Metal Gear Flushh - An Interview With Donna Burke

Projektitachi (00:25.838)
What is up, everybody? Welcome back to another week of the Jeezy Chop Chop podcast. I am your host, Project Hitachi, joined by my good friend and co -host, Warners. And today, we have a very special guest. You've heard her iconic voice in games like Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, and if you've been to Tokyo and rode the famous Shinkansen bullet train, she is the English announcing voice you hear. And today, she is with us to discuss her new venture, Royal Flush.

Let's give a warm welcome to the one and only Donna Burke. Welcome to the podcast. This is such an honor. We are so happy to have you here.

Donna Burke (01:04.914)
Thanks for letting me invite myself.

Projektitachi (01:09.07)
Yeah, I can I just give a little story for everyone who's listening. I started my week checking my emails. I was getting on doing my thing, getting set for the podcast and in the corner for anyone who knows Google send you notifications in the corner when you get your emails. Now, true story, I had just listened a couple of days before to Sins of the Father. It's on one of my gaming playlist. I just listened to it because I like it. I love I love the song.

Donna Burke (01:12.658)
Come on!

Projektitachi (01:38.83)
And in the corner, it says, email from Donna Burke. And I was like, yeah, I was like, this must be a different Donna Burke. This can't be the Donna Burke that I just listened to a few days ago. That would be crazy. So I look, and lo and behold, it is really her in our podcast inbox saying, hey, Greg and Daniel. And I was like, whoa.

Donna Burke (01:45.106)
So you're totally getting pumped.

Donna Burke (01:56.594)
Do do do do do do

Donna Burke (02:10.098)
You mean, whoa, that's what you actually meant to say there. So we can edit that in later. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Projektitachi (02:13.774)
I was so hoping she would do that. yeah, yes, 100%. I was super pumped. I was like, if she wants to talk about the Lou, we can talk about the Lou. So, yeah. But you have a new venture that you mentioned and it's called Royal Flush.

Donna Burke (02:26.962)
Good on you, mate. We can talk about other stuff as well, so yeah.

Donna Burke (02:41.682)
I have, and I live in Japan, I've lived here since 1996. And so I get to experience the lovely Japanese toilets here, which have you guys been to Japan?

Daniel (02:56.088)
We both lived in Japan for a few years, actually.

Donna Burke (02:59.314)
So you know what I'm talking about, right? You go to the toilet and you can, I don't know if you can hear that on the.

Daniel (03:05.016)
Mm -hmm.

Yeah, we can.

Projektitachi (03:08.254)
we hear it.

Donna Burke (03:09.234)
Yeah, okay, so people who haven't been to Japan... What? What? I know, right? Sometimes, yeah, sometimes my... Yeah. So, if you come to Japan, all the public toilets are beautiful and clean. They've got heated seats.

Daniel (03:12.92)
It's still going off! You were trying to put it away and it was like pffftttt

Projektitachi (03:17.966)
It didn't want to turn off.

Donna Burke (03:34.994)
And there's this device on nearly every wall in Costco here, everywhere, which can make a water, a sound of a flushing toilet or water to cover your plops and splashes and wheeze. And let's face it, some sneaky farts so that the people either side of the store can't hear you. And it's also in every home because the Japanese homes are really small. So the toilets right next to where everything's happening. It just gives you privacy. So people can't,

I told you fart, which you know, there's none of that. So everyone's dignity is preserved. So here I am living in Japan, never having anyone hear me fart or anything. And I go overseas, go home and it's just, I'm horrified. I'm a confident person. So I'm like, if I'm just sort of cringing and thinking, can people hear me and even.

Daniel (04:06.648)
hahahaha

Donna Burke (04:32.114)
So I was thinking that I've got to make this product available to everyone. And so that's what I'm doing. Even though I'm super busy with other projects, I've, I just have to do this. Actually, I've got something for fans too. If they buy one, I will sign this thing. I don't know if we're YouTubeing this. cool. So you can see this white thing here. There's about, I can write a message to anyone that catches to have to buy Royal flush, but I will write them.

Projektitachi (04:42.318)
You know...

Projektitachi (04:50.662)
what's going on YouTube?

Donna Burke (05:01.842)
So as long as it's not too creepy. But then none of the people listening here would ever think to do that. So I apologize listeners for assuming that any of you are a little bit creepy. So yeah, that's me.

Projektitachi (05:13.966)
That's right, everybody keep it clean.

Projektitachi (05:21.742)
So to kind of piggyback off of that, I don't know, maybe it's as we get older. I used to not feel like that was a valid concern of mine before, but then when I would go out, it seems like, I don't know, maybe it's an age thing, that the walls in restrooms just seem to get thinner and thinner and thinner, and there's more gaps, and I...

Daniel (05:45.816)
more gaps, there's more gaps too.

Donna Burke (05:47.89)
More gaps, especially in America. What's with your gaps?

Projektitachi (05:52.622)
I wish we knew. I wish we knew.

Donna Burke (05:54.45)
Is it a health thing? Health and safety can sort of like come and...

Daniel (05:57.976)
You know, I, when, when, when I had initially gone to Japan and I think Greg would share the same sentiment here that in itself was a culture shock. And then we stayed there. We were there for a few years and then we come back and it felt like an even bigger culture shock coming back to your own culture and going, and then noticing all the issues and things that are different and kind of annoying.

Donna Burke (06:12.146)
Hmm. Hmm.

Projektitachi (06:20.206)
I would also say

Donna Burke (06:20.37)
And then we become those people who go, well, back in Japan, well, back in Japan. It was like, shut up about back in Japan.

Daniel (06:23.864)
Yeah, I do it all the time and I don't care. No shame.

Projektitachi (06:24.782)
Yes. Yes. Yes. And the technology that is made over there, we could benefit from like, I know some people are probably thinking like, you know, is that really gonna, you know, does that really make a difference? It's a quality of life thing that it's one of those when you get it, you wonder how did I live without? Like, how did I function without this?

Donna Burke (06:47.538)
Yeah, totally, totally. And the other thing is, it saves water because what we do when you're in a panicky situation, like this happened to me, Whole Foods Hawaii 2019, I remember I could pinpoint the day and I'm like, public toilet, no one's here, terrific, I'm gonna, all systems go, you know, and then you hear, someone's walked in. And suddenly I'm like, they're gonna hear everything.

Projektitachi (07:13.326)
Mm -hmm.

Donna Burke (07:16.69)
And so what do I do? I turn around and I waste water, but I save my dignity. I do the double flush. Sometimes you can use a, you can rattle the, you know, the toilet paper, but that's what we do. And so this, this device was invented in Japan in the late eighties to save water because they had this terrible drought. And so Toto, this very famous toilet manufacturer came up with the idea.

Projektitachi (07:23.886)
Yep.

Projektitachi (07:29.262)
Just find anything you can.

Donna Burke (07:45.17)
to, because they were saying, save water, save water. And they noticed in their factory that they weren't saving any water because people still were double flushing.

Daniel (07:55.64)
They invented that type of toilet because of a drought? I never knew that.

Projektitachi (07:55.662)
Yeah.

Donna Burke (07:56.146)
So yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't either. It's like, yeah.

Projektitachi (08:03.662)
That's actually that's mind blowing. When you explain it like that, it makes even more sense because, yeah, you don't realize how much water you're wasting by doing the, you know, the double flush. And every time you flush, that's water that's going to your water bill or go into the company's water bill, wherever you're you're doing it. So, yeah, that, you know, that makes it. Yeah. That's that. So.

Donna Burke (08:17.938)
Yep.

Yeah.

Yeah. And I don't know, I went to an all girls school and you know, let's just say kids can be cruel. And I was probably one of those kids being cruel, like, yeah. Yeah, so in all the toilets in the public school toilets here, they're all, it's just because it's just culture. And it's not just also about your dignity, it's also so that you don't make other people listen to you.

Daniel (08:34.904)
Hahaha!

Hmm, it was me.

Donna Burke (08:52.37)
So it's kind of a politeness thing. So out of politeness, I'm gonna activate this thing so no one's like going, what the?

Projektitachi (08:52.43)
Mm -hmm.

Daniel (08:59.8)
Yeah, that falls in line with Japanese culture too. All around politeness and then saving your dignity.

Donna Burke (09:03.282)
Yep.

Yeah, so what do not disturb your neighbors.

Projektitachi (09:10.03)
That is the, yep, yep, that is definitely it. So where can everyone go to get themselves Royal Flush here in the US?

Donna Burke (09:11.986)
Yeah.

