#jason is the type to also do a podcast but no one agrees to join him and he gets sad

[e1ectricwords]

sting is the type of guy to host a podcast and invite guests on from other guilds

[queerbutstillhere]

Addressing the Batman Conspiracy theories, on the Wayne Family true crime podcast.

(this is based off of my post. I just had fun with this, and yes it's very chaotic. I hope it makes sense!)

"Welcome, listeners, to this months episode of the Wayne Family Circus-"

"That is NOT what it is called and you know it!"

"Okay okay! Shut up Tim!"

There was a hard cut in the audio. You, the listener, smile and put your car into reverse, backing out of your parking spot, you had a long drive to get home, and hopefully this new podcast will entertain you.

"As I was saying! Welcome to episode seven of Crime In Our Midst - I still hate that name - today we are discussing our most requested case. The Mysterious Batman. We will be discussing where he came from, and conspiracy theories involving him," the voice said, ending with a hum. "Today, I am your host, and for anyone who doesn't know, I'm Dick Grayson, the eldest Wayne child. To my left is our illustrious father, and number one theory for today, Bruce Wayne."

"Dick, I told you I didn't want-" a new, deeper male voice started.

"Next to him is Jason, the second eldest and the wildcard of the family."

"Sup bi*****," was the voice response.

"Master Jason," an older accented voice inputted.

"Sorry Alfie."

"Then we have Cassandra Cain-Wayne."

"Hello!" A chipper female voice said.

"They can't see you wave, Cass."

"Oh, sorry."

"Tim Drake is also present, as always. Tim have you ever missed an episode?"

"No," a softer male voice said with a hum.

"Even Damian has missed."

"Tt, that is because I have a life, unlike Drake."

"I am literally a CEO-"

"And just then you heard Damian Wayne, our youngest and saltiest member. Say Hi, Damian."

"Salutations," a younger sounding, yet still accented voice said.

"So formal," the host, Dick, said with a laugh. "And always, we are moderated by our Butler and Grandfather, Alfred Pennyworth!"

"Hello, listeners."

"And this week, we are joined by special guest, Barbara Gordon, daughter of Ex-Commissioner, Jim Gordon. He's not here in person, because he said, and I quote, 'This is bs and there's no amount of money you could pay me to be on your weird podcast'. To which I would like to counter, Jim, we most likely could pay that amount of money-"

"Grayson, you're rambling again," Damian said, sounding annoyed.

"Why did Dick get to host this episode?" Jason asked.

"Because it's Bruce didn't want to, so it was my turn next, shut up Jason."

"Come at me!"

There was another hard cut and a few seconds of pause. You chuckled, already enjoying this pointless bickering.

"So. We're going to start at the beginning. Batman, the masked vigilante who guards Gotham and battles crime, appeared way back when in the 2000's. He was considered a criminal for a long time, mostly due to his method of fear and violence, despite that he never killed, and solved countless cold cases - much like we do, if I might add -" Dick started explaining, paper could be heard rustling.

"Yeah but we don't dress up in spandex and go out every night and punch people, Dick."

"Okay, obviously, Jason."

There was muffled sniggering and then a grunt as someone got hit.

"Boys, calm down and let your brother finish explaining."

"Thank you, Bruce!" Dick exclaimed, there was the beginning of a yell and then another audio cut.

"Batman eventually became a founding member of the Justice League of America, alongside heroes such as Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Lantern and the Flash. It was around this time his protege, Robin, joined his side for the first time. Batman would eventually become the hero of our city, stopping criminals such as the Joker, Bane, Harley Quinn, the Riddler, and Poison Ivy, whom we all Stan," Dick's smooth voice continued.

"Dick," Bruce warned.

"Continuing! It is believed that Batman has had five or six different Robin's over the years, including two female ones, though neither were Robin for very long. The Batman has become a international, and even interstellar hero, working with the Green Lantern Corp on many occasions. I don't think I need to go into further detail, as almost everyone knows who the Batman is. Now let's get into theories!"

"Oh, finally," Tim said, followed by a muffled yawn.

"Shush, Drake. Let Grayson finish talking."

"Now most the theories are about Batman's secret identity or where he came from, right? And obviously the number one theory is that Bruce Wayne, our dear daddy here, is Batman."

"Do not ever say those words again," Jason groaned out.

"I most likely will."

"Can we all just agree this theory is absolute bulls***?"

"Damian!"

"I am speaking the truth father. I live with you, I can confidentially say you do not spend your nights running around Gotham unless it is in a sports car with some annoying woman-"

"Master Damian."

"My apologies Alfred."

"Can I give the evidence?!" Dick exclaimed.

There was mocking noises, and yet ANOTHER hard audio cut.

"So the main source of evidence is that Bruce Wayne and Batman have never been seen together. Which isn't true, because I have seen, and there is photographic evidence of such, which of course, you can find on our website!"

"The second evidence is something about them having the same a**, which I would rather not go into because of obvious reasons. Third, is all of us kids, somebody on Reddit mapped out all of our arrivals with in a years time of the Robin's arrival, and they think that we are the Robin's."

"Implausible. Have you seen Drake? He couldn't be a Robin, he'd snap right in half. And the second Robin died in an explosions, wouldn't that be Jason?" Damian countered.

"There actually was a kid Bruce fostered for a bit named Jason that actually died in an accident," Dick explained. "People think that Jason is the Robin."

"So we're not going to discuss the fact that you had another kid named Jason?"

"Jason, we've already discussed this a million times, I did not bring you into the family because of your name-"

"Can I continue?!"

"Please," A female voice piped in, Cass.

"Okay, the rest of the evidence is just kinda, fishy, I guess? Someone reports having heard Bruce actively state he was Batman as an excuse to not be on a jury duty, but let's be honest, who hasn't? Lastly is that Bruce Wayne disappears a lot around the time big things are happening, which is quote 'awfully coincidentally.' but circumstantial. An example of this is about five years back, Batman and Bruce Wayne both disappeared for a week, and then when Batman came back, he was reportedly 'different, more cheerful, and more charming. Less threatening', while Bruce Wayne remainder missing. Nearly a year later, Bruce Wayne returned, and Batman once again became gruff and intimidating. Shall we discuss this theory?"

"I don't see what we need to discuss," Damian grumbled.

"It's really not good evidence, but it is a good theory," Tim chipped in.

Jason spoke next. "I haven't been here for long, so it seems plausible to me."

"Jason!"

"What?!"

More bickering. Audio cut. This is getting a little weird with all the audio cuts.

"I think we can all agree that Bruce is not Batman," Cass said finally.

"Dad thinks the Bruce Wayne theory is dumb, and he's been working with Batman since year two. They're nothing alike. He suspected Bruce for a few years, but started seeing them in the same room and area and finally had to drop the theory," another female voice spoke, sounding bored.

"See? So, not plausible, moving on," Damian said dismissively.

The next theory was about some random middle aged man, the whole team thought this one wasn't terribly plausible either.

The third theory was that Batman was some type of alien, and this caused a lot of loud bickering and arguing.

The final theory was that Batman was a vampire, and all the kids seemed to like this theory, while Bruce was less then amused.

"Okay, Bruce, who do you think the Batman is?" Jason asked the second Dick closed out his presentation.

"I think he's a hero who protects the city and the planet, and had saved my life, and the lives of those closest too me, many times. If he wishes to keep his identity secret, then we should respect that the same way we respect Superman and Wonder Woman."

"Boooooo!" Jason and Tim yelled.

"Come on, Bruce. Really, give us an answer."

"Okay, I can't because I do actually know who it is," Bruce admitted.

"WHAT?" Tim screeched.

"You know who the Batman is and never told us?!" Dick exclaimed.

"Did you really miss his speech just now?" Damian asked with a huff. "He obviously wants to protect The Batman."

"You won't tell us?" Cass asked.

"Nope."

More bickering over this for a moment.

"Okay, how many agree with Vampire theory?" Dick asked.

There was a pause in the audio.

"Okay that's four. Any takers on alien theory? . . . No hands. Smith theory? And that's one. Jason and Damian, do you want to elaborate?"

"I still vote for Bruce Wayne theory," Jason said with a sigh.

"OH MY GOD-"

"OW! BRUCE HE PUNCHED ME!"

"BOYS!"

There was muffled speaking and sounds of hitting.

"Damian?"

"I don't like any of the theories."

"Do you have your own then?"

"Not particularly, but I suppose if I would have to give one. . . I believe the Batman is just some random guy with some behavioral and mental issues, and decided that the best way to combat crime, instead of becoming a police detective, was to put on spandex and Kevlar and a bat mask and theme everything after bats."

Dick chuckled. "Well there you have it folks. We finally tackled the Batman conspiracy, now could you please stop flooding our social medias with requests for it? Take that as you may, but obviously, as Bruce said, even if some of our members may know the identity of the Batman, we will not disclose that information, because it's not ours to give away. It's his choice and his privacy, so do not ask us who he is. We will not tell. Guys, anything to say?"

"I'm tired-"

"Tim you're always tired!"

"Ookaaaay! Anyway, next month is Bruce's turn, since we switched, and as always, we'll be putting up a poll on Twitter to see what case you want us to discuss! Until next time, this is the Wayne family signing off!"

"Goodbye."

"Peace out."

"Farwell."

"Death is inevitable."

"Time is a social construct."

"Children- Thank you for listening!"

"Please free me from this hell-"

"And in all the other ways to say it, Goodbye, and Goodnight!"

And you, dear listener, were left to listen to dead silence for a few minutes until you reached your destination, thoroughly confused, and mildly unsettled.

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #282

“daddy’s flown across the ocean / leaving just a memory / a snapshot in the family album / daddy, what’d you leave behind for me?”

