IMPOSSIBLE

0:00Tell the story. Here, do you want to set me up? Why don't we just tell the story in the show? That's what I was holding on the show. Oh, I thought you wanted to tell the story. No. No. I was going to say save for the show. Save for the show. Okay. This is the show. No, I know this is the show, but this is before the show, then the theme song hits, and then we are in the show. Wow, this is a classic, classic bit. I know. We haven't run this bit in forever. I know. Run the fucking ball up the middle. Yeah. That's the playbook. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sweep left. I mean, we've had like 26 minutes of pre-show and still don't have a cold open, so I guess this is it, right?

0:36three two one kevin what's up nice sweatshirt another new one what is this smith street a lot of my shirts are from smith street uh rotten gun club okay it's my tattoo parlor they're kind of going off on the merch that script on the logo is amazing they're doing it good Smith Street yeah is that on Smith Street yeah damn right in Cobble Hill yeah sick that one amazing I don't know what that one is but I know where the street is yeah make great merch sick that one is absolutely they make great merch and lots of people are wearing it Rod and Gun Club oh yeah they had a little shooting yeah they had a little IP partner breakup dispute so they changed the name mmm what was the name before Smith Street cool so I had to you know add a couple.

1:28Oh, so Rod and Gun Club is now part of the... Oh, it's just the place now. But they do tattoos. Yeah. Do you think people go in there looking for fishing supplies? No. Maybe. I mean, one of the guys who used to be there, he's got a pretty poppin' brand called Housefly. Okay. They do collabs with Only and the same as Dan Santoro or something. Yeah, shout out to him. Yeah. He's got great fishing supplies, great merch yeah a lot of these guys make great merch yeah no the artistry yeah love it yeah i mean they've got several tattoos you know so have you gotten tattoos there yeah that's where i get all my tattoos fuck yeah do you want to give a promo code while we're here no okay cool uh you gotta cough up it's uh spring of sprung it's actually it's actually um one of the coldest days here in new york that we've had is it yeah it's like 40 no it's cold that was i walked today it was freezing it was a wind whipping around no it wasn't that bad but you've been skiing is the ski season done you think no no you got one more in you i'm trying to get to 30 days this year fuck man i mean i guess march yeah april snowing all this week and it's supposed to snow this weekend yeah so can i admit something on the pod what i shouldn't say this into your microphone I still have my Christmas tree up oh why don't you just throw it off your balcony I don't know what to do because it's now at the point where that's tough what do you do it's like I have to take it out I have to get it out but like take it out at like you know in the wee hours in the morning yeah don't let anyone see you if someone sees me taking out my Christmas trees or even sees like pine needles on the floor of my floor oh my god they'll judge me forever yeah I mean it could be a good thing Maybe do some sort of inside job recording.

3:18Get Jackie to record you taking it out and be like... Yeah, get some content. Yeah, we could have some sort of planted footage and it comes out like dude taking his Christmas tree out. Yeah, no. I think it would probably play. Yeah, I think you might be right here. I think we should put this online. But it's got to be covert. Nobody can know. Yeah, no. I like you're using your TikTok brain. I would get shamed into oblivion. Yeah. But I think it's... Like, look at this dumb ass taking his fucking Christmas tree out. Yeah. January, one thing. February, another. March? Late March? It's going to be April.

3:51I know you. It's going to be April. I know. It's almost April. I think I'm in trouble, dude. And it still has all this stuff on it. It's still got the stuff on it? Yeah, dude. Oh, my God. It's a nightmare situation. And I got to just get it out of there. Throw it off the balcony into the East River. I had that thought. But I don't think that's something that I can do, both legally or morally. What about physically? Physically, I think I can get it out. You think you can get it to the East River? I don't think I can get it into the East River, but I can get it off of my balcony. Yeah, for sure.

4:23But I think probably more likely it would fall onto another balcony below versus falling. Oh, yeah, that wind. Yeah. The wind in the pH is pretty narrowly. Yeah, I just don't think. And if it were to actually make it to the ground, death would probably happen if it hit somebody. Yeah, I mean, that would be a bad thing. I can't do that and I wouldn't do that, but it did cross my mind only because taking it out like the normal route or putting it in like the sort of garbage area of my floor is one of the more horrifying things. You got like a garbage chute? Yeah, but it's not going to fit a giant Christmas tree.

