Pancake Perfection, Pop Culture is Life, and More with Tim Truax

Tim Truax: 00:00:00

Like, this is probably the only time I've ever sat in movie theater and just had, like this reaction where I was just like this gut wrenching reaction. And it was The Last Jedi. When Luke gets that lightsaber and throws it over his shoulder.

I would have to say that is maybe it was probably the worst scene in the history of Star Wars.

Danny Brown: 00:00:20

Hi and welcome to Five Random Questions, the show where every question is an adventure. I'm your host, Danny Brown, and each week I'll be asking my guests five questions created by a random question generator.

The guest has no idea what the questions are, and neither do I, which means this could go either way. So sit back, relax, and let's dive into this week's episode. Today's guest is Tim Truax.

Tim began his podcast journey in twenty fifteen as he turned his passion for pop culture, Star Wars and Marvel into his first podcast called The Nerd Room. As the host, producer, and editor of the Nerd Room, Tim's refined his podcasting skill sets as a pop culture commentator across over four hundred and fifty episodes.

Since launching The Nerd Room, he's seen many big changes to the podcast industry, giving him a unique insight into the past, present, and future of podcasting. Tim is also the CEO of PodSummit, one of Canada's leading podcasting events, and is focused on delivering unparalleled podcast events in Canada.

So, Tim, quite the bio there, mate. Welcome to Five Random Questions.

Tim Truax: 00:01:17

Danny, my friend, thank you so much for having me. I'm jacked up. I'm excited. Coming off a bit of a cold, so my voice is a bit nasally here, but nonetheless, I'm excited here just to.

Just to chat with you, first of all, and to get in some of these questions, too.

Danny Brown: 00:01:32

Well, I feel your voice might be one of these sexy voices that people get attracted to. You've got a cold or an illness or something. You get that husky voice. It's nothing like a normal one.

And then your wife hopefully goes, oh, you should stay like that. And Tim, I mentioned you're the CEO of PodSummit and that the inaugural event was last year.

So tell us a little bit about that and how that came about, mate.

Tim Truax: 00:01:55

Yeah, well, it's. It's one of those things that sometimes in life, things happen when you kind of least expect them.

So, like you, like you mentioned there, I've been podcasting for. This is my tenth year of podcasting, twenty twenty-five here.

I've been doing it since fifteen, and it was always based around pop culture, Star Wars, Marvel, dc, and Providing that fan commentary.

And I always did it as a creative release, as a, as a way to allow myself to do something a little bit different that I don't have really any experience in. Like I'm not an audio editor. I was never a, had any interest in kind of the creative space until I started doing this.

And it was really based around that podcast, or my current podcast was based around creating a community around pop culture, around these things that I love because I wanted to talk about Star Wars and Marvel Marvel more consistently with friends and with a community. And so we started doing that. I had a blast at doing it. I discovered the medium and I loved it.

I felt it was something that was, at that time, it was quite popular in the pop culture space, the Star wars space and all that. Fifteen, sixteen, as The Force Awakens. The Marvel movies were really kind of coming out and becoming part of that big zeitgeist of the general audience even.

And so we had a lot of success there. And just a couple of years ago, and this is where the pop culture podcasting and PodSummit, that thing kind of intersect.

A couple of years ago, I ran the podcast stage at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo, which is the Comic Con of Calgary basically. And through that I linked up with an individual that actually used to own PodSummit.

And they ran events in Calgary and Edmonton for two or three years prior to the pandemic. And coming out of the pandemic, he said, I'm not really into this anymore. And I said, I'd love to buy this off of you.

And so we effectively bought all the intangibles, the website, the name, the logo and all that stuff. And my wife and I relaunched it as a full incorporated business.

And what we wanted to do is effectively create a large scale podcasting event for podcasters, for creators, for industry, for anyone looking to explore the world of podcasting. We want to create an event for them that had the sessions, the panels, the live podcast, but also the networking opportunities.

We wanted it be a way to bring together the hobbyists, the enthusiasts, with the industry folk as well. And so that's what we're really concentrating on. And you, I was honoured to have you out here at, with the first one, we record a podcast with you.

You, you came all the way out here to Calgary and we had an absolute blast. And the success of it was just something that we couldn't have imagined. And we're really looking forward to, to getting into it again this year.

Danny Brown: 00:04:30

And as you mentioned, as someone that attended last year at the inaugural one. I can agree, I can attest it was an amazing event and really, really well put together and great learning for everybody. And you mentioned it.

Obviously it was part of your pop culture background with the podcast that kind of meshed with that as well. And I don't know if it's just me, but it seems that a lot of podcasters have a strong affiliation with nerd culture.

I know my colleagues at Captivate, for example, Mark and Garry, they've got a co hosted Star Wars podcast. Garry, he's got a Doctor Who podcast.

Obviously you've got the Nerd Room, I've got the Mandalorian, a little sort of cut out of there in the back of my recording area here. What do you think it is about podcasters, and the podcasts that seems to alleviate towards, you know, the nerd culture.

Tim Truax: 00:05:15

I think it has a lot to do with just the way that we kind of see the world as this, not so much a fantasy, but, you know, we're looking at things like Jurassic Park or Star Wars, whatever, and we're kind of out in that arena where I think a lot of the creative juices are flowing and you look at what is being put to screen and what we kind of love about that. There's a lot of, I would say, kind of creative emphasis on the acceptance of what you're watching.

You just kind of immerse yourself into that franchise, into that movie, and you have the ability to kind of veer off and almost have that, you know, nostalgia or child esque sort of appreciation for what's going on. And I think that translates really well into podcasting because.

