The Crunchy Take: Recent Episodes
James Kittipol
Hi there! My name is James Kittipol, and welcome to the Crunchy Take, an extension of the crunchy medicine experience on Youtube and Twitch! Although the content and material discussed on this podcast can seem sports-dominant, I want to go beyond the norm and discuss ideas and values found in art, music, film and the general culture at large.
My goal is to expand and bring on people of various backgrounds, to mine and search for stories from places where they were previously in the dark. Send us a voice message @ anchor.fm/james-kittipol/message
Luke Wildman is a professional writer and creator of many different worlds. How does one become a professional writer? How do you start getting your works published? What techniques do you exercise to take your creativity to another level? If any of that peaked your interest, this podcast is dedicated to you. Below are some conversational timestamps!
01:01 - Educational background, interest in pro-writing
06:58 - Developing a writer’s toolbox/finding your voice
36:48 - Getting into publishing
51:39 - Persevering/submitting works
01:14:50 - Dune Conversation
We’re back! Another MMA extravaganza! Timestamps to follow.
00:00:53 - The Jones problem
00:26:41 - UFC 267
00:28:36 - Dan Hooker vs Islam Makachev
00:33:11 - Petr Yan vs. Cory Sandhagen
00:35:38 - Jan Błachowicz vs. Glover Teixeira
00:42:34 - UFC 268: Michael Chandler vs. Justin Gaethje
00:46:20 - Rose Namajunas vs. Weili Zhang
00:49:00 - Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington
00:57:00 - Miscellaneous mma news/matchups going into the future
Tony is a professional basketball player from Bangkok, Thailand and has played for multiple teams in the TBL. He has also represented Thailand on the international stage playing in various FIBA tournaments, both 5x5 and 3x3.This episode focuses more heavily on the ins and outs of the professional scene in Thailand, what it means to be an athlete representing the country on the world stage, and the problems that have arisen internally as the sport continues to grow. I hope you’ll get as much out of this as we enjoyed having this conversation. Thank you for stopping by, and enjoy the episode.
Tony's instagram: @tonykrsdk
James's instagram: @jameskittipol
Youtube channel: crunchymedicine
Email your ideas to me: crunchymedicine@gmail.com
Notable Timestamps:
01:10 - International experience
05:21 - Stateside tales/aau basketball
12:40 - Thailand’s problematic method of developing players
15:31 - The pathway of talented players
20:08 - Differences in development/ USA vs. Thailand
28:35 - Confusing passion for aggression
57:20 - Microaggressions within Thai Sports Culture
Jay Thompson is an abuse and neglect investigator for the office of the attorney general. What does a bad day at work look like in his profession? What are the skills and hobbies that led him to become who he is today? Come and hear his thoughts on cop/detective shows, the process of solving complex cases and much more!
What happens when you've been working towards a particular career for decades, only to pivot 180 degrees in the opposite direction? What kind of skills do you hone and learn by being the owner of a business? What does it truly mean to serve and empower your community?
Operating out of Marion, Indiana, Ronald Morrell Jr. is the CEO of Morrell Scooters. As a business owner, father and husband his life is incredibly packed yet he was kind enough to come on the podcast and share his insight on entrepreneurship, technology, music and so much more.
Eric texted me that description after our conversation while I was trying to decide what the title of this episode would be, but he's so much more that. In our family, food and its industry have played a major role in how we do and go about life. What used to serve as a necessity to survive has transformed into mechanisms of joy and success thanks to the truly hardworking generation that came before us. Our grandma makes the most legendary pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) among other things. We share two uncles that have received critical acclaim each for their own respective restaurants (in a competitive, Bay area California market no less), and in the past two decades, Eric has been honing culinary and service skills of his own at various restaurants and bars in California and Chicago. Now on the cusp of a new and exciting culinary endeavor, come and hear the many things Eric has learned over the years!
Kurt Fowler is a professor for the school of music at Indiana State University. Over the years he has either performed with or subbed for the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and the Syracuse Symphony and has served as principal cellist of the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra. Dr.Fowler has an exceptionally eclectic taste and take on music, teaching everything from classical cello to a course on the history of rock and roll. What has life been like for a professional, seasoned musician in the last year? How does one begin to pursue music for a living? Give this episode a listen and soak up the wisdom!
Me and Eric goof around and talk about Dustin Poirer knocking out Conor Mcgregor, what that means for the future of the lightweight division, and the bounty of upcoming fights that could change the face of the game as we know it. Come and have a good time!
15:19 - UFC 257
30:42 - Future of light weight
43:45 - Future fights
During the time of this recording, Jinsoo Park (a friend of mine from high school) found himself stuck in Thailand's mandated 14-day quarantine. As one of the cohosts of the "Thoughts and Prayers" podcast, Jinsoo has so much to share! So aside from details of how the actual quarantine process went for him, come in and listen to his stories! Find out why he's moving back to Thailand and so much more.
