031. - Sam Hine

All right, this episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by Stateside with Kai and Carter, a new podcast from The Guardian. And they are using this podcast to slow down the news and wrestle with the questions that we all have about what's happening in the world. And they do it three times a week. Jason, does that sound familiar to you? We don't really talk about, you know, a lot of international global news items and climates and cultures and sports and things like that. We do talk about fashion and wellness, but for everything else, Kai and Carter are a great place. All right, so who couldn't use more news? Listen wherever you get your podcast. or watch on YouTube. Want to make a podcast? Spotify's got a platform that lets you make one super easily, then distribute it everywhere, and even earn money. We like that. All in one place for totally free. It's called Spotify for Podcasters. And here's how it works. Spotify for podcasters lets you record and edit podcasts right from your cellular telephone or your computer. So no matter what your setup is like, you can start creating today. Then you can distribute your podcast to Spotify and everywhere else, those other places that podcasts are heard. Video podcasts are also available on Spotify. And when you want to take conversations with your fans to the next level, Q&As and polls are the best way to get them talking. With Spotify for podcasters, you can earn money in a variety of ways, including ads and... and podcast subscriptions. And best of all, it's totally free. Zero catch. We've been using it ever since we started How Long Gone. And ever since I discovered Spotify for Podcasters, I feel like having the option of turning off the Q&As and the polls on the user dashboard has really helped boost my creativity and take it to another level. I highly recommend giving it a try. Download the Spotify for Podcasters app or go to www.spotify.com slash podcasters to get started.

What is up, you motherfucker? What did I do? That was a playful motherfucker. Oh, I see. Don't worry. Just about to crack open a macadamia latte. No sugar. Yeah, how is it? Pretty damn good. Shout out to Taika. T-A-I-K-A. Coffee that conjures clarity. For sending it through the pack. My man, so my man Colin that does... why this is interesting, the newsletter, he hit me and asked and wanted to send me some. And I was like, well, let me wait till I get to America, but send my man TJ some. Ooh. That was cool because I got a text message, like one of those automated text things saying like, you, you know, thank you for blah, blah, blah. Your shipment of Taika is arriving. And I had no idea what it was about. So I just said, okay. And then they sent it to me. Yep. Well, welcome to being friends with Chris Black. The benefits are huge. Every day I wake up and there's a new box on my doorstep and it reeks of your stench. You had your hand in it at some point. Oh, it must smell like a nice mix of Aesop deodorant and mouthwash and Comme des Garcons cologne. Wow, that sounds pretty good to me. Like an unwashed Bodhi trouser. That also sounds pretty good. What's going on, Kate? Speaking of, if somebody was asking me, is it pronounced Bodie or Bode? Wow. You simps don't know? Can you clear the air for everyone listening? There's probably some simps listening right now who don't know. Bodie, of course. I just like when you say that word because it reminds me of watching Baywatch. If you didn't know it was pronounced Bodhi, you can unsubscribe to this podcast. That is not true. That is not true. Every listener counts. Give us a great rating and review on iTunes. God bless. Every listener counts unless you're a simp. I just went on a little bike ride for fun, which I've never done in my life. A bike ride for fun, which you've never done in your life. Never. This was not a solo bike ride.

Yeah, it was. I've been using the city bikes here in Montreal to get to and from places because it's just easy and there's no traffic. But today, I just took one out for a little hour and a half spin just to reconnect. They say that Mother Nature is relearning and healing. And I think this is all part of it. The metamorphosis that Chris Black is going through in quarantine is unprecedented. It's pretty incredible. But, you know, I think what it is is that Sundays, you know, if I take the day off from exercise, which I've been trying to do because my body is under immense stress and pressure, I usually, you know, just really take it easy and lay around. But I think a little bit of movement, like a bike ride at a medium pace. is better, you know, active recovery. It's something to help you feel like you're not a, you don't get a full guilt. Exactly. And then you also, you know, you don't exert your body enough to, to, you know, be hurting the next day. Maybe even better. I also had pizza last night because I'm a bad boy. Fuck. I mean, I was reminding me of like the last time we, You and I and a bicycle were together. I remember I was in front of wax paper sandwiches in France. And I was like, take my bike for a little spin around the street. I just want to see you. And I remember you being like, I'll look like I'm a poor person riding a bike. I can't be spotted on a bicycle. I don't know if I said that. I don't know if I said that. And more, I mean, I may be zhuzhing it up a bit for the drama, but you were basically, I mean, you were not team two wheels up until recently. No, I was not. And you know what I've learned, I think, is that it's actually, as a person who's often a pedestrian and often in a car, but never in a bike, I never understood their side of it. And now I have a full 360 understanding of how transportation in cities work.

And it's really opened my eyes a lot. This is a real freaky Friday situation. You sound like a white guy who just got his first black friend. Hey, be cool. I've had black friends for a long time. But not in a while. But yeah, it's pretty interesting. So I kind of understand a little bit more of how we need to share the road as people, both on four wheels, two legs, or two wheels. I got to say, obviously, I love it. I'm here for it. Do you think that since you've been riding so many of these rental city bikes, which are obviously inferior, that you may pull the trigger and cop a cycle for yourself? I feel like I probably should, but I don't like the storage aspect at all. You mean you don't like the fact that you don't have storage is what you're saying? I mean, I just, yeah, I'm not going to put it in my apartment. You can't lock it up on the street. They'll get stolen. So it's a little bit of a game of like, where do I put this thing? And that's the beauty. I mean, obviously the city bikes are inferior and they're heavy and they're shitty, but. I don't hang it on my wall next to my AeroPress. You know what I mean? It's a little cooler in that way. Your building doesn't have an area by the laundry or something where you can put it? I don't think so. It might, honestly. I don't think so. I've never even looked into it. It would be cool to buy one. I would like something that's in between. cool guy cruising bike and an actual sport mode. I think I could prescribe a couple looks for you in the $1,800 range. Seems like a good price for you. I felt like $2,000 was probably what it cost to get something cool, which is not nothing, but I'm willing to invest in my physical well-being.

This is making me happy, I got to say, Chris. I mean, look, man, honestly, I think I had the wrong... I mean, also, I've been friends with so many people that embraced bike culture in different ways from when I was younger and lived with bike messenger hardcore dudes all the way to dorky graphic designers that had fixed gear bikes. It's never been made to look that cool to me, unfortunately. People really do be hating on cyclists. the the bad the people that are bad at it really just give it such a bad reputation and it just i mean even me like when i'm driving around and some cycle bros fucking around i i it pisses me off and and i'm i'm one of them that's the thing that's what i'm trying to understand i like i've said before on this podcast i see both sides like chanel so i'm trying to Do you know how much the Supreme mountain bike costs? Because I think I just found the perfect cycle for you. I imagine they went pretty quick. So the resale cost is probably around $3,000 to $4,000 to $5,000. Love it. I feel like it should be more. I feel like it should cost like $10,000. It could be 10 racks. I don't have Grail pulled up right now. Shout out to Atiba when I spotted him last week. Pretty legendary. Honestly, that was cool. I really thought it was cool. It was a very advanced fit. Most people in the timeline were like, that's a lot of Supreme, bro. Hellraiser shorts, vintage Jawbreaker tank top, and then everything else on him was... A piece of Supreme that is very expensive and rare. I mean, it's cool because you know he's not paying for it. If it was some fucking dork that had paid for it, it'd be different. Yeah, they're like, hey, do you want this Supreme helmet? And he's like, fuck it, I don't know, whatever. Yeah, I mean, I guess I need a helmet. So that's what I did today. And then last night I had pizza because it's Alex's birthday on Monday.