Donna Burke (09:17.874)
They can go to JapanToiletSound .com and there's free shipping from Japan anywhere in the world. If you need it quick, we can do courier shipping for a bit of extra cost. I'm going to sign something. I'm going to say thank you regardless. So even if you don't want like, Donna, I don't want you to sign the signature. I'm going to sign this thing and put it in your, put it in the post for you.

Projektitachi (09:44.718)
Put it in there anyway.

Donna Burke (09:46.802)
So a little message to you saying thanks.

Daniel (09:47.928)
Open your toilet. It's a message from Donna Burke. I hope you have a good evening. Thanks, Donna. Close the toilet.

Projektitachi (09:51.838)
I'm sorry.

Donna Burke (09:52.486)
Yeah, so actually I love that you guys made this funny like metal gear flush and then this morning I was thinking, isn't Silent Hill like something to do with like, cause we're trying to silence our farts and splashes. So I don't know, metal gear, silent gear, can we do better?

Projektitachi (09:58.222)
Remember to hide your flushes.

Projektitachi (10:13.518)
Mm -hmm.

Projektitachi (10:18.542)
Silent flush because technically it's a silent flush Like this is this is something we're gonna be putting on social So yeah, we how how should we because we did we got metal gear and then you came up with the amazing royal gear flush

Donna Burke (10:25.394)
Yeah, so I'm -

Donna Burke (10:31.954)
well, Royal Gear Flush. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, people can think of something better. Yeah, so I'm having lots of fun making, yeah.

Projektitachi (10:33.262)
So that's gonna be the episode name.

Projektitachi (10:40.622)
Yeah. So what do you guys think? Like what would be some good, some good, some good names for this mixing, mixing Donneberg's Royal Flush with some of her past works.

Donna Burke (10:49.266)
for this podcast. And also, who's the woman on who's doing your voiceover saying, jeez, I'm like, she's totally otty. Who the hell is she?

Daniel (10:57.336)
You know what? I have the same question. I have no idea, Greg.

Projektitachi (11:00.726)
So...

Donna Burke (11:04.498)
I need to redo this for you. So after the, after this, we finished shooting. I've got this good microphone. I'm going to bloody redo your thing for you. Cause we don't know who she is.

Projektitachi (11:15.15)
I don't know her personally. I actually hired someone from Music Radio Creative, which is how I learned how to do a lot of podcasting. But Donna, I would not turn down having an introduction from you.

Donna Burke (11:22.802)
OK.

Yeah, I think we need to, I think we need to, you know, it's just out of politeness, I have to offer for free, of course. So you send me the text and, or actually we can record it. We can record it now, later. So guys, so yeah, basically I'm dissing your introduction and putting myself out to do it. Sorry, sorry, Rando.

Projektitachi (11:38.126)
Absolutely.

Projektitachi (11:43.022)
Guys, let's look at this.

Projektitachi (11:47.37)
Hahaha!

Daniel (11:48.088)
Ha ha!

Daniel (11:52.152)
You asked the question that I've wondered for a long time. And I just kind of just put it. I was like, probably friend or something. And he's like, I don't even know who she is. What do you mean you don't even know who she is?

Donna Burke (11:56.402)
That's what we're here. This is what this podcast is about.

Projektitachi (12:01.55)
I don't even know. It was music -related creative. There was a sale. And I was like, hey, we need an intro.

Donna Burke (12:10.61)
Well you can't get cheaper than free, so.

Projektitachi (12:14.958)
having a podcast intro by Donenberg, yes, 100%. I'm on board. We're gonna connect and we're gonna get to that. Okay, now.

Donna Burke (12:18.546)
Okay, cool. We'll make that happen. So thank you for giving Royal Flush a plug. I don't know, there's a ton of joke in there. There's a ton of joke somewhere. Sorry, had to say it. But let's move on to talk about any...

Daniel (12:27.16)
Hahaha!

Daniel (12:33.848)
Such a good show.

Donna Burke (12:41.01)
Whoopsie. dear. I didn't think it was that funny. I probably need to Google the word plug afterwards.

Projektitachi (12:44.686)
Okay. That was, that was a good one. That was a good one. I did. Yeah. Okay. So getting into the, you're very alive because you are, you, you are a woman of many talents. You have done voice acting, singing, you wrote comedy and you're an entrepreneur.

Donna Burke (12:53.842)
Hmm.

Donna Burke (13:09.394)
Mm -hmm.

Projektitachi (13:12.494)
I am curious, and I'm sure you've been asked this a million times, in terms of Metal Gear, because Metal Gear is one of my favorite franchises, and obviously I already said I loved your song on there.

Donna Burke (13:21.81)
Mm. Yeah, that's.

Projektitachi (13:25.774)
But you've also said you don't play video games.

Donna Burke (13:29.682)
Yes, I was in the closet for many years, Greg. There's a deep sense of shame and imposter syndrome. I remember at the 2015 games and when Metal Gear Phantom Pain comes out and they're getting me up on the console and my character, you know, see, I'm even calling a character that's probably a special name, but I think Ocelot was sort of walking to a wall and like shooting his gun into the floor, you know.

Daniel (13:52.76)
Hehehe

Donna Burke (13:55.666)
And it's comedy gold. I should get a Twitch channel just to show how shit I am. But am I allowed to say anything? Sorry, I said it. Yeah, so, and I was really ashamed of it. Like, I was like, I can't keep, I can't find it anymore. So then I just tell everyone. And now I think I've got some sort of auditory processing thing. Like, actually one of my friends is a,

Daniel (14:00.856)
Ha ha!

Projektitachi (14:02.766)
You're fine. Yeah.

Donna Burke (14:25.01)
fantastic jazz player he can't even watch tv so it's a feeling of being overwhelmed so i get so overwhelmed so i can watch someone else do it so it's not like that i could watch you do it and go you're killing go and get him no he's behind you but to actually do the yeah i could but to actually do it and be the character is is too overwhelming and yet i can act i don't know it's

Projektitachi (14:35.15)
Mm -hmm.

Daniel (14:41.656)
That's the kind of side motivation we all need.

Donna Burke (14:52.434)
I can read Game of Thrones, but I can't watch it on TV. It's all the music and all of the sort of the tension and it's just, yeah, too much. Yes, it's just too much. So.

Projektitachi (14:59.886)
Mm -hmm.

Daniel (14:59.928)
Like all the stimuli at once.

Projektitachi (15:06.062)
So how did you wind up in the gaming industry? Like, how'd you wind up with Konami?

Donna Burke (15:13.138)
Well, it was blind luck of living in Japan and lack of competition. So if you too had lived in Japan in the late 1990s and early 2000s, there were no Hollywood actors wanting to be in video games. It was really expensive to, there was no internet. Like you can't just drop massive files. There was no, you had to post a CD to somebody. So the data was, so,

I think I had like, there was probably about 10 people they auditioned and I was outstanding out of that 10. So it's not like they went to LA and had, no, get, you know. So, okay, let me just say it. I'm incredibly talented. This is, I know, I know, but I was also, there was no competition and they were like, wow, she's, she's clearly can do this at an adequate level. And that's how I got in.

Projektitachi (16:11.662)
Okay, so we happen to miss that boat, Daniel. We...

Daniel (16:15.768)
Apparently, because we we didn't get to Japan until 2006 and then we were there for a few years.

Donna Burke (16:21.074)
That's not too bad. We're in Japan, are we?

Daniel (16:24.92)
sassabow originally, and then we just traveled everywhere we were. So we were in the Navy together and then, yeah. And so, but our ship was in port most of the time. So we got to mostly enjoy Japan.

Projektitachi (16:25.486)
Sassaba.

Donna Burke (16:32.498)
I actually want, I want you to judge the competition at your Costco. I want you to judge the talent competition. Your Costco base, your Costco or your Koda, one of the, yeah, thank you. No, a competition, they had a talent competition and you have this in the Navy, you have, or in the forces, you have this, you, every moment matters. Like you have a entertainment,

Projektitachi (16:44.462)
Yo, Yakuuska!

Daniel (16:45.88)
Yakusco. They had a Costco?

Projektitachi (16:50.254)
At Yakuska. There was a...

Daniel (16:52.056)
Donna Burke (17:01.81)
organization that does stuff to. Yeah, they booked me to come and yeah. Yeah. So, that was a big, that was a big culture shock because it's basically like, like going to America, but you're in it's in Japan. So once you get through the. Yeah. No, it's great. I, I'm, I still have a crock pot that I bought illegally because of my friend. I went to the, I went to the, to the shops.

Daniel (17:04.184)
yeah. It's been a while, but I remember.

Projektitachi (17:11.31)
I missed an opportunity, I see.

Daniel (17:18.744)
I'm so sorry.

Daniel (17:26.616)
What the fuck?