4:57Have you tried? No, it's not going to happen. That would be even more embarrassing if you get like a building report and it's like, oh, somebody tried to throw a Christmas tree down the garbage chute and now it's all clogged up. Yeah, or just the building in general. Yeah, like someone from the building is like, yeah, it's just a nightmare situation. And I just had to come clean about it. So I guess next week we'll see. Maybe. I think I can't let it go to April. Why don't you just let it go all the way? No, I don't think so. It's still got needles and stuff? Is it still green? No, it's still green and it still has needles.

5:31Wow, it's still kicking? It's still kicking, but it's... I love a Christmas tree, but it's quite embarrassing. at this point. But hey, there's a big curb your enthusiasm type situation here where Larry... Larry would never let a Christmas tree in his house. Yeah, forever. No, not even during Christmas season. I feel like he would. Yeah, that was a plot point of season five or something. Yeah, what? He's not into Christmas trees? Yeah, Cheryl wants to bring a Christmas tree in because her family's coming. I mean, I think he reluctantly does it. Yeah, yeah. Classic Larry. You stood strong. Classic Larry.

6:05I still haven't passed episode two. You got to get past episode two. Three and four rocked. I want to walk back any shade that I or we threw on Larry's name. I don't think you put shade. I think it was more me. Yeah, it was definitely you. But yeah, three and four rocked. It was in classic form. Yeah, really? Okay. Yeah, really, really nice. Okay. Larry's back. I'm happy to hear it because it's one of those shows where it's on my radar. But I guess when I have a minute to watch television, it's not screaming to me to watch. Yeah, just watch it. It's like 30 minutes. I know. It says more about my attention span.

6:49Yeah. Speaking of - You watch like Love Island and shit. That's like an hour. But that show is the greatest show on television history. Yeah. Aside from Vanderpump Rules, which I'm also watching. I watched a little reality TV. Ooh, what did you watch? What did you get into? What did you get into? I can't remember what the name of the show was, but I believe it was a TLC show where they brought couples in, and then they brought single people, and then the couples were looking to add a third. Oh, yeah. Drama and chaos ensues. Yeah, it's like Thrupple something. Yeah, something like that. Yeah, something like that.

7:20I did see that on Peacock. Yeah, it was on Peacock for sure. Yeah, and I looked at that, and I said, that looks messy. and I was intrigued, but not a... Again, I'm watching two all-time reality shows right now. So I'm not... I didn't choose... I'm not looking for a third right now. Bam! I didn't choose to watch it. It was just... The people around me chose to watch it and I watched it. And I got sucked in. TLC does make the most unhinged reality program. They're going for it. Yeah. If I were a betting man, I would place a future on them to come out of this whole cable situation. pretty clean. Yeah, Milf Matter famously was my TLC.

8:01Yeah, and then they had the Sister Wives show where they were looking that was another looking for a third show. Okay, yeah. I guess, yeah, TLC. Keep pushing the needle. Really making that sort of God-tier reality show. Yeah, good for them. I won't be watching, but I know Alex will. No, I don't think so. I mean, I like my reality TV trashy, but that's maybe a little too trashy. I need a little, I need, I don't know, I need hot people doing crazy things. Not necessarily. I mean, all the couples and all the singles are pretty hot. Okay. Well, maybe. And they were doing crazy things. All right. Now you have me in.

8:41Anything else you're watching, Kevin? Anything? Abbott Elementary. Oh. Fire. Oh, really? People love that show. Yeah, it's fire. It's a great cable sitcom. Okay. It's like an office tier, you know? Whoa, office tier. Yeah. I think I tried the first episode and it wasn't hooked immediately, which is my attention span. It's just garbage. It might be a problem. It is a problem. Speaking of, I watched about an hour of Poor Things. There you go. That's longer than you made it through Oppenheimer. That's absolutely true. And Dune combined, actually. Wow. So shout out to Poor Things. You might finish that one.

