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EP 70: Stand By Me and Now and Then | Defining Moments, Dead Bodies and Satisfying Cigarettes

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Good Morning!!!

This week we're talking kids on journeys to self-discovery and the search for a dead body in Stand By Me and the Ride or Die ladies in Now and Then. Join us for all the splendor of the fashion of the 50s and 70s, the nostalgia, and Christina Ricci getting punched in the face.

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Bridget:

Foreign.

Wendy:

Good morning.

Bridget:

I'm Bridget.

Wendy:

And I'm Wendy.

Bridget:

And this is flicking beans. Well, what's up?

Wendy:

What's up? Sunday morning. Been hermitting all weekend, which I think was necessary after the holidays.

Bridget:

I popped out for a little bit.

Wendy:

Did you Yesterday?

Bridget:

No, it was day drinking. It was late afternoon. I had a couple of drinks with a friend and then. Well, I had to watch the movie so I couldn't go out. But I want to. It's just late. We've talked about that. Like I did go on Wednesday. Yeah, but it's early.

Wendy:

Yeah, it.

Bridget:

But it's also a weeknight so. Yeah, maybe next week.

Wendy:

Yeah, I could. I could be down for next week probably.

Bridget:

Okay, so. So this morning we are enjoying coffee with a little moonshine in it. Butter pecan moonshine. Because they didn't have little bottles of Bailey's. So. Second best.

Wendy:

Yeah, I do like a Bailey's coffee. When we were in Mexico, they would often have like specialty coffee drinks that you could order at breakfast. And one of them was like a layered like espresso, Bailey's whipped cream. And there was something else in there.

Bridget:

Oh, that sounds nice. Oh yeah, they'll have it.

Wendy:

Oh, for sure. Plus the coffee is really good. This is who Mexican Chiapas coffee, actually.

Bridget:

Really?

Wendy:

Yes. I just looked up because I didn't know what Chiapas meant.

Bridget:

What does it mean?

Wendy:

It's a state in Mexico. It's where it comes from. Okay, so that's easy enough. And it's. Yeah, it's good. It's kind of. I don't know if I would call it spicy, but there's like a bit of something to it. Shout out to my, my brother in law. He got me coffee for Christmas.

Bridget:

Nice.

Wendy:

I told him that too, but still he went out and got like fresh, fresh beans and all that. So I've been enjoying like nice freshly ground beans since Christmas.

Bridget:

You know how that how they taste test coffees? They take a little bit on a spoon and then they go and they, they do. They get a lot of air in their mouth and slurp it.

Wendy:

Okay.

Bridget:

I don't know why.

Wendy:

Sounds like something you would do with wine too. Like you got to get in it.

Bridget:

You could swish it around and then spit it.

Wendy:

Yeah, yeah. Still getting air into it. I mean that makes sense because I definitely, I used to think it was kind of bs but I now do think that like some things need to air. If you drink wine right out of the bottle, it tastes gross. But if you let it sit for a while It's. It's better. And same thing with some beers.

Bridget:

Do you remember when we went to the wizard's house and in that room and he had that giant decanter of wine?

Wendy:

Yes, I did. And it had Christmas cookies around it.

Bridget:

It's just weird. But you're right. It is probably one of the better ways to air out your wine, I guess.

Wendy:

Yeah, I don't drink wine that much.

Bridget:

But certainly not enough to own a decanter. I would break it too.

Wendy:

Oh, for sure.

Bridget:

Huge piece of glass. Either that or I would start putting my change in it.

Wendy:

My parents have a crystal decanter that's. It's beautiful. I think they got it in Europe. And it's like real crystal. I've never seen anything in it. It's always, you know, a display piece, but I get it because it's. It's heavy and. And delicate at the same time.

Bridget:

And nobody has those fancy dinners anymore where you put it on the table.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

Where you put anything on the table except the plate you bring to it.

Wendy:

Right.

Bridget:

I don't like it. Okay, let's get on to the topic of the day.

Wendy:

Yeah. Our two movies were. I guess the theme was ensemble of four. Kind of. No, I don't. That's where I started with it.

