My Name Is Dorinda Medley

AT THE THEATER, some people need shushing. 

Join Holly, Nick, and Melissa as they meet virtually for the first time! Why is it that every documentary deserves the Oscar win? Why is everyone talking about Misty Copeland? Why does no one see an Opera or Ballet anymore? And why don't more people sob at live performances? All this and more in this week's episode!

thank you for listening queenifers!

digress & confess was created by us - holly, nick , & melissa. the show's music was mixed by nick, with credit to kevin macleod. the show is edited by nick (& sometimes melissa). thank you to brian for your editing guidance. thank you to jess for taking our show photo.

follow the show on instagram @digressconfesspod for the latest!

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:11

Digress and come to us.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Ooh.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

A curse. From where?

SPEAKER_03 0:21

Is that a type of beer?

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Kolch? It is, yeah. Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_03 0:25

Wow, looking fancy. I'm drinking alcohol-free beer.

SPEAKER_05 0:30

I'm drinking an um olipop crisp apple. It does look like white wine, a heavy, heavy Ramona pour.

SPEAKER_03 0:38

Wow. Cheers, girls.

SPEAKER_05 0:40

I'm drinking Ramona Pinot.

SPEAKER_03 0:44

That one girl on Instagram who does Ramona's voice perfectly. I it's so hard to imitate.

SPEAKER_05 0:53

She is, but she's also easy because all she's gonna have to do is talk in short little bursts like this with a subtle New York accent.

SPEAKER_03 1:03

But you also have to make sure your eyes are going insane.

SPEAKER_05 1:06

Yeah, you do have to kind of also blink rapidly and sort of yeah, let let your facial expressions um lead you.

SPEAKER_03 1:16

Yeah. Nick, you haven't watched Roni, but you know about it from all the discussion. Ramona's the one that you've probably seen the clip of walking down the runway with her eyes like this.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

And I have.

SPEAKER_03 1:32

Yeah. And that's what she looks like a lot of the time. I'm not like she her eyes are crazy all the time, but she'll just kind of be like, well, she kind of she kind of glitches. Like she's kind of buffering a lot.

SPEAKER_05 1:42

She does glitch. Yeah, she glitches frequently. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

I can't wait to get started on Roni. Um, I'm still in the midst of Silicon City. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:54

If you want my suggestion, I think you should follow the same path of Melissa and I and do Beverly Hills.

SPEAKER_03 2:02

Really? I think you should do Beverly Hills or Vanderpump. Which is better, or you could watch Vanderpump as it comes on to Beverly because there's a crossover episode.

SPEAKER_05 2:10

There's a crossover, yeah. Um, Beverly Hills. I love Rony. I do. I've grown to love it. But and maybe I'm just attached to Beverly Hills because it's the first like proper franchise I watched. Because I started Salt Lake City like when it on on like season one when it was brand new.

SPEAKER_04 2:28

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:28

Beverly Hills, early seasons of Beverly Hills. You're so fucked. Like, I can't even explain to you.

SPEAKER_03 2:35

So fucking good.

SPEAKER_05 2:36

Literally historic, iconic reality TV. So many of the memes you've seen, like you know the meme of the blonde lady who's like yelling across the table, sobbing, and then like there's like the cat sitting in the chair.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 2:48

Well, the cat, the cat was not part of the original scene, but like that that is I figured, but yeah, that that is uh early seasons of Beverly Hills. Um I just I I need you, need you to experience like season two, Kim Richards. I need you to experience Lisa Renna.

SPEAKER_03 3:10

The yeah, Rina Rina in her craziest, purest form.

SPEAKER_05 3:14

Literally now that you know her. Her feud with Yolanda Hadid about her having munchausens, like the craziest thing about Rina Two is like she was right about everything. She was literally right.

SPEAKER_03 3:29

She's always right. She but her delivery is crazy. Yeah, her delivery is insane. And she's poke in your bathroom.

SPEAKER_05 3:37

Yeah. Um yeah, like I need you to experience season five when they're in Amsterdam.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

Lisa Renat trying to springle.

SPEAKER_05 3:51

Um Kim Richards across the table. I've had enough of you, you beast. Like, I just there's much to be said. I just can't you learn a lot.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

I mean, I do yeah, okay, maybe I should, because I'm I'm loving like one-liners that keep coming back and like you can leave.

SPEAKER_05 4:11

And the Richard sisters, they'll give you plenty, plenty of one-liners, specifically Kim. Well, okay, and what I'm ready, what I feel is like the difference between Rony and Beverly Hills, like when you're starting a Housewives franchise, is Beverly Hills is like chaotic and crazy, like the first five seasons. It's like immediate insanity. But Rony, the the crazies don't really happen till like it's like season seven is the one that everyone is like, that's when it gets really good. Because Beth is back.

SPEAKER_03 4:43

Yeah. The trips are really good on Ronnie from the beginning. Yeah. The trips are very, very iconic. But the overall, I was just talking to Rachel about this earlier, but the overall season flow is kind of slow until you get to like I would say probably seasons eight through 11. But like Beverly Hills, the first couple seasons are the best, some of the best reality TV of all time.

SPEAKER_05 5:07

Like literally of all time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

Okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 5:11

I'm so glad that you're like on the Bravo train now, Nick. Like, same thing.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

I how special. I like yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:18

I did run into like now you can be a Bravo gay, which is like huge.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

It is that is huge. And I yeah, I feel like I'm still a baby Bravo gay, but I'm working my way to perfection. But I I did have my first moment though, uh watching the show last night. Um, it's the episode where in Salt Lake City, where they have like Girl Scout camp, and they're it's like camp Salt Lake City, and Heather and Whitney are hosting a little Girl Scout event and everybody comes. And um for some reason when Mary was going at uh whoever the fuck she was going at, honestly, she's always like Mary's meeting. Yeah, and it was in that moment where I just was like, is this good for me? Like me, emotionally, blood pressurely. Am I good to be watching this?

SPEAKER_03 6:15

Right.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Because I was like really stressed out just watching Mary, but then but then oh you empathize with her so much because she doesn't tell any of her girlfriends about what's going on, but of course she shows the audience what's going on with her son, and so all of us in the audience are like, girl, just talk about it. Like, let them know, they're gonna help.

SPEAKER_03 6:38

I also feel like Mary is somebody who is like such a classic case of like she is a horrible person, and she's like the product of horror, horrible, like abuse, like she married her grandfather. Like, you can't really get over that. Yeah, there's there's no becoming a lot of people. She's the product of a world, but then she is like not a good person, not a good person, yeah. I don't remember why well, maybe I was just thinking about this and wanted to tell you guys, but I was on Instagram earlier and I did see um a conspiracy theorist who said uh what if they put Epstein's DNA in the COVID vaccines?

SPEAKER_05 7:24

Oh yeah, I've I've seen that.

SPEAKER_03 7:25

Yeah. And I just wanted to bring that up because it was really shocking to me.

SPEAKER_04 7:30

And like I need a lot more information.

SPEAKER_05 7:32

The amount of engagement I was like, what is that like yeah, the amount of engagement posts like that have too is like concerning to say the least. Like, yeah, oh, these people are allowed to vote.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

Yeah, no, I know, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 7:45

Yeah, like it's it's really, it's really crazy.

SPEAKER_03 7:49

Feeling afraid. Um, I don't I think I told I thought I told Holly, but I don't think I told you, Nick, about my lift driver's conspiracy theory.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

No Baltimore. No, I want it. I need a lift driver conspiracy.

SPEAKER_03 8:02

Taking a lift from the hotel, the conference, right? My name is we get to talking, we're in Baltimore, and she's like, Where are you from? And I'm like, I'm from Minneapolis, like Minnesota. And she's like, Okay, so you're no stranger to the cold and the snow. Yeah, yeah, right. The classic, the classic, you're from Minnesota. She's like, I don't know if you heard, but we got a bunch of snow a couple weeks here. And I was like, I was like, Yeah, yeah, I I heard that you guys got a lot of snow. And she was like, you know, people were saying on Instagram it wasn't melting. And it's just interesting. And she was like, the snow was really sticking around, it wasn't melting. And she's like, she was like, so me and my husband, like we we like put up pan out and like made it hot on the stove and brought the snow in and made sure it could melt. She was like, I did confirm it could melt. What it like it really makes you think, doesn't it? And I was just like, I don't know how to respond to that. Like it's uh it was too cold, so the snow didn't melt. Well and then she dropped, it was like a very short drive. She dropped me off and she's like, Well, have a blessed day. And I was just like, I I don't even know how to process what's just been said to me. And then I had to go hear scientists speak about things that are like real, uh was this diva who was doing her own science experiments.

