speaker-0: I'm a nervous traveler. hate flying. So simplifying everything else around that is yeah, you know, that makes it way easier for me. It makes it like way more simplistic. Walking through the airport with just a backpack is such a game changer.

speaker-1: Hello everyone, welcome to another ismono podcast and today we have a returning guest Alex from out in the lights, which I'm going to start with a compliment because I think you have one of the most unique or one of the unique I'm not going to show you too much with most but one of

speaker-0: Do you? ⁓

speaker-1: One of the most unique styles that I really enjoy. You bring something visually and storytelling to the table that I think is, from my personal perspective, extremely refreshing. So before I continue to kind of buttery up, maybe introduce yourself for those listeners who don't know who you are.

speaker-0: Yeah, first of all, thanks for that intro. That was great. I'll pay you afterwards. But yeah, I'm Alex. I run a channel called Out in the Lights. I've been doing it for a couple of years now. My videos are definitely more like on the cinematic side, kind of compared to some of the others like in our bag review space. I don't usually hang behind like a desk because I'm just not good at doing that. Like there's so many out there who are so much better than me. So I definitely try and get out there and do a little more cinematic shooting. But yeah, check me out if you haven't. It's over at Out in the Lights.

speaker-1: Dare I say it's not cinematic, but rather I think you have vibe. That's how I would kind of describe you. It is cinematic, but I feel like what... And I think this, I'm going to say now is probably something that you will appreciate the most because I feel like when I watch your videos, it's kind of like putting on a vinyl because I can kind of put it on and can chill out in a way.

speaker-0: Cool, I appreciate that. Yeah, I do appreciate that.

speaker-1: And you kind of mastered what I noticed for the past 12 months when I put on a YouTube video, I zone out visually speaking. So I only listen to video. But you have for all of you who don't know Alex videos, there is a segment most of time in the middle where it's just music and he kind of loads up the bag. And that's where my brain is like, hold on, no one is talking. And then I need to look at the video. So with your videos, usually look and watch it actually. And I'm not just listening. that's a really cool vibe. like that a lot. I'm going to surprise you because I mean, you and I, we review bags, but I'm going to do a twist here and we're not going to talk about bags.

speaker-0: I'm going to ask.

speaker-1: No, I have a couple of questions, but I'm going to ask you anyways. Do you like Harry Potter?

speaker-0: You know, I never read them. think I've only seen one movie.

speaker-1: Then I'm going to start easy.

speaker-0: I went to Universal Studios one time, I rode the ride.

speaker-1: I'm going to put you in the cold water, starting with something easy. What is the name of the boy who lived? A. Never Longbottom B. Draco Malfoy C. Harry Potter D. Ron Weasley

speaker-0: All of the above. Here's a fun thing. I years ago, I was an extra in a movie called CBGB's, which is about like the famed like punk club in New York. But Alan Rickman was the star of it. And I played the courtroom clerk. So you can see me for about point two seconds behind Alan Rickman while he's in his courtroom scene. Yes, super fun.

speaker-1: No way. Did you talk to him in any shape

speaker-0: No, no, I mean, he wasn't like near anyone. There were like, you know, stand ins for him the whole time. Then he just like come in and like do his scene and angrily walk away. But it was it was fun. was like an experience. I was living in Savannah at the time and it was just like it was cool. Just went for like a day and shot that. But yeah, that's my Harry Potter connection.

speaker-1: But that's a really cool one. Admittedly, that is really cool. ⁓ All right, then I'm going to do a real question now. ⁓ In your videos, you kind of cover, not all of them, but most of them, you kind of cover this topic of traveling with just one bag. And that is, like, I would say one of the center focuses on some of your videos, at least. Can you walk us through a little bit what I when it comes to traveling? I will get to day to day life in a second. But when it comes to traveling, is there what are the essentials? And can you also walk us through how you plan to pack for only one bag? Because I feel like it is very difficult. And while we talk, many people talk about traveling with one bag, it is still quite challenging. And I feel like you have kind of mastered it in a way.

speaker-0: So thanks. Yeah. Yeah. I know. I appreciate that. It's definitely something I've always tried to do and still continue to do. I do have a 19 month old daughter now. So we are bringing a little bit more. But my like actual pack out when we go away on a trip is stay the same, which is which is good. But to be honest, it's always choosing like kind of the right clothes because the clothes are going to be the most important thing you're bringing in your bag. So like versatile pieces that are going to fit together, like kind of like a capsule wardrobe is kind of important. So if you can pair like every shirt that you have with like an overcoat ⁓ or like a chore coat, like that's super important to be able to do on your trip. I'm also like a big advocate for sink laundry. So just being able to bring laundry strips along, I think is really important. It's really easy. When I go away on like business trips, I always do that and just like wash my undershirts and underwear and socks. It's very like easy process. You kind of just do it at night, put it in the sink, let it hang overnight and you're usually like good to go. Yeah, and then just like bringing only what you need, I think is like the third kind of like key thing that's really important. So not overpacking like usually if you're going somewhere, you're going to be able to get something last minute if you forgot it. ⁓ So never overpack like always just try and bring what you need to bring. ⁓ It just makes everything so much easier. It makes it like way more simplistic. Walking through the airport with just a backpack is such a game changer compared to bringing like a rolling, you know, rolling luggage and stuff. Just having everything on you is always really appealed to me and kind of just made traveling easier. I'm a nervous traveler. I hate flying. So simplifying everything else around that ⁓ is. Yeah, you know, that makes it way easier for me or less stressful for me.

