It's Never 2002

POD WORKS IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS.

Join Holly, Nick, and Melissa in this week's thrilling debates on which ginger soda is best, why all the housewives of Rhode Island look the same, and the divisive Coachella performance by Justin Bieber. Includes an intimate reading of Babbitt, a special attack on words (e.g., escritoire), and a strong argument for avoiding the new Harry Potter series. 

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_01 0:00

I have a severe case of the Uglies.

SPEAKER_05 0:04

Yeah. Is somebody's laundry going off? Mine is.

unknown 0:08

It was.

SPEAKER_05 0:10

I feel like I'm hearing a little I feel like I'm hearing a little song.

SPEAKER_07 0:13

I'm hearing D. Farella. I I sang that song in high school.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

It's called The Samsung Washer Song.

SPEAKER_07 0:22

Correct. I forget who it's by.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Welcome to our podcast, Digress and Confess, where we are coming to you live with the Samsung Washing Machine's greatest hits. What what's everyone drank and to naught? What we drank and to not.

SPEAKER_07 1:24

I am drinking a stress tea from a Ug Ray Dunn mug.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

I have that mug. Not the Ray Dunn. I have that mug. I literally have that exact same mug.

SPEAKER_07 1:37

Is the Ug one? Ugh.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Yes. And Ug with a period. Ray Dunn. Should I get one?

SPEAKER_08 1:43

Oh, this one doesn't have a period different.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

It does. Well, I bought it years ago before like Ray Dunn. I even like knew who that was.

SPEAKER_08 1:50

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

Um, but the thing is, like, with Ray Dunn shit, is like it's really nice, like stoneware ceramics. Oh. So like that mug is really fucking nice. I hate I hate that it's Ray Dunn, but it's like a really nice mug. Which is the unfortunate truth about Ray Dunn products, is like it's beautiful, nice stoneware, but then it just says some bullshit on it.

SPEAKER_07 2:17

Yeah. Yeah. It's really Kirsten's big into it. My older sister, Kirsten. Shout out Kirsten. And she um has so many of these mugs. She was collecting them at a point a while ago, and then it became too much. So she had like boxes of these mugs in the basement. And then like she was like a Ray Dun morning. Yeah. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:35

She was like a Ray Dunn truther.

SPEAKER_07 2:37

Yes. Oh yeah, yeah. And so she uh gave me this mug uh yeah, basically before I went to Helsinki. So this was like the one mug that I brought to Helsinki for the longest time. And so made me think of Kirsten, made me think of home, made me think of Ray Dunn's excellent ceramic wear.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

Yeah, at least it says like Ug and not like mug on it or like stone. Stoneware. Stoneware.

SPEAKER_06 3:04

So you're drinking tea. Drink.

SPEAKER_07 3:06

Drinking tea.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

What is Holly? Holly, what are you drinking? I'm drinking a crisp apple olipop.

unknown 3:13

Yum.

SPEAKER_01 3:14

Out of a wine glass.

SPEAKER_06 3:15

It looks so refreshing. It does. I'm drinking water because that's all I have in my house, and I'm like fucking devastated about that. Like I don't want water. I want a yummy treat. Like I want I I was really, it's really sad. I have THC drinks in my fridge, but like I don't want to be stoned right now. I just want that's the only thing I have with flavor.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

I was considering one of those, but I I decided against it because I was like, I don't know how that will make me act on pod on mic. We should do like a stoner episode, though. I think that'd be fun.

SPEAKER_07 3:48

I think it'll be really great.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

You know what? You gotta get some crystal light lemonade packets. I keep those on deck for when I want a lemon drink. When you need something and you don't have any crystal light lemonade packet, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 4:03

And it's good. That's true. That's a good idea. Yeah, I am pretty, I was pretty devastated by this. There is a vending machine downstairs, but I would have to like like in the garage. Will I maybe do it later? I don't know. Time will only tell, but who's to say?

SPEAKER_07 4:17

Who's to say?

SPEAKER_06 4:18

Who's to say if I don't want a crisp sprite cracked open? But Jared, Jared got ginger ale last week. That kind of hit crazy to be honest. I was like, I love ginger ale. And we googled which one was on like which one Delta serves on planes, because we're like that one's the good one. It's seagrum's and it's seagrum's camp.

SPEAKER_07 4:40

Not cancer. Do you want to know what? Wow.

