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Kevin: It’s another episode of the Better Learning podcast. We are talking the movie Real Genius. This is like a total eighties classic.

This brought back a lot of memories for me and I’m joined today. My co-host for today is, is Rob Roble with Legged Architects. Rob, how’s it going?

Rob: It is going great. Glad to be here today.

Kevin: So I, I am so curious of, um, we just talked a little bit that your, your Chicago area. I grew up Chicago area too. I don’t know why. I just look like associate Chicago area with like the classic eighties movies.

Probably just like all the John Hughes

ones 

Rob: Oh, completely.

Kevin: Um, but this, this one did not play take place in Chicago. But why, tell me, real genius, what was, what was the reason why you picked that, that movie?

Rob: So I had a colleague, tell me about your podcast and she, she took a roundabout way of asking me by saying, what’s your favorite school related movie? And I just off the cuff said, real genius. Had seen it recently, have loved it for years. And, uh, and she laughed. And, and we just, we just went with it, which is why we’re here today.

So, uh, I honestly can’t remember the first time I, I, I saw it. Uh, it’s obviously been around for, uh, more years than I want to count, and I am a product of the eighties, so it’s always resonated with me. I’ve always loved it, but, uh, I, I just thought it was, and again, it’s a funny movie and I thought it would be an interesting topic for this podcast.

Kevin: yeah, for sure. This, so this is one of those movies that rewatching, I think this may have been the first time that I actually watched the movie from like beginning to end on here, but I’ve seen like every scene of this movie like. You know, probably at least a dozen times. Um, but it was, this to me was like one that was like on, I don’t know, whatever it was, HBO or something.

I, I’m trying to even think like what it would’ve been on probably HBO. you know, and you just see like all, all these things. But now watching it like all the way through, I’m like, oh, there’s actually more of a storyline than I think I realized as a kid.

Rob: Yeah, just memorable characters, you know, and it’s, it’s, it’s a throwaway, right? It’s not highly rated. It’s not a, a a, you know, critically a clay movie. It’s just fun. Just some fun characters, some fun liner, one liners, you know, it’s just, I dunno, it’s a good time at the 

Kevin: For sure, for sure. Yeah. So, all right, so we’re, we will set this up a little bit. It came out in 1985. Val Kilmer plays Chris Knight. So this is like, you know, like he, he is, you know, like one of the main roles. And then Mitch Taylor is, is the other one. and then there’s the Professor Hathaway who is like, you know, the one that’s kind of, uh, basically forcing these, these young guys that are like, they, they label ’em as geniuses.

and bring him into college. Um, but really trying to just use their brain power for like, his projects that he is working on. I, I always start with the IMDB. I don’t know if you watch IMDB is just like a website.

Are 

Rob: Oh, yeah. No, I, I don’t watch a movie without having imd B open and looking at the.

Kevin: Yes. You, you, exactly. And I, of all the different ratings, that’s the one that I, I lean on most of.

Like, is this a movie worth watching? when I look at it, I’m like, if it’s over a seven, I’m like, it’s usually a pretty good movie. And if it’s under a seven, then you know it, it depends on if, you know, if I’m interested in their, these movies typically do not do really well. Have you looked at?

Have you looked it

up? 

Rob: I, I did, yeah. Ip.

Kevin: All right. Yeah. So 6.9, I mean, that’s pr So, but, but that’s pretty legit for like a movie like this, like I would’ve predicted it would’ve been lower. I would’ve predicted it would’ve been like a, somewhere around like a 6.2 or a 6.5, so that was, that was pretty, pretty good.

yeah, it’s definitely like the first time I think I’d ever seen Vel Kilmer in a movie. I

Rob: Well, and again, I had to look that up and it’s, it’s one of his first movies. So I, I wanna say se you know, first or second, I mean, it’s pretty early in his career. He is pretty young. Um, and I did notice on IMDB that, uh, his next movie after this was. Uh, top Gun, which was interesting. So this set the stage right for launching his career.

Real genius is, is what made him the star that he is today.