9:19There's a chance. There's a chance. I unfortunately fell asleep, so I didn't stop watching. Damn, and that won an Oscar? or did they get snubbed? Emma won for actress. So yes, they won. Well, I've not seen the movie yet. I probably will watch it this weekend to be honest with you. I think it is good. I think it's one of those movies where everyone's like, you're going to love it. You're going to love it. You should watch it because you're going to enjoy it. And I'm kind of like, well, you don't know what I'm going to like. But it is good. It's creative and interesting and well shot. And Emma's just sort of, yeah one of our one of the greats great well she's excellent that's awesome i'll have to check it out yeah kevin uh do we should we give a kate middleton update yeah you should uh we found her she um as of uh 18 hours ago i believe this was yesterday uh kate went to the grocery shop wow at windsor farm shop so this is about 15 minutes i guess from her house and she was uh seen in public grocery shopping yeah and i believe this is what i said she should do on last week's episode maybe she listens to the pod yeah i think she she's in a photoshop maybe she's into design podcast totally no that you make in the niche design podcast yeah and she she i i think my recommendation was simply go outside and uh go to public and or go to a public place and do something in the view of other people and this whole thing will go away quickly I think it's funny because you know she doesn't go like food shopping normally they were like what's a normal thing that she would go and do that she could just be in public and I guess food shopping was what they came up with hello fellow humans how are you I'd like some milk please yeah please give me some eggs some of your best milk Yeah, some of your best milk, please.

11:20And, of course, the internet is not just going to let this thing go, though. Are they saying it's body double? People are saying it's a new Kate. Kind of like Gucci Mane? Kind of like when in Fresh Prince they swapped out Ann Viv. And there was a new Ann Viv, which famously did happen. There was a different actress from season to season. That's what they're saying. Well, people say they switched out Gucci Mane when he was in prison. Really? This is a new Gucci? Yeah. I say it's not the same who went in. I think she did look a little skinny. So I think that's what's... I need an earlobe analysis.

11:54I need somebody to zoom in on those earlobes before and after and see if they're the same. I think that's what will probably happen is people will go absolutely bonkers trying to... I actually saw on Twitter because I just did a quick search. I want to say like, what's the internet saying? And within seconds, I saw like a picture of her walk comparison side by side of like what her typical walk is and what her typical angle of her head was while she walks. And they had compared the two of them gate by gate to see the sort of strides. Wow. And to compare people very quickly, not the same. Wow. It's crazy that like 500 years ago, we were concerned about surviving, gathering food and making sure people didn't die.

12:43and now we're analyzing famous people's gait online. Yeah, fake gait. It's come a long way. This is great progress. Yeah, body double. It's almost predictable at this point that she was... We could have saw this last week saying she's going to do something in public and then the internet will say body double. Yeah. I think you even said body double. Oh, I just have internet brain. You have an internet brain. I know where this is going. Yeah, fake gait. So that's where we're at. I don't think it's going to sort of stop this madness, but it probably will slow it down a little bit. Well, good. You know, see it.

13:22Kevin, it's March Madness. Yes. So do you have your vasectomy? I'm mad. Your vasectomy planned? Yeah, I'm going to go for a walk-in on Thursday, Friday, so I can have Thursday, Friday off and watch all those awesome games. Yeah. Who can forget Twisted Tea, if you're not a fan of the podcast for a long time, or new listener. One of the great promotions. One of the great stories of 2023. Correct. Vasectomundies. Correct. And it was Twisted Tea who had this sort of insight research that men get vasectomies during March as a excuse to call in sick from work and watch March Madness. Yeah, that's great.

14:05Dudes rock. So they made underwear that you could put a cold can of twisted tea, two cans of, and cool your post-isectomy icing. Yeah. Wow. Wow. And nobody had any, nobody had the, excuse me, nobody had the audacity to do anything around vasectomies this year. I searched PR Newswire pretty thoroughly and there was no stories. Although I do believe that research. I think if you were to pick a time, I would say to sit on the couch and just be comatose basketball hole. This Thursday and this Friday are probably the most personal days taken. The least work being done. Sorry, I got a cough. But I will say an absolute all-time campaign by Twisted Tea.