We had a little za from Illinois, which is like the best pizza I've had in a long time, actually. So we have Memorial Day in America. You guys have Bae's birthday. Yeah, she thinks that it coincides for a reason. Yeah, I mean, it's all about the fucking troops, baby. Well, I mean, last Monday in Canada was a holiday. Yeah, you guys had some fucking syrup and shit. family day or whatever they call it you know what i mean family day is a real holiday that's pretty cool i don't know if canada has heroes you know what i mean besides justin bieber i don't know if they have like they're not known for heroes you know what i'm saying bro to me family is everything yeah to me family is the heroes eh uh well uh did you guys have a good quarantine birthday i'm i i feel my our birthdays obviously are in september team virgo but there's there's a there's a good chance we will be celebrating our birthdays in quarantine but maybe not i don't know nah fuck that maybe in california bitch we're we're busting out the feds if that's the case i'm i'm tj can't be locked down for his birthday oh is it 40 or 39 um four zero bro let's go oh hell no bro i'll charter the plane we'll go somewhere all right i mean i was i was scheduled to go to be in spain yeah but you know i feel like damn i didn't get that i think i didn't get the invite that's pretty crazy well you know you uh the only way you can get invited is if is if you're paying for it or if you're or you're busting it down for birthday boy that's that's i think that's a good policy actually but yeah that i mean there's a there's a strong chance that that is not i don't think i don't think that i i disagree like i'll be able to go like have a nice fun birthday probably with some friends with some restrictions maybe even in a restaurant who knows but I don't know if that will involve international travel just quite yet maybe I mean it might be because you're a pussy but they might open it up I mean you know Italy just flexed on us was like everybody can come through except Americans that's cool I like that um we we we deserve we deserve it you know

We always deserve it. We deserve it. We have a podcast today with somebody that I'm only friends with on the internet. I don't think I've ever really hung out with him in person, but you know him pretty well, right? Yeah, he's a very close friend, a son, a prince, if you will. Sam Hine, a friend of the show. He is a senior associate editor at GQ. Very chic and stylish. Great hair. Yeah, GQ's really having a moment right now, it seems like. They're kind of hitting a lot of home runs lately, editorially speaking. Well, I mean, I think people want to be told, and I think Will is telling them. Do you know what I'm saying? It's like leading his troops to be like, this is making definitive statements on what's cool and what's interesting. Beyond like, oh yeah, we're going to do a celebrity profile. Which obviously they do because they're a fucking magazine, but I'm saying it goes further than that. Well, that is something that I'd like to explore with Sam, for sure. But I think, yeah, that does make sense. There are a lot of people who are not really taking those risks. being opinionated right now where everyone is afraid of you know their industry being on the on the failing end of things nobody really wants to take any risks or chances or alienate their audience or piss off their readership and but you kind of have to do that nowadays you got to break some eggs i mean i think that anything else in their direct category is not it you know there's very little competition at this point in some ways them and maxim at this point exactly well i mean you know fhm is coming back i heard so you know i i literally completely i'm just kidding i'm just kidding i know i know you're kidding but like my if you never said fhm magazine i would have it would have been removed from my hard drive forever

Don't worry, Jason. I'm always here to remind you of awful things from our youth. I know. That's why I follow your Tumblr. Jason? You did not like that one. You didn't even have a chuckle. No, I'm bringing Tumblr back and I'm not afraid of any of my haters. What are you doing to bring Tumblr back? Are you going to buy it for $2 million? No, I'm just using it a lot. And I'm not even telling anybody I'm using it. I just personally use it a lot, but I have a pretty big following. I feel like it's like easy place to dump my images, you know? Cause you got to dump them somewhere. I'm just, I just don't, I'm not like a hard drive guy. You know what I'm saying? No. What do you expand? I'm saying like, I'm saying, I'm saying like Yayo has a fucking fireproof safe with a hundred hard drives, everything on it. I'm not that technically sound. Like I just, it's easier for me to post something somewhere. than it is for me to categorize and organize it. I'm just not good at that. You would rather let the good people at Tumblr.com archive your work for you versus maintaining your volumes yourself. Even though they ban nudie and are eventually going to go away, I'm just going to probably lose everything. Didn't somebody buy them? Didn't Pornhub buy them or something? No, somebody bought them. I can't remember who. I've tried not to keep up because it kind of ruins it for me. Like I don't care about the news. I'd rather just use it and keep it pushing. True. But I mean, you know, when Tumblr had porn, what a great time. It felt like you were stealing cable. It just felt like, you know, we're all in on this. We all know what time it is. And no one's going to do anything to stop this. One of my favorite moments of Tumblr was when I had that picture when I was heavily bearded when I went viral on bare Tumblr. Oh, shit. I forgot about that. Yeah, it was pretty cool. Honestly, it had like a lot of likes, dude. Like a lot. Like five digits out. Maybe like 20,000 or something. Maybe more. 20K impressionis. Impressionis. And this is a... You posted a selfie of yourself for the bear community. It was not a selfie. It was a photo of me just when I had a beard which appealed to the bear community. Hmm.

And I'm now apparently a proud member of the, I appeal to the otter community. Whereas I classify as a long otter. I think you're more of a twink. That is absolutely false. But well, I like where this convo is going. So let's put a brief pin into it and spark it right back up when we get Sam on the buzz. All right. All right. All right. I'll call him. This episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by a new podcast from The Guardian stateside with Kai and Carter. This is covering a lot of our bases, Jason. It's trying to slow down. the news and wrestle with the questions we all have about what's happening in the world and i know you particularly have quite a lot of questions a lot of questions but how often because we do this podcast three times a week and that's a sweet spot how many times do they do three times a week and i i have a feeling just based on the platform and these talking points that they're maybe going to be covering different stuff than we do that's just a guess the guardian is not some billionaire owned They're not afraid to say what they want to say, brother. Yeah, Rupert ain't sniffing around in what journalists Kai Wright and Carter Sherman are up to over there at Stateside. But yeah, listen wherever you get your podcasts. You can watch it on YouTube. It's three times a week. And who couldn't use more news? You know, especially when it's not, you know, from here, let's say. Give it a listen. Give it a listen. This episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by Squarespace. Obviously, Jason, you and I spend a lot of time on the World Wide Web, sort of our peers, our listeners, our friends, our colleagues, maybe even your parents if they're freaky. And if you're doing anything in the world... writing, taking pictures. I do topless boxing. You need a website. Exactly. A website that works, that does what it's supposed to do, that allows you to be creative, but also business-minded. Jason, there's one place to go for that, Squarespace. Yeah, Chris, I'm over here. I'm modifying calculators and putting Claude inside of them so you could cheat at school. And I just want a place where I could have everything all in one place. I can have the SEO tools.

So those future graduates can find me and, you know, I'm able to accept quote unquote donations for my services that might be gray area. You know what I mean? And then email campaigns. Hey, I got a new, you know, 2.3 version upgrade. Boom, boom, boom. Get the analytics going. Raise some money. Show your investor all of your cool analytics of what's going on. They're going to want to get in early, and we can use Blueprint AI to make your website look as professional as your competition, if not more. So head to squarespace.com slash howlong for a free trial. When you're ready to launch, use offer code howlong to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or a domain. oh this is huge for me personally this episode of how i'm gone is brought to you by task rabbit oh baby let me tell you something this is this is not a joke i use task rabbit a lot because i can't do anything you need you need some art hang hung task rabbit you need you need a you need a fucking something put together a cabinet gotta reach reach that cheese grater on the top shelf task rabbit anything anything you need task rabbit can take care of it for you and i mean it How it works, TaskRabbit connects you with skilled taskers in your area. They can help you move. They can assemble furniture, repairs, yard work, mounting, and more. You can search for a tasker based on cost, skill set, availability, and past client reviews so you know exactly who's showing up and can have confidence that they know what they're doing because taskers have assembled over 3.4 million pieces of furniture, completed 700,000 home repairs. handled 1.5 million moves, and the numbers are just going up, Jason. Yeah, throw a little money at the problem. It's not so expensive. And that job that you really don't want to do is something that another person out in the world is very good at doing and would gladly do it in exchange for a little bit of money. So when life happens, your to-do list grows. Get ahead of it now and get $15 off your first task at TaskRabbit.com or grab the TaskRabbit app using promo code

