Production Notes: a Baker's Half Dozen

[00:00:04] Hi, everybody. Welcome to Production Notes, a behind-the-scenes look at The Talent Show. And of course, I am joined by the producer of The Talent Show. It's Charles Epstein. Hey, Charles. Hey, Tom. And when you say behind-the-scenes, I want people to know that it's probably a little bit more exciting than it sounds.

[00:00:25] It sort of reminds me, I don't know if it was George Bernard Shaw or somebody who said of Wagner's music that it's better than it sounds. Uh-huh. It's better than it sounds, right. So I think that very much applies to our behind-the-scenes stuff. I believe this is our third production notes, taking people behind what goes on and putting these things, pulling these things together. Well, last time I referred to you as the Wizard of Odds and Ends.

[00:00:55] Yeah. You know, at the time it sounded good. Maybe a little bit better. But we're moving on from that, aren't we? Yeah, I think so. I think so. I mean, again, in the moment it was good. I think we may want to run up the flagpole and see if we come up with something else. Uh-huh. Who knows? Okay. Everything's subject to change. It's kind of early for us here at Production Notes. Fair enough. What we say now may be countermanded. We may have some other executive decisions coming down the pike. Uh-huh.

[00:01:25] So who knows? That also sort of reminds me, and I'm getting into this reference mode, there was a short story, I forget the name, with Mark Twain. And I forget what they called it. It was two people playing chess, and it was their regular meeting, and they took very detailed meeting notes, et cetera, et cetera. And again, it was just the two of them.

[00:01:49] But the formality was kind of part of the humor, so to some extent I suppose that goes for us.

[00:01:57] But in any case, we digress. Yeah, this is the third production notes, and I think we've thus far had about seven or eight actual talent shows most recently this week with Mr. Jeffrey Klein, CEO and founder of Nine Dots, which helps businesses create compelling story-driven visual content. And you guys had a great conversation, Tom. I really enjoyed that. Yeah, thanks. Yeah, it was. It was a lot of fun.

[00:02:26] A great guy, and we really enjoyed not only everything he had to bring to the table, but also connecting on our shared Eagles fandom. Ah, yes, of course. And of course, a belated congratulations to you. Thank you. And to Jeffrey. And I know we actually have a couple other people coming on the talent show, who also hail from that general neck of the woods. Yeah.

[00:02:52] So you're going to have a lot of fodder, a lot of conversations. Thankfully, we're not co-hosting these. Yeah. That's a point. Yeah. Being a lifelong, what is it, Jets fan? Jets, Mets, Knicks. Yeah. So the only thing I have going for me right now. Well, the Mets. The Knicks are solid. The Knicks are solid. The Mets have definitely taken a turn up. You know, I think they're going to be competitive for a little while.

[00:03:16] You know, you mentioned Mark Twain just a little earlier. And, you know, his real name, of course, Samuel Clemens. And you do know the story behind his Mark Twain, where he adopted that name, right? You know the background on that. I don't. Does it have to do with a steamboat or a ferry? Yeah. You know, marking it. What they used to do was they used to mark, I guess, the depth of the Mississippi in certain areas.

[00:03:43] And they would, you know, they would drop this thing and it would, you know, mark one. And, you know, and instead of saying Mark two, they would say Mark Twain. Ah. And he had, you know, grew up there and he heard this and he liked it. He liked how it sounded. But very nice. And Mark Twain, there you go. You learned, you learned something right here on production notes. Isn't that? You do. You do. You do. And by the way, I would have gotten it multiple choice. Anyway. Yeah, I'm sure you would have. Anyway.

[00:04:12] And the next one that we have teed up is a conversation you had with Kristen Posen and who is the practice leader and senior recruiter for the Duffy Group, a global recruitment firm that works at corporations to help them find the right talent. And when she goes home from work, she has a side hustle called Peekaboo Cookies, where she makes an amazing assortment of cookies.

[00:04:41] And we're going to have to get a couple of batches sent our way once we drop this podcast, assuming she likes how it came out. And I can't imagine she won't talk. No, I think she had a good time. And it was a lot of fun talking to her in a previous life. The two of us spoke with her on a different show and she was a lot of fun. And yes, we did get to sample her amazing cookies that she creates.