15:03It's really shocking that they're not running it back this year. It's sad. They should run it back. It's sad, but I guess maybe it didn't perform just maybe as well as they would have thought. But in our hearts and in our minds forever. That one with Fronty. That was a Fronty award-winning campaign. Damn right. Something that we'll never forget. And a real dudes rock moment. Yeah, 100%. You just love to see dudes just being dudes. Yeah. Doing life-altering. Yeah, if you've got to do it. Yeah. If you're going to do it, you might as well do it on a day where you can just watch basketball for 14 hours yeah no for sure makes it back to back it makes a ton of sense honestly back to back to back to back you know you got it you got it thursday through sunday this weekend it's gonna be crazy yeah are you gonna watch i'm gonna watch a little bit okay well i'm definitely uh i will definitely be gambling on it if draft kings lets me make a deposit in my freaking account uh uh shout out to draft kings uh hold me hold me down promo code front center for the first uh a free$100 for their first bet.

16:06Another Dude's Rock moment, Kevin. Bruno Mars allegedly has a$50 million gambling bet with the MGM Casino. Dude's Rock. Yeah, I mean, listen. He's me for real. Yeah, I mean, who can relate? Me. Yeah, I mean, whom among us has not had a$50 million gambling bet at the MGM Casino? It's cool. This is like a throwback rock star thing. Totally, that's what I was thinking. And it's like, his whole vibe is so throwback, right? His style of music is all sort of a vintage kind of modern retro energy. And Bruno Mars famously loved cocaine, had a drug addiction. Remember that old Bruno Mars? That was kind of like maybe like 10 years ago when he first came out.

16:47He was sort of the drug problem era of Bruno. And now we're into the gambling era of Bruno. So this is sick. The Weeknd could never. Exactly. The Weeknd wants to be Bruno Mars so bad. Live that life, Bruno. If you're going to be a throwback kind of crooner, sort of vintage kind of singer, you got to fucking run the plays. Yeah. So you'll love to see it. MGM set its cap, though. Yes. Which is potentially a strategy to get them in a residency and really make it like an Elvis-type situation. So, Kevin, it's so funny that you said that because you and I have been doing this show for a while, And I think we just have such, you know, both internet brain, but also branding brain or sort of marketing brain at this point is that when I saw this for the first time, I was like, hmm, why would this come out?

17:41Like, why would they make this an announcement? And it just feels fishy. My sort of third eye opened up a little bit. And then MGM put out a statement and was like, Bruno Mars does not owe us money and has been a great partner for us. And his shows at blank, you know, sort of resort and this casino and his residency, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, have been some of the most spectacular events, etc. So this was promotion, right? Or at least it feels that way to me that this is a great marketing ploy, which is say he has this giant debt and then sort of have the casino come out and say this is not real while promoting his performance.

18:29I want to go see a Bruno Mars show now. Yeah. Or at least I'm aware that they have Bruno Mars shows at the MGM Casino. I can't think of any of his songs to make a reference to right now, but I'm sure that one would fit really well. Yeah. Leave the Door Open. Is that a song or is that a lyric? cool yeah yeah for sure well they don't want him to be locked out of heaven for too long yes yes kevin you did it you fucking did it and mgm i guess is heaven in this situation yeah yeah yeah i don't think i i think maybe this just got kind of leaked like maybe somebody figured it out got leaked and then this is like maybe a bit of damage control but also he is a partner to mgm so He could be gambling on their dime.

19:10Who knows? So you're saying there's probably some piece of this that is potentially rooted in something. It's not just all fluff. Potentially he may have some gambling debts. Okay. I think that's possible. But I think part of the story was like, even in the original story of his gambling debt, was like, because he has so much debt, he performs for the MGM every night or whatever, and he only makes$1.5 million per show. That was like – That was like – Wow. Yeah. Poor guy. Yeah, exactly. And a lot of the response, rightfully so, was like, man, that's rough. $1.5 million a night, that's it? I mean, you can erase that gambling debt like that.

19:53In a month. Yeah. I mean, listen. I think having a residency in a sort of Vegas casino is kind of the greatest shit ever. Sounds like hell. It sounds like heaven, but it also kind of sounds like heaven in a way where you're like, you wake up, you kind of have a normal day, and then you perform a show at night. You gamble your face off. No, but you don't. You get fucked up. I don't know. You get shot up with adrenaline to get on stage. Yeah. I have some insider information about the Chainsmokers, and they have a residency Saturday nights in Vegas, and they have it for the next five years or whatever.