And maybe even the independent side of podcasting because, you know, we grow up loving and watching these stories evolve. And I always view podcasting as a storytelling medium.

And I think that linkage between the love and passion for pop culture has a lot to do with the love and passion for the storytelling aspects of it, the, the whimsical elements of Star wars or Ninja Turtles or anything like that. And I think that translates really well into the, the podcast space because it's about the same similar thing, right?

It's telling a story, it's evolving inside of that space. And I think too, especially as like grown ass men that love this stuff, I, I find that you also have this acceptance of who you are.

And I think that's really important for a podcasting host is understanding who you are because I think that allows you to ask if you're interviewing or answer if you're being interviewed, questions just at Face Value.

You're not really hiding anything if you're fully like, I have this room that I'm sitting in right now is absolutely full of action figures and memorabilia and all this stuff. And I'm very cool and accepting and very open about that aspect of me.

You know, ten years ago, that might not have been the same case, but I think that element of it, too, really influences the ability to have a great conversation because you're just willing to be open and kind of just have those experiences with people.

Danny Brown: 00:07:19

Well, I think that leads nicely into being open and getting experiences with people. Let's get you being open about five questions on this episode. We ready for the five random questions?

Tim Truax: 00:07:30

Absolutely. I'm a little nervous, but let's do it.

Danny Brown: 00:07:33

All right, let me bring up the random question generator. Okay, here we go. Question number one. What's one place you've traveled that you never want to go back to?

Tim Truax: 00:07:44

Oh, it's a tough one because it's funny because a lot of places I've gone is, of course, by choice. And what's that? It's got to be somewhere that. Okay, here I got one here. So I used to travel to. And this.

I don't want to make anyone feel bad that's listening to this, but I. I used to go down to Houston a lot. Houston, Texas a lot.

And I love the atmosphere of Texas, and especially when you get up to Austin and Dallas and stuff. But I can honestly say that I don't love the city of Houston. I just find it very hot one.

As a Canadian, you know, we used to go down there in the summer a lot with work, and I find, too, that it just. It's a very kind of just unappealing city to me. I don't know what it is. And I feel really bad saying that because I.

There's, you know, some amazing people that I know down in Houston, but if I had to pick one place that I been that I would probably never go back to, it might be Houston, but, like, we're going to Dallas. I'm going to Dallas. Not to in a couple months. And Austin, Texas, is great. San Antonio.

But yeah, that's kind of a tough one because now I kind of feel bad for saying it.

Danny Brown: 00:08:52

Well, we can always bleep out the name of the city. There'll be a few bleeps there. So when you mention it's, like, unappealing, is that maybe the architectures or the layout?

I know you mentioned also the heat, and I get you that I'm far more a person Prefers the winter. The cooler temperatures, I can't do with muggy, humid heats, so I completely get you.

So but for me, for Toronto, for example, I find Toronto a very unappealing city. Lovely people and some amazing architecture. But as a city to walk about and stuff, I find it unappealing.

So I don't know, is that maybe something with Houston or.

Tim Truax: 00:09:26

Absolutely.

The traffic is horrendous there and they have this weird thing and, And I like, this is again, me from the outside looking into it where there's like, there's no public transit and it's all kind of road lobbyists. And so there's just these winding, humongous roads. You can't walk anywhere. It's not a city built for walking, unless maybe you're downtown.

And so it's just all those elements. And then you mix that in, like I said, with the, the heat and kind of the AC of it all.

But at the same time, there's lots of people that live down there that I know that have these wonderfully humongous houses with pools and all this, this, these amazing things that are just unaffordable in Canada. And maybe. So it's, it's kind of, maybe a little bit of the balance, but there.

But I have to say, it's a lot of concrete, a lot of driving, a lot of time sitting in cars and. Yeah, I don't. And maybe, to be honest with you, it's just the frequency that I was down there.

I used to go out down there every four to six weeks for two or three years at a, at a stretch there. And it just became maybe too familiar. And it was just always associated with this flight from Calgary that's just about four hours.

So it's just over a movie and it's kind of just in that annoying window of flight where you can't really get a good sleep. You can't just watch a movie and be there.

And it was just one of those things that, you know, and at times too, I had a young family when I was doing a lot of traveling with work. And so maybe that factors into it where, you know, I was having to leave them a lot and go down to Houston for two, three times.

Two, three days at a time. And so there might be external factors too that have influenced my, my thoughts and maybe the frequency of travel there.

Like I said, I've only been to San Antonio once, Dallas ones, Austin once. And I love those cities.

And so it could just be the repetitive nature of Houston layered on top with some of the the traffic elements and the, like I said, keep coming back to this. As a, as a Canadian that's sitting in minus twenty degree weather right now, the heat, you know, I love maybe the heat right now.

My wife would probably kill me for saying that, but it's just, I just can't do it down there.

Danny Brown: 00:11:24

No, and I get it. Like I say, I mean, I find Toronto probably for similar reasons. I find it very much a concrete city now.

And I know a lot of, I mean, I've only been in Canada twenty years now, almost twenty years, and I know a lot of Canadians have been here a lot longer. Said the landscape or the city skylines, I should say the cityscape of Toronto is changed beyond recognition of all the condos, etc.

And that's one of the things I liked about Calgary. That was the first time I'd been to Calgary and I found that really pleasant because of the way the, the roads and the blocks are all laid out.

It was a pleasant walk to get from the hotel to the event place, etc. And back down. And then that whole, where the tower is, that whole area down there, it's almost like a city.

Not like an old style, an old school kind of shopping area, but it was like a nice relaxed kind of shopping area kind of, you know, it was nice. So, yeah, I completely get. So there you go, listeners.