What is your favorite type of dance? I like modern dances, especially those unusual or creepy with unique music. They’re the dances I look forward to watching in dance competitions. Do you find making scenes in public fun? Oh fuck no. Lemonade or pink lemonade? Pink is Supreme in so many ways. Where do you feel safest? At home, especially if Mom is here. Have you ever been to a gay pride parade? No, but I’d love to. Would you take your dream job if it were out of the country? No. I don’t want to move to Africa. What do you like to do when you're home alone? HAHA okay so I almost exclusively watch Unus Annus when Mom isn’t home because I will almost without a doubt cackle at least once, and… explaining why I’d be laughing would be WILD. UA is a fucking gift & I’mma miss it when it’s gone. What kind of music calms you down? My best bet is nostalgic music that I hold very close, like Ozzy. The soundtracks to SotC and SH2 are also magical when it comes to soothing me. Who did you last go to a park with? Uhhhh… probably not since I took family pictures for someone. Got some nice ones. Have you ever been robbed? Thankfully, no. Are you working, a student, both, or neither? Neither, and at nearly 25, it’s fucking humiliating. I’m thinking of appealing my disability case (you very rarely get it the first time), but of course self-doubt and anxiety just slaps me across the face again and again by asking, “Do you really need it?” That shit is agonizing. Very highly regarded people in my life agree that it’s realistic for me, at least at this moment, while I sort out my mental health. I don’t plan on being on it forever, fuck no. But right now I am, no matter what anyone says, a leech in my home. What's your favorite holiday? Christmas. I prefer Halloween’s “vibe,” of course, but I am much more excited and just thankful at Christmastime, especially now as an aunt with children who *understand* the holiday. Their joy and excitement is enough of a gift to me. It’s always really hard on Mom because she’s convinced she doesn’t do enough (she cries at least once like… every year), but my sisters and I always reassure her. It’s also a nice opportunity to see Dad and my stepmom, also with my sister’s family, and once again we get to see the kids so happy. But enough about them; what I love most about Christmas is I generally am able to put my troubles into perspective and take the time to remember I am, in the big picture, lucky to have what and who I do. And SNOW!!!!! If you can’t tell I’m stoked for Christmas. Do you prefer male or female friends? Both are great, but I’m more relaxed with female friends because of the whole “scared of men” ordeal. What's your favorite dessert? Biiiiihhhhh lemme get my hands on ice cream. Do you ever go on chatroulette or omegle? Noooo, I never did. That shit creeps me out. Besides, I’m shy. What kind of tea do you drink? None. Do you know anyone in a gang? Not to my knowledge… What color is your fridge? White. We decided to use the fridge already in this house versus our old one. Is your phone mostly on vibrate, silent, or ringtone? It’s just about always on vibrate. Do you own black sunglasses? I don’t own any sunglasses. Are you currently looking for a job? Fuck if I know. Not actively, but if something suitable magically popped up, I’d definitely pursue it. Do you watch MTV? No. Do you like to tell people who you like? Historically, I tend to keep my mouth shut about it to people who know that love interest unless explicitly asked, and even then, it depends on if I think they’ll keep their mouth shut. How often do you braid your hair? It’s too short to be braided. I very rarely had it braided beforehand. What color is your microwave? Black. Do you wash your face in the morning when you wake up? If I remember, especially if I’m groggy. Are you interested in the ocean? No more or no less than the average person. What's a big turn on for you? Keeping physical stuff outta this, I’m just such a fuckin sucker for being authentically romantic lmao. Have you ever thought about being a teacher? Heeeeeelllllll no. What's the first thing you do when you turn your computer on? Close out of the stuff that automatically pops up after it starts. Do you drink Gatorade? Ugh, ew, no. Do you hate when people replace 0's with O's? EX: 9:OO AM. Lol no, it’s honestly aesthetically pleasing in some formats. Did you hate riding the bus? Some of my best school memories are the long bus rides home w/ Jason so uh- Do you ever use XOXO in texts, letters etc..? Nah. Has anyone ever told you they liked you to your face? Yeah. Have you ever touched an elephant? No. Reading or writing? Writing. Do you have a childhood nickname? Mom called (and sometimes still does lakjdf;alkwe) me “Twinkie.” She gave sweets-oriented nicknames to all her kids. Have you ever had a Moon Pie? UGH they’re gross. I have this faint memory as a kid of a sweetheart babysitter my sisters and I had always offering us banana moon pies as a snack or dessert, idr. I’ve always hated anything banana-flavored. Has your car ever had troubles? N/A What's your birthstone? Amethyst. Would you join the navy? I want nothing to do with anything remotely related to war. What's your favorite board game? Battleship. Do you like chess? I’ve never played it nor even know the rules. If you’ve ever tried drugs or alcohol, what was your reason for first trying it? I was absolutely parched after a long, sweaty walk and was offered it to “try” by my mom without me knowing it was alcohol… the “WAIT NO STOP” from everyone was so quick lmao. It was just hard lemonade, so nothing super serious. Do you think you could ever have an abortion if you unexpectantly turned up pregnant right this second? I probably would. There is no fucking way I can emotionally handle carrying a baby right now. But I’d feel like absolute shit, even though I’m pro-choice. I just don’t want to picture myself in that situation. Is there a situation where you caved into peer pressure and regretted it? Probably. Although generally, I’m very resilient to peer pressure when it comes to something I really don’t want to do. What is your favorite video game console? Why? PS2, of course. I think the best games came from that era, many ahead of their time. Example, the original Shadow of the Colossus graphics massively pressured the limits of the software, and it still to this day blows me away. Sure, you have some lag in return, but the end result was just magnificent. I seriously, seriously, seriously hope I’m able to play the remake one day. When you lost your virginity, were you sober? I was. As of this minute, what is going through your mind? How I need a change and purpose in life so motherfucking badly. Where’s the last place you went? I was riding around with Mom, doing some errands. Are both of your blood parents still in your life? Yes. When was the last time you went apple picking? Never. Do you have a good relationship with your cousins? We don’t really… have a relationship. We don’t talk, we just kinda “exist” knowing we’re related. What was the last kids movie you saw? I watched some of Hotel Transylvania 3 with my niece and nephew. Do you know anyone who was born in Africa? When I was still in college, there was at least one guy in my class who was. Tutored me in math. Patience of a saint, haha. Have you ever been to an internet cafe? I actually have zero clue what that is. Has the year gone quickly for you so far? I’ve barely discerned 2018-2020, if I’m being honest with you. It’s just a lump of time where I’ve done jack-all. I mean yeah, school fits in there somewhere, but mentally I wasn’t in a wonderful place and haven’t been “happy” for a long time. My mental state has been the same for a few years. How many siblings does your significant other have? N/A Are you one of those people who can drink vodka straight? Oh, I hiiiighly doubt it. I loathe the taste of alcohol. Do you share a middle name with any of your friends? I legitimately have one of the most basic white bitch middle names in America, I know tons. How many pairs of jeans do you own? None. Do you know the name of the pharmacist at your local drug store? One, yes, considering Mom worked there before the cancer and is still in touch with this pharmacist. What flavor is your toothpaste? Mint. Are you sleepy right now? I think I’m permanently sleepy. Do you like crime films and tv shows? Not especially. Are you bitter about anything? Many things. What was the first online account you remember having? Neopets. My older sister helped me set it up when I was somewhere around eight. Do you use emojis? More than I used to. I’m gradually converting from emoticons to emojis, oof. What was the last type of soda you drank? Mountain Dew. Do you remember much from high school? I probably remember too much from high school, if I’m being honest. I remember far too much in far too much detail during the almost four years I dated Jason. Where would you go for the ultimate honeymoon? Probably the Bahamas, mostly for the pink beaches, aha. It would also be an incredible photography opportunity. Do you know anyone who has a strong accent that is hard to understand? My former best friend’s dad was so southern that yes, I could barely understand him whatsoever. If you had to get a tattoo tomorrow, what would you get? If you mean a fresh, new one and not a glow-up on the Mark tribute tat I’ve mentioned five thousand times, a tribute to Teddy featuring his portrait, pawprint, and the Powerwolf lyrics “and we’ll meet where the wild wolves have gone.” I’m going to be picky as a motherfucker about the design itself, though, so realistically it probably wouldn’t be tomorrow since I’d probably commission people to draw in varying styles. Ugh, I need that tattoo gun, my man. What was the last podcast you listened to? Do you listen to it regularly? That would be 4 Peens in a Pod (it’s… not a porn I swear, it’s Fischfuck and the boys lmao). I’m waaaaaaaaaaay behind on it, though. I watch so many different things now that I’m behind on like… everything I watch/listen to. Are you on a first-name basis with your boss? (or last boss if unemployed) I think I was with all of them? What was the last thing you wrote in a Word document? This survey. Because I combine short ones into Big Boys that I usually don’t finish in one go, I save my progress on it. Who do you miss and what do you miss about them? I miss a number of people and would rather not retrospect on them. What were the best and worst costumes you’ve ever worn? *shrug* Do you know anybody who is gay and married? I think so. What did you last take painkillers for? A headache. Are there any hobbies you want to get back into? Ugh. A whole fucking lot. I’ve thought quite a bit recently on how I miss video editing, but I just don’t have the motivation and dedication for that anymore. Have you ever shared a home with a friend? Yes. What’s the craziest or weirdest place you’ve ever slept? Nowhere that strange at all… Probably just like, the floor, but even then with blankets and stuff. What did you have for lunch today and who made it? I haven't had lunch yet. Are you allergic to anything? How did you find out? Pollen is pretty obvious, while serious discoloring and itching let me know I was allergic to silver. Have you ever been on a date with someone you met online? How was it? Yeah, I was visiting her for a couple weeks. It was nice. Who was the last very physically attractive person you saw? In ~real life~, probably some friend on Facebook. Do you know anyone who is deaf? We recently found out actually that my youngest niece is deaf in her left ear due to a massive buildup of fluid in it. I’m so ready to hear about her reaction to hearing normally once it’s taken care of. Has there ever been a person you regret ever being friends with? Probably at some point. “Ever” makes this question difficult. Do you think you have a good understanding on love? Yes. What do you think of your parent(s)? I love them both immensely while acknowledging their flaws. What celebrity do you think should of never become famous? I don’t care enough to think on this honestly haha. Did you ever get into the Twilight saga craze? What about the Harry Potter craze? Neither. What's your opinion about Katy Perry's song "I Kissed a Girl"? It was bold for its time, for sure. I’ve never minded it. Actually since coming out as bi I’ve known that this song has to be included in the recession dances of my wedding if my partner is female lmao. Do you believe in heaven? If so, what's it like? If not, why? I hope there’s some sort of total bliss after death if you’re deserving of such, but I don’t know. I definitely don’t know how I actually picture it. Even if there’s not, well, I’m assuming I just won’t exist anymore, so I wouldn’t be able to care anyway. Sometimes I hope that's the case. What email service do you use for your main (or only) email account? Hotmail. Did you ever believe in the Tooth Fairy? Yeah. I remember there was one time where “she” didn’t trade my tooth for munz and I was so mad lmao. Mom apparently forgot and slipped something under the pillow while I was getting ready for school. How I fell for it, who knows man, kids are wild. How do you feel about Taco Bell? I’m not a Mexican food fan, really, but I do love their cheese (with or without chicken) quite a bit. The cinnamon bite things are bomb as FUCK, too. I’m still mad tilted they took potato products off their menu tho because I used to destroy the fiesta potatoes. How often do you go on to YouTube? I’m like… always on it. Not focusing on it at all times, but something’s in the background. Back when Spongebob Squarepants was famous, were you interested in it? Well of course, man. What's your dream pet? Ugggghhhh a sunset morph ball python, probably. Buuut I’ve seen some over $2k with their rarity. More realistically, I really, really want a Brazilian Black tarantula. And an arctic morph hognose. I want a lot of pets. ;_; Who's been your favorite teacher growing up, and why? God, I have a lot, honestly. All things considered, the answer is probably Miss Tobey, who was my physical science teacher in high school. She’s an extremely close family friend now involved regularly in my family’s lives. She can be… difficult and says shit before thinking, but we love her nevertheless. What's your favorite fairy tale? Fuck outta here if you say Shrek isn’t one. Do you have a favorite pen? Uh, no… I barely ever use pens anyway. Has a child ever asked you a question you found difficult to answer? Yeah; it happens sometimes with my niece and nephew. Name five books you've read in the past year. I think I’ve read the first three Wings of Fire book within the same year, and I’m currently on the forth. Other than those, I started The Testaments by Margaret Atwood, but only got through the prologue I think before my focus shifted onto WoF. I still plan on reading it at some point, though. ^Are any of those books your favorite? No. The prequel to The Testaments, The Handmaid’s Tale, is very high up there, though. Are you a person that enjoys re-reading books? Not at all. Once I read it once, I’m done. There are VERY few books I’ve reread, and most of those were children’s books from when I was little. Do you have a favorite talk show host? Don’t watch any. Which sounds the most refreshing: a hot shower or a cold one? I prefer hot showers unless I seeeeeriously need to cool down. Have you ever made your own soap? No. Can you sleep with socks on? UGH NO. When was the last time you were pissed beyond belief and why? Ummm good question. I don’t know about *that* mad. Maybe when Ashley’s mother-in-law shared a massively homophobic article that condoned conversion therapy on Facebook that resulted in me removing her from my friends and RAGING to my mom about it. That was forever ago, though. Do you have a favorite candle brand? No. What is your opinion on taxidermy? I have… very mixed feelings. If the animal was hunted for sport, then it’s fuckin disgusting; you literally killed an animal with the intention to show off the fact you’re a goddamn murderer. On the other hand, taxidermy of naturally-deceased animals can be educational, and even… artistic sometimes? I don’t know. I can’t really pick one stance over the other. Would you ever want to own a body part in a jar? Actually, yes, particularly of fetal animals (that WERE NOT killed for the sake of displaying), but for the same reasons above, I’m not sure if I would *really* do it. They are incredibly interesting to me, more so than taxidermy probably, but yeah, I still question the morality of it. What is the worst thing you have ever done to your own hair? I don’t think I’ve ever really done a “bad” thing to my hair. What qualities of yours do you think could potentially harm a relationship? I’m very clingy and, in the beginning, very paranoid that you’re going to leave. Have any of your childhood habits carried over into adolescence/adulthood? I had AWFUL separation anxiety from my mom for a very long time as a kid, and I guess that evolved into my extreme inability to handle loss well, maybe. I’d say they’re at least somewhat related. What is the first band that comes to mind when I say 'dark'? Cradle of Filth popped up first. As far as relationships go, what are your biggest deal-breakers? Abuse, arrogance, and distrust probably top the list. Be honest: do looks really matter to you? Nah. It’s nice to be physically attracted to my partner, but it’s not a must. Have you ever done something simply because you were of age? No. Do you think it's worth it to tell someone you had feelings for them when you don't have them anymore? I mean, what’s the situation? Are you hanging out, talking about relationships casually? I’d say it’s fine then if it’s relevant to the conversation. I don’t think it’s worth going out of your way to tell someone you liked them if you don’t anymore, though. Have you ever done something you once thought you'd be too chicken to do? Y’know that ride at fairs where you go up really high on a circular thing with other people and then drop abruptly? That. I screamed like a mf lmao. I had to put a lot of effort into not yelling “SHIIIIIIIIIIIT” lmao. What's a food you love but don't get to eat very often? Stuff involving shrimp, ig. What's your favorite mythical being? Dragons! Have you ever felt a baby kick? I don’t think so, and I don’t want to, considering it’s fucking terrifying to me. I can’t even see a baby move without screaming and wanting to hurl. When is the last time you did something truly fun, and what was it? Who the fuck knows… What is the worst thing you've ever done when you were really angry? Said things I shouldn’t have. Are there any pills you take on a daily basis? If so, what? A lot. I can’t be bothered to go through all of them. At what age do you first remember feeling butterflies in your stomach around someone? I’m not sure. Do you feel that way around anyone now? I don’t think so. What is your main heritage? German or Irish, idr which is more prominent. What is a song that you hate to admit you like? “Bitches” by Hollywood Undead came to me first lmao. What inspires you to get off your bum and do something productive? More than anything, watching inspirational YouTube videos. What part of your body have you had the most problems with in your life? I suppose maybe my ears? I had tubes put in as a kid, I had an absolutely agonizing ear infection once, I had earwax adhered to my eardrum, and they've always been STUPID dry and flaky. Are you watching your weight? Like a hawk, but it doesn’t seem to matter anyway. :^) Have you ever become really good friends with someone you found online? Most of my closest friends I’ve met online. What is the coolest tattoo you've ever seen? You’re asking the wroooong person, lol. I’ve just seen way too many… Have you ever created anything artistic that you're proud of? If so, what? Lots of things; drawings, some writing, photographs, video edits… What do you like on your hotdogs, if you eat hotdogs? Just ketchup and mustard. What is a subject that makes you uncomfortable? Sex. What is a subject you can talk on and on about and not get sick of it? MEERKATS and MARK What is the worst thing someone could do to you emotionally? Tell me I’m weak. Or that my mental illnesses truly do make me unlovable. Just essentially do fucking not make me feel what Jason did. What is the worst thing you've ever done to someone emotionally? Said some extremely mean and potentially scarring shit.