SPEAKER_01 4:43

As a ginger ale drinker, do you want to know what I think the best ginger ale is? Olipop. What is it? Olipop has the best ginger ale. Well, I love ginger. Like I will gnaw on a ginger root. Like I think very ginger forward. Very ginger forward. I love it.

SPEAKER_07 5:02

I do love ginger.

SPEAKER_06 5:03

There used to be a ginger ale they would sell at caribou. Nick, do you remember this? And it had chunks of ginger in it. It was like it was really gingery. It had chunks of ginger. Is that the one that was like it was?

SPEAKER_07 5:13

In the like tall bottle. Yes. Yeah. Yup I do remember.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

Yum. Caribou lore.

SPEAKER_07 5:19

Yum.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

Ginger is very good for you.

SPEAKER_07 5:22

It is. It's supposed to help tummy, tummy problems.

SPEAKER_06 5:25

It's an time to be nice for me. Since I'm dying with my new Nick, did I tell you I started a new psychiatric medication?

SPEAKER_07 5:34

Ketamine.

SPEAKER_06 5:35

Um and I do think it's I well, I do want to do ketamine therapy, but this one is trintelix.

SPEAKER_07 5:40

Trintelix. Excellent.

SPEAKER_06 5:42

Trintelix. Um, and I do actually think it's working. Like I do think it's lifting my mood. Unfortunately, it is making me incredibly nauseous. Is it a SSRI? I think so. It's that it's that serotonin. It really fucks your shit. I think it's a non, like it's a non-typical, like an atypical SSRI. I was like looking in Google earlier how to how to not get nausea with with SSRIs. And it was just like, oh, I'm doing it all because I understand this information already. Like I know this information, but I was like, maybe there'll be a secret I'll find out today. Right. And unfortunately.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

I do love to join the subreddits of every medication I'm taking because there is a subreddit for everything. Um so yeah, I have been on the vibrid subreddit reading people's stories and their remedies for nausea and whatnot.

SPEAKER_06 6:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:33

I'm always consulting Reddit.

SPEAKER_07 6:35

So consult Reddit.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Reddit above all.

SPEAKER_06 6:37

That's where the experts are.

SPEAKER_07 6:38

That's where the experts are.

SPEAKER_05 6:39

And it is.

SPEAKER_07 6:40

And it is. It is. Find your local expert on Reddit.

SPEAKER_06 6:43

Nick, are you on any psych meds right now?

SPEAKER_07 6:45

No, I'm not. And I wonder if I should be.

SPEAKER_06 6:48

I feel like didn't you have one that was working for you before you went to Finland?

SPEAKER_07 6:52

I did. I uh tapered off of it while I was in Helsinki. And that was a really weird experience. There was one day where I had to walk around with an with my umbrella because that was the closest thing I had to a cane because my vertigo was so bad. So wondering if I tapered off incorrectly.

SPEAKER_06 7:14

I've never properly tapered off of an SSRI. Like I'm off and just like fuck this, which is not healthy. And then I am like, why do I feel so sick?

SPEAKER_07 7:23

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_06 7:24

And that's why. I mean, I'm not doing that right now, I just feel sick because of the SSRI.

SPEAKER_07 7:29

Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah, I was on peroxetine, also known as Paxil.

SPEAKER_06 7:34

Oh, I was I was on peroxetine for a while.

SPEAKER_07 7:37

It really helped with my insomnia. Hey, um, I've been really thinking about words this week because I'm reading Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis. Oh yeah, you guys. I love this man. Okay, what one second? Hold on.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

We should have a Sinclair Lewis timer every episode and like see how long it takes Nick to mention Sinclair Lewis. I think it's 11 minutes and 35 seconds.

SPEAKER_07 8:10

Um, so look at this beautiful edition.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

Uh, first of all, it's Oh yeah, you you brought this to Fragment last week.

SPEAKER_07 8:16

So this beautiful book.

SPEAKER_06 8:19

You want to describe it for the the audio listener?

SPEAKER_07 8:22

For the listeners, I have a blue and white uh book cover that is tattered around the edges, frayed, discolored, and kind of brownish. And then the front cover of this book is beautiful in like sleek condition, and it's this blue hardcover book with this orange lettering on it. Okay, so these editions came out in the 40s, and every time I've seen this book or the other editions of like this series of books, all it's all tattered. Like all of these, the orange is chipping away. The Sinclair Lewis is like you can barely read it. And so when I unearthed this and I like took off the dust jacket, oh you guys, oh shivers, shivers down my spine. Oh and then you guys, I I guess I'm always gonna be reading something, but but can I just read this opening segment to Babbitt?