Donna Burke (17:30.386)
which are clearly not for Australian visitors. And I'm like, that looks good. And my friend, American friends said, I'll just buy it for you. So yeah, cool. Yeah, so you were in the Navy. Cool, cool.

Projektitachi (17:38.478)
That's how we do business.

Daniel (17:39.704)
You

Projektitachi (17:44.494)
So you are living both of our dreams by living there now and you've been living there since 1996. Okay.

Donna Burke (17:44.946)
Yeah.

Donna Burke (17:52.21)
1996. Yeah.

Daniel (17:53.816)
Yeah, what happened to get like, how did that happen?

Projektitachi (17:56.91)
Yeah.

Donna Burke (17:59.474)
Well, I was 31. I had been teaching high school in Perth where I'm from. And I was just, I'd always wanted to be a singer and actor. But all I got to do was sing at funerals and weddings and, you know, my dream of being in Hollywood or anything like that, it just was died because, you know, I was so old. And so I got to, in Australia, we have this, we have,

really sorry to people who don't have this, but we have this, you know, medical, medical, free medical care, and you have this thing called long service leave, which believe it or not, in working for something for 10 years, they give you money for three months. So I was traveling and I just thought, I don't want to go back to Australia because I know exactly, exactly what my life will be. So I took the, I got a job in Japan. I was in London, I got a job in Japan.

Projektitachi (18:35.758)
free medical care.

Donna Burke (18:52.242)
never was interested in Japan and I actually think that's a good thing because it's not like I had this big dream and this fantasy because I know some people do come to Japan and then they get really disappointed and so coming, coming and living here I had no, I felt like a kid like I didn't know anything, I didn't know anyone and it's like your whole life restarts and no one knows who you are they're not like that you're, are you

You're a Kathy Burke sister, right? Like I've got two older sisters. I was always relate. you're so and so sister. Here like, American, I'm like piss off. I'm not, you know, I'm Australian. Russian, are you Russian? Are you American? And it's like, it's like.

Daniel (19:29.656)
No!

Daniel (19:36.44)
I'm just picturing that dynamic in my head because I know what it looks like because I've been to Australia, I've been to Japan. There's a picture that's painted for me right now that is so funny.

Donna Burke (19:46.962)
Yeah, I love it when they get in a taxi and they say, America, are you American or are you Russian? Cause you know, clearly I look like a high class prostitute on to on a, on a, on my way to a job, which is another story. Cause I was once offered a job as a prostitute in Japan and I was like, I'm kind of flattered. I'm kind of flattered.

Projektitachi (20:03.15)
Wait, what?

Donna Burke (20:12.658)
I'm outraged, I'm outraged, but, and yet I'm flattered. I mean, clearly you think, God. Anyway, so I love to do that with a taxi driver. I said, are you from Korea? no, no, no, I'm from Japan. Or are you Chinese? no, no, no. I'm like, you know, I like stop, stop just painting all white people as they're Americans. Anyway, that's my rant. So I can't even remember what the question is.

Projektitachi (20:14.862)
I'm flattered, but how dare you?

Daniel (20:26.936)
haha

Projektitachi (20:41.838)
We were wondering how you wound up in Japan.

Donna Burke (20:47.474)
Yeah, so boredom with my hometown, why not go there? And once I got here, I started getting really high class, not prostitution jobs, high class jobs, singing for events and then singing for TV commercials. And they just literally give you a thousand dollars cash. And so from being a broke teacher, I suddenly was making a lot of money and I was 32, 34, 33.

Daniel (20:57.88)
Hahaha!

Donna Burke (21:15.986)
I was old enough to realize, my God, this is, if you can just turn up on time and they, I think there's been so many flakes that have come through Japan or, and I have seen people behave very badly, like, I'm gonna eat this rubbish and, you know, just, just be very difficult. So if you're just pleasant, they just put you, my goodness, we'll ask Donna to do anything, you know, cause she, she's so versatile. She says, yes, she's always pleasant.

And then if you don't like the job, you can just, sorry, I'm busy. You know, so it was perfect. So I just knew how lucky I was, knew that I was getting these incredible opportunities. And, you know, Yoko Kano working with her in 2001 on, you know, I'm singing live with the Symphony Orchestra in one of the most beautiful studios next to Tokyo Tower. I've got chills now thinking about it. And I just...

This is like my dream has come true. And that's how I feel about Japan. It's just made all my dreams come true. So that's how. Well, I never picked up enough of the language and I'm not, again, I used to be ashamed, but I just don't.

Projektitachi (22:24.174)
That is amazing.

Daniel (22:24.344)
How long did it take you to get like adequate and pick up enough of the language to kind of feel like at home?

Donna Burke (22:40.338)
speak Japanese. I think I speak Japanese. If you can't speak Japanese, you'd be like, whoa. But basically I'm saying this food delicious is not. Yes. More beer, please. Lovely weather. Isn't it? And so the Japanese who don't know that I've lived here for 27 years are like, my God, you are a genius at speaking Japanese. But I just have enough to get by my husband's from England. He's fluent.

Daniel (22:50.36)
The way it's like translate.

Projektitachi (23:00.75)
You

Donna Burke (23:10.418)
I used to have a, you know, all my staff were bilingual. And actually back in the day, even if, even when, whenever I tried to speak Japanese in a, in a job, the agents were like, don't speak Japanese, don't speak Japanese. We want it to look like we've flown you in and that you're very expensive. So if you start speaking Japanese, they're just going to think you're some local English teacher that we picked up.

So you're degrading your value when you speak Japanese. So it was highly discouraged. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Daniel (23:43.)
From a business standpoint though, I get it.

But you, but to kind of piggyback off what you said before, and I, I'm guessing this still holds true. Cause I remember living in Japan. You didn't need to know the language. You just needed to know a little bit to get by because a large amount of their population speaks English. Fairly like, okay.

Projektitachi (23:48.686)
That's crazy.

Donna Burke (24:01.618)
Yeah.

Donna Burke (24:05.614)
That is absolutely not true. No Daniel, they don't. They really don't.

Daniel (24:13.464)
Just in the couple cities we were in, I guess.

Donna Burke (24:15.666)
Maybe, and maybe you had people come up to you who could speak Japanese.

Projektitachi (24:16.174)
Yeah, we kind of got lucky.

Daniel (24:20.12)
Well, and we were in like Naval, we were like in, can I speak Japanese? no, I've, it's been years since I've.

Donna Burke (24:26.578)
No, maybe, maybe to attractive guys, you attracted women, or men who could speak Japanese, speak English, and they'll come up to you like, especially if you were in cities where there weren't many foreigners, they'll probably come to you like, hello, and they want to practice their English. Yeah.

Daniel (24:43.448)
Yeah, there was a lot, I guess, like from that perspective. Yeah. And we lived like the, the areas we were at, I feel like maybe had more people that would be in a position to have to speak more English, I guess, like naval naval bases and cities and stuff close to that.

Donna Burke (24:57.618)
Yeah, yeah, and they probably, yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, Okinawa, they can speak, you know, to work on an American base, it helps to have English, yeah.

Projektitachi (25:12.334)
So pretty much that helped guide you to your other jobs, like working with Silent Hill and actually in an anime too, which I did not know. Magical lyrical?

Donna Burke (25:12.614)
So, please, just to help guide me to other jobs like working with science heroes, like people.

Donna Burke (25:27.346)
Which? Magical Lyrical Nanaha. Yeah, yeah. But you know that, that... You know that one? Okay, because I didn't know it was that famous. Yeah.

Daniel (25:31.896)
Yeah, that was surprising for me. I mean, I've never seen that one. But it's a good one.

Projektitachi (25:40.366)
I, we love anime. We're anime fans. So, you know, as, as I was diving in and doing more, you know, more research, because I was like, okay, you know, I knew about the music you did and I knew that you were in games. And then I was like, wait, hold on. And it was like, yeah, she was, she was an anime. She was a magical lyrical. And I'm like, hold on. I was like, she, yes, glassy sky.

Donna Burke (25:43.186)
Aww.

Donna Burke (25:59.154)
and it's like, yeah, she was too.

Donna Burke (26:07.186)
Did you see Tokyo Ghoul?

Yeah, that song has been like, yeah, what a beautiful song. To 2015, Sins of the Father came out and that song came out and just, I love it. The anime was too, the anime's too scary for me to watch. I tried to watch it and I was like, my God. That's basically a wimp.

Projektitachi (26:29.166)
You know, tying into that, you know how like a lot of actors and actresses, they say they don't watch their own work? You know, they'll...