SPEAKER_05 9:27

It's just sort of like, hey mama, there's this thing called temperature. Temperature melting point behind you. Ever heard of them?

SPEAKER_01 9:37

Wow. No, I remember learning about temperature before sixth grade.

SPEAKER_03 9:42

Oh, yeah. You kind of teach it early, right? Due to the it being around.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:48

It was it was a really shocking point to be made, but it does make you think.

SPEAKER_01 9:54

It does make me think, you know, and it does. And uh, you know, and she was right.

SPEAKER_05 10:00

I feel like that would be like, okay, so for though for those who don't know, we had a um a lot of snow in Minnesota this past weekend. And I went to deal with my car today, and the high today, I believe, was like 17 degrees. But it was but it was sunny, and the sun melted the snow on like half of my car. But if it was 17 degrees, then how why did it melt? Why did it melt?

SPEAKER_00 10:29

Make it make sense.

SPEAKER_05 10:30

What's in that stuff? I don't know what's in the stuff, but I've seen some of those. Isn't snow supposed to freeze? It's below freezing and the snow melted. Really, it really makes you think.

SPEAKER_02 10:43

Really makes you think the brain going, y'all. Really gets that brain. You really have to turn dirt.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

I really like conspiracies though. Like the shit that people come up with is like you guys.

SPEAKER_03 10:56

Same. I love conspiracy. Well, we've talked about this, but I'm not a conspiracy. I do feel like I said the other day, and now I can't remember what I said it to, but I was like, Well, I think this is my conspiracy for the year, but now I can't remember. Oh no, it was Jared and I. Well, we were talking about I said it was a conspiracy, but then I said it was a rule of culture, um, of Las Culturistas pod. But because Jared was like, there's a Joker wrapped there's like the there's a Joker-wrapped car in every city, and they're requ they're all required to have one. Yeah. And I said, that's my conspiracy theory, is that every city is required to have like a Heath Ledger or Joaquin Phoenix or both Joker-wrapped cars.

SPEAKER_05 11:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

Also realizing we uh didn't do a little introduction yet.

SPEAKER_05 11:47

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

This episode.

SPEAKER_03 11:48

Real cold open. Whatever.

SPEAKER_05 11:52

They know who they're listening to.

SPEAKER_01 11:54

You know who you're tuned in to. I think it is, yeah. I mean, it is funny. I listen back to the pod, and you know, we explain things to people as if they don't either know us or know Minnesota.

SPEAKER_05 12:08

And maybe they won't.

SPEAKER_01 12:10

And maybe they won't. I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 12:11

You never know who you can reach.

SPEAKER_03 12:14

You know what? You have friends though, Nick, who are listening in Europe. We have friends who are listening in New York City, you're right. In Chicago, Illinois, in small town Ohio, that I won't name because it's too specific. Like we have people everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

We do.

SPEAKER_03 12:33

So people might not know what the vibe is.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

You know, and you're right.

SPEAKER_03 12:37

And dream big, right?

SPEAKER_01 12:40

I dream the biggest. I dream too big sometimes.

SPEAKER_03 12:43

I would say actually, for you personally, that is true. You do dream a little big sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 12:49

I dream way too big. I have an uh, you know, the phrase you bite off more than you can chew, or don't bite off more than you can chew. That's a lesson I've never learned. And I don't want to. Thank you.

unknown 13:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

I dream big, and I'm not gonna apologize for it. Um, yeah, and honestly, thinking about a third.

SPEAKER_03 13:10

No, I know. Every person I'm like, Nick's doing a master's, because everybody, of course, much like junior high when everyone asked me for your phone number, now everybody's like, what's Nick up to? And I'm always like, oh, he's doing a master's degree. And they're like, I thought you just did one. And I'm like, you're right.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

You're correct. Yeah, feels wild to admit that to people, but um, I gotta be honest. Gotta be honest. And it's embarrassing because sometimes people are like, oh yeah, well, what was what was the content that you learned? And I'm like, you could read my thesis if you want, but I'm not gonna tell you. I did. Did you read the whole thing?

SPEAKER_03 13:49

Yeah, I gave you feedback on it.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

I know, but I just I thought I just gave you a part of it. I thought I didn't give you all of it.

SPEAKER_03 13:55

Wasn't it 55 pages?

SPEAKER_01 13:57

You did read all of it. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 14:00

I was like, I provided feedback on your thesis to you. Yeah, Holly, I have to say, you're you're like, I keep looking at you looking just like so beautiful in your white zip-up. Like, you look like a Victoria's Secret Angel, and you look so beautiful. I just like keep staring at you like, wait, my friend is so beautiful.

SPEAKER_05 14:22

I'm feeling haggard, disgusting, ugly. I can't stop staring at myself also at the same time because I am unfortunately vain due to insecurity. So thank you for saying that. I was thinking the same about you, and of course, you too, Nick.

SPEAKER_03 14:39

Oh, I think that's horrifying.

SPEAKER_05 14:41

Because rule of the pod, we're not friends with Uggos.

SPEAKER_03 14:47

Rule of life no ugly, and no ugly's in this friend group.

SPEAKER_05 14:51

No, it's a mandate, not in our sphere.

SPEAKER_03 14:54

No, no, no, I don't want to know.

SPEAKER_05 14:57

Thank you though. I'm feeling um Reagan, my sister, texted me today and said I have a bad case of the uglies. I said, Yeah, same.

SPEAKER_03 15:05

It's so true.

SPEAKER_05 15:06

Yeah, I it always happens.

SPEAKER_03 15:10

It's I'm having a lot of uglies today. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:14

I mean, I felt really ugly early this week. That's why I have a mustache now. I had to shave off all the uglies.

SPEAKER_03 15:20

Do you use the mustache when you're feeling uglies?

SPEAKER_01 15:24

I like to switch it up when I'm feeling the uglies.

SPEAKER_03 15:26

So well, you'll notice my bangs are shorter.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

It's what we do. I think if I would dye it, you could dye your mustache.

SPEAKER_03 15:38

You could be one of those guys.

SPEAKER_05 15:41

You know, Nick, there's nothing I love more than a bald head and a mustache.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

And I do, I love it. I think it looks really clean. I love it.

SPEAKER_05 15:49

I think it it looks hot on everyone.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

I would agree. And it's really weird to admit that because there are multiple people in my program right now that have not the bald head and mustache, but like mustaches. Like they're in, and it's just like I shaved it, and that was the first thing I thought of today. I was like, oh my gosh, I'm gonna look like him and him and him. And I was like, what? Relax. This is for me.

SPEAKER_03 16:13

Are they sexy? Are they as sexy as you?

SPEAKER_01 16:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:16

Just a question. Yeah, I don't believe you.

SPEAKER_05 16:19

I feel like it would be so fun to have facial hair as an accessory, you know. I feel like the closest we get to that is would be like our bangs and eyebrows as women, femme presenting people. I mean, I do get the I do get a few chin hairs that are jet black and like an inch long. Oh, I have a mustache. Right. It's just not an accessory. Right, right, right. Yeah, it's not not quite as um accessible or not exec hello? Hello, I'm having a stroke. It's not as acceptable for women and femme presenting people.

SPEAKER_01 16:58

But do you think you have beard envy? Is that what you're talking about?

SPEAKER_05 17:01

No, no. I was just saying, like, I think it would be fun to like be able to use your facial hair as as an accessory.

SPEAKER_03 17:08

Another accessory.

SPEAKER_05 17:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:10

There are some accessories that we don't have access to. Facial hair is one of them. Me and Holly personally don't have access to nipples as an accessory, but many, many people do, and I'm happy for them.

SPEAKER_05 17:20

It's such a devastating truth. It's the devastating truth of the heavy naturals community that we more often than not don't get to have like an optimistic nipple placement. Yeah. Mine, mine point to the ground and are, I would say, about three inches above my belly button.

unknown 17:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 17:40

Yeah. But some people, some people's nips are right here. That's crazy. Mine are like three inches down at least.

SPEAKER_03 17:51

Incredible. I saw an Instagram reel yesterday of this like this girl who was getting like a um, I think she got a breast reduction, but she mostly got a lift. They still look still they still look pretty good. Well, she was wearing like a white t-shirt, and then she drew like where her boobs were on the t-shirt before surgery, and then after surgery, and like point drew a spot where her nipples were. After surgery, put it on, and then drew new spots where her nipples were. And I was like, wow. And the rage and jealousy I felt in that moment. Holly and I have always said when we make it big on this pod, the Patreon money is going obviously to full body surgery, but starting with the breast lift.