SPEAKER_08 9:18

You guys, okay, okay, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_07 9:21

Um it's just two sentences Babbitt, chapter one The towers of Zenith aspired above the morning mist, austere towers of steel and cement and limestone, sturdy as cliffs and delicate as silver rods. They were neither citadels nor churches, but frankly and beautifully office buildings.

SPEAKER_03 9:49

Wow.

SPEAKER_07 9:50

This man sets you up to basically like love all the way that he's gonna be writing about office building and office people and men who want to sleep with their secretaries.

SPEAKER_03 10:04

Many such cases.

SPEAKER_07 10:05

Many such cases, many such cases, but in my journey, every chapter learning about like three to four words every chapter, and feeling vulnerable about looking up words. But honestly, escritoire was not in my repertoire, so that was a crazy word to throw out, to be honest.

SPEAKER_06 10:24

Like I don't actually remember what it means.

SPEAKER_07 10:27

It means like a remote.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

I don't think I've ever even heard that word.

SPEAKER_07 10:30

Because you don't need to. It's not a word that we need to know.

SPEAKER_06 10:34

Escritoire. Escribir is right in Spanish.

SPEAKER_07 10:38

I think that's where it comes from.

SPEAKER_06 10:39

Yeah. I think that's also right in French.

SPEAKER_07 10:42

Escratoire? Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 10:43

Oh, it's Ecuar. I can't do that accent. But E-S-C-R-I-T-O-I-R-E. It's like Spanish and French combined a writing table or a desk.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

So quick armoire and escribir.

SPEAKER_07 11:03

Yeah. Yeah. Whoa. So whoa. Huge, huge connections. Yeah, many connections. Thanks for giving me the time to talk about Sinclair Lewis. He's really important to me. And I love this book. I love this book more than Main Street.

SPEAKER_06 11:19

Whoa. So that's pretty huge.

SPEAKER_07 11:21

It's fighting words.

SPEAKER_06 11:22

That's pretty huge. Yeah. I uh still need to read some Sinclair Lewis. I'm reading a book right now called Sour Cherry, and I don't know if I like it.

SPEAKER_07 11:29

Who's it by?

SPEAKER_06 11:32

Somebody Greek. Somebody Greek. Their name is very Greek, but I don't remember what their name is. Like their last name is very like the ba ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

Angie Katsanevas.

SPEAKER_06 11:42

Exactly. It's very Angie K. It comes back to Angie K. Angie K. It all comes back to Angie K.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

Always. I love her.

SPEAKER_06 11:49

It all comes back to Angie K.

SPEAKER_07 11:51

Okay, how did you guys feel about Angie K the first time you saw her?

SPEAKER_01 11:54

I think I had a neutral opinion, but I was sort of like, why does she dress like um like a Fashion Nova baddie?

SPEAKER_06 12:02

Do you know what a Fashion Nova baddie is? Absolutely not.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Like, why does she dress like Cardi B? Because she was sort of always in like a head-to-toe, like branded Balenciaga bodysuit, like a skin tight, really, really loved like a designer logo branded skin type bodysuit, always athleisure. Yeah, yes.

SPEAKER_06 12:26

I think I think I was also in probably neutral, neutral to positive on Angie K. But like leaning towards positive.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

I've never disliked Angie K.

SPEAKER_06 12:34

No.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

And now I love her. Now she's my favorite.

SPEAKER_06 12:36

It's in Angie K's corner. Yeah, she's amazing.

SPEAKER_07 12:40

I think I was not in her corner the first time. And I don't know why. I don't. I don't know why.

SPEAKER_06 12:47

Why would you say that about our girl?

SPEAKER_07 12:49

Because my opinions now have changed. But I'm wondering if part of it was because was she going after Greek people? I do. I famously hate Greek people. I think she was like going after someone that I was that I had more favor for.

SPEAKER_06 13:03

Maybe could be Heather.

SPEAKER_07 13:04

I mean, yeah, she would have to be.

SPEAKER_06 13:05

I was gonna say, I mean, you do like Heather Gay, so and Holly and I would have would have read that as a positive to Angie K's character bullying Heather. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 13:15

I realize I think part of it is because I know that I'm stubborn and I see how stubborn Heather is, and I relate to her a lot in ways that are embarrassing, and that's probably why I like her.

