157 - Recovering with Coffee and Sketches

Celebrating 157 Day: Coffee Chats, Sketch Surprises, and More

In this episode, hosts Jamie and Kurt discuss their second attempt at recording due to weather interruptions. They dive into a fun and spontaneous discussion about coffee, featuring Kurt's roadside coffee experiences and Jamie's solar-powered roasted Peruvian beans. Jamie surprises Kurt with a fresh 20-minute sketch of Wolverine and Deadpool, leading to an in-depth conversation about sketching techniques and the importance of sketching in architectural practice. The duo also excitedly discuss the upcoming 'Deadpool 3' movie and tease future podcast segments, including a new one about grilled fruit recipes.

00:00 Introduction and Greetings
00:10 Weather Anomalies and 157 Day
01:37 National Days and Segment Ideas
02:25 Coffee Talk and Road Trips
10:03 Sketching and Deadpool 3
28:03 Grilled Fruit and Recipe Ideas

Transcript

Kurt Neiswender: 0:32

Hey, Jamie. How's it going?

Jamie: 0:35

How are you?

Kurt Neiswender: 0:36

Happy 157 day.

Jamie: 0:38

Yeah, I'm, I'm doing good. 157 day. Yeah, this is 157 day. Like, I think that there's maybe an opportunity for us.

Kurt Neiswender: 0:46

Well, sorry to interrupt. I was going to say, though, that this is the second attempt. We had a weather related Anomaly last week. So apologies to those that listen. We, we didn't really talk about that in the green room. We were teasing about weather, but we actually did have a weather related. So anyway, you were saying,

Jamie: 1:06

I was just going to say that as you sort of say this at 157 day you know, isn't that like a, like a really bad, like, like, Gin or something. What am I thinking about?

Kurt Neiswender: 1:24

151.

Jamie: 1:25

Oh, thank you.

Kurt Neiswender: 1:26

We already passed that one. Yeah. Okay. You mean whiskey or I think 151 is

Jamie: 1:34

Yeah. It's basically like it's crap. Yeah. Yeah, it is.

Kurt Neiswender: 1:37

10 out of 10 do not recommend.

Jamie: 1:40

No, that is like, like, yeah, that would be like garbage pail punch kind of like,

Kurt Neiswender: 1:47

yeah. Yes. University scale. Yes. Well, you know, which one, one has to do what one has to do. I have no idea what you're talking about. We just Mm-Hmm.

Jamie: 1:59

Yeah. Mm-Hmm mm-Hmm mm-Hmm. This is This is a very clean podcast, folks.

Kurt Neiswender: 2:05

But 157 is

Jamie: 2:06

way more interesting. 157, totally more interesting day. No, I was going to say is that it, you know, you know, there are, you know, there's a day for everything, right? And there's those like it's national, whatever day or international, whatever day. Well, every day is some day. That, yeah, right. I think that maybe there's an opportunity for us to, to, to add. I mean, we're always looking for new ways to add new segments. You know, and segways because we might even have music, music for segways. And so just throwing that out there, maybe that's a throwaway idea. I more, I think about it totally is. So, well, our

Kurt Neiswender: 2:45

friends, our, our friends at rootless do talk about. They, they, they are great reminders of national coffee day.

Jamie: 2:57

Cheers to that. So speaking of what is, what is,

Kurt Neiswender: 3:01

I've been on the road all day.

Jamie: 3:03

Yeah. So yes, you have, I mean, man, talk about somebody who's hard to get in touch with. But yeah, I,

Kurt Neiswender: 3:09

I sometimes overbook, yeah.

Jamie: 3:11

What's, what's the, what's the coffee of the day? Is it just like roadside coffee for you today?

Kurt Neiswender: 3:17

I tried that. We all know how that went. So which was not good. Okay. On the bright side, I'm not, yeah, I'm not subjecting myself to any gasoline station, coffee or other styrofoam cup delivery. And so what I have in the, in the mug is there is a kind of a how do you put it? Independent grocer. In, in Lansing area. That Danielle brought home some, some, some coffee beans for me. These are solar power, roasted Peruvian coffee beans. I think the, the manufacturer, I don't have it in front of me cause ill prepared. I know you're on

Jamie: 4:07

a podcast. You might be talking about the coffee brand, but you know,

Kurt Neiswender: 4:12

a podcast about coffee, but sometimes I feel like show and tell is a little too show and telly, you know, maybe,

Jamie: 4:19

you know, kind of, it feels very advertising, but maybe, maybe, maybe not the way we do it. So keep going. Right. Yeah.