SPEAKER_05 18:29

Yeah. Well, my uh my star actually.

SPEAKER_03 18:32

Oh, well, yours is lower bluff.

SPEAKER_05 18:34

Towards the top of my body, we're gonna go ahead and start with a lower bluff to remove my eye bags and then getting an upper bluff. And then maybe a little filler in my smile lines, and hey, maybe my lips. Maybe my lips, just a little bit. Uh um a conservative, tasteful amount. Um, and then as we sort of work our way down my body, I think I would go ahead and maybe get some liposuction in my arms. But, you know, I am working out lately, so I'm hoping to maybe be in shape in six months, and then maybe I won't need arm liposuction, but I do sort of diagnose myself with lipodema, which is an incurable connective um tissue disease that um puts diseased fat all over your body, and the only way to remove it is through liposuction. So um, you know, from my arms, we're gonna go ahead and um go ahead with the reduction. Um, you know, by the time we have this money, who knows what the state of my body is gonna look like. Um so so uh TBD on the rest of my surgeries.

SPEAKER_01 19:38

We're we're gonna be elderly by then. So we'll we'll hey more of it.

SPEAKER_05 19:43

You see what they're doing with old ladies? I'll I'll then get like the 360 plain, like face, yeah. Yeah, face, facelift.

SPEAKER_03 19:51

I'm getting the Chris Jenner special.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

Yeah, guys, can I admit I I uh love, I don't get it. First of all, don't get it. Second of all, I think the babushka is the cutest thing around.

SPEAKER_03 20:06

Me too.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Like the like the wrinkly grandma who's happy to be there and is just happy with all the wrinkles and hair and all of it just living her truth.

SPEAKER_05 20:18

Do you want to know something?

SPEAKER_01 20:20

Adorable.

SPEAKER_05 20:20

What I don't I actually don't care that much about like wrinkles, but I do care about my eye bags because they make me look tired. But as far as like wrinkles on like my forehead, my eyes, whatever, I don't really care that much. Like I am comfortable with aging, but um to a point, to a point I'm comfortable with aging. But you're still a woman. But I'm still a woman ultimately. Um, but yeah, it's just it's just the eye bags. I don't like looking tired all the time. That's it. But I will say, do you want to know what? And I know I've been talking about it a lot. I finally watched Come See Me in the Good Light. And you watched it, Nick?

SPEAKER_01 21:02

Yes, I did.

SPEAKER_05 21:03

I haven't watched go first.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

Oh my god, can we talk about it?

SPEAKER_05 21:07

God, oh I mean, there's there's no spoilers really. It's about spoiler is death. There's there's no spoilers. I wouldn't say there's any spoilers. It's about um Andrea Gibson, who's a poet laureate, and uh they're diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer, and it's sort of documenting, I would say, the last like six months to a year of their life. Um and it is emotionally devastating because I mean it's really sad. Someone is is dying. Um, and it talks a lot about like their relationship with their partner, who's like a huge part of the documentary as well, and like their love story and whatever. Um, but I am not kidding. There, I have not felt um, I have not felt that grateful for my life and to be alive. In a long time. Yeah. It is like I have full body chills. It is like hope core to the extreme for real. And they also like integrate um Andrew's poetry like throughout the documentary, which is just so emotional. Like they have this poem and it's about how it's like kind of about death, I would say, about like how like your your soul misses your body, and like your soul misses like all the little experiences of being human. And there's like a sort of final line in it that's like, tell me again about goosebumps, the stars say, like, tell me again about pain. Oh God, it's just so it's so good. It's so good. It's so so so good. And like, yes, it's very sad, emotionally devastating, but again, like it will make you so grateful for your life and just like the the little I don't know, the little joys of being alive and being human. The good, the bad, the ugly, the pain, all of it.

SPEAKER_01 22:59

Like one of the big pieces, yeah. One of the big pieces about it was that uh they were living in three-week increments of their of their life because uh every three weeks they got tested for cancer markers. And so essentially, whenever those those three week marks hit, you got kind of a state of like where their body was at. And then basically, if the cancer markers were low enough, then that meant you got three more weeks of like really happy live-in. And then, of course, if they were high, it's a different story. But it was exactly this like, hey, you got great news, and yeah, it's three weeks, but you're gonna have three weeks, right?

SPEAKER_05 23:35

And two, like how how much of a privilege it is to age and to be old. Like, there's a scene where they're using the like aging filter on TikTok and they just like sob. No, I don't know. Sob knowing that they'll never Andrea's sobbing because they'll never see like their partner Megan's like aged face and like they love it so much and they're so happy. And then of course, like Andrea sees themselves with with an aged face and just cries because they'll never they'll never be able to look at themselves that way, and that's so devastating. Um, and they they really wanted to make it to 50 so much that they started like telling people they were 50 because like that's so cool, and I want to be 50. Um, and they did pass away less than a month before their 50th birthday. So sad. Um, but yeah, it is I highly suggest.

SPEAKER_01 24:31

Um I yeah, it just imagine you have a poet laureate being a poet at the end of life, and yeah, not only is it just the way that they are talking about life and death and their partner and their love for themselves and their love for life, but the way it was filmed was also like included these pieces that were very quintessential to Andrea Gibson. Like the there's this very small moment throughout where they can't get their mailbox right. And so basically, throughout the film, I think you see at least three different kinds of mailboxes. Because there's this moment about uh when I see the mailbox, this is actually like a very important part of the film, the documentary to me, because it's watching how it doesn't like life is gonna get you down, life is gonna tear you down, life is gonna be terrible at sometimes this the your mailbox is gonna fall over, and you're gonna be forced to either put it together yourself or like replace it and like keep going and moving on because you still need to have it like utilized. But it still was like these two people who are like, Well, hey, we uh the mailbox kind of works because we put it together. Oh, now it's on the ground. I think we have to get a new one, but hey, we got another mailbox. Hey, it's great, it's a good looking mailbox. Oh, this one doesn't work either. Hey, that's okay. Let's go get another mailbox, let's go. And there's just something so honest about those scenes that were like like less than one percent of the film, honestly, but like it was to me one of the biggest images of resilience and the love of life and yeah, the ability to keep going and keep loving what's going on. So Melissa, I know we we know you haven't watched it yet, but uh now we've spoiled it all for you, and I think you'll enjoy it.

SPEAKER_05 26:17

And so I would say um, I would say, even though obviously, yes, it is very sad, it is more hopeful than sad to me. Right, right. Way more hopeful than sad. Yeah, it it is.

SPEAKER_03 26:29

I feel like I I am the whole like spousal partner death thing, that is a toughie. That's a toughie.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

It's it's it's heavy. It is.

SPEAKER_03 26:42

I mean, when I read Amy Bloom's book in love, I like like a couple years ago, which is about her husband who gets diagnosed with Alzheimer's and they make the choice to go and do assisted suicide and like Sweden or Sweden or Switzerland or whatever. Um, it's so good. But I just read the book, it's like 150 pages the whole time, tears, tears down my eyes, and it was hopeful, like it was like they they did what they wanted at the end of their life, and they like he had autonomy, and it was her like handling that and handling people's reactions around her and like all this kind of stuff, and it was like hopeful and loving. The book's called In Love, but it was like oh this is tough. I I feel that'll be similar as like this is beautiful, but this tough.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

Yeah, and I and I also think when it comes to hope and the movie, like this documentary has a lot of hope. I think there is a message of hope directly to that idea. I agree, because they they do talk about that like at the end of the film.

SPEAKER_05 27:47

So that's kind of like what what the documentary is about is mostly like who Andrea is and was as a person, and also like this incredibly like meaningful relationship with their their spouse.

unknown 28:03

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 28:05

I have to watch it.

SPEAKER_05 28:06

I yeah, and themselves. Um I am sad that it did not win um the Oscar last night. I do think it should have won, but that's okay. It's still one of honestly one of the best documentaries I've seen in a long time. I loved it.

SPEAKER_01 28:25

I'd agree.

SPEAKER_05 28:25

No notes. Loved it. What?

SPEAKER_01 28:30

I was gonna I was gonna say it did remind me of this documentary I watched on Netflix last year, um, called Harper and Will. Or Will and Will.

SPEAKER_03 28:39

Oh yeah. I never watched that, but I remember you.

SPEAKER_05 28:41

I know, I haven't watched it either, but I do I do want to because I listened to Harper on Las Culturistas when before the film was released. Yeah, and I loved it.