SPEAKER_06 13:25

Yeah, Heather is the most probably relatable because like we're all a little bit loser, but she's she's become so unrelatable in such a way. Correct. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 13:35

I mean, I still have some left from season six, so things can change.

SPEAKER_06 13:39

Yeah, I just want them to bring back Genshaw.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

Well, yeah, obviously. Oh, but I think bring back Jen?

SPEAKER_07 13:45

I heard they're not going to it all.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

That's what Andy keeps saying. Yeah. Andy is like very solid on his like, I Gensha will not be on Bravo again. But I don't know, other housewives have been to prison.

SPEAKER_06 13:59

So you know what that's about Bethany Frankel too.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

Yeah. You know what though? I do think Jen is like a little bit, even prior to like the prison stuff, I think she's a little bit too much of a liability to Bravo because of her like emotional and like violent outbursts. Like, I I kind of think that has more to do with it than like her moral compass, because again, Andy Cohen doesn't really have a strong one, so I don't think he expects his housewives to. Um yeah, I do I do see.

SPEAKER_07 14:30

Did you guys see the interview with Jen Shaw she did on people?

SPEAKER_01 14:33

Of course, I didn't watch it, but I I've watched clips clips of it.

SPEAKER_07 14:37

Yeah, I watched just the clips of it. Did you watch the whole thing, Holly?

SPEAKER_01 14:39

Um, no, I did watch mostly clips, but I saw the highlights, her calling Elizabeth Holmes Lizzie.

SPEAKER_02 14:47

Love, love, love, love, love.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

That's her best tea.

SPEAKER_04 14:50

That's her best.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

And then immediately coming out and being like, Yeah, I I saw Ghlaine and um, you know, like spilling Glaine Maxwell's tea to immediately like try and insolve herself of like what she did. She's like, Well, I wasn't the worst one there, guys. Ghlaine Maxwell was. So she's right.

SPEAKER_07 15:08

She's right, yeah. But yeah, I did you notice something about that interview? Because there was something about her that I was like, Did you actually work on yourself during this time? Like, there was kind of no, obviously not. She didn't there was something about it that felt a little different to me.

SPEAKER_06 15:25

I think she was like, she was very much like playing for the cameras of like really I'm sorry. Oh yeah, but I was trying to do it.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

I don't think she regrets I don't think she regrets what she did at all. I think she regrets being caught and being like reckless with it enough to get caught. But like she doesn't give a fuck. She's gonna do whatever it takes to get her money up, and now she's like on her apology press cycle. To to be the type of person who's like capable of like committing like a fraudulent scheme like that. I don't think that is also the tank the same type of person who's like able to like feel remorse in like a meaningful way. Do you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_07 16:05

I do, yeah. Damn.

SPEAKER_06 16:06

I feel like also too. She's like, she probably does is a different like she was in prison, like she probably is a different person in some capacity. Like, I think even like you know, I think she was in like a federal prison, right? Which is sort of the nicer prisons, but like you're in prison in the United States, so like there's gonna be some capacity of like changing within you because I don't think anybody can go into prison and come back out the exact same, right?

SPEAKER_07 16:34

Right.

SPEAKER_06 16:34

I think maybe what it was that I've done the point, but not the not working.

SPEAKER_07 16:39

I think one of the things that I noticed was that you know she always had a short fuse beforehand, and I know it like came and go, and part of her see her time on Real Housewives is like highlighting when her fuse was really short, right? Yeah, but like watching that interview, I was like, She doesn't look like she's gonna explode, so that's that's really good. Like that's awesome.

SPEAKER_06 17:01

Well, I think she probably would be breaking the terms of not I don't know that it's she's been paroled or what is the actual Yeah, I don't know. But like she might be breaking the terms of her release blowing up.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

Well, I also don't think she was really in like a setting where that would have been natural. Do you know what I mean? I could see her maybe getting defensive over certain questions, but I don't see like a a post-prison apology interview being like an appropriate place for someone trying to get their money up to like be really explosive and like argumentative and be acting crazy, right?

SPEAKER_07 17:37

Yeah, wow.

SPEAKER_01 17:38

I don't think she's such a good housewife though. Oh my god, yeah. I'm I'm saying all this, but I I need her on my screen. I want more than anything.