Bridget:

Okay.

Wendy:

Because I wanted to watch now and Then.

Bridget:

Yeah.

Wendy:

Because we saw Thora Burch in the other thing and it reminded me of now and then I was like, oh, that's a good one. And then I thought, oh, Stand By Me. That's kind of the same movie with boys.

Bridget:

It is.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

Yeah. So I was gonna say both of the movies are essentially the same. A coming of age story with an adult looking back on a memory that changed them. Both are narrated, both are writers. I mean, in Stand By Me, that was actually Stephen King, his memory based on his memory in a short story called the Body.

Wendy:

Yes. Which I have.

Bridget:

Do you? Nice.

Wendy:

I have a couple of Stephen King's anthologies. The short stories, because personally are my favorite of his. And one of them, the Body is.

Bridget:

In there, but they didn't want to name the movie the Body to confuse it with sex or bodybuilding.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

Stand By Me is a way better title because it reflects what actually happens in the film and doesn't center around the fact that there is a dead body that they're looking for, which really.

Wendy:

Doesn'T actually play into the movie that much. A vehicle to get them on a journey, but they don't really like. It's a way for them to all deal with their Own s***.

Bridget:

I guess it is. Yeah. I think it's important because they're all very affected by it.

Wendy:

True.

Bridget:

And they're all in a bad way with their families. And the one kid breaks down and cries because it triggered memories of his brother who had died. They have to, you know, work it out in their own head. Just like when Gordy. Another of the very pivotal moments is when Gordy encounters the deer in the woods. It's the only time during the whole journey that he was alone and he kept that to himself. And the thought being that there's still some good and beautiful things in the world and it gives him hope. And his friend does encourage him, even though he's just so sad. His friend says, you're gonna be a writer. And he does. I see how that's a defining moment, all three of those encounters.

Wendy:

What's interesting about it too in Stand By Me is they don't have a relationship. Whereas in now and Then they kind of come back to each other. But in Stand By Me, like they kept track of each other, but they weren't close anymore. He says even when they went into high school that they weren't really close. And that's kind of interesting because it's. It was such a profound summer or a profound couple of days for him, but that that relationship didn't last. But it's still like.

Bridget:

I'm not sure if I would have liked the movie as much this one if they had flash forwarded. Cuz I think essentially it's about the change that happens in the boys rather than in the other movie. It's the power of the friendship that, you know, I'll be there, ride or d. You know, whenever we need to come together. Just kind of a different. A different bonding.

Wendy:

Yeah. Do you think that that is a testament men versus Women's friendships or it's just two different movies? There's actually kind of a lot of movies like now and Then, sort of where it's like a group of three, four or five women that are very, very close from their youth and they continue to. To be that. And that's been my experience in my life is like, I have really close friends from college. Like we don't see each other all the time, but like we still. Every few years or whatever. I still consider them like my best friends. I'm sure it's just different. I don't see that as much in men's friendships.

Bridget:

There is a thing about boys and there's a hierarchy to their little cliques in a different Way than girls. Okay. So speaking of boys and their friendships and girls and their friendships. I think I've only seen this in movies where boys go ahead and have a skinny dip.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

Together.

Wendy:

That's. That's in both movies.

Bridget:

Yes.

Wendy:

Like so many things are the same.

Bridget:

It's in like Old Hogs or Wild Hogs. They're grown men. Is. Does that happen?

Wendy:

I've never witnessed it.

Bridget:

Have you skinny dipped? I have, but it's co ed, isn't it?

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

Yeah. That's the whole point.

Wendy:

Right.

Bridget:

If boys are skinny dipping, you are obligated to steal their clothes. Absolutely. Including their shoes. And then just like so many of our other movies, you wander the streets looking for clothes. Would have been funny if the girls just left their clothes and took off with the boys clothes.

Wendy:

Speaking of, I love the fashion. And now and then from the 70s, one of the things.

Bridget:

Yes.

Wendy:

Also very prominent in both of these is they're a nostalgia film for the decade that they were made. The boys, when they're traveling, they're playing all these 50s pop pits and they're singing along to them. Same thing with the girls.