SPEAKER_01 28:50

I highly recommend watching it, uh, especially in a time when uh trans people are just being shat on left and right. I think it's a brilliant celebration of like how difficult it can be to be trans and how like there are these moments and these friendships that are so integral to raising each other up and also just loving everybody for who they are. And of course, it's Will Farrell and uh his friend Harper. I don't know her last name, and they go on a little car ride from New York to California, and it is crazy in like uh Will Farrell kind of way, but very heartwarming in um that I think is kind of needed right now. So maybe that should be our homework for next episode. I don't know. It's on next time. I'm down, so I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 29:44

I was gonna say the other the homework for our listeners is to read the poem Um Tincture by Andrea Gibson.

SPEAKER_03 29:51

Um, what else was up for Best Documentary?

SPEAKER_05 29:58

Uh I can actually Yeah, I can't think of the name of it, but it's about like the war um in Ukraine. Um it's like my my friend Mr.

SPEAKER_03 30:11

Nobody Against Putin.

SPEAKER_05 30:13

Yeah, yeah. The documentary category was like pretty much just heavy hitter after heavy hitter. The only other one I saw in the category was The Perfect Neighbor, which is like prior to Come See Me in the Good Light, I would say The Perfect Neighbor is one of the most like impactful documentaries I've watched in a while. That one was crazy. It's about it's all body cam footage, and it's about this insane white woman who shoots her black neighbor after years of harassing her, years of calling the cops on her. And um, I believe it was in a state that has stand your ground laws, and so there was like oh yeah, but the documentary is all police body cam footage from every single time the police were called, that woman called the police, every time they showed up at her house and listened to her crazy ass ranting and her crazy antics. Um, it's body cam and security camera footage from when she is arrested and the her deranged ramblings and whatnot in the at the police station. Like it is it was heavy. It was heavy. And I just watched it thinking, like, oh, like interesting documentary. I didn't really know what it was about. I was like, oh, crazy neighbor story. Wow. Very heavy, very heavy. Um, so yeah, and then I believe another one of the documentaries was about like um Gauzin children, like I yeah, like I feel like documentaries every year, it's like probably all of them deserve it.

SPEAKER_03 31:49

I guess probably correct.

SPEAKER_05 31:51

Like probably probably all stories worth um telling and sharing, right?

SPEAKER_03 31:57

Yeah, Holly, you you were trying to watch a bunch of Oscars nominee. Like, what were your thoughts on the Oscars this year? Because I realized the only thing I'd really seen that was in any of the categories was Sinners, and I don't think I've watched basically anything else.

SPEAKER_05 32:11

So um, I'm glad that horror I'm glad that horror has finally had its year. This is um 2026 uh horror as like a genre won eight categories, which is a record. It's never won that many categories before. Horror as a horror lover is like kind of famously disregarded by like I don't know the Academy. Um the last time horror had any kind of like acknowledgement was in I think 1992 when Silence of the Lambs came out. Sil the silent of the lamb. You what? The silent of the lamb The silent of the lamb there's a vocal. But anyway, I just love that shit. You what? The silent of the lamb Absourced. Um anyway, yeah, and it won five categories that year, and but yeah, this year was the most awarded that uh uh horror has ever been thanks to um sinners, of course, yeah, um, and weapons right, yeah. Um, so I did I I did plan on watching a lot of Oscar noms and I didn't, and I didn't. We tried to watch and I will and I will do it before the Oscars and I just didn't because unfortunately my brain's fried and all I can do is watch reality TV. So yeah, I tried relatable. Um I tried to watch a sentimental value on the plane back from Hawaii, but a lot of it is in Swedish, and I was like not trying to be locked into foreign language film. Yeah, yeah. Um, but I I will I will watch them. But I saw Sinners, I saw weapons, I saw probably others that I can't think of, but yeah, one battle after another and sinners, I would say, swept.

SPEAKER_03 34:27

Yeah. Have you seen one battle after another?

SPEAKER_05 34:30

No, I haven't, because it unfortunately seems like my least favorite genre um action, and I don't think I'll watch it, to be honest.

SPEAKER_03 34:38

My friend Devin saw it, and he thought it was really he said it was really good. Um Raylan watched it on the and my Rudolph is married to the director, so that's that's important. That makes me more interested. Yeah, P2.

SPEAKER_01 34:53

Any of you watch any of you watch uh K-pop Demon Hunters?

SPEAKER_03 34:57

No, and I never will. Sorry.

SPEAKER_01 34:59

Honestly, here's the thing.

SPEAKER_03 35:00

I might watch it at some point, but no, I've I've received the pitch. Oh, in fact, by a number of people. I'm gonna be honest with you, Nick.

unknown 35:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 35:09

In fact, every person in the last six months has pitched it strongly, which makes me want to watch it less.

SPEAKER_01 35:15

Oh, I'm an asshole. I no, I get that.

SPEAKER_05 35:18

Here's what I will here's what I will say. Um regarding the Oscars and K-pop demon hunters, I really do not like the way they were treating those Korean people on stage, cutting them off with like the academy music w after like I would say 15 seconds every time they were on stage, but then letting other people kind of go on, even doing a bit with Adrian Brody about like his super long speech and his whatever. It's like we couldn't have taken a couple minutes away from him again to like let people who are breaking history and like the I mean let them have their moment, let them have their moment. And it was snake, they were on stage three times. I think they won three awards maybe. Um but and yeah, every time they were cut off like very aggressively and rudely and loudly by the music. It was very crazy. Yep, yeah, and I hated that. Um even though like Okay, well maybe I'll watch it now.

SPEAKER_03 36:20

Maybe I'll watch it in despite the Academy.

SPEAKER_05 36:23

I mean, I still probably won't, um, because it is a children's movie about K-pop. Two things I'm not interested in.

SPEAKER_01 36:30

Is it I don't know if it's a I don't know if it's like about K-pop though.

SPEAKER_03 36:34

There's something that's like yeah, but isn't it about demon hunt demon hunters?

SPEAKER_05 36:39

Which again is something that I could not be less interested in.

SPEAKER_01 36:43

It's kind of okay, yeah. No, it's uh kind of to be fair.

SPEAKER_03 36:46

We did have an episode called If There's Dragons, I'm not fucking reading it. And I feel like Demon Hunters probably falls into that, but maybe not for me. Maybe I have to maybe I have to take your recommendation, Nicholas.

SPEAKER_01 36:57

Yeah, it is like demons, kind of in the sense that like they're more um anthropomorphic than like ghouls and goblins. They're like they look like people for the most part.

SPEAKER_03 37:10

That makes me like it a little less you're punching. So like a little less creepy. I want to I want something creepy.

SPEAKER_01 37:18

I really need you, yeah. Gosh, but there is some, there's like there's a charm about it. It's there's something that's like I do like that song Golden.

SPEAKER_05 37:27

It's an earworm.

SPEAKER_01 37:29

And a lot of the music in it is like it kind of slaps.

SPEAKER_05 37:32

Yeah, it's a great song. And I like that. Um I loved the way, I believe her name is AJ. It's like AJ A E. AJ, right? I don't know. The the the woman who's singing on Golden, like the main vocalist, um, loved her red carpet look. Really liked it. The gold dressing.

SPEAKER_03 37:53

I like that they were all like coordinated. They were all golden. That was cute.

SPEAKER_05 37:58

They were some of the best dressed on the carpet because the carpet this year left something to be desired. Left something to be desired for sure. Um, and yeah, I I think they're very talented, and I'm glad that they were recognized in this way because Raylin will tell you that K-pop is kind of famously ignored by our American institutions. Um award the academy and academies of all kinds, recording, um, film and TV and whatever else. But um, yeah, I'm I'm glad that they got to have their moment, even though they were like rudely cut off. And nothing but love and respect. I'm still not gonna watch it.

SPEAKER_04 38:41

Love so much love.

SPEAKER_05 38:42

It's like I'm not gonna watch one battle after another, even though love Tiana Taylor, Paul Thomas Anderson is kind of famously an amazing um director, but I hate action movies. I don't like action, so I'm not gonna watch it.

SPEAKER_01 38:58

I respect that. Kate Connor was in like some war movie, and I was like, I'm not interested in watching that, so I'm not gonna see you there. I do have a question. Does anybody have insight on the Timmy Chalamet drama?

unknown 39:10

Holly.

SPEAKER_01 39:13

You did tell me about it. What's going on?

SPEAKER_03 39:17

Do you know what happened?

SPEAKER_01 39:18

Literally 0%. I heard he was here's what I know. He was snubbed at the Oscars, but like he wasn't snubbed because the votes were in before some drama was revealed.

