another one of your lessons that you try to instil into kids and players, to stop comparing yourself to other people. Just work on improving yourself. As a league we need to continue to do that. We don’t need to be better than a euro league, or even compare ourselves to it because we’re not competing in that market. Professional sport’s, no different to business. You get what you pay for and we in Australia as a nation doesn’t have as much money as Russia or some of the bigger European nations, certainly not the United States. So we missed the very top tier imports and always have because we can’t afford $2 million a year for an import. China can.
	L: What about the idea of the rookies like LaMelo Ball last year we saw coming across and doing that. That boosted the profile straight away and even more so now that he’s having a good run in the NBA. C: I think that’s the market. His choice was college, which is an unpaid, and he had no intention of graduating anyway. So he earns still a quarter million dollars, which is a good salary, he played against men. But I think the greatest thing for someone so young and even R. J. Hampton, who played in New Zealand, is we speak English, playing through summer, it’s a welcoming country for yourself and your family, so it’s not a jump off the cliff and have no support. I think we do a pretty good job of making sure that they can fit in reasonably seamlessly because our basketball community is very Americanised, so it’s a long way from home for them. They fit in, they come back, having played against bigger players. And you see how well LaMelo Ball is doing this year, which bodes well for more young players across for sure. L: You mentioned money. The money that you came across as a 22 year old Australian kid going to the States, and I mean, I know this could be a bit personal, but the pay cheques that these guys are getting over there, whether they’re rookies or about to retire or anywhere in the middle, seem unbelievable. To most people that look on the internet and see the salaries of what these guys are getting. Did you find even in your position that it was a bit overwhelming? C: I walked in and signed a contract for three million US dollars. That’s the part where you sort of sit back, I thought I was doing incredibly well back then, making $60,000 a year the magic. And now they’ve given me that every two weeks.
	It’s stupid. Yeah, so you do tend to get ahead of yourself a little bit. That’s probably the thing. And I’ve spoken to a few guys who have gone to the NBA. All you wanna do is make sure you get every cent. But you know, the advice I’ve always got is it’s the second one that you get rich. It’s the second contract, being able to stick around and make sure that you’re great at something which I wasn’t quite able to do after the Olympic Games in Sydney. I didn’t get my second contract. You can imagine, especially with the people who I would probably describe, as a little less level headed, imagine, giving to young kids who’ve grown up with nothing, saying here is $10 million, be humble, be sensible. Doesn’t work. L: There’s an amazing stat, I can’t remember the exact number, but it was something outrageous, like 80% of NBA players end up broke.
	C: They spend what they have. Bad advice. Bad people are around you. The agent I had was incredible. His name’s Leon Rose, and he always made sure that I sent home 95% of my salary. I live on 5% and then we work on investment. But I think anyone, especially when you’re young, you need to have, not people patting you on the back around you, but people who are genuinely looking out for your long term best interest. Get it put away, get it invested. Get yourself protected even in relationships. And if you get someone like that, yeah, it’s a big difference down the track.

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WHOOSHKAA

Lose yourself…..

Don’t be afraid to get lost. It’s often where the air is freshest and the mind can be clearest!

You often hear about how getting outdoors, into the fresh air and wilderness, can be a good way to “find yourself”, but I think what can be even more beneficial is doing the same thing, but focussing a little more on “losing yourself”.

The lockdown in Melbourne has really had an impact on me, an unfortunately, not a good impact. Now I know I’m not alone in that, but I can only speak for my own experience, so this is what I have decided to do.

I have been fortunate enough to retain my day job, which financially has been good and certainly helpful though this tough time, however, the monotony of having said job and working from home full time impacted me in a way I wasn’t ready for. The same 4 walls, the same routine, the same inability to do the things that are usually my battery chargers like camping, fishing and even spending time in the studio recording. The days started the same, and ended the same, with all the same goings on through the middle of the days, and, aside from my wife and kids, all without seeing another soul other than a quick flutter to the post office or petrol station where I might nod or exchange awkward masked facial expressions to a stranger. Now it should be said that if I never got to see another human ever again except for my wife and kids, I could certainly survive. Especially my wife Rikki, who is my best friend and we could tackle anything together. The kids, while extremely challenging at times and an ongoing rollercoaster ride, they’ve got my back, and I’ve got theirs….always.