Bridget:

Yeah.

Wendy:

Great music. And they're very focused on the people wearing the fashion of the time. It's more obvious. The 70s, I think, because the 70s fashion was more ridiculous.

Bridget:

I know. I love it. I grew up in the 70s. And. Okay. I have a list of the 70s stuff that I remember and loved in this. Riding bikes all day long, playing red rover. I mean, does that even happen anymore?

Wendy:

I definitely did it, but I don't think that they would allow that game to be played anymore because you could get hurt.

Bridget:

It's weird. But that's not like a adult LED game. You just. You just assemble the Bissell carpet sweeper that her mom uses. They later when I worked in a restaurant, they always called it a hokey. Yeah.

Wendy:

Oh, hokey.

Bridget:

Yeah. I'm not sure why, but my grandma had one and she always used it to carpet sweep the basement because she had that giant kirby from the door to door salesman. It was so heavy. It was literally made out of steel. Okay. Plaids mixed with stripes. Fall colors all year round. They were eating push ups, those orange sherbet and in a paper wrapper. I mean, we used to walk to the milk store to get those walkie talkie.

Wendy:

They're elaborate system to alert each other at night with those strings and alarms and stuff. I thought that was cool.

Bridget:

It's so cute. The transistor radio attached to the bike. It's just a nod to where we are today, I think. And lastly, they're like 12 in now and then.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

Holding a seance in the cemetery. But yeah, I think of the transistor attached to the front of the handlebars is like our Bluetooth speaker. I just love it. And walkie talk talkies. We didn't have cell phones.

Wendy:

Right.

Bridget:

And nobody had a phone in their bedroom except the parents in the 70s. It's a big deal.

Wendy:

Oh yeah, I had a lot of that stuff growing up in the 90s too. I think a big thing about growing up in the 50s or the 70s is that your parents didn't know where you were. Yeah, those boys were gone for two days and nobody called the cops.

Bridget:

Well, and do you. Did you know that at like 10 o'

clock or 10:

30 every night the TV would come on and say, do you know where your children are?

Wendy:

Yeah, I've heard.

Bridget:

I think I was in bed because I don't remember. I don't remember that really. But I do remember staying up so late that the color bars would come on the tv. You had no channels. You were just screwed. And you didn't have movies to watch. Back to Stand By Me, I do have some fun facts. Aside from all of the awards that it won, Stephen King said he feels it was the best movie he ever made or was a part of even better than Shawshank, which. That's a statement. And it. It's a really tight film. There isn't anything extra that you don't need. Everything is there for a reason. And the actors were so good. Each of them said their character really resembled their own home life.

Wendy:

Oh, really? So that must have been easier for them to tap into.

Bridget:

Yeah. Corey Feldman even said in his home life, normal kids don't worry about getting hit over their grades being bad because they're not going to be able to act if they have bad grades. They'll lose their whatever and it's just like, my God.

Wendy:

Well, river and Joaquin both clearly had a messed up.

Bridget:

Oh yeah, that's well documented.

Wendy:

I think his performance is particularly compelling. Yes, he's very mature for his age. But that happens to you when you are abused. I think you are forced to grow up.

Bridget:

Well, I also read something that he was. He does appear older and the suggestion could be that he was held back. Poor circumstances, just not well taken care of by his parents. So that could be. But yeah, a wiser almost a father figure.

Wendy:

Yeah, he's. He is. Especially to Gordy. He kind of counsels him and encourages him like a Coach would. Because I feel like when I was 12, I wasn't thinking that much about what I was going to do when I grow up.

Bridget:

No, you don't even have a destination for where you're going to go on your bike. You just go.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

I mean, sometimes we'd stop by this mulberry tree.

Wendy:

And then he died shortly after this film.

Bridget:

Oh, yes. So think about that. The trajectory of each of their lives. River Phoenix went the drug and alcohol route. Corey Feldman is clean as a whistle. He maybe was into it a little as a younger.

Wendy:

I think so. I think he had issues with it.

Bridget:

Corey Haim really did.

Wendy:

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Bridget:

He passed away.

