Iced Coffee and Cargo Shorts™

A cult movie, a kind panel, and a caffeinated confession meet in one hour of fast, funny radio. We kick off with Cocaine Bear and really ask why that wild, gory, low-CGI romp lands so well. The cast is stacked, the tone is intentionally chaotic, and the laughs come from commitment—not polish. It’s the rare “smart dumb” comedy that uses cartoon logic and 80s nostalgia to invite you back for rewatch after rewatch.

From there, we jump to the bright corner of reality TV: The Voice. Snoop, Reba, Michael Bublé, and Niall Horan have a chemistry you can’t script, and the mentorship is more than TV talk. When a coach keeps calling a past winner, offers real stages, and stays in their corner after the confetti falls, the show stops being a machine and starts acting like a music ecosystem. We talk about how that shift—fewer stunt auditions, more actual talent—changes the tone for viewers who want joy without cruelty.

Then we go full ritual. One of us cuts back to decaf to tame a jumpy blood pressure, the other leans into homemade cold brew, and we swap stories about why small choices matter. Massachusetts iced coffee loyalty, the bodega-to-Starbucks pipeline, absurd custom orders with “light ice,” and the strange comfort of getting the cup exactly right—every detail becomes a tiny act of control in a noisy world. We extend that to hotel life: app check-ins might be speedy, but a face-to-face checkout catches mistakes, respects the staff’s rhythm, and closes the loop with a little grace.

We close on something bigger than shows and drinks: the overwhelming relief of hostages returning home and crowds lining the streets in welcome. Moments like that reframe the rest—why we laugh, why we mentor, why we slow down for each other. Press play for a blend of film nerdery, music-TV insight, coffee culture, and a reminder that small decisions can still feel like care.

If this episode made you think, laugh, or argue with your speaker, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review. What’s your coffee ritual—or your guilty-pleasure show—you’ll defend to the end?

Find our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/447251562357065/

Transcript

Cold Open & White Lines

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Hello. Welcome to the Anne Levine Show. It's October fourteenth, twenty twenty-five. I'm Anne Levine, and I'm joined by Michael over there. Hello, the star, the legend, the man. And in an unusual, perhaps, intro, we've got White Lines by Grandmaster Flash.

SPEAKER_04 1:12

And Melly Mel.

Cocaine Bear: Cast, Style, Gore

SPEAKER_00 1:14

And Melly Mel. Of course I knew that. And if you're wondering why this song. It's because I watched cocaine bear. Yeah, I did. I watched it. Okay, so. It's not what I was expecting.

SPEAKER_04 1:44

Uh-huh. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

It is one of the funniest things I have ever seen. And of course it's a cult movie. It's it's kind of like a uh oh, I don't know, like a um what's it called? The McClovin. What's that movie called? Bad?

SPEAKER_04 2:11

Uh Super Bad.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Super Bad.

SPEAKER_04 2:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

It's it's got that kind of a thing to it where you can keep wa you could watch it over and over.

SPEAKER_04 2:19

Yeah. And I uh another one like that, which is it's very different from Super Bad, but it's it's also you know insane to the same is Kung Fu Hustle. Yes. Just yeah, it's absolutely way over the top, and it's hilarious.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

Pineapple Express.

SPEAKER_04 2:40

Yep. Yeah, there's another one uh with those guys in it.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

Right. And this was Elizabeth Banks, which um I I was not expecting her to direct and produce Cocaine Bear. I wasn't expecting anyone, okay, let's start there, to have anything to do with this script. Yeah. She may have written it actually.

SPEAKER_04 3:07

It's quite possible. She's a pretty funny lady.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

It is so stupid and so hilarious, and it's got people in it that you definitely aren't expecting.

SPEAKER_04 3:21

Like kind of everybody.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

Carrie Russell is in it. Uh Marco Martindale.

SPEAKER_04 3:28

Right.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

One of one of your favorites is a huge part of it. I love her. Um, I feel like I was just talking about her, but anyway, so there was a little bit of the the Americans cast in there.

SPEAKER_04 3:44

Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

Um, you know what, Michael? The guy from um The Wire, and I can never remember his name, but he's in everything. Um he was the senator or something, and he would always say Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:01

Uh what was his name? Um or is his name.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

I can't think of his name.

SPEAKER_04 4:06

Anyway, Ray Leota's in it. Oh, right. I um I Isaiah, I guess, Whitlock? That's the guy. Yes, yeah, Jr., yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

And Ray Leota, yes, and it was his last film, and which what a way to go out.

SPEAKER_04 4:24

Speaking of the Americans, Matthew Reese also in this movie.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 4:29

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

So it was like the case.

SPEAKER_04 4:33

Who? Paul Rubens was in the movie as well. He was? Yes, he was.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

Who was he? Uh I got it too.

SPEAKER_04 4:39

He may have been himself.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

There were so many bizarre people, bizarre I I can't explain it. And the and the um and hilarious gore, you know, where like you just see a clearly fake leg with fake blood on it, like, fly up in the air and then fob.

SPEAKER_04 5:12

Well, and the CGI is uh, you know, you could tell that if they gave it like another year, it would have been it could have been good, but they weren't even trying. They're like, okay, let's get this bear up there and make him look really mad, and it'll make him go really fast. That way people won't be able to focus really clearly.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

Well, and even if you could, I mean, it was so off the rails.

SPEAKER_04 5:38

Yeah, well, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:39

And the end, oh, the the the whole Carrie Russell was amazing.