How long? Taskers book up faster, especially for same-day tasks. So book Trusted Home Help today. That is $15 off your first task using promo code HowLong with the TaskRabbit app or at TaskRabbit.com. There he is. Hey. Damn, are you podcasting outside right now? Yeah, I'm on the patio, you know. It's too nice to be inside right now. Are you at Tommy Hilfiger's house? Tommy's going to join in a sec. Dude, that's a good get. Thank you for that. Thank you for that. We couldn't do that on our own. How do I turn off the camera? You guys are just no video. Yeah, Jason, tell them how to do it. It's all right. It's all right. You sure? Yeah. I want you guys to see this fit, you know? Yeah, no, of course. Yeah, I know what's important to you. What's going on? What's going on, bro? Not much. You know, played a little tennis this morning. Had a little cold brew. Just chilling. Birds of a feather, my friend. Yeah, this literally sounds like my co-host. That's all I'd be doing, really. On similar waves. That's good. Yeah, now whenever I play tennis with my girlfriend now, and all I do is just daydream about the day where Chris and I can be on the same court together battling. Yeah. I'm lucky because I'm out here quarantined with my twin brother, so we're pretty evenly matched on the court. It's a fun time. Didn't know you were a twin. Fraternal or identical? We're fraternal, but we look really similar. I'm also a twin. It's caused a bit of confusion over the years. Jason is also a twin. I have a lot of twins in my life, actually. Oh, really? Yeah, it's weird. I can think of five sets that I know, probably. Jason, what's your twin setup? We're fraternal. We look pretty similar in the face, but our bodies are much different sizes. I'm extremely tall, and he is...

regular tall damn so i'm like six nine he's like five eleven touching six on a in heels wow how does that work that's wild i'm i'm nick and i are pretty similarly uh built i guess but um he's an inch taller than me which uh has given me like a lifetime of I don't know. It makes me feel upset pretty much constantly. Who can kick each other's ass is the real question, though. On the tennis court, I come out on top. Sam, you know we're not talking about tennis here, baby. We're talking about blood sport. We're talking about in the alley behind the house. Yeah, we're talking about throwing some big hands. So you've transferred from Chicago to Shelter Island. Yeah, so we were in Chicago, or I was in Chicago for eight weeks. My condolences. My family, which was nice. Might have felt like enough, and now that it's getting pretty nice out, Nick and I relocated. So we're actually in the middle of a 14-day mandatory quarantine out here. Everyone who comes to the island has to quarantine for two weeks. So we've been here for seven or eight days. I didn't know that. I didn't know that. Yeah, there's very little, there are very few cases of coronavirus on the island and they're trying to keep it that way. That makes sense. So how do they enforce that? Is it just good faith that you're not leaving anywhere or? Yeah, there doesn't seem, I think they're actually not really enforcing it. They're just trusting everyone to do the right thing. And I think there's like a fair amount of like. you know, there's like a good like community out here. I think everyone's like, I think everybody over there, you know, sort of polices themselves pretty well. In Chicago, in Chicago is pretty, like no one is really with the program, which I was surprised by. The shelter in place program. Yeah. I mean, even like seven or eight weeks in, like, you know, people were not really masked up on the streets.

and it was a little the parks were all closed too so everyone was kind of just crowded on the sidewalks like you know mask off it felt a little it was a little stressful um i thought and then and then when we came back we flew back to new york and rented a car and stopped by my place in brooklyn and every single person had a mask on it was like it was last saturday so it was like 70 degrees and beautiful and uh and it felt totally like fine and not Not so weird to be out. But every time I went outside in Chicago, I was like, oh, my God. I'm going to die. Someone wearing Allbirds is going to get coronavirus. That's how I felt. And then the coronavirus happened. People in Montreal aren't really masked up either. But I feel like it's just Canada. You know what I mean? I don't think they're getting the same level of instruction that Americans are getting. But, I mean, I'm going back to New York for a couple days before I drive to Atlanta, and I'm concerned about being forced to exercise with a mask on, because I don't really think that works. I don't know about, I mean, like, I mean, I was going on runs in Chicago without a mask on, obviously, because it seems just horrible to have a dog with a mask. You know, I was like running in the street and stuff. There weren't really cars, so. People are giving me weird looks. I don't know. I think you have to pick your battles. That's what I'm willing to... I'll go to the mat for people, for joggers who don't want to wear masks. As long as you're away from people, it's fine. I'm ready to get in a fight anyway. I'm kind of pent up. If it's not going to be road rage, it's going to be physical from running. That's fine. My heart rate will already be up. I'll already be revved up. I doubt somebody can take me in that form. It sounds like you've been bulking up in Montreal as well. You've got the kettlebell plug. Sam, unfortunately, I have not been bulking up. I've been trying to just retain what little bulk I had. It's a losing battle from all the cardio. It was a very little bulk to begin with, so you could imagine. Speaking of kettlebells, wasn't there an article about the kettlebell shortage?

Yeah, there was one in GQ a couple – what was it, like three weeks ago maybe? No, I thought it was recent. I just saw it yesterday. Oh, you're a little behind. I think it was GQ. Is there another one about – because I know you – You found a guy in New York who... No, the one on GQ that I tweeted yesterday, actually, was about the whole history of foundries and how there's a reason. Yeah, that one was from a month ago or so. Oh, damn, I did miss it. Chris is a little behind on a lot of his internet stuff. You've got to get him some time. Yeah, dog, catch up. Never say that to me again. Never say that to me again. I miss, I can't hit a home run every time I go up to the plate. But that was really interesting because it was just like facts only. So why is it? Because I did not read it. It's basically like the way they were manufacturing them at one point, they just didn't work as well. So once they like created the mold and used steel and like a foundry, there's just not enough of those left. Like it's like a dying industry. So it's kind of something that could be brought back like to America manufacturing. is kind of what it's done in China. Because I was saying last night, is there not a way to do it? Could you not do 3D printing or something? You know what I mean? So it's all one piece. But I guess you couldn't get it heavy enough with 3D printing. Are you trying to do a DTC kettlebell startup of some sort? I have looked into it. I've spoken to how long gone graduate Joe Holder about the idea. But I think Joe Holder might be ahead of me on that. But I don't know. Somebody's going to figure it out. I don't know what it's going to be. I think it's such a weird, frustrating thing because there's all this crazy innovation and Tesla's sending rockets to Mars and electric cars and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's just a ball of metal with a handle on it. It's something that somebody could make 5,000 years ago. Like a caveman could do it. Why is this not happening?

I'm sure the next time I take the subway, whenever that may be, I'll see some sans-serif font advertisement for kettlebells. It'll be a nice pastel background. Exactly. We've disrupted kettlebells, and you're not ready for this. With some condescending copy about how weak you've gotten in quarantine. I can't wait for post-quarantine shame advertising, actually. That's definitely going to happen. Shame me. Yeah, God. If that kind of thing goes away, I'm not saying it all hasn't been worth it. It's not the worst thing that could happen. I mean, there's a network called Freeform. Have you heard of it? Yes. They have ads. Whenever I go on bike rides around Studio City, Universal City area, they have billboards everywhere that stay. Say stay the F home and then F is spelled with the two Fs in free form. I just want the whole network to burn and just finish. Horrible. Only because of that. That's pretty bad. I mean, well, Sam, what's work been like for you? Because I think that we've talked to a few people but never directly. someone trying to, to make a physical magazine. And I know we all saw the Robert Pattinson shit, but I would love to hear some ins and outs from a man on the front lines. So, yeah. Um, well, it's been, uh, it's funny that I think that there's like this perception that, um, summer's a kind of nasty or super chill, uh, because we have like, you know, summer Fridays and stuff like that. But the summers are actually some of the most balls to the wall months we have because. We're putting out September, which is the biggest issue of the year. We're putting out Cheeky Style Fall. And then we're also doing August and trying to get all the shoots for the later issues in the fall done before every photographer and European fashion brand goes on vacation in August. And then on top of that, there's the men's shows in June, which takes people out of the office for about a month.