Donna Burke (26:38.258)
God, if I could watch myself, I'd be watching myself. I can't get enough of watching myself, listening to myself. No, I don't, I'm not one of those people. I, I've done a lot of improv and I think that just made me really, chill. Like, like, yes, you could do a better take, you know, I do a lot of jazz, you know, every, sure. Next time you could have done a better, but who cares? You know, I'm not too.

I'm not too...

Projektitachi (27:08.494)
No, it's I think that's a good way to be because then you just drive yourself insane. You're trying to you know, it's you're always trying to attain perfection But then it's always just out of reach and you're like, if I had something I know just a little higher this one a little lower and you probably could drive you insane and Yo, yeah

Donna Burke (27:24.562)
Yeah, and not be it also it concentrates the attention away from being like, how cool that I got that gig, and I did the best. And a lot of it can be from the directorial point of view. So whenever I see a performance on film or TV that I don't like, I think I'd probably because the director told them to do it. So the actor had no control, like the actor top the director said to do it that way. So yeah.

And the other thing about being in this business is if you can't collaborate, if you can't be sort of like, well, you know, there'll be other jobs. If you're like, this is my, and I have worked with people like that and they are not in the business anymore because they're fricking assholes that they're no fun. They just, I remember being with this bloke, let's just call him Dennis. His name is actually Dennis, but he probably not listening to this podcast.

Daniel (28:17.208)
You

Donna Burke (28:18.418)
And we're at this recording studio. He's written the lyrics for some, I don't know, orange juice and I'm singing the things and the director comes in and this guy, Japanese guy Watanabe -san, he's worked with everybody and he's just being polite when he says, you know, is it possible to change the lyrics? He's not saying, he's not actually asking him. And so Dennis, Dennis the Menace goes,

no but these are my words and I thought he was joking so I'm like boy he's not joking and so when Watanabe -san goes I'm like Dennis who cares just change the lyrics he goes but this is my legacy I'm like no it's not you didn't pay for the studio you didn't pay for the orange juice you're just just writing lyrics mate you know like loosen up and he was

You know those people exist in the world you and they don't go far. It's because they're You know

Projektitachi (29:23.342)
So it's okay to be passionate about your work, but there's a certain level of passion. Like...

Donna Burke (29:30.61)
But is that being passionate? It's not your work. It's the client. The client is the person. And because I said, actually, what I said is this is not your CD. If this was your CD and you're paying for the studio and you're paying for the musicians, go go at it. It's your work. It's not but it's you just it's a TV commercial. It's not your CD. Yeah. I don't know.

Projektitachi (29:57.486)
For the orange juice too. That does seem pretty bad to like lose it all because you didn't want to change the lyrics for orange juice.

Donna Burke (29:59.77)
You

It's my art. And I was like, nah, mate, if, nah. You're taking yourself way too seriously. Yeah, so I think that that's, actually we're all thinking now, Greg, that you'll probably be the person. You're like, actually, Dennis has got a point here. I mean.

Daniel (30:24.376)
I will say this. Greg is the more how, how will I put this? When it comes to business things, Greg is more of the tight ass than I am. Great guy. But I'll be the one that kind of like make jokes of stuff and then I kill laugh. But like he, he levels me out to keep me as serious as I need to be. But I bring him down a notch when he's being a little too serious.

Donna Burke (30:43.794)
Thank you.

Projektitachi (30:50.894)
I was telling Daniel that when you and I were exchanging the emails to set up the show, Donna, I was like, I was super professional. I at least tried to be as close to professional as I could be with the emails. And Donna was like, cool, awesome, sounds great. And I was just like, hmm.

Donna Burke (31:10.034)
Yeah, he basically is writing like 10 page emails and I'm like, actually I'm totally exaggerating. Yeah.

Daniel (31:14.392)
Well, yeah, he was trying to be real. He was being a whole professional and then he showed me yours and I was like, she seems really laid back. And he's like, yeah, this is the kind of email you'd write because I don't really write like super professional. There's I'm I like to be casual.

Donna Burke (31:26.162)
I'm sorry.

Donna Burke (31:29.97)
Yeah, I like that. Everyone's, have you done that disc profile? Like I think some people are really, and I'm sure you've had guests not turn up because you weren't clear and yeah, it's good.

Projektitachi (31:43.886)
Yeah, it's just like I say, you know, working with Daniel, it helps keep me leveled out for those reasons. I don't know when the you know, I became more serious. I think when I was younger, I was a little bit more carefree. But I wound up around people who are always like, my gosh, you got to grow up. You got to be serious. The world's not a kind place. And it started like it started like.

Tighten me up. I'm like, all right. Well, that's what everyone's saying. I laugh too much. I talk too much. I'm having too much fun time. And now that I am, everyone's like, you know, you should really loosen up a bit.

Daniel (32:22.296)
Ha ha!

Donna Burke (32:27.442)
Yeah. So what's your, what, what, what do you, what do you, what do you do? Like what's your day jobs? Like are you, are you running studio? Like I can see some plushies behind Greg. Yeah, you're something.

Projektitachi (32:28.846)
And then I joined the military, go figure.

Daniel (32:37.784)
Daniel (32:43.48)
he he makes plushies

Projektitachi (32:44.942)
I think so I you know now that I'm a veteran I have thankfully due to my career I have the resources to do this podcast so.

Donna Burke (32:56.348)
you trust fund babies, you're military trust fund babies. I got it. You know, like when you do enough years of service, you have some sort of stipend, right? Is that what you mean?

Daniel (32:59.672)
I'm definitely not trust fund. I wish. Give me a little boost.

Projektitachi (32:59.79)
Trust funds, baby.

Projektitachi (33:10.094)
If you retire or you get VA benefits, yeah.

Daniel (33:10.232)
I didn't stay long. Yeah, that part's true, yeah. But yeah.

Projektitachi (33:15.95)
Yeah, but yeah, it's it's not guaranteed to everyone because you know

Donna Burke (33:15.986)
Okay, cool.

Donna Burke (33:20.978)
So do you find that metal gear really relate, you really relate to the whole sort of war bit?

Projektitachi (33:27.47)
no, not for what we were doing, thankfully.

Donna Burke (33:27.634)
And the missing limbs, no.

Daniel (33:27.704)
Not maybe. I don't know. We were talking about standing watch earlier and how dangerous that is that might fall on their missing limbs.

Projektitachi (33:35.405)
Yeah, stand and watch can be a little dangerous for all the wrong reasons.

Daniel (33:39.256)
We were upon, we were talking about early having to stay on watch on the outside of the ship during like major storms in the middle of the ocean and how they would do everything possible except for bring you inside the ship and then call it safety. It was a, it was a moment we were just, we were laughing about cause they used to like, hook this harness up to you. We were laughing about falling off the front and hanging in front of the ship. And, but Greg's,

Donna Burke (33:44.498)
Donna Burke (33:59.57)
us.

Projektitachi (34:02.542)
They're just hanging off this side of the ship. Yeah.

Donna Burke (34:03.538)
yeah yeah yeah yeah gosh

Daniel (34:08.472)
Greg's a business owner and he pulled me into his business a few years ago. And it's been very good for me as far as maybe communication skills and meeting new people and stuff. And that's been really great. And then I work on the ICU here in Texas. I'm an ICU nurse. So.

Donna Burke (34:14.258)
fun.

Projektitachi (34:34.542)
So.

Donna Burke (34:34.738)
My friend here, she has a charity where dogs are allowed into the ICU of a children's hospital with a nurse handler and can get on the bed. A dog. It's amazing. And, you know, especially for the child's, you know, last moments, it can really comfort the family, but also it can actually help them recover because they're getting... It's amazing.

Daniel (34:48.6)
I've seen it happen.

Daniel (34:54.072)
Mm -hmm.

Projektitachi (34:59.758)
I was just thinking of it. Yeah.

Daniel (34:59.832)
Yeah. Now, thankfully for me, like I don't work with children and I am happy I don't because I couldn't like that. That's a whole other specialty that I could never do. So my demographics is just very sick adults, whatever that sickness is.

Donna Burke (35:13.01)
Hmm.

Donna Burke (35:18.642)
Does it make you want to live a healthy lifestyle or are you looking, you see sick adults in there like, well, that's just bad luck. And there's no amount of granola is going to fix, you know, prevent that.

Daniel (35:25.368)
It does. It does. Because if I'm speaking candidly, there's a large amount of things that put people in hospitals that could have been probably prevented if we just took better care of ourselves. So.

Donna Burke (35:42.322)
Yeah. You know, the Japanese are really good. Like you'll have a slight tummy thing and they'll be like, wow, you need to really lose that because you could be in danger of metabolic syndrome. And you're like, what's that? That's a pre precursor to a possible diabetic two. You know, like they are on top of it. It's not like, yeah.

