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The Grey NATO – 358 – Final Notes Greatest Hits Of 2025

Published on Thu, 18 Dec 2025 06:00:00 -0500

Synopsis

In this final episode of 2025 for The Grey NATO podcast, hosts Jason Heaton and James Stacey share their "greatest hits" of final notes from past episodes. They begin with casual conversation about holiday plans and upcoming events before diving into their curated list of favorite recommendations from throughout the year. The selections include captivating YouTube videos like Jacques Lafitte driving an F40 in boat shoes, documentaries about extreme pursuits like the Barclay Marathons and competitive bird watching, useful gear like OBD2 scanners for cars, and entertainment recommendations including the TV show "The Agency" and films like "Black Bag" and "Midnight Run." The hosts discuss how these recommendations have impacted them throughout the year, and close with their traditional year-end recommendation of "The Shepherd," a CBC radio reading of Frederick Forsyth's Christmas tale, before expressing gratitude to their supporters as they approach their podcast's tenth anniversary.

Transcript

Speaker
Jason Heaton Hello and welcome to another episode of the Grey NATO, loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, driving, gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 358, our last of 2025, and it's proudly brought to you by the always growing TGN supporter crew. We thank you all so much for your continued support, and if you'd like to support the show, please visit thegraynato.com for more details. My name is Jason Heaton, and I'm joined as ever by my friend and co-host, James Stacey. One more time for 2025. Uh how are you doing? One
James Stacey more time, man. Yeah, everything's great. Uh happy happy that it's uh, you know, we're we're close to the end of the season, or close to the end of the year, start of the holiday season. I'm looking forward to that kind of break and the wind down. Uh obviously the uh a door making TGN so the the break there is mostly because it gets difficult to schedule things and people and time when when everyone's moving around, less so uh needing a break. But yeah, it's uh it's been uh a big year, certainly a big year for TGN. Uh something we can probably get into next year when we start to, you know, approach the idea of what we'll want to accomplish with our tenth year uh as as a functioning podcast. Um but yeah uh every everything's great. We just recorded a QA which is the October one. By the time this comes out that should be live. The final QA for the year which is November should go out uh just before the end of the year, probably just after Christmas. Uh but we'll see. I might get it out earlier than that. All depends. And uh and then the show will be back as normal on January seventh, uh, which should be pretty good. Uh Jason, what what have you been up to with your uh the last kind of week and and the you know, with the holidays sort of looming on the horizon? Yeah, it's kind
Jason Heaton of um, you know, as as you said, it's uh this time of kind of a break. It it it does feel welcome and I you know, I I don't consider myself nearly as busy as you with especially with your work at Hodinki and I I just think um it it it all comes down to uh this sort of sense of building towards people want to get stuff done before the end of the year. We have a few episodes we got to get through. And then um and then it's just stuff like, Oh, I forgot I need to buy a gift for so and so, or you know, I I promise to make cookies for this party, or, you know, there's any number of gatherings um that that people want to do and it's all fun stuff. But it's it does kind of add to this um especially for a person of kind of my demeanor, uh th I don't s want to say I get easily overwhelmed, but I think, you know, when when the the schedule starts to stack up and I see a lot of things on the horizon on the calendar, I get a little bit a little bit stressed, I guess, in in a very low level way. Um so it'll be nice kind of when when all said and done, you know, next week to just sort of chill out a bit. Um but I yeah, it's been it's been all fun stuff. I've got um been doing some fun kind of holiday shopping um for various people and then tonight.' Were recording this on a Tuesday.' Thsere a a kind of local, uh not local, but the the kind of Minnesota, unofficial Minnesota chapter of the Explorers Club. We're having a little holiday gathering this evening um with a bunch of us are getting together for a potlock at the home of a guy who is a fairly well-known Arctic explorer who's uh got a bit of a museum at his house not too far from here. So I'm I'm looking forward to that. And then um Christy and I are hosting a winter solstice party on Saturday. It's the night night before the shortest day of the year and we're gonna the weather's looking reasonable, so we're gonna have a couple of small fires going outside on the patio and um, you know, make a big thing of chilly and have some drinks and um kind of uh you know, kind of make the most of the shortest day of the year in this very cold part of the world. So yeah, it that's that's all this week and then and then boy, yeah, next week is is Christmas and some family visiting and and that sort of stuff. So yeah, it's just uh just all getting getting ready for that. So this afternoon, right after we're done here, I've got to go pick up some some food and some provisions for for both events this week and uh Any highlights on the menu for the solstice party? Well, uh we're gonna do like a big thing of kind of vegetarian chili and I'm the one thing I'm picking up this week is there's a uh there's a really good Indian restaurant that does um samosas, you know? That's uh Oh yeah. Yeah. And I you know, I've I love some of I had some I went to kind of a art opening slash sale last weekend and um it was run by um this Indian couple that was selling these beautiful textiles and as kind of a little party favor or refreshments, they had wine and then they had this tray of fresh samosas from a local restaurant and and I hadn't had samosas in a long time and I was like, These make great kind of finger party food. I always forget about that. Um so yeah, I'm gonna go pick up like fifty samos
