The Open Queue
A podcast where we talk about entertainment, pop cultural and the daily life of navigating the entertainment industry as a creative.
The Open Queue
Your Friends and Neighbors: Wealth, Whiskey and What Really Matters
Ever wonder what fuels the creative fire of entertainment industry professionals? In this episode, Shaka and Charles take you on a journey through their sources of inspiration and introduce an exciting new segment that pairs premium spirits with thought-provoking content analysis.
The conversation opens with reflections on film festivals, where the hosts find themselves reinvigorated by witnessing creators at all levels share their work. There's something profoundly moving about seeing projects made on shoestring budgets alongside more polished productions—a reminder of creativity's raw power regardless of resources. As Charles poignantly notes, "For art, embarrassment is the cost of admission," highlighting the courage required to put one's work before an audience.
They explore the evolution of cross-media adaptations, celebrating how properties like Fallout and The Last of Us have transcended their original platforms to become rich expansions of beloved worlds rather than mere marketing exercises. This discussion reveals their deep appreciation for thoughtful world-building across different media formats.
The highlight arrives with the debut of "Scripts and Sips," where Macallan 12 Sherry Cask scotch accompanies an incisive analysis of Apple TV+'s "Your Friends and Neighbors." Sipping this smooth, vanilla-noted whiskey, they dissect the show's exploration of wealth, materialism, and emotional emptiness. The hosts unpack how the series portrays characters who accumulate luxury items merely for status while their personal relationships crumble—a pointed commentary on society's problematic equation of wealth with moral worth.
What makes this conversation particularly compelling is how it balances entertainment critique with universal human themes. Whether discussing character development that reveals unexpected depths or questioning when "enough is enough" in our pursuit of material success, Shaka and Charles create an engaging dialogue that will resonate with anyone navigating today's complex relationship with success, status, and genuine fulfillment.
Welcome to the Open Queue, a podcast where we talk about entertainment, pop culture and the daily life of navigating the entertainment industry. As a creative, I'm your host, Shaka Omari, and I'm joined by my business partner, Charles Malone. We'll sometimes have other creative guests on to tell us about their journey in the industry, dealing with their ups and downs, struggles and successes. We'll also touch on current changes to the business of television and film, as well as cue up what we're watching, listening to or a piece of art we've been inspired by. The music you're listening to is A Quick Fix from the TV show Your Friends and Neighbors, composed by Dominique Lewis. And now let's get cued up and welcome back to the Open Queue, and you may hear crows in the background, because we have the windows open. Today. It's a beautiful day in Los Angeles. Just wanted to say this is our third episode and we're testing it out with this new app called Riverside, so we're going to see how it sounds and how it works, yeah it seems like it's working.
Charles Malone:We're up and running, yep.
Shaka Omari:Let's do this, All right. So the usual question, Charles what were you inspired by? W hat were you interested in or any kind of art that you saw. I'm happy to go first if you don't have anything.
Charles Malone:N o, I do, but I always defer to you.
Shaka Omari:Okay, I was too excited on that one, all right, so actually, this week I went to a film festival. It's called Dances with Films. A good friend of mine, JJ Carroll, has a pilot that he was premiering at this film festival. It's a sketch comedy show. I thought it was absolutely hilarious. It's called, I think, Halfway Handsome, so be on the lookout for that if you see it going through the festival circuits.
Shaka Omari:But there's something about a film festival like going that I find very inspiring, like seeing young creatives present their work, whether the quality is, you know, studio level looking. Or there was one that was shot on an iPhone which I was like, yeah, that's pretty good, for what they're trying to do with the budget is that they have and it just reminded me of when we first started, you know up, and we were shooting on uh, what was it Like? I always call it a one man band. Or, you know, three bucket the three men in a bucket of fried chicken, cause that's what we could afford to pay the three of us to eat. Um, I always find that really inspiring, seeing just the creative mindset of people creating something with the least amount of budget possible.
Charles Malone:Yeah, I think when you're at some of these festivals and it's really easy to judge a project for not being like tip top or like super together you should always give everyone at the festival a pat on the back for just completing something and exposing that like vulnerability of, like that nerve, of like oh man, this could suck and being judged. I think I read somewhere that, like for art, embarrassment is the cost of admission. So the willingness to put this thing you made out into the world for people to judge Everyone deserves like a clap on the back. You know, it always kind of upsets me when I, when I see people like scoff and laugh at projects that like aren't good when they're when they're at the festival and I'm like dude, they did something. So many people are still sitting on the couch thinking about doing something.
Shaka Omari:um,
Charles Malone:yeah
Shaka Omari:No, no. That's. That's a really good point, I think says something about you that you were willing to take that risk and art, you know, creating these projects is risky. It's not. There's no guarantee behind it. Which I think is some of the frustration of the entertainment industry right now is everyone wants a guaranteed hit and you just, you just don't know something could not hit now and then years later become a cult classic or something like that.