Um, and so, and then there's tons of parties and, and, you know, all that. Uh, and so the summer is always just completely gnarly. Um, but so things have, I mean, obviously the shift to remote work has been weird, but it hasn't been so difficult. Um, the, the, like, I think we've done a pretty good job of figuring out how to execute, you know, like GQ quality shoots, um, either remotely or, with other creative solutions, I guess. But I think it's actually going to feel like a pretty relaxed time relative to past years. And it has felt kind of relaxed because there's nothing else going on. So all we have to do is make a magazine, basically, and keep the website popping. So it's been okay. I definitely don't prefer it this way. So you're able to get a lot more work done without all of these fashion parties that you're going to? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, actually, yes. So it's weird. I'm never hung over, and I feel like we're more productive as a unit. I don't know. Do you guys feel that? I can't wait for this to be over. Yeah, exactly. I mean, are you on Zoom all day and shit, though? Are you pretty wired when you need to be? Are you in front of the computer for five, six hours? Yeah, definitely, yeah. That's the thing that I, I've never had to be like that. So I think that would take a, that would be a big curve for me. But do you find the communication okay? It's okay. I mean, everything, everything takes a lot longer to basically to get from like, you know, from like the ideation of stories to like their execution. Like that whole process just takes a lot longer because you can't just stop by. Like I can't pop my head into Will's office and ask him a question. you know, about a story or, or, or throw an idea past him or whatever. Uh, everything has to be sort of set up in like these zoom meetings. So, um, and then, you know, I, when I'm in the office, I have lunch with Noah and Rachel basically every day. And, you know, that that's when we talk about, um, things we're working on and we talk about the podcast and we talk about, um, you know, ideas and stuff like that. We just don't, you know, we don't have that anymore. So it's less, everything's less spontaneous. Yeah.

which is a bit of a drag. It's a lot of Zooms and a lot of sitting in front of the computer, which is what I would be doing a lot of in the office anyway. I don't know. I've talked to a lot of people who are not super eager to get back to office life, whether they work at Condé or elsewhere, but I'm really ready to get back. Not before it's safe, obviously, but post-office. The idea that no company is going to have an office anymore. Like I cannot get behind that at all. As a person who doesn't even go to an office unless he wants to, I want an office badly right now. Yeah. I think, I think it's going to, I think people are going to, I have a whole thing. I think people are going to be like, Oh fuck. Yes. I'd never go to the office. And then like six months later, be like, what the fuck have we done? Yeah. Like we, everything takes longer. It's, it's just like people that have kids and shit at home. Like what a nightmare man. Yeah. My apartment is terrible to work in, too. You just don't have to set up for it? No, because I'm never there in normal times. I just don't think it's going to work the way people... I think these tech companies, maybe the employees are young enough where it makes sense. But I don't know, man. I just think it's going to be... The companies realize how much money they can save, so of course they're in on it right now. But I just don't see that being the real future. Maybe I'm wrong. I mean, I don't know. People are going to be freaked the fuck out. Definitely. I like this idea that you now are sort of seeing the appeal of the salaryman lifestyle. Still nine to five. Yeah, exactly. Jason and I are going to open up how long gone offices. We found some WeWork spaces that are empty in Culver City. So we've decided to just... Move on in. We haven't secured a ton of investment yet on a new WeWork right now. That's so weird because it went so well last time. But we feel optimistic about Q4. We do feel very optimistic about it. Q4 is looking up. It's looking up. I don't know, man. I think people are... Everybody I talk to, though, no one's unraveling in the work sense. Have you heard people being like, I can't deal with this. I'm losing my fucking mind?

I think people who are still working, myself included, feel super lucky to still be working. I've heard some. I think as with any time of international upheaval and stress, it's harder to focus and get excited about the day-to-day stuff that you have to do in any job when there's this sort of specter of... death hanging over our heads. Everyone that I work with, we feel super lucky to still be able to work and to have jobs and stuff like that. What's up with recording the pod remote? We've had our issues over here. We have not had issues at all. The only reason this show exists is because of remote podcasting. Can I ask you guys an insider pod question? Do you guys edit it at all or is it just off the rip? You just press upload. It's off the rip. I edit out a few things here and there. When we called you, there'll probably be two or three minutes of dead air silence and I'll cut that out. Then I put in the ads and stuff like that. We just let it go off the rip. You know, so you're the producer. I just think it's because of Jason's former podcast, Tall Tales, which was pretty popular, had that. That was like the vibe. And I always really liked that. And I think that it just like, that's kind of what we both are used to in some ways. Right. And also, it's probably the most popular format of podcasting in general, you know. That's true. Yeah. Doing corporate lunch has been fine. It's a lot easier to schedule now that everyone's at home. We've been doing guests every week. We've been doing designer interviews every week when normally it's just me know Rachel and Will when he's available. Normally we record at the Condé Nast podcasting studio. Condé's different magazines have launched so many.

podcasts in the last six months. That's actually been really hard to get time in the studio. We have a block every week that we have reserved, but if that doesn't work for our schedules for whatever reason, it can be a bit of a pain. So people are still going into the Condé podcast studio? No, no, no. On a day-to-day, in general, it's that busy. Back in the day. Now we just record over Zoom. which has been fine. We have little USB mics and stuff like that. The quality is definitely not as good as normal. My Wi-Fi out here sucks. I'm trying to figure out how to deal with that. We've decided that our lo-fi aesthetic is part of our brand. We just embraced it. That's just what we are. I don't think our podcast sounds bad. I think the quality is pretty good, all things considered. It doesn't sound like it's in a studio, though. That's true. I think they're doing CNN anchors recording from their basements. I think everyone's used to a slightly lower FI quality, which is fine. What do you love about podcasting? How has you and the gang making corporate lunch changed your life? I just love the grind, man. Week in, week out. You love the grind of the repetition of doing a full magazine and then also maintaining a weekly podcast that gets you no more money than you were making before? Yeah, I mean, not to, like, I think one of the things I really do love, I mean, I do it with Noah and Rachel, who are two really close friends of mine. That's sort of what it feels like. It doesn't feel like we're doing time for our colleagues to sit down and cut a super professional episode. I think it has that quality. People like it because it has this body of three friends just hopping in the studio and chopping it up. When we launched it, it was Will's idea. Will and Noah were the original co-hosts.

I think Will launched at a time, it was almost three years ago, when podcast mania was, like, really hitting. And we were all sort of noticing that, like, people were just, like, so, so obsessed with their favorite podcasts, with their podcast hosts, and were just, like, wanted to go so deep. And so I think Will judged that it was a cool new way to get, not like a new, I mean, people had, like, podcasts had been around, people knew. what they were and a bunch of, you know, the New Yorker had their podcast, Bon Appetit had their podcast. So it had been done before, but I think we all thought that it was just a good way of meeting our audience like where they were and to get people into GQ, into like the new GQ or at the time it was actually the GQ style podcast to get people into GQ style in just a different way. And what I love about it is that people are like, I get like when people, I mean, this doesn't happen super often, especially not right now, obviously, but like when people like, recognize me at a bar or on the street or something and say hey man uh just want to say like they they always say like i love corporate lunch sometimes they say i love the magazine but most of them say i love corporate lunch and not like i'm like okay cool you should check out the magazine which is what i actually spend my time doing oh cool you know we make a little magazine too i don't know if you've ever heard it's been around like oh is it free and you're like no it costs a few bucks and you're like nah i'm all good I'm out. Thanks, though. Podcast is good. Thanks for that. But I think getting people, like, it's been, I have just anecdotally heard from people who are really into the podcast that they then, you know, go and subscribe to the magazine. And that's what I love about it is that it's just bringing people in and making GQ readers out of people who might not otherwise have, you know, gotten into it. Well, I mean, I think that's the thing. I mean, I say this all the time, but fucking magazine subscriptions are cheap as a motherfucker. And I don't understand why. I subscribe to, and this is no bullshit, I subscribe to like five or six Conde Nast titles because it's so cheap. It's basically the price of one issue. Besides The New Yorker, it's basically the price of one issue. I don't really understand. I don't think people will think about it anymore because just society's in a different place. Yeah. I mean, if you were listening to this.

A one-year subscription to GQ costs $15, and you get a GQ hat. So I honestly don't know why you wouldn't subscribe. It's almost like you guys make all of your money off of advertising and not subscription sales. That's what I hear. It's crazy. It's crazy. Man, the world is really upside down, I tell you what. But I love, I mean, going home, I mean, I just love the mail, though. I've always loved the mail, and I've always been a big mail user. Big USPS. Known otter Chris Black is a male user. Yes, exactly. Let's not get it twisted. It's because of hardcore. When you grow up listening to hardcore, there's a lot of mail because you're buying records and doing all this stuff via the mail. And I just love getting fucking mailed. And I just love using stamps.com for all of our shipping needs. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Use code howlonggoneitcheckout for 15% off your next order on stamps.com. There is that amazing feeling of the mailman comes, you run to the door, and then your favorite magazine's newest issue is there, and your day has changed. But Sam, you told me part of the reason you had to stop in New York before going to Shelter Islands is because you needed to pick up your fits. You needed to pick up gear. That's what I'm saying. So it's like we're all ordering clothes on fucking Grailed and Mr. Porter and Essence and End. So we're still using the mail. It's just in a different way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. How many sweater vests did you buy while you were in Chicago? I actually didn't. I didn't buy. I bought a few things. I bought a new Bodhi jacket. I had to support the homies in this tough time. You got to support the homies at Bodhi for sure. We had a discussion actually before we talked to you because someone had asked Jason how to pronounce Bodhi. I was like, if you don't know how to pronounce Bodhi, you're not allowed to listen to this podcast. Click that unsubscribe button. That's wild. I still hear Bodhi. I mean, less so now.