Daniel (35:51.576)
Yeah.

Projektitachi (36:06.03)
wow.

Daniel (36:07.512)
Yeah, they don't they don't play over there I really miss it. It's been so long since i've been over there and i've wondered how How much it's probably changed over the past several years

Donna Burke (36:18.994)
One thing I've noticed when I go to the post office now, the women working there have nail art and they have dyed hair. So before there was so rigid about, they're still wearing a uniform, but there's so many people who, like this huge section of population, who basically were unemployable because they dyed their hair or they had.

Projektitachi (36:30.35)
Yeah, it used to be uniform.

Donna Burke (36:47.346)
nail art or they had a tattoo and now in Japan is so desperate for workers that they're sort of you know this rigidity about you need to look a certain way, hair needs to be certain length like an air hostess in the you know 60s they're just saying you know it's fine you can yeah so it's becoming appearance wise less there's heaps of people with dyed hair and it's good they're loosening up a bit.

Daniel (37:03.032)
Mm -hmm.

Projektitachi (37:15.982)
It is on my wish list to move permanently like you to Japan in the future. That's currently what that's currently. I think honestly, Danny, I think what you're that's that one of your goals to pretty sure we all agree we should just like all move to Japan and open a studio in Japan.

Daniel (37:35.96)
It's a 10 year goal I have for myself.

Donna Burke (37:39.922)
Interesting. It's a really, as someone, I love living here. It's, as a woman, I could walk out my front door at 2am and walk to Shinjuku and we'll walk anywhere, go down all sorts of back alleys and never once think, wow, this is super dangerous of me. And there'll be women on their phones, not paying any attention, just like walking around, you know, it's so well lit.

It's just people are proud to do work. Like, you know, you get on the bus and the bus driver is really proudly driving the bus and they've got, you know, like I'm a bus driver, I work. It's just, it's very lovely, comfortable place to live. Yeah.

Projektitachi (38:30.382)
That's a very different culture for sure. My girlfriend, she actually just came back from Japan last month. And she was like, I'm homesick. And I'm like, you were only there for like two weeks. And she's like, I want to go back. And I was like, I told her, I know what you mean. And I knew that was going to happen. And I do not blame you. So maybe one day we'll all get to go back over there.

Donna Burke (38:44.242)
Aww. Yeah. Yeah.

Yep.

Projektitachi (38:58.318)
But speaking still on Japan, the train. How did you nail that gig?

Donna Burke (39:03.646)
Now you would have heard me, I was doing that since 2003 so if you guys ever jumped on the Shinki back then when you were in Japan living you would have heard me.

Did you ever go on the bullet train?

Projektitachi (39:17.966)
I didn't get to my girlfriend did my girlfriend did because when I told her that I was having the interview with you, she was like, you know, she wasn't familiar with the work because you know, she wasn't she wasn't as involved in in video games and such. But I was like, yeah, like she plays them passively with me. But then when I mentioned, you know, on her trip, I was like, you rode the bullet train, right? She was like, yeah, I was like the English voice. She was like,

Donna Burke (39:32.946)
She's like me, she doesn't play video games.

Projektitachi (39:47.278)
Really? I was like, there you go.

Donna Burke (39:49.298)
That's the hilarious thing. That's the most famous thing I've done. So like, right now I've also got a new career as a writer. And yeah, when I'm in meetings and pitching TV shows and stuff, like everyone's like, that's the biggest thing I've ever done. So I got that job. Well, I had a...

Projektitachi (40:08.75)
How did you get into that?

Donna Burke (40:13.426)
they were looking for someone who could imitate the woman who did it before, who was a Canadian who was imitating the woman who was a British woman. So like a pretty okay British accent, but a bit. And I had to copy exactly the way this woman did it. So it's mimicking. And again, here's the thing, there would have been people in like, no, I don't like it that way. Cause my head was like, you know, ladies and gentlemen.

Welcome to the Shinkansen. This is an oizome super express. Well, I wouldn't have done it in that particular intonation because this is not exactly how I would do it. But that so I imagine there was lots of voice actors who went in there and just said, this is so lame. I want to do it this way. And they're all the executives just said, you know, we want and they're thinking the Japanese, we don't want to

bump them into a new way. They've been listening to this for 20 years since 19, whatever, since 1964. We just want to have exactly the same. So I was like, sure, I can do it exactly the same, even though it sounds lame. But now I've been doing it for 20 years. I can't not do it in that voice. But so you had to and they wanted someone who lived there long term. So the Canadian woman was going back to Canada and she was like, let's come back to recordings. Like, no, we want someone who lives here long term. So every year.

Projektitachi (41:25.422)
You

Daniel (41:26.004)
I'm sorry.

Donna Burke (41:41.362)
when we invent Wi -Fi, she can do the Wi -Fi. When we invent terrorism, some bloke lit himself alight on a shinkansen. Well, we can just have the voiceover updated like that. When we invent mass tourism and tourists have got all this luggage, yeah, so now the announcement just goes on and on. You're practically in Nagoya by the time I finish. Yeah.

And again, it was a difficult recording. Everyone was smoking. It was 2002, 2003. The director was not easy to work with and really, really misogynistic and patronising and played a lot of power games. So something I should have just taken.

my five hours to record took 15. So again, just like an acting, this is just acting performance, just act like you don't, just act and then yeah, it was tough. But now I've been doing it. And every year a TV show, he'll get me to come on and say, who is this voice? And I'll do the voice. And yeah, it's been really good. I got the Metal Gear Solid, I enjoyed voice because of the Shinkansen. So I was on a Kojima.

reports interview with Kojima and who was the person? This was a nice guy but and they were saying can you do that voice is that can you do the Shinki voice for something else? I'm like yeah it's my voice and they you could just see them ding ding ding ding the lights going off and then they asked me to be the iDroid you know system voice you doing the Shinki voice and then they had all these Easter eggs for the Japanese where I'm doing the Shinkansen voice and

because for the Japanese that they've, you know, they all hear me as well. So, so they, like people, people scream and cry when I do the voice here, Japanese. Yeah. Once I was sitting at having pizza with a friend who also does, he does the track announcements. So, you know, so you're in the train, I do the voice, but there's a person who says, you know, track.

Donna Burke (44:06.706)
on track five, you know, the train bound for blah, blah, blah. That's my best friend. So we're sitting in this, you know, in the boonies having pizza and then these two Japanese men came up and said, are you Donna Burke? And I said, yeah. And, my God. And they're just like,

Projektitachi (44:07.758)
Mm -hmm. Yeah.

Daniel (44:07.928)
no, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Donna Burke (44:30.162)
and because we thought it was you but then I didn't want to but then we couldn't understand why you would be in this pizza restaurant we just it was so cute yeah

Projektitachi (44:40.078)
I'll be honest. I know Daniel won't tell you, but he was fanning out when I said, hey, you know, Donobert's going to be on the show. And he was, it was like a pause. He was like, no way. V Donobert.

Donna Burke (44:53.618)
She's begging to be on the show. She's hawking some product. She came to me.

Daniel (44:55.032)
I had to process it. I had to process it.

Projektitachi (44:59.758)
I said I showed him the message and and I was like at first before I had you know, wrote you back. I was like I Verify it's her verify. It's her

Daniel (45:05.656)
I said verify it's real. It's not, it's not fake. Cause my first thought was that's not real.

Projektitachi (45:14.606)
I was like...

Donna Burke (45:14.866)
You know what? I just got, I just got a similar email from Royal Albert Hall, which is this really famous place in London. And they were asking me about Metal Gear in concert. And I did the same thing. Royal Albert Hall, is it real? I need to verify this. Some, some is, you know. So yeah, I totally get it. That's it. Did you see the video of Cynthia singing?

Projektitachi (45:39.054)
Metal gear, metal gear in concert.

Donna Burke (45:45.074)
Sinti singing Snaketa.

Daniel (45:47.448)
Mm -mm. I haven't seen that.

Donna Burke (45:49.65)
Okay, so there's this, this auth, there's this journalist called Ash Bahti. Now that's the tennis player, Ash. Anyway, her name's Ash American. And she did a big deep dive story on Cynthia Harrell, like where is she? She sang Snake Eater, you know, what's happened? So she tracked, she tracked her down. And that was in 2020. And so when we got, I got the call to do Metal Gear and Concert in

Tokyo last year during Tokyo game week. I'll be so great if we got Cynthia on, you know, Cynthia Harrell. I mean, I can get her on the show. She's really lovely if you want. She's, anyway, so I got in contact with her and she came to Tokyo first time since she'd come to record Playkita with, no, she didn't record, she recorded that in LA, but anyway, she came here for the game show back in, you know.