[sundarksposts]

She’s not her [David Dobrik Imagine]

A/n: Yes finally I posted something. This would be plot the same as TV Show ‘Friends’. I really love Friends. I have watched it like 7 times and I currently am watching it. So I hope you guys enjoyed it. Please tell me if I need to make more parts about this. I actually have it on mind. But you know me. Too lazy to write

Everybody knows about David and Y/n. Of course. How they not? She’s always there when he called to help him to shoot a bit or to stay in at his house on his posting day. And it is also mutual. He always come over when Y/n needs to study or having a bad day. They are end game. Or as Phoebe Buffay like to say, She’s his lobster.

But things always not good as it seems. It’s not always sunshine and butterfly. Like this one time where David screwed things up and we’re gonna know why he screwed up.

It’s Friday night and just like the usual, the boys are at David’s house while the girls are having a night gathering together somewhere. The boys are being boys. Watching TV, chattering, playing billiard and there are a lot of drinking. Scott, Heath and Todd are at the kitchen, trying to make something to eat. Jeff, Zane, Matt are playing billiards while Jason and David are at the couch making a conversation for their podcast.

Suddenly, Zane make a move to the couch and sit beside David and read his text from Y/n. ‘So David, what’s your relationship with Y/n?’ Zane smirked. He knows David to well that he won’t answered this question but they all gotta’s know.

David glared at Zane and scoffed at him. ‘None of your business Zane’ he answered and grabbed his phone and put it on his pocket. Todd, Heath and Scott joined the conversation and bringing the foods. ‘Yeah what’s up with you two? It’s like you both like each other but can’t do anything about it’ Heath said while taking a slice of pizza. David sighed and looked at the boys who are waiting for his answer.

‘It’s just, it’s easy with Y/n right now. I don’t want to jeopardize it. And also, um’ David stuttered at the last part making all the boys curious. Jason sighed understand by David statement. ‘Please don’t tell us that you still in love with Liza?’ the older man asked out of blue looked at the younger boy. David looked down at his lap feeling embarrassed nodding his head. Now is the boys time to sighed.

‘Okay we can help you’ Todd said grabbing the laptop from the table and make a two name, Y/n and Liza. All the boys peered to the laptop while Todd typed. ‘Okay, so what we’re gonna do is to make a difference from the two girls. So you can sorted your feelings out’ Todd said to the vlogger.

‘Is this how you pick girls to be your girlfriend?’ Scott asked and Todd rolled his eyes. ‘This is about David. Not me. Okay where should we start?’

‘We can start from the cons? It would be easy right?’ Matt suggested and Todd typed the cons from the bottom of Y/n name. ‘Okay cons of Y/n. Go’

‘Well for the first starter, she’s a bit fat’ Jeff said and Todd typed. ‘She can be annoying and clingy sometimes’ David suddenly said but still unsure if this is a good idea. Jason shakes his head still not agreeing about this. ‘I don’t want to be apart of this’ he said and left the couch to the kitchen. ‘She can be too loud. I mean when she laughed I think the Brit can hear it’ Zane said and all the boys chuckled. Todd typed it all. ‘Okay what else?’

‘She’s not Liza’ David whispered but Todd heard it and still typed it.

Suddenly, a car pulling over to David’s house and heard commotions from the girls. The boys grow panic and Todd quickly closed the laptop.

‘Hey guys! We’re home’ Carly said and walked to the kitchen to grab a water. She followed by Y/n, Erin, Corinna, Natalie, Kristen and Mariah. They all walked to the couch where all the boys stands up. The girls see all of the guys there and looked at each other. ‘What did you guys do?’ Y/n asked to David who seems to be very nervous and he just nervously chuckled. ‘Um, nothing we just finished doing something from the laptop’ he glanced at the laptop and realized that the boys are now widening their eyes. Y/n reached for the laptop wanting to see it but Todd being the closest quickly grabbed the laptop. ‘Oh come on guys. Now I can’t see what’s on it?’ Y/n asked crossing her arms. Now the girls have joined their conversation. 

‘What’s wrong?’ Erin asked to Y/n who looks pissed.

‘They have something secret and did not want to tell me what’ she answered, her eyes still on the laptop

‘Oh come on guys. Tell us’ Carly said sitting at the couch while Natalie snatched the laptop and run to the kitchen followed by all of the girls. All of the boys screamed Natalie’s name and the girls quickly open the laptop and see what their doing.

Y/n heart dropped and felt like she wanted to cry.

Fat

Annoying and clingy

Loud

And the last part is the one that really hurt the most.

She’s not Liza

Did they really just compared her with Liza?

All the girls looked at Y/n with their mouth agape then they all looked at the boys with dirty looks.

‘What’s this?’ Erin asked suddenly trying to break the ice.

‘Y/n I can explain’ David said trying to hold Y/n hand but Y/n quickly put her hands to her pocket and walked to the front door.

David trying to catch up with her while the girls all looking mad but sad for Y/n.

‘I have to go guys’ Y/n said almost crying and leave the house. She quickly walk to her car and lock the door while David knocked on her window.

‘ Y/n! Y/n! Please I can explain! Please listen to me!

But Y/n did not hear it and just drive away.

Now kids, this is the time where David really screwed things up.

https://daviddobrikindo.tumblr.com/post/183650282079/someone-new-shes-not-her-part-2-david-dobrik part 2

https://daviddobrikindo.tumblr.com/post/184574672694/the-good-part-shes-not-her-part-3 part 3

[calliecat93]

Since I can't go to RTX and they aren’t streaming it this year but I wanted to do a masterpost of something RvB related, I decided to write a wrap-up of this interview with Jason Weight on The SHizno RvB Podcast. Please go check it out because there was now ay that I could fit everything in here and there’s so much good stuff in it. SO please go and check it out! But anyways, here we go:

Joe had told Jason about the plan for a Donut and Wash season back at RTX, which Jason at first wasn't on board with. But once he began writing it, he got into it and became very attached to Donut. 

When rewatching the show to prep for S17, one scene that took note of was in the caves when Grif was making the Reds not look at Kai when naked… except for Donut since he just paid attention to the Blue’s base. It felt like he had depth in those kinds of moments and it got him to like him. He was very happy to see more people join Team Donut after the season. He feels like only the surface has been scratched for him.

He confirmed that Donut’s innuendo in the finale was intentional (even putting ‘tongue and cheek’ in the character notes) and any made after will likely be intentional by him.

When they talked about Donut and Tucker’s development, Jason joked that Simmons would be next to receive development. So it seems that Jason is at least aware of our desire for a Simmons season XD

The Everwhen was devised essentially as another method of time travel different from the previous methods seen before since doing it the same way again would have been boring. 

The timeline after the paradox in the Writers Room was called Schrodinger’s Ass. 

The version of time travel we got was the third version. Jason spent a month on Verison One, but Burnie had rejected it. Then he, Joe, and Miles devised a second version, but near the end they threw it out and the third version that included The Everwhen was made.

How it worked in previous versions was that Chrovos has made the alternate Blood Gulch as a containment unit type of thing to contain the Reds and Blues as she went backwards in time, giving them a limited amount of time before she reached the beginning of time and… honestly, IDK how to type the whole thing out. But to put it simply, it was very convoluted and thus The Everwhen was made. The first version was also rejected due to being too similar to S9.

Jason is on Red Team! His explanation? “Red Team is an actual team.” 

He really liked the direction that Joe took Wash, especially since him now having a disability gives him a new unique perspective that, even if he doesn’t get to write in the future, he looks forward to seeing the direction that Wash is taken. He also believes that if they focus on Wahs’s rehabilitation, Caboose should have a major role in it. HIRE HIM RT, DANG IT!

Simmons original nightmare was the same scenario and the same joke… except that the one int he UFO was his dad. The higher-ups rejected this since it could come off as, well… incestuous/pedophilic. Which while I think the ‘dad’ bit would have made more sense… yeah, I… can’t blame them for that one. Jason DOES say that in his mind, Simmons feels that he’s in his father's shadow and the scene was supposed to be in a Freudian reference to those feelings.

Genkins was originally not as intimidating int he script. Much of it came from the direction, especially in Episode 10 after he got skewered by the golf club. Same with Wash and Carolina’s scene in Episode 9. He greatly loved seeing the direction that Austin and Josh took with the scenes.

Miles had toyed with having a scene set directly after S13 (he says 10 but I think he meant 13), but Jason felt that it was best to leave that area alone since it had ended on such a perfect note and talked him out of it. Jason also toyed with having the guys see Epsilon’s final message ala Princess Leia hologram and Tucker picking them up/explaining Episolon’s nature. But it was too talky nor did it really affect anything, so they instead went with Tucker re-living Crash site Bravo which was done by Miles.

If RvB ended up a Seinfeld-esque comedy, Grif and Simmons would live together with Grif trying to get Simmons out of his shell. Sarge is essentially Dan DeVito. Tucker would live alone and use his sword to open up beer bottles. Donut would live in a gym due to, in his mind, him having severe allergies and is why he wears the Power Armor all the time. Carolina and Wash would live together and have a dog, and they both suck at dating due to judging the other’s dates (which Jason feels their relationship is brother and sister). Caboose owns the building they all live in. Lopez is maintenance. I want this show now.

Jason reads all the comments after all the episodes, including on Tumblr (I’m going to be so much more paranoid over my reviews now...) and one post he really liked was the idea of an RvB Road Trip since he used to be a roadie.

Jason doesn’t know how the whole Shisno thing came about since it was Joe’s idea. He does say that it used to be spelt ‘shizno’ until they found out how it’s officially been spelt as ‘shisno’. Whoops. They DID consider involving Wyoming’ time distortion unit in the story, but with all the other time shenanigans they felt it would make it too complicated.

Koen Wooten, a 3D Producer at RT, joked about putting time travel into every show from now on. Miles and Jason were unamused XD

He had a lot of fun with things like writing The Labryinth and Kai messing with Tucker

The hardest part was balancing out the time travel and figuring out what to look into and what not to. 

Jason is very used to being a director due to his own show, Starship GOldfish, and his scripts for himself are MUCH longer and detailed than they end up being in the final draft. For, he had a specific way that he wanted to have Chrovos done, so he was Skype’d in to direct Lee Eddy. Speaking of, he pushed for her after seeing her do Gwen from Camp Camp live at RTX 17 and he really wanted to have her in the show in some form.

For RvB Movie Nights, Jason thinks that Grif would like Caddyshack, thinks that Carolina is terrified of horror films like Paranormal Activity (which makes Wash confused) and ends up panic stabbing the TV, Simmons and Donut both do documentaries, Lopez liked Mr. Bean… then after going back to the beginning of time, he hates that kind of media and just watches an aquarium screen, and Kai likes Alien.

For Halloween, Jason would want to dress as the Fishman from S3 of Camp Camp. 

When questioned about the show potentially hitting serial escalation after the Cosmic Powers stuff, Jason talks about how they feel that they have now sealed off from that and can move more laterally again. But he does also feel that there are larger threats out there that affect you more personally, such as everyone trying to kill you which he thinks could be much stronger than fighting some ultra-powerful God. But we’ll have to see where things go from this point.

He believes that moving forward, Doc can be more important since he now is a nice guy with the danger of O’Malley in him. 

He also has seen that fans feel that the Reds and Blues need a rest, which he agrees with. One idea he likes that he did in PSA’s was do some Grif and Sarge bonding since he feels there’s plenty left unexplored there, Caboose helping Wahs rehabilitate, giving Simmons an arc, and Donut exploring the universe to do some world building. He and Joe liked the idea of maybe doing a mini-series, especially since Halo 6 won’t be out for quite a while and doing one can explore some new options. He also brings up ideas for the future like Locus on trial, Wash’s rehabilitation, and Tucker seeking out Junior to bond with him more after what happened in The Labryinth. I mentioned that RT needs to hire Jason ASAP, right?! RIGHT?!

He also feels that there would, ideally, eventually need to be a new villain… and suggests himself cause of him being British. HA! He also really loves villains and if he got to keep being the writer, he would absolutely voice the villain like Miles did as Felix. Although he does bring up the ‘self-insert’ critique but thinks it would be okay since as the villain it would be okay to hate him!

At the end of the interview, Jason talks about how collaborative the entire process had been and how Miles greatly helped him with the writing as well as Josh and Austin’s direction, who he hopes will still be on it. He says to thank them.

Well, that was fun! I will say, Jason hit all of the right buttons for me and I do legit hope that he can come back. But even if he can’t, this was so great and having his contribution was amazing. Thank you again for everything Jason~

[dailynewswebsite]

BBC presenters share their lockdown entertainment tips

Haprz Kaur, Will Gompertz, Hannah Peel and Mark Radcliffe

With England in lockdown once more, and plenty of others elements of the UK enduring extreme restrictions, folks need to movie, books, music, on-line artwork, podcasts and extra for his or her cultural kicks.

Right here, BBC presenters and journalists share their lockdown picks. It is an eclectic checklist of options for the place to look subsequent when you fancy some inspiration.

Mark Radcliffe

Veteran broadcaster Mark Radcliffe presents BBC Radio 2’s Folks Present and 6 Music’s weekend chat and music present Radcliffe and Maconie .

The Trial Of The Chicago 7 (Netflix)

I like a courtroom drama, I have to say. For individuals who do not know the Chicago 7, they had been college students and hippies and anti-Vietnam protesters who picketed on the 1968 Democratic Occasion Conference and had been arrested for inciting riots.

