Hey, y'all, this is this is Ben. I'm one of those guys
who's written in before who's who's not a fan of professional wrestling by any means,
but but who is a rabbit fan of TLF. And I have a
testimonial too. I've already tried recording this twice and I ended up sounding like
Bob Newhart on Ballium. Taken a long time, so I'm I wrote down
my ideas and and then I'll be reading those shortly. I did want to
clarify that I haven't listened to the most recent episode where Jack and j P
and t J discussed the show because I didn't want it to influence my my
perspective, because this is it's important to me, so this is going to
be a doozy. There were a couple of announcements later on that that are
kind of swerves in their own right, but you need to listen to the
whole thing if you want to understand their significance. I guess I'll start with
my introduction to TLF, because I know that the Jack will appreciate the absurdity,
especially knowing where it ended up leading. I can listen to podcasts at
work, so I can listen forty hours a week, and I do so.
I've listened to all kinds of strange and interesting podcasts. And back when
I was introduced to TLF, I was listening on SoundCloud. And at that
point, if you hadn't queued up your next episode and you came to the
end of the episode of whatever it was you were listening to, it seems
like they would just pick a new episode of something and just tack it onto
the back there. So that's what happened with TLF. I was listening to
something else, I didn't have anything else q'ed up, and then TLF came
on and I I remember listening and I didn't know what it was. I
didn't check my phone to see what it was about. And oh, yeah,
these two guys are talking about a professional wrest you know, that's that's
interesting. So I could sense they were engaged. I could, I could
they were funny. I think the main thing I remember from that first experience
was was Jack saying that he was going to be referring to JP as the
boss for the remainder of the of the podcast, and and I thought,
yeah, yeah, I can get down with that. So I listened uh,
it was, yeah, basically in a lark, just trying something new
and interesting. And and I listened for a while. I don't remember when
I stopped. And then I, I don't know, I just went back
to listening to other stuff. But but even for me, as a non
wrestling fan, that first taste something about it was enough to draw me back.
And and I went back to TLF. And and when I did,
I went back hard. And I haven't left since. So I don't know.
I think, I think when I first started listening, I couldn't tell
if TLF was a work or a shoot. I didn't have that vocabulary either.
But I couldn't figure it out. I couldn't figure out if it was
more likely that that two people would be able to talk at such a great
length about wrestling, or if it would be more likely that somebody would be
paroding people who would talk about wrestling for that length the feedback I didn't know.
I wasn't familiar with the culture. I didn't know that professional wrestling was
an addiction, so it was all new to me. And yeah, that's
that's where that's where it began. I don't know which episode. I don't
have any any attached to any shows, so I and it's random. It
could have been any time over a span of years literally. So that's that's
the story of how I got in. Now we'll get into the question at
hand, which is what TLF is to us or to me and and why
it's been around for ten years. And and I'm going to tell you there
there maynot be that many of y'all out there who listen to TLF like I
do, but I know there are some and and I know some of you
out there are going to get this. So here we go. What what
TLF is. It's relentless, maniacal, meticulous, passionate, obsessive, courageous,
consistent, creative, analytical, investigative, edifying, and all the rest
of the adjectives. TLF is a podcasting juggernaut. It's a serious analysis of
a majorly influential part of Western culture from an intimately personal perspective and all the
way to the macro and then beyond. TLF is a wrestling promotion led in
booked by the co chairman, but one that never let you down. Is
Jack's I for details, both President Missing and JP's unbridled and promptu thespian spirit
working in perfect tandem. It's iconoclassic and innovative, and it takes the unique
characteristics of the podcast medium to otherwise unthinkable extremes. TLF is all things to
all people, and the thing that you despise most about TLF is another Solar
System member's absolute favorite thing, and to that end, the most recent episode
is as likely to be in some Solar System member's top ten list as any
other show from any other time over the past ten years. TLF is a
treatment, not a show, and that's why the co chairmen can use their
alchemy to turn any type of dogshit into gold. It's a saucepan reducing topics
and characters down to their essences. Is the funniest, most educational, most
insightful, and most rigorous podcasts, as well as the one with the highest