SPEAKER_04 5:46

And also the children that were in it, I Yeah, uh let's see, Brooklyn Prince, she was in it.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

I don't know who they were. These they were two kids, a boy and a girl. Um, totally like a Hansel and Gretel situation with them. And uh and the whole thing took place in the 70s or the 80s. I'm not sure, but it was um definitely a time travel. Yeah, it was pre-cell phones, it was during shoulder pads, um it was oh god, so hilarious.

SPEAKER_04 6:35

Now, you know, they do like to say that it's based on a real life story. Well, it is. Well the okay, but it only goes this far. There was a bear and it ate some cocaine. No That's a sm that's where the similarities end. Well, no, there's the bear died.

What’s Real vs. Movie Myth

SPEAKER_00 6:58

There's a precursor, which is that a plane over Tennessee with a huge amount of cocaine on it.

SPEAKER_04 7:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

Um, you know, being flown in from wherever, Nicaragua, I don't know, yeah, was dropped um mistakenly into what was it, like Georgia, right? Was it Georgia or Tennessee? Maybe it was Georgia. Okay. And um, so there were like bricks of cocaine around. So I mean that part of it is true. And yeah, that little the bear thing definitely had a uh you know, a short ending.

SPEAKER_04 7:55

Yeah, it it only lived for maybe 45 minutes at the most after it ingested it.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

So Right.

SPEAKER_04 8:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

So um anyway, it is I I can't recommend it highly enough if you if you like crazy off the rails, stupid right. Something yeah, it just made me laugh so hard.

SPEAKER_04 8:24

You need to go into this knowing this is not a real story, and don't don't look at it like it is. It's uh it's a it's a comedy.

SPEAKER_00 8:33

And don't don't be anxious. I remember thinking when I first heard about it, I heard like, oh, it's this weird kind of horror story about a bear that eats a brick of cocaine and then goes on this rampage and is tearing people apart. And it sounded okay, no, hard pass.

SPEAKER_04 8:59

Right, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

It's not like that, and I don't know what possessed me to watch that of all films, if you can call it a film, I guess you can. Um, anyway, it was nuts, completely nuts, and lots of prosthetics were used.

SPEAKER_04 9:22

Oh yeah, yeah. I mean, you gotta he's gonna chew on something.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

Oh no, well, I meant I meant like um people were made up. Like I didn't recognize Oh, I see.

SPEAKER_04 9:36

Uh uh prosthetic makeup, not like fake arms and legs. Okay, all right, okay. I get that.

Why It Works as Comedy

SPEAKER_00 9:42

And so it some of these people look so they might not have wanted to be uh associated with the movie. Well, they look so messed up and off and weird.

SPEAKER_04 9:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

Um, and it's sort of like, you know, well, that could be Matthew Reese if he was 12 and you know, starving himself. I don't know. It was hard to explain, but um now I'm understanding why I didn't recognize some of those people.

SPEAKER_04 10:18

Yeah, yeah, maybe. So could have could be all the cocaine as well.

SPEAKER_00 10:24

Well, you do wonder, I mean, I gotta wonder how much cocaine was on set. Right. Uh this I mean, it's in the name. Come on. It's that's so true. Yeah, it's right in the name. What was I thinking? Uh well, that was a delightful.

SPEAKER_04 10:43

Yeah, cocaine. Don't miss it. If you like uh Bears Who Take Cocaine. I mean It's your kind of movie.

SPEAKER_00 10:53

It's silly, it's stupid, yeah, and um it's really very over the top. It's really yeah, the mar the Margot Martindale stuff, and it's done with such a like it seems like someone's film project from the first day of film school.

SPEAKER_04 11:18

Uh huh. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:19

You know what I mean? Like it seems, and it was really low budget. I think it was done during the pandemic. And a lot of it was shot in Ireland, and Ireland was one of the places that had the least amount of COVID.

SPEAKER_04 11:38

Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:39

I don't know if those two things were related. Um I mean, I don't know if that's why people were shooting there, but people were shooting there during the pandemic. I maybe because they were letting people shoot. I don't know. But but it's some of the um actual scenery is gorgeous.

SPEAKER_04 12:03

Yeah, yeah.

Pandemic Filming & Scenery Notes

SPEAKER_00 12:05

Um, so that has been a lot of fun. I'm having a problem with the voice. You are well, my problem is that I'm a little addicted to it.

SPEAKER_04 12:22

Oh, okay. All right, yeah. I will acknowledge that problem for you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:27

And yeah, well, thank you for acknowledging my and now I will acknowledge. Well, never mind. Yeah. Uh so I don't know why, but I've also become fond of this bizarre group of judges.

SPEAKER_04 12:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:52

Four people you would never dream would be hanging out together. Michael Booblay.

SPEAKER_04 13:00

Right. Very funny guy.

SPEAKER_00 13:03

Reba McIntyre. Reba, yep, Niall Horan.

SPEAKER_04 13:08

Yep, the one direction guy.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

And Snoop.

SPEAKER_04 13:12

And Snoop Snoop.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

And what's crazy is ready for the Olympics. They all get along really well.

SPEAKER_04 13:24

They do seem to, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:25

You can tell.

SPEAKER_04 13:27

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

They really like each other. They've got private jokes with each other, and little little things they do.

SPEAKER_04 13:36

So they're they're finally getting to you.

SPEAKER_00 13:40

Well, that's the problem.

SPEAKER_04 13:41

All of these little skits and all these little things that they've been doing, all these ridiculously stupid things. They're finally, they're finally getting through, huh?