SPEAKER_03 39:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 39:33

People are experiencing psychosis and think that the Academy um snubbed him because of what he said about the ballet and opera and like the negative backlash, which I don't think is true. People are also.

SPEAKER_03 39:48

She basically said, what did he say? He said, like, because Nick, you don't really know, right?

SPEAKER_05 39:53

He said um in an interview, he was like on a TV show or something, I think, with Matthew McConaughey. They were having like a kind of panel discussion, and he said that he would hate to be in a dying art form like ballet or opera, and no one cares about that. And you know, I can't remember what the question was. I can look it up so that we get a more accurate um quote. But what he said, he he implied that the ballet and opera are dying and that like no one really cares about them. And people have taken what he said, in my opinion, extremely out of context because hey, he's right. He's right. People in the arts care about ballet and opera, but the general public, I've never been to a ballet and I've never been to the opera, but I've been to lots of movies.

SPEAKER_01 40:42

But the okay, that's true. But uh the thing about ballet and opera, I think it's been the same level of popularity for a long while.

SPEAKER_03 40:50

No, it hasn't. No, but it's but nobody cares about they lose so much money every year. The New York ballet is like barely in the opera is like barely hanging on.

SPEAKER_01 40:59

But that's what I understood. Is that like, hasn't that kind of always been the steady pace of like like in the in like recent modern history, yeah?

SPEAKER_03 41:08

Yeah, but that's what he's saying. Like that's what he's saying, is like nobody nobody cares.

SPEAKER_05 41:12

Yeah, people kind of famously don't give a shit about um art forms outside of TV and TV, music, and uh like film.

SPEAKER_03 41:20

When TV hit the spot, people were like, they said that's a boob tube.

SPEAKER_01 41:25

Yeah, but I also went to a I guess this is also in Finland, so it's different, but like I went to an opera.

SPEAKER_03 41:32

You are you are not who he's talking about, and that's the other thing, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 41:35

Like, I'm not the audience he's speaking to. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 41:38

How many what percentage of the population do you think has gone to the opera? I haven't no I'm a patron of the arts, I live near the opera.

SPEAKER_01 41:48

Yeah, no, no, I don't think I disagree with what he's saying. I yeah, but people are streaking out.

SPEAKER_05 41:55

People think that Misty Copeland um did like a little ballet number during like the Sinners performance um to slight Timothy Chalamet, who was in the front row. I'm like, you guys, let's use our brains here. Misty Copeland, who just had hip replacement surgery in like December, um, this was like her debut back into it, recreating like the iconic scene from Sinners where they have um elements of like black artistry and culture throughout history, um, in this like amazing scene in the in the juke joint, and they all kind of come together during this like beautiful musical performance. Um, and there is a I believe there is a ballet dancer in that scene in the movie.

unknown 42:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 42:41

Presumably in some capacity is representing Missy Copeland, who is famously, I think she's the first principal to be black.

SPEAKER_05 42:49

Black principal dancer. Yeah. Yeah. So it's like I think that's why she's out there. Missy Copeland did this to contribute to black art where she is like uh trailblazer. Uh she's not doing this to slight Timothy Chalamet. And honestly, the fact that people are like even thinking that is disrespectful to her. She doesn't care about Timothy Chalamet. She's not doing this to slight him. This wasn't Timothy didn't get snubbed because of what he said. But like during some people's speeches, they were like, he they were like attacking him for what he said. They're like, you know, whatever with the arts and including ballet and opera, as he's like in the front row, and it's like, you guys, like let's calm down.

SPEAKER_03 43:36

Leave him. The liberal elites are getting a little too crazy.

SPEAKER_05 43:39

The liberal elites who are patrons of the arts are getting angry, and rightfully so. It's not a nice thing to hear, but it is the truth that like the general population does not care. Famously, does not care about stage productions. They don't care about the opera, they don't care about ballet, they don't care about theater even.

SPEAKER_03 44:00

Right. Hey. We know about my Mozart experience. So we know what the general public is doing.

SPEAKER_05 44:06

And let's bring this all back to a place of Melissa's experience at the theater in wherever you were. I can't remember. Vienna. Yes. So did the people there give a damn about what was happening on stage? No.

SPEAKER_01 44:24

No.

SPEAKER_05 44:24

Not at all. No.

SPEAKER_01 44:26

Famously, there's a YouTube account called OperaVision, which posts uh opera performances from around the globe. And of course, I'm one of the people who's like plugged into this. I don't watch them consistently, but if there are some that I'm like, okay, this is interesting, I'll tune in or I'll have it on in the background. Most of the time it's in like Italian or French or Spanish or some language I don't understand.

SPEAKER_03 44:49

Opera is also famously inaccessible.

SPEAKER_01 44:51

Yes, and even if it is in English, even if it is in English, still inaccessible. How many subscribers are on this YouTube channel? Which is like they post full ass operas. Only 215,000.

SPEAKER_05 45:09

Exactly. So like it's people are really, I think, experiencing psychosis over this in a way that is so I don't get it. Let me read you his exact quote. I have it pulled up. During a February variety and CNN Town Hall with Matthew McConaughey, Timothy Chalamet said, quote, I don't want to be working in ballet or opera, or you know, things where it's like, hey, keep this thing alive, even though it's like no one cares about this anymore. He added, all respect to the ballet and opera people out there. I just lost 14 cents in viewership. I just took shots for no reason, noting his concern for popular relevance. That's all he said is I don't want to work in a sector of the arts that people don't care about. And he's not wrong because yeah, most people unfortunately don't care about the ballet, the opera, live theater over film, TV, and music. That is a fact that is like famously true. Funding for the arts is getting cut left and right. Like Melissa said, the ballet and um the opera in New York are like even like stage productions in New York, their funding is cut constantly. They need people to come to the shows. Like, I don't I don't get why everyone is so angry with him. And I read somewhere, I did not fact check this, but I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that his both his mom and sister are trained ballet dancers.

SPEAKER_03 46:34

So that makes sense since he comes from like a very like artsy rich New York family. Patrons of the arts. Patrons of the arts, if you will, front and French, like yeah.

SPEAKER_05 46:46

You all need to calm down, but yeah, the the Misty Copeland, she did it to s to to snub him. Stick it to Timothy, Timothy Shallum. No, she didn't. No, no, she didn't.

SPEAKER_01 46:59

You guys, okay, so neither of you have seen an opera, right? Any?

SPEAKER_03 47:04

No. No. I mean, I've seen I've seen clips of operas.

SPEAKER_05 47:08

You know what? I actually kind of did, um, because Kat one time had like an opera like variety show. It was very a very small, queer opera, and there was um a Minnesota opera singer in it, and she was I I never heard a voice like that in my life. I couldn't believe just the power of her voice in a tiny room, too. She's only like 10 feet away from me. Um, that was, I don't know, like a summer or two ago. So I would say kind of. I kind of have.

SPEAKER_01 47:42

And I mean, like, there's like music that most of us know from operas. I mean, there's that magic flute of a Maria. Is that from an opera? I think it is.

SPEAKER_05 47:54

Isn't it? Is it?

SPEAKER_01 47:56

I have no idea. I cannot confirm nor deny.

SPEAKER_04 47:59

It sounds like it.

SPEAKER_01 48:00

I have to tell you about my opera experience. Well, this is one that if I'm gonna tell one opera story, this is gonna be the one. There's there's a couple of that I have because I'm a I'm an opera goer. Which is now that I'm reflecting on it, kind of embarrassing to admit. But anyway, um, so on OperaVision they post stuff mostly from the European Union. I think this is important to know that OperaVision is, I think, funded by the European Union. They posted one that was in Finnish. It was there's not like a ton of Finnish operas, and so this one was a new lip libretto, which means like new words, put to Mozart's uh opera called Kosit Kosi Fantute, which is like a comedy, a comedy of errors, one might say. And it's just like a bunch of goofy little characters having a great time, and then they try to dupe each other. I'm not gonna go in the whole story. Anyway, what this Finnish opera did is they made Finnish lyrics to a new version of it called COVID Fantute, and it was basically about this political commentary on COVID in Finland, and this opera came out I think in like 2021 or 2022, so it's like very, you know, very recent and very timely, but it was so funny, you guys. And I uh did walk into the uh the Finnish opera, yeah, the opera house in in Helsinki trying to be like, so did you guys like have a recording of this? That I ended up doing this like one of the last couple of weeks, and uh no, I couldn't find it. Mostly because I think the person I asked was probably like a like a custodian or something. So sure.

SPEAKER_03 49:42

I love that. You're a patron.