If you're from Houston and you want to put Tim right next time he's over in Houston, I'm sure reach out to him and say, okay, we'll show you the good places.

Tim Truax: 00:12:22

Yeah, maybe I just need that. Maybe I need a better tour guide.

Danny Brown: 00:12:24

We shall try and arrange that for you. All right, so there we go. Houston at the moment, not the fact that it's just a horrible, horrible place.

Just like, you know, the frequency, that's what we're going to go for. So let's have a look at question number two. Okay, maybe this is tied to your first one. Tim, question number two. What's on your bucket list this year?

And you're not allowed to say, not go back to Houston because then you'll really start an international situation.

Tim Truax: 00:12:52

Okay, well, bucket list.

I love, I love this kind of stuff because I'm a big fan of kind of the manifestation space, putting, I guess, obstacles and even goals in front of yourself, but not being so explicit about them.

This year when we did, you know, my wife and I always sit down and we kind of look through, okay, what are our objectives for twenty, twenty five or objectives for this year and this year, I kind of laid a few things out that I really wanted to accomplish, but instead of saying it's one, two, three, I decided to kind of frame things up around a couple of words, one of them being legacy, the second one being my relationships. And I just wanted to build kind of this platform for myself to not set myself up for.

For failure, in a sense, because, you know, as most things go, those goals and New Year's resolutions always kind of come falling down. But I do have one thing on my bucket list that stands head and shoulders above everything else. So rewind a little bit to the pandemic.

So twenty twenty, April twenty twenty, my family and I were supposed to go on a Disney cruise, and that was in Orlando, and it was in April of twenty twenty. And so we were meant to fly down to Orlando, go to Disney World. And at this point, the.

There's a new extension of one of the parks called Galaxy's Edge. So this is the new Star wars park part of all of it. They have this humongous new area with the Millennium Falcon and all these rides and all that.

So we're supposed to go down to that. It had opened, I think, in twenty nineteen. And of course, April twenty twenty arrives. We're like, oh, you know, the pandemic will be over before our cruise is.

Is meant to set sail, like we thought, okay, be two weeks, everyone will get it, and we'll be fine. Well, that, of course, didn't turn out to be the case. And it was two years or three years or whatever it was.

And so I didn't get to go down to Galaxy's Edge. And the, The. I guess a couple of years before that even I was meant to.

So in twenty nineteen or eighteen, I was meant to go down to Star Wars Celebration and also go to Galaxy's Edge there. And. But my second child was born, like, two weeks before that. And so I was unable to go to Galaxy's Edge.

Then we had another trip planned in twenty twenty two to go down to Star Celebration in California this time and go to Galaxy's Edge. Then that didn't plan out because the pandemic and just life happened.

And so this year, coming up in April, my family and I, we are going back down to Disney, to Disneyland in Anaheim. And I am finally going to get to go to Galaxy's Edge. My mother's been there. My sisters, neither of them are Star wars fans. My sister's been there.

I have tons of friends that have been there. I am, like the biggest, one of the biggest Star wars fans, you'll find. And I've yet to experience this even though it's.

I've actually been in and around the area several times but just never gone. And so that is my bucket list item for this year is going to Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland in California.

Danny Brown: 00:16:11

Nice. And it may have been you know, maybe like a bless in disguise.

I know after it first opened and maybe because it was like issues because of the pandemic obviously but it had some teething problems and I'd heard that some of the rides didn't work properly and the lineups weren't great or the experience weren't great. But like I say, I mean that may have been all of that could have been done to the pandemic and all the surrounding issues of that.

So I felt it's like it meant to be amazing. And in any videos I see online the characters that they get playing the main roles like the Rey etc.

Look and sound great, you know, so it should be an experience. And the, the Star Wars Celebration, is that the one in Anaheim?

Tim Truax: 00:16:49

Yeah. So this year it's in Japan. It's in. We're.

We're actually thinking about going to because there's a Disneyland at DisneySea in Japan and actually one of my co hosts on the Nerd Room, he lives in Japan and so we were thinking about going there but again just in pan out, my brother in law's getting married all you know, life again. But this one just seemed to like you said there, there, there may be and I'm a believer in this too that things happen for a reason.

There's a reason I didn't go and I've avoided for like five years watching videos. You know, I've seen the Falcon, I've seen a few things, I've seen some character stuff but I've never seen pictures of or videos of the rides.

I very much stayed away from that.

And so it's been one of those things that's been a top of mind for me for so long and I can't wait to just go and have blue milk at the the bar there and just sit and bask in the glory of his. I think it's called Batuu is what the. The planet's called that it's based around and so I just can't wait for that.

Danny Brown: 00:17:50

That sounds awesome. I know. Many years ago I went to Euro Disney in Paris.

I've been there a couple of years after it opened I think and they have a Star wars ride there, kind of remember what it's called. And you went on like a shuttle. So it was like Star Tours. Yeah, yeah, Star Tours. There you go. And that was amazing.

You know, you go through the asteroid belt, you get chased by that. So really good. So I can imagine what it'd be like being part of the Falcon ride or whatever, right?

Tim Truax: 00:18:15

Yes. It's gonna be so good. I can't wait. And I know Mark's a big Star wars fan and. Oh, it's, it's gonna be, it's gonna be something.

And, and for me like that Star Tours ride is just one of my favorite of all time. They, there's one in Disney World, there's one in Disneyland. They're all over the place. And it is, it's just a classic ride.

And then one of those rides that they continuously update to. It's your experience every time you go on it. Although the ride's the same, the experience is different, which is really cool.

Danny Brown: 00:18:42

Yeah. And I'm sure they must update it with different scenes from like.

Tim Truax: 00:18:44

Yeah, I think there's like five or six different scenes.