For those who do not forget that 12 months, it was a extremely highly-charged time. Martin Luther King was assassinated in April, after which Bobby Kennedy in June – so that is a rare snapshot of these instances. It nonetheless has a resonance, significantly in how the one black defendant is handled. Within the time of Black Lives Matter and the George Floyd protests, it reminds you that not the whole lot has modified, by a great distance.

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart (Picador books)

That is set within the time of Thatcherism, and it is a tragic story of this younger lad Shuggie Bain, who’s defending and caring for an alcoholic mom, dwelling in excessive poverty. It is moderately Thomas Hardy-esque, in that everyone seems to be doomed to disappointment or dying, but it surely feels very actual. And just like the movie, one suspects life hasn’t modified very a lot for lots of people.

The novel is nominated for the Booker Prize, though I do not typically take that as an enormous advice. I’ve actually introduced Booker-winning novels and thought they had been dreadful.

The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix)

Anya Taylor-Pleasure performs Beth Harman, who’s in an orphanage at first of the movie, and is intrigued by the janitor who performs chess. He step by step agrees to show her and it seems she’s an absolute prodigy. It is based mostly on a novel by somebody referred to as Walter Tevis but it surely feels prefer it should be true. It is in regards to the connections you make as an orphan – friendships and connections and adoption. And there is plenty of chess.

Story continues

The truth is, we began taking part in chess at house, impressed by it, and my spouse is miles higher than me and she will see a number of strikes forward. We do not play anymore. It obtained too annoying.

Harpz Kaur

The Asian Community presenter has hosted its breakfast present since 2017, having joined the station in 2015 from neighborhood radio.

Strictly Come Dancing (BBC One, iPlayer)

Watching my subsequent door neighbour Clara [Amfo] completely bossing it on display is superb. I am an enormous fan of BBC One’s Strictly Come Dancing anyway, however seeing Clara shine like a Queen is nice. Rooting for her little doubt. And I often discover something music or dance associated to be therapeutic for me. It is enjoyable, a straightforward watch and it is an effective way to wind down. Seize some munchies and sit on the couch whereas having your individual social gathering. It is excellent.

Made In Heaven (Amazon Prime)

I’ve additionally simply completed watching season certainly one of Made In Heaven. A few colleagues have been that means to get me into it and now I am hooked. It is extra of a drama sequence, but it surely’s so good and retains you on the sting of your seat on the finish of each episode. Cannot wait to begin the second season.

Sister Sister (Netflix)

And thirdly, I am watching Sister Sister, a 1990s US sitcom about twins Tia and Tamera who had been separated at beginning and reunite 14 years later. It is introduced again my youth. And you may by no means get sufficient. For those who grew up watching Tia and Tamera, you already understand how good it’s. For those who fancy a giggle, put them on.”

Bobby Friction

DJ Friction has been on the BBC airwaves since 2002, and is now presenting the Asian Community’s night present.

House movies (YouTube)

It is the largest type of escapism – neglect pandemics, let’s discuss 1,000-year journeys to different galaxies.

He devours YouTube sequence by scientists and futurists John Michael Godier and Isaac Arthur, who use science reality to look at what may truly be doable past Earth.

They will swing between stuff that is taking place in our photo voltaic system to actual mad stuff like, what is going to the universe appear to be a trillion years from now? After which they will break it down utilizing actual physics and actual science.

The Actual Housewives of America (Sky, ITV Be, Amazon Prime Video)

I do not watch a lot TV or actuality exhibits,” says Friction. “However I fell into this gap of watching The Actual Housewives of Atlanta and The Actual Housewives of Potomac. It wasn’t till the summer season that I went, ‘Wait a minute, they’re the one two actuality exhibits from that franchise that function black girls. Each different present options white girls.

I am subconsciously coping with Black Lives Matter, race and the whole lot that is taking place this 12 months through these actuality exhibits. Imagine me, I’ve fallen so deep into them. Anybody who asks a query in regards to the seasons or the episodes, I’ve the reply.

The Beatles

Friction has been rediscovering The Beatles by listening to all their albums back-to-back once more.

“I simply obtained again into it and thought, my God, how did these guys write practically each style of music that we’re nonetheless listening to? And also you’re telling me they launched The White Album and Yellow Submarine and Sgt Pepper inside the area of 18 months? It is ridiculous.”

Will Gompertz

Will Gompertz has been arts editor for BBC Information since 2009 and earlier than that was a director on the Tate Gallery.

What I Love (podcast)

I am loving this podcast, introduced by the award-winning theatre director Ian Rickson. It has a easy format: one visitor with whom Rickson has labored selects three issues she or he loves. Chiwetel Ejiofor included a Michael Kiwanuka tune, Kae Tempest picked a e book by William Blake. Good listening.

Strata: William Smith’s Geological Maps (Thames & Hudson)

Some books are lovely, others are enlightening. Strata is each. Full of beautiful illustrations, it presents the work of William Smith, a 17th Century geologist, who was the primary individual to comprehensively map the earth beneath our toes. It is the most effective non-fiction e book I’ve learn in a very long time.

Name My Agent (Netflix)

French TV would not get that a lot consideration for some purpose – however they produce some nice programmes. Spiral is the most effective police procedural on telly, whereas Name My Agent is the right lockdown escape: uptight actor’s brokers coping with uptight actors in a Paris workplace the place they find yourself both bickering or sleeping with one another. Or each. Tres bon!

Hannah Peel

Musician Hannah Peel presents late-night Radio three present Evening Tracks, which ranges from classical to up to date music. She was Emmy-nominated final 12 months for her soundtrack for HBO’s Video games of Thrones: The Final Watch.

Notes On Blindness (Obtain, Netflix)

This can be a documentary in regards to the author John Hull, who went blind simply earlier than the beginning of his son and began to make a diary of audio cassettes. Within the movie you hear all of the precise recording, and it is simply unimaginable.

You are immersed in a world of sound, as a substitute of being completely bombarded with visible info. It sounds prefer it must be a podcast, but it surely actually works as a movie – delving into the thoughts and the physique and desires and reminiscence. I feel it is a masterpiece.

Bandcamp (Unbiased music retailer)

I am Bandcamp all the best way, for the whole lot. They do an incredible factor as soon as a month referred to as Bandcamp Friday, the place each artist will get 100% of the revenue on their merchandise or downloads or CD gross sales. It is the one place that does that within the music business.

The very last thing I purchased was a compilation by a beautiful little indie label referred to as Salmon Universe, who put out plenty of ambient, digital music. I like compilations since you’re led to artists from all internationally, from Ohio to Japan. It is superb.

Islands (RTÉ podcast)

That is made by the world-renowned sound recordist Chris Watson, who’s teamed up with the author/presenter Luke Clancy to take a journey throughout the atlas of distant islands, from Ross Island to the Galapagos to the probably legendary isle of HyBrasil.

It is filled with tales and sounds, and it is lovely. I similar to the best way you need to use podcasts to specific one thing emotional, moderately than factual. So that you get a way of ethereal escapism inside that.

Mark Savage

Mark has been the BBC’s music reporter since 2015, and introduced 6 Music’s Historical past of Video Sport Music final 12 months.

Ted Lasso (Apple TV)

After Schitt’s Creek ended, I used to be desperately trying to find a TV present that hit the identical candy spot of belly-laughs and heart-warming humour. That is that present.

Starring Jason Sudeikis, it tells the story of an American Soccer coach who involves London to supervise a fictional Premiership workforce, regardless of figuring out nothing about soccer. Unbeknownst to him, the membership’s proprietor (performed with scrumptious relish by Hannah Waddingham) is making an attempt to get the workforce relegated to spite her adulterous husband. I will not spoil the plot, however the present’s relentlessly optimistic tone is simply what I wanted in lockdown.

Pikmin three Deluxe (Nintendo)

Pikmin is not as well-known as Nintendo’s larger franchises, like Mario and Zelda, but it surely’s been made with simply as a lot care and a spotlight to element. You play as a crew of astronauts, stranded on a hostile planet, who need to enlist a crop of plant-like creatures to assist them discover the lacking elements of their spaceship.

You command as much as 100 of the little Pikmin, every of whom have completely different talents (some are fighters, some are swimmers, others are impervious to electrical energy) to resolve a bunch of more and more difficult puzzles towards a time restrict. It is concurrently enjoyable and panic-inducing; however I have been specializing in finishing the much less worrying problem mode with my 10-year-old, who simply likes throwing the Pikmin round and laughing at their cute noises.

Dua Lipa – Future Nostalgia (Warner Music)

Rush-released in the beginning of the primary lockdown, that is nonetheless my favorite document of the 12 months. A sweat-glistened hymn to the dancefloor, it by no means fails to raise my temper.

The album is getting the dwell therapy later this month, with a digital gig that is been dubbed Studio 2054 – with Dua promising (deep breath) “a kaledioscopic, rocket-fuelled, journey by way of time, area, mirrorballs, curler discos, bucket hats, belting beats, throbbing basslines and an absolute slam-dunk of the most effective instances in international membership tradition”. See you there. Hotpants elective.

Elizabeth Alker

The BBC Radio three broadcaster presents late-night present Unclassified, which showcases music by composers who may need a classical background but in addition draw from pop, rock, jazz, and experimental music.

Ms Ice Sandwich by Mieko Kawakami (Pushkin Press)

The Japanese writer’s novella is evocative however breezy, conversational and unsentimental. She’s coping with the difficulties and complexity of human life however in a extremely relatable, heat and humorous method.

It is in regards to the relationship between an adolescent and their mom. It is a coming-of-age story and in regards to the anxieties of being a youngster, however you get to see it from either side. You’ll be able to sense what the mom’s feeling as properly. She’s a fortune teller and their grandma’s ailing upstairs. It is a household story about feminine identification in Japan.

Fats Out Fest (YouTube)

The annual music competition from Salford-based underground and different promoters, Fats Out Fest occurred dwell on-line this 12 months, and they’re now placing units on YouTube each Friday over the subsequent month.

They actually do take it to the sting. On 20 November they’re broadcasting Lone Taxidermist – her exhibits are wild. It is efficiency artwork in addition to music. Her new present Marra begins along with her singing alongside to a cattle market. An precise cattle market. Her voice is synced with the auctioneer and Maxine Peake is within the video. It is on the market.

Radiophrenia (Streaming)

Radiophrenia is a Glasgow sound artwork radio station that is streaming 24/7 till 22 November. I used to be listening to an Italian sound artist referred to as Tobia Bandini. He’d interviewed all these folks asking for his or her response to the apocalypse after which he’d combine their tales – they’re all in Italian – with digital soundscapes.

If you wish to tune out of the information then this can be a very nice place to flee to. There’s all types in there, and plenty of it’s simply actually pleasing and fairly hypnotic.

Observe us on Fb, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. When you have a narrative suggestion e mail leisure.information@bbc.co.uk.

from Growth News https://growthnews.in/bbc-presenters-share-their-lockdown-entertainment-tips/ via https://growthnews.in

[arplis]