Kurt Neiswender: 4:27

Yeah. Why? Why discount? So it's Peruvian solar roast. I think it's called solar roast or something like, I mean, it's going to give shout outs. I should probably have the name in front of me, but I mean, you haven't.

Jamie: 4:41

Okay. Oh, there, there it is. I, you hadn't said that it was quite good. So I was, I was, you know, you seem to be kind of,

Kurt Neiswender: 4:47

it's a medium, medium dark. It has I mean, you don't use, you know whatchamacallit, a grinder, right? A hand grinding, French press, right? You, you usually use a coffee maker.

Jamie: 5:02

Yeah, but

Kurt Neiswender: 5:03

I grind the beans. Oh, you do grind. So you know how, when you grind beans, yeah, I, I thought I shouldn't have assumed that. So I, Oh my gosh. So, you know, when you grind them,

Jamie: 5:19

we've been doing this. Jesus.

Kurt Neiswender: 5:21

They're a little, a little oily. So, and, and, but sometimes if you, if you ever have a, I'm not going to say a bad batch, because, you know, we talk about a lot of coffee, but I've had some coffee that does not stick to the edge of the grinder and so dry. It's just right. Right. So when it's clings to the grinder, it's to me, it's a sign of

Jamie: 5:53

a little bit of fresher.

Kurt Neiswender: 5:54

Yeah. Yeah. Hacked in there. So this solar roasted coffee is very clingy to the grinder. Anyway, that's my technical. Expertise. But maybe later we'll talk about you know, coffee and places to, to road trip to.

Jamie: 6:11

Yeah. That, that is a segment we will absolutely be adding folks. We're we're workshopping that right now. But yeah, so for me, I have to say that I am, I. I decided that I'm leaning into my rootless bags that I, I don't necessarily get care packages anymore. However I did end up treating myself to a bag of their pseudo Twin Peaks roast damn fine cup of coffee. Well,

Kurt Neiswender: 6:39

it's a sort of, Nostalgia, a little bit of a little,

Jamie: 6:43

I felt like I needed to, you know cause, you know, did do that road trip, which will be a future episode folks. So we will be returning to Twin Peaks and with special guests with special guests. Rewatches have occurred. Kyle MacLachlan. Just yeah, no, yes. Oh, the big get, they call that a big get. That would be the big get. Yes. Yeah, no.

Kurt Neiswender: 7:09

That's not, yeah, we should probably not

Jamie: 7:10

promise too many. Yeah, we're not, that's, that is a, that would be a lie. So slight exaggeration but yes we we, we do enjoy the coffee do enjoy the show. We will be getting there, folks, and we will definitely make sure everybody knows when that episode is happening. We also have some other guests planned and we're working on getting that scheduled. So hopefully we'll be a little bit more you know, quick about, you know, Announcing those folks, especially with, you know, the live stream and whatnot too. So we have a little more interaction and all that good stuff. And plans,

Kurt Neiswender: 7:45

plans, plans, just plans, plans, plans. We got, we got lots of plans. But yeah, 20, 24, our sixth season, but we're already planning seven. You know, what's going to happen 2025. Absolutely. You're forward thinking, as you can see, as my hand flies right into the camera forward, that's why you have to watch the live stream as much as you listen to the audio version, because you don't get, don't get those visual effects, the VFX in

Jamie: 8:17

the audio. So this is going to be one of our faster episodes or shorter episodes, because I think we just because we were unfortunately had the technical difficulties last week we felt like we wanted to get on and make sure we, we pulled this one in. And and so do you want to just go to the sketch and then start chit chatting and see kind of where we, where we head up with it?