Like even as like as the new movies came out, they updated them, but I think there's like five or different six or different scenarios that you can jump into. And so even your experience if you go back to back, is likely to be different.

Danny Brown: 00:18:59

Now, before we move on, I have to ask you, as a fellow Star wars fan, what did you think of Skeleton Crew?

Tim Truax: 00:19:04

I, I loved it. I thought it was just brilliant.

Like as a fan of things like Goonies and Stranger things and that eighties esque sort of childhood coming of age adventure pirates like this show, it had all of those elements worked in, but inside of the Stars universe it felt fresh, it felt new. Jude Law was awesome in the show. The kids.

You know, I sometimes I, I go back and forth with my love for, for kids inside of roles like that because I think the kid, it takes a very specific type of kid to be able to kind of carry a show. And so I was always really concerned going in about that. But all those kids were phenomenal.

And Neil, the little elephant dude, man, that kid was the best.

It's probably outside of maybe Andor and a couple of the Mandalorian seasons, like Skeleton Crew is for me riding up there amongst the best that they've ever put out.

Danny Brown: 00:19:59

Yeah, it's funny, a lot of people were hyping up and expecting the Acolyte to be the big TV show this year and then obviously that was disappointing. But yeah, Skeleton Crew just came out nowhere and just. I Loved it. Like you say, it was fresh.

And I think the fact that there was no canon characters there so kept it, you know, interesting and made it something you just, like, lose yourself and enjoy.

Tim Truax: 00:20:20

Yeah, it was. It was really about the characters in the story more so than it was about Star Wars.

Like, I always call it the iconography of Star wars, where you have to have the Stormtroopers and you have to have, you know, the X wings, which some of those elements were in there. You have to make it feel like you're inside of Star Wars. But this really let the story take the front seat.

And I think that's the same case with, like, Andor, in that where the story is what it's focused around, the characters and developing all that, as opposed to just having a whole bunch of spots where, oh, don't, don't forget about this and don't forget about that. And here's the next wing, here's money, you know, and so it felt.

It just felt very real, like they focused on here's the story and here's how it fits into the wider universe. And it was cool in that too, because we're still in the era that it said in there.

Just post Return of the Jedi, you're still exploring a bit about what the universe or the galaxy is like post Empire, post the fall of the Empire. And so it's really cool to continue to explore all of that.

And I imagine we'll see some elements of this all crossover into the Mandalorian at some point down the road, too.

Danny Brown: 00:21:21

Yeah, it's a good time to be a Star wars fan. There's a lot of, you know, non love for what Disney's doing online, but I feel people were looking for excuses to. To say these things.

You know, it's.

Tim Truax: 00:21:33

It's always. There's always going to be the detractors.

And sometimes online it becomes a bit of an echo chamber for these individuals to praise or, or criticize these things. But I'm a firm believer, and if it makes you happy, just do it.

As long as it's not hurting anyone else, by all means, like, love the Star wars you love. And, you know, and I'm also a firm believer in you don't need to tell everybody the things that you don't like either there.

That, you know, you don't need to shut it if you don't. If I don't. I didn't love the Acolyte.

And, you know, I mentioned a few times on my podcast, which is a forum for that, but I'm not going online and tearing this thing down. Like some people really liked it. Hey, if you really liked it, I love that. Like just enjoy the things that you enjoy.

Danny Brown: 00:22:14

No, one hundred percent. And speaking of enjoying the things that we enjoy, I'm enjoying the answer so far. So let's move happily on to question number three.

Okay, I've never seen this one come up before. So this is cool. This is the first. Nice. Tim. Question number three. If you. And this can be first, last, or both.

If you had to change your name, what would you change it to?

Tim Truax: 00:22:38

What a question. If you had to change your name, what would you change it to?

It's funny because I've never really been one of those guys that like, oh, I wish my name was like something cool or whatever, but I really like my name Tim. I find I like that it can be short. My actual legal name is Timothy, which I've literally never gone by.

Friends call me Timmy sometimes, which I really like. It's. It's kind of a nostalgic thing for me. But Tim is of course what I go by. What would I change it to? Geez, I don't know.

Like, I'd probably have to throw it back to if, you know, if I was forced to change my name, I'd probably have to go.

And this again, most of my answers come back to pop culture here I probably have to go with something like Marty, like Marty McFly from that like I've always loved, especially the first two movies. My dad and I grew up watching them. Then he's was never like a pop culture guy, never really, really into Star wars and all that.

But like Back to the Future was something that he absolutely loved. And by extension him and I, by extension of his love him. And I get to. To watch it all the time and sometimes even will.

We'll go back and forth and text random lines from Back to the Future and all that.

And so I'd have to say Marty would probably one of the ones I'd go to because I always have this thing in my mind about this like, young guy, this guy that had this perception of who he was and he just kind of ran with that. And I always liked that element of Marty McFly. And I always just thought it was a cool name. It's just very like easy off the tongue. Yeah.

So that's probably what I'd have to go with Marty from. And I'd be just purely based. And I think any name I choose, I would were to choose.

I was thinking like Luke or maybe something like that it's definitely have to. It'd have to invoke some level of pop culture to me where I change and be like, oh, that's why, you know, funny enough, I.

We debated for a long time naming my first daughter Leia, but we never did because my biggest fear would. People would accuse me of naming her after a prominent Star wars character.

Danny Brown: 00:24:37

And that's always the worry, right? I mean, our son, we've got two kids, boy and a girl. Our son's fourteen. Our daughter turns, good grief, a teenager tomorrow. Thirteen tomorrow. Wow, fun times.