SPEAKER_00 13:52

No, I fast forward through all of those. It's what happens when they're judging, when they're talking, none of that, like, none of those stuff. Okay, all right. Yeah, none of that.

SPEAKER_04 14:07

Yeah, because I was getting a little worried there.

SPEAKER_00 14:08

No, that stuff I absolutely cannot abide.

SPEAKER_04 14:12

It's so dumb.

SPEAKER_00 14:13

Um, no, this is not scripted stuff. This is the stuff they do. It's just the way they talk to each other.

SPEAKER_04 14:20

Yeah, yeah. Um, and they they they do tend to show uh more candid kind of moments. Yeah, yeah, exactly. That is true.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

And so it's one thing they're doing that I really appreciate is they are really the producers are using much more discretion about who they let through. So there are fewer big oopsies.

SPEAKER_04 15:05

Right, right.

The Voice Judges Chemistry

SPEAKER_00 15:06

You know, like most of the people that come on this show can sing.

SPEAKER_04 15:12

Right.

SPEAKER_00 15:12

And most of them can sing pretty darn well.

SPEAKER_04 15:17

Uh unlike in the past with the voice, not as much with the voice, but certainly with some many of the other singing competitions, especially Idle, you could be very, very bad and still audition on there and get your time on TV.

SPEAKER_00 15:32

Well, that was part of it.

SPEAKER_04 15:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:35

So and so this is enjoyable in that, you know, 99% of the time, you're not gonna get someone terrible.

SPEAKER_04 15:46

Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:47

Um, or even bad. Um, you might get someone that's not in your lane, you know, you may not like that style of music or them particularly or whatever.

SPEAKER_04 15:59

Um, but for the most part and and also during uh during the blind auditions, you're gonna get a lot of people crying. You know, when they tell when they tell their story, everybody has to have us has to have something uh cry about. Yeah, right. The contestants themselves.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

Yeah, so they they get very um you know, if there's drama, the producers want the drama.

SPEAKER_04 16:33

Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:33

So everyone sits down as if they're the only people on the planet and tells about the fact that someone close to them passed away.

SPEAKER_04 16:45

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:46

Or someone close to them went through a long, terrible illness. Or they went through a or they passed away back. Yeah. Um, so yeah, they milk that stuff. Um, and that's those are other parts. This is one of those shows where I fast forward a lot.

SPEAKER_04 17:08

You know, one of the one of the things though, I I remember hearing uh, I mean, just recently was Michael Boblet talking about a previous winner. Like he's he's won the show for the past two seasons. And one of those people who won with him, he says, I talk to him every day. And I believe that. And he, you know, and he's still continuing to like be this guy's coach, even though you know the show is long over.

SPEAKER_00 17:37

Well, you know what his name is? Sempronius. I mean, how does that happen?

SPEAKER_04 17:42

Are you kidding me? No, I used to live there, I know.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

Oh my gosh. Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:50

You know, yeah, the entirety of upstate New York is populated by uh Roman general names.

SPEAKER_00 17:57

And Greek names.

SPEAKER_04 17:58

And Greek names, yep. Yeah, and uh Sempronius is one of them. It's a very, very tiny little town, and I used to live right in it.

SPEAKER_00 18:06

Well, Michael Booblay is friends with a guy named Sempronius, yeah, with whom he speaks on the daily, as they say. And um I just thought of Fortune Feamster who always says on the reg.

SPEAKER_04 18:23

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 18:23

But she's got a southern accent.

SPEAKER_04 18:26

Yeah, on the rag.

SPEAKER_00 18:28

Exactly. And so it always sounds like she's saying on the rag. Yeah. And it's horrible to disastrous effects. Yeah. And her co-hosts are used to it.

SPEAKER_04 18:42

Right, right. Oh, yeah, but put a guest on there.

SPEAKER_00 18:45

Well, or just no, as you're listening, you know, as a podcast listener to Handsome Podcast, and it's like, oh no, fortune. Yeah. She's like, Yeah, no, I go to that restaurant on the room. On the rag. Yeah. Oh, God. Anyway, um, Sempronius, Michael Bublet. Um was it Bublet who was saying that Sempronius or one of his winners was opening for him?

Coaching Beyond TV

SPEAKER_04 19:19

Yeah, I think so, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:21

So these people take their team and especially those who end up blossoming in the process quite seriously.

SPEAKER_04 19:34

Yeah, it's really kind of cool. That's one of the things about it that I, you know, I enjoyed hearing.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:41

Yeah. Yeah. You know, I knew I know that Simon Cowell would, you know, followed up with a lot of the people on X Factor and and got talent and all that other stuff, because he's a producer. That's what he does. He was looking for talent. And he used these shows to find those people.

SPEAKER_00 19:59

Well, this show um is similar except that you don't have four producers sitting there. I mean, you certainly have Snoop Dogg is a producer.

SPEAKER_04 20:10

Yep. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 20:12

Um and I don't know about Nile and Reba, but they certainly uh have all been involved.

SPEAKER_04 20:19

Yeah, they've all been involved in the production process somehow. Yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

So anyway, um the that's uh one of my current problems.

SPEAKER_04 20:29

Okay, yeah. That is a problem. Well, like I said, I will I will acknowledge that for you.

SPEAKER_00 20:35

I have another current problem that I know you will co-sign on.

SPEAKER_04 20:41

What okay, what what is it? Is it serious?