Kurt Neiswender: 8:39

Sure. And we, I mean, I just want to acknowledge we have been. While you've been keeping us on the plans, I've been talking with people in the chat. So I just wanted to say welcome to groovy noodles, who is from Santiago, Chile in South America, who loves coffee, sketching, and a little bit of tea from time to time. So I just want to acknowledge our guests because, or our, People, you know, watching because it's it makes our whole experience a little more, just more, more, more, more, more, more. This is

Jamie: 9:17

the, this is the, the extra. No, but I knew it would be Moss Moss. Oh, Kurt. I'm a half

Kurt Neiswender: 9:26

Guatemalan.

Jamie: 9:26

I know you're, you're allowed, but. Like, if you lean into that too far, you know, then folks are going to have expectations. I'd be,

Kurt Neiswender: 9:35

well, I, yeah, then I run out of, I run out of words because I'm also, I'm, I'm half Guatemalan, but I'm also half Guatemalan, only half. Right. Well, I'm, I'm a hundred percent.

Jamie: 9:49

I'm 100 percent Canadian. And you know, a bilingual country, but I do not First language

Kurt Neiswender: 9:56

being maple syrup.

Jamie: 9:57

Yeah, yeah, but it's all about the syrup. So yeah, we're not, I can read it, but don't make me Speak both languages. I have enough trouble with English. So especially with the spelling. We all know, we know, we, if you know, you know we'll just leave it there.

Kurt Neiswender: 10:14

Well, yeah, just pick any past episode. Right? Just kidding. Jim. Just kidding. Thanks. Thanks. You're, you're like, you're my best friend. So what does one do? Just a little, little jab here and there, but thank you for giving us the air time to get the sketch up on screen. Cause it's kind of a fun one, which is pardon. I just cleared my throat at the least opportune time. We have a movie forthcoming, right? Deadpool 3, which has been teased for the nth amount of time. It's been a long time coming. I mean, we're fans. Well, I mean, we're Marvel fans. We're Deadpool fans were Ryan Reynolds fans were Hugh Jackman fans. So what better than to put Wolverine and Deadpool together in a movie except for the fact that they're going to make oodles of money by doing, which hopefully will go into Wrexham football.

Jamie: 11:28

Yes, because that would, that would, that would fill both of our hearts. With so much joy. Yeah. So if, if you've, if you followed this podcast at all, there is definitely a subreddit where we do talk about the lower division soccer as well as the upper division soccer, but just, you know, soccer in general, the beautiful game, football around the world. We love it. You know, Kurt has introduced me to the Flint city bucks. And occasionally I get some live updates from the stadium, from, from my cohost. They're in the

Kurt Neiswender: 12:00

USL two

Jamie: 12:01

final

Kurt Neiswender: 12:02

region. Yeah, hold on. Regional final, which then goes to the national semi final. Something like that. So they're, they're in that game. I, yeah, I, I, I didn't mean to interrupt, but yeah, we have a team here, a small scale team here in the city of Flint, but a very good team. We're all happy when the Bucks do well. I mean, I lost, I lost my voice. I mean, two weeks ago, I mean,

Jamie: 12:37

were you with the supporter group?

Kurt Neiswender: 12:40

Well, I was in, I was actually, I Next, right next to them with some neighbors, because, you know, we're tight knit community here. So I was sitting with some neighbors, actually, that's the same night we talked, you know, not to totally deviate from the segue that you were planning. We, we have a new subscriber, which is a neighbor, this neighbor's daughter, a teenager ready to go into college. I think, well, maybe a few more years, but artists had her sketchbook. At the stadium, caught the corner of my eye and my, and, and then heart melted, had to share the podcast, had to share Jamie's Instagram to show some inspiration but was very excited to see see some sketches, see the, just the, the aspect of carrying the sketchbook with you everywhere, which is.

Jamie: 13:40

Well, and it's, and it's really why this one on the screen is sort of, you know you know, this is the genesis of these things is sometimes you're having those days or those weeks where you're not sketching quite as much. And you're only getting just little bits of information. I mean, I draw all the time. I mean, I literally try and draw every day. I, I'm not been as religious about it. You know, as, as I need to be for myself but this, you know, there was a little bit of a delay today in sort of our, our broadcast time. So I literally had a moment and Kurt doesn't know this, but I had a little extra time. Between our normal start and our start today. And so that's when I slipped in this sketch. You know, both of us have pretty busy work schedules. Kurt had a ton, ton of meetings today. But there was a little bit of a win extra window of time. And so I was like, you know, I've been thinking about this sketch for a while. It's kind of a fun week. I'm excited to, you know, get to the movies again, myself. And so slip this sketch in for myself. It turned out good in my opinion. But I know we'll, we'll talk about it a little bit more. So