James Stacey as this afternoon. So I love some I mean look my my love of um of hand sized food, porgies, chicken wings, oysters, l strong, strong play in my life. But uh there's a spot in in the town where I grew up Caledonia that does a really solid vegetarian uh samosa full of uh potatoes and peas, and then there's this like brown sauce you put on it, that's awesome. And the same place does a pretty mean paneer pakora, which is like the fried cottage cheese. Incredible. Just incredible. So good. Man, where I used to live in in uh in Toronto on in in the West End, there was a really good Indian restaurant we liked. We haven't found one that we quite like as much yet uh here. So we're kind of on the hunt. Maybe we'll have to try again. Yeah, it is. Yeah, you and I went to a place in Vancouver. I think we got Indian today. Gate of India. Gate of I miss that because so Gate of India has my favorite dish, um, which is chicken gel frazy. Oh yeah. Yeah. And uh it's just nuts. I miss I miss Gate of India all the time. Shout out to those guys for sure. The Joe Joe Frazy ripped. It was so good. Man, I'm just realizing I'm hungry. Yeah, I know. Uh oh man, some man, uh uh a big spread from Gate of India would really hit the spot right about now. That sounds great. Well yeah. I don't think you can go wrong with a samosa. Works for everybody. Yeah, right. Right. For sure. Fantastic. And uh you were in New York briefly last week. Uh how did that go? Yeah, I was in New York for a couple days of meetings, you know, a lot of talking, uh, you know, that sort of thing. But it's good. There's uh we've got some big plans uh for some changes and some tweaks to the the kind of ideas at Hodinky and then the return of some stuff that people have been asking for. It's gonna be a big year, I think. You know, we've we've got the the right players and the right sort of setup to uh to do some exciting things and more of what's working and less of the stuff we find boring and all that kind of stuff. So it was a good couple of days. Uh, you know, had a chance to connect with the team and do a little bit of a holiday party, all that s kind of stuff's great, but uh man, getting on the plane for the last flight home of the year. Oh yeah. Is is a real good feeling. Cause I you know, I'm I'm I'm traveling pretty early next year, uh, second week of January. I'm back on the road and zero complaints about that. I it's super pr uh I am super privileged to be able to do that. But there is something about being like, hey, that's my last one. I made status for next year. I've got 50k, I got star alliance gold. I'll be all right. And uh and uh you know, I didn't I didn't you know, I was b I was a good boy, I didn't have a bunch I didn't have any burgers from from uh Shake Shack, which is a rare move for me when I'm at LaGuardia. Uh but yeah, it's uh it w it was a good year.. Uh that should be good But yeah, there like I said, there's something about the you know, I think I I would think I was literally boarding my last flight when I got a notification from Flighty and it's like, here's your year's passport, which is where they do like your it's the Spotify review or whatever it's called, but for oh all your flights and you know how many hours you lost to in to delays and all that kind of stuff. And uh and I was like, Yeah, you know, it's December, man. It's uh it I like a month that has its own speed. Yeah. Right. It's December. Yeah. That's a January problem. I I like a month that delays its problems a little bit. So yeah, that's that's uh that's what I've been up to. And then oh, speaking of food, my mouth is watering. Um speaking of food, I I did have uh I got um uh influenced by Instagram to try Costco sashimi. So you go to Costco, you buy yourself like a it's just a massive piece of salmon. It's a g aotta wh beole side of wo of a fish. And you get farm raised because the chance of parasites is a almost zero. So Sarah grabbed me a giant piece of farm raised Norwegian salmon. I'd seen all these things online that are like, hey, if you like sashimi, stop paying, you know, whatever number to order in on Uber Eats occasionally and just make it yourself at home. And I was like, well, it can't be that easy. It just can't. And so you, you know, cover the thing in salt, let it sit in the in the fridge for 45 minutes, rinse it off, and then section it up. And if you want, assume uh assuming it's the right temperature, just go ahead and eat it. And I gotta tell you, man, w maybe my expectations were like a six out of ten, and it delivered like an eight or a nine. Wow. Like among the best slice of salmon I've eaten in a while. And now I I I kind of sectioned it out into meal size portions and then prepped it for the freezer and I'll just pull one out the night before. Like right when we're done recording this, I'm gonna go eat some some sashimi, which is just like one of my favorite foods. I would prefer tuna, but I'll take take salmon all day long. It's actually the only way that I like salmon in any specific way is Rob. Yeah. Yeah. Oh god, we gotta stop talking about food. This is this is torture. But yeah, if you're if that if that's something that you like and you're you're I'm a big Costco guy. Um especially after listening to the acquired episode that covers Costco. It made me like it even more. Seems like a great employer and and really kind of running by their own playbook, which I like for these companies. But the the the salmon was nuts, so this will be a a move for sure moving. forward Yeah. Yeah. Indian food and and Japanese food. Man, just yeah. Nuts. So good. Okay. Especially when you come from Canada where like we have Putin. Yeah. We have lots of great food. It just came from somewhere else. Yeah,, right right. Yeah. Uh yeah. But uh but yeah, I think that's probably enough chit chat. We gotta keep on a schedule here is I have a meeting today. Meetings, goodness sakes in December. Right, come on. This meeting could have been a January meeting. Um but yeah I, I have a meeting in in just a little while. So why don't we get into a little bit
Jason Heaton of risk check? Sure. Yeah. Um well, no big surprise, I'm kind of ending the year uh where I started with my uh Pelicos FXD. I initially had uh thought about pulling out the the Nava timer today and wearing it. It's kind of my holiday kind of winter watch on a on a bun strap, but um I've been wearing the FXD for a couple of weeks and uh it just hasn't come off. I've got it back on the the original uh really excellent hook and loop strap that it came with, which is getting rather kind of ratty. I've had to hold a lighter to it every now and then to kind of burn, you know, close off those fuzzy edges that keep getting stuck on my sleeves of my sweater. But uh yeah, it's going strong. It's uh it's my pick. I mean I th I I could kinda just wear it all of twenty twenty six, uh to be honest. But of course I won't.