Wendy:

Have you seen Corey Feldman these days? Like what he's. He's into and he does music.

Bridget:

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Wendy:

Not very good. But I love his enthusiasm. He dances like Michael Jackson.

Bridget:

Yes, well, he grew up with Michael Jackson.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

He claims he was not molested.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

But he's was definitely ripe for grooming.

Wendy:

I think he was. Even if he didn't get like physically molested, I'm sure he was groomed.

Bridget:

Thought you were going to say laid.

Wendy:

I wasn't going to go that far.

Bridget:

Yikes.

Wendy:

But yeah, him and. But it's weird that so many young boys had a relationship with him. It's. It's not normal. But anyway, that's not the point.

Bridget:

It does take a long time grooming. You know, he can't possibly groom every kid at the same time. Okay, get off Michael Jackson. Back to the movie. I do have some fun facts.

Wendy:

Okay.

Bridget:

The barama scene.

Wendy:

Oh, gosh. Yeah.

Bridget:

Obviously when you see or hear someone barfing, it makes you barf too. So there were people who actually threw up. Real throw up. A local bakery, they said, supplied the pies and put extra filling. And the vomit was made out of filling and large curd cottage cheese. Yeah. And they, you know, the whole audience.

Wendy:

Starts barfing and it's all the same color. Like they all eaten the pie.

Bridget:

Of course, of course. You know, it's like a fair or something. Each person barfing barfed different amounts up to 5 gallons. So some people just a little barf. I wonder if you had to if it was a lottery, like you're going to be five gallon coffee break. Let's talk about our beans.

Wendy:

Hey, bean flickers, have you followed us yet? We are on Instagram and Facebook at flicking beans pod. Make sure you like and subscribe and leave us a review. How are they? Do you. Okay, they're just like putting that in their mouth and then spitting it out.

Bridget:

No, they probably have a tube.

Wendy:

I was gonna say it had a lot of flavor force it.

Bridget:

It was likely a tube somehow that was attached to their face. I mean, however they do it on snl, barf happens. Do you remember in Cheech and Chong when that girl snorted all that?

Wendy:

The cleaner?

Bridget:

Yeah. And I can't remember. She had like a suction hose somewhere that it was. Oh. And it was attached to a vacuum, and that's how made it look like she snorted it. Because she would have died.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

And there's a funny bit about the leeches. Actually, there's two funny bits about the leeches. For safety reasons, the pond was actually just a, you know, a basin, a shallow basin that was sunk into the ground, but it was actually filled and then left for however long months before they used it. So who the h*** knows what was in it?

Wendy:

Yeah, I was like, that really didn't. Didn't do anything safety wise.

Bridget:

No. So the leeches were obviously fake. And did you read this too, about the rubber cement?

Wendy:

No.

Bridget:

Okay, so they were latex. The leeches were actually made of molded latex. They looked real to me. I've never seen a leech. Have you? Okay.

Wendy:

For all the movie tropes and all the lakes that I've swam in.

Bridget:

Yeah.

Wendy:

Never seen a leak.

Bridget:

Not one.

Wendy:

I don't think they're that.

Bridget:

No, you need. Just need to bring salt with you.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

So they were attached to the boys bodies with rubber cement and red paint. So when they pulled them off, you know, it gave that real. It looked like they were really stuck on. Yeah, because they were. But it left them with all these red marks. And coincidentally, they went to a water park, but they weren't able to use it because they looked like they had skin disease. Can you imagine? Even if the management said that or, you know, they explained it and the management let them in, it's the other patrons who would freak out.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

I love it.

Wendy:

Yeah. They would be like, I don't want to go after him.

Bridget:

Right. Gross. Another fun thing that they did in their off time was there was a Renaissance fair in town, and so they went and they bought some cookies that were magic. Special cookies. Yes, Laced with the devil's lettuce. After two hours, they found Jerry o' Connell crying in the woods and very high.

Wendy:

Did they know that they were laced? No, they just. No cookies.

Bridget:

Not at all when they bought them. Maybe he just had never been high before. It freaks some people out.

Wendy:

Well, and also, if you didn't know. And you ate, like, a bunch of them, then you, like, overdosed yourself.

