Anne Levine Show
Funny, weekly, sugar free: Starring "Michael-over-there."
Anne Levine Show
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/
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:And Melly Mel.
SPEAKER_00: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:Uh-huh. Okay.
SPEAKER_00: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:Uh Super Bad.
SPEAKER_00:Super Bad.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: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: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:Pineapple Express.
SPEAKER_04:Yep. Yeah, there's another one uh with those guys in it.
SPEAKER_00: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:It's quite possible. She's a pretty funny lady.
SPEAKER_00:It is so stupid and so hilarious, and it's got people in it that you definitely aren't expecting.
SPEAKER_04:Like kind of everybody.
SPEAKER_00:Carrie Russell is in it. Uh Marco Martindale.
SPEAKER_04:Right.
SPEAKER_00: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:Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: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:Uh what was his name? Um or is his name.
SPEAKER_00:I can't think of his name.
SPEAKER_04: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:And Ray Leota, yes, and it was his last film, and which what a way to go out.
SPEAKER_04:Speaking of the Americans, Matthew Reese also in this movie.
SPEAKER_00:Yes.
SPEAKER_04:Yep.
SPEAKER_00:So it was like the case.
SPEAKER_04:Who? Paul Rubens was in the movie as well. He was? Yes, he was.
SPEAKER_00:Who was he? Uh I got it too.
SPEAKER_04:He may have been himself.
SPEAKER_00: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: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:Well, and even if you could, I mean, it was so off the rails.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, well, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And the end, oh, the the the whole Carrie Russell was amazing.
SPEAKER_04:And also the children that were in it, I Yeah, uh let's see, Brooklyn Prince, she was in it.
SPEAKER_00: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: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.
SPEAKER_00:There's a precursor, which is that a plane over Tennessee with a huge amount of cocaine on it.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: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:Yeah, it it only lived for maybe 45 minutes at the most after it ingested it.
SPEAKER_00:So Right.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: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: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: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:Right, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: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:Oh yeah, yeah. I mean, you gotta he's gonna chew on something.
SPEAKER_00:Oh no, well, I meant I meant like um people were made up. Like I didn't recognize Oh, I see.
SPEAKER_04:Uh uh prosthetic makeup, not like fake arms and legs. Okay, all right, okay. I get that.
SPEAKER_00: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:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: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:Yeah, yeah, maybe. So could have could be all the cocaine as well.
SPEAKER_00: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:Yeah, cocaine. Don't miss it. If you like uh Bears Who Take Cocaine. I mean It's your kind of movie.
SPEAKER_00: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:Uh huh. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: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:Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: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:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: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:Oh, okay. All right, yeah. I will acknowledge that problem for you. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: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:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Four people you would never dream would be hanging out together. Michael Booblay.
SPEAKER_04:Right. Very funny guy.
SPEAKER_00:Reba McIntyre. Reba, yep, Niall Horan.
SPEAKER_04:Yep, the one direction guy.
SPEAKER_00:And Snoop.
SPEAKER_04:And Snoop Snoop.
SPEAKER_00:And what's crazy is ready for the Olympics. They all get along really well.
SPEAKER_04:They do seem to, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:You can tell.
SPEAKER_04:Yep.
SPEAKER_00:They really like each other. They've got private jokes with each other, and little little things they do.
SPEAKER_04:So they're they're finally getting to you.
SPEAKER_00:Well, that's the problem.
SPEAKER_04: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: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:Yeah, because I was getting a little worried there.
SPEAKER_00:No, that stuff I absolutely cannot abide.
SPEAKER_04:It's so dumb.
SPEAKER_00: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: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: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:Right, right.
SPEAKER_00:You know, like most of the people that come on this show can sing.
SPEAKER_04:Right.
SPEAKER_00:And most of them can sing pretty darn well.
SPEAKER_04: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:Well, that was part of it.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So and so this is enjoyable in that, you know, 99% of the time, you're not gonna get someone terrible.
SPEAKER_04:Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: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: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:Yeah, so they they get very um you know, if there's drama, the producers want the drama.
SPEAKER_04:Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: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:Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: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: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:Well, you know what his name is? Sempronius. I mean, how does that happen?
SPEAKER_04:Are you kidding me? No, I used to live there, I know.
SPEAKER_01:Oh my gosh. Yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_04:You know, yeah, the entirety of upstate New York is populated by uh Roman general names.
SPEAKER_00:And Greek names.
SPEAKER_04: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: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:Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00:But she's got a southern accent.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, on the rag.
SPEAKER_00: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:Right, right. Oh, yeah, but put a guest on there.
SPEAKER_00: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?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I think so, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So these people take their team and especially those who end up blossoming in the process quite seriously.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, it's really kind of cool. That's one of the things about it that I, you know, I enjoyed hearing.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04: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: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:Yep. Yep.
SPEAKER_00:Um and I don't know about Nile and Reba, but they certainly uh have all been involved.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, they've all been involved in the production process somehow. Yeah, of course.