James Stacey But that's what I've got on today. That's a good one for sure. Hard hard to beat it. Um and then yeah, I you know, I've been wearing a ton of the vertex that you gave me, the Aqualine M one hundred. I put it on the marathon rubber and it's just awesome. Yeah. Yeah. But then for whatever reason, I was sitting in my office today and I just I had the it happens every now and then, just the magnetic draw to the Explorer tube. Mm-hmm. And I put it on and I was like, nope, that didn't do it. So I popped it off the bracelet, threw it on a granado, and it's like coming home. Oh yeah. And uh and now I've got it on and man, I keep looking at it and kind of smiling. It like fits perfectly. Yeah. I found my oldest, what I think is my first TGN grainator. Which is like it's a lighter color. Yeah. Yeah. After several years. And the holes are all chewed up and it's all the end is all bubbled from like multiple rounds of uh of lighter you know surgery. Yeah. Uh but it's just uh I I love this watch so much and and it's great on the bracelet. I mean it's a it's a five-digit Rolex, it's perfect on the bracelet, but yeah.'s There something about I mean the the the reason I got this deep into watches, the re one of the reasons that we made the show, one of the reasons we came up with the name for the podcast uh was this video that I've never been able to find of somebody I we think driving a red E forty six M three around the Alps perhaps. I always thought it was a Steve Sutcliffe and then I could never find it and I don't think that he has I don't know that he has an Explorer to but the guy was wearing an a uh polar explorer two on a gray nade and I was just enthralled and then then it's become you know I got it for my thirtieth, so I've had it for almost
Jason Heaton a decade. That's kinda perfect. I mean it's uh I I kind of like that you don't know where you originally saw that video. I I think it almost kind of ruins it. It's lore at this point
James Stacey , right? You put it in the scrolls and see some someday. I don't want anyone and if you find the video, maybe consider not sending it to me. Yeah. Because maybe I made it up. Maybe he's wearing like a a Cas.io I have no idea. Yeah. Uh you know, not one of those cool white dial Timex expeditions from back in the day. But yeah, so that's uh that's what I've got on. And it's it's a treat. I I think I'm gonna be wearing it for the next little while. Uh it's just so comfortable and it's a uh it makes me smile when I look down at it. All right. Well, let's dive into it. Yeah, this is a fun episode. One that we started doing, I think just last year. I didn't go back and check. Uh now that we're in our almost tenth year, I'm not gonna I'm gonna pretend that I don't remember most of the show. Yeah. Just it removes a burden. You know what I mean? And uh and so last year we started doing or possibly the year before, don't really remember, but we started doing kind of like a greatest hits of our final notes and it's uh I use the filter of like is this a final note that I've gone back to since getting it off my plate by putting it into a show and some of these like we there's a handful of ones that ended up on both of our lists. I had to tweak some of mine because it was still on the because you had them on yours as well. And yeah, just uh uh it's a it's a solid list of stuff but I don't think there's any order. Uh why don't we just go back and forth each picking one from our list and we'll see when we run out. Sure. Yeah. You want to go
Jason Heaton first? Sure. Yeah. I'll start with a kind of a light one, a fun one. Um, you know, you talked about uh kind of the the background of the your allure for the the green NATO on a on an explorer 2 in a driving video. And this is a driving video that uh that I shared that you know I came across, I believe, on Instagram, as many things do, um, or a piece of it. And it is uh it is the race driver Jacques Lafitte driving a Ferrari F forty in boat shoes. Which um it's just it's just such a fun th there's just something gleeful that I just chuckle and smile when I watch this video. It's a it's a short piece, but you know, he gets into this F forty, yeah, he has trouble jamming it into gear. And then it's the kind of this, you know, multiple camera angle thing of him expertly, you know, rowing through the the gated shifter in this uh amazing Ferrari you know, just wearing street clothes. I mean and and you know, not that you can't drive that car in street clothes, but there's just something about the aggressive way he drives it. Um kind of his for sure. His uh his very specific of the era hairstyle and clothing choices um just just kind of add to the whole thing. I just it's just got such a kick out of this.
James Stacey Yeah, and I mean the the the whole presentation, the the clearly like you know, pulled from a cable broadcast scenario at some point. There's scan lines in the recording. It's it's a little dirty. And then you get into it and and this, you know, kind of very masculine guy, Jacques, uh it gets into the car. He kind of has like a Fritz Stamburger vibe to him and and just kind of just just absolutely grabs this car by the you know the scruff of its neck and has a good time. It's a it's a great video for sure. Definitely one that I'll go back to occasionally or I find myself like recommending to people, you know, in real life. Oh, you got it too.. Shocks Lafitte Yeah. And you know, I I also think for me this is the cause everybody likes the Aaron Senna driving the driving video of him in the um in the early NSX and he's in leather loafers and they've got the foot cam so you can see all the footwork. I think this is like the more brutal version of there's no talking, you know, he's just kind of uh it it it's it's there's something they're two d very different takes on a very similar idea. Yeah, right. Maybe. Yeah. Uh but uh but yeah, very very fun for sure. Uh let's see if I've got anything that would line up with that. I must I must have something on here. Hmm. Well, it's a YouTube video and it's just a lot of fun. I'm gonna go with Big Jim's Big Boozy Bike Trip to Braymar. Very alliterative as well. Which was your recommendation. Oh, it's fantastic. Maybe I pick it just for the title. Um but, this this was was your decision uh or this was one of your final notes. Uh I didn't I didn't keep record of what episode these were from. Um but uh this was one from you about a a guy in uh in Britain who liked to do this giant bike ride, but he had kind of hidden whiskey along the route uh so he could uh just kind of maintain a a comfortable buzz as he went through through through the uh through the British countryside. Uh I highly recommend. It's from it's from the BBC Archive, 1976. Several people have recommended it to me like in the months pr after. And I go, Oh yeah, no, Jason was on this vibe a while ago. Great sweater to
Jason Heaton o. There's some there's some sartorial fun. Not not much needs to be said about this and I just gotta give a shout out to my buddy Brad Wakefield over in the UK who originally sent this to me and I love the idea of you know, stashing caching, let's say, cashing bottles of whiskey and like the stream bed or something where he knows he's gonna pass through. But uh yeah it's a good one. Yeah, you never know. You might need it. All right. Uh well let's see here. Okay. I'm gonna I'm gonna pick uh a bit more of a I guess we can call it a serious one. Um, and this was uh the documentary film called The Finisher, um uh about yeah uh Jasmine Paris, who is the first woman to complete the Barclay Marathons. Um it's a great uh great film, really inspirational story, just grueling. I mean, we've talked a couple of times about the Barclay Marathons. Um I believe we even had another, you know, pick as a a movie about the Barclay Marathons themselves, but this is a more recent piece uh uh about Jasmine Paris' accomplishment. Um it's painful, you know, just to kind of vicariously watch her suffering through this this incredible event. Um and uh coincidentally I noticed I missed out last week, but they're running some of the short films th through for the uh Banff Mountain Film Festival again. And uh this is one of the the choices for that. Uh I think it's about forty five minutes long. Um so it's a bit on the long side for for those films, but uh really a a great watch. Uh and it's available on YouTube. So