SPEAKER_07 17:46

Uh I just want to see uh I want to see her and Heather in the same room together.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

Same.

SPEAKER_06 17:52

I want her to take Heather down a pot a peg.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

Of course. Well, they I mean, my theory that they're lesbian lovers, like they're gonna have to reconcile that at some point. Yeah, um, Nick, I was gonna say that you should start watching Real Housewives of Rhode Island because there's only two episodes out. I think maybe three tonight. I think it comes out on Sundays or Mondays. Didn't you say you started watching it, Nick?

SPEAKER_07 18:14

Yeah, yeah. It comes out on Mondays. And yeah, I watched them on the Oh you did you did watch it.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

Have we talked about this?

SPEAKER_07 18:20

Not yet, no.

SPEAKER_01 18:21

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_07 18:22

Have you watched them, Melissa?

SPEAKER_01 18:24

I'm loving it so far.

SPEAKER_06 18:25

Yeah, I've watched it. I like them a lot.

SPEAKER_07 18:27

Yeah, me too. I think there's there's like kind of a charm about them. I've haven't oh, that's right, because you went to Providence for a little while.

SPEAKER_06 18:34

Uh yeah, I've been to Providence twice, and I like almost exclusively work with people who are in Providence, and so Whoa. All my all my my favorite colleagues are in in Providence and so or like in surrounding surrounding areas, so like those are my girls. Everybody's very surprised about their accents, but I'm like, no.

SPEAKER_07 18:52

No.

SPEAKER_06 18:53

Jared was like, they sound like they're from Boston. I was like, they're 45 minutes from Boston, so so it makes sense. That is why. Yeah, yeah. They are kind of from Boston in a way.

SPEAKER_07 19:02

We should do a separate episode just about uh Rhode Island. How are we gonna pronounce it? Are people been calling it Rory?

SPEAKER_06 19:09

I've been hearing people say Rory, but I feel like not all housewives have like a pronunciation. I feel like Rony is like the one of the only ones that people like say like that.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

Yeah, I think Rony is the only one to the cities. Well, and yeah, just because it like works as a word, like phonetically. But yeah, I guess you could call it Rory. I've been seeing people say that. It feels weird, but not many cities like work well because like I'm also realizing it's not a city. Well, yeah, it's a state, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 19:39

It's a state, and they are but it is very it is like the size of a city, it's a city-sized state, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:46

Yeah, um metro area, but yeah, I'm like Beverly Hills. You don't no one says like robe, no one says roll for Salt Lake City.

SPEAKER_06 19:54

Yeah, when we were watching it, Jared said, I don't remember who he said it about, but he called one of them a lobotomized gym Jen Shaw. I can't remember who he said it about. And I I feel like it was right, but I have to I'll have to remember who it was. But I I like those girls.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

I like them too. I um I'm struggling to remember the name of anyone because they do kind of all look um very similar. Yeah, I know I know Joellen and I know Rosie. Rosie is easy for me to remember because I think she looks like Whitney Rose in a brunette wig. Um, they do have the kind of same sort of filler face.

SPEAKER_05 20:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:32

Um, but besides that, I don't have names and faces matched up yet. I gotta spend more time with the women. I gotta really get to know them.

SPEAKER_07 20:39

Who's the one that looks like Dolores of Real Housewives?

SPEAKER_01 20:43

I like her.

SPEAKER_07 20:44

Liz is great.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

I thought Liz, see, I think Liz, I always think Liz is the other one.

SPEAKER_06 20:49

Liz is the one that looks like Dolores. Yeah, Alicia's the other older one.

SPEAKER_05 20:53

Oh, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_06 20:55

And when when they were at the party and it was like Liz and Dolores were talking, Jared and I were like, are they pranking us right now? Like that's the same person. Like, are they related? Like, I'm so confused.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

Well, I think they was like, she said that she went to Dolores' surgeon. Yes, she said, Who's your surgeon? And went to him.

SPEAKER_07 21:13

So can I be so honest? So when I saw the advertisements for uh you know, Real Housewives of Rhode Island, I saw Liz and was like, Oh, I thought she was already on like a couple seasons because you thought it was Dolores. Yeah, because she was on the traders, so like that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 21:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 21:31

So then I started watching, and then all of a sudden her face came up, and I was like, that's not Dolores. Someone lied to me, and they're just the same.

SPEAKER_01 21:38

Because Dolores is from New Jersey, right?