Charles Malone:Y eah, and you know, a lot of the early stuff you do is never going to be your, like, best work. This is something that you you learn from each project. You get better from project to project at least I won't flame any any actual already filmmakers, but, yes, generally you get better as you keep doing, going off what you said. Um, yeah, this is just. Film festivals are inspiring. I didn't go to this one with you, but just in general I love being at film festivals because the energy is infectious. Man, there's so many filmmakers that they're so enthusiastic about what they do and they're excited to share their work and, like already have ideas for the next project, and it's a great energy to be around for a filmmaker and artist.
Shaka Omari:Agreed, agreed, recommend you can go to a film festival even if you're starting out. Go to a film festival, get around other artists and creatives um, it's super, super inspiring.
Charles Malone:Even if you, if you're not starting out, sometimes if you're, if you're, jaded, been doing this to a while, for a while, it's nice to to go to a film festival and see the next generation or someone just starting to do this, to remind you of why you do this.
Shaka Omari:True, true all right, preach.
Charles Malone:I wasn't intending to preach but, like, sometimes after you do something for a while, you kind of like forget why you got into it to begin with. It's easy to get blinded by the like, the chase to succeed.
Shaka Omari:well, what about you?
Shaka Omari:what inspired you this week, if anything?
Charles Malone:You know, I saw something last night. That's since since I've done it for a job. You know I'd love to see more like cross trans media adaptations, and there's a mobile game that I was playing for for a while called dead cells, which no one play it because it's a time suck um if you want to lose time while being on your phone doing nothing, sure, go download it, but it got uh an anime adaptation on amazon and I plan on watching it as as you know, everyone's looking for guaranteed success and there's no guarantees, but it's nice to see, you know, anime and video games getting their their time.
Shaka Omari:Yeah, yeah,
Charles Malone:And I think as we move away from or slow down the superhero genre, as people seem to have like superhero fatigue, we're gonna start dipping into other ip and it's gonna be anime and video games. So that cross-media is really inspiring because a lot of people are starting to approach people. Companies are starting to approach cross-media in a really smart way where it's not just a marketing vehicle to get you to go buy the game. They're really focusing on world expansion, which is fun to see. It's like okay, you know, Fallout, the TV show actually takes place 100 years after the game. So it's not just a carbon copy of the game that then you can just watch. And even Last of Us, which is a semi-carbon copy of like if you played the game, what you see in the tv show is pretty much what happens in the game. But they do some really interesting stuff on expanding the game lore with like the, the frank episode which was really controversial because a lot of people can't see two men, kiss, get it together.
Shaka Omari:Yeah, I know, at this point in time it's 2025.
Charles Malone:Yeah, they found fun ways and and really compelling ways of expanding on the game more so. I like to see what's going on with cross media expansion, how people like take this ip and really expand it and JK Rowling and Warner Brothers you hear me, I can really help you like I love Harry Potter. I've loved Harry Potter my whole life, but there's so much outside of the Hogwarts, Harry Potter
Shaka Omari:yes
Charles Malone:Storyline that's. That's actually. I can really expand the Wizarding World and I'm pretty sure you have people on it, but you don't have me
Shaka Omari:Look, I'll vouch for it Some of the ideas he has, I was like, oh, that's interesting. And this is coming from someone who's never read the books, only watched the, the, you know the movies and played the Hogwarts game, and I think I actually found the game more interesting because of the exploration of the world and how it expands.
Charles Malone:But you're still at Hogwarts.
Shaka Omari:Yes, that is true, I'm still at Hogwarts, Gryffindor for life.
Shaka Omari:Speaking of anime though just real quick. That's something else that inspired me. I have been listening lately to the solo leveling soundtrack. Now I'm in a position now where I'm trying to really schedule out my days, and sometimes that soundtrack is so inspiring to me. It helps me focus and get my work done.
Shaka Omari:So just wanted to toss that out there. Sometimes some movie soundtracks are really great to get you motivated.
Charles Malone:Whatever gets you into that flow state. It's once just heads up. Once you have a kid, it's so hard to stay into that flow state.
Charles Malone:It's just
Shaka Omari:because they're disruptors
Charles Malone:that's like two hours to get into a flow state before she wakes up from this nap uh yeah but that's good yeah, and it's also a good anime, if anyone hasn't seen it another tim e.
Shaka Omari:yeah, yeah, we might actually have to do a podcast on Solo Leveling, all right
Charles Malone:but, yeah, that that's what's been inspiring, I think, uh what we have coming up next, something we've always wanted to do, which is introducing uh a new segment called scripts and sips, where we both review something that we enjoy drinking uh, while simultaneously reviewing tv shows and movies and talking to friends.
Charles Malone:Today's going to be our first run of Scripts and Sips
Shaka Omari:Woo! Right, what are we drinking today, Charles?