Bridget:

Oh, yeah. Oh, I'm the one eating the bunch of cookies. Can't stop at just one.

Wendy:

I know. That's why you gotta make a batch of undosed cookies when you make your regular cookie so that you can eat your. I'm giving stoner advice. So you can eat your cookie that's special. And then you have other cookies you can eat so you don't over. No, you just, like, eat the cookies.

Bridget:

Yeah. You probably do want some other cookies. You're right. Because the pot cookies taste like.

Wendy:

Yeah. They're not the best.

Bridget:

No. The cigarettes that the kids smoked were made out of lettuce.

Wendy:

Really?

Bridget:

Yeah.

Wendy:

Lettuce.

Bridget:

Yeah.

Wendy:

A lot of smoking in this. Both of these films, too.

Bridget:

Heck, yeah. Where the kids, like, you have the cigarettes and they each get one after dinner.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

And which one of them says, ah, this is the best time to have a smoke?

Wendy:

They say it several times. It's like where they picked that up.

Bridget:

Somewhere from cigarette ads.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

They used to be on commercials in magazines. Yeah. I mean, TV commercials. Can't even imagine it now.

Wendy:

Yeah, I guess they. They kind of stopped allowing them to do that. Because I remember there being billboards and.

Bridget:

Yeah.

Wendy:

You know, marble a man on billboards and stuff.

Bridget:

Correct. Who died of cancer of the lungs. But, yeah, I mean, they would market them as smooth, satisfying, and you were supposed to look really cool doing it.

Wendy:

I mean, to cigarettes credit, you do look kind of cool.

Bridget:

Everybody did it.

Wendy:

Yeah, everybody did it. It was everywhere.

Bridget:

Yeah. I feel like the decline of people smoking one, when you were no longer allowed to smoke in bars or restaurants and the advent of vapes, you almost don't see somebody with a cigarette anymore.

Wendy:

I was just talking to some friends of mine from college over, like, a group text, and they just sent, like, a picture of us in a bar from, like, 15 years ago. We were talking about, oh, look at the picture. And this thing of Marlboro Lights on the table. You don't see that anymore. And Leah's like, I saw somebody smoking the other day. And I was like, who still does that?

Bridget:

Right, right.

Wendy:

I was like, me too. I think that whenever I see somebody smoking a real cigarette, you see a lot of people vaping. I. I see people smoking in their car, but other than that, like, go to the bar and there's not the four smokers. You have to walk by to get in the bar anymore. It's just not a thing anymore. I think it's good Probably. Except that I think a lot of it's been replaced by vaping, which is arguably slightly better for you, but also.

Bridget:

Has its own warnings.

Wendy:

And the vaping has kind of gotten a hold of the youth.

Bridget:

Oh, for sure.

Wendy:

Because of course, if like when you were younger and like sneaking cigs, if you could have done it without smell, of course you would have.

Bridget:

Yeah. Oh my God. That was my mom. If I tried to smoke and blow it out my bedroom window, she'd come in. Smells like a big cigarette in here. Great. No, it doesn't.

Wendy:

No. What are you talking about?

Bridget:

Who cares? You either outgrow it or you don't. Yeah. Stand By Me, arguably one of the best films of all time.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

Certainly of the 80s, stands up today. Everybody's got that childhood nostalgia. Yeah. What else do you think about Standby Moi?

Wendy:

I talked about the music before. I really noticed that throughout the movie they are playing a very slow instrumental version of Stand By Me. It's very like drawn out and simple, but you can hear the melody.

Bridget:

Yeah.

Wendy:

I was like, that's cool. I do have one fact, that one fun fact about. So they go to a junkyard as a shortcut. And there's a dog, his name is Chopper. And his folklore around him is that he's this beast and then he ends up being just this cute dog. His real name is Popeye. I noticed that in the credits. I was like, oh, Chopper is Popeye.

Bridget:

Oh, I would call him Poopy sometimes. That's so cute. The song. They originally tapped Michael Jackson to cover it. Yeah. But in the end decided that the original version, version was better. That's. That's a funny Michael Jackson connection.