speaker-1: ⁓ This topic of washing and I when I went to Thailand I did similar thing but fortunately they had a washing machine as well but plus a dryer still I run into the issue of the things not drying as fast as I would have liked ⁓ so any tips and tricks in terms of I assume, are you still on the Marine wall bandwagon? Are you still using Marine wall?

speaker-0: Yeah, I use some merino wool, like undershirts and stuff. I recently worked with like BluffWorks. So like their stuff's really great. I really like some of their shirts that they have. And I like for my dress shirts, like if I am doing something a little more formal or like working, I will wear something that has like more of like performance material. Like I'll wear like a shirt from Vowari or like one of those companies where it's like a little more easier to dry. Yeah, that's

speaker-1: I just about to ask. And ⁓ do you make sure to kind of pack stuff like, I don't know, what are these things called that you use on drying cables where clamps? I don't know the English word of that, how to clamp your clothing onto a line. How do you do that in the hotel? I mean, this sounds so obvious in a way, how to do it. But I feel like in

speaker-0: ⁓ yeah, know you're talking

speaker-1: most of the times in terms of practicality, ⁓ many years ago I was in a hotel and the sink was so small and the faucet was so close to the bowl that it was basically physically impossible to maybe some boxes, but like a sweater or something that was a little bit bigger was so difficult to wash. I feel like We in this travel space talk a lot about, yeah, just watching the hotel, but not every hotel is giving you the option to physically do so. how do you manage that?

speaker-0: Yeah, I mean, guess like checking beforehand, like seeing, you know, what kind of hotel you're going to, like really doing the research beforehand is important. Also like researching like bag restrictions to like if you are just carrying one bag and you want to be able to either carry on or do a personal item. Yeah. Making sure you're checking your bag restrictions beforehand as well. yeah, when it comes to that kind of stuff, ⁓ you know, I'm not just bringing like one shirt along to when I do like a like a long term trip. Like I will pack for like a full week if I'm doing like a two week trip. So I'm not like like Maurice moves or any of those people who are like, I bring one shirt for like 18 months. It's like, like I can't do that.

speaker-1: I really want to interview him as well because I think he has basically mastered to a really high level of degree.

speaker-0: That dude's awesome. Yeah, his stuff is great. ⁓ yeah, absolutely. So, like, you know, if it's if worse comes to worse, I can't do sink laundry and I wear a shirt for two days or something. It's not the end of the world. Right. Like, you know, ⁓ I'm a little more like I want to keep my underwear clean. I my stuff like that, you know, and that's a easier. Yeah, exactly. But if I'm wearing a shirt for a couple of days, it's no biggie. Right. So I kind of look at it like that.

speaker-1: ⁓ I feel like in theory it sounds or it seems to be so easy to do one back travel, but more often than I can count it doesn't seem to be that easy to kind of pull off. So I think that's why I'm somewhat kind of looking up to everyone around me that is kind of mastering that and I basically can't do it that well.

speaker-0: Yeah, I mean, for me, it's sometimes I'll bring along like a little tote bag to just in case I'm bringing anything back with me, because I will like, you know, the backpack will be relatively full on the trip that I'm going on. But say I buy a bunch of records or something, which is like the typical thing I do when I travel. Like I'll bring like a little tote bag to bring stuff back. ⁓ I know a lot of people are into like the one point five bag travel to now, which is like with the sling and the backpack. ⁓

speaker-1: Oh, that's what you mean. I thought you were just about to say 1.5 liters.

speaker-0: That'd be pretty intense. But yeah, like, you know, I know a lot of people are doing that now. I haven't found a need for it yet, ⁓ but I know it is like kind of a popular thing at the moment.

speaker-1: It sounds, I'm not gonna, I don't want to put anyone down, but I feel like that has been a thing for many years. I feel like it's, I think only the terminology is kind of popular. Yeah, the 1.5.

speaker-0: ⁓ I don't know why and maybe it's just like the the people that I talked to and like our bag review world and stuff but I know a lot of the like dudes that I chat with ⁓ are into that kind of like 1.5 bag life so you know

speaker-1: I assume the reason being is that it has become so unvoked or so normalized as a male to carry a sling back. Because previously, I feel like the 1.5 carry used to be a rolling case and a laptop bag in a way. Yeah. if you're female, it basically is, okay, a rolling case and your purse. Right. But I guess...

speaker-0: Like a briefcase.

speaker-1: The male demographic now has come to a point that it is okay to wear a sling bag in a way.