James Stacey yeah, good one. Yeah. I I love a documentary and I love it when they're on YouTube. That's great. Real good stuff. Uh definitely a watch, a must watch for sure. I I have another one uh that we talked about a ton. It probably could have been a final note that we kept going for, you know, while the season was running. Uh but that's probably my favorite TV show of the year, which is the agency. Showtime of Paramount Plus, it's a TV show. We'll link to the YouTube trailer if that helps. Uh, but this is uh, you know, a a kind of moody, uh, Le Care esque sort of spy thriller, um, largely hinged on the performance of um of Michael Fastbender, uh, you know, a perennial favorite of uh Jason and my own. And you know, this show made me go back and consider other Fastbender performances. Yeah. And yeah, this is an excellent one. I would say that if you get into it and you're not sure that you're loving it, stick it out to like the the the episode that references um the wooden duck. Uh I highly recommend it. I think that's where the show really started to find its own pace. And it's just excellent and you you it really starts to mesh in with some of the other characters with Richard Gere and Jeffrey Wright, like guys that w we just love. Uh great show, especially if you're if you're like a sp
Jason Heaton y, a bit of a spy nerd. It's a lot of fun. And I'll follow that one up with another fastbender piece. Uh it's it was a good year for him, um, TGN wise at least. Um the the film uh Black Bag, which is a very concise, short, very I wouldn't say it's fast-paced, it's just a kind of a slice in time, almost like a stage play uh that's on Amazon Prime with Michael Fassbender and Kate Blanchette. And they play a couple that are both um uh agents, uh, you know, uh secret intelligence service folks uh in the UK and there's some intrigue and suspicion uh between them and their friends and co-workers about um who might be uh a trader and uh how they kind of root that that stuff out. Um it's just some great performances, some great uh dialogue in this. Um very moody again, very stylish. Um uh maybe not the best kind of movie in in every respect, but it's you know, some movies you you kind of look at and you just watch them almost you'd like you you look at a painting or something and it just has this this vibe to it. I believe this was a Soda Bird film, which uh and uh yeah, uh defin
James Stacey itely worth worth viewing. Yeah. It's a good one for sure. I really enjoyed it. Uh it would be on the list of things to rewatch uh in the in the coming months as well. So uh a good pick for sure. Next on my list, uh let's bounce to a sort of different vibe. You know, it's the end of the year, uh, so I think this is sometimes you get the chance to start thinking about resolutions and that sort of thing. And it we'll we'll recall to a video that launched very early last year uh from one of my favorite YouTube channels, which I've talked a ton about uh since it launched speed with three ease and it's ten habits I wish I started ten years ago. I'm not saying goodness, I hope nobody listening needs to learn all ten of these habits, but everybody might have one or two that they could sharpen or pick up. I think it's a good video. It's it's arguably it's also probably not the only speed video on my list if we're doing a refresher that's been a really important channel for me this year. I think they're um the the speed podcast uh that they do for paid members is excellent and one I look forward to every week, especially with my beloved JR V P uh ending uh not too long ago and and you know, missing it throughout this year. Um yeah, I think uh I think that's uh that's a one that I would recommend. Uh it's nice, nice little refresher. Uh 10 habits I wish I had started earlier, uh, and that's from the speed channel with uh James Pumphrey
Jason Heaton . Nice one. Um all right, I'm gonna keep on this theme. Let's see how long we can kind of keep these threads moving. Um, uh, with another kind of advice uh oriented um bit of content uh to consume. And it is uh the podcast that I recently finished the season of, which is uh Ill Advised with Bill Nye, and that's N I G H Y, not N Y E the Science Guy that uh somebody on Slack said. I was trying to pick picture Bill Nye the science guy doing a podcast about advice.
James Stacey Yeah. I think uh Yeah, people also commonly call him Bill Nye. Nai, yeah, right. Which I I don't know if if that's accurate or not. I don't think I've ever heard him ex say his name that way. So
Jason Heaton Yeah, exactly. Right. And it's funny because uh there's this it's quite it's a very tongue-in-cheek um podcast. It's great. Uh twenty-seven, twenty-eight minutes long each episode where he just kind of goes off on tangents based on questions that people send in about everything from their horses, their Land Rovers, uh style advice, um, travel advice, social advice, you know, all this kind of thing. And he he just he does not claim to be an expert and he says that right up front, but it's it's really delightful. And then speaking of the pronunciation of his name, at the end, very end when they're doing the credits, one of his producers comes on and says, Um, executive producer of this is Bill Nigee. And that's how it's correctly pronounced, Bill Nigie. And of course it's not, but it's uh it's it's just funny. So anyway, I recommend it. I just finished uh I think there were about eight episodes in the first season, so I'm already looking forward to to next seasons, but uh definitely worth
James Stacey a listen. Yeah, good stuff. I've I didn't listen to eight of them, I probably listened to two or three. Yeah. Um but man, if you're like cooking in the kitchen or or even just doing the dishes, that sort of thing, it's a good one because it's the right length. Yeah. It's good. Yeah. Good work there. He'd be a dream TGN guest. Man. Wouldn't he? He'd be great. I bet you we're not more than one or two away from him. We'll see if we can develop that asset. Yeah. All right. Yeah, exactly. Uh all right. So let's um let's dive into another one that I've used all year long. I've recommended. Um I have learned that it's not always available in every version of the app store. Um, but the Adobe Project Indigo app has become a weirdly freeing thing for me because I can now with my older I've an iPhone fifteen, with an older iPhone, I can take a photo that I'm happy enough with it to put it on Instagram. So I'm out, I want to take a wrist shot or I see a watch or that sort of thing. I just like I'm blown away by it's super computational. So some of the reports, even some maybe the way I first introduced the app, is not that it's doing less computation than Apple. It's just designing a photo that looks more like something that came out of an SLR. Mm-hmm. And it does a better job at smoothing text and things like that, which the Apple one can have it gets pretty jello y depending on again, I think it gets better if you get into a more modern phone than what I have. But for me, the the Project Indigo has been like a big change in in the way that I approach social media and not having to feel like, all right, I'll go downstairs and put a memory card in the SL two and switch to the lens I need and get the photo I need upstairs and then take the memory card and put it into something so I can take, you know, and and and bounce around um uh that sort of thing. But th this is just it's more more like one or two steps and especially like just wanting to get the photo to be good enough to put it on the on the slack for a wrist check. Uh it it it does a nice job for that. So I highly recommend it if it's available in your area, supports your phone, all that kind of thing. I hope it's something that they bring to a broader platform and ideally one that remains free. We'
Jason Heaton ll see. All right. I'm moving into uh I guess we started with some car stuff. I'm going to move back into that with uh one that I believe I don't know if it was a primary final note or if it was one that you kind of tagged on to a different one because we we were talking about the the Bugatti Veyron and um you cited this top gear episode series seven episode five um from two thousand five where the the three guys, you know, Clarkson, Hammond and May, uh are racing from Italy to London to d deliver truffles to a restaurant in Posh Place, Tower 42, apparently. Um, and uh Hammond and May are in Assassin's airplane and um uh Clarkson's driving the the the Veyron. And look, I I I I will never claim to be the biggest top gear fan, but e every time I watch a clip or anything that somebody recommends, especially you. I I do enjoy it. And the Veyron is just endlessly fascinating to me as a as a vehicle, as a just a design object. And to kind of frame it in in in this kind of I don't want to say tongue in cheek, but just a less serious manner than just like zero to sixty times and, you know, top speed kind of stuff. This is just it's just it's so fascinating to see it being used as as this mode of transport in in kind of this m quirky kind of way. So it's a it's a good video.