Kurt Neiswender: 14:58

yeah, I mean, it's just going to say, sorry. It's, it's fantastic. So it's Wolverine an excellent Wolverine with a Deadpool in the reflection of his adamantium claws, as I say, I don't know why I said that so dramatically, but well, it's, it's, it's movie, movie magic, right? The movie cinematic mysticism in cinema. Right. But actually it's super cool. You know, I, I don't know of, you know, you've done a lot of pop culture movie. Marvel stuff, you know, when it, when it relates to particular characters well, and let's not discount DC universe as well. I mean, our, our favorite Batman probably seen, seen airtime a lot more than anybody, any character, but I don't know if you've ever, any sketch, no matter what, have captured that kind of a reflection concept. So in, you know, in the metallic. I gotta use my hand to Wolverine. All I wanted to be when I was a kid is I wanted to be Wolverine. I mean, he was the best. He was strong. He had these blades for hands. And he was, he had the healing, you know, healing capacities. Like one of the best superhero character traits that I think, I mean, my brother and I just And

Jamie: 16:27

Canadian! And Canadian

Kurt Neiswender: 16:30

maple maple syrup. I mean, yeah, it's all about the maple syrup folks. So keep going. Anyway, the reflection is sweet because it's got Deadpool kind of, you know, in between or on each blade. So there's a little gap. I mean, super cool. You have to watch the live stream if you're listening or if you. Are watching you can, I mean, this I'm sure Jamie will post to the fantastic internet called Instagram and, and then you can capture it there. But yeah, it's really fun. It's a really fun one. You know, two things as a, as a, as a growing up making sketches of my own, we've talked about our various card, our comic book sketch pass the clause, the helmet, maybe it's three things. Wolverine's helmet. I always, you know, whatever you want to call it is difficult because it's a combination of curves and angles to pull it off claws. Kind of the same thing. It's a combination of curve and angle to make it look like a menacing blade. Right? You know, it could look like a cut code knife if you do it wrong. Although cut code knives are very sharp. It's not that menacing. And so the mask, so this sketch is, is perfect. I mean, there's, there's, everyone's probably going to have their own era of Wolverine mask that they prefer. I think the choice they did for Deadpool three, if I, all the, what you might call it, teaser information is accurate, you know, that sort of yellow blue costume is one of my favorites. The Brown one is like, you know, the Brown costume. burnt sienna sort of cream color brown, you know, like that one's also pretty cool. But and then lastly, you know, the, the texture and say like this, the stubble, the teeth, you know, and the, and the, the combination of you know, Wolverine is you know, as Marvel is kind of captured with Hugh Jackman, it's very smart and endearing in a certain way, but also he's a, he's an animal.

Jamie: 18:56

Yeah. Terrifying at the same time. Right.

Kurt Neiswender: 18:58

Right. And to be, to be feared. And so yeah. So anyway, those are my, those are my insights around the sketch as far as all the, all the, the feels, I guess, if you want to use that, that come out of, of Well, no, I

Jamie: 19:13

love it. It's and it's, it's I did this cause I knew that this was one of your favorites too. And it's and this was going to definitely be a surprise cause it was literally drawn today. Before we got on, so

Kurt Neiswender: 19:24

you can get on the Instagram.