Kevin: Yeah. Yep, yep. And he did, he played it great. I mean, it was just like perfect. He just had some great one-liners and just really Yeah. Played, played that type of role of just like super smart, but also like troublemaker and, and yeah, and just try to get people out of their shell all the time.

anything else around like the movie that, that you wanna talk about before we go into the award categories?

Rob: no, I think we kind of summarized it. I, I think one thing, um, again, thinking about the movie and getting ready for today, I was kind of thinking back to my college days and, and I can’t relate to the genius IQ and the, you know. A lot of the pranks and things that they did apparently are based on reality and things that happened at places like Caltech.

my, my roommate and I were very similar to these. I threw that parallel getting ready for this, the podcast that I was more the Mitch Taylor guy and my, my roommate in college, uh, was more like Chris Knight, [00:05:00] more the free spirit. So when I made that connection, it kind of brought a smile to my face and kind of made the, the movie more relevant for me.

But, uh, again, it’s, it’s, it’s a fun movie to, to, to chat about and 

and re. 

Kevin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s inter, that is, that’s interesting of seeing like who, yeah, who, what character you would relate to most. Did you go, you went to Uni, university of Illinois.

Rob: Correct. Yeah,

Kevin: So were you on, were you always on the, the architecture path or were you

Rob: I was one of those few people who had a calling, so I decided in eighth grade that I wanted to be an architect and pursued it and, and never looked back.

Kevin: Nice. Okay. Cools cool. That’s why I didn’t know if you had more of like Yeah, if there was some relation I would be like, you already were thinking more engineering, or architecture,

so 

Rob: And my roommate was, uh, you know, was kind of in college and outta college. He was actually from Champaign, so he was a less serious student than I, I was. So maybe that’s why he was more the Chris Knight character in my life. But, uh, 

Kevin: Yeah, that makes sense too. And if he’s like more of a local, it feels like he kinda has been there longer and, and knows more. Yep. All right, so our award categories, um, the first one is we, we’ve been calling it the John Keating Award. Who of, who is the best teacher mentor in there?

Um, I’d love to hear

do

Rob: I, I think it has to be Chris Knight, Val Kilmer’s character. Right? I mean, there really isn’t, I mean, his whole point in the movie, like, you know, he, he was. He took Mitch under his wing, right? He, he saw that Mitch was this uptight 15-year-old kid in the deep end of the pool, struggling to impress everybody working too hard.

And Chris is saying, look, you’re, you’re smart. People need you. You don’t need to take this so seriously, so chill out, have some fun. Uh, and he was trying to, you know, have that same influence on everybody in, in their dorm by. Uh, you know, the tanning invitational was that the one party where they, they turned a, an auditorium into a beach party, which is pretty crazy into itself.

But just, you know, things like that, just helping everybody relax. and I, and again, I think that resonates for all of us, but I, you know, again, as a mentor and a person trying to have impact on the people around them, I, I think there’s no choice to, but to 

select. 

Kevin: I agree. I couldn’t think of anyone else that I would, that I would even consider putting in there. Um, yeah, which again, I always look at these movies where, you know, it’s education focus and there’s, you know, teachers or professors and, There are a lot of times where, you know, especially like these eighties, some of the nineties movies, it’s hard to find, like they, they just don’t position the adults as being very good teachers.

Rob: Right, Right, 

Kevin: Um, so this is, this is another one like that where it’s like they, they learn from their peers or learn from somebody that’s like, you know, maybe a year or two or, or a lit, you know, like that, just that next stage that they look to as more the mentor. and, and totally agree. ’cause you can see, like Chris Knight even mentions it a few times of.

Of like, that’s who he was when he started. Mitch was was who he

Rob: I used to dress like you and, and guaranteeing that no girl would ever look at me. I mean, yeah, he was.

Kevin: Yeah. Yep. Yeah. The relating of, yeah. His, his line, he ended we’re, we’re better, we’re different from most people. Better.

Rob: That’s right.

Kevin: Yeah. so, all right, so if we move into the next one, the cliques or the stereotypes, um, I mean, they definitely are leaning into kind of the Yeah. The, the nerds or like the, you know, like the, the more intele intellectual people.