20:28Yeah. I mean, I feel like one day a week would be great. Yeah. If they're rolling you out there every night, that's crazy. I guess there's a – The higher the frequency, the more hellish it probably is. Yeah. No, you bring up a good point if you're doing it every night. But I feel like if you're a big-time star like a Bruno Mars or a Chainsmokers or something like that, you don't have to do it every night. Are the Chainsmokers that popping? Do people like them like that? I think they bring people to the club. Sweet. Well, good for them. And I think they're making like a crazy amount of money and they just have to work one night a week.

20:59Damn, I need to get a residency. And they probably fly them there from LA to Vegas. They put them up in a hotel that night, and then they fly back home. That's great. And it's just literally like that's their job, to throw parties and have fun. Maybe I need to start making really shitty music. I think you need to be a DJ, Kevin. I think that's what – or me and you. We should do a DJ crew, I guess, or a duo. I always find that funny when there's two DJs. There's one guy who is DJing, and then another guy that's just kind of standing next to him. Yeah, I don't think either of us knows music that well.

21:32I was going to say, who's going to be the music guy and who's going to be the hot guy who stands on it? I would obviously be the hot guy. Yeah, you bring up a point. I guess, I hate to say this, Kevin, I may have aged out of this idea. That's okay. Yeah. You know who hasn't aged out of music stardom? Yes. Northwest. Oh, yeah, true. Yeah. She's just beginning. I don't know how old she is, but eight, 10, 12? Something like that. How old? Northwest age Take a guess 12 10 10 10 years old Got so many bars for being 10 Yeah, yeah We are big Northwest fans Yeah Right? We are anxiously and excitedly waiting for her debut album Which she has now announced Which is now It will be called Elementary School Dropout That's so sweet Obviously an homage to Kanye's famous introductory album College Dropout and i hope she doesn't actually drop it um yeah i guess uh well she is at sierra canyon which is a fake school for rich kids is that what kanye has said right he's like my kids are at fake schools i could see it yeah i mean yeah sure he's not probably wrong there yeah but also all schools are kind of fake schools you see mr beast was like all these kids are dropping out of school trying to be you know video guys and that's not good that's what he's good on him yeah way to go Mr.

22:57Beast, way to take a stand. He's going to start Mr. Beast Video University. He should, actually. I think that would probably be very successful. How to make thumbnails, how to do 100 different videos with one Lamborghini. I don't know. How to give out$100 ,000 in cash and make it exciting. I mean, he is kind of goaded in the YouTube. I think he's running out of ideas. You think? I watched a couple videos because I started subscribing to the YouTube channel. And he did one video where he was like alone on an island. And it was an abandoned island. And he was just like, can I live here for like 10 days?

23:38And it was like, yeah. You just went on vacation? He just camped. And just like basically made like a campsite and stayed in this place. And then kind of just like walked around at night and then stayed. And it was just like there wasn't much of a, I don't know. There was no. Mr. Beast fell off. Yeah, there was no conflict. I guess it was just kind of like, I just didn't do it for me. Kevin, I have one note for Nepo Baby Nessworth. The first Nepo Baby I will be supporting. Well, that's really brave of you, Kevin. Yeah. I think the album should have been called Elementary Dropout. Why does she need elementary school dropout?

24:21It was just college dropout. Why don't you just let her cook? I mean, I just, I think if she's going to take, you know, inspiration, just elementary dropout, college dropout, not elementary school dropout. I think everyone gets the point about the school. You're splitting hairs here. Listen, I mean, this is what I do. This is my creative direction is sort of creative feedback. Yeah. Okay. Other than that, I think it's great. I'll pass it along to her. I look forward to the album and I think Northwest will be a star. Definitely. like it or not so i guess i guess does kanye produce this album definitely does what is kim gonna produce it pharrell yeah i guess i feel like you know he'll be probably involved i'm looking forward to it do you think you know but 10 years old i don't know is that too young little romeo little bow wow i mean neither of those are people are doing well um but you know Who knows?

25:18The more time that passes by Northwest, the name too. Like I remember when they first came out, it was like, ha, Northwest. What a name. Now? Fire. Fire. Superstar. Yeah. Superstar name. Definitely. Truly outstanding. Let's get into some topics. I mean, those are all obviously topics, but hey. The big story of the week, Kevin, comes from the Dye Line and also from brand new stories on both channels. That's how you know it's big. Because it is absolutely a big story, which is a rebrand for Impossible Foods by Jones and Oles Ritchie. And if you're not familiar with Impossible Foods, they are probably the most famous name in alternative meat, I would say.

