15. Thinking out loud about the Group Chat That Never Sleeps, Soft F1 Cars, and Getting Booed by a PlayStation

Welcome back to Just Glen. Pop your earpods in, let’s go for a walk.This week we start with a serious question: When did Formula 1 cars get so soft? They’ve got little tyre blankets to keep them warm, and a guy checking the asphalt temperature so it’s not too hot or too cold. It’s the Goldilocks of motorsport. Compare that to the 80s when we played cricket on concrete with no helmets and called it Saturday.Speaking of the 80s, I talk about ride-or-die brand loyalty. I was a Nike, Gray-Nicolls, and Ray-Ban guy. I tell the story of spending every cent I had on a pair of Top Gun aviators, only for my brother to break them—and then nearly kill me in a car crash involving a palm tree in Townsville.But the Deep Dive this week is about the group chat. Every bloke over 40 has a group chat that is completely out of control. It started five years ago to organise a catch-up, and now it’s 200 messages a day of fire emojis and nonsense. We talk about the unspoken rules, the chat you’re too scared to leave, and why men seem to communicate better via a 3-minute voice note than face-to-face.Plus, a massive What I’m Watching segment featuring The Crash on Netflix, Widow's Bay on Apple TV, The Four Seasons Season 2, Jack Ryan: Ghost War, and The Man in the High Castle. And I reveal my secret dream of starring in a stage play, despite being told to mime by my high school teacher and literally getting booed by the SingStar video game.Let's get into it.