Charles Malone:We're going to be covering a drink today. That's one of our personal favorites, but it's also tied to the show that we're going to be covering because they had to have a sponsorship. We're covering Macallan 12 and specifically the the sherry cast. I think we can talk a little bit about the, the difference between the double cast and the sherry cast. The sherry is my personal favorite. I think it's one of my first, like scotches I got into the.
Shaka Omari:This one, uh, 12 year old one. This was like our drink of choice. Uh, it was. It was definitely like. I want to call it the open queue drink. So, Macallan, if you're hearing this, you know, feel free send us some Macallan.
Charles Malone:I won't say no. No, we used to literally start our nights off with uh Macallan before we went out to rip The Den in West Hollywood I love that place, you know there's not a lot of times you realize that you started, uh a
Shaka Omari:trend. yeah, no, we used to. We uh a trend. Yeah, yeah, I know we used to. We used to light that place up
Charles Malone:yeah,
Charles Malone:we choose to tear that place down, but no, no, it's. Uh, it's an awesome drink and the show we're going to be covering today is Your Friends and Neighbors. You notice that the lead throughout that whole show is drinking Macallan 25, which we're not going to be drinking right now, but no, it really is. I feel like it's a higher end starter. You're dipping your toe into the
Shaka Omari:To the scotch world,
Charles Malone:To the scotch world.
Shaka Omari:Yeah, I think it's. I mean, it's really smooth in my opinion. I'm actually going to take a little sip of it right now.
Charles Malone:We're also going to slip sip real slow so we don't turn into Kat Williams here.
Shaka Omari:Start predicting the downfall of people yeah.
Charles Malone:Yeah oh, don't start, because I called elon, like in 2014
Shaka Omari:yeah, okay, okay, okay, yes, he did yes, he did so.
Shaka Omari:Yeah, like with this one, I feel like it's it's a good starter one because it's super smooth. I don't think it hits you hard. You know some people have that, that whiskey burn that they don't like. I don't really feel that one. With this one to the double cast you were talking about, that one was stronger and I felt like that hit me a little bit harder on the way down. But this one I feel like it's it's it's a good one to sip, you know, and get the night started.
Charles Malone:Yeah, it's definitely one of the, the early things that hit me with the Macallan 12 was the, those vanilla sweet notes, um, which I know. I know some people like a peater scotch or some look like a little bit more smoky, but for me it was always about the, the sweet notes which later on we'll cover again, and Your Friends and Neighbors japanese whiskeys later on down the road. But there's some really good ones, like the, the Habiki Harmony, which have a similar like sweetness to it right, yeah yeah, but the difference between the
Charles Malone:the sherry cast and the double casted Macallan 12 was sherry is just a classic. The sherry cast and the double cast it is the cast in the American whiskey cast and the European cast which give it that maybe to you the little bit stronger flavor. Some people say it's a little bit more well-rounded than the sherry cast and it's light and warm. But like I don't know, there's something about the sherry cast that
Shaka Omari:just yeah, hit's a spot.
Charles Malone:It's perfect. It's like complex. It has, like a vanilla, dry fruits you definitely get, and the more you, the more you start to drink whiskey, the more you can like. Pull out these notes. I feel like I just coffee drinkers.
Shaka Omari:Okay, okay, well, that's good, because my palate no, it's just like the way that it goes down to that taste. I've tried to do with the coffee thing like you're talking about, and I really can't. There's some that are stronger than others, but
Charles Malone:If you take a sip and like really, you definitely get like ginger and nutmeg in there.
Shaka Omari:Oh, that's what that was. Okay,
Charles Malone:Uh, no, it's just, it's just great. And as you, as you, start to climb any of the scotch or whiskey ladders, I feel like the more expensive a scotch or whiskey is, the the smoother it is. I definitely noticed that
Shaka Omari:yeah, a hundred percent.
Shaka Omari:I think I had a johnny what's the johnny walker blues at the I believe so yeah, I think I had someone give me a sip of that and I was like, oh, this is yeah.
Charles Malone:It's easy to drink, right, it's dangerous. Like I was joking. Like no one loves the taste of alcohol, it doesn't like this is delicious.
Shaka Omari:Tasty beverage.
Charles Malone:Yeah, it's something that you totally start to like, get used to and build a palate and taste for, but when it first goes down.
Shaka Omari:yeah, yeah, yeah, when you're, what was it I used to drink in college, I think it was like 99 bananas
Charles Malone:you're just drinking to get... ever clear.
Shaka Omari:Yeah,
Charles Malone:it's just like rubbing alcohol
Shaka Omari:yeah,
Charles Malone:but Macallan 12 is definitely a great casual sit around easy easy drink and with that, let's continue to sip as we talk about Your Friends and Neighbors
Shaka Omari:Yes, okay, all right. So I would like to start by just saying again I feel like this is what the second Apple show we've mentioned in our podcast, because the first one was the studio. Apple has some sneaky hits. You told me to watch it and I was like, okay, let me take a look at it, because I don't, again, I don't think they market these things super well, but this one I absolutely fell in love with it.