James Stacey Holds up well. I I think that one, most of the YouTube that exists now around cars is because of seasons of Top Gear from this era. Not just the with those three guys, but from the first four, five, six, seven, eight, nine years, somewhere in there. Yeah. I just they had it was just magic. Mm-hmm. And it's you know, they took the show so seriously, but they did not take themselves seriously at all. But then these kind of bits that they would do, whether it was like, oh, we're gonna deliver truffles, right? Like that feels so standard now, twenty years later, after this episode aired. But you gotta go back and and the the first several years of the show. I mean, the show was great for a long, long, long time. Really entertaining. But it you know, at times it became it felt more edited, more scripted, more car related, not car related at all. It kind of vacillated, but that that core of that era. And then yeah, for the Veyron, man, you know, Veyron's 20 years old uh this year. And I think it, you know, it's uh it's an SR seventy one moment for for a combustion automobile. And and I think it's it's a fascinating thing. I look back with great pride and and appreciation that I got to drive one and and then also drive the She Run. I was watching the throttle house video for the cars they're looking forward to in 2026. And Thomas and James highlighted the uh Turbion, which is the kind of forthcoming naturally aspirated V16 Bugatti, which is just wild, like just crazy. And I go, Well, I'm no longer in a world where I'm ever gonna get to drive that. And I felt you know forlorn. But uh you don't you realize you talk about count not counting your blessings, right? Yeah. But yeah, just uh a a a marvelous thing and I think something an idea that has aged really well in a world where like a lot of cars are more than a million dollars now, and just as an object of interest, such a thing. Yeah. Just a thing. Not even just a car, just a great thing that someone made. And uh yeah, I just I it's a great one. So yeah, thanks uh a good good pick and and one that I was happy to highlight when I had the opportunity back uh whenever that show was. All right, let's see what I've got here for the next one. Oh, a fantastic story. One of my kind of highlight stories, a story I've gone back and looked over a couple of times since, um, watches of espionage and Ben Lowry put out the Citizen Aqualand, an underrated legend in military service. Obviously, a big year for the Aqualand, the fortieth anniversary. You know, I think if we did the word cloud for this past year, maybe only a couple brand and terms would be bigger, Pelagos perhaps. But Aqualand, I think, would definitely be up there. It's a watch we talk a ton about, one of my favorite watches of of this year. And I just thought this was a great story to kind of add to the to the appreciation of these weird sort of oddball watches. Uh is kind of digging into uh the the connection to various military outfits around the world where man, does the watch ever just look the part too. It's cool. Yeah, that's a good one. Big shout out to a great year for watch of espionage and certainly to uh Ben's stories on the site as well
Jason Heaton . All right. Um let's see where do I want to go now? Um, all right, I've got another YouTube video that actually came as a final note via um our friend and um erstwhile moderator on Slack, uh longtime buddy Chris Soule, who um, you know we we had had a couple of episodes and and you know, Chris Bing, the avid diver and um student of diving history, uh pulled up this great uh old National Geographic Explorer episode from nineteen eighty six um c,alled the Atocha Quest for uh treasure. And um, you know, if you're someone who kind of dreams about or or thinks about, you know, treasure hunting and finding gold bars at the bottom of a tropical sea, like the Atocha is like the name that pops up first. It's everybody's kind of familiar with it, you know, in some respects, uh, based largely on the the the larger than life person that that was the treasure hunter who found it, um, Mel Fisher, who had a shop in in the Florida Keys. I mean, this was you couldn't almost ask for a a a better location to to find a shipwreck full of treasure uh than the Florida Keys um for for various reasons. But uh National Geographic did this episode um kind of highlighting the the the search for the Nuestra Signora de Atocha uh or Our Lady of Atocha um that has now just become kind of a uh symbolic kind of watchword for for any sort of treasure hunting. Um and it's just it's just great. It's a it's such a slice of time, kind of mid-80s, you know, diving and treasure hunting. So it's a good one
James Stacey . Very good. Yeah. A great poll for sure. And uh I actually have one that I think matches up kind of nicely. It's from 1988. And it is a documentary about the legacy of a guy named Stogers. We talked about him uh recently and yeah this is just an excellent simple straightforward sort of you know public radio public access TV sort of documentary about this guy Stan Rogers who was a a musician that was born and and raised largely similar to where I was in Ontario, and then moved out east where his family was from and kind of took up a uh a a very specific type of like a sea shanty sort of uh folk music background and had a massive impact on Canada and on on the east coast of Canada's sort of cultural uh relevancy throughout the world and and it's a a great documentary about uh one of my favorite Canadians and I've watched it uh several times this year. I listen to the music constantly. My son loves Barrett's privateers. I'm typically blessed with a pretty strong memory and I can't get down all the lyrics. Uh you know, these these it's just a lot it's a lot going on there. Uh but yeah, I highly recommend one warm line, The Legacy of Stan Rogers. So the the whole documentary is on Kensington TV's uh uh YouTube. It's about forty-five minutes long and it's it's a great one. Yeah, good stuff. I mean it's I
Jason Heaton don't know why, but it's it's kind of it's kind of a warming type of thing to to listen to or to watch uh this time of year. And uh I I was not familiar with Stan Rogers before you introduced this uh just uh a couple of months ago. So yeah, good one. Um I have let's see, I have two more. Uh I have another YouTube video. I'll maybe I'll save that for last, but uh kind of a practical one that that you just brought up, I believe an episode or two ago that that you clued me on. And it's the VGate iCar Pro OBD2 Bluetooth device plus the car scanner app. And um again, this was a very recent final note, but it's something that you had turned me on to a couple of months ago. I was uh working on uh Christy's uh Prius and it was getting a check engine light and uh wanted to kind of diagnose that and you've been using this Bluetooth device that you plug into the uh diagnostic port on on most modern cars have this now, if not all, um, that allows you to sync it up with an app on the phone. And it's just it it's so empowering to be able to kind of read these codes and figure out what's going on with a car when you get an error message or something weird. And it it works a charm. It's great. I it's helped me diagnose problems and look into things and troubleshoot and then just clear clear tr you know annoying dashboard warning lights. Um and uh so it's it's been great. And it was like thirty five bucks on Amazon and then the the scanner app is is free. So yeah, I've appreciated that and and look, uh can't recommend it enough to anybody with a modern vehicle. Yeah,
