Sometimes when I stumble on something strange or beautiful, I purposely try not to learn too much about it. That’s what’s going on with me today and this duck video I just watched. 

Hello, by the way. Andrew Walsh, here, from the Too Beautiful To Live podcast. I hope this email finds you well. 

You know that I take my newsletter responsibilities seriously. And one of those responsibilities is finding or making fun images to sprinkle throughout the email. Sometimes I know exactly what I’m looking for, like old Daffy Duck up there. And sometimes I just open myself up to the universe by typing random words into random websites and seeing what presents itself.

The promise of the internet (to me) has always been the promise of infinity. Even though I still like to call it the Information Superhighway (it gets a laugh about 30% of the time), it doesn’t just take you from point A to point B. At its best, it magically transports you to places and spaces that you didn’t know existed and that you didn’t know could exist.

But despite these endless possibilities, we all mostly tend to travel down the same cyber paths and see the same videos, memes, jokes, and posts that everyone else is seeing. The weirdness and the randomness is still out there, but these days we have to work harder to find it. And that makes it all the more thrilling when we do. 

That’s why I was delighted to stumble onto the video I’m about to show you. I can’t promise that you’ve never seen it before. According to YouTube, at least 2000 people have already laid eyes on this at some point or another. But the main reason I like it is because I have no context for it at all. And I don’t want any context for it. The less I know, the better. 

What I’m about to show you is a video of a man feeding ducks. And geese. And (spoiler alert) one muskrat. It’s about three minutes long. And I found it kind of jaw-dropping. Take a gander.

After I watched that video, I did what you might have just done: I watched it a second time. Then, after that, I clicked on the name of the man who posted it -- “PattyDung” -- to find out what in the hell was going on. I started to read his brief YouTube bio, which offered a breakdown of his internet alias and the fact that he has a Ph.D. in…something. To be honest, I stopped reading before I could learn too much about this man. The more I knew, I feared, the less I would enjoy him or his video. 

I am grateful that the YouTube description doesn’t tell us where this takes place or why there are so many birds there or why the good doctor refers to one of the ducks as Merrill Stubing. If it is some filthy Love Boat-related joke that’s over my head, I could end up regretting sharing this so widely. There’s also the chance that animal lovers might find his behavior irresponsible. (One commenter pointed out fairly that “bread ain’t good for ducks”, to which PattyDung responded “it's mostly a formulated food I'm feeding [them].”)

My instinct, I’ll admit, is to click around on PattyDung’s YouTube page, watch more of his videos, and see if any of my obvious questions are answered. But I’m suppressing those urges. I think it’s better this way. 

Finally, you may be asking yourself right now, “Hey, Andrew, how are you going to follow this up with a Hey Dummies video, now that we’ve seen a man feed 1000 ducks and geese and one muskrat?” Great question. I don’t plan on following that up. How could I? How could anyone? 

So, please forgive the lack of a Hey Dummies video in today’s newsletter. I’ll be back with a new one next week. You can email me any questions you’d like us to answer in upcoming videos. And you can submit your “Yays and Nays”, which will also be back next week. 

In the meantime, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend filled with exploration and fun surprises, wherever you might find them. Luke and I will talk to you on Monday. 

Andrew

Listener Nick: Planet Blue by Amy O 

Someone on a Discord server shared this song and I got hooked real quick. It's buzzy, catchy, mid-tempo, guitar-forward powerpop, kinda like Belly, That Dog, or The Beths.

Andrew: Teenage Kicks by The Undertones

This is one of those songs that I feel like I should know more about. It feels like it must have been the theme song to a favorite TV show or punctuated a favorite movie chase scene or something. I can’t remember when or where I first heard it, but I do know that if you walk into Teddy’s Tavern just off Roosevelt on 65th, there’s always -- always -- a 36.7% chance this song will be playing as you pass through the door. Cheers!

If you’d like to submit a “Music For Your Weekend” recommendation, just email me here!

#4454 Pranks For Sharing
Monday, April 28
Andrew has some ear-witness reporting regarding the Mariners’ use of Louie Louie at ball games. He and Luke also discuss Bill Belichick’s bizarre CBS interview and a prank phone call to a high-profile football player. And they get a riveting update on the TBTL Junior Sluggers season!

#4455 Scott Pelley Vs. The World
Tuesday, April 29
Luke is very excited about the most recent episode of John Mulaney’s Netflix show. Andrew is inspired by Scott Pelley’s brave stance on 60 Minutes. And they address the plumber-in-the-room when it comes to baseball analogies. 

#4456 Jax The Menace 
Wednesday, April 30
Luke and Andrew discover a new Taco Bell commercial that is clearly based on an old SNL sketch that is a big part of TBTL lore. Plus, the coach whose son pranked Shedeur Sanders faces a HUGE fine. And a listener sharp-shoots The Mustard Man’s favorite tall tale. 

#4457 Trash Decisions
Thursday, May 1
Andrew is anxiously awaiting today’s trash pickup after leaving a gift card for the garbage collector taped to his bin. Luke has an update on his wind-up watch, and Andrew has an update on the TBTL archives!

#4458 I’m Not Feeling Punitive
Friday, May 2
Andrew recalls a time his boss’ boss made him very nervous. He and Luke also get a surprising update about the Kool-Aid / Flavor-Aid mixup in The Studio. And Andrew’s garbage collector seemed to appreciate the gift card he left for him…we think.

This space is reserved for you! If you’d like to be featured in an upcoming TBTL Newsletter, just click here, answer a few fun questions, and you’ll be a podcast newsletter star! 

You can check out prior Tens of the Week in our archives.