Any other stereotypes? I have one other one, but I curious to hear what you think of, of the stereotypes that are in the movie.

Rob: Other than, I mean, there’s no jocks, right? There’s no, there, there’s not a lot of, there’s not a lot of other characters in the movie. It’s not, you know, the, the total college or school experience. So other than, you know, professor Hathaway, who’s, who’s very much not motivated by a students, but is motivated by.

Fame and fortune and, and working for the military, whatever the case may be. But no, I really, I, I’m curious what you have to say because it really was about the nerds.

Kevin: Yeah, there was one line that Professor Hathaway had of like, when they, he, he was at his house and they had people working on there and he is yelled at him like to get to work and he is like, labor should be laboring. That’s what you get for not having an education. Um, like that was very clear of like kind of this intellectual thing of like, yeah, there, there’s people that are gonna go to college and then there’s gonna be people that are doing labor work.

Rob: Well, there’s, there’s another line of his that I like when they’re taking the final exam and he’s passing out the final exam to each row of desks. And he tells them, okay, you know, take one and pass it back. Boys and girls, just like your IQ is normal. You know? So he was, he was so far superior, held himself in such high regard over everybody else around him.

It was, it was comical.

Kevin: Yeah. Yeah. All right, so the next one, class clown, like the scene Steeler, like who are the, who are the ones? this was a hard one because, um, the class clown to me, like it was clearly, you know, like Vel Kilmer’s

character, Chris Knight. Um, so I was trying to think more of like, is there somebody who, um, wasn’t in that much but still like, got a lot of attention for when they weren’t on

there? 

Rob: I was thinking about [00:10:00] some of the supporting characters like Ick, ick and Jordan are two of the other. You know, I, Jordan becomes the love interest for Mitch. Um, and she’s hyperkinetic and on all the time and doing something so crazy out of the, out of the ordinary. Like one of my favorite scenes is, everybody’s cramming for their final exams.

They’re up studying in the middle of the night and she’s got a belt sander and she’s refinishing the wood floor in her room. And, you know, she’s, she never sleeps and she’s always doing something, knitting a sweater for Mitch, you know, right after she meets him. Uh, so I always thought that was fun. And then Ick is the, the mad scientist, right?

He, he grows the giant cherry and, uh, he’s the one that creates the, the ice that they use for the, uh, the ice parade that they do in the dorm room. So it’s just, just the cra and then even, you know, Laslow this crazy guy that lives in the steam tunnels. So I think all those guys, just the, the ensemble I thought brought a lot.

Kevin: Yeah. Yep. I agree. The, the one that stood out to me, like the one that I remember the most was Laslo. for some reason, I just remember his character. Um, and yeah, living in the closet and yeah, just being kind of that. Yeah, for some reason that was like the character that like really stood out to me like, you know, after the years.

Um, but yeah, I, I think those other ones are really good, good, uh, ones too. Um, I know I was thinking of, what, what was her name again? Was it Jor? Jordan. Jordan. I’m like, I’m like, I feel like it’s seen her before and I was looking at IMDB and I, I really couldn’t find her in anything else, but I, I kept thinking she was, And I can’t remember her name. I think it was Boof and, and Teen Wolf. I dunno if you remember the Michael J. 

Rob: I, I remember the movie.

Kevin: but, they were not, I thought, but like, in my mind I’m like, oh. I’m like, I think that’s the same actress, but it was not in there.

but yeah, I mean really like all of those characters, like, I, I don’t remember seeing them in anything else.

So they like strictly like, played those roles in my mind around this movie. alright. Next one, homecoming scene or an iconic moment. do you have anything other than the popcorn scene

Rob: Oh

Kevin: that, that you thought about? Okay. All right. What else do you

Rob: The, uh, you know, one of the classic eighties, uh, musical montages, right? So they’re, they’re following Mitch as he goes around campus and they keep, um, following him into some lecture. So he’s in a big lecture hall and it’s filled with people and, uh, you know, something else happens.