The thing that has occurred to me and hit me throughout this lockdown period, is it’s the enforced inability to visit friends or family, or go fishing, or spend time with guests in studio on my podcast that has really disturbed me and effected me the most. I didn’t realise the significant impact that would actually have until now…..actually a few months back through to now. And if I’m honest, even with restrictions and lockdown easing, what this period has done to me personally is actually going to take some work to shake well past this hardest lockdown duration.

As I said, I am well aware that I’m not alone and there are many many people out there with similar or same experiences that will work through things differently. But I can only tell my side of the story.

Something else happened over the last month of hard lockdown which I wasn’t expecting. The desire and desperation to finally get out and about started waning. The anticipation of restrictions lifting to go and do these things I have looked forward to, all of a sudden wasn’t as significant and in fact, I wasn’t even looking forward to anything. It’s almost like I’d forgotten what it was that I wanted to do, but actually what I think it was, was that I’d forgotten why I wanted to do these things. That sucked. That sucked hard. I had to get back on track with finding why I love the things I do.

I’m fortunate to live in (a bias opinion coming up) one of the most beautiful parts of the country, and what makes it that in my opinion is it’s nature. We have endless amounts of wildlife around us and have amazing bushland a stones throw away. I realised I needed to go and walk around a bit. Get back into the bush and walk around. Breathe in that air and take it in. Surprisingly, a couple of decent walks in the bush was all it took to reignite the fire. There is something deeply engrained in me that seems to react to the openness, freshness, wilderness that is nature. Although it hurt that I still couldn’t camp or travel much further than where I was, it brought me back to being excited about the coming weeks of restrictions easing. I couldn’t believe what a couple of fairly straight forward hikes could do. But at the same time, wasn’t all that surprised too. This is what nature does. it is so powerful, enlightening and inspiring that even the simplest of strolls can bring back an urge to discovery and want more!

There was a moment recently though that caught me off guard a little bit. On a recent walk, which in itself was a great one, I managed to get off track a bit and was filming some stuff so was mucking around with setting up cameras, getting focussed, getting the shots etc and before I knew it, I couldn’t remember the way I had come in to the area I was in. It was fairly dense, albeit stunning bushland and I realised I had no recollection of where I had come in from. In that moment, aside from a touch of confusion on where I’d managed to get to, I felt amazing! I felt like I hadn’t felt in months, or longer. I felt this freedom, peace come over me and felt really happy. It was as if all the lockdown stuff, the monotony of every working day, the inability to do anything, had gone…..completely. I wasn’t expecting that at all. After soaking that up for a few minutes, I figured I better get back to it and find the track again before I really lost myself!!

To be honest, I wasn’t too lost, there was a stream that I was walking along and I could still hear it, so just walked back to the sound. In fact I wasn’t too far from the trail at all, but what happened made that point irrelevant. Getting “lost” was one of the best things that could have happened to my mind at that moment. I’m not suggesting people go out and get lost in the bush and let it be said that it can be a really dangerous prospect, but my point here is, get out, find yourself in a calming, open piece of nature and “lose” yourself for a moment. Lose your mind for a few minutes and let yourself be lost in the wild for just a second. It can be incredible.

If deep bushland isn’t your thing, find a safe place to do it. Honestly, I think this could be done even in your local park or open space that gives you some connection with nature. Forget it all apart from where you are and that your mind is lost to that. I hope it can be as beneficial as my experience.

You can check out part of that experience here:

Hook, Line & Sinker – The Boat Shed

New podcast series with the Hook, Line & Sinker team

Round 2 of podcast series’ for PodcastOne Australia with Hook, Line & Sinker and this time went down the path of boating.