26:00They were certainly part of—I think they were the first time I had ever heard of lab-made meat that looked like meat, tasted like meat, you know sort of even had a bit of a bloodiness i guess like meat and so they have had multiple identities uh over the course of their probably 10 years in in business i want to say i i have to i mean uh look to armin and because he uh has probably that information 2011 so yeah a little over 10 years armin with the the headline uh meet your match does it again excellent he he don't miss. And so, yeah, Impossible Foods is the fastest growing plant-based company in the United States.

26:45And they have pretty much led the way, I think, as far as sort of being the first and also being the biggest. I think also they have had multiple integrations with restaurants. I believe they had the Impossible Burger with Burger King, if I remember correctly. They've done some impossible things. They've done some pretty amazing things. And I always say that the brand has been okay. I don't think it was ever world-class design. I don't think it was ever bad design. It was sort of somewhere in the middle and it was known for sort of its condensed sans, druke typeface. And druke for 2011 was the greatest typeface ever made.

27:31It had a good run until like 2018? 2018? I would say 2016. 2016. Maybe. It had a great run, and Druk was everywhere. And so, yeah, the brand was good. It was recognizable, I think. It had a green color that was sort of its lead sort of recognizable identity color. Because it's good for the environment. Because I guess you're right. I guess it was for plants. Green for plants. Green for plants. And that has been changed by JKR. It is now a significantly red brand. And obviously, meat is red. Plants are green. And so it's made from plants, but supposed to taste like meat. Damn. And that's just some of the expert analysis right here on Front and Center.

28:27Welcome to the best show in design. where we break it down and we analyze branding and identity. They were definitely thinking that. Yeah, that was their strategy. They went in and they sort of had a big meeting at Impossible Foods HQ. And they put up a slide and they were like, plants are green, but what we are is meat. And then their heads exploded. Blood was everywhere. And they were like, you know what? All that hemoglobin came out. They were like, these guys are right. we should be red change everything boom wow and that's how it went down that's exactly what they did an anonymous source at jkr told us that's how it went down exactly and uh i will say check it take a look uh out there to our to our listeners go to brand new go to dialine check out these uh this case study because it is it's a doozy it's got a lot of meat to it it's quite a large plethora of mock-ups, of icons, of typefaces, of just illustrations, package design.

29:34It's got everything. They did the thing. They did the thing. And to be honest, Kevin, you ready for this big brain analysis? Yeah. Looks great. Looks great. Yep. No beef. Nice job. We have no beef with this system. Yeah. We have a quote from Peter McGinnis, president, CEO of Impossible Foods. Quote, we're the fastest growing plant-based company in America. sure yeah so it's good time to evolve from a position of strength we wanted packaging that lived up to and reflected the deliciousness of our products while really popping on the shelf you know what that says to me things aren't going so well but this is not about that this is about how this is a position this is coming from position of strength this isn't because our rebrand is um trying to change the ways we're doing this because we're strong we're really We're so strong.

30:27Quote, we want to be inclusive to anyone who enjoys great food. It doesn't matter if you're a vegan, a vegetarian, an animal meat lover, or somewhere in between. What we want to do is educate consumers that can still enjoy meat by incorporating into their diet a version that's made from plants instead of animals. Wow. Impossible goes woke. Yeah. I mean, I guess - They want to be inclusive to the people who eat food. That's a pretty awesome strategy right there. It is. It's bold. It's a bold change. And I will say, yeah, it's working for me, right? The move is, I mean, you could say on the surface it's just a shift from green to red, but it's not.

31:04The typeface looks way better. They have a custom sort of type family. Yeah, they crafted it. Which is called Sans Meat. Great name. That's brilliant. Got to do, you know, well done. Not medium rare. They have a color story that is inspired by temperature. so they have rare, medium, well done chart. Yeah, who knew you could cook a rare Impossible Burger? I mean, I guess probably people who enjoy Impossible Burger. Or who knew you could cook typefaces? Wow. Yeah, it looks great. It's got a little bit of character, a little bit more fun than sort of druke. It's got some curves and it's really nice.