[00:05:10] And I say creates because she really takes it as an art form. You know, she really does these. It's not just like, you know, grabbing a tube of Nestle chocolate chip cookies at the local grocery store. This is a big deal. This is something, you know, she really takes it to the next level. So we're definitely looking forward to sampling a new batch of cookies from her. And it's a fun show that she did. She was great. Yeah. Okay, good. Looking forward to that.

[00:05:40] And that's going to be dropping next week. I know you and I, you more than I, are comfortable in and around a kitchen. You like chefing it up. I do to some extent as well. But I've never been into baking apart from the one time I had the notion as a kid of baking a lemon meringue pie. Hmm. I don't know what got into me, but I want, but it never did happen.

[00:06:08] But I was around to help my mom and, you know, lick the spoon and lick the spatula and, you know, do all that stuff. But I never really got into baking mode. Yeah. You know, I think it's, we talked about that on the show, actually, Charles. And, you know, we did come to the conclusion that, you know, baking requires a little more science than, than does cooking. Cooking can be a little more experimental, but with baking, I mean, you can be experimental, I guess, with the decor. I think that's true.

[00:06:38] It's, it's, it's more of a science. It's, it's less measurements. And cooking, you can, you can, you know, you can kind of improvise more, which plays more to my strengths just in life in general. But, uh, yeah, I, I am not a baker. I am, I have to say, I am not, I'm not, I can, like I said, the firm, aforementioned tube of, of, of, uh, Nestle chocolate chip mix that you just slam onto a baking sheet. I, I can get to about as far as I can go. Yeah.

[00:07:07] Actually concoct my own, uh, creation from scratch. Yeah. I got to work on that. That's, that's something that I'm not there yet. And maybe never will be. I, it seems like a lot of work. Yeah, it is a lot of work. I'm sure. Um, have you ever seen the, have you seen that, uh, series, The Bear? Uh, I know, I know of it, but I have not seen it. Highly recommended it. I came to it a little bit late, but it's terrific.

[00:07:33] And I'm sure many of the, our listeners know the premise. One of the characters in it, um, um, is obsessed with baking. And in fact, uh, he said to over if memory serves to Amsterdam to apprentice, uh, and, and learn, um, several tricks of the trade.

[00:07:55] And what's fascinating about that show generally is how meticulous and how absorbed they are in the minutiae and the art and the science of cooking. Um, you know, I'm sure the show runner and the writers are immersed or you'd have to be immersed in that world because it really seems incredibly detailed and, and, and, uh, and highly credible. So when you get around to it, check it out. Yeah.

[00:08:24] It's definitely one of the better shows series on work. And, you know, there are a number of those shows, even movies series that come to mind. Some are very much genre driven, you know, police procedurals or shows like ER, uh, et cetera, or shows like office are kind of broad. Uh, but there have been, uh, some really, really good show.

[00:08:51] So could you think of anything off the top where you say, yes, that is one of my favorite, uh, show series movies having to do with work for whatever reason. Hmm. Well, you know, I, I'd say a movie I really enjoyed and took to heart to some degree and could relate to is office space, you know? Absolutely. You know, I, I think that really captured the essence of, of what it was like to be in the corporate world.

[00:09:19] Something that I, uh, I, uh, really pray about every day that I'll never have to get back, get back into, uh, it's, it's, uh, not anything I've really ever enjoyed. You know, there's an old saying, I guess, I don't know if it's an old saying, but it's certainly a sentiment that I agree with, you know, great profession, terrible business. And you can say that about a lot of things.

[00:09:43] You can certainly say about, about the movie business, the music business, anything in the arts, wonderful profession, terrible business. And I just found that I, when I was actually working in these corporate places, sometimes I would really like the work itself, but everything around it. Oh baby. I mean, I'm telling you, I just didn't want any part of it. You know, I just, just was unhappy. So I, I really hope to not go back to that, but yeah, the office space captured that essence.

[00:10:10] I think office space, I would, I would have to agree midsize technology company, faceless technology company. You have a lot of types, uh, in there. It's kind of interesting. We are very much having a Bob and Bob situation on steroids right now with Mr. Musk and, uh, uh, Mr. Trump. So yes, Bob and Bob interesting. Yes. It'll be quite interesting how, uh, Elon and Elon, let's see how that, that plays out. I would have expected you, by the way, I was expecting you to say Glenn Gary, Glenn Ross.