But my son is called Ewan McGregor Brown. And that's because my wife, well, my wife, she's Canadian.

And when we met, she always said, and I knew this anyway, before we got together as a couple of wife, because we spoke, we met online on a band website, long story for another time, but she always said, if we ever hook up and we get married, blah, blah, blah, and we have kids and we have a boy, he's got to be called Ewan McGregor. There's no deal. There's no other name. That's the name.

Tim Truax: 00:25:18

Did you get down on one knee right there and propose?

Danny Brown: 00:25:22

Almost. But she was taking it from Ewan McGregor side as opposed to the Star wars side.

So, you know, it was more about this good looking Scottish guy as opposed to this grizzled Scottish guy that she's married to. So, yeah, I hear you. And anytime.

Not as much here, but anytime we're speaking to people back in the UK or Star wars or, you know, Star wars fans and that, and you say Ewan McGregor's like, is that because it's Ben Kenobi and all that kind of stuff? So.

Tim Truax: 00:25:44

You know what, you said that in my. I don't see Ewan McGregor's anything other than Obi Wan Kenobi. Like, he's got this like huge filmography of amazing films, Trainspotting and all that.

But, like, as soon as you said that, I was like, oh, Obi Wan Kenobi, basically.

Danny Brown: 00:25:57

And that's it. Right. So I completely get it. And now you've got like, you've got a younger kid now that was only born two, three years ago.

Tim Truax: 00:26:03

Oh, no, I got two girls. One that's ten, one that's six.

Danny Brown: 00:26:06

Oh, okay. Are they into the Star wars and the nerd stuff as well?

Tim Truax: 00:26:09

Yes and no. A little bit. The. I'd say my older one, they enjoyed the Force Awakens.

My oldest really loved Rey, and that was kind of a real awakening point for me, no pun intended.

With Force Awakens, but of seeing her connect to a character that she kind of projected herself into being, her being a female Star wars character and all that kind of stuff. So I really loved seeing that. And I would say not really, but we just finished the Harry Potter stuff and they absolutely loved it.

They loved all of it. My oldest is a big reader and so she's gonna start the books here.

But I haven't really got super deep into stars with them or Marvel or anything like that. But my youngest likes the toys that I have. Like, I have all these old vintage toys in my room here and all that.

And so I had to get a whole bunch of extras and put them in a bin so when she comes in here, she can play with those and she doesn't get up against the glass cases and all that. That was for when she's a little younger, but she still enjoys it. And they, they have this really cool connection through this stuff, through me.

And so even for Christmas this year, my oldest for the first time went out with her own money and bought Christmas gifts for my, like, myself and wife and that. And she bought me a Hulk Lego.

And so she, she loves the stuff because she knows how much it means to me, which is a really cool thing to see as they're growing up. And they can reflect and look at things that are important to other people and say, I know what will make him happy.

It's this Marvel thing or Star wars thing. And so they don't. They don't. It's not that they don't like it, it's just they're really not into it. They.

They don't have an affinity for it the same way I do. But at the same time, for me growing up, I was a Ninja Turtle kid, Ghostbusters and all that. Jurassic Park.

I didn't find Star wars until I was probably thirteen, fourteen. It hasn't been a lifelong thing for me.

It wasn't until ninety seven, ninety eight, when the special editions and the RE releases and all that came out, that I really got into Star wars and then with the Phantom Menace in ninety nine. So I was quite a bit older when I first found Star Wars. So I'm holding out hope there for, for them finding Star Wars a little later in life.

Danny Brown: 00:28:14

Well, you never know. I mean, obviously you've got Star Wars, Galaxy Edge coming up. Yes, that could be the catalyst right there.

And if there's going to be a catalyst, what better place to do it, Right?

Tim Truax: 00:28:22

Absolutely.

Danny Brown: 00:28:22

You'll get to meet Ray, which is awesome.

Tim Truax: 00:28:24

You should get to meet Ray and have some fun with Kylo and hopefully get on some of those rides. And then we'll come out and be like, all right, let's go make the four hundred dollar lightsaber.

Danny Brown: 00:28:33

Nice. Nice. Well, speaking of four hundred. It's not four hundred, it's four. Because it's time for question number four. Okay, good question.

For a Canadian, I guess, maybe question number four, Tim. Pancakes or waffles?

Tim Truax: 00:29:13

Pancakes or waffles? I'm going to go from the hip here. Pancakes is where I'm going to sit. But waffles have been something that's coming back to my house recently.

So just I like to contextualize things. You can tell that I'm a podcaster, that I always like to draw these things out a little bit.

But so every Sunday, since my oldest could eat solid food, we have made chocolate chip pancakes in our house. And so it's become this tradition.

And even so much so now that when my mom, when my wife's grandma comes, she's gonna be ninety five this year, she requests pancakes on Sundays when she's here visiting. And so it's become a big thing in my house. And we switch them up, sometimes throw bananas in them and cinnamon and all that.

But recently there's been a much more of a push towards waffles. We get a waffle maker and some friends house. It's the same batter we use, so it's like, no different in taste, but the texture is a little different.

So I'm going to say, well, I have to say pancakes because it's such an important part of my life. But waffles are. Are creeping into my household.

Danny Brown: 00:30:16

And you think because I. I found that when I've traveled to the US it's more waffles.

Tim Truax: 00:30:22

Yes.

Danny Brown: 00:30:22

Or like on the breakfast menus as the pancakes are there. But I feel it is very much a north, south divide when it comes to pancakes and waffles.

And I know my kids love both, but if they want a pick, I think my son would probably take pancakes and my daughter would be a waffle person. So that's like a random, you know, thing. But, yeah, it's interesting how some things are different just based on location.

