I gave the Google NotebookLM AI links to my bio and portfolio and it generated this “podcast.”

It’s pretty funny what it chose to include in conversation, but it’s also so, so dumb.

An AI Podcast about Derek Brooks (by Google NotebookLM)

Back in college, I became sponsored by Soap Shoes which hilariously got me and my friends featured in YM Magazine. This clip is from an interview I did with a big radio station in the Quad Cities after it was published.

Taken from allhit989.com:
TUESDAY ON ALL HIT 98-9'S MALIBU MARK MANUEL IN THE MORNING...One of the Quad City's very own is featured in the April edition of YM Magazine and we'll talk to him live...We'll dish out the dirt with Celebrity Poop at 7:20am...AND... Make sure to get those birthdays in on the Hit Lines at (563)355-9890 OR by email at malibu@allhit989.com...

DEREK BROOKS INTERVIEW: One of the Quad City's very own is featured in the April 2002 edition of YM Magazine. Malibu talked to him LIVE on Tuesday (3/12/02). Why was Derek in YM?

Transcript:
Mark: This is Malibu Mark Manuel in the morning and I got this email a couple weeks ago, Liz.
Liz: Mmhmm.
Mark: from uh, Derek Brooks. It says, "Hey I'm uh, from the Quad Cities, go to college, and I'm in YM magazine.
Liz: Crazy
Mark: I'm thinking, yeah, whatever! So I email him back, we've been talking back and forth. I've got him on the hit lines right now.
Liz: Okay
Mark: So Derek, you're in YM magazine this month.
Derek: That is correct.
Mark: The April issue. Now what's the deal? You have this website - and - give us the whole story.
Derek: Alright, umm. Basically I started a Soap Shoes website my freshman year in college, and ya know. It got really big and it just kept getting bigger and bigger and eventually turned into an extreme sports website. A bunch of people found it, some news papers found it. Umm, the BBC actually found it.
Mark: Wow
Derek: Yeah, they interviewed me and I was played over there. And then, YM got ahold of me. They just started emailing me n stuff, and they came out here. They were like, well, if we come out there would you guys be interested in being in our magazine? And I'm like-
Mark: You're like, "Hell yeah!"
Derek: Yeah! yeah, you know. whatever.
Mark: Sure!
Derek: And they're like, even if it's like a teenage magazine?
Mark: Damn straight! Now you're actually from here, locally right?
Derek: Yeah, I'm from Port Byron, Illinois.
Mark: And you're buddies from where?
Derek: Um, I have... they're from all over the place. But I've got a buddy who's in the magazine who's from Cordova also.
Mark: Oh, cool.
Liz: Cool!
Derek: and some from Monmouth, Galesburg-
Mark: So you've gotta explain. Exactly, what are these Soap Shoes?
Liz: Yeah, I'm picturing a bad shower accident or something.
Derek: heh
Liz: and I know that's not right!
Mark: What exactly are Soap Shoes?
Derek: Um, they're shoes that were invented in 1997 by Chris Morris.
Mark: Uh huh.
Derek: Basically what they are - they're regular shoes. You can't really tell the difference, but they sorta look like skate type shoes. And they have a plastic arch in the sole.
Mark: OK
Derek: And so, you know, it's slippery, you can jump up on a handrail or a bench and slide across it.
Mark: You can actually check out - he has some videos on his website.
Liz: Uh huh
Mark: That you can watch them - and where are those videos shot at? Is that in Iowa City or where is that at?
Derek: Um, some of them are Iowa City, some are around the Quad Cities, they're all over the place.
Mark: So picture someone running along, jumping up on a handrail and then gliding across the handrail... 
Derek: heh heh.
Mark: and of course you can do like acrobatics and stuff off of them too, right?
Liz: Cool!
Mark: So why did they come up with this Soap Shoe thing?
Derek: He just thought, what if- Well, one of the problems with skateboarding or skating is, you can't- you know, you won't have your skates or your skateboard with you everywhere.
Mark: Right.
Derek: Like if you walk through the mall with your skateboard you're gonna get kicked out right away.
Liz: Uh huh.
Mark: ok, I got ya!
Derek: If you walk in with your shoes, no one's gonna know. You jump up, slide down a handrail or the little ledges in Southpark or Northpark.
Liz: Nice
Mark: It was pretty fun to watch these videos. Now was it you that umm, took it right there where it counts in one of the videos?
Derek: Yep, that was me
Mark: hahaha.
Liz: How ya doin?
Mark: Yea, how are your friends down below?
Derek: Uh, they're, they're doing better!
Mark: hahaha, He's gliding along and all of a sudden- you ever see like when you're watching umm, like gymnastics in the olympics and one of them falls and they land right on their crotch? 
Liz: Oh gawd.
Mark: Ok, he did this handrail and of course he just doubled over in pain. That was my favorite video! and I wouldn't mind putting a link to that video on my website cause it's really funny.
Liz: That's really sweet
Derek: I was actually laying there for a good 5, 10 minutes
Mark: And he is, he's just like "AHHHH" and I can just picturing him screaming out in agony. But uh... so what were the people at YM like?
Derek: They were really cool actually. A girl named Sarah Lyle is one of their writers.
Mark: Uh huh.
Derek: And she flew out and met us at the Holiday Inn over by Southpark.
Liz: Wow!
Mark: So did she try out the Soap Shoes herself?
Derek: No! you know, she didn't.
Mark: You should have made her try em out.
Liz: How about you try em out?
Mark: I would! 
Liz: Really?!
Mark: I'd love to try em out. Now I'm a pretty big guy, does it matter how big you are whether or not these things work?
Derek: No, no not at all.
Mark: And what is it that makes them glide along so well? Is there actually soap in them? or what's the?
Derek: No, they got the name soap because soap is slippery and the shoes slide, you know. But-
Mark: Right. But what is that? I noticed, I'm watching these guys. They'll even be on, uh. Oh let's say you have that umm, like that border, like that brick border like, around... somethin? 
Liz: Yea
Mark: They'll even glide along that.
Liz: Wow
Mark: What makes em slide so easy?
Derek: Mainly it's just the plastic and with your momentum the plastic will pretty much just slide across anything. But if it doesn't slide very well, you'll wax it up like you will with skateboarders or-
Mark: or skies or something like that. Wow that is pretty cool. And actually, Derek emailed me about a week or 2 ago and just said, "Hey if you're interested in talking to us, we're gonna be in YM magazine" and I'm thinking, "Yea these guys are in YM, my ass." So I check and sure enough, there they are!
Liz: That's funny.
Mark: And I think that's really cool, you guys got into YM magazine!
Derek: Yup.
Liz: Cool.
Mark: That is super, and uh, you're in college where at?
Derek: Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa.
Mark: And do you use these Soap shoes to get to class faster?
Derek: heh heh
Mark: Cause I remember the big problem at Iowa State is that some of those classes are like 10 blocks away.
Liz: Oh yeah, and you have 10 minutes to get there.
Mark: I'm thinkin, if I had Soap Shoes, I could just got a running start and just glided like this. to my class.
Liz: Oh gawd.
Mark: Wow! Well hey, best o luck to ya man. and let's put his website up on our website. www.broox.com. So Brooks
Liz: OK, Brooks. With an X
Mark: So www.broox.com. We'll put a link up on our website in the laugh out lounge.
Liz: You can check out Derek getting injured.
Mark: Right where it counts! Hang on, more hit music comin right up.