SPEAKER_00 20:45

Well, yes, in a way. Um so I have many addictions, but I have a particular addiction to coffee. And not something I talk about often. It's a little oh under the radar, I guess you can tell.

SPEAKER_04 21:11

Yeah, we don't actually have coffee talk on uh on the show, right?

Coffee, Blood Pressure, Decaf Shift

SPEAKER_00 21:15

No, we don't until today. And so uh I had started to have blood pressure problems, and I finally decided all right, gotta kick the coffee. I was drinking three cups a day. I was drinking more than three cups a day for a long time. And then I cut it back to three cups, like one huge number of it.

SPEAKER_04 21:48

Yeah, pretty big.

SPEAKER_00 21:49

Then then I would switch to decaf. Now I'm all decaf.

SPEAKER_04 21:56

You're all decaf, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:58

So I'm getting a tiny bit of caffeine, but certainly nothing like I was, and my blood pressure has gone down.

SPEAKER_04 22:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:07

Um, but now here's another thing, another part to the story that that I'm for one shocked by, which is that lately, a couple of times, instead of feeling the usual, I want my DCAP all day, sunup to sundown, I've been a little like, yeah, maybe not.

SPEAKER_04 22:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

Like I want that first one.

SPEAKER_04 22:40

Right.

SPEAKER_00 22:41

But then I don't know. The the continually continual refilling of the decaf tankard is feeling less like what I want. So might be moving on.

SPEAKER_04 23:02

I see. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:04

Also, it's cold.

SPEAKER_04 23:06

Because I've gotten back into uh drinking coffee again myself.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

Caffeine?

SPEAKER_04 23:11

Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:12

Oh, great.

SPEAKER_04 23:14

Yeah, I'm just drinking cold brew.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 23:18

Yeah, I make it by the gallon.

SPEAKER_00 23:20

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 23:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:22

Well, there you go. Um, so watch that blood pressure.

SPEAKER_04 23:28

Well, I don't I don't drink tons of it, you know, but I do start my day with it.

SPEAKER_05 23:33

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_04 23:33

Um, I used to drink so much coffee, I was a very jittery person. I don't I don't get like that anymore. I just, you know, I'm like, I'm not gonna start uh the day feeling like I have just ended it. I want to get a little boost, so that's right. That will be off I go. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:55

Off you go.

SPEAKER_04 23:56

Off I go, he said.

SPEAKER_00 23:58

He said as he starting to doze.

SPEAKER_04 24:01

Hey folks, you're listening to the Anne Levine Show, by the way, on W O M R and W F M R.

SPEAKER_00 24:08

92.1 FM in Provincetown.

SPEAKER_04 24:11

And 91.3 FM Orleans. And we're streaming worldwide at W O M R.org. And uh thanks for tuning in.

SPEAKER_00 24:22

Yes, I I got off to the races. You know, it's that cocaine. Yeah, it's just hearing white lines. Yeah, blame it on the bear. I'm blaming it on Grandmaster Flash.

SPEAKER_04 24:34

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 24:37

Or whatever it was.

SPEAKER_04 24:38

Melly Mel, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:39

Meli Mell.

SPEAKER_04 24:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:41

Palmel. Palmel. Anyway, I'm seeing this I don't know if if y'all out there know this, but Starbucks be damned. Ice coffee, like huge iced coffees.

SPEAKER_04 25:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:03

That's a Massachusetts thing.

Cold Brew vs. Hot Rituals

SPEAKER_04 25:07

Oh yeah, it has been for for years. Forever. I mean, now people are, you know, it's everybody's caught on, they're carrying around these huge Stanley things. Right. Now you see them everywhere, but it's been like that in Massachusetts for 50 years.

SPEAKER_00 25:23

Forever. Yeah. So uh and we, and I say we Massachusetts, what are we called? Um New Yorkers. Uh Yankees. New Jerseyites, Yankees, New Englanders, Mastholes.

SPEAKER_04 25:44

Yeah, there you go. Mastholes.

SPEAKER_00 25:48

We uh are nothing if not devoted to a few things. And and to a large degree, this is the male of the species. But uh, and so that's uh and these are things you can relate to because there's a little Seattle in this too, I think.

SPEAKER_04 26:08

Oh, we're talking coffee, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:10

I mean there's obviously some sort of But I'm talking cargo shorts. Oh yeah. No matter what the weather.

SPEAKER_04 26:18

Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:20

Okay, and then I'm talking um ice coffee, no matter the weather.

SPEAKER_04 26:28

Absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:29

Now that ends, right? Cargo shorts and ice coffee ends usually around Thanksgiving. And starts up again usually in April. Uh this year, I think it's starting earlier because it's indigenous People's Day.

SPEAKER_04 26:54

Yeah, right. And it is Or just was. We just passed it, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:57

Yeah, it's cold.

SPEAKER_04 27:00

Yeah, it wasn't yeah, rainy and chilly and um, you know, autumnal though, right?

SPEAKER_00 27:06

Well, it's like late autumn.

SPEAKER_04 27:08

Autumnal.

SPEAKER_00 27:11

Autumn.

SPEAKER_04 27:12

Yeah, autumnal, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:13

Speaking of fortune finster.

SPEAKER_04 27:14

Like Fortune Finster would say autumnal. Um because you say autumn. So you would say autumnal.

SPEAKER_00 27:22

I understand her logic. It just I don't. Well, of course you don't. But it totally cracks me up. Yeah. Autumn. Um so it's yeah, I I think, and of course, because we had no rain until this weekend, this past weekend, right? There is no color this year. There are no leaves changing.