Once again, in collaboration with Nick Duigan and Andrew Hart of Hook, Line & Sinker, we headed into planning mode for a 2nd series with PodcastOne. The first being the fishing series, “Back To Basics” which covered all the things you need to know for someone starting out in fishing. We had a blast with that but thought we’d take a slightly different approach with the focus being switched from fishing directly, to boating.

Andrew and Nick are absolutely passionate boaties and that combined with the massive boating industry here in Australia, we thought it would be fitting to dive head first into everything to do with boats.

The series that will take you from the comfort of your living room to the open seas in no time. From choosing what boat suits your lifestyle to navigating the seemingly endless choices around size, style and shape of boat, this series will help you make the right purchase for you and get you out on your maiden voyage.

That’s the guts of it, and that’s what we set out to do. We wanted to take listeners through a step by step adventure of boat ownership. Of course the initial stages of buying the boat is such a huge one, it took us across two episodes to cover off on what we think is a sufficient as far as our personal experiences go and advice we are confident to give.

Episode 3 is all about that first voyage, the maiden voyage. Plenty of do’s AND dont’s in this as we are all guilty of stuffing things up from time to time……and by the way, you are guaranteed to have some minor fails as you go. This boat owning things is so much about experience, learning, trying, and all of it adds up.

Then of course once you have had a boat for a while, you start adding extra features and “pimping” it out to your desire. That’s where episode 4 goes. Boat fitouts….another endless conversation that any boat owner will relate to. By the way, things that work for us doesn’t necessarily mean it works for everyone. Boat ownership is unique in that you get to know your boat and what works for it and what works for the use you need it for. Don’t let anyone tell you what you “must have” in your vessel. Only you know that!

Surprisingly, we went slightly of course for episode 5, but still relevant. So far the series is exclusively about power boats, but we know there is a mass market for sail, PWC, kayaks, canoes, SUPs and anything that gets you out on the water, so we covered it to the best of our ability!

Then finally episode 6 took us somewhere that Andrew and Nick have become famous for……project boats. Building or renovating your own boat. Disclaimer, if you have seen any of the Hook, Line & Sinker project boats on TV, you will totally understand that there are lots and lots of fails when taking on project boats. But, it’s not all doom and gloom! The wins and positives are extraordinary and to sit out in the bay, lake or ocean in something you have built or helped pieced together is a monumental moment that Hook, Line & Sinker promote to anyone…….just be careful!!!

I really hope you have a great time listening to this series. We had a ball making it and our passion for boats is still strong!!

Check it out from wherever you get your podcasts, or go to the PodcastOne Australia website and find it all there along with plenty of other cool shows!!

Humans in 30ish – Episode 5

PUT A LID ON IT

LUKE: I am going to start with something Matt, that’s, well, I think what I’m saying is it is a trend or a fad or a phase that needs to end. And that is serving food in jars. I think the time has come, enough’s enough, it’s been fun. It sort of seems to me now it’s getting a bit far.

MATT: Well, what type of food and what type of jar?

L: Ok, well, look I don’t want to time stamp it because I don’t know how far back it goes, but it’s fairly recent and it started with things like juices and smoothies at restaurants or cafes or what not being served, and that was a bit of fun. It was something new and a bit of fun, I’m not sure where it originated. But what it’s morphed into Matt, and it confuses me in its non-practical way of eating or dining, it’s turned into things like, would you believe there’s now dishes served in jars like pasta and salads and all sorts of entrees on menus and what I’m saying here is enough’s enough. We’re almost trying too hard now to force things in jars, and I think it’s time to put the lid on those jars and pop them away.

M: Yeah, look, it’s been a while since I’ve forced anything into a jar, but I did want to clarify, you’re cool with domestic jars? Like if I got some Meredith Goats Cheese in a jar with the oils, that’s cool, but you’re talking about actual restaurants, or food and beverage places serving thing in jars. You wouldn’t keep that jar would you? Like it’s just served in a jar.