speaker-0: Yeah, which is awesome. Yeah, totally. I remember growing up and it was like Seinfeld with, you know, the European carry all and like that episode of him like carrying his his man purse but no, it's it's great now. I mean, I love slings. I carry them all the time too. If I'm going out anywhere, I'm usually you know, reaching for a slang when I leave or a very small backpack. But yeah.

speaker-1: That's a good segue. ⁓ Speaking of reaching out, what are you looking for when you're deciding on a OneBack for traveling? mean, obviously this question is a little bit difficult for you and I because we review bags, but let's imagine you are not reviewing a bag at that specific moment. What would you look for when you think to yourself, okay, I'm going to do OneBack travel now.

speaker-0: Yeah, I mean, I honestly I start with style, like what what it looks like is really important for me. And yeah, I you know, I know you're into fashion, too. And I'm really into, yeah, fashion. I want it to look good, too. I want the bag to look good that I'm that I'm wearing because you feel more confident and you want to just carry it around to, know. ⁓ Second thing would be comfort. Definitely like the comfort of the shoulder straps and the back panel is super, super important to me, too, which is why usually all gravitate towards like an air bag or a pioneer or even like some Tom talks like but it needs to have some some good like robust straps that I feel like are just like it doesn't feel like I'm wearing something because I don't care as much about the weight of the actual bag like I can carry a bag that's a little heavier as long as it's comfortable to carry. ⁓ But if it's like, you know, going into like my my shoulders and the straps are like cutting into me. It's just uncomfortable. Then that's just like ⁓ a huge deal breaker for like one bag travel. And then I guess the other thing is like kind of just like a nice open space to pack to like I like the clamshell style opening mostly when I am going on longer trips. ⁓ I don't mind like a top loader like bag coming from the top, but that's going to be for like a shorter trip. That's only for like a couple days for me.

speaker-1: And yeah.

speaker-0: because I can kind of slide a packing cube in from the top. But I like to have it laid out. It just feels so much more organized kind of when it's that clamshell style for like the longer trips.

speaker-1: I would love to know because this is something I feel like is a little bit disregarded in not necessarily in review space but overall when it comes down to bags because I do see so many people rather use an ugly looking bag instead of the one that looks good. Let's talk a little bit about aesthetics. You just said it has to look good. What would you consider looking good? Do you have some examples or is it a specific fabric or a specific layout? What do you consider pretty?

speaker-0: Yeah, I'm kind all over the place to be honest. It's just kind of like, I don't know what I feel like goes with my style when I'm looking at it. I gravitate towards like I do like pioneer bags. love that.

speaker-1: They look awesome.

speaker-0: Yeah, I just I like kind of like a thicker fabric. I love like the cordura that air uses, anything like that that kind of feels like very robust. can kind of like throw around a little bit. I don't care that much about weatherproofing as much. I feel like I've never gotten in a situation where I really needed a 100 percent like waterproof bag. ⁓ And yeah, sometimes like the touch of the material is as important as the style, too. So like I know haptics. Yeah, I usually like to gravitate towards those more so than like X pack or especially like ultra ultra feels a little too plasticky to me. But yeah those are the kind I really like but I'm all over the place like I also just reviewed a bunch of topology gear and topology is like you know very big in Japan and in the States kind of you know growing here for sure. ⁓ But their stuff is weird and it's definitely not like.

speaker-1: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

speaker-0: the best made it's the fabrics aren't as good as like a pioneer air or something like that. It's more like polyester and stuff, but it is. It looks cool. It's like a rock climbing brand. So it started as like some rock climbers who were into fashion and the straps of the bags are actually like rock climbing rope. So you can like all these different ropes with these bags and yeah. Reviewed a duffel bag and a tote bag and the tote bags. like super simple. like one zipper pocket you can like throw your laptop in but it's just feels really cool like when you're wearing it. So I really appreciate what they're doing and it's kind of a cool like unique I don't know something very different than other bad companies. Yeah.

speaker-1: Really colorful. Interesting. I had the name in the back of my head, but I didn't associate this kind of bags with that brand for some weird reason. I thought of a completely different brand, I guess. Okay.

speaker-0: Yeah, yeah, I like that stuff. And that's it's funny because it isn't what I typically go towards. I'm definitely more like American workwear kind of stuff to or, you know, Japanese like city boy style, that kind of stuff like beams and those companies to when I'm like for my own personal clothing. So kind of adding like a little flair with some topology kind of like livens up the outfit every once in a while to which I like ⁓ if you're if I'm thinking about it from like a style perspective. Yeah.

speaker-1: I mean, from what I can kind of see from your videos, your style, your color choices of style is more... it is colorful, but more on the darker side, Like the bordeaux red that you're wearing on your beanie right now and the dark blue. So that's... is that also reflected on what kind of bags you would... would you... I mean, right now we have obviously a lot of black bags.

speaker-0: 100%.

speaker-1: But we also have those dark greens, but also sometimes those bright orange that PACT also uses sometimes. Would you gravitate more towards... If someone would make a marine blue or bordeaux red kind of color scheme, would that be something that you would be gravitating to more?