They come back and he comes back to class the next day, and there’s a couple of boom boxes where students are recording the lecture instead of attending it. And then he comes back another time, and the whole audience is all boombox. He’s the only, you know, person in the room other than the professor. And then finally in the last sequence, the professor’s got a, you know, a, a reel to reel at the front.

And he’s, he’s broadcasting the lecture. He is not even there. Mitch is the only, literally the only person there in person. and then there’s a, you know, there’s a scrawled message on the chalkboard that the professor wrote that, you know, pay close attention to the recording. ’cause this is, this is hard to understand without seeing it.

So it just, I just think that’s, that’s funny. I think we all wanted to do that in college.

Kevin: Yes. Yep. Yeah, I definitely noted that actually for, for one of the categories later too, of like, that those boom boxes were just like hilarious. But you know, like that was also the tech, the technology at the

time. 

Rob: Well, I’m dying to know in, in college today, right? Or high school, whatever, you know, with AI and, and your phones, you know how many students are actually, you know, recording the lecture and transcribing it to, to notes on the spot. I’m sure it’s happening a lot,

Kevin: Oh yeah. You would think you would, you would actually hope that they’re

doing 

Rob: right? Yeah, exactly. 

Kevin: Like, like they’re really missing an opportunity if they’re not doing that. yeah, it was that one. I, yeah, like I said, I, I kind of pulled that into a couple different, different commodes later on.

yeah, for me, like the scene though, like if I think of like, was like. whole

popcorn 

Rob: Oh yeah. I mean,

Kevin: like that is that, that’s to me, what I remember the movie as

Rob: right.

Kevin: was at, was at end

scene. 

Rob: Just again, that, yeah, the hall spilling up with popcorn and, and, and Kent riding the popcorn out the front door. Is it, it, is

It. 

Kevin: And now he sets it up early on of like, he hates popcorn,

Rob: right?

Kevin: so. Yep. one liner best quote. there were a lot in here. Did you, did, did you have anything? Uh.

Rob: I struggled to pull one out. Right. Because, you know, and I’m like drawing a blank right now as we’re, as we’re, we’re talking, but my wife and I will quote things back and forth and, one of the ones that comes to mind is when, when Mitch first. shows up on campus and he goes to the freshman tee and he meets the dean of the college and, and introduces himself and the, and the dean’s about to give him some advice.

And, uh, you know, Mr. Puls On’s notebook and the, and the professor says, and the dean says, uh, never forget to check your references. So just this complete, uh, you know, throwaway line. And Mitch puts his notebook away and walks away. And then the professor says, I always enjoy when the stu when I, or I think the students enjoy when they get done verbally with them.

And, you know, the people around him all are just rolling their eyes like, you’re a moron. But, uh, [00:15:00] so I just enjoyed that, you know, the get done verbally quote, uh, t So stepping down, then I’ll throw that into a conversation and people look 

at 

Kevin: I love 

Rob: their eyes. 

Kevin: Yeah. Yep. I love that there. Yeah, there were so many, like, just like quick, like ones that throughout that movie. Um, yeah, I felt like there could have been a lot. There wasn’t anything to me though that, like, watching it again, a lot of these movies I’ll, I’ll realize, like I say them a lot.

I don’t think there were any for me that I, that I still quote to this day. Like, like you do on there. The other one that, that stood out me was like, what, what, what is Mr. Einstein really like? And then, and they just answered dead. but there were this, to me there, like, there was just really good dialogue all the way through.

I, I had a hard time picking like the

one 

Rob: I, I, I agree. There’s just so many, like, you know, my, you know, things are popping into my head as we’re talking and, and they’re just, they’re throwaway lines that don’t necessarily mean anything like, Jerry Hathaway is belittling Kent, and you know, Kent is trying to show off and use Jerry’s first name.

And Jerry’s like, Kent, you, I’ve told you before, you don’t get to use my first name. and then, you know, his, his colleagues are making fun of Kent and, and the directions and you know, ’cause Jerry’s telling him to go get my dry cleaning and do this, and do this and do these tasks for me. And, Sorry, I’m saying this outta order, but, um, like one of the friends, so, you know, I guess that goes from God to Jerry to you to the cleaners, you know, stuff like that.