Jamie: 19:26

Yeah, this isn't even, this isn't even on Instagram. This, this went straight to Kurt to, to populate for the episode. And You know, and, you know, really kind of one of those first reaction kind of things. So, you know, thank you. I appreciate that. The, the thing that just for those who are listening and, and, and even watching or looking at it later. Yes, in fact, I did use a pencil and a pen. So this is a 20. Minute sketch. And so kind of quick pencil sketch you know, got some tones in there and some shade and sort of trying to think about some of the difficult areas that Kurt definitely pointed out. You know, it's it's tricky to kind of get those pieces in the right spot. This was working off of a photograph. So I, I'd seen this image and I'd seen it in a couple of different forms and a couple of different artists had posted variations on this. It is an homage to an earlier kind of comic book cover where because of Wolverine's claws and sort of the, the metal. They oftentimes folks will use that kind of reflective kind of capability to kind of capture the person that's coming at you. And so there was one that had been done where it was the Incredible Hulk coming at him because that's, that's actually, you know, for fun facts is the first appearance of Wolverine in the comic books is actually in Incredible Hulk. And but. You know, so there's sort of a, you know, some homage images that way. And then because of the movie and because of this sort of stunning, you know, kind of way to get two characters on the page you know, I just, I loved how people were fiddling with it. And I'd seen a bunch of images leading up to the movie where people were fiddling with this sort of homage kind of image. And so I, I, I sought some out. Looked at them and then just went to town for 20 minutes in the sketchbook across the border of the book both pages, very classic Jamie kind of stuff so then over the top of the pencil, went in with the pen and effectively finished Or, you know, added a lot of the layer texture crosshatch stipple to, to really try and give it the character that, and the emotion that Kurt was, you know, definitely describing,

Kurt Neiswender: 21:43

you know, the, the other cool thing too about Wolverine's claws is that it, it, it's automatically, and there's three of them, so it's automatically like Deadpool three. So, I mean, it's like a no brainer, no brainer,

Jamie: 22:01

just do it. Well, I mean, and I don't know, I don't know how excited you are about the movie. But it's, it's, we, you know, we do, you and I have talked about Rexum quite a bit we definitely, you know, we'll occasionally watch a game, but also watch the, the docu series and I've enjoyed it, but I mean, you know, Ryan Reynolds you know, and. It's the whole you know, his personality persona coming out through that. And then when you see it sort of translated here in the marketing of this film. It's, it feels very genuine. He is Canadian, so I want to believe that it is absolutely genuine. Maple syrup. Yeah, it's maple syrup. Just, it's all the maple syrup. But it, it, it, it's, it's exciting. And it, and, and I think from a pop pop culture kind of perspective, it's one where they're, you're kind of leaning into all the things that people are excited about. And I, and I think that it's, it's both trying to lean into the super fan. You know, who's looking for all the little Easter eggs buried within a film, and then also sort of the broader audience and bringing them along for the ride. And, and I think that, that to me is, you know, that's a secret, that's the maple syrup. That's the secret sauce in this is that it's, it's, it's the appeal to both. And I think a lot of what Kurt and I always try and talk about with art and architecture is, is that appeal to, you know, you can be a super fan. architecture junkie. But I think you, you know, you can also just be somebody who just kind of likes it, you know, and maybe doesn't feel like they have to know who all the names are. You know, all the etymology of different things, they can just enjoy it for, for what it is.

Kurt Neiswender: 23:51

Yeah. Yeah. And I'll only add that as, as a, I mean, that's a great analogy to, to, You know, using the film world to, to what we have done or doing with this podcast in regards to architecture, trying to demystify or kind of break down any barriers and sketching it in general, right? I mean, we, we've had a, a sort of live stream chatter talking about talking about their past sketching and, and then being able to use it as a tool in their own professional. Capacity nowadays, which is what we do with either colleagues or clients and the sketch, the idea of a sketch, whereas, you know, Jamie is honed the craft, which is why we we present so many of his sketches. I mean, like 99 percent of his sketches. I'm going to be honest honed over many years. To, to a degree where they're fantastic and beautiful and, and he does them so quickly, but the idea of a sketch does not always need to be, or it still can convey the same amount of idea or information in a quick and rough hand sketch that, you know, you know, is, is even less sort of focused, say, than Jamie sketches that we talk about. And so, so my point being is trying to Make sure that everybody feels open and, and comfortable to, to, to give it a try, no matter where you are in, in, in, in professional or education world.