L: No, it’s served in a jar as it would be a mug or a cup or a bowl, or whatever it needs to be in. You’re right, it’s the venues, it’s the establishments that are continuingly trying to, develop. I get it that it was fun and exciting, but I just think surely there’s enough creativity in some of the owners of these establishments minds to move away from the jar and perhaps look at another sort of….

M: But what salad is getting served in a jar? I haven’t come across a salad jar.

L: I’ve seen a mix, basically think about just what would be maybe as a side salad or even a salad dish. But they’re just being put into a jar, and again, I don’t know why. There’s nothing practical about it. It’s nonsensical in a way, when some of these foods, when you actually think about the process of eating, because that’s what you’re there for, no one’s enjoying that, no one is.

M: Yeah, look, sometimes I’ve enjoyed an exotic juice in a jar or a cocktail, and that’s refreshing because of the glass, and it’s recycled and obviously that’s fine, but I would agree with you that food from a jar, it seems to be too cylindrical, that cylinder style thing for a salad, a salad I think once you place it, it needs to be able to just fall. Whereas I couldn’t imagine a salad could be itself in a jar.

L: It’s crammed in and I’ve seen it in person a couple of times, but I even jumped online just to make sure that I wasn’t seeing things and, yeah, it’s a thing. And you know, there’s nothing appealing about seeing a salad jammed into a jar. So it’s put me off and I’m even a bit over smoothies and that sort of thing now. Just move on. I think jars just needs to be put away and moved away from.

M: I think you might have touched on something a little bit deeper, though, because it seems to be anything recycled that can hold something is a bit of a cool trend, so you probably see in a year they might be getting lamps, old lamp shades and putting, you know like salad or something in, just different objects that could be recycled. Then that becomes a trend that you’d read in Broadsheet, “lamp shade serving”. Oh yeah, did you hear about lampshades serving? And it just takes off and you could really make up any fad in hospitality couldn’t you.

L: And I get it at the time and the jar was fun, but it’s time. I think it’s time. I just hope they don’t try and push it any further. If I see a burger or a parmigiana stuck into a jar at a pub, that’ll do me. I’ll be throwing that across the room. Yeah, so it’s no jars.

M: Well, in summary, I’m absolutely behind you. A jar is to hold something. It’s not to be served in a jar. So I’m with you with that good call. Yeah, jarring!

GNAT CHAT

M: Actually I was talking about the domestic jar, and now I want to talk about a domestic issue off the bat. Houseplants. And Gnats. The gnats that come with house plants. Now have you had much experience with house plants and what I thought were drain flies but actually called gnats?

L: Not so much the gnats. Funnily enough we’re going through a bit of a house plant phase at the moment, so we’re trying to bring a bit of that in, but I haven’t, no, I’m a bit on edge now because I hadn’t thought of that and I hadn’t come across them so far.

M: How long have you had your house plants there?

L: A couple of months.

M; Okay. Okay. So it’s early days so they’re probably on their way. Okay? I’ve been battling gnats for the best part of three years and yeah, gnats could survive an apocalypse. They are extraordinary. And it started at work at my old work we had indoor plants and there was just gnats everywhere and we think they originated from the drain, but then they were in the plants. These things, like, I was having some Greek yoghurt one day, and one just flew out of my Greek yoghurt and then my partner who is a big house plant person, she brought in all these houseplants and all of a sudden these gnats just started taking over the house and see they resided in a house plant, but as soon as they see a human, it’s like, oh, what’s going on here? They just want to be part of it, you know? They’re just in your face. They’re not really doing anything, but they’re just in your face and like, they just want to hang out and they’re the most frustrating thing. They’re so difficult to kill, they’re like the T1000, from Terminator 2. You’ll kill it, but it’ll just morph into something else.

L: So they’re not strictly just in the plant, they will move around the home freely?

M: The plant brings them in, and that’s where I guess they breed. But as soon as they see a human, they just wanna hang. And they’re just like, in your face, like, what are we doing? What’s happening today? They don’t do anything. They’re not biting you or anything. There’s been times where I’ve been asleep and one’s just flown out of my nose. I’m trying to do some work, and they’re just there. And they’re impossible to kill and they just appear. And I think a lot of listeners will feel me because they’re so hard to kill and get rid of.