So just ’cause Kent’s trying to, you know, puff himself up and make himself look more important to, to Mitch and his colleagues. Just put Kent right back at his place at Point.

Kevin: That was the other one I put in there too. The God to Jerry to me. Yeah. That, that sequence for sure. Um, alright. So realistic or ridiculous? know, like there’s definitely, let’s, let’s start on the ridiculous side. 

Rob: I 

think that, you know, I mentioned it before that they do the tanning invitational, so that’s the, the beach party in the, in the auditorium where they, they turn the orchestra fit into a pool and they’ve got a big slide in there. I’m like, that’s a, a lot ridiculous, 

but 

Kevin: A a lot of work. Yeah. And even how he sets up like the lasers to like get everyone to, to know where the party is. You’re like, yeah. That, that would be tough to pull off. I, I put two in even just like the whole, um, the whole idea of the, of the movie was that they were creating some weapons for, for the US military, that that was probably.

Rob: You 

Kevin: I’m assuming that does not happen

that you 

Rob: a part of me that thinks like maybe it.

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 the, the, all right. On the other side of realistic, I thought there was some pretty realistic stuff of like what school is kind of like, um, I think one of the things I was doing of like the recorders and the lectures, , and even like that, that student burnout that

Kevin: happens, to me was like, yeah, yeah.

That’s pretty realistic.

Rob: I, yeah, I think, you know, dorm life and, and people doing crazy things and yeah, just some of the classroom montages or the campus life, I think a lot of that was pretty realistic. So I think overall it was a, you know, fair portrayal of college in the eighties.

Kevin: Yeah. Yep. All right. So the iPhone effect, if that, if this was made today, what would be different, like technology wise, just like culturally,

Rob: I feel like the, the characters would probably be the same. Um, you know, maybe what they’re studying and what they’re doing. Might be different. Although again, I think about laser technology and granted that was maybe, you know, in more of its infancy in 1985. But, um, I was just reading an article where, you know, NASA is, is experimenting with using lasers for communications in space.

Kevin: Yeah. 

Rob: so laser, you know, it’s still a relevant technology, so it could be that Chris and Mitch are, are still in the lab and they’re still working on advancing laser technology. So that might be the same, but you know, nanotechnology or some of these other cutting edge technologies might be other things that people are studying around ’em, but I think a lot of it could still be relevant.

Kevin: yeah, I would agree. I mean, I, I think a lot of that would be, I think, um, you know, like there’s always the idea of, Social media component to it? Like, would that change, would these like, would the professor be like more famous on there or less famous versus, ’cause you know, like he was, he had this TV show that made [00:20:00] him famous.

Like, would he be able to do that? And like, modern and maybe, and maybe at like a much,

Rob: So instead of talking about the, the colon on a PBS show, he’d be, you know, doing a live stream or 

Kevin: yeah, he’d have his own YouTube channel, you know. yeah, I, I, I think there, there’s a lot that actually like translated pretty well even into today’s world. I, I think, um. Yeah. I mean, some of the things they did, I don’t know if, they could get away with now just with as many cameras and security things that are, that are up on campuses, but I, I don’t know.

I mean, if anyone could pull it off, it’s that age group, right.

Rob: yeah, yeah. You mentioned the, the, like, the stress level. Um, and that was another one of my favorite scenes in the movie is again, they’re all the students are crammed around the table and the, the one character just stands up and starts screaming. Right. He’s like screaming, frustration.

He is just, he’s lost it, right? His mind’s blown. He scream and then he goes, and he, he screams to every single person. Around the room before tearing off and, and screaming down the hall. And then later in the movie, there’s another scene at a decompression party where he’s in the background just kind of staring at his fingers and walking around.

I feel like, you know, again, maybe that’s a little exaggerated level of stress, but I feel like we’ve all been there in college, you know, cramming for an exam and you feel like you just wanna give up and, and run away screaming. And this guy actually did it.