speaker-0: Yeah, probably the blues. Yeah, blacks like Able Carry. I like their blue color. think they're ⁓ yeah, that's really, really bad. Yeah. I'm trying to think of other ones. I just reviewed the air eco pack for their city pack pro to like the kind of like, like, like your shirt color. Yeah, like kind of like a little, little darker than that. But ⁓ That's that's a really great bag, too. I do like that color, that kind of like yellowy. That's that's nice for like a pop of color, too. And it does kind of go along with the same tones that like I wear, like you're saying, like the red and the blue and stuff like that. It does fit along with that kind of as well.

speaker-1: Hold on, wasn't the air eco pack, it was, wasn't it black? then no lime in the inside or no, that was the ultra.

speaker-0: Yeah, that's the ultra one. Yeah, the ego pack just came out a couple weeks ago. Yeah, I'm trying to think, you know how it is.

speaker-1: That is sometimes a thing that I'm worried about. I sometimes totally mix up stuff and forget brand ⁓ things and stuff like that. I sometimes feel that people think, ⁓ he's not a real reviewer, we do so many things. I'm so confused with so many details.

speaker-0: nature of the beast. 100%. And the thing is, a lot of bags are starting to look like a lot of other bags these days, Which I think is really interesting, especially like the air bag just launched. Airbags are all starting to look like other airbags now, too. Which I think is really interesting. Like the new travel pack, which just came out this week, is starting to look like the city pack now in its shape. and it's becoming more oval. So it's starting to look like Gable Carey and a little bit too. Like everything's, it's really interesting. Like where, I don't know, the industry is right now. It seems like you're starting to get some of those softer edges and like getting away from like a more like square masculine look. Everyone's kind of going towards more of like a curve, like unisex look, which I, which is interesting. I think it's really cool.

speaker-1: Overall, it's really interesting how, for lack of a better description, how saturated the market has become in a way. it's hard to kind of innovate. And what I really found weird, I had this comment recently on, um, what was the name of the nektrum, the nektrum Vantor 22, which I think ⁓ I believe it's a very unique looking bag. Not sure if you're familiar with that bag. has this two kind of compartments and the clamshell opening. does look a part in my humble opinion. And someone was commenting, stop reviewing these ⁓ off the shelf Chinese generic bags. And I'm like, I was sitting there, this doesn't look like any other. Why is this generic or is this off the shelf? What are your hints? ⁓ Where did you come to that conclusion that this is something? And while all of the other brands are somewhat looking similar ⁓ in a way, especially with black bags, sometimes I'm not sure.

speaker-0: Yeah, sometimes it does all feel the same. yeah, it's it's interesting. Definitely what we do. Everyone has ⁓ strong opinions of things, too, which is great because it does like continue conversations and make it like more of a community, which is really awesome for people who like bags. But there's definitely like a lot of people with a lot of different takes out there. It's just cool.

speaker-1: Just step. I mean, this was supposed to be one of my last questions, but I'm going to ⁓ pull it here already because I think this is a good segue. Has there been one, or what has been the most memorable bag for you within the last 12 months? Is there anything that particularly comes to your mind where you say like, okay, this is the bag that I can remember? Could be negative, could be positive in both ways. Is there one?

speaker-0: I'm trying to think. mean, my ultimate bag that I always go back to for like everyday use or trips ⁓ is Pioneer's Duration Pack. think it's the for what I personally need. It's the best. The two pockets on the front where you can put your Dopp kit. You can put your small accessories and then your main larger pocket. I love that they added a couple. I think they did four more liters in there. So it's 22 instead of 18 now in their second edition. But that bag just feels great. mean, I know it's expensive, but it's it'll like outlive you. You know what I mean? It's one of those bags.

speaker-1: fabric in combination with these huge zippers, this mandarin fabric. It feels so good.

speaker-0: ⁓ yes. ⁓ I love chunky zippers, too. Yeah, you got to get used to it. Some people like don't love that look. But I think it's it's great. And I feel great to use to like, you see, it's really

speaker-1: I feel like that is a very underrated feature because many people kind of concentrate on, these look so big and not pretty and chunky, but they don't catch on themselves like those tiny zippers and they are so much easier to move around the corners. I think I do feel like, I perceive that way that many people can overlook that. benefit of that huge zipper and most people just say like ⁓ these are big and huge and ugly but totally don't see the benefit of those huge zippers.

speaker-0: They're so smooth. It's like the best experience when you're using that bag for sure. Yeah, like alternatively, I recently reviewed some Bellroy bags that I liked of their classic line, which is just like the kind of standard like 1990s backpack, which I feel like looks really, really cool. There's like a couple of things I would change. The zippers like don't have that same experience. They definitely Like the style is perfect. And they also have a duffle bag or like a tote bag. It's like in between like a duffle tote size that I really like. The color is really beautiful. But like the experience once you're using it's like a little bit off. And I like Bellroy, but I do sometimes feel like that's the case. Like I love the style of Bellroy. And then when I use it, I'm like, I could add a few things here or there. You know. Yeah.