grade of artistic integrity I've ever listened to, and I've listened to a ship
ton. TLF is glass walled, a mission to observe an extraordinary friendship that
was initiated by the co chairman's mutual love for wrestlings. Two old time one
man bands performing side by side, playing their own instruments as well as each
other's. It's the offspring of the inoperable Siamese twin psychees of two extraordinarily intelligent
and creative people. TLF is literally just one continuous, sprawling magnum opus,
and it just keeps expanded. It's a postmodern take on a form of modern
entertainment that was still happening in the postmodern era, and it produces real valuable
work now in the meta modern era. It's addictive and I mean literally,
and all told, it's nothing less than an important cultural document. Now,
why TLF has been around for ten years, why not just put it at
the top of the list? Is that fucking Solar system stupid and their thoughts
and their feedback, and the fact that the co chairmen have always interacted with
them and allowed room for their input and insights, both positive and negative and
good and bad. It addresses any and all topics that require dressing along the
way to cover in any given subject, it always rewards the careful listener,
and you do have to listen carefully because a single throwaway comment might turn out
to be the best part of an entire episode. TLF deals in audio books
and the show as a whole, is an audio encyclopedia. The co chairman's
locus of approval is always internal, bitch. The co chairman put an unconscionable
amount of time into the production of the podcast, as well as into interacting
with a solar system through the show and on social media. After listening all
the way through and coming to the end of the last episode of a Journey,
you feel like you've completed a pilgrimage because guess what you have. There's
a sort of lapse finished on everything TLF puts out, from audio to artwork,
and the standard is incredibly high. The co chairman provide accurate assessment of
complex things and they do it on the fly. The co chairman can recount
and analyze your memories and failings better than you can. TLF recalls a time
when you felt you could be even something and it takes the base of that
belief that you had and create something new out of it that you actually can
believe in. And this is important. TLF is worth more than you pay
for it. And the final note here of the reasons that TF has been
around for ten years, that's because you don't change it, it changes you.
Here we come to the second part here, and that first part was
that was for the co chairman, and the second part this is to the
Solar system. And here's the swerve. And I hope it's not considered a
heel turned because that wasn't the intention. Ben the non wrestling fan is also
haystackscal So I didn't intend for that initially, but I changed my email address
early on, and so I had the opportunity to create a pseudonym and two
email addresses to contact TLF. So it's just if you if you keep in
mind that been the non wrestling fan who's written in about TLF being a jazz
podcast. That's the same guy who's who's behind anything that Haystacks has written or
or or had read on the podcast, anything on social media or Patreon or
Twitter. And I'm a major proponent of a lapse solar system. It's the
most intelligent, creative and any community I've ever had the good fortune to be
a part of. And I'm i'm I'm happy to be proud to be a
member of the Solar System. So, so we've got a situation here,
and let's talk about power. I didn't quite get my minor and philosophy But
but any anyone with eyes can see that tlf is a top down power structure,
is duality rule, minority influence and majority input. So the coach chairmen
are going to do what the coach chairmen are going to do, and you're
going to take what you get. And I know this. I've I've watched
both seasons of S n N and I've seen Jack and his Emerson cap on
the TV show. I've I've gone back and doug up the remnants of the
MySpace page. I've gone probably about as deep as you can reasonably go,
and I can tell you that the co chairmen haven't changed. This is the
year of TLFX, that's true, but it's also it's also almost the year
of sonco XX. If you've been listening for a long time, you will
know what sonko is. That is to say that in this power structure,
unless you can do what the co chairmen do better than they can, then
you're going to have to resign yourself to being their bitch. And that's fair
enough, and it's well deserved. But this is what I'm saying. That
doesn't mean you have to be a bitch. In general, the solar system
can do nice things for itself. I've had the great pleasure of working with
a number of amazing Solar System members on a variety of projects like LATS well.
I had assistance to devise the method for creating the database, although I've
been responsible for about ninety eight point five percent of the work in building it.