SPEAKER_00:So anyway, um the that's uh one of my current problems.
SPEAKER_04:Okay, yeah. That is a problem. Well, like I said, I will I will acknowledge that for you.
SPEAKER_00:I have another current problem that I know you will co-sign on.
SPEAKER_04:What okay, what what is it? Is it serious?
SPEAKER_00: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:Yeah, we don't actually have coffee talk on uh on the show, right?
SPEAKER_00: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:Yeah, pretty big.
SPEAKER_00:Then then I would switch to decaf. Now I'm all decaf.
SPEAKER_04:You're all decaf, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So I'm getting a tiny bit of caffeine, but certainly nothing like I was, and my blood pressure has gone down.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: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:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Like I want that first one.
SPEAKER_04:Right.
SPEAKER_00: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:I see. Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Also, it's cold.
SPEAKER_04:Because I've gotten back into uh drinking coffee again myself.
SPEAKER_00:Caffeine?
SPEAKER_04:Yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, great.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I'm just drinking cold brew.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I make it by the gallon.
SPEAKER_00:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Well, there you go. Um, so watch that blood pressure.
SPEAKER_04:Well, I don't I don't drink tons of it, you know, but I do start my day with it.
SPEAKER_05:Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_04: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:Off you go.
SPEAKER_04:Off I go, he said.
SPEAKER_00:He said as he starting to doze.
SPEAKER_04:Hey folks, you're listening to the Anne Levine Show, by the way, on W O M R and W F M R.
SPEAKER_00:92.1 FM in Provincetown.
SPEAKER_04:And 91.3 FM Orleans. And we're streaming worldwide at W O M R.org. And uh thanks for tuning in.
SPEAKER_00: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:Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00:Or whatever it was.
SPEAKER_04:Melly Mel, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Meli Mell.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: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:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:That's a Massachusetts thing.
SPEAKER_04: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: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:Yeah, there you go. Mastholes.
SPEAKER_00: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:Oh, we're talking coffee, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I mean there's obviously some sort of But I'm talking cargo shorts. Oh yeah. No matter what the weather.
SPEAKER_04:Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, and then I'm talking um ice coffee, no matter the weather.
SPEAKER_04:Absolutely, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: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:Yeah, right. And it is Or just was. We just passed it, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's cold.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, it wasn't yeah, rainy and chilly and um, you know, autumnal though, right?
SPEAKER_00:Well, it's like late autumn.
SPEAKER_04:Autumnal.
SPEAKER_00:Autumn.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, autumnal, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Speaking of fortune finster.
SPEAKER_04:Like Fortune Finster would say autumnal. Um because you say autumn. So you would say autumnal.
SPEAKER_00: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: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:No, everything's just gonna turn like a little yellow and a little brown and then fall off.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And it's annoying.
SPEAKER_04: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:If things are turning yellow and falling off, what do you mean like yellow to brown and then falling?
SPEAKER_04: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.
SPEAKER_00:I'm feeling the impression, the uh effect of cocaine bear here.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, you are?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, I am.
SPEAKER_04:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:I think you've just been seeing things falling off people and flying off people.
SPEAKER_04:Well, yeah, that is true. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: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:Okay.
SPEAKER_00: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:Yes, yeah, and by that time I had been to bazillions of them.
SPEAKER_00:Never. Never never thought about it, never crossed my mind.
SPEAKER_04:Including the original Starbucks, which is in the same place. Well, it starts.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, yeah, okay. You know, you win all the prizes.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: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:You can't have a large now. What's what's that?
SPEAKER_00:It's a small. I don't know. Yeah, it it's all very confusing.
SPEAKER_04: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: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:Oh yeah, I used to be buzzing like a yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So it was the coffee would would could help keep you riding that wave.
SPEAKER_04: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:How many pots of coffee would you drink?
SPEAKER_04:The most I've I've done in a day is six. That's not possible. That was a lot of coffee.
SPEAKER_00: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:Um yeah, that would be well over, you know, a normal person's probably even at that point.
SPEAKER_00:But six, yeah, I mean, that's like six pots of water.
SPEAKER_04:I was really, really shaky after that.
SPEAKER_00:And you were smoking cigs.
SPEAKER_04:Yep.
SPEAKER_00:So you were totally wired.
SPEAKER_04: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:I figured that you would at some point be saying, uh Yeah. No. Never not my never No, I never did.
SPEAKER_04:I I had plenty of opportunities. Never did though.
SPEAKER_00:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_04: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: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:Yeah. You're square.
SPEAKER_00: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:I know, that is funny, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: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:Yeah, I mean same here, except for except for weed and well on speed.
SPEAKER_00:Weed and speed.
SPEAKER_04:Weed and speed.
SPEAKER_00: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: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:Yeah, well, yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um, it says 10, but I know I'm gonna get pulled over because.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, the speed limit is 65.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:And yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I had one funny thing in my mid-30s. Um actually it was in my late thirties.