You know, like, I go to the US and one of the big dishes there, I have no idea why. But waffles and fried chicken. You heard that?

Tim Truax: 00:30:53

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I've had that. And that might be going back to that Houston experience, but it's. I've never fried chicken in the morning, just not. Not for me.

And I know that they've, they've. Do you remember like the MC riddle they had here for a while, which was. Yeah, I think it was like pancakes or something like that surrounding it.

I don't. Or maybe I can't remember. Anyways, it was something like that.

And so it is odd when, you know, for me breakfast food is like pancakes, waffles, bacon, eggs, these type of things. And so like I've never really got even like steak into a. You know, some people eat steak and eggs, just not just not for me.

But pancakes is to me a tried and tested breakfast side. And I'd say anytime we go out to a breakfast joint, you know, greasy spoon type thing, someone gets pancakes. You'll even on the side.

And I'm a big fan of like the peanut butter on them. My oldest puts Nutella with, with syrup on them. And so, and I grew up in Ontario too. And so we used to get like proper maple syrup.

Like we used to go and like drill a hole and tap them and put the bucket on it and drip out for a couple days. And you go and, and you sit and boil it forever in, in a bush somewhere. And then you'd make these little things of maple syrup.

And so I grew up, you know, having pancakes with proper maple syrup. Like stuff that we actually harvested ourselves, which is really cool too.

Danny Brown: 00:32:22

Our neighbour, it's funny you mentioned that. So if I look at my window here, about, I don't know, a hundred fifty feet that way or whatever it is, our neighbor over there has got a couple of maple trees.

And each year he'll go out there, get them tapped up and he'll go around the neighborhood and just have for everybody like a jar maple syrup when it's all ready. But maple syrup and Nutella, what's going on there?

Tim Truax: 00:32:41

I don't know. Just a lot of sugar would be my guess. Sometimes it's peanut butter and maple syrup, sometimes it's Nutella and maple syrup.

I just think she's got a bit of a sweet tooth in the morning. It's the only time we let her have that volume of sugar. And so she takes very much full advantage of it.

Danny Brown: 00:32:54

Send it off to school. Okay, teacher, it's all on you now.

Tim Truax: 00:32:57

Yeah, yeah. Here you go.

Danny Brown: 00:32:59

Perfect. And for pancakes, do you have a mix or do you do it all from scratch? Do you like get the box of all from scratch shots?

Tim Truax: 00:33:04

Oh, I'm a box guy. I'm a box. Mix it with water. I don't even like the ones that you mix it with an egg.

Like, that's way too high of a barrier for entry for Sunday morning. So it's just in with the. The whisk with some water. I don't measure anything. I just throw a bunch in and get to the consistency I like. And I'm a.

I'm a big, giant pancake maker. I'm not small ones.

And so when I make them, I'll have a whole batter mix and probably make three or four pancakes, but, like, they're size, you know, bigger than your head. And so. And the. The volume of chocolate chips varies by person in the house. My wife likes a little more, Little one likes a little less.

I usually do no pet, no chocolate chips for me, but then I do the peanut butter on top, and so it. Yeah, that absolutely box for me.

Danny Brown: 00:33:45

Well, I feel at this year's PodSummit, that should be in the breakfast every morning.

Tim Truax: 00:33:50

Yes.

Danny Brown: 00:33:50

Tim's pancakes.

Tim Truax: 00:33:51

I'm gonna get up. I'm gonna get up extra early and make them for you guys. Chocolate chip pancakes.

Danny Brown: 00:33:55

Okay. Yeah. Here. I'm gonna share this with all attendees. All right, Tim, we've almost reached the end, bud. This has been really good.

So let's see what comes up for the final question. Okay, good question again for a pop culture person. Tim, question number five. What's the worst movie you've ever seen?

Tim Truax: 00:34:14

Oh, you know, it's. I had this conversation not too long ago with some friends on another podcast, and I said, have you ever gotten up?

Like, went to a movie theater, paid twenty bucks to get in, gotten up and left because it was just so horrendous? And quite a few of them had said, yes, I gotten up, I've left, you know, X, Y, and Z movie. And I say, I've never left a film.

Just feeling disgusted that I had watched it, that I had, like, wasted my time. I'm never gonna get that two hours back. I. I just hated this thing for everything that it was. So I.

I've never had that experience where I just had this. This visceral hate towards a movie. But I'll maybe shift this a little bit. It's not the worst movie ever seen.

Oh, there's two here, maybe that I'll talk about. I. I really, really didn't like Batman vs Superman when it came out in twenty sixteen.

Some of that is tainted by the Marvel vs DC stuff that was happening then, but I just found that movie was just so far off the mark that it just never resonated with myself. I.

I didn't love the direction they Took Batman, the direction they took Superman, the sprint towards creating a universe that just wasn't necessary at the time.

And so like, that's the first movie when it comes to mind when I'm just like, I just, I just don't understand what the ethos was behind that movie other than kind of the race to the justice league. You know, D.C. at that time were so far behind Marvel and they just needed to go slow and they kind of went really fast.

And so I can honestly say it's one movie that I, I have seen, I've seen once the, the re release that they did. The Zack Snyder cut was substantially better. Not released in the Pandemic. It was a much better, much more well constructed film.

But at the same time it was just, it was just one of those movies. I'm just like, it just, it's just not for me. And that's cool. Like, that's one of those movies. Okay. Just wasn't for me.

The only other movie that comes directly to mind if I'm kind of going from the hip here, and this is an interesting one from the Star wars space, is that I, I still have a, like, this is probably the only time I've ever sat in movie theater and just had like this reaction where I was just like this gut wrenching reaction. And it was the Last Jedi when Luke gets that lightsaber and throws it over his shoulder.