The Lapsed Hall of Fame, which was was many people's idea but which
I got off the ground, and which was which was headed by Austin King
Solber International lats Day, which was Austin's idea, but which I led and
organized and had a great group of volunteers who were very helpful in helping the
Solar System find time codes for for their all the spots that we're looking for
and couldn't find. The remastering of both seasons of s n N with Carl
which UH which was supposed to be or hoped to be a gift to the
Solo System, but which the coach chairmen have decided not to share. Then
a couple of other projects that are sort of in the balance, like a
Wikipedia page or something similar, special things to a cliff for that, and
things like maybe getting ah getting a TLF into the Library of Congress, which
hasn't quite gotten off the ground. But but anyway, these these, all
of these things, these are these are by the fans for the fans,
the Hall of Fame lats and potentially the Fan Favorite List which is being worked
on. Those those all belong to the solar system. They benefit the co
chairman, but those are ours and and that's primarily because TLF doesn't have time
to work on that stuff. And that's okay, and that's understandable, but
that doesn't mean they own it. So I'm going to tell you something that
that I've seen as a as a non wrestling fan coming into pro wrestling fan
culture, and that's that I've seen the abusive relationship with with pro wrestling and
the fans, and that's mimicked in in TLF and its listenership. And I
know it's tongue in cheek, but the result is is sort of the same.
And so I want to say this, this is important for me,
and I'm saying this from an outsider's perspective looking in at wrestling. Fans,
stand up for yourselves, you know, the coach CHAIRMN the are the wrestling
friends you always wanted but never had, but but you're not going to become
best buzz with them. That's a closed system, and you can bask in
the heat that emanates from that friendship. But your only option is to do
that, is to do the next best thing instead, and that's to get
in touch with other intelligent, creative witt in hopefully positive Solar System members and
meet up at shows, even better, meet up when there's not a show,
and talk about stuff that's not fake carnial bullshit. Build nice things together
for the community, the solar system, and take care of them. I'm
saying this again as an outsider, and I don't give two shits about what
the general public says. Y'all are cool people, so accept it and have
fun with it. And if other people don't get what you get, well
fuck them. I'm I'm way far left in Norwegian politics, so Americans probably
don't even have a term for me. But here's a little fuck you to
the oft advertised laps capitalist model. This is my this is my gift to
the solar system. This is my second announcement, a little bit of a
swerve. Maybe I'm I'm opening LATS to the Solar system for free and and
I'm and without registering and email address, and and I'm leaving this announcement here
as a sort of an easter egg. So if you hear this and get
in touch with me, I'll send you the link. I'm not interested in
promoting this amazing resource anymore. That allows you to find basically anything that's ever
been said on the on the public feed and find time accurate timecodes for it.
If you have a use for that kind of thing, this is the
only way to do it. I mean, unless you've written down notes for
every timecode for everything that you were interested in listening to again. It also
allows you to cross reference and go back and little inside jokes that you don't
under stand to find where things happen for the first time and characters. It's
fantastic and it works, and it's free for you. But if you use
it, if you use it a lot, throw me a bone instead of
being a freeloading bitch. You can give me a buck or two on the
Patreon because I'm going to keep it updated. But I've put in the hundreds
of hours and the hundreds of dollars to create that database, and I wouldn't
mind having a little help maintaining it. So that's it. That's so,
that's that's your tenure anniversary present Solar System. And now that I said that,
if anybody listens to this, you know, I've been on the I've
been on the discord a little bit, and I know that that they are
going to be people out there who are saying, no, that Haystacks,
that dude, he's he's a he's a fucking mark. And and they're right,
I am a TLF mark. And and I'm not ashamed of that.
This this is going out to any of you who who sit on your hands
will criticize in other people and and and saying that people who believe in stuff
are marks. Modernism was based on sincerity and and postmodernism is based on irony.
And we live in the meta modern era now where where irony and sincerity
co exist. But the result has to be productive. And this is where
that snarky sarcasm it ain't worth a shit unless it's back with something real.
TLF is meta modern. They it it's ironic. They're making fun of stuff,
they're poking fun that they're irreverent, no sacred cows, right, But
what's the ultimate result of tlf's work. That's that's an audio encyclopedia of professional
wrestling, and that's why it's not a game. I think the biggest lesson
that I took from doing all the work on LATS was was this marks get
shit done. So any haters out there, you can just let me know
how it feels sometime when when everybody's gone home and you're standing there with nothing,
but you're dick in your hand because you're sure as hell not going to
produce anything that anybody really gives a shit about. If you're just making fun
of stuff all the time, and that's that's it. That's my that's my
test, Ammonial I very much. I appreciate the efforts made by the co
chairman over the past ten years and for all they had done, and I
also appreciate the efforts made by the solar system over the same amount of time.
And now I have to go take a massive shit. So I do
have one little PostScript though, in just a little something for the road,
and that's this. It used to be better because you used to have the
capacity to believe in it, and that's the dragon you're chasing.