[00:10:40] Oh gosh. Yeah. How did I forget that? Yeah. I would have, I would have expected that. That would be, that would have to be even over office space for sure. Um, the, the, the, the, uh, Alec Baldwin slash Al Pacino rants alone. Those, those two moments in, uh, are just, you know, legendary cinema cinema and, uh, yeah, just fantastic. Yeah.

[00:11:06] No, I mean, a lot of great movies and series that would probably be worth a separate podcast or just sort of, uh, doing this, uh, off the cuff. But I'm sure if we spent some time looking over, you know, going back to Fritz Lang's Metropolis, you know, the ultimate dystopian version of a company. You got a little bit of that in Brazil. Oh, Brazil. Yeah. Yeah. The show, the office, you know, it's obviously broad and fun.

[00:11:32] Um, and it makes them, you know, really, there are a lot of episodes and scenarios where yes, I kind of have been there, but it's obviously a little bit more, uh, broad. But I'll tell you, uh, I mentioned some genre shows. Um, I happen to be watching right now, the pit, um, it's sort of, uh, uh, like an ER, an updated ER, but incredibly intense. Um, it's sort of like if anybody has seen the Israeli series Fowda, it's sort of a cross between ER and Fowda.

[00:12:02] It's nonstop adrenaline, nonstop insanity. And I'm watching this and my one takeaway apart from it being very, very interesting is that my God, what kind of person goes into this line of work? I actually asked somebody who's in the field. I said, what kind of person goes into, uh, that kind of work ER where it's so intense every second, you know, uh, it's literally life or death, end of life decisions, counseling. It is just absolutely nonstop.

[00:12:32] And so, and this person said to me, well, people who go into that, particularly the attendant physician is a thrill seeker is somebody who likes extreme sports, which makes a lot of sense. But, uh, it's, it's, it's a really interesting show and, and very well observed, uh, well acted, uh, and so on and so forth. But, uh, the one positive real life application, uh, that I'm sure many people will have when, when you watch is great, but thank God. That's not what I do for a living. Whew.

[00:13:01] Yeah, that's for sure. That is for sure. He's Charles Epstein. I'm Tom Alexander. This is production notes and a little bit more to chat about on the other side. We're going to take a quick commercial break. We'll be back in just a moment. Stay tuned. Hey, it's Bob Pulver host you podcast, human centric, AI, AI driven transformation, hiring for skills and potential dynamic workforce ecosystems, responsible innovation.

[00:13:30] These are some of the themes my expert guests and I chat about, and we certainly geek out on the details. Nothing too technical. I hope you check it out.

[00:14:27] Wrapping things up now on production notes, along with Charles Epstein. I'm Tom Alexander. And, uh, of course, this is a, uh, behind the scenes look at the talent show that Charles is the producer, uh, and I host and, uh, uh, we have a lot of fun with our guests on that show. And I know Charles, we were working on some folks all the time to bring them on. Yeah, exactly.

[00:14:46] And, uh, we're going to be, we have a couple of surprises, uh, lined up from, uh, different, uh, fields, different walks of life coming on and talking about, uh, some things you'd never expect them to be interested in or, uh, do. So, uh, you know, watch this space as they say about a lot of stuff. Yeah. Absolutely.

[00:15:07] Charles, I think we can, uh, we can, we can move on and, uh, re reconnect here in, uh, another week or so a week or two. I know that, uh, you, you, you, you tend to keep your, your guests close to the vest until the last moment. Then you surprise me. You say, guess who's coming on? Boy, it's a lot of fun. I could tell you that much. So. Yeah, no, well, we're, we're, we're having a lot of fun with it. The guests are having a lot of fun with it.

[00:15:35] People coming on, quote, unquote, letting their hair down, showing the side. Other people don't get to see. And, you know, it's becoming kind of infectious. We're getting, uh, people asking us, hey, I'd love to come on the show. I really, really dig what you guys are, are doing. Um, sometimes we've got to say, well, you know, show us what you got. And let us know what you want to talk about because they like the idea of coming on the show, but not everybody has pretty, has figured out exactly what they want to showcase, but that's okay. That's true. Well, that's a good, that's a good point.

[00:16:05] We will be back on production notes and certainly on the talent show right here on the work to find. Podcast network. I'll get that out. Podcast. That's like, there you go. For Charles Epstein, I'm Tom Alexander, thanking you for listening. We'll see you next time right here on Production Notes. So long, everybody.