Arplis - News: 12 True Sex Stories You Have to Read to Believe

“WHEN HARRY MET SALLY” - COLUMBIA PICTURES   You’re out to brunch with your girlfriends, how long does it take for the conversation to turn to sex? Not long, amiright? It’s not just the ladies on “Sex and The City” who love to talk about sex—it’s most of us. We talk about it with our friends, our partners, and depending on how self-conscious you may feel, complete strangers. We talk about our true sex stories wether it be the amazing sex we’ve had, the comical, the sometimes strange and unusual, and even the not-so-great sex.  For many of us, we learned more about sex from our friends than we did from our parents or sex education class. It’s fun to share our sex stories—if it wasn’t, there wouldn’t be live storytelling shows, podcasts, books, TV shows, or movies. Fantasy has its place, but the stories that resonate the most with us are the true stories, those that actually happened. I AM & CO put the word out that we were looking for true sex stories and we received a very diverse response; stories from various sexual preferences, practices, and levels of sexual experience. All of these true sex stories are ones you have to read to believe. 12 True Sex Stories Guaranteed to Raise Eyebrows “Not Friends, No Benefit” Comedian Shalewa Sharpe, creator of  "So You Just Out Here?" I ran into my one-night-stand guy at the club. Now, some people might call that a “friend with benefits” but that term suggests that the two parties are friendly enough to schedule a benefit. This guy and I were not friends. Our benefits only happened if we ran into each other at the club. So, we made out for a minute, then he suggested we take this party to my car. This was how I ended up parked behind a grocery store, attempting to have sex with this guy in my 1988 Honda Prelude—a sports coupe, with bucket seats. Have you had sex in bucket seats? If so, a follow-up question: are you double jointed? The guy and I struggled for a bit, then his face fell. “Oh, this sucks,” he moaned. “It’s because my dick’s too small.” I had to console this guy while also keeping an eye out for the cops. If you find yourself in this predicament, don’t end up saying what I said: “Hey man, we’re in bucket seats—this ain’t gonna be easy.” A real mood-killer. We threw in the towel, I dropped him off back at the club and went home. Later that night, my roommate, who was the club’s doorperson, mentioned that she saw the guy with a weeping woman at the end of the night—they were walking in circles around the parking lot, then they hopped on his motorcycle and split. The next day, as I was furiously scrubbing and vacuuming my car, I found a driver’s license for a young woman wedged between the front passenger seat and the middle console. I guess it fell out of one-night-stand guy’s pocket during the, uh, festivities. I scratched out the ID’s info, punched a hole in it, and hung it on my rearview mirror as a cautionary tale. “It’s Part Of It” Jason, Columbus, Ohio We were both in college and had been dating for a while when she decided to take it to the next level. “Tie me up,” she demanded. “Okay, um, I’m going to tie you up now,” I said and went to get some scarves that were conveniently strewn about and set to work. “No!” “Oh, my God! I’m so sorry! I thought that…” and I began to loosen the bonds.  “No, it’s part of what makes it so hot.” “Oh, right,” I said and went back to doing Boy Scout knots such as the square knot and the sheepshank. I wondered if I should go with the trucker’s hitch? Nah. Too much.  “I’m going to f*ck you now,” I said getting into it. “Let me go!” I immediately stop what I’m doing. “Oh my God, I am an idiot. I am so sorry. I didn’t understand. You see, when you said you wanted, what I thought was, but in reality, I see… Oh no, I’m so sorry.” I quickly start to untie all the knots.  “No, it’s part of it.”  “What Goes Around, Comes Around” Ashley, Raleigh, North Carolina I paid my boyfriend for sex the first summer we were together…11 years later, he’s paying me for sex. “The Hook-Up Room”  Comedian Anita Flores, host of I'm Listening: A Frasier Podcast with Anita Flores. I’m at my first high- school party, and it’s not going well. Between my social anxiety and the fact that I only know the host, all I can think about is how I’m going to escape. I can’t actually leave, or else I’ll seem “uncool.” Fortunately, I come up with the next best solution. After making some light small talk with the host (Cassie) about her impressive selection of snacks, I ask, “Is there anywhere I can take a nap?” At the time, this seemed like a normal way to still be at the party without having to speak to anyone. I can’t say that Cassie agreed. After a long pause, she replied, “Uh, I guess in my attic.” I gleefully head to the attic. All the lights are off and it’s strangely warm, but it beats talking to people. I feel around and discover a futon I can pretend to sleep on. There I am lying down when something round and muscular attacks my face. It’s a butt, and it's smothering me! Ever want to suffocate someone, but don’t have a pillow? Just wear thick, non-breathable polyester pants. I hear a low voice. It’s a boy butt. He hears my muffled cries, gets up and exclaims, “Whoa, sorry dude!”  Now there’s giggling. He’s with a girl. Suddenly, I hear what sounds like a lot of teens slurping soup. There are more people in this room than I realized. Cassie sent me to take a nap in “the hook-up room!” Picture “Eyes Wide Shut: The Early Years.” Before the masks, there were braces. By this time, the boy butt and his lady friend have taken the futon from me. I'm standing there feeling left out because no one has asked me to join in. I can’t run away, otherwise, everyone will think I’m a prude! So, I find an empty loveseat, plop down, and close my eyes. Because there’s nothing cooler than ignoring sex. I’ll make sure to tell my future teen daughter that, too.  “There Are Rules” Michael, Portland, Oregon I was sessioning with a dominatrix named Vixen when her friend Wendy came over. Vixen blindfolded me and put me in the corner, which I was more than okay with. The minute Vixen’s back was turned, I took off the blindfold, even though I knew (and hoped,) I’d be punished. Vixen took out a strap on from her toy-cupboard and proceeded to f*ck Wendy with it. It was quite a show and later,  I was punished severely for watching—it was well worth the tribute that I paid Vixen. “Don’t Stop Under Any Circumstances!” Carrie, Chicago, Illinois My boyfriend and I were having sex one night on my old as hell bed. He was an ex-professional football player and I’m a big girl, so it shouldn’t have been surprising that right when things were getting super intense, the bed broke. He stopped what he was doing, so I yelled, “Don’t stop! I’m so close!” Without moving from the now broken bed, we get back at it and this time we don’t stop until we both cum. If there had been an earthquake or a tornado, I would have made him keep going then, too. “Side Effects Can Be Embarrassing” Krysta, Orlando, Florida  I've never been really big into taking birth control, but a coworker of mine mentioned that she was on a pill where she only had a period every three months... I wanted in on that! So, I went to my doctor and got on birth control. I started dating this new guy, who was literally the sexiest human-created. Around him, I tried to be Miss Perfection. Meanwhile, I'm on these new birth control pills and the doctor forgot to mention that they had lactose in them. I'm extremely lactose intolerant, even the smallest bit gives me major gas.  The first time the perfect guy and I had sex was a disaster. Every thrust he made inside of me made me pass gas. It was so embarrassing. We literally had to stop and go to Walgreens to get me some type of gas pills because he and I both couldn't take the noise, let alone the smell.  Let's just say, I stopped taking those pills immediately.  “Sex On The Deserted Beach” Beverly, New York City My partner and I were having a romantic vacation for my birthday in Newport, Rhode Island, and decided to spice things up by making love on a (deserted) beach in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, this beach was not quite as deserted or private as we had initially anticipated. All of a sudden we saw flashes of bright light, immediately stopped, and became alarmed.  A police officer arrived, trying to hold back a grin, and asked us if we'd seen some "kids swimming" after hours. We said no, he left, and we quickly packed up our things to make a quick exit. We drove home laughing not quite knowing what to make of the experience, but it certainly was a bonding one. It's definitely an evening and birthday I won't soon forget. “Don’t Disturb Grandpa” Spencer, Phoenix I hooked-up once with this guy who was taking care of his grandpa. It was around 10:00 p.m. by the time I got to his house. Whispering, he asked me to follow him and to not make any noise, his grandpa was watching TV in the living room. The guy sneaked me into a bedroom, but I guess that wasn’t soundproof enough, so we went into the closet and had very cramped and uncomfortable sex in there. I don’t think his grandpa had any idea about what was going on. “Male High Club” Reynaldo, San Diego, California I was taking a night flight home from Hawaii, as I was sitting down, I turned to see a guy who was so handsome I was stunned. Like a lot of us, he wore shorts and Aloha shirts, but he was well-built and looked more like he’d be a lead on one of those Hawaii detective shows. There was an empty seat near me on the aisle, and the guy asked if he could sit there to stretch out his legs. Other than nodding yes, we didn’t talk. The man grazed my knee with his leg, and all the hairs on my leg stood on end. And he didn’t pull away right away, just gradually. He got up to get a blanket from the overhead compartment which he placed over his legs. With no talking at all, he made the slightest gesture to offer me some of the blanket. Before you know it, the blanket was spread over both our legs. Then, our hands somehow started to find each other. And for a long time on the flight, that was it…just our hands grasping together, coming loose, rejoining, stroking fingers. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I was rock hard. And gradually, very gradually, all without talking and with this stud of a guy who I did not know at all, our hands gradually started to stroke each other’s thighs, mirroring each other.  And eventually, very discreetly to not get attention or show movement above the blanket, we each found our erections extending out through the bottom of our shorts, and we grabbed each other. Eventually, some napkins or handkerchiefs were brought below, and without making any sound, we both came, and it was pretty simultaneous.  “Kung Fu Fighting” Carol Gee, Author, “Random Notes ( About Life. "Stuff"And Finally Learning To Exhale)” A romantic, I fantasized about what it would be like to have sex on satin sheets. My fantasy materialized when my husband and I, two young Air Force sergeants returning from living in the Far East, stopped to visit another Air Force friend and his lady in San Francisco. Invited to spend the night, the lady made the guest room bed up with a brand new pair of red satin sheets. How did she know my fantasy? I couldn’t wait to get my husband in bed to enjoy sex so good that the neighbors in the apartment next door would have needed a cigarette.  I took a shower, smoothed on scented body lotion and got into bed. My husband was already in it waiting for me. On those satin sheets, our lovemaking suddenly morphed into Kung Fu fighting. Taking me into his arms I accidentally poked him in the ribs. Oof! Climbing on top of him I kneed in the thigh. Ouch! Attempting to kiss him I missed his mouth and ended up rubbing noses with him. Then his pillow slid off the bed, mine quickly followed. Instead of holding onto him, I held tightly to the bedsheets trying not to slide off, taking him with me. Not only was the whole thing a disaster, but we also got very little sleep that night for trying to stay in the middle of the bed. Frankly, I'm glad those sheets weren’t mine as they would most likely have ended up as pretty red curtains.  “Girl/Girl Love Lesson” Sensual Massage Therapist, Jazmin Light The streets of Zurich were empty as I headed toward their place. The gentleman on the phone had asked me if I would "be" with his girlfriend—while he watched. He said she wanted a woman to show him "what women like." The World Cup soccer games were on, and that night, Switzerland was playing. The air bristled with excitement. All anyone talked about was "Fussball." Everyone's windows were wide open due to the summer heat.  A classy-looking man in his mid-fifties opened the door to a modern loft apartment. Surprised, I wondered, “Shouldn't he know what women like by now?” Behind him, pouring champagne at the high-top table, stood Nadia, perhaps thirty years his junior. In her red La Perla lingerie and matching stilettos. She handed me a glass and kissed me on the mouth. We made a toast. I took a sip, then lifted Nadia's silky blonde hair and kissed her neck. I let my lips and teeth linger, then gave her a soft bite. She gasped. Suddenly, a roar of voices sailed in through our window and engulfed us. "YAAAAAY!!!” The cheering came from next door, from above us, below us, and from outside. “GOAL!” We laughed as the ruckus died down. I stroked Nadia's hair, neck, and torso. "There are endless ways to please a woman, Manfred," I said, twirling my fingers on her lacy bra cups. Manfred plopped down on the bed and stared at us, his mouth open.  I unsnapped her bra, returning his gaze. "There's much more to women then nipples and—" I slid my hand to her panties, "pearls." Nadia inhaled sharply. "So slow down, savor, discover, and—play!" Nadia groaned, Manfred grinned. New shrieks and cheers exploded throughout the neighborhood. *** When you share a sex story, it can help you to connect with other people, learn about yourself and others, and it can inspire you to try new things. As humans, we’re always growing and that includes our sexuality.  Sex is part of the human experience and it’s always fun to hear someone else’s stories of incredible sex, confusing sex, or way-out-there sex. #Sex #Relationships

Arplis - News source https://arplis.com/blogs/news/12-true-sex-stories-you-have-to-read-to-believe

[johnpalisano]

I hear you love science fiction. Well, me, too. Have you read Apex? I know, right? The covers are absolutely stunning. Agreed. The stories are always top notch. Have you heard about the promotion? It’s super cheap to subscribe and there’s some great stuff to be had now and in the future . . . so check out their Revive the Drive campaign.

I had an opportunity to speak with Managing Editor Lesley Conner about some interesting stories from the past, what they’re up to in the present and some exciting news about the near future.

  What is the most memorable submission you’ve received, good or bad?

I don’t actually remember the story, but one time an author was incredibly insulting in their cover letter. The gist of it was that if we didn’t accept their story it was because we were discriminating against them and were too stupid to understand the genius of the story. According to them they had experienced everything in the story and had written it based off those experiences so clearly it was the best story ever. Somehow I feel this logic is flawed. We did not accept the story—1. Because it in fact was NOT the best story ever, and 2. Insulting the editors before they even have the chance to read your story doesn’t exactly make them clamor to work with you.

I’ve received lots of insulting letters after rejecting stories (even had someone threaten to sue me once), but this was the first time it happened prior to rejection.

What kinds of stories are you looking for that you don’t see enough of?

I’d love to see more dark SF. We get a lot of fantasy, magical realism, and straight up horror submissions, but the slush pile can be a little light on dark science fiction.

Do you think reader taste changes? Or are there certain stories they never seem to tire of?

I think it goes in cycles. For a while one type or style of story will be really, really popular and then at some point you hit a market saturation—readers can’t absorb one more zombie story or fairy tale retelling or whatever—so those types of stories fall away and something else moves up to take its place. Eventually those stories will come back around and readers will be ready for them again.

What was the day like when you first knew APEX was going to be your full time gig?

There wasn’t one day in particular where suddenly Apex was my full time gig. It was a gradual thing. I started by volunteering 5-10 hours a week, working on marketing and social media. As I learned more about editing and publishing, and as Jason Sizemore and I built a working relationship, I began taking on more and more responsibilities. Then in October of 2014 the opportunity came up for me to step into the managing editor role. Jason Sizemore had moved back into the editor-in-chief position and we already knew that we worked really well together, so it seemed like the next natural step. Best decision I’ve ever made.

What’s upcoming with APEX that you can’t wait to share with readers? Any teasers?

The slush pile has been especially amazing lately and we’ve snatched up some gems for futures issues. Stories by E. Catherine Tobler, Lavie Tidhar, and Rich Larson to name a few.

In addition to the fiction Jason Sizemore and I are lining up, Dr. Amy H. Sturgis is guest editing the August issue, focusing on Native American and First Nation authors. I’m really excited to see what she brings to Apex Magazine.

With the Revive the Drive campaign we are running right now, we’ve lined up amazing things for the January 2018 issue—original fiction by Tade Thompson, Delilah S. Dawson, Cherie Priest, and Jacqueline Carey, more nonfiction,  and poetry! Pretty exciting stuff! Hopefully we reach all of our goals and unlock everything. If we do, the January 2018 issue will be epic!

Apex Magazine is a monthly science fiction, fantasy, and horror magazine featuring original, mind-bending short fiction from many of the top pros of the field. New issues are released the first Tuesday of every month.

http://www.apex-magazine.com

Details about the Apex magazine Revive the Drive campaign

http://www.apex-magazine.com/revive-the-drive-2017/

Apex Magazine is an online prose and poetry magazine of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and mash-ups of all three. Works full of marrow and passion, stories that are twisted, strange, and beautiful. Creations where secret places and dreams are put on display.