SPEAKER_04 27:53

No, I mean the it's been there's some, but it's really been muted because yeah, the trees haven't had the water to it.

SPEAKER_00 28:00

No, everything's just gonna turn like a little yellow and a little brown and then fall off.

SPEAKER_04 28:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:08

And it's annoying.

SPEAKER_04 28:10

But that's uh if that's the leaves, that's normal. If anything else is doing that, folks, uh uh like on your person, you better go to the doctor.

SPEAKER_00 28:18

If things are turning yellow and falling off, what do you mean like yellow to brown and then falling?

SPEAKER_04 28:24

I don't whatever it is. If you see anything turning yellow or brown on you and and you know, go to the doctor before it falls off. That's what I'm saying.

Massachusetts Iced Coffee Culture

SPEAKER_00 28:32

I'm feeling the impression, the uh effect of cocaine bear here.

SPEAKER_04 28:42

Oh, you are?

SPEAKER_00 28:42

Yes, I am.

SPEAKER_04 28:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 28:44

I think you've just been seeing things falling off people and flying off people.

SPEAKER_04 28:50

Well, yeah, that is true. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:52

Well, I'm starting to feel like I want. I I n I don't think I'm ever gonna again be a hot, hot coffee woman like I was in New York.

SPEAKER_04 29:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 29:06

Where it was like, okay, I need my bodega, my good bodega coffee. Right. And I need it hot. You know what? I don't think I ever went into a Starbucks until I went with you. Oh, wow, in New York? Yes. How about that?

SPEAKER_04 29:31

Yes, yeah, and by that time I had been to bazillions of them.

SPEAKER_00 29:35

Never. Never never thought about it, never crossed my mind.

SPEAKER_04 29:40

Including the original Starbucks, which is in the same place. Well, it starts.

SPEAKER_00 29:46

I mean, yeah, okay. You know, you win all the prizes.

SPEAKER_04 29:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:51

You do. But I was just saying that in my day in New York, you You got your bodega coffee. Right, of course, yeah. Or and you you want it hot, yeah. Your your diner coffee, and you know, maybe you'd get a large, which I don't know how the frickin' size scale works with, but maybe it was like uh a well see Starbucks screwed that up for everybody, right?

SPEAKER_04 30:20

You can't have a large now. What's what's that?

SPEAKER_00 30:24

It's a small. I don't know. Yeah, it it's all very confusing.

SPEAKER_04 30:29

Like a a piccolo, and then there's a there's a uh uh an elephant, something to do with an elephant. I don't know. It's all very weird, these size things. Well is there a cocaine bear-sized coffee somewhere? I wonder.

SPEAKER_00 30:46

Well, I wonder if cocaine bear cocaine bear, I don't know if cocaine bear would like coffee. It might just be enough to really tick him off, um, but not enough to I don't know, my bring him down a little bit, you know, not be so cranky. Well, I'm gonna ask you, as a former heavy cocaine user, yeah, um, did coffee give you any kind of a tiny tweak?

SPEAKER_04 31:16

Oh yeah, I used to be buzzing like a yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:19

So it was the coffee would would could help keep you riding that wave.

SPEAKER_04 31:26

That's right. I don't know. Yeah. Um I used to drink coffee. I mean, I would count how much coffee I drank during the day by number of pots.

SPEAKER_00 31:35

How many pots of coffee would you drink?

SPEAKER_04 31:38

The most I've I've done in a day is six. That's not possible. That was a lot of coffee.

SPEAKER_00 31:46

No, that was in a like a 12-hour day. See, I was gonna say, I mean, for me, I think it would be two, would be my absolute maximum.

SPEAKER_04 31:59

Um yeah, that would be well over, you know, a normal person's probably even at that point.

SPEAKER_00 32:05

But six, yeah, I mean, that's like six pots of water.

SPEAKER_04 32:12

I was really, really shaky after that.

SPEAKER_00 32:16

And you were smoking cigs.

SPEAKER_04 32:18

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 32:19

So you were totally wired.

SPEAKER_04 32:20

You got it. Wow. Well never did cocaine, though, by the way. So I I wouldn't know what the effects are. I I assume that's similar to the other.

SPEAKER_00 32:30

I figured that you would at some point be saying, uh Yeah. No. Never not my never No, I never did.

SPEAKER_04 32:38

I I had plenty of opportunities. Never did though.

SPEAKER_00 32:40

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 32:43

So Somebody told me something about uh taking cocaine once and uh I can't remember exactly what it was, but I'm like, okay, yeah, I don't want to do that, and you know, never have.

SPEAKER_00 32:55

Well, it's a really weird, and I'm saying this not from experience, because I was and still am one of the most abstemious people ever.

SPEAKER_04 33:12

Yeah. You're square.

SPEAKER_00 33:14

Well, people don't and people don't believe me. People don't believe me that I was never drunk ever once in my life.

SPEAKER_04 33:22

I know, that is funny, isn't it?

Leaves, Weather, and Wordplay

SPEAKER_00 33:24

Never. Uh I never did coke. Um there was some weed, but later in my life, yeah. I was never a pot smoker. In fact, I was terrified of pot. Um I thought I would end up on some kind of trip or something that I couldn't on a ride I could not get off. Um so yeah, no, I I have zero um history with any of this stuff.

SPEAKER_04 34:06

Yeah, I mean same here, except for except for weed and well on speed.

SPEAKER_00 34:11

Weed and speed.