Kevin: all right, so the, the, the substitute, if you’re gonna recast this, um, anyone, if you looked at the main characters, I, I just kind of focus like Chris Knight, Vel, Kilmer’s one, but any other ones would, would you, uh,

have 

Rob: the, the actor and Gabriel Jarrett was the actor that played Mitch. And I, I never, he never resonated with me in this role. So I was trying to think of who else. And I, I don’t know why, but the movie Super Bad popped into my head and I, which is another favorite. And I was thinking about Michael Er and Jonah Hill and thinking that Michael er might be, might be kind of that, and from, from super bad, that kind of that geeky,

Kevin: could totally do that. you could totally 

Rob: might be able to pull that one off.

Kevin: Yep. I totally think, yeah, that kind of innocence of, yeah, totally agree. I think that would be a good one. And then I was even thinking like if it was remade in that era, I, I could see, and I totally agree with you too, with Mitch Taylor’s, like I, I feel like that could have been recast and have, have like a much stronger character in there.

Like he played it well, but, but it didn’t, I don’t know. It was kind of like a blank canvas and you could have put. Somebody in there that actually like, uh, yeah. Took it to another level. I was thinking, I’m like, probably in that era, I think Tom Hanks probably could have PA played that main role fairly well.

I think he was still in the goofy mode, before he started getting into the more serious actors I’m think of like,

Rob: Yeah. And you think of Big and uh, who was the T Oh Boo and Buddies was the TV show. Yeah. So he was, you know, so yeah, I might be 

able 

Kevin: maybe he was too big of a name though, because I, I think this was a fairly low budget movie. but yeah, that’s the only one that I was

thinking 

Rob: Interesting. Yeah. He might have been a little old, but he could probably pull it 

off. 

Kevin: I know. Yeah. I’m like 85. Yeah. Maybe he would’ve been a little too old. He all right, so hags lasting impact, like if they were gonna, if you’re gonna write, like, have a great summer, somebody writes something, you know, in the yearbook on this movie, what. Anything stand out for you?

Rob: I, I, I really struggled with this question. Um, I, I don’t know what the answer is, and I, I kind of went back to the, the score on IMDB thinking, okay, it’s, it’s, it’s less than your, your 7.0 threshold. So it’s, it’s maybe not the most memorable movie. you know, certainly I, you know, I mentioned it to people I know, and they’re like, what, what, what are you talking about?

I haven’t, you know, seen that movie since I was in high school, I, I, I don’t know what the lasting impact of this.

Kevin: Yeah.

Rob: Is 

Kevin: May maybe there, maybe there’s nothing. Yeah. Maybe nobody writes anything in this one. Um, yeah. To me I kept thinking popcorn. I’m like, but I don’t know, like if there’s anything. Right. Um, yeah, there was one line that, that they had of like. Both immoral and unethical. Yes. I’m like, maybe, maybe somebody would write something like that.

But yeah, I kind of agree with you. This wouldn’t be, especially in 85, I mean, there’s so many good movies out too. Like I, yeah, I, I don’t know if, uh, this would’ve been the one that stood out on there. all right, so where are they now? I love this category and I, I thought about this one maybe a little bit more than I should have.

so Mitch Taylor, I, I think he would’ve stayed at, I, I think Chris would not have veered him off of his path. I think he would’ve stayed, like, in like the very straight path. I could see him be like a university president, like just really leading like STEM initiatives and, um, and being kind of like the, the middle of the road.

Like, 

Rob: I completely agree. I I was thinking he’d be, he’d be running a lab somewhere, you know, so he’d still be on the serious

Kevin: a lab

like 

Rob: but he would’ve learned the 

Kevin: way to do it and we’re gonna do it the right way,

Rob: Yeah, but he, but, but back, at, back of his mind, he’d still remember his experiences with [00:25:00] Chris, and he would have fun. So it’d be a fun lab, right?

It’d be like, like Google, where you’ve got ping pong tables and lounges and things like that. So he, he’d learn the lesson, but he’d still be on the straight and narrow doing, you know, doing the right thing.

Kevin: Yeah. Yeah. All right. So Chris Knight, what do you think they’d be doing now here? You know, 40 years,

Rob: He’d be,

Kevin: later, 40 years

later. 