Each month we bring you a mix of originals and reprints, interspersed with interviews and nonfiction. We have published many of the top short form writers working today: Mary Robinette Kowal, Saladin Ahmed, Genevieve Valentine, Amal El-Mohtar, Forrest Aguirre, Nick Mamatas, Theodora Goss, Nalo Hopkinson, Lucy A. Snyder, Cat Rambo, Jeff VanderMeer, Seanan McGuire, and Jennifer Pelland. And we’ve also presented the first professional work of amazing new writers such as Indrapramit Das, T.J. Weyler, Alex Livingston, Ursula Vernon, Kathryn Weaver, Kelly Barnhill, Douglas F. Warrick, and Jeremy R. Butler.

Apex Magazine received a Best Semiprozine Hugo nomination in 2012,2013, and 2014. We placed two stories in the 2010 Nebula Award category of Best Short Story, and our stories won the category in 2014 (“If You Were a Dinosaur My Love” by Rachel Swirsky) and again in 2015 (“Jackalope Wives” by Ursula Vernon).

Each new issue is posted piecemeal throughout the month and placed on sale the first Tuesday of every month. Content can be read for free via the website. Alternatively, annual subscriptions are available and all our issues can be purchased in single issue formats (ePub/mobi/PDF or from the Kindle and Nook stores–these versions contain exclusive content such as classic reprints and novel excerpts).

We are reviving the subscription drive that was cut short in November. The new revived drive will run from March 27 to April 17th with a goal to raise $10,000!

Tier levels we will have to unlock during the drive will be:

$500 – Polls will open for readers to vote for the cutest/best Apex animal mascot: Pumpkin versus Oz! (Expect loads of adorable pics on social media as our editors try to sway you to vote for their pet!) Also, Jason and Lesley will make personal donations to the Humane Society

$1,000 – Apex will donate two short story critiques (one each from Jason and Lesley) to the ConOrBust auction, as well a membership to Imaginarium this October

$1,500 – Jason and Lesley’s It Follows debate goes live! Join our editors as they watch It Follows and live tweet the entire experience. If you’ve been following their conversations about the movie on Twitter, then you do not want to miss this!

$2,000 – an original short story by Tade Thompson in the January 2018 issue

$2,500 – add a poem to the January 2018 issue

$3,000 – add a reprint to the January 2018 issue

$3,500 – Andrea Johnson will conduct a video interview with Jason Sizemore, asking him questions submitted by our readers

$4,000 – add a a nonfiction essay to the January 2018 issue

$4,500 – add a second poem to the January 2018 issue

$5,000 – an original short story by Delilah S. Dawson in the January 2018 issue

$5,500 – podcast a second original story in the January 2018 issue

$6,000 – Apex donates a membership to ConFusion to ConOrBust

$6,500 – raise cover artist rates to $75

$7,000 – original artwork for all original fiction unlocked during the drive for the January 2018 issue

$7,500 – an original short story by Cherie Priest in the January 2018 issue

$8,000 – behind the scenes video with Jason

$8,500 – original artwork for all six stories in the January 2018 issue

$9,000 – a new print issue of Apex Magazine: SFFH #1

$9,500 – raise author rates to 7 cents per word

$10,000 – an original short story by Jacqueline Carey in the January 2018 issue

STRETCH GOAL!!! $15,000 – raise author rates to 8 cents per word and artist rates to $100!

Amazing, right!?! If we unlock everything for the double issue in January 2018, it is going to be phenomenal!!!

We are also collecting donated items from awesome people that you’ll be able to purchase during the drive to help us reach our goal.

Some of these donated items include:

story critiques from Jason Sizemore and Lesley Conner

flash fiction critiques from Anna Yeatts, editor at Flash Fiction Online

a query letter critique by literary agents Laura Zats and Eric Hane of Print Run podcast

signed prints of cover art from issues 80, 83, and 86

signed books by John Scalzi

signed books by Brian Keene

signed copy of The Crow God’s Girl by Patrice Sarath

signed copy of The Buried Life by Carrie Patel

signed copy of Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge by Paul Krueger

a handwritten poem by Brandy Schwan

cool collectors pieces by Justin Stewart

hats crocheted by Janet Harriett

coffee from Nate’s Coffee

Gamut/Apex Magazine subscription bundles

Shimmer/Apex Magazine subscription bundles

Flash Fiction Online/Apex Magazine subscription bundles

Personalized postcards from Lesley Conner for everyone who donates at least $5

APEX magazine Revive the Drive! I hear you love science fiction. Well, me, too. Have you read Apex? I know, right? The covers are absolutely stunning.

[burstspain67-blog]

Diet Doctor Podcast #4 – Dr. Joseph Antoun

We have a fascinating discussion about fasting. And fasting is such a hot topic right now, but what exactly does it mean? There’s intermittent fasting, there’s time restricted eating, there’s short-term fasting and long-term fasting. So what do they mean and what do they mean for you as an individual? Where are you going to get your biggest bang for your buck, so to speak?

Because we all want the maximum amount of benefit for the least amount of effort. And when it comes to fasting it’s a little confusing, people are thrown around terms like mTOR and AMP kinase and PKA and… We want to know what this means for our health, whether it’s for treating diseases, preventing diseases, promoting longevity and our health span and we get into all of that with Dr. Joseph today.

So I really hope you enjoy this episode, it’s a hot topic that touches everybody, something everybody can do today to help improve their health. So thanks for listening, if you want to learn more you can go to DietDoctor.com. Find more about me at lowcarbcardiologist.com and about Dr. Joseph Antoun at L-Nutra.com. Thanks again and enjoy this interview. Thank you so much for joining us at the DietDoctor podcast.

Dr. Joseph Antoun: Thanks for having me today.

Bret: So here we are at the Mindshare Summit, this is a great event and you were on stage yesterday presenting on the future of health. And you’re presenting on fasting. Now I’d say there are probably a few years too late to talk about the future of fasting, it seems like fasting is here and am curious…

Now you’re a doctor, you have your medical degree, but you went into business and then found your way to L-Nutra, this company producing a fasting mimicking diet. So I’m curious, give us a little background on your progression and how you got to this point.

Joseph: It all started when I was doing my rotations in med school and I found out that the healthcare we were giving was not ideal. I was frustrated with two things. Number one, we’re not giving solutions that heal the body or trying to diagnose a symptom or identify a symptom trying to find the reason for it and then which disease and then give a pill or give a medical or surgical treatment. We were not doing anything to keep people healthier longer.

And the second call was… there was a little bit of discrimination whether you have the ability to pay, whether you can access the best medication or the most expensive one or not. That kind of created a frustration in me and I wanted to really go out and help changing the healthcare systems around the world into giving fair access to medicine and to healthcare regardless of their ability to pay. But also to bring a big innovation in healthcare that keep people healthier longer rather than sicker longer.

Bret: So I guess you have sort of two different ways you’re approaching this. One is from the healthcare reform side, which you are very involved in, and the second is with the innovation of a fasting product, the fasting mimicking diet. So what specifically drew you to fasting as the path to help people with their health?

Joseph: Yes, so the first thing in my journey when I finished my med school is I went into health policy and public health study. I did my health policy at Harvard then I did my public health at Hopkins and I wanted to start a career in really finding what is the next big thing that’s going to heal or prevent a disease for billions of people around the world. And the first path in this journey and a lot of professors and advisors said, “Well first learn the biotech sector. Learn how we discover, how we bring innovation in healthcare.”

So I joined a company called Eli Lilly and Company or mainly known as Lilly for most people and this is where I learned the business of how you innovate, how you launch product and how you make them accessible to people around the world. And after that journey, my second hunger which was for something that would really change the world, I was looking for something like that.

And I actually met a CEO of a company called the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. And he asked me a question that changed my life. And the question he asked me was… He said, “Dr. Antoun, as an expert in health policy and public health why the healthcare system still treats or think about the top four killers today as if they’re completely independent? Meaning Alzheimer’s, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. So why you still treat them independently?”

I was like, “What do you mean? They’re completely independent diseases.” And he said, “If they were really independent, why you don’t get Alzheimer’s at age 20? Why you don’t get your first cardiovascular or heart attack at age 22?” You actually get most of these diseases at later stage of life. So the mother of these diseases is really aging. And the way you age and the quality at which you age determines the onset of these diseases.

And he said, “For an ideal public health system to really keep people healthier longer “the system should focus on how we age. “And if we have people age healthier longer then we’re pushing the onset of these chronic disease to later stage in life.” And that was a fascinating statement for me and I started looking into aging as a field and I started to look into are there technologies, is there research in aging that is bringing any product or any service?

Bret: So how long ago was that?

Joseph: That was almost 7 years ago today. In my big search I start traveling the US looking for a lab or looking for a technology in aging, because I knew how the healthcare system works, I knew how reimbursement policy works. And you need a service, you need a product for them to consider and then to reimburse or to price and create a track for it.

And aging up until today is not recognized as… I mean is a physiological natural process but it is a driver of a lot of diseases, so even with the FDA we don’t have a track for aging to reimburse the technology for aging or even to approve it. And I started looking around and traveling across the US trying to find any intervention that can help us age healthier and everyone was pointing actually at the University of Southern California and specifically at the leader of the longevity Institute over there, his name is Prof. Valter Longo.

And he spent all his life working on understanding how we age and how we can slow down or the pace of aging, optimizing the quality of aging. And one of his big discoveries was that fasting could be a very impactful way to slow biological aging. So we took a trip, we met in San Francisco Valter and I, professor Longo along with Brian Kennedy, the CEO of the Buck Institute. And it was an unbelievable meeting where the three of us allied and decided to bring fasting to the market and launch a marketer on fasting in aging which didn’t exist at that time.

Bret: Yeah, that was a fateful day for sure. So the joke around fasting though is, “How to build a business around telling people not to eat anything?” That’s the joke.

You can’t sell anything, you’re taking things away. So for that reason it almost seemed like nobody wants to research it, nobody wants to promote it.

But then you have groups like Jason Fung and Megan Ramos up in Canada with the intensive dietary management program having great success with fasting. And you took another approach of saying, “Let’s give food, so people aren’t completely fasting, but food that mimics a fast.” And then you have some science behind this as well. So lead us through the science a little bit of what you have to backup.

Joseph: Fasting is critical actually to balance our life and the way we age. If you think about it humanity lived with fasting for hundreds of thousands of years. It was imposed on us because food was scarce and think about it 1 million years ago or 300,000 years ago, when we didn’t have readily food available, we didn’t have refrigeration and a supply chain of food. And our ancestors had to search for food and it wasn’t always available especially at winter times and difficult times and wartime.

So fasting lived with us for such a long period that it became part of our diet. And then after that comes religion. All top five religions actually agree on one word which is “fasting”. It’s not even “prayer” because you have “meditation” in some religious, but fasting is the common denominator. So religion actually carried fasting over even when food became available. And it was just up until the last 100 or 200 years when we lost this practice.

Or we kind of do it in a short-cutted way and we feast after the fast, so we’re not really fasting. And we lost that tradition and now we eat multiple times a day. And you remember, you know, in the 90s the big recommendations, you eat small portions every few hours, which is you know today proven not to be an optimal way.

Bret: Promoted by the snack industry for sure.

Joseph: Yeah, and you end up eating every little bit every day multiple times and your body is just storing fat, your body is just growing faster and is aging at a faster rate. And this is why we see the onset of the chronic diseases happening at earlier stage of life. We see a lot of people now with cancer at age 40 and 50, with diabetes at age 40 and now childhood diabetes which is really a very serious issue that we need to deal with.

So fasting really plays a great role into counterbalancing this unhealthy lifestyle and the body uses it as a period to recover from the damage is happening to the body and we’re going to talk I guess in more details about types of fasting and which one is for what. But you’re asking me about our approach. So USC, the University of Southern California, specifically the Longevity Institute, has been receiving a lot of grants from the National Institute of Health to look at fasting and aging and to understand what is the ideal way of fasting.

And there’s a short term fasting I will talk more about it or intermittent fasting, but then they identified that longer-term fast, especially if you reach five days, is really important for fasting to not only help you lose weight and have metabolic effects, but actually to intervene at the cellular level and the way the cells function and actually even change some of the nature of the cells from existing cells to stem cells and push the stem cells in the body.

And in order to reach five days when you went to human trials or when USC went to human trials, and asked people to fast for five days, compliance was very little as you can expect. It’s so difficult for us today in this environment of food and marketing and deliveries to have people fast for five days. So the Longevity Institute then thought about a way to mimic fasting with food.

And the National Institute of Health and a lot of donors were very receptive to this idea because not only that allows fasting to become practical now, but it actually makes it safer. You don’t want a person on the third or fourth day of fasting to feel a little bit, you know, to have a hypoglycemia or to feel a severe headache or weaning from food etc.

So the idea came about when the Longevity Institute was trying to do the cancer trials with fasting and they couldn’t really recruit people and they tagged team with Mayo Clinic in order to try to increase the recruitment rate, but it was very difficult. People could not fast for five days. So out of that necessity the fasting mimicking diet was born and they tried to look into what could be the ingredients that we can feed people and the body wouldn’t really recognize these ingredients or the hormones and the responses in the blood and then in the cell identifying the food are actually not triggered. So we call them the nutrient sensing pathway or sensing the food signals.

Bret: So looking at insulin, looking at AMP kinase, looking at mTOR, specifically measuring whether those were activated or not was sort of the core of determining if the body felt it was fasting?

Joseph: Yes, definitely. So the two most important, if you want, triggers of nutrition when you eat is our proteins and our carbohydrates. And they go into the blood and as a response to carbs you have an insulin increase and a secretion increase and in response to protein you have an insulin like growth factor or IGF increase. At the cellular level these signals translate into different pathways, the PKA the rest pathways, mostly with the carbohydrates and sugar pathway and the mTOR pathway mostly with the protein and IGF pathway.