Jamie: 25:33

I mean, there was

Kurt Neiswender: 25:34

have

Jamie: 25:34

fun with it. There was a post recently, maybe this week, even on LinkedIn. One of the, one of the many, many social channels. But someone was talking about, you know, from a professional standpoint, you know, it typically it's, it's, it's it there's a higher degree of, of information, you know, sometimes and that's trying to be conveyed in some of those conversations, but, but it was nice. There was this sort of, like, interesting, thread and I'm glad I stumbled on it. Maybe it's the AI bots realizing that it needs to be like in my feed. But it, it was like, Hey, architects why don't you sketch, you know, what, you know, you know, five minutes a day, just, you know, that's all you need to do, five minutes, just give yourself five minutes, give yourself the grace to do five minutes with this person in London who was suggesting it. I've since reached out to that person and hopefully, you know, maybe they'll, they'll listen or connect with me. But. That's definitely, I think, like what Kurt's saying is that that's, that's the feeling that we have for this as an exercise is that one does not have to be, you know, Picasso, Michelangelo Leonardo da Vinci, you know, in terms of skill sets for, you know, practicing or honing this craft, of course, that will be wonderful, you know, to, to move, you know, to that, to that level for any, anybody, but, but I think the act of doing it picking up that pen, whether you were in architecture school and you did it when you were only in school and you don't do it anymore or you just kind of like it, you know, and it's something that you sketched in those sketchbooks and you didn't show anybody that's okay too. I think it's, it's You know, we want to encourage people to sketch. It's a good exercise. It helps you think some of the things that we talk about in terms of techniques and things that inspires in us hopefully inspires other folks to, to try a few different things and then of course, share them. I mean, we, we've talked about our fanboy moments. of looking at other people's work and kind of following it and being inspired by it. And that, and that's certainly, I think the, the way both of us kind of approach the process, but also sort of, you know, something like this, where we're having those kinds of conversations.

Kurt Neiswender: 27:44

Yeah. Just, just kind of tapping into the continuum, right? Like we're a little,

Jamie: 27:52

just a little bit, just a little bit, just a little bit. So thanks for letting, yeah, thanks for letting me share that one with you. You know, surprise. I'm surprised we're going to talk about this sketch today but I'm, I'm, I'm glad you, you were down for it.

Kurt Neiswender: 28:06

Yeah. Thank you. One, one last question, Jamie, unrelated to sketching per se. Okay.

Jamie: 28:12

Is this one of those where we're trying, trying new segments? Are we just trying? This is,

Kurt Neiswender: 28:16

this is, yes. Okay. Okay. The draft of the segment, which revolves around things that you would consume, eat. Okay. Different. Right. Thank you. You know, so so let's frame it in, I'll, I'll, I'll try and do it justice and frame it in. If you were to grill a fruit for, for consumption, what would be the fruit of choice? Put on, since it's summer, I'll put on the barbecue.

Jamie: 28:48

What do you like? I do like the grill. That is another of the happy places to, to be. You know, what's fun on the grill? Pineapple.

Kurt Neiswender: 29:03

I think that's a go to.

Jamie: 29:05

I think, you know, that might be the go to but I'd say from a fruit perspective, definitely, I would say pineapple.

Kurt Neiswender: 29:13

You know, I recently, as of even this evening grilled peaches. Ooh. And I've done it before. Fourth of July, our American holiday, I grilled some peaches.

Jamie: 29:27

I like how you slipped, I like how you slipped in that. It's an American holiday. We did talk a lot about Deadpool and, and Canadians. Yeah.

Kurt Neiswender: 29:36

So, so I have yeah, grilled peaches and when you're done, you put American maple syrup, which is called honey.

Jamie: 29:50

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Here, here you go here. Try this one next time. With

Kurt Neiswender: 29:58

a little gosh, there's this powder. You sprinkle on it's a little savory and citrusy. Oh, I thought

Jamie: 30:09

you were going to say brown sugar, which is always good too. No, no, no, no.

Kurt Neiswender: 30:11

We don't need, you get a little, you got to get the tang in there too.

Jamie: 30:17

What I was going to suggest was when you grill those peaches is maybe then get some like really good homemade vanilla. ice cream. So grilled peach, homemade vanilla ice cream, and then just drizzle with some maple syrup. Maple.

Kurt Neiswender: 30:36

It's a, it's a North American. That's a North American solution. Yeah. I'm just, I'm, I'm,

Jamie: 30:41

I'm working recipes right here at the end of the episode, folks. So So the segment is now become a recipe. It's a recipe. It's less about the fruit, more about the recipe. Join us next time and see where we go.

Kurt Neiswender: 30:56

Exactly. Thank you.