I know, 1999. And so yeah, she came and sang Snake Eater for the first time ever. And I just popped it up on my YouTube, but I was crying my eyes out. It's so lovely.

Daniel (46:55.832)
So wow.

Daniel (47:04.088)
I bet seeing that live was something else. I bet that was pretty amazing to see that live.

Donna Burke (47:08.05)
Yeah, the show sold out, because it's history making. But maybe in a few years, people will be like, this could be the last Metal Gear in concert ever, because Donnerberg's so old. I'll probably have a great career for 20 years. I should sort of like...

Projektitachi (47:12.558)
Yeah.

Daniel (47:23.512)
Ha ha!

I'll be sure to see one before you retire then. Okay.

Donna Burke (47:30.454)
Yeah.

Projektitachi (47:30.926)
That's a goal now, yep. You have to let us know, like, guys, I'm thinking about retiring, so then we can be like, OK, we need to go to the, we got to get to the next Metal Gear in concert. We got to.

Daniel (47:32.216)
It's a goal now to see it.

Donna Burke (47:41.938)
Isn't that what Sher did like, you know, Elton John, they sort of like, I'm retiring and then like two years later, I'm back.

Projektitachi (47:47.534)
Yup.

Daniel (47:48.184)
And then two years later, I'm retiring again.

Donna Burke (47:51.09)
I'm just, you know, guys, I'm done, I'm done. And you're like, yeah. Yeah. I think I had a...

Projektitachi (47:56.686)
Speaking of retiring, do you see yourself doing this, all of this for...

Donna Burke (48:02.034)
No? Yes!

Daniel (48:02.872)
She's like, I'm going to stop you right there.

Donna Burke (48:06.706)
Yes, I've retired during like COVID was so was my retirement. I made sourdough bread. I've got a lovely sesame biscuit, you know, I was I read every book that I ever wanted to I got into the garden and I'm like, right. I've done. Thank you, COVID. I now know what it's like to be retired. Super boring. I've got mild depression. And thanks very much. Yeah, no, I will not.

Projektitachi (48:24.078)
Hahahaha

Daniel (48:34.744)
You took a detour and said, I'm retiring now.

Donna Burke (48:36.658)
I mean, I think...

Yeah, I think if you, I get it if you're doing a job that's not fun. I get that. I really get that. And I think, yeah, retire, but my job's super fun. So, and being entrepreneurial, like with Royal Flush, I'm so busy and for 10 years, like, no, I'm too busy, I can't do it. But then it's just, it was the last trip back to Australia last year. It was just like, for goodness sakes, why don't they have this? So.

Projektitachi (48:44.59)
Hmm.

Daniel (49:08.376)
We got to push this promo for get it out there

Donna Burke (49:08.594)
Yeah. And I didn't want to be those people. Yeah. I didn't want to be one of those people who's like, like, I had that idea. yeah. I had that, you know, cause I actually have this other product, which is a heat pad that I export from Japan, which, which, hotties. Yeah. Yeah. and it's so many people have said to me, I had that idea. I had that idea, but they just didn't do anything with it. But the thing with the thing with this royal flush.

Projektitachi (49:22.798)
Hot -Z right? Hot -Z? Hot -Ease, Hot -Ease.

Donna Burke (49:38.29)
It really, people are like, what? They don't know they need it. Until you've come to Japan and really had that lovely toilet experience. Yeah. And some people have said to me, I don't, when I use it, my kids going, mom's doing a poo. So.

Daniel (49:58.872)
Ha ha!

Donna Burke (50:01.747)
She goes, the kids love it, the kids love it, but I don't really want to use it because it's basically announcing to the whole house that I'm about to shark.

Projektitachi (50:09.202)
I mean the sound that it would you know if you didn't have it still is announcing to the house it's just announcing in the in the moment at least royal flush removes that.

Donna Burke (50:19.538)
Yeah, like, yeah, yeah. And actually one of my friends, he is a loud peer and I have a toilet right next to my living room and every time he'd go in there, I'd be like, So yeah, I'm like, remember, you know, so. Yeah, yeah, no one wants to hear that.

Daniel (50:26.712)
Wild Pier.

Projektitachi (50:34.734)
Use the royal flush. Thank you.

Donna Burke (50:41.682)
Yeah.

Projektitachi (50:42.446)
So I have a question about being in concerts in general. And you said you were in Metal Gear in concert and it was sold out. What kind of feeling do you get when you're performing in a concert like that?

Donna Burke (50:44.474)
Sure.

Donna Burke (50:59.09)
It's a drug and I want more of it. It is, it is. So the first time I did it in the world premiere was in Osaka. I did not realize the body like the rehearsal rehearsal. yeah, I'm nervous. I'm quite nervous. But when I got out on stage, the adrenaline rush and the absolute sins of the father is just like, I'm gonna kill him.

Projektitachi (51:27.438)
Mwahahahaha!

Donna Burke (51:29.874)
And my legs are going, what the actual fuck? We didn't rehearse this. You're going down, you're going down really low. No, no. But my brain is like, I don't care, that's so. And as soon as I finish my leg, I was like, I gotta hit the gym because it is, you cannot predict, you cannot predict what you're gonna do with an audience who've spent money, who are all like this amazing.

Daniel (51:48.6)
Hahaha!

Donna Burke (51:59.378)
symphonic music. I think that's the thing about AI. I mean, the symphonic orchestra, 70 people bashing on things and doing, and all these sound waves are traveling out and literally going through your body and touching you in a sub, you know, in a, on an incredibly subconscious level that you can't express. And so,

I think singing, you know, with the symphonic symphony orchestra is just like one of the most incredible feelings. And I just can't wait to do it again. In fact, it's, it's, it changed my brain. So that other performing is like, like before I just sing with a backing track, sing, sing, sing Sins of the Father or, when Heaven's Divide or Glassy Sky with a backing track is so boring to not have musicians behind you.

just to have something coming out of a speaker. But it is something magical about the group creating something right there and the possibility that someone's gonna stuff up the guitar solo in When Heaven's Defied. A few times I've been, they did not nail that. Anyway, yeah.

Projektitachi (53:14.734)
Projektitachi (53:23.342)
You know that that that sounds amazing because like as you're describing I'm like trying to you know picture it and the closest I can get to how feeling the instruments resonate through you was like my girlfriend took me to a candlelight orchestra so and it was for she is a keeper and it was for Hayao Miyazaki it was like a Hayao Miyazaki tribute so it was all the songs from his movies and I heard

Donna Burke (53:26.546)
Like as you're describing, I'm like trying to, you know, picture it. The closest I can get to that...

Donna Burke (53:37.106)
She sounds like a keeper.

Donna Burke (53:51.506)
Yep.

Projektitachi (53:52.238)
I heard them in the movies and I'm like, that's great. But then when I was there and hearing them from the instruments, I was just like, whoa. I actually started tearing up for some of them. And it was just something like I resonated with the music differently than when I hear it through the TV or through my game. Yeah. So I kind of understand what you mean on that. And I could tell from your video, the picture.

Donna Burke (53:59.922)
Yeah.

Donna Burke (54:11.314)
Yeah, yeah, I was speaking. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally.

Donna Burke (54:18.418)
Thank you.

Projektitachi (54:22.062)
I could just see, that's why I had to ask like, what's it like? Cause I could just see like the way you were just belting out those tones. I was like.

Donna Burke (54:25.106)
man.

feel it. I feel it's like it's like a collective. I mean I've not been in a war situation. I can't even bear to watch a war movie because it's just too real and so I really channel a lot of sort of sort of sadness and and and whatever. I really feel it when I sing it and yeah it's amazing. I'd love to I'm so excited that Metal Gear is releasing Delta.

Projektitachi (54:55.278)
Yes.

Donna Burke (54:55.922)
the Delta will come out a whole new generation. it's, it's like that, that knowledge that the middle, so middle gear after I did Fanta paint and I've spoken to a few orchestras. Yeah, it's pretty niche. It's yeah. But now it'll be, it'll have the oldies who played it, you know, and it's going to have all the young younger people. So that's really exciting knowing that.

Projektitachi (55:09.23)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Daniel (55:09.944)
Yep.

Donna Burke (55:25.618)
it's going to be on the way up and then they're going to probably redo Peace Walker and When Heavens Divide. So, I mean, what a thrill, ha ha. We can't turn that into a toilet joke. But anyway, but yeah, it's such a great, I mean, who would have known that this would turn into such an incredible gift for my career? Like, and to do, to do,

Projektitachi (55:38.254)
You

Daniel (55:38.296)
Hahaha.