Football is a cultural phenomenon that unites the world at a passionate frequency no other sport/event can compare. Indeed in many countries football goes beyond just the casual sensation of sports fandom, rather, it acts as a force that permeates through to the heart of culture itself.
As the host of the "Part Time Football" podcast (found on all streaming platforms) working out of Exeter, England, Ben Talbot shares his insight on the various aspects that make football the most popular sport in the world.
5:30 - International backgrounds/cultures
27:30 - Football talk begins
Rob Oller is primarily a columnist for the Columbus Dispatch. As a sports writer with over 25 years in the industry, Oller has been in the press conferences, locker rooms and press boxes of some of the most significant athletic events in the past two decades. Come and listen to his stories! Follow:
@rollerCD (Twitter)
https://www.dispatch.com/staff/549558...
https://www.dispatch.com/sports/20200...
0:00 - Intro 2:35 - Life and work during Covid 19 7:30 - Getting into press boxes and locker rooms 19:20 - Differences between college and pro 29:25 - Finding your voice as a writer/journalist 37:05 - Writing in intense/entertaining environments 40:59 - Memorable moments, the atmosphere of live sports 28:58 - Ohio sports, thoughts on Michael Jordan and The Last Dance 55:15 - The mystery/reality of elite-level athletes 1:11:15 - Being a fan of your job
We mostly ramble about the fight word, and for whatever reason Eric asked me about scary movies at the end. Fun time, should be a great night of fights!
Lebron won one for LA LA land. Come hear my late night thoughts and knee-jerk reactions. So much more to digest, but this one's fresh.
Laura Mumme is a registered nurse who currently serves at Community Hospital East. She has over 5 years of field experience after graduating from Liberty University's Nursing Program. This year has seen many hardships for people in all fields, and Laura has been at the forefront of these struggles, helping patients with covid-19 and so much more. Come and listen as we hear about her story and experiences in the field, how she overcomes immensely difficult hurdles, and how she is able to weather the storm every single week.
1:30 - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
7:15 - The Dark Knight
25:30 - Interstellar
38:26 - Blade Runner (1982)
46:20 - Toy Story 2
59:35 - Spirited Away
6:05 - LAC vs. Denver
34:19 - D'antoni out, Houston we have problems
44:16 - Miami vs. Boston
0:00 - Announcements
6:42 - NBA Optics/social justice
24:22 - Actual basketball talk
32:08 - What's happening to Milwaukee? The Rise of the Heat.
52:11- Denver vs. LAC
57:12 - Houston vs. Lakers
After 15 episodes of the Crunchy take, we finally have our first woman! Alexis Hale is a former Taylor University student who studied sociology and anthropology, come and hear her experiences/takes on living in different cultures and how to best find common ground in an ever changing, technological age.
This one got a bit real, and thus there is NSFW language. You've been warned. We had fun talking and reminiscing about... pretty much everything culturally relatable to our youth years. Everything from memorable movies, music, and moments in time that now live in that part of the brain where everything looks like a painting. (I tried...)
Timestamps:
0:00 - Begin, special shoutout
4:20 - Podcast topic begin
Stipe vs. Cormier = greatest heavyweight decider? Join us for a discussion on heavyweights!
0:00 - Announcement
0:50 - Podcast being
6:47 - Heavweight discussion begin
01:05:29 - 252 predictions
Timestamps:
0:00 - Understanding MMA history, what makes a fighter enter into the top 5?
21:48 - Number 5
29:38 - Number 4
45:25 - Number 3
55:47 - Eric talks about seeing UFC 117 (Sonnen vs. Silva) in person.
59:55 - Number 2
01:12:12- Number 1
01:29:05 - Who didn't make it? Future fights and Fight Night 174 thoughts
Just a recap of UFC 251 and a sleuth of other MMA-related topics with a devoted fight fan and great friend from Bangkok, Thailand! As you'll find out fairly quickly, Naim, who juggles life as a business man and an entrepreneur, is an insightful individual who is full of charisma. Here are some times stamps to help guide you to the various discussions we had surrounding the event.
0:24- Who is Naim? Life and business in Bangkok
12:11- How did he become a fight fan? Early memories of WWE
31:42- The international sports-viewing experience
36:29- Paige Vanzant vs. Amanda Ribas
41:18 - Rose Namajunas vs. Jessica Andrade
53: 28 - Jose Aldo vs. Petr Yan
58:00 - Max Holloway vs. Alexander Volkanovski
01:03:12 - Jorge Masvidal vs. Kamaru Usman
01:19:43 - UFC/MMA - Uniqueness in a saturated market
01:23:28 - Muay Thai vs. Thailand: Marketing complications
Crazy times! REALLY crazy main card! Hear our predictions/breakdowns of the matchups as we observe weigh in today!
Timestamps:
0:44 - Fight Island
3:38 - Amanda Ribas vs. Paige VanZant, How does a fighter go from prelim to main card status?