So the goal was not to spike the blood response to food with insulin and so like growth factor and at the cellular level not to trigger the PKA, the rest and the mTOR pathways. So the body would stay in a fasting mode although it is gaining nutrients and the fasting mimicking diet not only mimics fasting but it actually nourishes the body so it has the macronutrients, it has the micronutrients, it has vitamins etc. helping the body safely move over five days and actually enhance the effect of fasting.

Bret: Very interesting and one concept that I really like about the cyclical nature of this is that mTOR gets a bad name because we say it fuels cell growth and it can stimulate cancer, but it also fuels muscle growth and allows us to grow and get stronger and prevent sarcopenia, so we don’t want it suppressed all the time, we want a cyclical nature.

So it seems that you’ve sort of rested on five days every three months, as the general recommendation. But the trial that you did was five days a month for three consecutive months and that showed a reduction in weight, a reduction in blood pressure, a reduction glucose, a reduction in IGF-I and was well tolerated. How did the transition happen from five days every month to five days every three months?

Joseph: It depends on the patient profile actually or the consumer profile. If you’re a person who you’re healthy otherwise you have a normal BMI, you’re not overweight or obese and you don’t have metabolic issues that you want to intervene on, you just want to do the fasting mimicking diet.

The product name is ProLon in the market for promoting longevity. But if you want to do that regimen to help your body age healthier, and we’re going to talk maybe a bit more about how that happens at the cellular level, then you do it once every two or three or four months. So this is you basically counterbalancing every three months if you want your lifestyle, but you already have a healthy lifestyle and you just want to do it to promote the stem cells and rejuvenation of the body.

Now if you have metabolic reasons to correct, if you are overweight or obese or you already have unhealthy levels of cholesterol or triglycerides or inflammation in the blood, you need to do a bigger intervention, so we recommend you do it once every month for three months.

And here we’re talking just five days in month one, five days in month two and then five days in month three. And once you see a correction in the weight and inflammation and other metrics – cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure and glucose in the blood then you can start alternating doing it once every two or three months.

Bret: I guess that’s what makes it so interesting is what’s the right protocol for each person because let’s be honest, people want the maximum benefit for the minimal effort so fasting can range from a 12-12 eating window or time restricted eating and 18-6 window, a 24 hour fast, a 3-hour fast, a 5-day fast, they’re all out there.

And the question always becomes, “Where you’re going to get the maximum benefit?” And I guess the question has to start with what are your goals? So if your goals are weight loss, if your goals are improving mental clarity, if your goals are longevity and cell rejuvenation it might be different along the way.

So some people would be perfectly well served with an 18-6 and some people will need to go a little bit longer. Now there are people who have success with a water- only five day fast and part of that is you have to be very careful about how you break the fast. Does the same hold true for the fasting mimicking diet and when you break the fast you need to take care not to sort of overdo it and overwhelm your system?

Joseph: Yes so you touch a few points about the goal and the short-term versus long- term, so maybe here if you allow me to take two or three minutes to explain the different kinds of fasting and what each does to the body so that–

Bret: Sure, I’ve been carried away and I’m going too fast here.

Joseph: This is wonderful, this is the hottest topic. I don’t know if you noticed, but this May of 2018 the Food and Health survey, official publication, showed intermittent fasting to be the number one diet in the US especially among the younger population. So from being absent on any of the reports to becoming number one ahead of paleo or keto, ahead of other diets… So it is the topic of the day.

Let’s clarify it, there’s a lot of confusion, a lot of coverage on fasting, but then you see big headlines, “Fasting reverses this, fasting does that”, and there are multiple ways of fasting and fasting is just not one thing that does everything. It depends on what kind of fast you do you get different results. So I want to start with what you alluded to which is few hours of fasting or what people still call intermittent fasting but it’s not actually… If you fast less than a day, your body doesn’t start producing ketone bodies and doesn’t really go biologically into fasting. When you fast for a few hours we call it time restricted eating.

Because what you’re doing is you’re limiting the window of time you’re eating during the day. Say you just have lunch and dinner and you limited… We call it time restricted eating because you are restricting the time of food within the window of just lunch to dinner and then you’re fasting during the night because you’re sleeping. And say you skip breakfast, so this is what you call today a 16-8 or 16 hours of fast and eight hours of food.

Time restricted eating is actually showing a lot of benefits because at least what you’re eating during the eight hours instead of just stalking those, instead of just pushing the body to grow, if you eat multiple times a day and be pushed by food, you’re counterbalancing that by a period of no food and a period where you allow the body to spend the calories that you at least ate.

So it’s a great short-term counterbalance to what you’d do in the eight hours of food and it’s actually showing good effects on maintaining healthy level of weight and other related metabolic factors.

Bret: And just to interject there, if you’re already following a ketogenic diet, that can also enhance the state of ketosis as well because you mentioned you have to go 24 hours of fasting to really get into ketosis, but if you’re already following a ketogenic diet, that’s where that 18-6 or 16-8 could be even more powerful.

Joseph: Definitely, and especially with ketogenic diets where you’re still having a certain level of proteins in the ketogenic diet and even more, so if you have animal source of proteins your body is really not getting into ketosis because it’s sensing the proteins and sensing… even the animal source triggers IGF and mTOR pathways.

So again the ketogenic diet is a big word and needs another discussion because there’s different level of ketogenic diet and some of them take really longer to get you into minor level of ketosis versus other ketogenic diet, but as you’re saying if you do the time restricted eating because you’re spending a good number of hours with no food you’re going to help enhancing getting the body into ketosis.

But here I want to say something which is really important for whomever is watching this episode which is that we’re still unsure whether you should do a 12-12 hour time restricted eating versus a 16-8. Intuitively you say, “Okay if you last longer, a 16 hours it should be better”, and this is what a lot of people are doing, again called time restricted eating, but intermittent fasting is what the street name for it is.

But there are three major epidemiological studies showing that if you skip breakfast actually there is some correlation of a slight increase in mortality and the last of which is a study in the Journal of American College of Cardiology which was published a few months ago that showed a slight increase in mortality in the Spanish population that actually skips breakfast.

Now we’re not sure of this is because they’re fasting up to 16 hours or there is a bias which is most of people who skip breakfast or many I would say of the people who skip breakfast they actually eat late at night. So we don’t know whether this was because… and the study didn’t clarify whether the same people eat late at night or not, but a lot of us today in society that skip breakfast actually stay late at night and eat late at night which is even worse than skipping or not skipping breakfast.

Bret: They also tended to be heavier and smoked more and there are definitely some confounding variables in all three of those trials.

Joseph: Exactly. So we has as experts in science are a little bit still unsure whether we should really go all the way to 16 hours or we should say, you know, 12 hours is a healthy time restricted eating. And honestly I have one basis that I always use when I make any judgment around diet which is our body is what is today because it was tailored by nature existing and certain conditions for hundreds of thousands of years.

So my first rule of thumb when I think about anything presented to me in terms of diet or lifestyle, I try to match it with how hundreds of thousands of years our body grew and what are the circumstances. And typically a family 10,000 years ago would sleep when the sun is down, stay a little bit up, have lain near some kind of fire if that existed.

And in the next morning either you save some food or you go and you find your food. And you sleep for eight, nine hours and then you wake up and you search for food and you have your breakfast. So I tend to say closer to 12 would be definitely healthy. I don’t know if the 16 is healthier or not but I tend to say it’s safe to do a 12 hours of food and 12 hours of no food.

Bret: And that’s part of the problem with when you took about longevity or about fasting, we don’t have the comparative studies, we don’t have a 12-12 compared to an 18-6 compared to a five day in the randomized studies.

Which of course is what we need to say yes definitively. So we sort of have to do the best with what we have, with N=1 experiments, with clinical experiments, with the observational studies and just kind of put it all together and kind of make our best judgment.

Joseph: I agree and the study is going to come… it’s such a hot topic, such an easy practice. The time restricted eating or time restricted feeding when you call it in mice or pre-clinical trial, it’s such a hot topic today, I’m pretty sure there’s going to be data and there’s going to be science coming up on it.

Bret: That’s why I don’t like to use time restricted feeding because it makes me feel like a mouse, like I’m in a cage. No time restricted eating, yeah.

Joseph: But the media picked up as TRF, or time restricted feeding, and we’re trying to correct… a lot of my daily job today actually is to try to clarify concepts because it’s a delicate difference between a lot of different fasting and then people use the word fast or intermittent fast or fasting mimicking diet, but then you need to go a little bit into detail.

So for example the fasting mimicking diet we have, not knowing whether you should skip breakfast or not or whether you should eat something in the morning. You know, tradition and our mom tell us breakfast is the biggest meal and then intermittent fasting now is saying to skip breakfast. So what actually we have done, we have developed a fasting mimicking bar or a fasting mimicking meal, which then you can eat in the morning, you didn’t skip breakfast, you get your nutritional ingredients for the day.

But then you actually did mimic fasting for that so we found that to be a balance between what tradition and what, you know, not skipping breakfast or what your mom says, in a balance with what today, we’re all jumping into this intermittent fasting and time restricted eating and trying to prolong a little bit for night fast.

So we called it the fast bar and you’re going to see it soon being out on the market. So that was the shortest term of fast which is few hours a day. Then when you cross a day, when you reach a day of fast, you’re really starting biologically to be fasting and this is what really is called intermittent fasting, which has different ways of doing it.

You can fast for a day twice a week or what we call the 5:2 diet, which has been described in the literature for long time and then a gentleman by the name of Michael Mosley in Europe wrote a book about it and promoted it as well. And it basically asks you to eat 500 or less calories a day, so almost not eating, this is the way how you’d fast on it. And you do two days separate a week, say a Monday or a Thursday and it is relatively easy to do.

And it helps you mostly from a metabolic standpoint. So as you can imagine, instead of having seven days of full food, on two days you’re decreasing your food intake and therefore you’ll lose some weight and you’ll have metabolic improvements as well. So when it comes to cholesterol, inflammation, the blood, triglyceride etc.

And you would have to do it therefore kind of close to eight times a month, because you’re doing it twice a week. So that’s the minor form of it you can do it. 4:3 which is three days of fasting a week or you could do the most extreme form of it is alternate day fasting, meaning one day you fast, one that you eat, one that you fast, one day you eat. This form we’re not sure it’s even a healthy form and induces in the body what we call the yo-yo effect.

One day you’re eating full, the other day you’re almost fasting and it has impact on circadian rhythm, it has impact on your lifestyle and as you can imagine the body is a system of complex system of balances and homeostasis. You don’t want to disbalance that every other day.

Bret: And it seems important that the cyclical nature has to fit in there somewhere and at some point you lose that physiological cyclical nature in the body, just sort of cease it as being continuous. And I guess is unknown where that level is but maybe every other day it crosses that line.

Joseph: I agree and a lot of diets focus just on nutrition but we should understand the body is much more than that. You have the stress level and cortisol and you have the sleep level which is another determined for our well-being. So stress, sleep, socioeconomic factors and social connections and actually being active in society, these are all as important as nutrition and exercise to keep us healthy longer.

So the alternated fasting or what we call ADF is still… we’re not sure it’s a healthy form. The 5:2 seems to be more practical, you know, it does the job of helping you counterbalance from a weight perspective and seems to be a more common, you know, easily to be observed fasting. Then you move from intermittent fasting which is again a day or two or three a week then you go to a longer, which is two or three consecutive days of fasting, what we call short-term fast or STF.

So when you fast for two or three days, yes, you’re going to lose weight. So the common denominator of every fasting you do is to counterbalance weight and lose some weight or maintain healthy weight level. So definitely when you do it you’re going to lose some weight and you’ll improve metabolic factors, but when you touch day three you’re basically inducing what we call autophagy meaning you ask the cells to… because now for two or three consecutive days there’s no food coming in or nutrients coming in the blood, then the body asks the cells to go and look for debris and intracellular debris to eat and then to get the calories from it and optimize the function of the cell.

So now for the first time with fasting you’re touching on the cellular function. And autophagy was awarded the Nobel Prize of medicine in 2016 which is really an interesting award to autophagy which is linked to fasting, so we’re really excited about that. And if you go longer than the short-term fast… the short-term fast also could have some inconvenience, especially and probably at the muscle level.

When the body goes over the day and is really looking for calories it doesn’t only burn fat but it actually goes and extracts calories from the muscle as well. And what happens on a short-term fast, two to three days, there could be fat driven weight loss but also a lean body mass potentially a bit of loss. There is not enough in the literature for us to judge there, but this is always a suspicion, because as we know when you need calories you to muscle and fat together.

Bret: And that’s why it’s so important that people keep up some level of physical activity and exercise during fasting, although maybe not their usual intensity… we’ll get to that, I know. I keep interrupting you, but we’ll get to that.

Joseph: Yeah, definitely, in the shorter-term fast your body is not the depleted, you can still do exercise and just to try to… if not decrease the muscle loss, just to keep it to maintain it. And then when you go to longer-term fast which is close to five days, which is what mainly the Longevity Institute at the University of California is focused on, they were very much interested in cellular impact of fasting.

So when you cross the two, three days is like a company with suddenly no funds. The body with no food is like a company with no money. And you know, if I delay paying a check to a company, they’re going to wait just a little bit and then cash it afterwards and then the CEO of that company is not going to take drastic action to change the operations of the company.