Rob: yeah, I, you know, I, the image of, uh, the TV show wiped out, wipe out, popped into my head. So I’m thinking like, is he a game show designer? So he is doing all kinds of things. He’s, you know, he is got his hands in all sorts of different things, but yeah, so he designing something like wipe out with the, you know, the big, you know, the, the, the gauntlet of, of.

Balls and pools and all sorts of things that, uh, that keep people on their toes and having

fun. 

Kevin: hilarious. I love that. I actually, I’m gonna go with your answer on that. ’cause I was thinking, I’m like, maybe he was like, you know, like doing like a tech startup founder or something like that. But I think you’re right. Like more of like, like just creating like crazy worlds. I love that.

the other one I thought Laslo, I’m like, where would he be? And just the way he like knew how to like scam things and knew things. I’m like, like this guy is like, he may have been the one that like, in like invented Bitcoin.

Rob: Oh yeah, yeah. No, that

exactly right. So we still don’t know who he is. He is. He’s 

still 

Kevin: Yeah, you still don’t know who he is. He’s living somewhere, but he invented this system that like, yeah, that created a ton of wealth or like kind of shortcutted some, some way where he put the odds in his favor.

Rob: No, that’s brilliant. Yeah, that’s, that’s spot on.

Kevin: Yeah. All right, so last one, battle. The bands the best music from the movie.

Rob: So the, the soundtrack was all, was basically written for the movie, right? I mentioned the musical montages, which were, you know, orchestrated for those specific scenes. The only song I can think of is in the closing credits or at the end of the movie where everybody wants to rule the world by tears for fears.

I mean, it’s an iconic song by itself, but you know, after the house. Explodes with popcorn and all the kids are playing in it, and you know, it’s just, it’s a fun way to end the movie. It’s a, it’s appropriate song and it’s, yeah, it, it just works.

Kevin: that’s a great song. The other one, like the other, uh, the only other one that came out of like, oh, like I know that song was the Don Henley. All she wants

to do is 

Rob: Oh, that’s right. I forgot about that one.

Kevin: but you brought up the one, I’m like the classic eighties montage. I don’t know what the music is and it’s just like instrumental type of thing, but like, to me, like, oh, like those are the.

Greatest. Like we did the movie summer school earlier in the series, and they had like another like, just classic, you know, like test taking like montage of around a song. yeah, like the, it’s such an 80, like just such an eighties

thing 

Rob: And it’s synthesizer or heavy? It’s all keyboards. Yeah. Like you said, it’s just instrumental, but it works.

Kevin: Well, overall, I mean, fun movie to go through. Uh, thanks for getting it back on my radar. I’m glad you brought this one up. ’cause like I said, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen it. if we get back to real life, tell me, uh, gi gimme a little idea of, uh, your work, what legged, yeah, what, what’s going on in the real world for

you? 

Rob: So I’ve spent, um, most of my career in the pre-K 12 market segment. So, and kind of fell into it, you know, legged architects, that, that’s our most significant market segment. Uh, it’s, it’s probably 60% of what we do day to day. So I kind of fell into it by accident because that’s, that’s, that was the, you know, the nature of the firm when I started.

But I’ve, I’ve loved it. It’s, it’s a very rewarding, uh, segment to work in. and I, again, thinking about the, you know, the movie and trying to tie it back to a project experience, we recently did a project, uh, the Aero Therapeutic Center in, in Burbank, and it’s a facility for special needs students, uh, from grades three to 22.

And, and one of the things that we. Talked about when designing that building is, is how does architecture support reducing stress and environmental stress? Um, ’cause there, there were so many different triggers for these students in this building and that got me, that’s part of the reason I talked about or wanna talk about real genius today was same kind of thing.

Here’s these geniuses that are, can’t cope with the, the amount of stress and the burden they have. And they’re looking for ways to relieve it. And I think that pertains to the school environment, right? There’s different levels of stress that. Uh, I think students are under today, you know, at, at every grade level.

So what are we doing as architects to and designers to, to create an environment that reduces that stress? and, and some of the things that we did at the a therapeutic center is every room has. a, a small breakout area, a calming area, and then there’s sensory rooms and there’s quiet rooms. So there’s different levels of self-care, or for pullout intervention.