speaker-1: True. I love Bellroy products in general, but I'm going to kind of attract a lot of negative feedback with this comment. I feel a little bit over saturated. A lot. Yeah, they have so many products and sometimes... So there was a comment and that person was asking me about one Bellroy bag. And I honestly didn't know which one was because there were so many in one lineup, like the Workpack, the Via, the... I also already get all of the naming confused, but there are a couple of them. When you put them in the line and I can physically actually do that because I have them here, I wouldn't know which one's which. And that is something that... is I understand why you need to do that as a brand to kind of have something for everyone, but it is sometimes really confusing.

speaker-0: It's yeah, it's tough when you put out that many bags. Alpaca puts out a lot of bags, too. Yeah, sometimes I get confused with their name and conventions because they're like kind of the same as well. And a lot of their bags are I mean, their bags are great. I like their bags a lot. It's just sometimes they're like the differences are so small between them. I'm like, what is this again? Like, where are we at with this Alpaca bag? Yeah, I mean, sometimes when you just release less, it feels more special, too, like if you have stuff coming out. every week, every month, all the time, it's a lot easier to ⁓ miss those, you know what I mean? Miss those releases and stuff too. ⁓

speaker-1: This is funny because I'm going a little slightly on the tangent a little bit because this might be somewhat of a... It's not philosophical, but it is. So, Bellroy, with all of those products, you and I, we both like retro gaming devices. You have an Anbernic device, I have one too. So I recently had this comment on one of my videos on my second channel where I said something along the lines, Anbernic, This is the RG35xx Pro Plus. ⁓ no, not Pro Plus. And this is the RGB ⁓ Anbernic RG40xx. this is the RG. And I was saying something. ⁓ these naming things are so confusing and so stupid. And this annoys me. And that comment was like, ⁓ please inform yourself beforehand. These naming schemes, they have a meaning. And I was like, yeah, I know. ⁓ That is the screen size, that is the system, and I get that, but it is still confusing for a consumer perspective. what I would like to know from you, or let's talk about it, would you rather have a brand that you really enjoy just make a product every two years or something? I know from a business standpoint that is impossible usually. You don't want to do that, but let's push that aside. For us as consumers, would you rather wait much longer but then have just one product? Or do you like the way Andronik or Belora is doing it and pushing out a retro gaming device basically every single month, but then confuse you with the naming scheme? Because obviously they cannot make Gameboy 1, Gameboy 2, Gameboy 3. They have to have a specific naming scheme. Is that something? Where were you sitting? Would you rather and don't say in the middle because you cannot you can only decide between one or the other.

speaker-0: I'll preface it with this. I think that because we review bags, we need more bags coming out all the time. But from a consumer standpoint, like I am so much more down with like Abel, Kerry or Pioneer who releases just like a handful of new bags like every year. If that like Abel's like once a year, they'll release something. Pioneer's maybe like twice a year. ⁓

speaker-1: Okay.

speaker-0: But I think that like the intention behind it, like not oversaturating it, not feeling like you're just getting thrown a bunch of stuff at you. like there's actually like a lot of more thought put into it, a lot more research, a lot more design work that goes into that. It just makes you, I don't know, it makes the bag feel more special when it comes out too. And it makes you, it makes me want to check it out more because it feels like more was put into it, you know?

speaker-1: And you value what you purchase much longer instead of kind of being thrown onto the bus after you purchase this. And then one month later you're like, ⁓ this is old. I don't want this anymore.

speaker-0: And it's a bag. mean, it's hopefully going to last you for a long time. If you're buying one of these bags that usually that we talk about on our channels, it's going to be something that's going to last you for quite some time. And you know, maybe you'll have a couple years you want to sell it and resell and that's like such a popular thing to within like the bag world. But still like you want it to last like you're not just going to buy like you said, like every month, you're not buying a brand new bag. Like, yeah, true, make sense. I mean, maybe some people do but it's that's I wouldn't be able to do that, you know, well,

speaker-1: Exactly. We are in the bag enthusiast world. I a couple of people who have 20 bags. I'm just saying, my attic is full of boxes of bags.

speaker-0: problems. Yeah. Oh, 100%. Yeah, I mean, the guest room. It's a mess right now. Just through all of them.

speaker-1: crazy right? This thing with so many products but still we not getting enough of them and wanting to buy more and more. Again this is a little bit on the tangent and a little bit philosophical but I did kind of notice yesterday I made a vlog actually today where I kind of talked about how I stopped watching YouTube videos specifically tech videos And I didn't have the urge for three months not to buy a new camera. Before that, really consciously was like, hold on, you didn't put a camera into your shopping cart for the last three months. And I was like, why is that? ⁓ you don't watch any camera review video. And that's so crazy how, and it's, it's, it's a shame because you and I, are both in this review world and we are, dare I say it.