Wendy:

True.

Bridget:

Yeah. Interesting.

Wendy:

Maybe felt Corey Feldman set that up because he was buddy.

Bridget:

Obviously that's a very old song, but it went back into the top 10, which is just so cool. The train scene when they're getting chased by the train, obviously the train isn't as close as it appears. For safety, they put planks down across treads of the track, you know, for safety. So they didn't trip when they were running. They also replaced the kids with little stunt women.

Wendy:

Really?

Bridget:

Yeah.

Wendy:

Running. Yes.

Bridget:

Yes. Well, right around that time, I guess it's when they were filming the Twilight Zone and kid died and so they put all these restrictions on child actors for safety. So now I kind of want to watch a little closer to see if you can tell. Because you kind of always can in a way, if you look for it.

Wendy:

Yeah. If you're. If you're paying Attention or you can definitely notice. Camera trick to not see their face and stuff.

Bridget:

Do you want to talk a little bit about now and then?

Wendy:

Yeah, let's do a little more on that. We kind of covered it because the, you know, the two films have so much in common, so it's easy to talk about them at the same time. But I wrote down a few things that they all have in common. We've already covered some of this. But they both have kids and kids smoking, which I love. The scene with the hippie, it's just like a little Brendan Frasier cameo.

Bridget:

Did you know he wasn't credited?

Wendy:

Really?

Bridget:

Yeah. When he came on screen, I was like, brendan Fraser.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

How you doing?

Wendy:

Yeah, it's just. It's sort of a weird scene, but I think it was trying to speak to the unrest of the time in the 70s with Vietnam going on. They needed to. If it's going to be nostalgia, you have to address that. That was going on. So I think that's probably why. But he gives these girls who are clearly 12, 13 cigarettes like it's no big deal.

Bridget:

And then I think they feel kind of mature and grown up when they're smoking with this older man, of course.

Wendy:

He'S like, yeah, he. He offers them cigarettes like they're grown up. He's talking, he's telling the truth to them, which is something that adults don't often do.

Bridget:

Right.

Wendy:

They don't tell you the truth.

Bridget:

And he just breezes in and out.

Wendy:

When she sees his earrings, one of the girls goes, oh, you're one of those hippies.

Bridget:

Yep.

Wendy:

On his jean jacket, he's got a little peace sign patch and stuff. So. Yeah, I don't know. I liked that scene in the movie. Forgot that Brendan Fraser was in this. They also both had the near death moment with the train.

Bridget:

Yes.

Wendy:

Stand by me. And then in now and then the girl climbs down a train, which is wild, scary. So scary for a bracelet that could have been replaced.

Bridget:

How on earth was she, quote, faking it in that scene? The water was just rushing in.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

I would have been terrified.

Wendy:

That I didn't realize was a fear of mine until I rewatched this. And I was like, wow, now I'm scared of falling or being covered with water like that.

Bridget:

I don't think you could even squeeze through that. Maybe you could in the 70s.

Wendy:

Yeah, I think that that's not. Although we do. We have a very fat raccoon that squeezes into ours. I've seen. But a raccoon is not a 12 year old girl.

Bridget:

Correct.

Wendy:

I would imagine because of things like that. Like people getting in them.

Bridget:

Yeah.

Wendy:

And. Or whatever his. Yeah.

Bridget:

When Christina Ricci gets punched for, quote, faking the near drowning.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

She forgot to turn her head away. She really got punched.

Wendy:

It looked like a real punch.

Bridget:

She was bruised. They had to take a break until she healed up. Yikes. Not many people. Not many women. Many people can say they've been punched in the face. Yeah.

Wendy:

I mean, it's never happened to me.

Bridget:

I've punched someone in the face.

Wendy:

I did once, but it was because the guy was drunk and asking people to do it to him. And I was like, okay.

Bridget:

Yeah.

Wendy:

That was the only time that.

Bridget:

If you're invited. H***, yeah.

Wendy:

Why not? I feel like, okay. I've never punched someone in the face. It hurts like h***. I didn't even do it full force because I didn't want to hurt him, but I was like, wow. No wonder. You probably do break your hand punching people in the jaw. That's why you have to wear gloves.