I mean, I think I first wrote about Emily like two and a half years ago, right before her second New York Fashion Week collection. And for a while, it felt like she and I were the only people who called it Bodhi. You heard it from her and that was it. I mean, when I first saw the brand and the spelling, I assumed and took a chance and called it Bode for sure because Bodhi just... It just didn't seem like the likely choice out of the two. Yeah. I don't know. It was like Bodie Miller. Come on. Any ski fans? No. I forgot. I haven't heard that name in years. The Venn diagram of ski fans and people buying $900 jackets made from dead stock fabrics, it's a very small diagram. We get it. You're rich. It's a very small diagram. So, I mean, I haven't – have you – but you started dressing differently, I imagine, or are you just freaking it fully in the quarantine? Well, I didn't know that I was going to be in Chicago for eight weeks, so I brought back, like, three pairs of jeans and maybe, like, eight tees and a jacket. Like, I just – I really kind of bricked the packing. So after a couple weeks, when it looked like things were going to be – like, I was going to be there for a while, I started really freaking out. just because like i don't know like i really enjoy getting dressed like it's just a fun part of you know i'm a style energy q like what i do right and it's my fucking job to get these it's my job guys and uh yeah i mean the fits were not popping in uh in chicago so um i was dressing pretty like whatever and then i came back and i packed like a huge bag in brooklyn uh and i don't know like it's i brought like all of my I brought, like, a lot of, like, jackets and sweaters and stuff. It's been cold as fuck here for about a week. And the house that my brother and I are staying in doesn't have any heat or insulation. It's, like, a full summer house. So it's been pretty, like, Dickensian. Like, we're, like, building fires to stay warm. Dickensian with vortex. Huddling in front of, like, the space heaters and stuff like that. I love to see you wearing, like, a...

a like cricket sweater in front of a, in front of a little fire at night. Yeah. Winter's nip joins us again this evening. Brace, brace boys. Cause it's gonna, but you, but that means you had to bring full summer shit too. Cause it's, I mean, and then I brought all my summer, I mean, when I'm out here in the summer, um, I just dress like full, like waspy dickhead, you know, like Belgian shoes and, uh, you know, baggies and, you know, like my old racing tees and stuff like that. Do you have any waspy activities that you like to do outside of just the fashion? I mean, tennis. Let's not forget squash. I would say that's probably your number one. What about cocktails? Oh, of course. Yeah. A little dark and stormy. Nick and I have, we've been, we've been observing cocktail hour. Every couple days. Well, you told me that in Chicago, you guys were observing it as a family, which I really like. Yeah. Damn, that's so cool. That's real lost powers. That's very cool. I don't even drink and I'm jealous of that. It's just a nice, you know, it's like, you know, six o'clock hits and it's a nice opportunity to sort of gather as a family. Unwind a little bit. If you're waspy enough, then you let the younger children have a cocktail as well. The 13-year-old can have a little mint julep. It's fine kind of thing. Just have a little sip. It's fine, sweetie. We're in quarantine. That was not my experience growing up. Maybe unfortunately. You can pass it on to your children. Don't worry. Exactly. It's time to start traditions now. My parents didn't drink at all growing up. My mom's story is, this is a legendary story. She had one sip of champagne and didn't like it and just never drank again. That's tight. Never tried. Not for me. Yeah, and she's so polite that she took one hit off a joint at a Kiss concert because it got passed. This is true, because it got passed to her. And then she was like, she felt so bad about it. She just never went any deeper.

They don't make sweet women like that no more. I'll tell you that. They really don't. My dad now drinks. I mean, he drank in college and shit and then stopped. And then now he drinks again, but pretty, pretty mellow. You know, but it's an interesting, I don't know what happened to me. I'd be drinking pretty heavy if I had you as my son as well. No offense. No, fair. But that's what I'm saying. He abstained when I was at my worst. And now that I'm thriving, you know, he's back on the sauce. He had to stay sober just to ride that throttle they call Chris Black. Yeah, exactly what was happening. But I think that I've been dressing. Sam, I'm in the same position as you, bro. I came with nothing. I didn't have the foresight to know that I'd be here for 10 weeks. You can't call in anything from Essence HQ? No, that would be so sick. Just like, I'm going to need this stuff for a while, guys. I've ordered, because shipping to Montreal is a fucking nightmare. So I've had to like... basically i'm shipping stuff to my parents and my mom is packaging it all together and sending it here wow that's wild it's very nice of your mom very nice to my mom she's she's happy to do it and i couldn't thank her enough but it's like you know she's like oh do you really need this stuff i'm like yeah i really need these new 90s like bad i need them fucking terribly yes i need these books like i just need this stuff it's so odd to not be able to It's really bad. Insta gratification is so bad. Like having to wait that extra week or two is truly upsetting to me. And I should be able to get through that, but I'm having a hard time. Is that why you're going back to Atlanta? So you just have immediate access? Well, you know, my deep archive is in Atlanta, actually. Really? Like I probably have 200 t-shirts at my parents' house. Basically, I do a sweep of the closet, pack them up, and mail them to them, and they keep it. Well, Chris, if you could send over a deck, I can probably get Nowness out there with the camera crew, and we could make a little scratch off of this. Maybe we should just do the grail sale now. We know we have a captive audience. But no, I'm going to do the same thing, Sam. I'm going to go back to New York and repack and hit the road, because I need a refresh. I might burn all the clothes I brought here, actually.

Yeah, the refresh is so key. Just mentally right now and emotionally, spiritually. I just don't want to see these clothes ever again. It's crazy. I'd never want to see them again. You should go on IG Live and burn that shit. That would be good. I know. I could probably get 100 people to watch. These IG Live numbers just ain't adding up, man. I'm telling you. It just ain't. I don't get it. I don't know why it doesn't work better. What do you mean? For who? Like why famous people will do a live stream and have 384 people watching. But they have 2.4 million followers. And these are people that the followers aren't fake. I think they have real followers. I just think that the medium doesn't work yet. I think appointment television has been destroyed and appointment IG television is also suffering, clearly. Damn, good point. I saw that Takashi69, when he got out, went on IG Live, and the only people who were allowed to comment were verified Instagram users. So I tried to hop in. I was like, oh, shit, let's go. And I missed it by a few minutes. He stopped going live. I didn't know you could limit comments to people that are blue check only. I don't know either. Also, that was a very classy way of letting us know that you're verified on Instagram. Very classy way. Well done. You guys know. You guys know. Chris knows. We do know. Unfortunately, we do know because Chris still isn't verified. And it tortures me every day because, you know, blue check has become a term that some people use on the internet negatively. Not some people. I think everybody. I don't use it negatively because I'm a blue check and I find it positive. I think the blue check army on Twitter, I consider that sort of negative as well, even though I am among them, just like you, Chris. Jason's actually a member of the blue check community on Twitter as well. Yeah, and we have to do something about these freaking haters that are coming at us. I will stand for the blue checks.

Who will stand? There's nothing else going on in this world. I think it's time for us to really rally behind a cause. And I think that the blue check rights is the next big thing, the next big wave. Blue checks matter. Blue lives matter. Blue lives matter. I don't think that. But it's crazy. I see it getting thrown around so much lately specifically because I think we're in like hyper cancel moment. So I think people are really looking at blue checks to be mad. Yeah. Jealousy is a disease, bro. I know some people who are lying low. You just got to be careful. I mean, dude, if Lana Del Rey can get canceled, the queen of the internet, then truly, it ain't safe. It ain't safe. G-easy voice. She's not canceled for white people. No, she's not, for sure. But we saw it coming. She was dating a cop. You know what I mean? Yeah, I think that's just proof that she is not aware of what it takes these days to get canceled. No, no, no. I think you're right. I think that Lana is doing everything she can to get canceled, but she just can't figure it out. She's like, I dated a fucking cop and you guys still like me? What's wrong with you people? I'm going to just unload on Beyonce and see what happens. Yeah, yeah. If the Barb's come after her, it's over. That's when you're truly crucified. Yeah, I can only buy you guys a few hours if the Barb's come after you. Barb's still the scariest shit on the internet and it's fucking 2020. Nicki Minaj hasn't had a relevant song in four or five years. Hey, take it easy. Take it easy. Jason, you might have to edit that part. Yeah, Chris, you're trying to wake up with another moose head in your bed? Well, I mean, she... Damn, that's... Now, they would just kill me, bro. They wouldn't even threaten. They would just come for the jugular. Yeah, like a motherfucking monster. Exactly, exactly. But I don't know if Nicki Minaj... I mean, I don't know. Jason's a known member, known Barb.