speaker-0: Yeah

speaker-1: part of the problem. I mean, on one hand, it makes so much. It's fun to make videos. But on the other hand, I totally see, ⁓ no, I'm kind of making someone buy a bag in a way. It's weird.

speaker-0: I think that's, know, with what we do with our videos to trying to make them like a little more like, I don't know, vibe cinematic in a way to you make it more like hopefully people want to watch for like opinions and the way it looks and like to vibe out kind of like you were saying, too. So, you know, I try not to go at it at a way where it's just like capitalistic society. Bye bye bye. You know, like I try and tell people who do watch like you don't need to buy everything. You need to find the one bag that's good for you. And watch 200 videos to do it. Like, you know, it is what it is. But like, hopefully you'll find one. Yeah.

speaker-1: I mean, that's why I personally think your videos are amazing because it is a vibe. It's not kind of... I'm not only watching it for, okay, I want to buy this, but I'm also kind of watching it. Okay, how is he packing this? And then, okay, what's the latest record he bought and stuff like that? You know, I think that's really cool. And I like that you approach it that way.

speaker-0: Thanks, though. Yeah, I appreciate that. I, you know, worked in marketing for many years, like before my daughter was born. And yeah, I didn't want it to be like marketing to people. Right. I didn't want it to be like just pushing bags. I wanted to kind of have a little bit of my own personality in it, which is why I like to talk about music at the end of it. I did. You know, I worked in music related marketing for a long time, too. And Yeah, it's cool to have like your channel be yours and not just like trying to get views and trying to get people clicking on and trying to, you know what I mean? It makes it feel better when you like personalize it and kind of like stay behind what you do, which is cool.

speaker-1: It's... and sorry to the listeners, I will ask Alex in just a second about EDC, but I just wanted to tell a story because you just said something with records and stuff like that. Also, for the last few months, I have been trying to consciously kind of get away from my phone a little bit. Not because I don't like my phone, but I kind of wanted to get away from doom scrolling and then I played retro gaming, but also... not listen to too many YouTube videos and podcasts so I don't buy a new camera. And I started, and this is something that I totally missed for the last, honestly, 20 to 30 years, listening to an album completely. So I started with Blink 182, Anima of the State, and I listened to that album completely because before that, Again, for 20 years or something, I didn't listen to an album from back from front. And that was the first time was like, holy shit, I forgot how amazing it is to listen to an album the whole way. Yeah. then I listened to Linkin Park, the newest album that I'm totally late to the party. So I listened that starting on Monday and was like, oh, it's so cool to listen to our album. And that's something that is missed so much. Not because I wanted to just forgot about it. So I totally get that you are buying records and you kind of having to consciously put a record on and then put the needle on and then, okay, I need to listen to it now.

speaker-0: It's the experience, right? Yeah. Yeah, you're listening to like what an artist created, which is like a beautiful thing. Right. And I think like Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth said it best. did like an interview recently where she was just talking about how dumb Spotify is and how like the idea of coming home from work and having like a Spotify curated playlist to like to based on like your mood and like this is what Spotify wants you to feel. And this is the songs that we want you to listen to. based on probably what record labels are paying them the most or whatever kind of stuff is going on in the background to get these artists more. And you're not experiencing an album in its full intentional purpose, right? It's an art piece. So that's why I've always liked vinyl and I've collected for 20 years, 25 years at this point. And yeah, it's the best. You put it on and you listen. can also help with doom scrolling or anything else. That's the first thing I do in the morning, like with my daughter when we're getting ready. And my wife goes off to work. I watch my daughter during the day. So we throw in a record and we get things moving. It's the best, yeah.

speaker-1: That is a perfect segue. Now to all of listeners, sorry for that tangent. Hopefully you enjoyed that. But let's talk about your essentials for regular workday. And I think the segue is kind of, do you have an iPod? Do you listen when you are on the go to your commute to work? So what's your essentials ⁓ that you pack for workday?

speaker-0: Yeah, I mean, it depends. like work days look a little different for me now at this point in my life. Like I do a lot of like work for like brands and stuff at night. ⁓ I also do like a little travel directing here and there, which is like, well, go to like big trade shows and like work. What's that?

speaker-1: You're a hitman, right? That's right. Okay, that's your job. I work at night.

speaker-0: I'm show guy. That's funny. It's like, yeah, I'll watch my daughter during the day. My wife goes out to work and then at night I kind of get like my editing done. I'll do my video work. I'll do like anything I'm doing for brands or stuff like that. But then, maybe four or five times a year I'll go out on these longer extended trips for like a week, 10 days where I'm working like events and stuff like that. But yeah, on like an everyday like level, if I'm just going to the coffee shop, like on the weekend or something, I need to get some work done. It's usually like a more simple tote where I can just carry like a laptop or even an iPad. Yeah. Recently just got a Kindle, which I did. Yeah. Yeah. Kindles are great. I hate supporting Amazon, but Kindles are awesome and a great way to get off your phone too. So definitely just trying to create.

speaker-1: too.

speaker-0: read more and carry like that like the little tiny Kindle along ⁓ with me if like I'm going out and and have some time to myself where I can do something like that.