SPEAKER_04 34:12

Weed and speed.

SPEAKER_00 34:14

Yep. Weed and speed. Gotta get the car going. Gotta stop the car and let it idle. And think you're driving fast.

SPEAKER_04 34:27

Yeah, well, that's where you have to lear learn to rely on your instruments. Yeah. Right? It's you become a pilot and you're like, no, no, no, I'm not going too fast. It says 25 right here.

SPEAKER_00 34:39

Yeah, well, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 34:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:42

Um, it says 10, but I know I'm gonna get pulled over because.

SPEAKER_04 34:46

Yeah, the speed limit is 65.

SPEAKER_00 34:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:49

And yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:51

I had one funny thing in my mid-30s. Um actually it was in my late thirties.

SPEAKER_04 35:04

Oh man.

SPEAKER_00 35:05

Yeah, no, my my uh pot experiences took place very late in my life where I was living in South Beach in Miami, and I made friends with the son of a friend of my parents who was like 22. He was like in college.

SPEAKER_04 35:29

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:30

And when I say friends, I mean we would drive to Sarasota and back to Miami. We would go visit our parents, and I would get a ride from him. Yeah. Um, and he invited me over to his quote, apartment one day, and I walked in, and there's like 10 22-year-old guys living in this place. They did this thing where they stacked the empty pizza boxes.

SPEAKER_04 36:02

Okay, right.

SPEAKER_00 36:04

There were columns of them.

SPEAKER_04 36:07

Okay. Had they built anything out of them, or were they just No, they were just stacking them up. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:14

All over.

SPEAKER_04 36:15

I mean, I've seen that kind of thing. I'm just wondering what kind of record they were going for.

SPEAKER_00 36:19

There has to be, there's something it was just, oh, this is so funny. This is so cool.

SPEAKER_04 36:25

Well, now that yeah, that's reason enough.

Late-to-weed Panic Story

SPEAKER_00 36:27

Yeah, pass the bong. Yeah, Beavis, yeah. No, they were um just complete, and I'm like, here I am, I'm 38 or whatever I was, and walking into this place, like, what am I doing?

SPEAKER_01 36:45

Yeah, why am I here? What happened?

SPEAKER_00 36:51

So then they're passing around a joint, and I take a couple of hits off this joint and zoom to the moon, Alice.

SPEAKER_04 37:02

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:04

Really fast, really far.

SPEAKER_04 37:07

Um, of course, nothing like Yeah, first time's gotta be kind of it's kind of like a slingshot. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:16

I mean, it wasn't the first time, but it was the first time in a very long time. Yeah, yeah. And it was, you know, new bionic weed. You know, it's like the stuff now that yeah. Oh yeah. And so at some point I have a total panic attack of like, what am I doing sitting around in a stack against stacks of pizza boxes? Right at the pizza castle with all these college boys, and it smells like them and pizza boxes, and oh my god, I'm high, and I've gotta get out of here. Right. And so I like run, I thought I ran, I probably crawled out of this apartment down to my car and get in it, and I'm like, oh no, now what do I do?

SPEAKER_04 38:16

Right.

SPEAKER_00 38:18

How do I get home from here? It was like, I don't know, maybe five miles, probably less um trip I had to take, and I got on the road. Oh. And I had to go on some highway, and you know, it's Miami. It's not like people are taking it easy.

SPEAKER_04 38:49

Right, of course not.

SPEAKER_00 38:50

So what did I do? I put on my flashers.

SPEAKER_04 38:56

Oh, good one.

SPEAKER_00 38:57

I put on my flashers.

SPEAKER_04 38:59

Good one, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:00

I stayed in the right-hand plate.

SPEAKER_04 39:02

Car trouble.

SPEAKER_00 39:03

And I went however many miles an hour the least possible you can go in a manual car.

SPEAKER_04 39:12

That's very funny.

SPEAKER_00 39:14

Yep, yep. It took me like an hour and a half to get home. Oh my god. Anyway, so coffee. Yeah. How did I get off on that topic? Oh, I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 39:27

It happens. Yeah, it happens.

SPEAKER_00 39:30

So, Starbucks.

SPEAKER_04 39:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:33

A place I had never been. Really? Um, yes. And so I'm saying I I don't want that super hot, you know, nuclear bodega coffee.

SPEAKER_04 39:45

Right. Um I've actually heard someone order coffee in a Starbucks at a particular temperature.

SPEAKER_01 39:51

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:52

They asked for it at 181 degrees.

unknown 39:55

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:56

And and I wanted to slap them. Well, there are a lot of, you know, cut it out.

SPEAKER_00 40:02

There are lots of reasons to slap someone in a Starbucks. Yeah, true.

SPEAKER_04 40:07

True. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:08

Lots.

SPEAKER_04 40:09

Just the fact that they're in there is reason enough.

SPEAKER_00 40:12

Right. And and the the whole thing with children in Starbucks, you know, parents who are saying, I have to shell out, you know, 20 bucks to my kid every day so they can go with their friends and spend that money.

SPEAKER_04 40:36

Get a coffee and a cookie.

SPEAKER_00 40:38

Right. Yeah. And but but it's not even coffee. It's like a really elaborate sugar bomb.

SPEAKER_04 40:46

Yeah, yeah. You know, and a unicorn frappuccino.

SPEAKER_00 40:49

And a cake pop.

SPEAKER_04 40:50

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 40:51

Well, anyway, this this customer in a Starbucks goes to the front of the line and orders an iced brown sugar shaken espresso.