I would have to say that is, I would say maybe say it was probably the worst scene in the history of Star Wars. And part of it being, is that I love the Force Awakens. They hand him the lightsaber. Like, Luke was like, top builds.

Or Mark Hamill's like, top build in the Force Awakens, not in the movie. And he shows up at the right at the end, he's old, bearded, still got the, all the, the Jedi garb on Rey hands in this lightsaber.

And we think we wait for two years to get the resolution of that scene and it's played off as some goofy throw over the shoulder, whether it was like, you know, bucking expectations. And that was kind of the first instance of, you know, saying, hey, audience, you're not going to get what you think you're gonna get.

I, I, I hated that scene. I'm not like, I don't mind the movie and I'm not like, I'm not a hater really of any movies.

But that scene that still to this day I remember sitting in the theater and being so disappointed with the resolution of like twenty four months of waiting for that. And it didn't help too, that I spent twenty four months speculating and watching trailers on the podcast and all that kind of stuff.

And so, you know, for someone that saw the movie, didn't think about it until the end, the next movie came out, I'm sure it was fine.

But for me, we spent literally twenty four months embedded, heavily embedded in Star wars communities, trying to figure out what the Last Shadow was going to be. I have to say that was probably one that I was like, just. Just not for me, man. That scene in particular probably makes that one of the.

One of the movies inside of the space that I just. Just not for me, it's.

Danny Brown: 00:38:27

It's definitely one of the most divisive Star wars films. Probably the most. Not one of.

I think it's probably the most divisive because, like you say, the treatment of Luke and his story and where it ended up and I don't know, I watched my. The last year, I probably weighed in there as one of my least favorites. Yeah, eight, probably seven. Eight. Something like that is our position.

And I think it was because the way upper. It's like that slap, you know, a prank phone call kind of thing.

Tim Truax: 00:38:51

Yeah.

Danny Brown: 00:38:52

With Poe and, you know, the. The Admiral guy or the captain guy in the ship. And I thought, okay. And then you've got Mary Poppins flying through space. Yes. So, yeah, I get it.

And yeah, that was just like that scene. I know. I see a lot of people online. I mean, the history of that lightsaber. That's his father's lightsaber.

Tim Truax: 00:39:07

Yeah.

Danny Brown: 00:39:08

You know, it's like Ben saved it for him and protected it for him.

You know, handing it off, knowing the history of the person that was behind that saber thing and then just to toss it away, you know, it was like, you see, maybe that was like. What's his name?

Tim Truax: 00:39:22

Ryan Johnson.

Danny Brown: 00:39:23

Ryan Johnson. Maybe that's his way of putting his stamp on it right from the off.

Tim Truax: 00:39:27

And I think that that was it. I think that was a. Set your expectations. This is not going to be what you think it's going to be. And I'm taking this a new and different direction.

And. And he did, you know, he. He wanted to. To change things up inside of that universe. He had a story that he thought would resonate and.

And he wanted to take it in some direction that for some people myself, it didn't really resonate with. And that they're still trying to course correct from all of that with the movies because they still never really recovered from that.

And Then the rise of Skywalker and Solo and all that stuff. And they still yet to put, like, since twenty nineteen, haven't put a big screen Star wars film to an audience.

And, you know, they spent a lot of time on Disney and doing everything they can there. But that is a catalyst moment for what we're kind of getting now.

And like, I would say guys like Favreau and Filoni that are constructing the Mandalorian side of things, Ahsoka and all that, you know, Filoni was the protege of George Lucas. And so there's a lot of, I think for me at least, there's a lot of hope in. In Star wars right now about the direction it's going.

But I think that that in particular is. Is a catalyst moment for where we are right now.

Danny Brown: 00:40:40

Yeah, I always feel sorry for the Solo movie. I thought that was a fun, enjoyable movie. Aaron, like, nailed the Solo character.

You know, all the characters, all the actors nailed their roles perfectly. And I thought it was just like a good, fun, swashbuckling adventure. But unfortunately it came out just after Last Jedi or a year after.

It was the first movie after Last Jedi and the backlash, maybe even six months, actually, who knows?

Tim Truax: 00:41:04

Yeah, they did a weird thing where it was almost like a Disney was trying to amp up, like a quarterly financial report and they shoved it in like a weird time frame and didn't give it the time to breathe from the Last Jedi.

And yeah, it came out, I think I want to say like April or something weird very outside of the May, or they had been releasing everything in December and so they kind of. It kind of fell into this weird space. And actually Bob Iger, who's the CEO of Disney, said later on that was his fault.

Like he shoved it to come out earlier and to fit a window and all that stuff. So that was a mistake.

Danny Brown: 00:41:38

Yeah, it'd be nice to see them get maybe a TV show on Disney, bring these characters back and just they're talking about Orlando.

Tim Truax: 00:41:43

One like Donald Glover is meant to either have a Disney show or a film at some point. And so. Well, we'll see.

Danny Brown: 00:41:50

We can hope. A new hope. There we go. Nice little Easter egg there.

So, Tim, we've reached the end of the five round questions and I really appreciate you sharing your answers off the cuff and from the hip. As is only fair, this is the part of the episode and part of the show where I've had you on the spot for the last, let's say forty minutes or so.

So it's only fair that I Hand over the question and reigns to you, good sir.

Tim Truax: 00:42:12

Awesome. Well, I've been looking forward to this part. And it's funny because I thought of a question there and the.

Danny Brown: 00:42:18

The.

Tim Truax: 00:42:19

I don't know if just as a random question generator, if. If it picked up a little bit on what we're talking about, but it was very much framed around pop culture, which I thought was really, really cool.