Charles Malone:yeah, I was ready to give you a deep sigh on the apple because, like the early apple content to me and it still is someone someone said it better than I could have it's like really everything is rounded edges.
Shaka Omari:Yeah,
Charles Malone:and the the early content to me was just kind of bland and they just went in on making us stylized and clean and appley as possible.
Shaka Omari:Yep,
Charles Malone:I couldn't get into the morning show I...
Shaka Omari:agreed
Charles Malone:See..
Shaka Omari:well morning show, I was like, okay, let's See, mmm.
Charles Malone:Yeah, this is early show.
Charles Malone:The servant also, it was just. There's just something about the early apple shows that just didn't hit for me, until Ted Lasso was the one that was just the wholesome goodness. And from Ted Lasso the first two seasons of Mythic Quest was like OK. Apple's getting better, and I think Apple and Amazon have really deep pockets to perfect their craft, so I think Apple's going to be around for a while.
Shaka Omari:You know to that point that you were saying, yeah, I felt in the beginning it did feel kind of glossy,
Charles Malone:yeah, that's great way to put it.
Shaka Omari:But then even with See, when they tried to be a little violent, it still felt glossy. But to your point, I think they found their groove with the comedies, where it was like, ok, we are a family friendly brand and comedies we can do well and they did the comedies well. And then I think they reversed now and are starting to go into more of the dramatic stuff, which is pretty good, because I actually saw F1 the other day and it felt like just a good old classic like 80s, 90s movie, like Days of Thunder kind of thing. It wasn't anything deep but it was just like, oh, this is a popcorn movie, fun blockbuster, and it's done pretty well.
Charles Malone:I heard it was something that is worth seeing in the theater. It may not be as good at home again bein g the one with the kid..
Shaka Omari:I know..
Charles Malone:I'll be waiting till it hits Apple Tv+. but yeah, apple has the time in the pockets to keep making great stuff and keep evolving and getting better, and this particular show was one that was done really so, so well from a storytelling point of view. The characters were complicated. Their lives were like messy but real, wrapped up in a kind of murder mystery. Who done it? I definitely want to talk about this one because throughout the whole show Jon Hamm's character.
Charles Malone:Coop just drinks Macallan, the whole entire show Macallan 25.
Shaka Omari:There's a moment in it where, I think in the first couple of episodes or whatever, he's at a party or something and a friend comes over and tells him to try this really expensive Japanese whiskey and he gives it a sip and then he throws it in the pool and goes back to his Macallan and I was like Don Draper that guy.
Shaka Omari:But to give everyone just a little overview of the the show
Charles Malone:before we do this, I'm not necessarily condoning tossing out Japanese whiskey, because there's some of my favorites which we'll cover
Shaka Omari:oh yes, this is just his character, so that's no disrespect to any Japanese whiskeys out there.
Shaka Omari:I have some, I love them. But just for everyone to understand the overview, the synopsis is After being fired and disgraced, a hedge fund manager resorts to stealing from his neighbor's homes in an affluent Westmont village, only to discover that the secrets might be more dangerous. And that's what I think was really interesting about this. It's something that talks about how we strive constantly for materialistic things and his journey through this. Spoilers for anyone listening. Now's your time to get out his journey through this and understanding what the material things that we build our world on, what they, I guess you could say, do they really matter in the grand scheme of life?
Charles Malone:That was one of my favorite things about the first two episodes was them setting up the what is it all for. I think they do a quick montage of like you know, I got out of school and I got a shitty apartment with my girlfriend and then I get the hedge fund job and then we buy a house and then we have a kid. Then we buy the second house and we have a second kid and it's like whoa, we didn't buy the second house and we have a second kid and it's like whoa, we didn't need the second house. And like how much is is too much, and it's almost like keeping up the joneses. So how much of what we're going for is really for us and not for the external validations of our like neighbors and peers?
Shaka Omari:The fact that you said keeping up the joneses. That's like the theme song it's.
Shaka Omari:I think it's an interesting look at honestly the world that we're living in right now, because right now, with social media and everything like that, it's constantly thrown in our faces that are only values and the things it is that we have. You know, living in a small apartment with your family does not mean that you have any value in society. You've got to get the house, and then you've got to get the bigger house, and then you've got to get the bigger house and then you've got to get into the prep schools and to, you know, the Ivy League and all of those other things. And just watching everybody in this small village be so physically wealthy but at the same time emotionally debted, I thought was very, very interesting.