L: So is there a preferred method off extermination? Or that you’ve come across or not yet?

M: Look, I’m actually at a point where I’m in a good place with the gnats. We’ve tried apple cider vinegar. I’ve tried just hunting them one by one, like predator, you know? But they keep coming at you. I got very adept at killing them because you’ve got to just be that little step ahead. You know, if they fly right, you just gotta be just slightly ahead. And I got really good at it, but they kept coming. So, luckily enough, my partner’s mother, Mama Maria, shout out to Maria tonight, she had a remedy, which was; if you have house plants, line the soil with rocks because the soil is normally exposed. Then you, and this is okay to do because you’re not spraying the soil, you spray the rocks, the top of the rocks, with Mortein, right? And therefore, you have a coating of Mortein on the rock, the soil doesn’t get affected, so the plants healthy, gnats gone.

L: Wow! So you’ve built a rock formation of a moat, basically around your castle.

M: Impenetrable. And I haven’t seen one, maybe for a month and a half.

L: So this is a success story?

M: It’s a big success. We’ve won! I never thought it would be possible, but we’re here today and the gnats are out of my life, and it’s actually quite emotional.

L: Do you miss the times roaming through the house with a tiny little spear trying to get one by one gnats?

M: You know, there’d be numerous ways. I’m so glad they’re not, you know, flying out of my food, for example.

L: Fantastic.

M: Yeah, so that’s a win for me!

L: Well, that’s a win for you. I mean, that’s a win for our listeners. It’s a life hack. As you said, I’m sure there’s people listening that have gone, yeah, I can see one right now. So there you go. Thank you, Matt, on behalf of the people.

M: Yeah I wanted to be really positive this week.

SHIT TEAM NAMES

L: I think that’s very positive. Well done. So if we’re moving on, this is something that I was pondering on the couch the other day while watching, funnily enough, the hat you’re wearing is kind of topical in what I’m going to bring up. But I’m a sport fan, you’re a sport fan. I was sitting there the other day watching, and I believe it was a playoff game with the Lakers playing, Matt and I started thinking about the name firstly, the Lakers and how that came about. And then I just started thinking about other team names and something that’s been a on my mind for a while is that there’s just some really terrible team names in my opinion, and I sort of got sucked into this, wormhole of finding out about team names and where they come from. And just finding some, what I’m saying are just horrible competitive sport, in some cases, very physical and rough sports, and you’ve got team names that just don’t do the job for me, and I’m really bothered by it in a lot of ways.

M: Like what sort of names?

L: Well as I said, the Lakers is one that doesn’t make a lot of sense for me.

M: It’s cool though.

L: Well, it’s cool now. It’s cool that they’ve made it cool. LA has made it cool. But things like in Rugby League, for example, it’s very physical, lots of hard hitting and you’ve got a team called the Eels!? Really? Eels?

M: Slippery.

L: Another one and a big one. A big one for me that I always think, it’s just a miss. They’ve just missed it badly. Is an NBA team, the New Orleans Pelicans. Pelicans? Come on.

M: Well, I do have a story of a pelican so don’t judge a pelican by its cover. Because there’s a story of a puppy pug that was running along a beach and it was off the lead, and a pelican scooped it up and flew out and threw it in the middle of the ocean. Gone. So don’t underestimate a pelican

L: Yeah but there’s no teams getting around called the puppy pugs. You know what I’m saying? So a pelicans not really a threat or a physical presence. I mean, there’s great team names out there, and I’m going to touch on a couple here that I know you’ll be super familiar with. There’s nothing wrong with the Demons or the Hawks. Matt, I know you’re a Hawks man.

M: I think that I don’t like the demon’s name. That’s kind of oh the demons!!