SPEAKER_04 41:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 41:08

All right, so what is that, Michael? Please, please.

SPEAKER_04 41:11

I got no idea. I suppose it's what it sounds like. You put some brown sugar and espresso in something and in a shaker with some ice and shake it and then pour it out. I wouldn't do anything more than that.

SPEAKER_00 41:24

The whole idea of an iced espresso is ridiculous because who waters down their espresso?

SPEAKER_04 41:36

Well, I don't know. You could argue that anybody that puts milk in it is kind of watering it down too.

SPEAKER_00 41:41

Who puts milk in an espresso?

SPEAKER_04 41:43

Anybody who has a latte or a mocha or, you know, there's milk put in it.

SPEAKER_00 41:48

Yeah, but that's a different drink. That's not an espresso with a splash of milk. Well, it c it I mean, it kind of is. That's oh no, no, no. We we could argue this. It's different. Those are different drinks. And you also don't drink, you know, if you're in Italy where espresso and lattes come from, you don't drink that. That's like morning stuff.

Starbucks Orders & App Etiquette

SPEAKER_04 42:15

That's like it's an 11:30 cutoff. If you ask for a coffee after 11:30, you're gonna get looked at really weird.

SPEAKER_00 42:22

Unless it's an espresso.

SPEAKER_04 42:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:25

You know, so the point being that these milky drinks are like morning drinks, like stuff kids could have.

SPEAKER_04 42:37

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 42:37

You know, putting all that milk and and and you dip cookies in there, and it it's like a morning, I don't know how to explain it. It's like hot cocoa.

unknown 42:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:51

That's what it's like. It's not real. But it hurts. But it was like birds. Yeah, birds aren't real.

SPEAKER_04 42:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:00

We know that. Yeah. They're little dinosaurs, they don't exist. Um so this customer orders an iced brown sugar shaken espresso. Right. Then the revisions begin. Oh. So uh decalf.

SPEAKER_04 43:22

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 43:23

Now that's hilarious. Decaf espresso.

SPEAKER_04 43:26

Yeah, that makes no sense. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 43:28

Even though, okay, I know, here I go again. Nothing I say isn't connected. But Tignataro, her drink of choice, is four decaf espressos on ice.

SPEAKER_04 43:46

Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:48

So there's that.

SPEAKER_04 43:51

But anyway, so she really just wants one very strong cup of coffee.

SPEAKER_00 43:57

Exactly. That has no caffeine in it.

SPEAKER_04 44:00

Well, very little. I mean, there's gonna be some, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:04

Um and in four shots, there's gonna be, you know.

SPEAKER_00 44:07

Not as much as one shot. I think there's like 15% at most, or 10%, you know, in a shot. So it's gonna take 10, whatever. Okay, so decaf, oat milk. Here's my favorite. Light ice.

SPEAKER_04 44:33

Light ice, yes.

SPEAKER_00 44:35

Light ice.

SPEAKER_04 44:36

It cooled off, but he doesn't want to feel like he's getting ripped off because there's too much ice and not enough of a drink.

SPEAKER_00 44:43

Exactly. Yeah. I was gonna say, oh, maybe it's someone that just wants to get it to lukewarm.

unknown 44:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 44:54

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 44:55

Um, well, room temp works for me.

SPEAKER_04 44:57

Yeah, yeah, I don't mind room temp or I don't I actually don't care what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_00 45:02

But kind of like kind of like a slightly cool, it just feels uh it feels wrong.

SPEAKER_04 45:10

Yeah, yeah, I get what you're saying.

SPEAKER_00 45:12

I don't know, two pumps of hazelnut, two pumps of happiness, I don't know, whatever.

SPEAKER_04 45:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:22

And so the order takes longer to describe than to actually make. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 45:33

Or consume.

SPEAKER_00 45:35

Consumed. Yeah. So it arrives in its clear cup, you know, golden chariot. Yes. Gleaming layers, caramel, foam, and then the guy takes a sip and says. Which is so now he's already, you know, if you know how Starbucks works, it's like the soup Nazi. Go up, place your order, da-da-da, pay, then tell them your name, go off to the side, yeah, to the waiting area.

SPEAKER_04 46:18

That's right. And stand there like a peasant until they call your name. Like a peasant. Or uh like until they call a name that might be your name.

SPEAKER_00 46:27

Well, then you never really know here. Then there's that.

SPEAKER_04 46:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:30

Um, but anyway, and so goes over there, takes a sip, and says, This tastes different. So exactly. So then has to grab a barista who's in the middle of making somebody else's ridiculous concoction. Right, yeah. Right, and say, This is not something went wrong. You did something wrong.

SPEAKER_04 47:11

Yeah, you sure did.

SPEAKER_00 47:13

It doesn't taste the way it usually tastes. This tastes different. So what has to happen? They have to make it again. And of course, because you know that's where this is going. And finally, a third time, at which point he was cut off.

SPEAKER_04 47:37

Yeah, don't come back here.

SPEAKER_00 47:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:40

Don't come around here no more.

SPEAKER_00 47:43

Oh. Is is that the the do they put that on the uh uh on the the PA?

SPEAKER_04 47:52

Well, it's either that or hit the road, Jack. You know, one of those.

SPEAKER_00 47:55

Oh, it should be one of those.

SPEAKER_04 47:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:58

Or na na na na.

SPEAKER_04 48:00

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 48:00

It's na na na na.

SPEAKER_04 48:02

Yeah, there's a few of those songs, and I think they rotate them.