speaker-1: The color version or the regular version

speaker-0: Just the regular one. Yeah, just the just the regular one. ⁓ But yeah, so like that's that's been really great to ⁓ music wise. If I'm going out, I do have like some things to listen to analog music and that would be like.

speaker-1: Please like a Wow Wow

speaker-0: ⁓ cassette ⁓ cassette deck like a cassette player of Walkman.

speaker-1: Is that a Discman with a 20 second buffering if you have to run and it bumps?

speaker-0: It might have buffering. I'm not sure. It's like a newer model. You have like Bluetooth on it too, which I think is actually kind of funny.

speaker-1: I remember back then when we were like, okay, how many seconds buff rings do you have? I got five seconds. And the other one's like, I got 15 seconds. ⁓

speaker-0: Yeah, I know. Yeah, so far. And then if I do listen to it on my phone, I'll try and like listen on Bandcamp or something like that where you can support the artist more directly. But yeah, and yeah, and cassette deck every once in a while. Pull those out. I just recently did like a video on the Evergoods, the little two liter like pouch, the civic pouch. And I packed up my cassette player and cassettes in there and. definitely got made fun of by some of my bag review peers for doing that. But it definitely is kind of my use case, which I think is what I just is who I am.

speaker-1: I love this and I don't know if you're aware of the new Linkin Park album but there is a segment in the middle where you can actually hear and that's why I like listening to it or why I kind of think like ⁓ this is so cool to listen to whole album because you have those skits in the middle somewhere and there is this part where you can hear a cassette deck being switched around so and I really love that sound. plastic going into the slot and then you push it closer and then you push that button. That is such a cool experience that I don't know, this physical touch of haptics is being missed so much nowadays and ⁓ yeah, mechanical keyboards, Walkman, it's so cool to buttons, pressing buttons is awesome.

speaker-0: 100%. That's I'm definitely getting more into like stationery and stuff too. ⁓ Down the street from where we live, there's like a Japanese stationery store. they like have all this like really cool, unique like paper that I'm just like starting to learn about and get into. And you know, I've done stuff with Field Notes over the years. I love their notebooks too. But it's nice just to have something physical. I'm trying to like write out my scripts when I'm doing my videos now, instead of like using my phone to type them, because it just feels much more like intentional and that like I'm just yeah, I don't know. It's there's like a better feeling to being able to do that for sure.

speaker-1: Yeah, truth to be told, want to do that as well. so many, I like notebooks, especially the ones from Leuchtturm, but also obviously Field Notes. sometimes I forget to carry it with me, which is a shame actually.

speaker-0: Super nice, yeah. Got to that into your ADC. I'm looking for it next month in your update. I a little notebook in there.

speaker-1: Exactly, I mean, I always have them here next to my table. This one is from Orbitkey. But ⁓ I like this form factor a lot.

speaker-0: know, Orbekey's sling is super nice for what it is. I just reviewed that like a couple of weeks ago and that thing's awesome.

speaker-1: It's good. ⁓ If we didn't have Abelcary, that would be my favorite. Did you already? Yeah, you did. Do you have the core or the smaller one? That one's great, right? Yeah.

speaker-0: I did the old area of course awesome. I have the core just the right. yeah. Yeah, yeah, it's awesome. Like the padding is a little weird, like on the strap. That's the only thing that is like a little weird to me, but it's such a sick bag. The rest of it's awesome. Like, yeah, I reach for that all the time.

speaker-1: You have to green one, right? Speaking of EDC, what's your current pocket dumb? What's in your pockets?

speaker-0: I the blue one. Typical me. Yeah, blue. Pocket wise, mean, it's really just like phone wallet. did ⁓ start using the orbit key like key like system. So like, you know, the little like has like a little leather piece and then you pull your like keys out. So I started using that from orbit key recently. I a, I don't have it with me. It's a Comte de Garçon. It's like a very small like leather pocket like old Zoco.

speaker-1: like the connoisseur, how you said it in the French name, Comde? What was it? Comde?

speaker-0: Check. Yeah, Komde Garson. They're like, you they have like the little heart, you know, like the little heart you sometimes see on like, like, like shoes. Yeah. So they're like the fashion brand. didn't, I didn't know. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. They make some, some stuff like that too. My wife got it from 10 years ago.

speaker-1: for their big wallet. Yeah, it's cool. it's from your wife, that's obviously...

speaker-0: Yeah, it's just lasted forever too. Like it just yeah, you can you can beat it up. It's super, super nice. But yeah, I mean, French brands are great too. That's I'll shout out a French brand real quick, just because I worked with them this past year on creating a bag with them with VooPooVe, Dormir, Donce Le Grange, and they are like the coolest people. So like Arnaud and Coralie shout out to them. They're awesome.

speaker-1: So you made it back with

speaker-0: Yeah, they're the coolest people. were like, they've just been super sweet. And yeah, it was such a cool project to do. So

speaker-1: And what's that watch on your wrist?