L: Well it’s better than the Saints, you know, like one’s bit good and the other one’s down and dirty and ready to cause hell. But interestingly enough, if we throw back to the 1940’s, your club, and if it wasn’t for the famous Roy Cazaly, would still be getting around called the Mayblooms.

M: What’s a maybloom?

L: That’s what Hawthorn, that’s what they were called back in the day, until Roy Cazaly…

M: No but what is it?

L: Well it’s a flower is it not? Some sort of flower reference. He took a stand and said this needs to be more aggressive team name and hence the Hawks were born, and very similar fashion, the demons were nicknamed the fuchias for a while, which again is a flower reference, before, and I’m pushing back to even I think the 30’s and people out there who might be die hard footy fans would probably be familiar with the name Frank “Checker” Hughes, and he made a stand and said, you guys need to lift your heads and play like demons and then bang, demons. You know what I’m saying? So some of these people, back in the day…

M: I do, but I’m more interested in your knowledge of the history of it I think that’s really cool that you’ve done that research.

L: Well it’s bothered me for sometime and I thought, there’s got to be something to this. But, you know, we’re talking about the best part of a century ago. there were people that were able to go, you know what these team names, they’re not up to it. So we need to, Hawks is better, Demons is better.

M: Even the Magpies is a bit questionable, isn’t it?

L: Yeah. I mean, you know, a magpie? Oh they swoop oh.

M: They’re quite bright and they do swoop.

L: They’re annoying.

M: The Crows, crows are quite majestic a times. But then, like the Browns in America, what are the Browns?

L: Or the blues? And another if we’re just throwing a few more questionable around, another American team, the Jazz. I mean, that doesn’t even make sense. And again, just to give you a bit more background behind that, they were originally formed in New Orleans. That makes a bit of sense. Then they moved to Utah, and they just said, ah we’ll keep the name, that doesn’t make sense anymore so you can’t even claim that it’s a reference to your home city. It’s just a fail.

M: It would be interesting to see if there was any data on those sort of misaligned names with lack of success, you know, the Jazz got close but never, never got there you know.

L: Absolutely, absolutely. And I will finish with this and this is where I feel there is some sense. When a lot of the NBA teams were named, it was like a poll, so the public got involved and suggested names. But there have been instances where the clubs themselves have gone, nah, we’re going to just do it. Milwaukee, my team that I follow in the NBA, the two of the most popular names were nominated by the public, were the skunks or the robins. Can you imagine the skunks were in the NBA today? No. Doesn’t work. That’s where the administration just went, nah nah, we’ll go with the Bucks.

M: Well, can I ask what is a Laker?

L: Well, good question. And I did look into it. I’m very researchy tonight. I’m absolutely on my toes. You can feel my energy. Again, so the Lakers were formed not in LA, so where they were, they were in a state of lakes, full of lakes. So it was very much very, very relevant name for that time. When they moved to LA, again and in fairness, they’d already had some success and built the brand, so it probably made sense to keep that name. But I think you know, there’s only a handful of lakes in LA or around their home stadium, so it doesn’t make a lot of sense in that regard, but I’ll let the Lakers pass because, by the time they moved to LA the brand was established. That’s okay. I’m okay with that.

M: It’s better than, some of the football teams where it’s an acronym. And like a town, it’s like some sort of mailing address. FNC whatta whatta I think, yeah, I prefer the, underwhelming animal or mammal than the bloody postcode and the acronym that you get in football overseas. Good one, good one. I like that.

L: And I want to end by saying anyone listening that’s involved in sport that might be starting a new club anytime soon, just think about it. Just think about it, that’s all. That’s all I’m asking.

WAP…..WHAT??

M: There’s something I want to end on the last topic, and it’s sort of been a bit of an elephant in the room. Or should I say, the wet elephant in the room? And I’m talking about a little song that’s dropped recently called “WAP”, or in other words, “Wet Ass Pussy”.

L: Yeah, wow.

M: You’ve heard it, haven’t you?

L: Yeah, and I don’t want to cut in, but this is only….