So I got to talk about a lot of stuff that I love. And so the question actually fits really nicely into what we've been talking about here. And so I always like to. To. To ask people about what's the.

And it's not just dissimilar from the worst movie thing, but not really. What's the one movie that you are embarrassed to tell people you have not.

Danny Brown: 00:42:51

Seen that I've not seen? I mean, I can mention a whole bunch of TV shows like Game of Thrones and the Goodfella and Not Goodfellas, the Sopranos, that kind of stuff.

Okay, so it's huge movie.

Tim Truax: 00:43:07

Huge movies. Like, so, for instance, like, I've never seen the Godfather or Scarface.

Danny Brown: 00:43:12

Okay, yeah.

Tim Truax: 00:43:12

So, like, those are movies that. When people are like, oh, top, you know, ten movies of all time, and not concentrating the pop culture space at all. Godfather's in there.

Godfather Part Two. I've never seen any of those movies. And it's almost like, am I. Am I allowed to say that? Like, I'm a.

I say I'm a pop culture commentator, but I haven't seen some of the, like, most praised movies of all time.

Danny Brown: 00:43:31

I would probably see.

I see a lot of clips of it, but Apocalypse now, oh, because obviously that was a huge move at its time, and I was probably not of age to see it because I was like, when that came out, what was that, seventy four, seventy five maybe? I think it was the early seventies. So I was alive then, but I was just a young boy. I'm not that old.

But I found opportunities to see it, you know, since then. And I've watched many other movies based in Vietnam.

So, you know, I've watched Platoon and Hamburger Hill and all that stuff, but never seen, I guess, the granddaddy of them all, Apocalypse Now. And I feel maybe I've missed out there because, like, the actors are in that, the director that made it, all that.

But I don't know if it's a good move or not, you know, So I don't want to spoil the fact that I've heard so many great things about it and as a classic. And then I Go in and watch, I think. I mean, I went to see.

When we go back to the movies we didn't enjoy, I went to see Blair Witch Project and I was still in the UK at the time.

And maybe it's like a location thing where it more suited for North American audience because they know the legend behind why that guy was standing facing the corner at the end and stuff like that. I just found it was so hyped to be super scary. I went to watch it with my girlfriend. The time we walked out and thought, what the did we just watch?

You know, so. But yeah, I would say probably Apocalypse Now. That would be my one.

Tim Truax: 00:44:53

Awesome. Well, you should check it out one day. That's one of the ones I absolutely seen. And it's a.

It's definitely of the time, but I think it does stand like in some of the shots from that are like classic shots, like the coming out over the, the. The horizon with the helicopters and all that stuff too.

And again, like a very like American like, film, but at the same time, yeah, it's one of those classics that, that sit up there on lists, you know, up against like Shawshank Redemption and these type of movies that, that kind of sit there.

But it's, it's always great because when I had asked my wife who was my girlfriend at the time, that that question when we first started dating, top of her list was Star Wars. Um, yeah, yeah.

Danny Brown: 00:45:33

And you married her. Good for you.

Tim Truax: 00:45:35

Well, we had to get through Star wars first before I proposed. Um, and.

But she's been, she's embraced who I am and has, uh, very much, I think from like even like a gift perspective really kind of leaned into the Star wars aspect of it. So she gets it.

Danny Brown: 00:45:51

So, Tim, I really enjoyed chatting with you, bud.

And as a fellow nerd pop culture aficionado, I've super enjoyed chatting you because we've been able to talk about some of this stuff for anybody that wants to listen to your podcast. Any one of the four hundred and fifty plus episodes you've now got on there, find out more about Pod Summit.

Maybe they're interested in coming over to Canada and Calgary, you know, later this year. Where can people find all that good stuff and it be connect with you online?

Tim Truax: 00:46:17

Absolutely. And Danny, I really appreciate you having me on here. And we've got to podcast a few times together and it's always a pleasure. We even got to do.

It's very, very unusual these days, but we got to do a live podcast for the first time together, which was awesome. Sitting there in front of a crowd of people talking about podcasting, which was incredible.

And doing this now is just been great and I really appreciate it.

If you want to find me talking about pop culture with a slew of different people, you can find that just type in the Nerd Room podcast in whatever podcast player that you use. You can go to the nerdroom.net and you can find that.

I guess just some of the stuff I on our Instagram, I kind of share some of the stuff I'm doing my collecting and all that at the Nerd RM there.

And if you're interested in podcasting like we mentioned at this top here we do this awesome event called Pod Summit YYC is happening this year September nineteenth to twentieth in right here in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

And if you just go over to podsummit.com you can find everything there or follow us at kind of anywhere, but primarily Instagram over at podsummit there. So if, if you have any, any desire to, to learn about podcasting, you don't have to be a pro or nothing like that.

We kind of made this space for, for everyone. Give me a, give me a ring and we can, we can chat about it.

Danny Brown: 00:47:34

And if there's any listeners that are in Houston that are podcasters too and want to travel out to Calgary to pick a bon or two with Tim, that's the way to do it. So I will leave all the links to those in the show notes as usual.

So if you listen on your favorite favorite podcast app or even online at the five Random Questions website, that will all be in a show notes, so be sure to check them out as well. So again, Tim, thanks so much for appearing today on five Random Questions.

Tim Truax: 00:47:56

Thank you.

Danny Brown: 00:47:58

Thanks for listening to Five Random Questions.

If you enjoyed this week's episode, be sure to follow for free on the app you're currently listening on or online at fiverandomquestions.com and if you know someone else that would enjoy the show, I'd love for you to recommend it to them. Until the next time, keep asking those questions.