Shaka Omari:Every one of them has things and they do this great thing in the show where, as he's stealing from his friends, so he basically loses his job, so as he's stealing these items from his neighbors, it gives this wonderful thing about like how much the actual item is worth. Like, this watch is 250K and the only reason you get it. You don't even really wear it that often, so you're not even using the watch for its practicality. You're just getting it just to say I could get it. It's almost like it has no real meaning or no real value to you other than you can afford it. And what does that say about you as a person? It just. I loved that dissection of this.
Charles Malone:Yeah, and it's by no means am I saying like, oh man, I don't like nice things and it's just more so. When is enough enough? You know, I think a lot of people that are coming up are trying to realize like what is success for them. And you know, where does all fit fit in? And it was just a great show that, just as it's number one theme of like, the materialisticness, of, like, how we approach society, if that's even a word. it's just where it got me in there. Wealth and entitlement and the moral hypocrisy of it all is what really pulled me in.
Shaka Omari:Now I have some questions for you just on. Like the characters within the show, what did you feel, because I have my thoughts on this what did you feel about coop's sister, the one who is bipolar, and her relationship with her ex?
Charles Malone:Oh, I got multiple feelings there I will start with like. The second thing that pulled me in was the complicated relationships of the people in the show. So the Coop, his sister and their relationships to the parents, coop's relationships to his own kids, his relationship to his ex-wife Everyone seems to be going through their own personal shit excuse my french and that that, to me, reflects life. Like you never know what someone's going through, we all have stuff going on and at first I really wanted to hate coop's ex-wife. The first two episodes I was like she sucks you, you cheat on him, then you you make it his fault and you look like I apologize, you should just get over with I cheat on you with your friend and then took the house and the kids grow up and get over it.
Charles Malone:I was like she sucks. And by the end of the series, dude, she ended up being one of my favorite characters because like it was, it was more complicated than just she did a shitty thing. And then she's also going through her own mental crisis, figuring out her own life and you really start to feel for her. Where I really didn't want to and overall I really didn't want to watch this show. I was trying to watch so many other things. I was like let me just put this on and then I got sucked in and that's how I can really feel comfortable recommending this show. Because I didn't even want to watch it. I did not answer your thing. Complicated is how I feel about the bipolar sister and the guy. The guy's shitty.
Shaka Omari:Okay Okay, that's just what I wanted to know, because, watching it, at a certain point I was like, oh, this guy's crap, like he's crap.
Charles Malone:You get bored with your life, so you go back to the bipolar crazy girl who it's like you, just you use her as your own entertainment value when you get bored of your marriage and then you destroy her life and then go back to your. It sucked, it's like
Shaka Omari:Yeah, yeah, that one.
Shaka Omari:Really that was the one character where I was like you're trash. A lot of the other people in there to your point had layers, like with Mel.
Shaka Omari:At first I was just like oh, okay, yeah you cheat, you go, you get everything out of it and you're acting like he's just the problem, which I'm not saying like he didn't. You know, like I think there's a line in there. He says you take your eye off the ball for one second and like you lose everything. So not saying like in his pursuit for equity and money and status that he stopped paying attention to his family, but the way that they started off, you really think like OK, this is another person that just took everything because she got bored. But then you realize, oh no, like she really had a relationship with Coop.
Shaka Omari:They know each other like the back of their hands and there is a deep level of understanding and care for each other. And it's just life happens again, like Coop says, when you're not paying attention. So I thought, Mel, the way that they wrote her and you actually saw her own issues dealing with what she wanted I thought was just was fascinating. Kudos to Jon Hamm because again, his comedic timing and seriousness in this, absolutely I found myself laughing and clapping a bunch during this show. But there is one character that I really I think I liked more than anything and that was Barney, his financial guy.
Charles Malone:Yeah.
Shaka Omari:Barney. I thought kudos to that actor. I think it's Hoon Lee. Yeah, just hands down. The friendship relationship that they had A was great, but seeing Barney struggle himself with like what's going on with his family when they're at the golf course and they're all drunk and they're having that moment, which that night awesome, Loved that episode and he comes to the realization, the same as Coop, that they're chasing after all of this stuff, all of this status, all of these things, and they don't even know who they are anymore. I was just like man.
Charles Malone:That and Barney's thing he's dealing with with his wife and his wife's family coming in offering them money, is another thing that maybe hit because we're men and not to say like men and women are different, but I think we have different societal pressures and the pressure to be a provider financially is a real thing a lot of men deal with and then they bottle that up and they feel like it's hard to escape from. And then when you have a partner's family who's like constantly worried about do you guys need money? It's a stressor. It's a stressor that then adds to the pressure to like get more, get more, even though you're probably fine and have enough.
Shaka Omari:Yep, yeah, the way that Barney's mother-in-law came in and was like, do you have problems? And then like wrote him a check again, that internal thing of like well, I'm not doing my job as a man, like I'm not doing my job as the provider.
Charles Malone:When you already have enough Right, right when he's like do we really need this?