Uh, we just, we had covered on the podcast. I really do. Like, what do you think happened to her? Like, did she get so jealous of Cardi B that she just fell off? Or do you think like there's something else at play? Is this a question for me? This is a question for the room. This is all you, Sam. I have no idea. Who is Nicki Minaj again? She was the biggest. She was so fucking big. And then it's just kind of like over now. She's almost irrelevant. I think she probably was annoyed by the industry and the game and all the shit that you have to do to stay relevant on top. And she just didn't really want to participate in it anymore. Yeah, that's going to be my excuse. Which happens to a lot of people. Which has also been my excuse for my exiting the EDM community. We do. The EDM community, I can speak for us, we mourn the loss of TJ every day. Sam, you've done a little DJing yourself, right? No, I've never been there. I've been... a bit that's not really a bit because i only did it once but okay uh i sort of want to like make people think that i am a dj that i dj on the side you know we could we could and i tweeted something to that i tweeted something to that effect and and some people actually believe me that i miss djing which i do i do if it's possible to miss something you've never done i think that's it yeah i mean i think it is possible to miss something you've never done i think that's a really deep thing to say those kinds of bits are definitely my kind of bit as well i think i think i think pretty soon like if i get sick of it out here i might have to go to la and then um you know you can catch b and i on uh ig live djing i mean weekly i forgot that sam you know Jason, we've talked about the hard-hitting journalism, the Zach Bia profile that Sam wrote. Sure, sure, sure. I think Bia is your way in. I mean, he's all our way in, to be honest. Yeah, I mean, I'm ready. I'm ready, Zach, if you're listening. You know, Jason, well, Jason is known also in the Indian community because he taught Zac Efron how to DJ for a movie. Yeah, I was aware of that, yeah. He could probably do the same for you if the studio is willing to pay, the studio being kind of an ass.

Yeah, it was the first Zach. I think Will Welch will spend whatever it takes. So you're saying Sam's not just going to go to Grateful Dead on Spotify and push play. You're saying there's going to be some real mixing? All right, we can invest in this. We can invest in this. I saw it was like a month or two ago where you had an article, speaking of LA, calling it the greatest shopping city in America. Is that something you still stand by? i mean i i hope so i hope that uh it was it's funny because that story came out like i think literally the day that we our first day of working from home uh so i'm a little sad that the timing was it wasn't great but um I just wanted to say thank you because when I saw that headline, I got so excited to send it to Chris Black because he's done a lot of shit talking on the shopping and fashion of Los Angeles. Well, the fashion, I mean, that's warranted. That's another thing. This is two separate issues. Shopping, I mean, Sam, that was a pretty deep dive. You know what I mean? And that also covered kind of a lot of genres. I spent a full week literally just shopping in Los Angeles. It was like the dream assignment. I was about to say, that sounds pretty sick. What are some of your favorite LA spots? I mean, Departmento is great. Downtown. Those guys roll. My sense of what they were doing was a little bit more... focused on in-person and stylist and celebrity. But they've done a pretty good job of pivoting to e-com since it's all hit. So I think that they're doing pretty well still. I love classic hits in Chinatown. Sonia Sombreil, who does Cum Tease, her little store. It's full of all kinds of really weird DIY stuff, which I love. And then...

I don't know. Like a couple of places that didn't make it, like I hit some of the vintage places, which didn't end up being part of the story. But like, what is that one in Silver Lake called? Painted Bird? Yeah. Is that? Yeah. I actually, like I went in there like a little skeptical because it's kind of like the hipster spot. Right. But I actually like found some great stuff. I mean, they had like Craig Green, which is obviously like vintage, but they had some like good, like old Craig. And then. Uh, I found this pair of jeans by this brand called Soviet. Uh, this was just a pair of black, like old, like destroyed black jeans that I bought that were sick. Yeah. How much stuff I was going to ask, how much stuff did you actually buy? I feel like more than you planned to. Yeah, I bought, I mean, I didn't, it wasn't like, you know, I wasn't like Pete Wells, like, you know, eating everywhere I went, but I, uh, on the time's dime, but, um, I bought some stuff. I thought, you know, I figured like I had to, but I wanted to. You have to have the full experience because window shopping and shopping are not the same thing. Yeah. And one place that was a real epiphany for me was a store Lady White Co. Store slash brand Lady White Co. Yeah. On Hyperion. Just the perfect, simple white tea that I've ever found. I love that stuff. And it's all made in L.A. No, that stuff's great. I mean, that's amazing. It's hard to park there, but otherwise it's great. You know, not to sound like an L.A. guy, but it's tough to park. There's no parking. It's true. I don't know how we do it. One time I went to L.A. for a story and I rented a car, it was a huge mistake. I was there for like, I just had to go to like Milk. I wasn't even going around like for the shopping store. It was like one day at Milk Studios and I got a car. for my 48 hours there. It's such a bad idea. I feel bad for my homies at Milk. Yeah, it's shut down. Shut down. I don't really think of Sam. I wouldn't trust you behind the wheel, to be honest. If it was me and you going somewhere and there was a car involved, I think I would drive. Chris, what about Sam makes you feel like he's not a good driver? Expand on that. Please expand on that. I don't know. I just get a feeling about people when it comes to driving.

And I also, Chicago, is it really, you didn't have a car in high school. Did you drive in high school? Yeah, I drove in high school. Okay. I went to high school in the Burbs, so. Okay, so that changes my opinion a little bit. All right, Chris, let's try to guess what kind of car he had in high school. I'm going, I'm going. Oh, this is good. I'm going 04 Audi A4. No, no, no, no, no. I'm going, I'm going Land Rover Old. I like that. I wish. I mean, Chris was a little bit closer for, I forget what year it was. For like two or three years in high school, I had my brother and I drove our dad's like super old Grand Cherokee. Oh, that's fire. That's a good one. That's a perfect car ever made. That's a perfect car. I just always, my parents were never SUV people, but for some reason. The parent hand-me-down car is a lot cooler if it's an SUV. I don't know why. I'm not even an SUV person, but that's just how I view it. It was great. That makes sense. The area that I grew up was where Ferris Bueller's Day office filmed. So having a nice car, people were proud of that. But I liked having the shitty old super heavy tank Grand Cherokee thing. I like that for you. The SUV still doesn't appeal to me, but I feel like it's really, unless you need storage, I don't understand why you would want that. It's so big. Because when you have that, women want to have sex with you, Chris. Oh, I see. I'm sorry. I didn't realize that when you pull up in the Suburban, it's going down. Well, I mean, any type of SUV, truck, utilitarian. loud, large, manly vehicle will make women want to have sex with you more. So you're saying that a Prius will not do that? You're going to have to have something more to offer if you are trying to get your dick wet in a Prius. That's what I'm saying. I think that's probably a fair assessment. I don't know. But Sam, what car would you have now if you could have any car?