M: You can’t not cut in

L: The full, unedited version has only been brought to my attention very recently. And wow. I mean, wow!

M: It’s visceral, isn’t it? Yeah, look, I’d love to hear your thoughts because, in my opinion, I’m a big fan for many reasons. I think a) it’s a great song. It’s got a great beat. It’s got really good raps and it gets the people going. But it is. It’s provocative isn’t it? And what I love about it is it’s just passionate. It’s passion! I think it’s come in the pandemic, and I think it’s almost counterintuitive to the pandemic. But I think, wow, there’s going to a lot of WAP babies out there. Don’t you think?

L: Potentially, potentially. Look….

M: Please go, I’d love to hear your thoughts

L: I don’t really know what, because I get there’s the trend around the TIK-TOK dance move around it, is that right? You’re more involved in that sort of thing that I am

M: No I’m not involved in TIK-TOK you can’t say that I mean, my daughter’s used a little bit, but we banned it since that other incident a while a go. But no I’m talking about the actual song.

L: Okay, the thing that jumped out to me when I was shown the full unedited version, including the clip the video is, yeah, it’s just a real smack in the face of just wow, ok, this is happening now. This is music now. Okay, look, you’re right, the tune and the beat and all that I’m sure it obviously works because there’s a big following for it. But do you think that one of the biggest sellers for this is that sort of, there’s nothing left out, like it’s just all in.

M: I think it’s just, it’s the filthiest, most tasteful song and clip. It hits hard on that rawness, and I was talking about that passion, but it’s done so well, but it’s also so honest, and I don’t want to make it, you know, there was a lot of rap songs in the eighties and nineties, very male dominated and, talking about being with hundreds of bitches and getting all this sort of stuff done and what not. So it’s great to see just that that really, not only a great song, but just that passion and that reclaiming, a woman reclaiming their own desires. But also it’s quite instructional. So for all the lovers out there that, it’s a bit of that Richard Mercer love songs and dedications for all the lovers out there. Let’s get a bit of WAP, let’s put it on, a bit of wet ass pussy and it’s the wet ass and the wet pussy, sort of two layers. And I think it’s wonderful and the aggressiveness and I’m right behind it.

L: Yeah ok, it’s…yeah ok! Look it’s new, they’ve hit a market. They’ve hit a market and it’s a global market. Is there an edited version that is on the radio waves, airwaves? Or is that not quite that it’s just more of a social media sensation?

M: The thing is, and pardon the pun, but the edited version doesn’t water down Wet Ass Pussy at all because it’s just Wet and Cushy and I mean, you know, it still has, like, macaroni in a pot and all those lyrics it’s just so visceral. That’s why it’s brilliant because you can’t even water it down when you try to water it down. It’s just full of flavour.

L: So commercially it’s established and it’s successful. So I mean, we could sit here and judge it as much as we like Matt, but I think that

M: I’m not judging it. I’m loving it!

L: Well, I think it speaks for itself. I think the answer is in the success it’s had and, maybe this will open up a new freedom of honesty for everyone writing music from now on. I don’t know.

M: Yeah, I know what you mean. And it’s actually hard to articulate what it is, it’s so truthful in a way. I think for all the lovers out there, that when you’re in something and it’s that passion, I think they really capture that. And it’s what the woman feels and what the guy could do. And it’s just fun. But it comes with that boom! You know, that real attitude. For all the shit that’s come from 2020, I think this is a win……

Follow the links for the full audio episode

Humans in 30ish

The newest series in the Humans podcast world…..

Humans in 30ish came about when I threw an idea of starting a new podcast series while in lockdown here in Melbourne.

It’s fair to say this lockdown and the whole COVID experience has put the brakes on a lot of people creatively, and I admit it has done that to me for a period. But I didn’t want to stop everything, so I started toying with the idea of creating a continuous podcast series that I could roll out while waiting to get back into the swing of things (whenever that could be). I threw a couple of ideas together and jumped on the phone to my good friend and always entertaining, Matt Peek. After a bit of back and fourth, Humans in 30ish was born and production more or less kicked off straight away.