Shaka Omari:But at the same time it's like, if we don't have this, are we included in this little circle, this little bubble that you know? That Westmont village is where people are looking at you and saying, oh, you have that, oh you, you don't have this? That kind of thing. It's unnecessary, unwarranted stress. No one's actually asking are you happy? Just what do you have?
Charles Malone:And one thing that I noticed that we jumped into this and I think we're both kind of like sucked in by the same thing that we didn't even touch on the vehicle that they use to like hook people in and drive the show, which is truly him stealing, and the murder mystery of it all, because the show starts with him like tripping over a dead body and then it's the classic.
Charles Malone:So I bet you're wondering how I got here. So let's go back and the stealing and seeing what he's stealing from everyone and how he steals. It is interesting and fun, but it doesn't even hold a candle to the character development and relationships that's going on behind all of this and I think that's way more compelling than just him like stealing rich stuff from his friends. That's entertaining part, but to me that wasn't the driver of the show. I mean, the murder mystery of it all is like who is that dead body? And so he he's secretly sleeping with a divorcee that's in the in the community by Olivia Munn, who was like a hot waitress that married rich and now she's divorcing the guy and she's getting everything and then again spoiler bump up she kills her ex-husband and then frames it on Coop.
Shaka Omari:Well, the ex-husband
Charles Malone:killed himself
Shaka Omari:Killed himself. She makes it look like it was a murder because she wants the life insurance policy.
Charles Malone:She doesn't get it because he killed himself.
Shaka Omari:Yeah, which again goes to that whole survival mentality of like I gotta get mine, k ind of thing
Charles Malone:Yeah, but to frame it on on another person like the savagery of it
Shaka Omari:Because, I mean, that's what the whole show is, though.
Shaka Omari:It's just this want for this materialistic and this, this thing we call money, so much that we're willing to throw whoever or whatever under the bus just to say I have it. It's this weird thing of like we think and this is not me saying, and I'm not trying to be like oh.
Charles Malone:Money is the root of all evil
Shaka Omari:I'm not saying that, and I'm also not saying money can't make you, you know, buy happiness, because it can, it can buy happiness. Whether it maintains true internal happiness is a different story. It can make things easier. I guess I should say not happiness, but it can make it easier. Yes, and I think that's what her thing is.
Shaka Omari:She didn't want to go back to the struggle that she had as a waitress, because I think they do a really good thing when they talk about that monologue you were talking about at the beginning, where Coop is talking about you get the house, you get this, you get the bigger house.
Shaka Omari:You know you have to get this and you have to maintain this status. She has her own little monologue where she's the waitress and she's struggling and she's hoping to get something and nothing happens. So then she has low self-esteem, she starts sleeping with her boss and all of a sudden her boss proposes to her Well, why not? Because society that she would never have dreamed of, where you know, the house that she's getting is worth the whole town that she grew up in, that kind of thing. And it's like, okay, now that she has this, where's her value placed? And her thing is well, to make sure that my kids get to keep that kind of stuff. And so again it's, it's this thing where it's that survival mentality of like there's not enough to go around, so I have to get mine and I have to protect mine and I'm willing to cross some lines
Charles Malone:Because it's hard to go back financially.
Shaka Omari:It is.
Charles Malone:No, it's a real thing. But as again as we, what's going on in society? We keep watching. It's like, ok, everyone wants to glorify being a billionaire, but but like when is enough enough, and are they giving back to society, and in a helpful way?
Shaka Omari:and there's this whole other dynamic about like the maids have their own network and how they have to struggle in their own right to do the things. It is that they do. So when is enough enough because they're cleaning all of this, this material stuff that these people don't even use or don't even realize is there and yet they're the minute that something goes wrong. It's get rid of the maid Done.
Charles Malone:Yeah, I think I kind of said the moral hypocrisy of being wealthy and I think something that goes with that. I think that we kind of get wrong in society and as as a people, at least in America, is equating wealth to goodness.
Shaka Omari:To character.
Charles Malone:yeah, yeah, I said the same thing about talent. I think wealth and talent doesn't mean good, as you said, good character, or you have this moral goodness, and I think, well clearly those people made a lot of money, so therefore they must be good and it's sad, but I've seen both sides of the coin and unfortunately, more often than not, I've met a lot of wealthy people who are are pretty nasty
Shaka Omari:and morally bankrupt.
Charles Malone:As someone, yeah we're pretty, pretty nasty and it sucks, because some of the nicest people you'll ever meet have will give you, like, the shirt off their back and I think we just we have things a little backwards
Shaka Omari:yeah, especially that backwards part there reminds me of a moment in the show that I absolutely loved.
Shaka Omari:So there is a moment where, like Coop talks about, like the Lehman Brothers thing, 2008. And I'm sure any millennial watching knows how much that financial crisis in 2008 affected us as a generation. But there's a moment where they're talking when Coop, I think, is like out on bail or something, and they're talking about him going to, like this jail. I think it's like orville or something like that and it made me laugh so much because they're actually encouraging him to go to that jail. They're like, oh, you should go to that jail because I worked on my tennis game.