SPEAKER_04:Oh man.
SPEAKER_00: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:Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: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:Okay, right.
SPEAKER_00:There were columns of them.
SPEAKER_04:Okay. Had they built anything out of them, or were they just No, they were just stacking them up. Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:All over.
SPEAKER_04:I mean, I've seen that kind of thing. I'm just wondering what kind of record they were going for.
SPEAKER_00:There has to be, there's something it was just, oh, this is so funny. This is so cool.
SPEAKER_04:Well, now that yeah, that's reason enough.
SPEAKER_00: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:Yeah, why am I here? What happened?
SPEAKER_00: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:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Really fast, really far.
SPEAKER_04:Um, of course, nothing like Yeah, first time's gotta be kind of it's kind of like a slingshot. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: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:Right.
SPEAKER_00: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:Right, of course not.
SPEAKER_00:So what did I do? I put on my flashers.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, good one.
SPEAKER_00:I put on my flashers.
SPEAKER_04:Good one, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I stayed in the right-hand plate.
SPEAKER_04:Car trouble.
SPEAKER_00:And I went however many miles an hour the least possible you can go in a manual car.
SPEAKER_04:That's very funny.
SPEAKER_00: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:It happens. Yeah, it happens.
SPEAKER_00:So, Starbucks.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: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:Right. Um I've actually heard someone order coffee in a Starbucks at a particular temperature.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_04:They asked for it at 181 degrees.
unknown:Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_04:And and I wanted to slap them. Well, there are a lot of, you know, cut it out.
SPEAKER_00:There are lots of reasons to slap someone in a Starbucks. Yeah, true.
SPEAKER_04:True. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Lots.
SPEAKER_04:Just the fact that they're in there is reason enough.
SPEAKER_00: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:Get a coffee and a cookie.
SPEAKER_00:Right. Yeah. And but but it's not even coffee. It's like a really elaborate sugar bomb.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah. You know, and a unicorn frappuccino.
SPEAKER_00:And a cake pop.
SPEAKER_04:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00: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:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:All right, so what is that, Michael? Please, please.
SPEAKER_04: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:The whole idea of an iced espresso is ridiculous because who waters down their espresso?
SPEAKER_04:Well, I don't know. You could argue that anybody that puts milk in it is kind of watering it down too.
SPEAKER_00:Who puts milk in an espresso?
SPEAKER_04:Anybody who has a latte or a mocha or, you know, there's milk put in it.
SPEAKER_00: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.
SPEAKER_04: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:Unless it's an espresso.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:You know, so the point being that these milky drinks are like morning drinks, like stuff kids could have.
SPEAKER_04:Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00: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:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: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:Yeah.
SPEAKER_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:Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00:Now that's hilarious. Decaf espresso.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, that makes no sense. Okay.
SPEAKER_00: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:Uh yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So there's that.
SPEAKER_04:But anyway, so she really just wants one very strong cup of coffee.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. That has no caffeine in it.
SPEAKER_04:Well, very little. I mean, there's gonna be some, but yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Um and in four shots, there's gonna be, you know.
SPEAKER_00: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:Light ice, yes.
SPEAKER_00:Light ice.
SPEAKER_04: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:Exactly. Yeah. I was gonna say, oh, maybe it's someone that just wants to get it to lukewarm.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_04:Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00:Um, well, room temp works for me.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah, I don't mind room temp or I don't I actually don't care what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_00:But kind of like kind of like a slightly cool, it just feels uh it feels wrong.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah, I get what you're saying.
SPEAKER_00:I don't know, two pumps of hazelnut, two pumps of happiness, I don't know, whatever.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And so the order takes longer to describe than to actually make. Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Or consume.
SPEAKER_00: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: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:Well, then you never really know here. Then there's that.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: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:Yeah, you sure did.
SPEAKER_00: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:Yeah, don't come back here.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Don't come around here no more.
SPEAKER_00:Oh. Is is that the the do they put that on the uh uh on the the PA?
SPEAKER_04:Well, it's either that or hit the road, Jack. You know, one of those.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, it should be one of those.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Or na na na na.
SPEAKER_04:Exactly.
SPEAKER_00:It's na na na na.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, there's a few of those songs, and I think they rotate them.
SPEAKER_00: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:Yeah, very funny.
SPEAKER_00: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: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:Well, they've got an app now, Starbucks does.
SPEAKER_04:Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And they prefer that you use the app because less room for this tastes different.
SPEAKER_04:Right.
SPEAKER_00:Or and also it speeds up the whole process.
SPEAKER_04: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:With WhatsApp?
SPEAKER_04: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:Well, there's a whole thing at the end.
SPEAKER_04: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.
SPEAKER_00: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: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: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:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:People have gotten a little stupid.
SPEAKER_04: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: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:Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: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:And why are you doing that?
SPEAKER_00: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:Right, okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: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: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: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:Uh almost.
SPEAKER_00:I thought so.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: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.