SPEAKER_01 49:44

I'm a patron of the arts, and uh I am not offended if anybody thinks opera is not for them because it's I don't even think it's really for me. I think part of it is me pretending. But then I I pretended so I pretended, listen, I pretended I pretended so close to the sun that I actually like Mozart's operas. Yeah, but I did go see this Russian one and I did not enjoy it.

SPEAKER_03 50:10

I love the ballet. Uh I went to the ballet for the first I mean I watch I will watch ballets on YouTube, but I went to the ballet for the first time last year, cried amazing, the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life.

SPEAKER_01 50:22

What did you see?

SPEAKER_03 50:23

Incredible. I saw Frankenstein at the San Francisco Ballet, and it was literally so good. There was the most iconic gay man who was sitting in front of me that's ever lived, which it was Frankenstein, but it was like, you know, it was a ballet, and like it was um very stylized, and Frankenstein's monster was very stylized. There was a man there who was probably I would say like 55-ish, and he was dressed as Frankenstein's monster, like from the ballet, like he was number one fan, and I was like, I'm obsessed. Uh he was taking pictures of people, he was living his best life. But I loved going to the ballet too because I got to dress up and almost everybody else was also dressed up, and I was like, yeah, like it was it was the opposite of it was the opposite of Shutter Island Explainer in many ways, except for there was one drunk lady that Jared could see but I couldn't see who did have to get escorted out because she kept trying to be like, yeah, people are dying.

SPEAKER_05 51:28

Um now that I'm thinking about it, I I do think I have been to the ballet once and it was in high school, and I'm pretty sure I saw the nutcracker here in Minneapolis um for extra credit for like an English class or something. Um I'm think I'm thinking back and I'm pr I'm like 99% sure it was ballet. I don't know. I mean at this point that was like I don't know, close to 15 years ago. So it's hard to remember, but I'm pretty sure. So I don't know. I would like to see it again as an adult. I'm always like, I don't, I've I always felt like I was kind of tapped into ballet stuff because my bestie Jill, friend of the pod, is a lifelong ballet dancer and is um the like lead head teacher at Queen City Ballet in Helena, Montana. And so she's always like mixing music and stuff for um for class, and I don't know, they always are she's always busy doing ballet stuff. She's like the type of legend who would be blackout drunk doing the splits in like the bathroom at one in the morning. Her party trick, of course, because she is like well, I mean, all all dancers are flexible, but ballet dancers are flexible in a way that is like defies human nature. It is very crazy, very crazy. So, yeah, shout out to uh friend of the pod Jill and her beautiful uh ballet.

SPEAKER_01 53:00

So something something similar to ballet and stuff is like just seeing stuff on stage, which I know we talk a lot about like going to musicals and stuff, but when was the last play that you guys went to?

SPEAKER_03 53:11

I'm gonna be asking. Did you go to one in New York? I don't I didn't. I don't love plays that much because I think they can be kind of boring.

SPEAKER_00 53:20

They can be say that. They can be.

SPEAKER_03 53:23

I'm trying to think of what the last one I saw was. I know I saw one, but I can't remember what it was. Well, I did see uh Macbeth, like I don't know, probably 10 years ago now at the Guthrie, but actually, no, it wasn't Macbeth, it was Hamlet. And there was also a woman inappropriately laughing. She obviously didn't understand what was going on and she kept laughing randomly.

SPEAKER_01 53:45

We tried our best. She's like, This is a comedy, right? This is a comedy.

SPEAKER_03 53:48

It was kind of iconic behavior with from her, but there was another play I saw a couple years ago, and I was kind of like, this shit kind of be boring, which is tough for me to say out loud. As like uh I went to the performing arts school, I was in plays, like I love the theater. We've just been talking about going to see a play, but like I do find that most plays are kind of hard to stand on their own and they take themselves too seriously. I really wanted to see English when it was at the Guthrie, but for some reason I didn't end up going. Um, and I did want to see that, but otherwise, I'd in general have very little interest in plays.

SPEAKER_05 54:21

I'm I'm like, I don't even know if I've ever seen just like a play and not a musical.

SPEAKER_03 54:27

I'm like, why aren't they singing?

SPEAKER_01 54:30

I was like, Why you didn't even see like a Shakespeare one in high school?

SPEAKER_05 54:33

I feel like we're trip like I mean maybe, but not none that I can like consciously remember. Yeah, I'm I'm a musical gal.

SPEAKER_01 54:42

Musical gal.

SPEAKER_05 54:44

Also, I will say Rent is a rock opera, so we've all been to the opera.

SPEAKER_03 54:50

Yeah, you know what? And I will say I've seen Les Miz with both of you, and that is technically an opera.

SPEAKER_01 54:56

Yeah, that's right, that's right.

SPEAKER_05 54:58

So we have I've seen it with each of you, and like I I love Le Miz, and kind of similar to like a long play, a long musical like Lay Miz can also be a little tough to sit through. I love Le Miz, it's wonderful, but like halfway through the second act, it is it is a bit like Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:19

I'm tired when when we got lots of when Mr. Jean Valjean is dying, spoiler alert for something that's a few hundred years old. Um oh uh I'm kind of like okay, okay, JBJ. Like it's uh it's time to speed this.

SPEAKER_01 55:34

You can't wrap it up, wrap it up, wrap it up.

SPEAKER_03 55:37

Nick, is there uh a reason you asked?

SPEAKER_01 55:40

Well, this weekend I had like for some reason was like theater Palooza for me in my life. So my friend Kelly for me. And you're right, yeah. Uh friend of the pod, Kelly, my friend Kelly was uh in a production of Cinderella out in Plymouth. It was really fun, it was just like a very honest, like fun celebration of theater. And then uh on Saturday I went with um another friend of the pod, Erica Scarlet. Shout out. Uh she does reviews for theater around the Twin Cities, and so she gets various like free tickets uh kind of everywhere. And so I I messaged her. I was like, hey, can I like join you for one random one? And so it happened to work out. We went to go see this play, uh Abelita, which was a world premiere. It was opening night, and it was like really a blast. Um, it was the the acting was like really fun, the actors were having a blast. The script itself kind of wavered between like being very serious and also just like being silly and goofy. The there's a couple of characters, but there's two, there's a grandmother and a grandson from Iowa that move from Iowa to New York in the 90s, and the reason they move is because the grandmother is like, hey, um, you are my mixed race grandson, and I want you to like reconnect with uh this other part of your heritage, your culture that like I just couldn't give to you in rural Iowa. So they moved to New York, and so the play is kind of about identity, uh like kind of celebrating Puerto Rican culture, but also in a very small way, like ballroom culture and queer culture. And it was honestly, it was really it was really cute, it was really fun, it was really honest. The actor or the actress who played the this grandmother, uh Grandma Johnson, was amazing. And one of the things that made it so fun, and I can't, oh my gosh, there was somebody sitting behind us who was either drunk or absolutely blitzed. I don't know what it was, stoned out of their fucking mind. I don't know what it was, but during the performance, I wavered between being absolutely fucking pissed that they were making noise and then celebrating the fucking hell out of them for making noise because there were certainly they were having a great fucking time, and they were like, I don't give a shit if I'm talking in the middle, like if I don't care if I'm the only one talking, but we're having a fucking blast. But there were a few people in like front of me that were like, Oh, I don't know if this should be happening. Oh, I'd be pissed as fuck.

SPEAKER_05 58:21

Oh yeah, I'm a I'm a shusher.

SPEAKER_01 58:24

But there were a few moments in the play that kind of warranted it, and that's what I think saved it. So there's a moment where Miss Johnson starts dancing because the neighbor is like making noise and playing it, and then all of a sudden, all of a sudden this gal behind us goes, Get it, Miss Johnson! And everyone in the in the audience just freaking cackles, and it's amazing. So yeah, I was like kind of pissed by having that that audience member next to me, but it also showcased to me that like performance in that capacity is also about the relationship between the performers and those watching. And those people kind of maybe they didn't understand the assignment 100%, but they did kind of say, Hey, I'm also a part of this like relationship that we're forming from performer to viewer, and we're gonna participate in it. And I didn't agree with it 100%, but there were some moments where I was like, Okay, yeah, this was actually this was actually kind of fun. So if anyone's interested in still playing, it's at the Capri in North Minneapolis.

SPEAKER_03 59:26

I don't know her. I I realized Rachel and I went to an Agatha Christie play with her family at Theater in the Round years ago. Like, I don't know, probably we were like 22 or something. Um I actually I don't remember if Theater of the Round still exists. I feel like it died during COVID and maybe she's back, but let me check theater. I know the building is still there. The building's still there, but I don't know if she's still alive and awake.