Bridget:

Oh, God.

Wendy:

They just break your hand. That's funny, though. I mean, it looked very real.

Bridget:

It was.

Wendy:

It was real. Was. She deserves it, though. That's a terrible joke.

Bridget:

That's what she said, right? That's a terrible joke. Yeah, it is.

Wendy:

That's not funny. I'm. I don't. I'm kind of the. Of the school of thought that anything. You can joke about anything, but you gotta make it. That wasn't funny. That was just mean.

Bridget:

I just don't feel like she was joking.

Wendy:

No. I think a little bit she wanted to die and was crying out for help a little. Because Christina Ricci's character lost her mom when she was very young. During the course of the film, she finds out she died in a way that she didn't know.

Bridget:

Oh. Because they're researching to try to find. Oh, that's a big part of the plot is there's a little boy that died, but no one knows he and his mom at the same time.

Wendy:

Yeah. They're going on this adventure just like, Stand By Me to go find out about a dead guy.

Bridget:

It's the 70s, so there's no Google. Your only option is to go to the library. It's probably even before microfiche. I remember doing that.

Wendy:

I do, too. Yeah. Not. Not much, but we definitely did it even further back. They're just going through, like, newspapers that are bound in a book.

Bridget:

But the teamwork.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

Everybody was doing it at the same time, working pretty diligently to find anything.

Wendy:

They could yeah, this is what you can accomplish when you don't have TV or smartphones.

Bridget:

Goodness.

Wendy:

I remember.

Bridget:

I don't think I ever gathered at a library with my friends though I.

Wendy:

Actually did do that some. We were never trying to solve a mystery.

Bridget:

Right, Right.

Wendy:

But the library, my town was one of the only places you could go. You didn't have to spend money, you know. Yeah. When I was younger I would go there and I think they had the Internet before we did. So I used to go use the computer there sometimes.

Bridget:

Yeah, I don't think I ever had a real like mystery or adventure like that either.

Wendy:

I did ride my bike around a lot though. I remember we lived in an apartment complex when we first moved to Iowa and it was like kind of gated. As long as I was in the complex, I could go wherever and I would just spend all day like with my friends just doing circles of laps with the bike.

Bridget:

I would go from my grandparents house downtown. I mean, I'm sure I was a few miles from home. Only once did I get lost on my way back because I went home with a girl from school just to kind of play after school. She had a playhouse in the backyard, it had electricity, she had lights and I loved it. And then we went inside, had a drink and a snack and then she was just like, bye. And I was like, oh, I'm just booted out. And I did not know my way back home. It's fine. I figured it out. Christina Ricci and Gaby Hoffman are best friends in real life.

Wendy:

Cute.

Bridget:

They're all the cutest. I almost didn't recognize Thora Burch because she looks so different with very dark hair, also green in Ghost World until she made a couple little facial expressions that were kind of snarky. And I was like, I see it. Okay. Okay. Then I had no question. That was a really nice movie too.

Wendy:

Yeah. I remembered liking it when I saw it when I was younger. It came out in 1995. I would have been close to these girls. Age at that time left an impression on me. I like a good old ladies friendship movie for real. You know, because it's definitely. Those are important relationships in my life. So I like those.

Bridget:

Powerful friendships or the. The power of friendship. And yeah. I think ladies bond harder and faster.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

Than men.

Wendy:

And that's what she said that maybe that's one of the reasons that Stand By Me is has. It's a well done film. But also you don't get to see that kind of male friendship and honesty as much in movies.

Bridget:

I think they don't talk about their feelings.

Wendy:

Men, a good kids friendship movie for dudes is like sandlot. And they don't talk about their feelings really in that. Or maybe they do, but no, it's all around the sport and the sportism.

Bridget:

But they're struggling within themselves. They all internalize it, but not talk about it. Therapy for men has come a long way and talking about feelings has come a long way. Girls do it. That's all we talk about, is our feelings. One of the quotes had something to do with not being so afraid of the bad things that you miss out on the good. Be 12 until you're not. And yeah, be in the moment whether it's bad or good.