The “30ish” reference is linked to the fact that we wanted to create each episode to be “about” 30 minutes long. A shorter format than the standard Humans podcast which is more around the 1 hour mark. There is also a reference to Matt and I being in our 30’s, but depending on the longevity of the show, it could end up being Humans in 40ish in a few years!!

So what is it all about…..

Well, actually, in terms of content in each episode, we really don’t know! I’ll explain in a sec. But the concept is, that each episode, Matt and I come together, albeit remotely initially, and bring to the table two discussion topics each. These topics can be literally anything. There is no topic too taboo, no topic too boring, no topic too out of left field. All topics are in play! Now, the reference to the unknown content, is that, we don’t share these topics prior to recording, the idea is to get on the spot reactions and our thoughts on each….and more or less see where it takes us.

To give you an idea of the range of topics, the first couple of eps we ever recorded gave us the likes of, Gin, Trump, “Karen”, Isis, Birthday Cards and Sizzler Restaurants. Yep no real trend to that other than the randomness of it……and that’s why it is sooo enjoyable to create. At the moment, we are recording these episodes weekly and having a ball.

Keep an eye on the Humans Podcast Insta page as well as subscribing to the podcast wherever you get your podcasts from.

In the meantime, check out the latest Humans in 30ish for yourself and let us know what you think!!

Cheers, Luke

Humans Podcast

Why Humans?? Here is a bit of a snapshot of why I created the Humans podcast…..

I have been involved in the audio format of media for quite a while now and done stints in radio presenting, podcast hosting and even a bit of voiceover work. The podcast thing really appealed to me when I first started mucking around with it, probably early 2010’s. I liked the format of being able to pre-record content, but also format it to how you think your listeners might like it. The radio show I was doing at the time was a community show in the south-east of Melbourne and I started converting each live ep into a podcast for release the next day. I think this was fairly new for the station at the time, but it seemed to have pretty decent uptake form listeners. From there I explored the medium in a more detailed way and started diving ears first, into the massive world that is podcasting!

I have been, and continue to be involved in a number of podcasts in various categories, but in 2018 I decided I really wanted to create something that was unrestricted in content and time lines, unscripted and unsensored in what I want to say, and feature people that I really wanted to chat to, without trying to push any agenda or reach a certain discussion point, just to let it flow. I took on a working title of Humans and started creating a concept of what I wanted to achieve, which ultimately, was to record conversations with myself and a guest each episode that I find to be a great human. It was and still is a very simple concept, but one that I feel really at peace with representing who I am, but also who the guest is. I spent the next year finding ways and excuses not to do it, but finally, with the help and support of my amazing wife, I started recording and kicked it all off.

But why though……

Ok let’s step it back a bit. Have you ever judged a book by it’s cover? Put someone into a silo without really knowing whether they belong there? Made up your mind on someone without even meeting them or hearing about who they are?

Of course you have……we all have…..it’s much easier to just make an assumption on a persons character and put it to bed, than it is to actually take a moment to get to know someone, to listen to them, to get a snapshot of their lives and actually have an understanding and appreciation for who they are.

It was my daughter who, unintentionally, gave me the inspiration to take a moment to not be judgemental. Rather than use a split second to make up my mind on something, stop and think openly about it. It is her black and white way of thinking, which can at times be challenging, that opened up the view that; we are all human, but until we take the time to understand someone, hear from them, listen to their story, there is no way we can make an assumption on who they are and what kind of human they are.

This way of thinking has changed the way I view things now and I feel really fortunate to have been opened up to it. What it has also taught me is that, everyone has something great to say…sometimes we just need to listen harder!

I have been really fortunate to have had such amazing guests on the show to date and can’t wait to keep producing these episodes.

Thanks for coming by the site. I hope you have had a listen to some of the episodes and my guests, and I can resonate in some way with you. It’s all about communication and this is one of the best ways to become the best human version of yourself that you can!!

Cheers, Luke