SPEAKER_00 48:06

We used to sing that when I went to Chote, we used to sing that if we were at a way an away game, n it didn't matter which sport, and we won, we would scream that out the windows as we drove off in the bus.

SPEAKER_04 48:24

Yeah, very funny.

SPEAKER_00 48:26

So it's it's this whole thing of watching each other waiting for a name to appear now. Yeah. That that side thing.

SPEAKER_04 48:43

That's right, if they get the right name. Because, you know, that is that is a common complaint that you give them your name, someone writes it on the cup, you don't really know what they wrote.

SPEAKER_00 48:54

Well, they've got an app now, Starbucks does.

SPEAKER_04 48:59

Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:00

And they prefer that you use the app because less room for this tastes different.

SPEAKER_04 49:09

Right.

SPEAKER_00 49:09

Or and also it speeds up the whole process.

SPEAKER_04 49:13

Did you uh there are places in Europe now that um that do something kind of similar? Uh hotels, uh when you check in, you have to check in with WhatsApp.

SPEAKER_00 49:26

With WhatsApp?

SPEAKER_04 49:27

Yeah, they don't have there's no one, there's might be someone at the counter, but they're not checking one in. You have to do it with WhatsApp.

SPEAKER_00 49:36

Well, there's a whole thing at the end.

SPEAKER_04 49:38

It's very strange, but yeah, there's a lot of that going on in in Europe anyway, that I, you know, I hear about, I watch a lot of BBC.

Checking Out: Hotels & Receipts

SPEAKER_00 49:45

Well, there's a whole thing now about checking in and checking out of hotels. And I I'm I know I'm super old school, and the hotels I stayed in were super old school. But to me, the idea of checking out of a hotel by packing my bags and walking out is anathema.

SPEAKER_04 50:17

I've I I've never been able to do that. I always have to go up to the counter and say, you know, I'm I'm leaving. Well, by checking I have to go and tell them, right? And and and half the time they're like, okay, see, uh, you know, we're done here.

SPEAKER_00 50:35

But see, by not checking out, depending on where you stayed and what you did in the hotel, motel, whatever it happens to be. Yeah, if you use the mini bar, uh for instance, you want to run down that, you know, list of charges before you're, you know, back in Chicago the next day and no one remembers you, no one cares, and you're not gonna get that ten dollars back. No, you're not gonna get that Tobe Lauron back. So you want to do whatever business it is you have to conclude. I would much rather pay and get my bill, you know, get a receipt.

SPEAKER_04 51:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:31

People have gotten a little stupid.

SPEAKER_04 51:34

And know what you've you know, what you're getting charged for because you may be getting charged for something that was on someone else's room or you know, just they punch in the wrong number or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 51:44

Yeah, or the wrong thing. Like you, I mean, in my case, you used a coupon. What? You used the coupon that you used a coupon at the Plaza Athenae? Well, yes, I did, because I'm Anne Levine, and that's how I wrote it. That's right. Yeah. Was there one available I'm gonna answer? Right. And so if my coupon, my if my promo code was not accepted and used, we will have words at the checkout. And there's another thing about checking out. It's are you laughing at me? Oh, yeah. It's good it's common decency. You know, when you leave your room, it has to get made up for the next person.

SPEAKER_04 52:32

Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:32

And if you're somewhere with big turnover where the place is always booked, it it's gonna take that amount of time, right? Like if if they know at the front desk, okay, rooms one through nine have been vacated, you know, and you can get the troops together and go clean those rooms. Yeah. I assume they clean them, but uh that's assuming a lot. But anyway, um, you're gonna you're holding up you're creating a line. Yeah, you're creating people sitting in a lobby waiting.

SPEAKER_04 53:19

And why are you doing that?

SPEAKER_00 53:21

Because you're a jerk, because because you know what I think it is? I think it's this whole thing that people have now, particularly younger people, um people younger than myself, right? Which includes most people now that I think of it, um who do not want to have a face-to-face encounter with a person.

SPEAKER_04 53:54

Right, okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:56

I really think it freaks them out. I mean, I know people that and to some degree you're one of them who don't want to get on the phone.

SPEAKER_04 54:08

Yeah, yeah, I don't like being on the phone. I don't uh um it's not yeah, it doesn't work as well for me.

SPEAKER_00 54:16

And see, for me, it's like cutting through the red tape. Like if I text somebody or email somebody or go through a portal, was was that a a word from God?

SPEAKER_04 54:32

Uh almost.

SPEAKER_00 54:33

I thought so.

SPEAKER_04 54:34

Yeah.

Screens, Phone Calls, and Friction

SPEAKER_00 54:36

Um I don't I don't want to wait. You know, then they get back to you. Then it's oh my gosh. Yeah. Well, I'm gonna stop right there and mention a beautiful, beautiful thing that we got to witness in the last couple of days, and it was all of our hostages, all of our living hostages back safe and for the most part sound, actually, in Israel. And the the scenes of these reunions have been just extraordinary and life-affirming, and I hate that term, but in a way that's some people are so invested in life and extra invested in life, and these people are amongst those people, and the joy, the you had to see these hostages coming out and seeing hundreds of thousands of people thronging the streets, the highways just for a second that they would be driven by, just to say, he name me, here I am, here I was, and these people were like, they didn't know if anyone even remembered they were there, and to come out and see an entire nation thanking God was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. And I urge you to look at some of the footage, and I would like to say for all of the brave, brilliant, beautiful hostages, please let yourself be touched by their light.