James Stacey I I would say any anyone who's running a car out of warranty. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Where you might you might want to have a little bit of idea of like, oh, did I just leave the gas cap loose? Yeah. Uh something like that before you take it to a shop or that sort of thing. And and yeah, the other thing that I I realized is I I can also fill in a blank here. When I brought this up, we you know we were pushing a little longer into the show and our timeline, so I didn't get into it, but we um I mentioned that I got a a new car for the family and then on the Slack people were like, you know, glide to angle it like that, why not just tell us what it was? So yeah, we got a um I got it just before Jason got here for the Toronto Timepiece show. So that's about how long we've had it. And apologies if I didn't talk about it with any great reverence because it's just a minivan. I don't really care. I did a ton of research to make sure I got one that I'm happy with and I would say I'm kind of happy with it's fine. It's like a fridge with wheels. It's a twenty fifteen Toyota Siena. You know, at least on paper, believed to be essentially a cockroach of the minivam realm. It should never die or or let my family down. It's in great condition. Um it's got all-wheel drive. And otherwise, it's like I said, it's a fridge with wheels. It serves a purpose. It gets my family to and from places. We just did our first kind of extended road trip down to Pennsylvania in it and it was marvelous. Uh my daughters love having the extra space. Uh everybody loves, you know, being able to hear each other speak uh versus the Wrangler and that sort of thing. So I still have the Wrangler. It's in storage for the winter while I decide what I want to do with it. Um, I don't think we have a need for two vehicles that are both fairly utilitarian in in scope. Uh so we might we might, you know, get the Wrangler in a position where it's uh more sellable and then and then let it go, but I'm not really sure. But at this point, yeah, we're driving a 10 year old toy to Siena, which we I spent, I don't know, maybe four or five months researching and trying to find one that felt like a like it was a a reasonable sort of price to value scenario. All right. Well, we're closing in on it here.. I've got one more You've got a couple left on your list. Yeah, yours, the your last one is probably my number one recommendation of the year. I've watched it twice. It's amazing. Uh, and we can close on that. So I can buzz through a few here. Uh the next one that's nice and quick is the uh Natsu to do index card. Uh so these are just simple kind of formed index cards that are designed for taking down notes or making lists of things to do. It's something I started going back to with like a paper PDA earlier in the year. And then I kind of lost pace with it. And now I'm now that I've got the TGN CPN one, I'm back on it. And and I love it. It's a really easy way. You could I've got a card for work, I've got a card for TGN, I've got a card for this or that. And that way I'm not I'm spending, you know, if I'm doing anything digitally, it's more like actual development rather than just noting down something to remember. And the other thing I found is if you pull this out and you know, open a pen, nobody f feels like they're not being listened to. Whereas if somebody goes like, hey, uh, what about that thing that we're gonna do on Wednesday and I pull out my phone and go to to-doist and start typing it in, it derails the entire conversation. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um, so there's something to be said for that. And these are the not suit, and then to be clear, you could just use normal uh cue cards like uh index cards, whatever people uh recipe cards, whatever you want to call them. But these are the slightly more elevated, put a bowl clip on the top, have a good pen that you enjoy and and go from there. It's been it's been a nice way to kind of organize. Cause I like that you can kind of section things off into like, oh, this is the card for what I might want if I go to the store in the next week, what a card for work in the next day, a card for a phone call that I have coming up later, or a team meeting, or and it it's very easy and and when you're through with a card you have this very immense s sense of completion when you get through something and then at the end of the day you can just kind of flip through it and and you know s consolidate it down into uh into what needs to carry over to tomorrow. Yeah. Yeah, good pick appropriate for the beginning of resolution season as people like to do. So for sure. And so my next one on the pick is um m is probably my favorite movie discovery of the year, like film discovery. And it's a movie from nineteen eighty eight called Midnight Run. Uh we spoke about it at length on a previous final note. Normally I would wait for a film club, but I just enjoyed it so much that I wanted to recommend it out there. It's a bounty hunter played by uh Robert De Niro, pursues a former mafia accountant, played by Charles Groden, who is also being chased by a rival bounty hunter, the FBI, and his old mob boss, uh after jumping bail. It's uh directed by Martin Brest. It's uh absolutely awesome. Uh Yafet Kodo is in this as the FBI agent. He's amazing. And uh and then you also have um Dennis Farina plays uh Jimmy Serrano, has some of the most ridiculous lines. He's always good in this movie. He's incredible. He's just absolutely incre and and like it out of sight is so high up there, and he plays uh Jennifer Lopez's father in that. Uh great movie, uh while we're while we're on the topic. But yeah, this is uh this is an absolute winner. It's got so many uh great people in it. But the ability for them to weave a comedy, an action film, and a drama almost kind of effortlessly, and there's a watch element that I wouldn't dare give away. It's a great movie. The only thing I would say is if you're if you're sensitive to bad language, this is one to skip. Otherwise, it's a del
Jason Heaton ight. Well, I haven't seen that one, so it's on my list. I'll maybe I'll pick that up over the over the holidays here and chill out in afternoon and watch it