Probably like a 70s Mercedes station wagon. I could see you in that blue color. Yeah, just for driving between Brooklyn and Shelter Island. I mean, there's no better. Sort of semi-reliant. Or like a 2003 Land Rover disco. Yeah, the Land Rover. My man. That's Jason's shit, right? Isn't that your shit, Jason? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Early 2000s disco Land Rover. What color though? Do you go flashy color or do you go classic Hunter green? Nah, green or black for sure. For me, one of those, if it's going to be a weekender, I like getting a nasty yellow or something like that. Just a real fucking bad, fucked up color. Well, I feel like you having an SUV makes sense because of your stature. You know, like you can't fit in some cars. That's true. But, you know, my girlfriend has the old family car. It's like an 87 little Benz two-door convertible. And I literally don't fit in it unless the top is down. I love that. If the top is closed, I can't. But I also can't fit in it unless I'm driving it for some reason. The way my legs are spread akimbo in the car, that's the only way I can actually fit in it is if I'm driving. Wow. You need the big and tall version. Yeah, big and tall car. Excuse me. Does this car come in big and tall or is this the only size you got? Yeah, I mean I was bummed. When I was in high school, I used to really want a Volkswagen Squareback. I just love those. And then I sat in one finally and I was like, oh, I can never have this. I can't even like. you begin to imagine how I would sit inside of it. I want to buy a car because I was thinking about this, like in, in pandemic times, it's just, it feels, it feels, uh, it's nice to just grab the keys and hop in. It feels tough to have to rely on public transportation and shit right now to not have wheels. Um, but then I was like, I thought about it. I was like, Oh my God, like every asshole in Brooklyn is also going to buy a car.

Parking, which was already difficult in my neighborhood, is going to become really hellish. That's not your problem. Just get the car, bro. Just get the car. I do think that car sales in New York are probably through the roof right now. Yeah. Because it's relatively cheap, and if you have a place to put it, it does feel like I'm so excited to rent a car and have that freedom. I'm really ready to see the open road on four wheels. Chris is ready to zoom, zoom. What whip are you going to be pushing to Atlanta? You know, Sam, it's unclear. Sometimes I like to make a game-time upgrade decision at the dealership, at the rental station, but right now it's just a full-size sedan. That's my go-to rental is a full-size sedan. Jason knows for years. Chris's rental car journey has been a long one. It used to be my favorite time of the year when Chris would come to town and show up at my house with the Impala or the Chevy Malibu, big-body American sedan. Big body late model, though. Don't get it twisted. This is brand new, off the lot. 800 miles on the bitch. It comes in in a very plain gray color, maybe. Yeah, yeah. But then I started using Silver Car, the Audi-only rental car thing, which is actually great, but they have it in LAX, but they don't have it in Atlanta or other places. It's still pretty small. Yeah, you're going to have to get a real – you won't be able to get one of those little cut cars down in Atlanta, bro. No, I won't. I know, I know. So I'm going to get a, I don't know what they have at Enterprise rental car in Greenwich Village. So we'll see. Won't be a ton of Dodge Chargers, I'm afraid. I mean, if there's some American muscle available, I might just trick off. You know what I mean? I might just have to, if they got the Hellcat, I might just have to get, you know, I might have to peel out. The extra like 50 bucks a day will be worth it. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. It's only going to triple the price, but it's definitely worth it. I mean, I actually should probably get a Tahoe if they have that. That feels sensible and big, which is nice, but we'll see what happens. No. They keep me posted. Oh, don't worry. There'll be some selfies. I'm trying to make this a content journey. Of course. I mean, what else is the point? What is the fucking point? Well, Jay is setting me up with a new portable podcast rig.

So I'm going to have a Pelican case with exactly the only gear I need to record this podcast. Are you going to pod from the open road like a trucker? Are you going to call in with your call sign? Honestly, I might. Because depending on timing, if I got to be on the road, you know, I'm going to have to put the headphones on and do it from the road, which I think is very progressive. I like to see you checking into some like roadside motel with the Pelican case and people thinking that you're like an assassin or something like that. Like, Oh no, no, no. I'm just a podcaster. Oh, Jay, you forgot the silencer, bro. Oh no, no. We'll do the silencer in post-production. I think, but I mean, so I have that, but I do think I should get one of those like gorilla. tripods you can put anywhere and do some two-camera selfie videos of me reconnecting with America. You're going to vlog on I-95? I mean, if someone like GQ.com would want that content, I think that's something we could explore. It sounds like you're going to make the next Miss American Life or something with all your audio equipment and just hitting the open road. Reconnecting with America. Unfortunately, it's going to just be me and Jason doing this stupid podcast and me in hotel rooms watching TV is probably what it's going to be like. It's just way cooler anyway. I think so too. I'm going to see people and stuff and hopefully I'm going to have my new kettlebell sitting shoddy. It's not going to be that much different than my regular life. I'm just jealous that you're going to be able to get a haircut in the South. Dude, as soon as I cross the Mason Dixon, I'm looking for somebody with a two guard ready to fucking line me up. Sam, I don't know if I would trust your hair with a southern barber, though. Definitely not. No, no, of course not. Masami Asoto is the only person who can touch this hair. Sam, I mean, how are you feeling about your shag right now? It actually, I got really blessed like two days before quarantine started. I got the best haircut of my life.

at Vacancy Project, which is where I go all the time, the gender neutral hair salon in East Village. Masami just went off my last haircut. It looked great. So it was a movie on your head. Exactly. It was a feature film. But it's grown out nicely because it was such a great cut. It's just thick right now, but it's not like misshapen or fucked up. That's pretty good. The foundation is so strong that you can just have your twin bro kind of cut up those tips and just clean it up and you'll still be fine probably. Looking in the mirror, you know. I'm not there yet, but it will be soon. I've been going through a Rolling Stones moment, so I might get a little early jagger of some sort. But I don't know if I trust Nick. I mean, he's got a steady hand. Yeah. You know, Sam, Harvard law does not mean hair cutter. You know, that's two different things. That's just two different. That's two parts of the brain. Sometimes they don't work together. You know, like I would trust him with a lot of things, but haircut, maybe you don't want to make. Yeah. Yeah. He's my lawyer, not my hairstylist. I don't. Jason and I both shaved our heads pretty early in the, in the quarter, but I think I'm going to, Jason's going to grow his out, but I think I might stick with the look. I don't know. I think it's good for you. It's nice and dynamic. I like it, but my plan might be if I get contacts and I come back full new man. Oh, right. You're also off the glasses. Honestly, these masks make it hard to wear glasses. It's fucking annoying. It's true. The mask is going to change our looks in so many ways, but I think glasses are going to become... There's no way to not fog your glasses up breathing. It's real nerd shit. But that's the reality. I don't know if Color and Gross is going to be able to recover. I know. If you go LASIK. What I've done for that brand is immeasurable. So I don't know what they're going to do. Maybe they can set up a Patreon or something like that. I don't know. Yeah, exactly. Because if me and Elton John both give up glasses, they're literally going to have no customers. So I don't know what we're going to do. Chris, maybe while we're doing all this, a little Botox? What do you think?

Well, I mean, I read this great story in the cut about this, like they interviewed this plastic surgeon. And he's like, people are offering me four times what they would normally pay to do anything. Or he's like, one of my clients was willing to fly me on a private jet to the Middle East. So crazy. I mean, if you're willing to split a vial, Chris, let me know. Yeah, split a vial. Man, I haven't heard that in a while. You want to go half on a bag. Yeah, go half on a bag. But he said he's not doing it. He's like, honestly, it's just not worth it. All these people are just going to wait and pay me when it's legal. Of course he's not going to dry snitch on himself in the cut.com. He's like, yeah, I'm violating my medical license. No, I'm saying, but I actually believe, I think he's right. He's like, these people are this desperate, but like, what are they going to do? Nobody's going to do it. Like no reputable surgeon will do it because they take like an oath. Yeah, that's true. But I think there's different, like there's a difference between like. going under the knife and getting some crazy work done versus, you know, the Botox injection, which, you know, you could do that curbside really. You just, it's just a needle and you stick it in where you want it to go and you're done in 30 seconds. I'm not anti, um, non-invasive procedures, but I don't think I'm there yet. I don't think I'm there. I don't, I don't also, I, you know, I think men, you know, we're awful, but the one thing we're blessed with is that aging usually makes us better. Exactly. I think, I think this moment it's like everyone's doing their own haircuts. I think, I think like I've seen people doing, uh, you know, like at home stick and poke tattoos. There's something about just being at home and, and not really having like real ways to express yourself. Uh, like we, you know, like we've been able to, that I think is inspiring people. Like I'm just dying to pierce my ear. Um, and I don't really know why it's just something about like, Maybe it's because, like, I don't have any, like, I'm not going to go be out in public for the next couple months so I can just sort of test it out and see what happens. Have you ever had a piercing before? I haven't, no. So this would be your first time. This would be my first. But I want to, like, parent trap style it, you know, just, like, needle and ice cube. Unfortunately, Sam wasn't around for, you know, when Jason had his ears stretched and I had a septum piercing. Well, Sam, why don't you just pierce that thing tonight, baby? Memorial Day weekend.