Donna Burke (55:52.37)
to be able to know that I will tour the United States. It will happen. There will be a Metal Gear Concert in Texas one day. And it won't be a hard sell. It won't be, you know, up until now, it's a big risk. Are people gonna, are there enough fans of this? Yeah.

Daniel (56:13.336)
I think you'd be surprised.

Projektitachi (56:14.926)
I could see that being sold out easily. Closet fans would come out of the closet in droves, for sure. So are you going to be on Delta? Are you going to be working on Delta?

Donna Burke (56:18.834)
Yeah, but I think it's...

Donna Burke (56:26.098)
Yeah.

No, I'm not in Delta because that's a remake of, again, that was, I didn't come into Metal Gear until 2009. So no, I'm not in it. That's Cynthia, Cynthia's Snake Eater is the song for that. So it's just a remake, right? It's just like a zhushed up version. So yeah, so no, I'm not in that.

Projektitachi (56:45.198)
Okay, okay, okay. Can we gonna gonna have to.

Yeah. Yeah.

Donna Burke (56:59.266)
You'll have to wait probably to 2028. I don't know when it...

Projektitachi (57:02.542)
Yeah, I was gonna, I was just thinking I said, that's okay. We're spitting out remakes all the time. So you'll be back.

Daniel (57:02.936)
I'm for I'm for all these remakes with games. Yeah.

They've been remaking a lot of games lately and up in the graphics and everything. And the story is just, I don't know, like everything just looks even more amazing than I remember it. So I'm for all these remakes.

Donna Burke (57:10.162)
Yeah, I'll be back. Thank you.

Donna Burke (57:19.09)
Mmm.

Yeah, I mean, they do it with Bond, the Bond franchise. But because it's video games, you can just, you don't have to get different actors. You can just, you know, make them look gorgeous. And yeah, yeah, I, my dream would be to sing for the Metal Gear movie. Yeah. When they make that.

Daniel (57:32.6)
Mm -hmm.

Daniel (57:36.6)
cool, make them look awesome.

Projektitachi (57:46.83)
As long as they do it right, as long as they do it right, I won't have complaints. That's all I ask.

Daniel (57:46.968)
Matter of time. Matter of time.

Donna Burke (57:54.835)
Yeah, I think this, I think, I think they'd probably do it right. I mean, knowing the fandom. Did you watch The Last of Us on telly? I loved, I mean, I did not play the game, but I just loved and I loved that actress. I saw her in Bella. She was in this, no, I can't watch Game of Thrones, but she was in this other show.

Daniel (58:04.088)
Yeah. I loved it. Loved it so much.

Projektitachi (58:06.062)
Yes.

Daniel (58:17.144)
The Game of Thrones.

Donna Burke (58:25.234)
It's based on the Golden Compass. I think it was called the Northern Lights and it was starred, it was on HBO and she played this very, that was the first time I'd seen her, I didn't, cause I didn't see her in Game of Thrones. Who was she in Game of Thrones?

Daniel (58:38.968)
I just remember the I don't know her name. I like the face. I can recall. Yeah.

Projektitachi (58:42.83)
She ruled, she ruled one of the houses. I just don't remember the house.

Donna Burke (58:43.282)
Yeah.

Yeah, she just had such a really great sort of, you just can't take your eyes off her. She's just so watchable. Yeah.

Projektitachi (58:53.262)
Mm. Yeah, she she did Ellie justice for sure. I know a lot of people were wary, mainly because and the problem is a lot of people were like, why can't they find someone that looks exactly like Ellie? And I'm like, no, as long as they can convey the the emotion and who those that person is, that's all that matters. And as far as I'm concerned, she nailed it. Her and Pedro, they nailed those roles.

Daniel (58:54.52)
Mm -hmm.

Daniel (59:16.568)
Yeah, she was. I thought the way they took the they stayed fairly like pretty true to the game itself. But then they capitalized off certain characters and it like evolved the story from the game. And I loved it. I loved it. They did a great job expanding on characters and telling their stories.

Donna Burke (59:17.486)
cool.

Donna Burke (59:32.622)
I don't play the game but I loved it.

Daniel (59:42.04)
Yes, yes, so we loved it too.

Projektitachi (59:48.11)
I'm sorry guys, I haven't watched it yet.

Daniel (59:49.816)
When I think I think that's the the the shows that are based off video games now that are successful. It feels like they're successful because they're able to find that middle ground between what the fans want and what appeals to everyone and tell a good story. I think these studios are starting to get a hang of it now because they're they're starting to get more successful.

Donna Burke (01:00:13.746)
Yeah, I think it's, you know, tell a good story. That's it, isn't it? And it's not,

Daniel (01:00:16.376)
Mm -hmm.

Yeah.

Projektitachi (01:00:20.654)
That's all we actually want.

Donna Burke (01:00:21.362)
and make you care about the characters. Like, like I really, you know, when you really care, even, even the, the villains are, you care about them. I think that's the, the, that's, that's, yeah, that's, I'm, I'm actually writing a couple of TV shows at the moment. So.

Projektitachi (01:00:44.301)
I'm going to be seeing some shows rolling out from Donnaberg. I'm going to be seeing some shows roll out from you.

Donna Burke (01:00:44.466)
Yeah, that's my new career. That's me. Yeah, yep, yep. That's the plan. You know, like I basically taught myself screenwriting during COVID because I was bored. And actually that's not true. I was bored but thought, how hard can it be? I've nailed the sourdough.

Daniel (01:01:08.28)
Ha ha ha!

Donna Burke (01:01:12.882)
I'm sure there's a book on this.

Projektitachi (01:01:13.322)
What else can I master?

Daniel (01:01:15.48)
Makes one loaf for bread like I can do anything.

Projektitachi (01:01:18.446)
I got this. Easy.

Donna Burke (01:01:21.778)
Seriously, that's just, that is so me, like, how, no business experience. I'm just gonna, you know. Yeah. Yeah. It's like when I was a school teacher, I was just one page ahead of the kids. Miss, miss. And I'd be like, flick, flick, flick.

Projektitachi (01:01:29.454)
I'm going to make a TV show. But you know.

Projektitachi (01:01:36.718)
There's the secret.

Daniel (01:01:39.)
I'm mad that took me a second to get. I was like,

Donna Burke (01:01:44.53)
Yeah.

Projektitachi (01:01:45.07)
I always knew they weren't that far ahead.

Donna Burke (01:01:48.242)
Yeah, how hard can it be?

Projektitachi (01:01:50.382)
But, you know, to be fair, I appreciate that mentality because that's how I went into podcasting. I didn't go to school. I didn't know anything. I was I just I talked about it with my my buddy Ty. We were literally fun fact. The show was born in a in a strip club. We're just sitting around having a conversation. Yeah, we weren't paying attention to strippers. We were busy talking about starting a podcast.

Donna Burke (01:01:59.282)
NNNN

Donna Burke (01:02:06.386)
anytime.

Daniel (01:02:11.864)
god.

Donna Burke (01:02:13.746)
Why do people go to strip clubs? Why do you go to strip clubs?

Daniel (01:02:14.552)
I wasn't there for this. I'd like to point out. I was not there for this. I didn't come till years later.

Donna Burke (01:02:23.922)
What makes someone go, you know what? I feel like, I feel like we could go act rowing. We could go on a water slide. No, let's go to a strip club. What makes you do that? What is it? Is it, is it just, is it, I don't know. I watched Sopranos. I couldn't follow the, I'm like, look at the boobs on that one. She, I wonder what she does. you know, like, I'm so distracted by the boobs. Anyway.

Daniel (01:02:30.936)
God.

Projektitachi (01:02:35.31)
Let's go to the strip club, start a podcast.

Projektitachi (01:02:46.246)
I'm sorry.

Daniel (01:02:52.344)
You

Projektitachi (01:02:52.59)
Yeah, that was that a lot of people don't believe it, but I tell them they're like, you know, how did you come up with the idea of the cheesy chop shop? And I was like, it was born in a strip club and they're like.

Donna Burke (01:03:03.154)
As I was putting a dollar note into someone's undies, I just had a light went off. I don't know. Isn't that what you do? You put, you got a laugh.

Projektitachi (01:03:13.262)
I haven't been in years. I don't miss it.

Donna Burke (01:03:17.49)
We don't have those really in Australia. We have something worse. We have these things called skimpy bars where.

in order to buy a drink, you go up to the bar staff is a woman who's topless and she's, and she goes, hello. I'm like, she's got nipples. what was I going to say? Yeah. Yeah. So I'm not saying we don't have, but it's kind of unavoidable. You go into the bar and you're like, it's a skimpy bar. Yeah.

Projektitachi (01:03:39.79)
Hahaha!

Projektitachi (01:03:55.83)
I like she has nipples.