James Stacey . Absolutely. Yeah, it's it's a winner, one of my favorites of the year. I've been through it a couple of times. Uh might might watch it again. I've got my brothers coming over for sort of movie day uh just after Christmas and this could definitely be on the list. So uh that's midnight run from nineteen eighty eight. Uh I'm sure a future uh film club entry. Yeah. All right, let's uh let's continue the run here. The next one is a YouTube video of a cover of a song that I really like by a band I've listened to a ten this year called the Broody Brothers and this is their cover of the House of the Rising Sun. I talked about this when I first found it. I had found the band because they had sort of a song that became popular on Instagram and then it turned out I kind of liked all of their music. And I could just leave the album playing, which I really like. And then over time, thanks to title, I was eventually served this incredible cover of House of the Rising Sun. And you know, you've got a a harmonica in there. It's it's great. It's just the the g it's a it's a it's a song that's delivered on its effects. Mm-hmm. The incredible voice, the way that this guy that these guys sing, but especially the lead is singing, and then the harmonica and the sort of um ghostly guitar and and it it's played in a very similar fashion. It's a very straightforward cover. We're not changing genre or that sort of thing, but it is it has its own style and I I really like it. I listen to it probably
Jason Heaton once a week. I like it a lot. Yeah, I when you introduced this one, I I listened to it too and then got hooked on Broody Brothers. So my my um my approach to to Broody Brothers was uh kind of the opposite of yours, because I I came to it through this song and then uh branched out from there. But yeah, good pick. All right, you have one more and then I'll I got one more
James Stacey . We'll we can co co present the last one here. Let's do one more and then yeah, I'm very excited for the last one. And if you and yeah, yeah, I'm I'm excited to pump. But this one, this next one is the mu the last of my suggestions for the year from Speed with three E's. That's James Pumphrey and his pal's uh relatively new YouTube channel uh that he made after leaving Donut, talked about it a ton. This is testing 100 years of camping gear. I just really liked this video. It's very straightforward. It's very accessible. If you're deep into camping, this probably isn't for you. So the idea of taking gear from nineteen twenty-five and then again from nineteen seventy-five and then twenty twenty-five, uh I thought was quite fascinating. And and certainly Jason when we talked about on the show, Jason, you provided several other people that had done this on much harder uh these guys are walking around Yosemite. It's a good hike. Uh but it's not, you know, uh Fourteener or or something like that or or Himalayan peak. But I I just really enjoyed this. It's funny. Uh there's elements of it from the food and the camping like the tent and all that. It's not just the boots and the jacket and the and the backpack and that sort of thing. So I had a really good time with it. They uh they do a lovely job with this and I I think um Zach and Jesse are are such great kind of support for this and it's exciting to see them also in uh in more of the the the videos. Ye
Jason Heaton ah, that's a it's a good one. And I I I'm I'm I am it's a constant source of fascination, this kind of uh previous era' uses of of equipment and clothing. I was just watching uh Train Dreams last night with Joel Edgerton, which is a a good movie and it takes place back in the early part of the twentieth century and he's a a logger, you know, and out there in canvas and leather and and wool, you, know you're a real Edgerton fan. I love Edgerton. I love it. Yeah. Um yeah, he's he's great. Um but uh yeah so ties into that well. So yeah, good one. And uh that leads to uh the last one on the list. Um, and appropriately it's called Listers, uh, a glimpse into extreme bird watching. This was uh your pick from um several months ago. Um uh just a a clever movie that really plays into kind of our ethos of of just being a a you know a a nerd about something in life and having uh hobbies and an enthusiasm for things. And uh kind of the the strap line about this is two brothers learn about competitive birdwatching by becoming bird watchers, spending a year living in a used minivan, traveling the country to compete in a big year. Um it's on YouTube, it's two hours long. Um it's quirky, it's it's just delightful. Um
James Stacey I don't really know how to describe it. Um, because however I describe it, it wouldn't encapsulate the weirdness, just how oddball it is, just how on the sleeve the whole presentation is. But then at the same time, the story is so tight and confined and well presented. This idea that these two guys, um you know, both of both of whom can be funny, vulgar, you know, the the the whole stretch of of these of these two brothers and yeah, they they go to see how many different bird species they could see in a year. It's called a big year. You'd comp it's a very competitive thing. And in the process, they learn about how competitive it is, how people lie and cheat and how people enforce the rules and the drama within the community and and all that sort of thing. And I think it's it's a microcosm community that I think leads in some way into other fascinations, whether it's could be watches or cars or pens or whatever you else you might be into. But then you add in this road trip sort of vibe and their their personalities are so funny to me and so endearing. And at the same time you just go like how how did you guys figure out how to do this for a year and put a whole movie together parts of it feel like it's shot on high eight and parts are shot on you know like modern high def cameras and I I love the presentation I love everything about this it's two hours of like documentary perfection. It's great. What a what a great thing to have come in though. It's it's been seen. It came out August nineteen of this year and it's it's got two and a half million views. And that doesn't feel like anywhere near enough. Yeah. I I an absolute winner. Uh highly recommend
Jason Heaton . Well, that was a that was a list, good list, but it w I mean there were so many more I I that I left off that uh we you know, but look, the the nice thing is they're all still there. They're all on back episodes and uh you can probably search and find them on uh Paul Hubbard's uh complete. Complete