SPEAKER_05 59:52

I get what you're saying, Nick, about like Melissa and I were talking about this with cabaret, how like the growing like tension and discomfort of the audience is like a pretty important element of the production as a whole. Um, as you know, I don't know, it's just reflective it's reflective of like the plot, which is like people around you descending into like being a Nazi and kind of being like, hey, what hey, what the fuck? Yeah, what's going on? So yeah, I I do think that like crowd reaction and participation is sometimes like a necessary part of a stage production, but yeah, if someone but sometimes people are just being fucking disrespectful and sometimes Shutter Island Explainer, yeah, and I'm not afraid to tell them to shut up. I'm a shusher. I did have to shush people at um the Mary Beth Barone show.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:46

I was you know we talked about this, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:50

Yeah, because why are you talking?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:52

Why are you very people there were I think some kids maybe talking during cabaret when Holly and I went at the cab three a little bit farther away from like not close enough for us to say something, and I get that like it's kind of kids, but also I I wouldn't take a kid to cabaret. I think it is the subject matter is both like sort of inappropriate sexually also inappropriate, like not inappropriate, but I would say probably really difficult for a kid to like I took my nephew and he was when he was 16, and I I I think like that was a fine age for him to go, but like the it it's it's kind of high concept. Like I would say cabaret is kind of a high concept show and it deals with like pretty serious topics in history and stuff. Like I don't know why you'd bring a child, and there even was like a thing where it was like we don't recommend this show to children, essentially, when you buy the tickets too, so it's not like uh surprise, you show up and you're like, What's this? Like I feel like it is one of those where they're like not for kids.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:56

Yeah, they were little too, they were like definitely like under 10 years old, I would say. So they're asking a lot of questions. I don't know. I mean, I think that there are age-appropriate ways to talk to your children about pretty much any topic, including fascism. Um, but cabaret, yeah, is not not one of them.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:14

So you could you could have maybe like if you were watching cabaret at home, the movie version is excellent. You can watch it and you could explain, you could pause and explain to your kids all the things that are happening. But in real life, I'm gonna need you to shut the fuck up so I can experience this fully.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:33

So, my message to our listeners don't be afraid to shush people.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:38

Don't be afraid to shush people, yeah, and also feel free to be the person who needs to be shushed. You can be both.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:47

Well, I think we're gonna have to disagree there. I think we're gonna have to agree to disagree on that one.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:53

Here's the thing when when someone said get it, Miss Johnson during that play, I also was tempted to do that. That's not a shusher.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:59

That's not a shushing moment. That person just happened to be a rare crossover of yes, like a kind of their kind of a broken clock is is right twice a day kind of vibe.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:09

Right. Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:12

That that isn't intentional.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:14

No, they weren't being like disrespectful to the people on stage. I feel similarly at concerts when like the performer on stage is like maybe having like a quiet moment between songs, talking about the next song they're gonna do, and like a person in the audience, a stan in the audience takes that as their moment to scream how much they love them or whatever. Like it's just rude. It's rude. You're interrupting the person on stage. They know you love them, that's why you paid to be at their concert. Like, enough. Enough.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:45

I mean, I do have to say that this same person who was interrupting also interrupted and was like laughing during the moments where it was like really intense emotionally. So it was just like that was the moment to shish.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:58

I will say the person uh at Hamlet was like, like, I don't think that they were I think they were giving it their best effort. Like they were like, I'm gonna see Shakespeare, and they were like giving it their best effort, and they were just kind of like, damn, I'm not quite sure. Which it's hard, it's hard, okay? Like Shakespeare is hard, it's not in normal English. But they were just sort of like something would happen and they weren't quite sure, and they would be like, Wow, like they're also trying to participate.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:30

I can't remember if I mentioned this when I was talking about um the person I had to shush, but there is this sort of phenomenon that happens in live performances, specifically comedy shows, where like there are people in the crowd who think that the person on stage is speaking directly to them and they do sort of like respond to everything they're saying as if they're having a one-on-one conversation. I have observed this at I would say every comedy show I've ever been to. Um, there is just a person in the audience who is really, really resonating, and the comedian will be saying something and they'll be like, Yeah, like actively listening and responding back. It is so crazy.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:12

You're active listening at the comedy show.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:15

But people, people do that. I don't know. And and maybe you could say that they're really connecting with what they're seeing on stage, and and there's something beautiful about that, but also like you are in a room with like a lot of other people right now. Yeah, they're not talking to you specifically. I don't know. I don't know. I don't get it, but not everyone has as much decorum in class as I do when it comes to sort of live live stage productions. Not everyone knows um theater etiquette.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:46

I mean, I I feel like even I I get freaked out at concerts that I'm like ruining the experience because like I am so I am somebody who cries really hard when I see live performances and I like really can't help myself. Like what? The first time I saw Wicked with Jared, not the first time I saw Wicked. I'm I'm not new to this, I'm true to this, as Holly likes to say. Um but when I first sat with Jared, he was like, I think getting a little embarrassed of me because I I was like kind of heave sobbing and I was trying to hold it back so I wouldn't bother other people for like probably the first full 20 minutes of the show. And like that is like when I saw Gaga during Bad Romance, I was heave sobbing. Like I I and I do it for basically everything. I did have to hold back to your seeing Mary Bath Baron. She's funny, she'll there's no reason for me to be crying. I just love I love performance, I love art, and I love being given the opportunity to see people, so I cry. And I always feel very bad doing that because I'm like, I don't want to ruin this for somebody, but I'm like you're not like so overcome.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:48

As someone who's been to many live performances with you, it's true, you um, and has witnessed you having an emotional moment. You are not like a loud sobber.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:58

Yeah, like you are. I try I'm like trying not to be.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:01

Yeah, you're not like like comically sobbing loudly.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:06

Maybe that'll be my new bit though.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:08

Yeah, that should be the next time I see my kids. You should be screaming sobbing. Okay, did you like that? Um I sent I sent Melissa this reel of um this guy at the Lord concert singing along, like um, what's his name? Hugh Jackman. Yes. And he's like, I will never be ries. It was so fucking funny. I was crying watching it. So that, yeah, I'm gonna make that my new bit.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:41

That's your new bit.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:42

And your new bit at live performances can be sobbing extremely loudly, like louder than anyone has ever cried before.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:50

You should try it just once, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:52

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I do think that was sort of my bit at bad romance. A little bit, but I was among a bunch of other gay people and women, and so it was everyone's bit.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:04

In fact, and concerts are loud.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:06

It's yeah, and it was a loud concert, it wasn't quiet, like it was very loud. I was saying earlier when we were watching Ronnie before this, that our new like me and Jared were saying our new bit was going to be because Dorinda's blacked out at dinner, and the waiter says hi and introduces himself, and she goes, I'm Dorinda Medley. And that's just she so she says, My name is Dorinda Medley, and that that I think that will be my new bit as well. It's just going, my name is Dorinda Medley. Title of that I meet a waiter, title of that.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:37

But like one word, right? She says it in like one word.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:40

She kind of says it in one word, my name is Doranna Medley. And then she leaves dinner halfway through because she's like two, she's like, I gotta go back. Like, so yeah. Nick, what will your bit bit be?

SPEAKER_01 1:08:52

At a concert?

SPEAKER_03 1:08:54

At a concert, yeah. And your next live performance, what bit are you doing? Will you be yelling, I'm Dorinda Medley?

SPEAKER_01 1:09:00

I am Jorinda Medley. I was just thinking this new bit that I saw, because uh so I I've I I I laugh a lot when I probably shouldn't be. And so I'm trying to be better at like finding a way to like.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:17

It's been that one.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:25

You know that song. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:34

He's a I'm not kind of guy who laughed on the funeral. Anyway, you're I got forever. But what what were you gonna say, Nick?

SPEAKER_01 1:09:44

Saw this uh this old bit of um where Jennifer Lawrence is like, oh, I didn't want to bother Meryl Streep, I didn't want to like be too annoying until I realized that like she was the one who was annoying, and then it goes cuts to Meryl Streep and she's like and she's right, or something like that. But then Meryl Streep does she like sucks in her lips and is just like and she's right. And so for some reason, ever since I watched that video, what like three or four days ago, that's I've been doing that a lot.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:16

Well, have you have you seen the Sharon Osborne clip? Of which she's like being interviewed by like the BBC or something, and when she realizes that she's on camera, she'll her the her face is relaxed.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:28

She realizes she's on camera, she goes, I'm trying to find it right now.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:38

It is so funny.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:41

It is literally so fucking funny. Well, everybody is just posting about her and Kelly's weight loss, so I don't think I'm gonna be able to find it, but we'll find it eventually, and you'll see you'll see. We'll find it. And she yeah, she fully once she realizes she's on camera. Um, should we get into some confessions, girls?