Shaka Omari:One dude's like snorting cocaine is like, oh yeah, I came out with a whole bunch of whales which are large investment people, people who have tons of money to invest because they have nothing else to do with the money but make more money, and so it's almost like going to jail for rich people is actually a boon and a benefit versus, you know, everybody else, and so, like that, it just reminded me I was laughing so hard with that because I was just like, oh yeah, it's the cost of doing business. When you're rich, you could do whatever it is that you want, and then you go to a jail cell, work on your tennis game, get more investors. So when you come out, you just do the same thing again.
Charles Malone:It's in a show, but I watched an actual interview, not from one of the FTX guy, but it's another like young techie person that did fraud and he's talking about the time he spent and he was like it's actually not bad as you think and it's just you're like man. There's like no lesson learned. Like wells fargo, hedge funds can like commit fraud all they want and it's like here's a 50 million dollar, fine, but like what's that when you made like four billion?
Shaka Omari:exactly, it's the cost of doing business like you, don't you all for material things that you probably put on a shelf somewhere and don't even pay attention to, don't even care what the it has no meaning for you, other than I can afford it. I just can have it. Now. Quick question for you because I've been thinking about this. I didn't do any reading on this or whatnot.
Shaka Omari:There seems to be a certain motif that keeps going on, that Coop's trunk keeps popping open. Do you feel like that, had any did, like that have any significance for you? I've been trying to scratch my brain to what it, what it might've meant, because it happens at the beginning. It happens when he picks, when he's leaving with Sam and she says you really should get it fixed. It comes into play because that's how Sam is able to frame him, because his trunk is so easily popped open. And then the very last scene before and we are getting a season two, the very last scene, it pops open again, which I thought it wasn't going to, because I thought maybe the motif was it's popping open because he's he's, he's broken inside or he's empty and you know he's trying to fix himself. But it still pops open at the end. And so I was like left with this thought of what does the trunk popping open actually mean? That was my long way of asking that simple question.
Charles Malone:I will have to say I didn't give it much thought because I did think it was just a repetition thing of like a running gag. I'm like things are supposed to get funnier the more you do it.
Shaka Omari:But look into it I wonder if it had meaning Okay, well, that's something that we'll have to look into it. I wonder if it had meaning Okay, well, that's something that we'll have to look into. So if you have watched the show or you have any ideas or thoughts, feel free to send it to us and let us know, because I'm very, very curious if anyone else got anything out of that.
Charles Malone:But yeah, no, I just, it was a really well done show that you can sip a whiskey while watching.
Shaka Omari:toss one back with coop and if you a silly, silly uh rating measure.
Charles Malone:I think I would give that. That show four sips oh, out of what?
Shaka Omari:out of how many of them?
Charles Malone:five and that would be a really low sip. It was, out of ten, four sips, four out of five.
Shaka Omari:all right, all right, I like that. Four sips out of 5 sips, that's cool. That's a good spot to like. Stop it at 10 sips. It's like oh, this was 4 out of 5.
Charles Malone:10 sips were just great, exactly.
Shaka Omari:This was so good my liver's crying, yeah, okay. So yes, highly, yes, highly recommend. Again, we're getting a season two on that. I think it's again another one of Apple's hidden gems. It's one of the things like the kind of shows I think we would like to create, because it does deal, while it's dealing with, like social issues, I think it's the character development to your point, the complexity of the characters in this world. You don't just sit there and say I hate rich people at the end of it or they're so annoying or whatnot, but you realize that they have their own complex lives and sometimes the wealth is actually more of a stressor than you think you know for them. The maintenance of trying to keep that status at that level. I feel sometimes you take your eye off the ball, which is your own personal relationships, your own personal well-being, your own personal mental health and your own personal value. You start feeling if you don't have this, then you are nothing, and I think it's it's. It's an interesting show in that aspect.
Charles Malone:Yeah, I'll definitely have to piggyback on the sentiment of like it's a show that I could see both of us either producing and making and being involved in for everything you said. But for me it was one thing that I feel like we do when we approach projects is usually the stories have a universal human element to it and I think the character arcs and developments and themes of the characters and relationships of this show transcend boxes and that's why you can easily look past the wealth because, like, getting cheated on is pretty universal not saying everyone's getting cheated on, but everyone can understand the, the level of of hurt, same thing with the sister and being strung along like these things of love, loss, wanting longing
Shaka Omari:of parenting, you know yeah, you as a parent like that.
Shaka Omari:I felt that moment when and I don't have kids, but you know when coop is like you have this little girl who holds your hands and thinks is the most amazing thing. And then one day you wake up and she just looks at you in cold indifference. You know the teenage years that every parent talks about
Shaka Omari:yeah, I know
Charles Malone:But but that's exactly what this, this show does. Well, the writing is is done, really, really, really like. It's exquisite. It really makes you look past the the wealth and see them as people, a hundred percent and the cinematography, like everything is really good.