James Stacey Yeah, yeah. Paul's got a great uh we'll we'll link that if if you don't know what it is, but it's an ability. Uh he's essentially transcribed all of TGN. You can go back through and find things that way. You can obviously go to the end of any list of show notes. The last two or three will usually be the uh the final notes. And also look, I'm sure even in the stuff that we you know, I went back over every episode and scanned. Uh I'm sure we missed somebody's favorite. Let us know in the Slack. Let's start a thread of your favorite uh final notes or things that you would love to see considered as for final note stuff next year or things that a final note made you think of. Uh I I like that kind of stuff where you go, Oh, you like listers, maybe you'd like this, right? And uh and you go from there and then before you know it, you've got a rabbit hole and what's better than that, right? Right. Yeah. Ye
Jason Heaton ah. We love getting suggestions uh and we use them quite a bit as as you've seen. So keep them coming. And look
James Stacey , to close the show, I'll hand it I can hand it off to you, Jason, with your annual selection. One that we're not gonna change. It's the only final note that's needed in a show full of final notes. Why don't you take it away with uh a f uh something I'm sure many people are expecting for our last show of the year. Yeah, definitely
Jason Heaton . Um this this became kind of an annual favorite of ours um and bit of a tradition here. Uh it comes via the Canadian Broadcast Corporation, the CBC. Back in 2017, they put up a recording of uh well-liked uh radio personality fireside al Maitland reading the short story uh by Frederick Forsyth called The Shepherd. Yeah, so it's it's a very holiday themed story. Um it's about a pilot, Cold War era pilot, 1957, who's flying home from mainland Europe across the North Sea in a vampire fighter jet to get home for Christmas in in England. He runs into some trouble and there's there's just all sorts of interesting elements. It's a bit of a ghost story. It's a holiday tale. Um uh and it's just it leaves you with some warmth and and Al Maitland uh just is a delightful reader and just really enjoy it. It it's become an annual tradition to just kind of sit and listen to this once or twice during the the holiday season. And I checked the link and it's still up um on the CBC's website as it should be. And uh yeah, I've I've actually read the book as well and that's good. And I've heard other editions, but I or versions of this audio version of it, but uh this one is is my favorite. So uh check it out. That's the shepherd on the CBC
James Stacey . Yeah, this is an annual delight. I I didn't go back and check how long you've been recommending this, but for several years at least. And at this point, I even texted you just and I was like, Do you think we need more final notes? Like, should I come up with one? I've got a couple sitting around, but they'll they'll still be good in January. And you're like, nah, I think it's good. Uh just just to stick with the shepherd. And yeah, on the on the idea of there being other versions out there, I even considered like if if another version should exist, why not from us? Mm-hmm. Right. Yeah. Right. Why not with Jason reading it and you know, we can put together uh the the sound effects and and do do a proper but I just listen to this first and you'll see why we do I don't think we would bother. I don't think so. It's perfect. Yeah, it is perfect. It's perfect. It'd be like redoing north by northwest. Why even bother? The rope. Like right. Or or rope. Like why even bother? You can't do it. Yeah. Yeah. Uh you can't you can't do it better than perfect. Yeah, I think they did a great job. And uh this is always a delight. Um, it's something I'm I'm warming my daughters to the idea of like, you know, an audio play, uh sort of. And uh I but I I enjoy it and yeah, it's it's nice to, you know, sit in the dark room near the tree, maybe the airpods in, maybe on the speakers, who knows and and and kind of just enjoy it. It's uh it's a yeah, a little annual tradition and and something I'm glad that we support for sure. Well, there we have it. E
Jason Heaton pisode three fifty eight. There it is. Last episode of twenty twenty-five. Uh it's been a it's been a great year. Um we're we're skidding in right at the end here. We do have another Q and A to to record uh which will pop up uh after this one goes up, probably sometime between Christmas and New Year's. But uh other than that, yeah. Thanks, James, for for another great year. Thank you, man. And uh thanks to everybody that'
James Stacey s out there listening. Yeah. Yeah, we did want to take a a minute here to say a few thank yous and that of course includes CWC and Tactile Turn and Staycom Industries and Matt Ludvigson for partnering with us to make some pretty fun stuff. And then just a huge thank you to the Slack TGN crew and of course our beloved moderators, Chris Sowell, Jake T. S, and Jackson B. Thank you so much for all of your help and effort in keeping the crew uh alive and happy and healthy. I like to believe that we live in a world where we bring a lot of value and it balances out what you pay and and the the interest in the merch and and expensive pens and watches and that kind of stuff. But I also don't want to say that we'd be doing any of this without all of you. Uh you know, it's been a delight these last several years to be able to be part of this community and to feel some some weight and duty to bring things that are more fun, to bring things that are more interesting, to try and come up with with ways to delight and entertain and educate and all that kind of thing. And then finally, you know, we had on some incredible guests from the crew, including you know, Derek and Chris and Brock, Tom Place. And then we had on guys like Jack Carr. And it was just a a great year of bringing on other voices to the show. And something I really want to continue into next year. So yeah, uh certainly from Jason and definitely from myself, a huge thank you to everyone listening and everyone who kind of helped put us in a position to to make a show like this and to and to be able to have some fun with it. Looking forward to twenty twenty six. Yeah, our 10th year.
Jason Heaton Wow. Hard to believe. Let's bask. Never was never in the plan. Exactly. Right. All right. Well, happy holidays to everybody and uh and to you, James. And uh we'll we'll we'll be in touch certainly. But uh we'll see everybody around on the Slack. But uh in the meantime, as always, thanks so much for listening to this episode and to uh all the ones preceding. If you want to subscribe to the show notes, get into the comments for each episode, or consider supporting the show directly, and maybe even grab a new TGN signed NATO, please visit thegreynato.com. Music Throughout is, as ever, Siesta by Jazz R via the Free Music Archive, as it's been since the very beginning
James Stacey . And we'll leave you this quote from Abraham Lincoln, who said the best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.