SPEAKER_01 1:11:00

Hey, I want some confessions.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:02

Yeah, we should because my laptop is about to die and I don't know where the charger is.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:09

You go first then, live it on the edge.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:12

My confession is that I mean, I guess I kind of already said that I think Timothy Chalamet was right, but I feel like I have to think of something new. I don't know what my confession is. You're you're gonna have to circle back.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:25

I'll say, okay, my confession is that I think I might have said this to Holly a couple days ago, but I I'm currently having like dead wife in a movie in Minneapolis because I know I'm moving. And so I'm very much, I'm like, like, I'm in the sheets, I'm being filmed, I'm like, I'm everything is beautiful and sunny to me.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:47

Cake battery.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:48

I'm like, I feel like I'm gonna cry every time I see a person in real life. I was like near tears at work today seeking my co-workers because I just fucking love them, and I'm like, that's embarrassing. Like I'm being an embarrassing, I didn't do it, right? I controlled myself, but I do fear as it gets closer and closer to my move that I'm gonna start crying inappropriately. And maybe it's the OCD of it all, right? I'm fearing that I'm gonna cry inappropriately, and I have cried inappropriately at things, which ties back to the concerts. But I'm very dead wife in a movie, montage, just uh like Minneapolis is beautiful, my life is beautiful, my friends are beautiful, my job is beautiful. Um, yeah, that's my confession is that I'm an emotional stupid bitch this week, and for the foreseeable future.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:37

So, right now in your life, you're being filmed with this like orange.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:41

Yeah, like somebody has a super eight in there, and I'm like, Stop!

SPEAKER_01 1:12:45

Yeah, I love it. I did just come across a video, I think it was yesterday, of someone who is like that dead wife in a movie, and she like literally has the like bowl of like flour and stuff, and she's like putting it on her face, and she's like, Stop filming me, stop fucking filming.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:02

Yeah, that's me right now, but nobody's filming, it's just me being sad. So a little bit of a downer for you guys today. Anyway, what's your confession?

SPEAKER_01 1:13:12

Do I have one?

SPEAKER_05 1:13:14

I know. I kind of am like, we've been potting for a while now, and I sort of do forget a confession every single time we do. Right.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:21

Every time.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:22

You know, here's here's what I'll say my confession is. Um a little backstory. Yesterday we were supposed to record, and I did cancel on Nick and Melissa, like uh as we were recording, literally bailed as as we were supposed to be recording. Felt so guilty about it. Um, it was eating me alive. I was really having mental illness over it. But after watching Come See Me in the Good Light and this like amazing documentary about how like we have to the the the thing that's amazing about being human is appreciating everything that you have, you know, everything, even though it even if it feels like work, even if it is a bad emotion, even if it's this, that, the other thing. Um, you know, that's the joy, the joy of being alive. Um, and I was feeling like, I don't know, I had a kind of get real moment with myself, and I really was feeling so guilty for canceling on you guys. And and my confession is that I had this moment with myself where I thought, like, I need to take this more seriously. I know it's just like a silly little podcast, and like, you know, not that many people listen to, and it's just our friends and whatever, and so sometimes I can kind of be like, well, whatever. But I need to take this more seriously because it's so fun. I love doing it, and like I don't know. I have been like avoiding doing my work portion of this, which is posting on social media, and I don't know why. I have so much free time during the day, and I am on my iPad all the time, fucking playing heyday. So I'm like, why don't I do what I need to do and make our carousels for Instagram? Because it feels like work, probably, and that makes me avoid it and hate it. And it reminds me of being a hairstylist when I was like forced to post on socials and whatever, but I don't know. I just kind of had a moment with myself yesterday when I was really shame spiraling, which I don't know, maybe some of it was unnecessary, but I did kind of have this feeling of like I should take this more seriously because this is so fun, and I have no reason to be avoidant of something that is like fun and makes me happy. So that's my confession.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:40

Oh love you, babe.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:44

I know. I'm just like, I'm like, whoa. So I just said I'm gonna cry because I love and miss my friends, and then you were like, Well, and I'm like, Well, I'm just gonna start crying on pod then. There are tears in my eyes right now. Can you see them glistening?

SPEAKER_00 1:15:56

I can, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:57

I have really dark eyes, so when I start to cry, it's it's like real, it's real obvious. Now I'm like a Pixar dead wife because my eyes are glistening with like a little bit of white, white highlight.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:09

My confession is theater in the round is still open.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:14

Amazing. A Googlable confession. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:18

Googlable confession.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:20

Nick said you're taking this seriously. I'm not.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:22

I said, fuck you, actually. But um, I uh my confession, now that we're talking about opera and stuff, I actually was reflecting. Oh god, do I really say this? I'm gonna say it.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:34

I think we can always bleep. It's just a it's a full minute bleep minute of bleep.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:38

It's a full minute bleep, it's just a full solid tone.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:41

Holly's mic is just disconnected.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:43

Oh, is Holly? Oh, she's a racist.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:46

Oh, Holly won't be recorded from this point.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:49

Oh she's getting plugged in. Oh, please, oh please. So yeah, my confession is that I think I'm an opera viewer in terms of like how I consume most media. And by that I mean when I consume things, I assume that it's very polished in the way that some people perceive opera to be polished. And I think I struggled with this a lot when I was younger, that like I wanted the things that I consumed to be like really good and like really high quality. And so that meant like I went for classic literature because that was the stuff that went around. It means that when I was looking at new sources of like books or movies or TV shows, it was stuff that was like highly reviewed or highly like praised, and so it went through like a long list of people saying, Hey, this is good. And and I think that is the way that I consume things. Like, I mean, consider that like I'm watching these older TV shows, which are like not really that good, but there are people who still talk about it today. Like, there are yeah, I mean, there are older folks that I talk to where they're like, Oh my god, you're watching Petticoe Junction. Oh my gosh, I remember the dog from that show.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:03

Pedico Junction mentioned exactly.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:05

And I'm like, way, hey, yeah, this is great. Or we could talk about Beverly Hillbillies and being like, hey, let's but and I'm wondering if that's also kind of in tandem of like I previously used to hate literature that was like lowbrow. So we're talking like romance novels, shitty sci-fi, shitty action, like stuff that I would be like, I'm not touching that with a 10-foot pole. And like, I'm glad that I worked at a bookstore because that helped me challenge that belief, and it actually helped me change that mindset to the point where in high school I would have never watched reality TV because I was a judgmental fuck. And now I'm like, wait, actually, Nick, you need just need to shut up and watch it because like it's actually really it's actually quite good, and you're gonna still enjoy yourself. And Molly, my friend Molly and I, we talk about this a lot that like I'm like I'm still struggling with like being judgmental, just like very quietly and internally. And so I am kind of on this journey of like letting that go. Like, literally, why does it matter? And so, and I think it's all tied into like the way that I view opera. Like, I the reason I went to opera was because I was told that it was somehow one of the best forms of stage, you know, it's stood the test of time, it's beautiful, it's perfect singing, it's you know, it's all these things that are very high brow, and that was something I sought for. And although I now realize that opera does have like a lot of a barrier to it, it's a big financial barrier. The tickets to see them, those things are very expensive, stupid expensive. Like even the opera festival I went to with the student discount on it, I was like, I should not be paying this much to be watching this anyway. But yeah, I'm realizing that is something that I'm still like working through, so I can still have a relationship with this content that is considered high brow while also not shitting on low brow stuff, like it literally, and there shouldn't be a distinction between the two. And that's kind of my confession that like this is something I'm still working through, but like I think at my old core, maybe at a core part of me, that that I am an opera viewer with all of the negative connotations that come with it, and I have to coming out opera. I'm coming out opera.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:23

I did just have uh an idea that I could have a new bit. Um, because I'm sitting at my work desk. Should I plug in my mic tomorrow and show up to my work meetings? My professional podcast microphone.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:37

Yes, you should.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:38

Yeah, I think that'd be kind of funny.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:40

So it'd be a good bit.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:42

Yeah. All right. We've lost we've lost Holly's mic, but she's smiling. We love her.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:50

Keep signing.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:52

Thank you for listening to Degrass and Confess. Our show was created and produced by us, Holly, Nick, and Melissa. Our show was edited by Nick. Our music is also by Nick. The views we share in our podcast are our own and do not represent the views of our employers. If you enjoyed hanging out with us, please rate and review wherever you're listening.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:09

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