So this is intermittent fasting, you delay expenditure, you know, you lose some little bit of weight and you spend a little bit of the calories that you had. Or what the CEO would have done would go to the bank and live a little bit on the reserves that they have. And you live off your fat reserve. The longer you go, like the short-term fast, two to three days, so the longer you go on a company not receiving a proper amount of funds, the CEO at the leadership of the company will start to restructure the operations and optimize the operations to do the best outcome out of whatever money you still have left.

So this is where the body is trying to do the same, it’s asking the cells to optimize their function with the short-term fast. Now if you go longer on day four and five, again going back to the example of the company, now you have to let go on the long- term, you know, and proper funding. You start letting go some of the employees and sometimes the ones that are not the most efficient and you empower and you live off the critical employees who are the real, you know, the most cost effective for the company.

And the body does the same thing when you cross day three of fast. On day four and day five we’re seeing, especially in mice trials and initial human trials, we’re seeing the body actually pushing the stem cells. Every organ has what we call stem cells which are young cells. They are there, to what we know historically, to help the organ heal from maybe physical damage. So if you cut your skin, or you go into a car accident, you know, you wait for few days and you heal from that.

So physical exercise, physical damage triggers the stem cells to repair. What we did not know is that if you stress your body enough with fasting, the absence of food, on day four and five the body pushes the stem cells to try to replace elderly cells or cells with any damage. And the goal is to bring more cost-effective younger cells rather than carry a little bit of a deadweight at the cellular level, not at a fat level, but now we’re still stressed on a five day fast that actually we try to get off the deadweight from a cellular standpoint.

Bret: So just to clarify, it wasn’t up to the five-day fast where the organ started to shrink, you started to get rid of some of the cells and that was the re-feeding where the stem cells came out and were produced or were they already been produced during the fasting stage?

Joseph: Yes this is great point. They started to be produced on day four and five, but then after you do the re-feed, they are actually bringing nutrients to these new stem cells to even flourish. But they start to proliferate at day four and five, at least this is what we’ve seen in most of the trials.

Bret: So mice trials, not yet human trials.

Joseph: No, in humans. So in mice actually three days of fast is equivalent to five days in human. And we have published an article in Cell Metabolism, if I’m not mistaking in 2014, and what it shows we had 39 patients, it wasn’t only preclinical, we had 39 patients and we showed a very high spike of stem cells circulating the body, we call them SPC or Mesenchymal circulating stem cells.

So we did show that the human trials and now we’re doing a lot of trials on even diseases and fasting to show whether the stem cells on day four and five and then after re-feeding flourishing, do they try to actually intercept or reverse a disease state? So we are really excited, we have 24 ongoing human trials now.

Bret: 24? And you already have data on multiple sclerosis and on autoimmunity reactions in humans, right?

Joseph: In humans there’s one data coming from Charité University in Berlin where they did fasting mimicking diet on cycle followed by a Mediterranean diet and it showed an improvement in quality of life in humans with multiple sclerosis. And now we are starting trials on MS, on multiple sclerosis, where we’re doing the fasting mimicking diet for several cycles.

Bret: So you brought up a good point there. They were doing a five day fast followed by a Mediterranean diet. So does it matter what you eat the rest of the time? Is this a cure-all that you can go back to your muffins and bagels and donuts and as long as you do your five days of fasting you’re good, or what do you see the science saying now?

Joseph: It does matter. There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to different people, different bodies, different needs, but now even more important different diseases, so if you have MS you’re different than if you have cardiovascular disease and you’re different if you have Alzheimer’s so definitely…

You know, what they studied which is one cycle of fasting mimicking diet and then Mediterranean diet, it was just to test the safety on the fasting mimicking diet and the feasibility and then you know coming from Berlin, from Charité, they would look at the Mediterranean diet which is very popular there and considered a healthy long- term trial. It wasn’t really aimed specifically at multiple sclerosis.

Maybe you can have the fasting mimicking diet plus the ketogenic diet to be tried on such a disease, but is it was a grant given for such a protocol to see the safety on the fasting mimicking diet with multiple sclerosis and then what could be, you know, a daily diet which is a Mediterranean one that is mainly observed there, what the combination would do.

Bret: Yeah, there’s such an emphasis on protein, too much protein, not enough protein, because we obviously need it especially as we age and get older. I would love to see that kind of trial with a five day fast, with a high protein ketogenic, a low- protein ketogenic and see what kind of difference you see versus a more sort of a Mediterranean diet and see if there’s a difference between those and what kind of effects the fast has in each person… that would be fascinating.

Joseph: Yeah, definitely, and the results will differ depending on people, their bodies, but also their objective. If you were an athlete or say a bodybuilder and you specifically want to build muscles or you got a competition or you want to look good, you want to look perfect, you are going to consume a bit more proteins. Is not that we recommend it from the longevity perspective, but it’s what you’re going to do to push your muscle to grow.

And in that case you want to do from time to time a fasting mimicking diet to counterbalance the effect of protein in your body, so when your muscle grow… this is something really important for public health, when you’re over consuming proteins you’re pushing your body to grow. And the body grows towards it and it ages. When you grow you’re pushing aging and I always use this example, you know, the big muscular athletes, you don’t see them living to 100 or 105. And actually most of them, we lose them a little bit earlier than others.

They don’t become centenarians in most cases if you want. And the body is biologically pushed. You know, they inject testosterone growth factors and they actually eat a very high level of proteins. This is really triggering aging in the body. And it’s a very important discussion I think because we reacted to sugar in the 80s and 90s because it led to diabetes epidemic and we jumped on protein.

Protein is another nutrition component to the body and pushes the body to grow and age the same way insulin does. It’s is not by chance that when you eat sugar insulin increases and then when you eat protein we call the molecule that increases insulin “like growth factor”. So they are both growth factors to the body.

And when you grow biologically, it’s like kicking the pedal in the car. You drive faster and you get sooner to the end. And what we are interested in our research is really how to keep people healthy longer and how to promote longevity and more importantly health span. And a lot of recommendations you see coming from USC and Prof. Valter Longo and the Longevity Institute as how to help people stay healthy longer.

It’s not necessarily to build muscle and be buff on the short-term. So yes, as you’re saying for some people you want to do fasting mimicking diet cycles with ketogenic diet, depending on their goal, and others you want to give more proteins if they really want to build muscle etc. So where I’m trying to build a point is different needs for different people and here you can tailor even further with the genetics and the microbiome and a lot of other details as well.

Bret: And age plays into that as well, because as we age we probably do start to need more protein just for maintaining our muscle mass and preventing sarcopenia. So how does this fast factor in as we age about 65, above 70 versus those who are 20, 30, 40?

Joseph: That’s a great point and actually the need for protein intake varies throughout your lifecycle. And we call it almost a U-shape where from age 0 to age 18 you definitely want to have protein. You want to give your kids milk and meat, etc, because they’re growing vertically even though their organs are growing, the body is growing.

And then after that the more you age the more… you have enough cells in the body that age enough or carry DNA damage enough that if you keep pushing them like proteins and during the replication, during that push because their age or they have damage they’re more prone to do a mistake and become cancerous cell. So as a mid- age adult, if you want, in my opinion is age 40 to 60 or 35 to 60, this is the peak of the risk of having high-protein diet, but enough age cells and cells are prone to the mistake to become cancerous.

But as you say when you grow older and you’re 70, 80 or 90 at that point the level of cell replication in response to food drops. So even if you eat the proteins the cells are not the mTOR pathways are not super active and doesn’t push cells to high-frequency for applications. So yes you have a lot of aged and damaged cells but actually they don’t respond to protein signals.

And this is where going back and having a good intake of protein is really important because you need to maintain muscle at that age, the risk of cancer is not as big as when you’re a mid-adult agent. And we see this even epidemiologically. People don’t die at age 90 and 100 from cancer, but mostly cardiovascular and Alzheimer’s etc. The cancer peaks at certain age, but then start dropping afterwards.

Bret: Interesting, it’d be interesting to see more data on that for sure. So as we’re touching on that then let’s transition to say, “Who is this not right for?” People are going to listen and want to run right now and do cyclical five-day fast. Who would you say, “Hold on, don’t rush to do this. Maybe is not right for you”?

Joseph: Yes so two years ago the first fasting mimicking diet was… a little bit less than two years it was launched on the market under the name of ProLon for promoting longevity… It’s a box, you get it through your physician or if you’re healthy enough you pass a self-assessment online and you can buy it. It’s five days of food that gets delivered to you and you eat it and your body remains in a fasting mode. It is not for everyone to do.

So definitely if you’re a pregnant woman you definitely do not want to fast the baby or fast during the pregnancy. If you are very old, if you eat it at an older age like we were talking, say an 80-year-old… you want to have high protein diets. You don’t want to fast your body probably at that age. If you’re a child not necessarily you need to fast, you need to grow.

And we have cautions as well. I mean definitely if you have allergies to some of the ingredients of the fasting mimicking diet. It is a plant-based natural diet, but some people still have allergies to nuts, or macadamia, or to cashew or two some of the ingredients. And there is a big, you know, watch out and hear if people have diabetes… We have a lot of research published on diabetes.

We haven’t done the human trials yet and a lot of people try to actually use it for diabetes. There’s a big cautioning in here. Should not do it you have a risk of hypoglycemia if you’re actually using insulin or using blood lowering sugar. So as much as we look forward in the future to further studies on diabetes, there’s definitely a warning here to not use it in this regard.

Bret: Yeah, that’s a great point because a lot of diabetes medications are where we can get into big trouble with fasting in general or even time restricted eating and then a five-day fast for sure. So I like that you have a sort of behind the safety wall of a physician that has to be from a physician and if someone wanted to try a five day water fast, I’d tell them same thing, “If you’re on medications do not do it until you confer with your doctor.” I think it’s very important.

Joseph: I mean water fast has as a bit more warning, because it’s an extreme state of “there’s no food” versus the fasting mimicking diet, so I agree with you. With water fast it’s going to be a little more difficult, have less compliance and now you step into it, if there is heat you don’t want to drive on water fast with high temperature etc. So it’s a little bit more extreme for folks who can do it–

Bret: If it’s hot. It’s that just for risk of dehydration?

Joseph: Yeah, dehydration, and then hypoglycemia when your body is spending a lot of calories or if you do some kind of exercise, because you’re really having almost no calories when you do pure water fast. You’re a little bit more prone to safety issues.

Bret: Yeah, and then you hear the stories of people doing three, four-month fasts and it’s remarkable, not that we would ever recommend it, but just that someone can do it, just the physiology of the human body is amazing that he can even do that but obviously under very, very careful guidance.

Joseph: Yeah, and I get a lot of questions about “Why five days, why not 10 days?” And I, not knowing in the past… in my past I actually have done a couple of weeks of fast, three weeks and I just wanted to experiment with it but I had no clue about the science at that time.

Bret: Interesting.

Joseph: But we discover why I would recommend five days because you actually eluded that re-feeding is important. So instead of doing a long-term fast where even the stem cells trying to rescue, the body gets depletes because then you need to feed them as well. Everything gets shut down and depleted when you go on a long-term fast.

So yes, you have metabolic gains, you would not be obese on a long-term fast, you’re going to decrease inflammation, you’re going to improve your cholesterol, but you’re going to lose on the lean body mass, you’re going to lose muscle and bone density etc.

What we have found out in our research because we have tested shorter terms of fast which again we decided to go with the five days, because of the rejuvenation happening on day four and five, but then we recommend that you stop at five, sometimes six, sometimes seven, depending on the diseases, for autoimmune diseases we try to go longer because you do need to heal a damaged organ at that level.

So the MS trials for example that would be for seven days most probably, six or seven days. But then the re-feeding is as important so that you re-feed the stem cells. So the cyclicity is more important than the length and doing it cyclically multiple times and feeding the body again helps preventing the body from getting depressed or depleted on the long term.

Bret: That’s a great point. The cyclical nature I think is what’s so important here and you have different ways to do it. But as long as you stick with the cyclical cycle and find out what works for you, I think that’s a great point. Now I know you’re in a hot demand here at the conference, I want to be respectful of your time and thank you for coming to spend time with us at DietDoctor podcast. Any last words for our listeners and of course where can they go to learn more about you and L-Nutra?

Joseph: Well, thank you very much for hosting me today, I love this topic. I think the University of Southern California and the researchers are bringing back fasting in a practical way and this is what excites me the most. Every day you hear about a different diet, about new ways of doing things and a lot of it is fueled by interest or marketing dollars or business.

I think for the first time in history of nutrition or one of the few times where we’re bringing back a natural phenomenon, we’re bringing back a practice that was done for hundreds of thousands of years initially a for lack of food and then afterwards carried by religion bringing it back in a natural and safe way to our life.

So I think fasting is here to stay long and we’re really excited to finding ways we do recommend people to do it in a safe way. And what we have focused is mostly on time-restricted eating and helping people go through that. And intermittent fasting definitely has its metabolic benefits and the longer you go in a safe way… and if it’s unsafe for you, you get to mimic it with ProLon or other fasting mimicking diets we’re bringing to the market. So if people want to learn more about all this, the company… if you want the reference in fasting is called L-Nutra and this is the company that actually span out from USC and is trying to bring the fasting mimicking diet to the world. And if you want to read more on ProLon you can go to prolonfmd.com for fasting mimicking diet. P-R-O-L-O-N, prolonfmd.com.

Bret: Alright, Dr. Joseph Antoun, thank you so much.

Joseph: Thank you for hosting me today.

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Source: https://www.dietdoctor.com/diet-doctor-podcast-4-dr-joseph-antoun