All Hit 98.9 Interview

Back in 2001, the BBC found out about "freestyle walking" and then ultimately found my old soap shoes website. I agreed to interview with them as they hilariously poked fun at me and my shoes.

Interview Transcript
Wendy: I'm Wendy Douglas 
Brendan: and I'm Brendan Coogan and I'm a scary mother.
Wendy: Tonight we find out about - wait for it - freestyle walking.
Brendan: And guess what, it's from America - what a surprise.
...
Wendy: Now we've found out about some strangely titled sports in the past but tonight we've got one for you that might make you think we're taking the mick.
Brendan: Freestyle walking is something we picked up from the web and while surfing around we found a site called BrooksFSW.com and had to find out more so joining us on the line is Derek Brooks from Illinois, U.S. of A.
Wendy: How are you doing?
Derek: I'm doing great.
Wendy: Cool. Now tell us what freestyle walking is all about.
Derek: Alright, umm. Well, there's actually 2 forms of freestyle walking. There's the old school stuff - people used to just jump around and jump off stuff and all that. But that's kinda out now. Uh, there's a company called Soap - they make these shoes now. and they make these shoes that have a grind plate. It's a plastic plate actually in the arch of the shoe and they allow you to grind objects, you can slide down handrails and anything like that.
Wendy: Well that's not really walking, is it?
Derek: Uh, not exactly, but it's different than skating. I mean, you just walk up to the rail you jump up and you can grind down it.
Wendy: Ah, I understand, that's where the walking comes into it.
Derek: Right, heh.
Brendan: So what kind of equipment do you need? You mentioned these special shoes. Is that it?
Derek: Uh, yeah - that's all you really need. Soap shoes.
Brendan: Are they expensive?
Derek: No, they're an average price - the price of normal shoes. They range anywhere from 70-130 U.S. dollars
Brendan: So Derek, how did you get into this? Were you just walking along one day and you saw a rail and you thought, "hey I'm gonna slide down that"
Derek: Uh, no actually, there's a guy named Chris Morris. In 1997 he had the idea, he was a former inline skater. He had the idea and made the shoes. They were a big hit. One of my friends from school had em and he got me into it.
Wendy: So how long have you been doing it, Derek?
Derek: Umm, about 2 years.
Brendan: Have you had any accidents? have you any broken bones, yet?
Derek: Uh, no broken bones, but I have had a couple accidents.
Wendy: Why do you do it? Because to us, it does seem a little bit strange
Derek: It sounds a little bit strange?
Wendy: Yea. It looks a little bit strange as well. We checked out the uh, the website. Why do you do it?
Derek: Uh, it's fun, it's a challenge. I dunno, it's just something, different.
Brendan: We were looking at the downloads on the web and we thought, "this guy's just had his skateboard micked and he's just forgotten and carried on" It looks like you kind of, you know, you need some skates.
Derek: Uh, yeah I've gotten that from a few people. It's just I dunno. It's not really a sport, we don't really consider it a sport. It's more of an activity, it's something you can do while you're out. Like, most people don't just go out and say, I'm gonna go grind some rails or go soaping or whatever. Like if you're out at the mall and you see a rail that's inside the mall or something, you just jump up and grind the whole thing and people look at ya, they're like, "whoa what the hell was that?" or something.
Brendan: Now, do you get funny looks? Obviously you say you're down at the mall, you're kinda grinding the rail, do you get funny looks?
Derek: Well some people will give you a funny look, some people will think, "whoa that was really cool, how'd you do that?" So I show them the shoes - they usually totally dig the shoes.
Wendy: So Derek, where can we find out more about this interesting pastime?
Derek: You can look at one of my friend's sites, his name is Brendan Smith actually, he's got a site called relatevideos.com. You can go there, he has like a full length soaping video. It's got some amazing tricks in it, and you can buy that from his website.
Brendan: Alright, cheers Derek. Listen - good luck with your soaping videos. Thanks for talking to us on the score.
Derek: Alright, Thank you.