Donna Burke (01:04:00.562)
Yes. Yes.

Daniel (01:04:02.776)
I get enough people interaction at home or not at home at the hospital.

Donna Burke (01:04:06.598)
Explain more. What naked people. Daniel, this is not sounding good, mate. You need to walk that comment back.

Projektitachi (01:04:06.766)
What? Yes, tell us more Daniel.

Daniel (01:04:15.064)
So we, you've, you've talked to me long enough now. It only took an hour for me to start twisting up my words and saying shit on accident that has nothing to do with anything I'm talking about. I am the king at it.

Projektitachi (01:04:21.102)
I

Donna Burke (01:04:22.162)
Got to Daniel at work, topless, going into, you know, in the ICU with pasties on his nipples saying, I hope this makes you feel better. They've done some research out of Sweden that says, you know, topless male nurses can really, yeah.

Projektitachi (01:04:29.678)
Got it.

Projektitachi (01:04:36.974)
Daniel (01:04:42.936)
man.

Projektitachi (01:04:44.558)
I could see Daniel, cause at first I asked him, I said, Hey, do you want to do the intro for, for Donna? And he was like, Nope. He was like, cause I don't want to stumble the trip over my words. He's like, you got it. I'll jump in after. I was. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. But I could see if like, if I had let Daniel do it and like he tripped over himself, he would go to work the next day with Pacey. He's like, you know what? I don't even care. I messed up the intro with Donna. I don't even care. It's like, this is not the low point of my life.

Daniel (01:04:46.04)
You can't!

Donna Burke (01:04:55.474)
Yeah, you did a great job Greg. I was loving myself sick. Yeah, I didn't want you to stop. Yeah.

Daniel (01:05:09.784)
Yeah.

Donna Burke (01:05:12.882)
UGH

Daniel (01:05:13.464)
And for some reason, I like to do this thing when I, when I do trip over my words, I, I just give up on everything else and then sideline into a new conversation, making jokes about the situation I'm in and just having fun. Like it just turns into a whole thing. I don't, in other words, I don't recover from it very well.

Donna Burke (01:05:31.314)
Yeah. Now I'd like to ask you a question.

Projektitachi (01:05:35.406)
No recovery.

Daniel (01:05:38.456)
No recovery.

Donna Burke (01:05:39.058)
Well, I'm glad that you didn't embarrass yourself much. Now, I want you to look at me. Do you think I have a speech impediment? I'm gonna say the word railroad. Railroad. Railroad. Do you think my R's are weird? Railroad. Okay. Recently I did a documentary where I had to say railroad. So many times I was told to say railroad.

Projektitachi (01:05:43.47)
You

Projektitachi (01:05:54.702)
real.

No?

Daniel (01:05:57.688)
No.

Daniel (01:06:07.008)
You

Projektitachi (01:06:07.726)
Ha ha ha ha ha ha

Donna Burke (01:06:08.722)
All right. I was like, do I have a speech in? It's like the rural juror in 30 Rock. Or filthy squirrel. That's actually very hard for Japanese to say. With, because the L's and R's are difficult. Like I find, yeah, Ryu, they also have this thing in Japanese that I cannot say, Ryu, R -Y -U, Ryu, Ryu.

Projektitachi (01:06:21.518)
Filthy, filthy squirrel?

Daniel (01:06:26.936)
Filthy squirrel. Squirrel that. apparently I struggle saying it too.

Projektitachi (01:06:26.958)
okay. Okay.

Projektitachi (01:06:37.102)
Ryu.

Donna Burke (01:06:38.802)
Were you Coo Kingdom? No. So Daniel, I feel, I get really, I get a bit scared about saying some things as well, so.

Projektitachi (01:06:41.23)
See, now I'm going to be very cautious about my words.

Daniel (01:06:49.432)
Which you know what the strange part is is at work when I have to interact with a lot of people I don't know. I'm a little scripted when I meet new people, especially at work in the healthcare setting. Yeah, I'm very scripted. So I'll do this and then I just kind of wing it from there. But outside of that, there's no script, right? There's no script that I'm used to doing. So I just, just whatever.

Donna Burke (01:07:09.626)
I'm kind of glad there's a script at work. You don't really walk out like, God, you look awful. What happened to you? Jesus, gee whiz. A lot of tubes hanging out of your love.

Projektitachi (01:07:12.11)
No life scripts, sir.

Daniel (01:07:19.992)
I walk through the door. I'm like, aren't intrusive thoughts that you're going to stay way over here today.

Donna Burke (01:07:28.466)
Like, god, yeah. Have... Yeah.

Projektitachi (01:07:30.862)
So, I'm sorry, go ahead. Did you have something, Donna?

Donna Burke (01:07:36.722)
No, I'm just, I'm, I realize I'm just gabbing on, but there's this book that Jill Balty Taylor, and she, she's a, she, she was this PhD woman who had a stroke and her PhD was in strokes. Right? So she's an expert in strokes. Then she herself has a stroke and loses all ability to speak. And it takes her eight years to learn.

Projektitachi (01:08:00.27)
Jeez.

Donna Burke (01:08:05.01)
learn her, her whole personality changes and everything. And when it's a beautiful book and when she is in the hospital, like doctors and nurses are coming in and she had no language and she could, so people would just say blah, blah, blah, blah, making noises at her, but she could immediately tell who was, had, you know, a good heart and who didn't by just, just not their words, just who they were. So Daniel, I'm sure.

You must be giving people lovely energy when you're walking and they can't speak and they just feel nice, a nice face.

Daniel (01:08:42.68)
Well, thank you. And I do, because I'm awesome.

Donna Burke (01:08:46.386)
Yay! Everything is awesome. Everything is cool when you're part of a team. I remember watching the Lego movie thinking this song is so lame. But then realizing it was supposed to be lame. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Projektitachi (01:09:00.078)
It was, yeah.

Daniel (01:09:01.016)
Yeah. I think, I guess that was the point. I liked it.

Projektitachi (01:09:02.894)
Catchy lame. Catchy and lame. Now it's stuck in my head.

Daniel (01:09:06.424)
Yeah!

Donna Burke (01:09:10.61)
Cool. So any more questions for me? No, you're good?

Projektitachi (01:09:11.726)
You have been Yes, I was gonna say you've been amazing. I know you're a very very busy woman We do not want to take up any more of your of your time. Where can all of your fans find you non non non creepy guys don't be creepy But where can your fans find you to interact with you see what you're working on? Unless it's a big secret and you've got like a contract and you can't tell anyone but you can tell us we won't tell anyone

Donna Burke (01:09:31.858)
I've just...

no, nothing, nothing. I do have secrets. Donnerberg .com. I'm on Twitter at The Donnerberg. I'm not really big on Instagram. So Twitter, mainly, yeah. YouTube. Actually, I read all the comments. So even the ones that are mean, like this is, why can't she not stay in temple? This is a disaster. That French person, whoever wrote that.

Yeah, I read that comment. I remember when I did a Metaflip concert in Paris, the conductor, who's another Aussie, he was like, hey, hey, you know, you need to play in time. And this guy stood up, he goes, she is not in time. She is ahead of the, she cannot stay in time. And Daniel and Nick's like, yeah.

She can do whatever she wants, but your job is a drummer. You need to stay in time, mate. Yeah, don't look at her. This French guy's just like...

And for comedy gold, you have to watch the Snake Eater from Paris, the Palais de the something, I don't know, but, and about the two minute mark, there's a viola player who gives you like three evil looks, like, and then she looks again, it's just comedy gold. Just watch it and have a good laugh.

Projektitachi (01:11:09.806)
My goodness. Yep, definitely gonna have to look at that. Just pay attention to all the people and instruments in the background. You just, you probably will see.

Donna Burke (01:11:17.106)
no, everyone's just looking at the thing and then suddenly she's just like, what is she wearing? She looks like total Russian prostitute. And then it's like, yeah, it's so funny. Yeah, so I read all the comments on YouTube. So if you want to say something. And again, looking forward to making some lovely signatures and comments when you buy a royal flush from Japan, toiletsound .com.

And you've heard it here first, I'm going to be doing the intro next and taking some other poor Australian voice actor work off air and replacing it with myself. Because that's what I do. I just shit from a great height on other people's work and try and insert myself whenever I can. Yeah, you've been listening to Donna Burke, Daniel and Greg.

Projektitachi (01:12:10.446)
Yep, I think that's the best outro ever. Everyone, you've been amazing. Take care of yourself and each other, and we'll catch all of you on the next podcast. Later.

Donna Burke (01:12:12.306)
Yeah.

Donna Burke (01:12:16.786)
Thank you!

Donna Burke (01:12:25.234)
Yeah