speaker-0: This is a Veyre watch. Yeah, so I yeah, I've worked with Veyre on a couple different videos. I like their like more simplistic watches like this one's like the C5 or something like that. They also have like the naming conventions that you like don't understand. But when you when you look on their site, they have a lot of cool, cool, pretty affordable watches anywhere from like 300 to like 1000 bucks. And Veyre is awesome too. So yeah, shout out to them for sure.

speaker-1: ⁓ that's cool. I like the color, the coyote or the tan color with the black.

speaker-0: looks yeah it's cool you can do like different like straps you basically and then like a canvas one but ⁓ yeah yeah they're cool definitely check them out they they're all over the place I know a lot of like bag and EDC reviewers have talked about them in videos but their stuff is great like

speaker-1: Yeah, sure. I love watches so much, but I don't dare to kind of jump into the watch space because it can diffuse.

speaker-0: No, it's like I like wearing it and I wear it like every day, but I'm afraid if I yeah, if I start getting into it, it's gonna be it's gonna just be bad. I can't.

speaker-1: You attract some... Yeah, that's true. So that was great. Last question before I let you know, what's your current game of choice? Be it either retro or I mean, again, you are into retro gaming just like I am. What's your game at the moment? What you're playing?

speaker-0: So my brother brought the old N64 last time you visited Chicago, was like six months ago. Golden eyes. Definitely one of them for sure. The original Smash Brothers has been great. That's the sickest. It's great. Yeah, it's fantastic. Yeah, definitely. Definitely play some Smash Bros. Yeah, the original Mario 64 has been great. There's this.

speaker-1: Is it good?

speaker-0: fun golf game called the why lie open, which is like, super nice to like chill out and play golf. I don't even play golf in real life. It's just like super fun to just like to just sit there and kind of like, you know, you space out a little bit, play a little golf and 64. But I've been getting a lot of use out of the N64. It's definitely great. Like, well, I mean, whenever I get a chance to use out of it, but it's definitely super fun to play. And then on the Anbernic,

speaker-1: Never

speaker-0: My daughter's always trying to grab it now because she's at the age 19 months old. She's always just grabbing everything now, trying to like, you know, get into things. And ⁓ she really likes playing Sonic one, two and three on that. By play, I mean, she'll like kind of just hit the buttons over and again. Yeah, but it's ⁓ it's kind of fun. So she'll she'll snag that and Burnett can kind of run around with it and get some buttons on Sonic, which is fun. ⁓

speaker-1: I've never gotten into Sonic, maybe I should start that. There so many games that I haven't really tried yet.

speaker-0: So many games too.

speaker-1: It's so stupid of people saying, ⁓ I need a new game or I'm bored. I'm like, how can you be bored by such a catalog of games that are still existent?

speaker-0: especially in Ambroneck pay like $40 and you have like 2000 games that you can try.

speaker-1: Exactly. And I just found out last week the world of ROM hacks. Not sure if you're familiar with that, where people are taking an old game and then modifying it. To either make it better, remix it. last week I played the ROM hack of Turtles and Streets of Rage 2. So they took the level of Streets of Rage 2, but put in all of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle characters inside. it's so good. But they also made RomHacks, if you're a Pokemon fan, they made actually completely new games. They took like the Game Boy, Rom, and then made a totally new story with new Pokemons and stuff like that. And it's essentially a new game. It's amazing. I just found out about it last week. So I haven't tried yet everything, but it's cool.

speaker-0: That's cool. Yeah, definitely childhood. Like the yellow, blue and red were like on heavy rotation for sure on the Gameboy back in the day. So the Pokemon ones, were those were awesome.

speaker-1: Yeah, also vibe. mean, I need to play some of them as well. Again, not sure which one yet. Too many choices. I'm not sure yet. Many people say like the crystal is supposed to be really good, but

speaker-0: Yeah, I remember those were like right after I think those might have been like the was that a Game Boy Advance one? Yeah, so yeah, the other ones are Game Boy, Game Boy Color or whatever. then you switch after that. Yeah. So many fun games over there.

speaker-1: think so, Yeah, exactly. All right. Thank you so much for taking the time so early in your morning. When can people find you?

speaker-0: Yeah, so over at out in the lights on YouTube, I just started a Instagram to begrudgingly. ⁓ But you can follow me over there if you want to. YouTube is the place to find me, though, for sure. But on Instagram, it's out in the light. YouTube is like the name for that. If you do want anything on there, maybe someday I'll do some more behind the scenes footage if I have some time over on Instagram. But ⁓ yeah, check me out. I always try and put out at least one video a week on Saturdays. and then, you know, some shorts and stuff throughout the week. And if I have the time, I usually do another one on Wednesday. So try and keep it keep the content coming for everyone. But yeah, come over, comment on my videos, tell me what you like, what you don't like. And yeah, we'll chat.

speaker-1: Thank you so much everyone. ⁓ Please push a like for ⁓ Alex to be up this early to be on this podcast and don't forget to subscribe to his channel and yeah we see you in the next podcast or video. Thank you very much.