And even though that applies to this particular school for special needs, I think there’s lessons to be learned at. Any school facility, right? There’s always students or, or staff, faculty, [00:30:00] whoever, that need to pull themselves out of a situation and need a safe environment. So I think it’s something that we need to be thinking about in everything we design.

Kevin: yeah, that’s actually what I was just gonna ask you is like from that, like what are the things that you think, what components do you think you’ll take to other projects from that?

Rob: Yeah, definitely. Like we, we, we joked about as we were designing these. Uh, the spaces within the classroom, like, well, why don’t we do this in every classroom? Why doesn’t every classroom have this little safe corner where, you know, a student can self-reflect or deescalate, you know, how, what are other spaces in a, in a typical school, where deescalation should happen or just, you know, be able to reset your thinking?

So again, doing that one project really shifted our mindset in terms of how we designed schools moving forward.

Kevin: Love it. Very cool. yeah. Well, you’ll have to thank Kelsey for me here, um, of making the intro. Yeah. yeah. Getting to know her. I feel like she’s, she’s been, yeah, a friend of the, the work that, that we’ve all been working together on here of like, how do we, how do we change, that status quo in education?

Just keep moving towards what, what this next generation or next. Next set of generations really is going to need, versus the way, the way we’ve been doing it up until this point. So it’s, uh, yeah, I mean it’s really the, the driver for us. I mean, it is like, I feel like I’m just wrapped up in all these conversations right now of like from parents’ perspective too, of like, what, what do we want our kids?

Like, what’s the goal? Like it, it does come right back to that of like, what’s the goal of, The school system by the time, you know, they’re 18, what do we, what do we want for our

Rob: Exactly. 

Kevin: I, I feel like that’s the conversation that is so important right now. That’s actually gonna frame really the work that we’re doing in the industry.

Rob: Exactly. You know, social emotional learning is so, so prevalent and, you know, it’s definitely a topic that, There’s a lot of awareness behind it, and it’s, it’s very timely. It’s about time that we’re thinking about that, not just thinking about, you know, education and how to, how to deliver it, but there’s so much more to it, and that social emotional learning is such a key part of, of the environment that we need to be taking into account.

Kevin: Well, awesome. Well thanks for doing this. Great talking to you. Are you going to any conferences or anything coming up here? 

Rob: No, uh, no. I’m not going to like the, a e conference. I’m, I’m not attending that this year. Illinois has a, they call it the tri conference in November. We’re the, uh, three different organizations, Illinois Association of School Boards and Business Officials. And, uh, you know, they have a conference in November, so you know, I’ll attend that.

Kevin: I know the fall just gets so heavy with these, so Yeah, like I know. Yeah, we have Afra l, these learning scapes, which is actually in Phoenix this year. Um, so I’ll

be, 

Rob: yeah, Kelsey’s going to that,

but. 

Kevin: um. Good. Yeah, I’ll see her there. And then this year it’s like back to back. Um, the other one in our industry is, is ED Spaces, and that’s gonna be in Columbus, Ohio, the, the week after that, the first week of November.

So This is the time of year. We’re, we’re going right into the time of year where, where it’s very much, uh, BA based around conferences, learnings from, you know, this last summer so that we can apply ’em into the next round of schools that we’re all working

1. So. Awesome.

If this is your first time listening or you’re not a subscriber or listening watching, we, this is pretty much everywhere on YouTube, Spotify, apple Podcasts, where wherever you listen or watch, just hit subscribe and, uh, better learning podcast.com is our hub for everything. So if you wanna look at, look for anything, look at any of the past episodes, have any suggestions, it’s all@betterlearningpodcast.com.

But really love this community. It’s been a lot of fun doing these movie series, um, we’ll probably be wrapping up at the end of the year. We’re, we’re having discussions of, uh, of, is a time to wrap up the movie series there. They’re a lot of fun. Definitely welcome any feedback, from our audience as well.

But Rob, great talking to you, great meeting you we’ll talk soon.

Rob: Kevin, thanks very much. Appreciate it.