Shaka Omari:The cinematography in it, the, the editing thing, the pacing is great
Charles Malone:oh yeah the.
Charles Malone:I am so sensitive to poorly paced films.
Shaka Omari:Yeah,
Charles Malone:he's laughing at me, because it took me forever to get through the first three episodes of Andor.
Shaka Omari:I don't think that was poorly paced, though it is a slow burn.
Charles Malone:After episode three it's not
Shaka Omari:Okay, okay okay, okay. It's a buildup. It's a buildup. Sometimes you got to knead the bread a little bit.
Charles Malone:We can come back to talk about Andor. I felt like it started strong. It's like let me slow it down. It slowed it down, but no, this is a really well-paced show.
Shaka Omari:Good Well, I think, for this one.
Shaka Omari:That's pretty much what we had to talk about.
Charles Malone:It wraps up our first scripts and sips. As we just finished up, we kept it to one glass Macallan
Shaka Omari:yeah
Charles Malone:I was kind of worried because it could be easy to drink.
Shaka Omari:Yeah, it's that smooth.
Charles Malone:And then, looking forward to the next time we probably do this, we'll have a guest on the show, so there, might be, maybe
Shaka Omari:my eyes just got big. I was like, uh, that might be dangerous
Charles Malone:yeah, let's see if we could keep it under
Shaka Omari:Keep it to a glass.
Charles Malone:But thanks for sipping on Scripts and Sips.
Shaka Omari:Yeah, this was fun, I dig it, I dig it, I like it,
Charles Malone:your friends and neighbors it's 4Sips.
Charles Malone:Go check it out. Keep an eye on AppleTV+.
Shaka Omari:Yeah,
Charles Malone:heir not a sleeper anymore.
Charles Malone:I feel like.
Shaka Omari:No, no, they got a new show, smoke. That just came out, so I haven't looked at that yet. I know we wrapped up Sips and Scripts, but there is one other thing I want to comment on before we wrap Deep Cover.
Charles Malone:Oh, I feel like Deep Cover and for context, Deep Cover is an Amazon Prime original movie with Bryce Dallas Howard. Yes, Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom I can't remember the kid's name from Ted You're going to have to
Shaka Omari:Yeah from Ted Lasso.
Charles Malone:He's an assistant coach, but it is a show about an improv troupe that gets tossed undercover.
Charles Malone:I kind of feel like it deserves its own thing because it was funny
Shaka Omari:And it's Nick Muhammad Nick Muhammad's in it as well. Yeah, I think we should take a moment to talk about that. T he next podcast go watch it in the meantime. It's unexpected just go in and don't know anything about it.
Charles Malone:Yeah, it's just. It's just like go in 100 blind. The movie obviously wasn't marketed well, because you probably don't know what we're talking about, and if you do and you saw it it in your queue and watch it.
Shaka Omari:Yeah, let's talk on it next time, because I have some thoughts on it.
Charles Malone:So episode four, we talk about streaming versus theatrical, versus the buffet of streaming.
Shaka Omari:Okay, I like it, I like it. All right, cool,
Charles Malone:tell them where to follow.
Shaka Omari:All right. So, as usual, you can give us a like, a subscribe. Usual, you can give us, uh, you know, a like, a subscribe to. Uh, we're on ig, so follow us there at the open queue productions. You can also follow me personally at shaka omari um charles is
Charles Malone:well, Charles is sigh.
Charles Malone:No, no, you can. You can follow me at the grocery store or
Shaka Omari:still at the grocery store follow trader joe's you know
Charles Malone:favorite place to follow me out on the streets.
Charles Malone:I'm around, I'm at Open Queue productions
Shaka Omari:yeah, we need to get him back on social media at least instagram. At least instagram, but you can follow us there. Anywhere that podcasts are available, this will be uploaded to and, uh, yeah, share with your friends. Feel free to hit us up with ideas or thoughts or questions that you have or shows that you think we should watch and discuss.
Charles Malone:Yeah, or maybe good whiskey, tequila, mezcal, ooh, yes.
Shaka Omari:Recommendations yeah, please, please, yeah, so that way we can sip something and give our feedback on Sips and Scripts. All right, Next time the Open Queue is an open queue production. All opinions are solely our own and not endorsed or reflective of Macallan. Please drink responsibly. If you or a loved one has a problem with alcohol, you can find support by calling 1-800-662-HELP or visit the website at samhsa. gov. If you like the show, be sure to follow, rate and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite podcast app, and tell your friends and family to do the same. Also, feel free to share a link to someone who you think might really like this conversation. The music you're currently listening to is You're Not a Killer from the TV show your Friends and Neighbors, composed by Dominique Lewis. Until next time, see you in the queue.