I might. Summer never dies on Shutter Island. I mean, I think that you could. I think that would be a fun thing for you to do. I think it would be a good experience. I think so. I've been wanting to do it for a while. We've talked about it for a year. You already have a Chrome Hearts piece picked out, I'm assuming? Of course. Just a little tasteful stud. Nothing too heavy. It'll weigh you down. You know that. A little tasteful, dangly cross. Yeah, a slash-style cross with diamonds. It's really tasteful. It's small. It's tight. It won't be cheap, but it is quality. I don't know, man. I'm ready to get my hair cut, and I'm going to get it cut the same way, but by a professional, and it's going to look so much better. That's where my head's at with it. Yeah. I'm happy. I'm happy for you. That's my guess. I'm jealous, really. We saw, and I hate to report bad news for all of you fucking haters out there, but Atlanta did open a little early, and it was controversial, and I still think it was stupid, and Mayor Kemp is a dumbass, but there hasn't been a spike. Yeah, that's great. Which is good news, but I think people hate it. It's good news, Republican Chris. First of all, fuck you. But yeah, which is interesting because I think people just thought it was going to be awful. Maybe it hasn't been like exactly long enough yet to make like a real call on it, but I still think it's pretty interesting. Yeah. I mean, I think, I think, you know, as places reopen, people are going to be way more cautious than they used to and wear masks and socially distance as best they can. And I think that stuff's all really important. I mean, I talked to my parents and in the city itself, like, you know, it's pretty, they're like, no, people are serious. You know, it's not like. If you go three hours north, sure, it's a guy with a machine gun in front of Starbucks. If you're in the city, people are reasonable. That's good to hear because I'm not trying to die in Atlanta. If I'm going to die, I want to die in New York. How long are you going to be there for? Do you have a date? Unspecified. I think New York will ease back. I feel like by the end of June, early July, we'll be in a better spot. Maybe.

I'm playing it by ear, but, I mean, the flights are obviously cheap. In Atlanta to New York, there's actually still a lot of flights. So I'm going to just hang out, you know. Atlanta in June is pretty fucking nice, actually. So I'm not too mad. I mean, unless my parents are like, you need to leave, you're annoying as fuck, which is, you know, possible. That's never going to happen. Are you going to hit the drive-thru strip club or what's the vibe right now? I mean, I'm considering it. Again, Sam, as we discussed before, content is king. These experiences that I'm going to be able to have reconnecting with America, I feel compelled to share with a wider audience. So, you know, whatever happens, happens. But a drive-thru strip club is an amazing fucking story. I mean, Chris, you can't let the clouds slip away. I can't let the clouds slip away. If we've learned anything about this time, it's like... No matter how dire it gets, you can't let the clout slip away. Did you read the TikTok house article in the New York Times? I did, yeah. Nick and I were thinking about starting one here, actually. I would love to join. I'm a little old. Maybe I can be the manager, but just let me know. I told you that we should rent a house in LA when this was all starting to go down. Sam and I were going to start a content house, Jason. We would have invited you. That's nice. Maybe I could be the in-house chef or something like that. Clean the toilets or something. Well, Chris, can you grow that weird tuft of hair in the front of your head? Are you able to do that? Because you kind of need one of those to live in a hype house. That's the problem. Maybe I could. I don't know. The shave has won me over, but that article honestly kind of blew my mind. Did you read it, Jason? I did not read it, no. It's pretty fucking wild. Yeah, it's... I mean, so it's just a day in the life of what's, you know, TikTokers all living in like a porno mansion in Studio City? Kind of, but also just... Like a Chinese government pays for or something? It's just like... Well, it's wild because this... It's really about like what's happening right now in terms of... Like, I think because all these kids are graduating from high school and college, they can all finally...

move to LA and form these hype houses. Uh, and it just happens to coincide with the pandemic. So it's sort of about like how they're doing that. Um, given social distancing and they all have like managers who are trying to make sure that they're not just like going and fucking off with people like outside of their pod or whatever. It's just a very strange world that like, I don't, I think I, I, I peripherally understand it, but then stuff like that. I'm like, Jesus Christ, this is, there's a reason the New York times has a full-time reporter covering this. It's that nuanced and there's that much money involved. It's so wild out there. I mean, I guess, I mean, I don't know. I'll, I'll, I will, I will read it. Although, you know, that whole world, I feel like I'm, I'm old enough to where it's just a foreign language to me at this point. I mean, I'm, I'm like almost Gen Z and I still, it takes me, it takes me a while to figure, I mean, my, my explore page, like every day I, I click like. don't show me this again. And it's just videos of like hot 14 year old dudes. All three of them are doing the same like kindergartner dance. And then they smile at the end. And then that's it. That is it. I don't know what's not. appealing about that yeah what's not clicking what's not what's not hitting yeah i don't understand it's it's like it's it's entertainment for five and under you know like you did that you did the dance i mean when we talked to you know we had brian boy on the on the show last episode he had like fully gone gone crazy on tiktok and like loves it and it's just and it's just like he's adopted the platform yeah he's like i can't stop and i feel like that's the weird thing about it is like that's what i hear from older people it's like if they need to understand it or choose to, once they get it, they love it just like a child does. So I don't know what we're missing. I've never downloaded it. I think we lack the ability and stick-to-itiveness to learn and make TikTok our own. Yeah, that's true. I just don't think we will be able to ever do it. The same way I'm never going to watch Game of Thrones or whatever. It's just not going to happen.

I think it's like the numbers are just so, the numbers are so mind boggling on TikTok, right? Like, you know, I think it's a lot easier maybe to get like 8 million followers on TikTok than it is on Instagram because of just like the way that TikTok distributes content to all of its users. I think so. So if you're like a, if you're like a, you know, freaky 18 year old boy with like half bleached hair, you know, you can like, like that's your ticket to. securing a bag right not like not like the laborious process of building up an instagram brand or whatever it's very easy it's very quick you don't have to you don't even have to buy your followers they're just already there for you yeah yeah yeah yeah you don't have to have a marble table or avocado toast or a latte you can just dance you can just freak it with your homies honestly it sounds great But none of them are really dancing is the thing. It's like they're all doing this thing that's not a dance. It's more of like a little riddle that they've solved with their body. I keep coming back to Chris Brown, but you watch him dance. It's something else. There are people who can really move to the music and then there's hotties that flail around a little bit remotely on beat. It's just very bad dancing. It is bad dancing, but they're hot, so it doesn't matter. Yeah, that's true. I've been advised by Gen Zers in the know that twins are big on TikTok. Damn, Jason. I don't know. Jason, you should look into it. I think the asterisk is hot twins are big on TikTok. Yeah, I think everything on TikTok has to be hot. That goes without saying. Yeah, that's the number one aspect of the whole platform. No fat twins allowed on TikTok. Definitely not. No, hell no. No fatties. No, hell no. All right, guys. This has been a pleasure.

Thank you for joining us, and I have to say, I think that we heard some birds chirping in the background, which really sets the tone for this entire show. It's a beautiful sound design. Thank you for that. Yeah, it's actually, it's just a lube I pulled up from my computer. Thank you, thank you. No, thanks for having me on. No problem. Three Virgo Kings. Wow, represent. Gang, gang, gang. What's the B-Day, Sam? August 26th. Okay, okay. What about you guys? He's early. He's early. I'm September 14th, and Jason, what are you, fifth? Fourth. Fourth. I'm in good company with you guys. Thank you. Tell them where they can find you on the web if they're not familiar. Yeah, the handles are at Samuel Hein. And subscribe to GQ and Corporate Lunch. Is there anything coming up on GQ that we should be checking for? Any sneak peeks? Well, I'm trying to finish the August issue right now. I've got a couple pieces in there. That's going to be, yeah, I think the August issue is going to be the second one that we produce totally remotely. And it's a heater. Like I said, Sam, I'm buying that tripod. So, you know. If there's a cover available. Let your little boss know that I'm buying a tripod soon. Yeah. Tell your little boss that I copped a tripod. He knows what to do. The beating war can begin now, Sam. Our people will be in touch. Good. I love that. I love that. We'll talk to you soon. Have fun out there. All right. Take care, fellas. Later, man. Later.