15:30 - Jessica Andrade vs. Rose Namajunas
23:00 - Petr Yan vs. Jose Aldo
32:34 - How do you sell "smaller people" fights
40:35 - Alexander Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway
49:53 - Kamaru Usman vs. Jorge Masvidal
01:11:33 - Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov's legacy, the impact of different countries on the current UFC.
In what has been likely the most controversial release of a video game in recent memory, I wanted to invite a friend of mine (who is equally as passionate about games) to have an open discussion about The Last of Us 2. Bare in mind, this is just an honest discussion between two people that experienced the game/narrative from different perspectives; me having simply watched it through due to not having a Playstation 4, and my friend Aidden Tapia who actually played it through.
If anything, I just had a great time talking about video games and objectively trying to talk about what makes this medium great and us just bouncing back and forth ideas, offering up different pointers we had about this game in particular. It’s perfectly ok to be upset or not like the game… I just believe we can talk about it reasonably :)
Time Stamps:
1:15 - Who is Aidden? How did he get into video games? Why do we love it so much?
14:45 - The Last Of Us 2 discussion start: Initial/ general feeling, gameplay and mechanics
59:45 - Story/Pacing/Characters
2:01:30 - The future of The Last Of Us franchise, our thoughts on the upcoming HBO series, possible DLC we’d like to see
Hey all! Sooooo this is something a little bit different sports or other seemingly random topics. In what we hope will be a monthly thing, me and Matthew Morse will be taking a look at one movie and album, breaking them down and talking about them in depth. These are either pieces of art and entertainment in which one or both of us have not seen or heard of before, so it should be a pretty engaging discussion throughout.
For our first session, I recommended "The Light House" directed by Robert Eggers, which was a movie that came out last year (2019) that received critical acclaim from the film-going/loving community. For our music recommendation, Matthew recommended the album titled "Resonate" by Lettuce, which in short is a funk album interpreted and re-shaped for the modern, hip-hop centric era.
Time stamps:
1:05 - Who is Matthew Morse? How'd we get into talking about art?
8:05 - The Lighthouse
01:10:40- Resonate by Lettuce
Our next movie and music album will feature:
The Favorite (2018) directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
Octavarium (2005) by Dream Theater
Given everything that's going on currently, I thought it'd be interesting to take a look at another time in history where people had to overcome adversity to solve problems. The event we're looking at today is of course the events of the Chernobyl power plant explosion, which is now known as the worst nuclear disaster in history. We're using HBO's series as a sort of starting point, and who better to discuss this with than my good friend, Joseph Mosse.
Joseph grew up and spent significant parts of his childhood and teenage years in various parts of Ukraine, Odessa and Kiev. Joseph majored in history education at Taylor University and currently teaches Social Studies, World history, US history, and Government and Economics at Horizon Christian School in Indianapolis.
Important time stamps:
01:31- Who is Joseph Mosse? Why and how did he become interested in history?
13:10- Chernobyl discussion
Intro and outro track: Underwater Stroll- Xenobyte
There's no easy way to discuss what's going on at the moment. But we have to try. I respect and appreciate anyone actively participating and trying to, I firmly believe the attempt can bring people together.
This podcast today was supposed to be about the service industry, given Eric's prolific, 20 years of experience working his way across the country from different restaurants, bars and food outlets. But we felt it remiss to NOT to address what has happened.
We switch gears at the 52:45 mark, to talk about an industry that is very much being affected by Covid-19. Hopefully it is of some use to some of you who may be going entering into the industry for the first time.
From FIBA 3x3 tournaments to other notable international competitions, Tony is a professional basketball player from Thailand who has represented the country on numerous occasions. He's also a good friend of mine, and today we discussed everything from the growing popularity of basketball in Thailand to the various aspects of being a professional athlete.
We've reached the end of ESPN's "The Last Dance". Join me and Eric as we discuss our take on the series and other things sports-related.
This episode features Tent Chivatanaporn, a friend of mine from high school who went on to play football (soccer) at the collegiate level in the United States, and eventually had a stint as a professional playing in Bangkok, Thailand. Join us as we dive into his story, detailing Tent's journey of dealing with the complexities of moving abroad to pursue an education/career and discussions ranging from how a newcomer can start watching football to what it takes to become a professional athlete.
This week we cover the craziness that was UFC 249 and the later episodes of ESPN's "The last dance".
In the midst of Covid-19 and self quarantine, stoppage of public gatherings of all kinds, UFC 249 has come to save us. Sports leagues and other organizations could use this event to gauge operations going forward! Listen in to hear our predictions for the event.
Welcome to the Crunchy take! This week we dive into ESPN's "The Last Dance", a ten-part series following Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. I like to get into the intricacies of these athletes that we have come to put on a pedal stool. Why are they the way that they are? What can be gleaned/learned about life from watching a basketball game? Aside from that it's usually two people that just enjoy talking to each other, regardless of the subject. Feel free to contribute to the discussion by commenting down below of what you'd like to see us talk about.