Wendy:

You like Demi Moore's character in the beginning when she shows up and they're like swinging her and.

Bridget:

No.

Wendy:

But she was like, I don't understand the whole kid.

Bridget:

Yeah, I don't either.

Wendy:

And she's like, you have them, you ultimately f*** them up, but then they grow up to resent you, then they have kids and it starts all over.

Bridget:

It's true.

Wendy:

I see that point of view. I thought it was a funny perspective, for sure. But it's also like seeing only the bad.

Bridget:

Yeah.

Wendy:

Part of it.

Bridget:

Yeah.

Wendy:

There's lots of good things about having kids too. I'm sure, if it makes you happy. I mean, their friend that's pregnant is ecstatic about it.

Bridget:

Yeah. And very basic. Yeah.

Wendy:

But she's the happiest though, you know?

Bridget:

Yeah.

Wendy:

Sometimes I think that lower expectations really like the secret to happiness.

Bridget:

Yeah.

Wendy:

Because if you just like, that's all you want. It was just a basic happy life. I have. Have a couple kids where we have enough to put food on the table and. And that's all you really want. Then you're happier, but it seems boring. I get it because I. I don't know, I'm not like that. I need to do. I need to accomplish things. I. I have goals. I have things that are not simple. And that's okay too. But I think sometimes if you can be the person that is happy with those, you're just happier in the day to day, for sure.

Bridget:

Yeah. You can have a complicated life, but also a simple life. It's about not bringing in the drama, not focusing on the bad, but focusing on the good. Being grateful every day for a new day or for your partner or for the coffee he made you or she.

Wendy:

I think we all kind of understand collectively that that is the key to happiness. But why is that so hard, man?

Bridget:

There's Just so many distractions and so many reasons not to take care of yourself and be introspective and. Yeah. And plus we live in the society where you need to have things and certain things and consumerism and propaganda and discord and racism and ruining the planet. Right. All those things.

Wendy:

It's hard to just be like, well, I'm just gonna live my simple little life and not carry care about all of that. I think that sometimes about that have a really strong religious faith. Like, I wish I could because it seems like it gives them such simple purpose, focus, a thing that they can like ground their life in. And I just, I don't buy all that. So I wish I could.

Bridget:

You can still have a set standard of rules that you personally live by and not call it religion, not call it God. But you already do that. You have your scruples and your ethics and your beliefs on what is right and being kind. And you don't need a church for that. You're spiritual.

Wendy:

This is, it's a good film that gives a spectrum of how you can be successful and happy as a woman too. Because there is the basic, like, I'm gonna be a housewife. She's the first to have kids. She's so happy about that. Rosie o' DONNELL Christina Richie's character, Roberta. Roberta's character doesn't have kids. She's not married, but she's living with her partner. Which I was kind of thinking they.

Bridget:

Would make her a lesbian. She was originally gay, but they changed it.

Wendy:

Yeah. Just at the last point, I thought the whole movie like, she, she. Well, because Rosie. Because it's Rosie o' Donnell and she. Even when Christina Ricci was younger, although she did, she was, was kissing a boy, so she liked that boy at least. But yeah, I kind of thought they could just lean into the lesbian thing.

Bridget:

It was seven years after before she actually came out.

Wendy:

Really?

Bridget:

Yeah, Yeah.

Wendy:

I guess it's a different time because I remember Ellen DeGeneres was like the first big, big lesbian and that was probably in like the late 90s. So it's probably after this movie. She totally is, though. Like everything about her embodies it. Yeah, she's living in some with her boyfriend. It would have been funnier even if more acceptable if they just said like she has lot a long term roommate or something. Like people used to say, rosie's going to Roberta's, bringing her roommate to Christmas.

Bridget:

Right? Oh, yeah.

Wendy:

Yeah.

Bridget:

We're more than just roommates. Did we do it?

Wendy:

I think so.

Bridget:

We flick some beans.

Wendy:

Okay. Love you Bye bye.

Bridget:

Party all night long.

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Bridget

Co-host
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Wendy

Co-host