SPEAKER_07 21:40

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_07 21:41

I think we should do some fun episodes on Real Housewives of Rhode Island.

SPEAKER_01 21:46

We could do little mini sodes for Rhode Island, and then Melissa and I have been saying we're gonna do little mini episodes for Love Island when it comes out this summer. We're gonna be recording a little 15 minute episode daily.

SPEAKER_06 22:00

It comes out constantly.

SPEAKER_01 22:01

It comes out five days a week. So yep.

SPEAKER_00 22:04

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 22:07

On the note of moving, I would like to speak on Outlander briefly because I just need to bring it up. I'm feeling a lot of feelings about it. So I just need to bring it up. Um, I'm feeling called to finish reading Outlander finally, because I was kind of off of it because I got pissed off at the last book. And so because I've read either seven or eight of them. I can't remember. I'm pretty sure I've read eight of them, and they're a thousand pages each. So like it's it's not a light load.

SPEAKER_07 22:35

Game of Thrones.

SPEAKER_06 22:36

Um, and there will be ten eventually, but there are nine out. And then the last season is currently airing of the show. And so I need to finish it because I realized the other day when I was thinking about North Carolina that like much of Outlander, even though you would think it's set in Scotland, is actually set in North Carolina because they moved to America like in the third season, fourth season? Probably the fourth season, yeah. Because they they go on a voyage, they are on Voyager, which is the most boring Outlander book by far. Um, and they yeah, so they're in North Carolina, and they're like much of the story takes place not far from me. There's like outlander tours I can go on without in like 45 minutes of me. And I'm like, okay, so this is huge. This is huge for me. So I'm feeling very excited about that. And I also found out, and you guys are welcome to come down, every July the Highland Games are in North Carolina, where it's like a full, it's a big Scottish festivals in like the beautiful mountains in North Carolina, and they have like dancing and drums, and everybody's in tartan, and like yeah, I'm fucking going to that.

SPEAKER_01 23:47

Same the the Irish festival here, so fun. So I imagine it's like that, but like a million times better.

SPEAKER_06 23:56

Yeah, because like all the Scottish immigrants when they came over here, uh immigrated to North Carolina, same mountain range there, and I'm like, yeah, yeah. So this has been a pretty big week for me of realizing things. Wow. I know we were having a year of realizing things, and this hasn't been a big realization. I just needed to bring that to Pod. I was feeling really called to bring this to Pod. It was on my heart. I was feeling it a lot.

SPEAKER_07 24:21

Um well, we thank you and we receive your wisdom. Thank you.

SPEAKER_06 24:26

Yeah, and I think we just need to bring up once again that Outlander does relate back to Doctor Who because the main male character and Outlander is named after and modeled after a Scottish Doctor Who character named Jamie.

SPEAKER_07 24:38

So wild to me. Still like one of the most like literally Outlander is fanfic, like Doctor Who fanfic.

SPEAKER_06 24:46

Yep. Like Diana is a freak.

SPEAKER_07 24:49

I mean, get it.

SPEAKER_06 24:50

She's a freak, and I love her.

SPEAKER_07 24:51

And here's the thing Jamie McCrimen is an excellent character on Doctor Who.

SPEAKER_06 24:56

Jamie Fraser is an excellent character.

SPEAKER_07 24:58

Ah, yeah, Jamie Fraser. Okay, yeah. Like Jamie McCrimin on Doctor Who was uh the second Doctor's companion. Uh there were several male companions that appeared before Jamie McCrimen, but all of them were still like flop. Yeah. They were like, okay, but Jamie McCrimen came by, and Jamie and the Doctor were like best buds, ride or die, we'll do everything together, gonna explore explore the world together. But Jamie McCrimin, of course, is a character from the 17th century, 16th century. I have history is yeah, yeah. Basically, Jamie, the character is ending up in space in the middle of a space station, and he's like, I don't understand what oxygen is. So I and he wouldn't, yeah. And and he's but it's great because yeah, that character itself is so amazing. So the fact that someone was like, I want to write fanfic about Jamie McCrimin, but like also timey whimey in some way, it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_06 26:03

I think it's so cool. It makes me want to bring up too. I think I might have talked about this briefly on pod, but I just want to I want to put out a a call to action for the nerdy gays of the world that if you haven't already gotten on to interview with a vampire, like come on, get on it, Nick. I I literally can't imagine a world in which you would not be like addicted to this show. I know. I just like I Nick, I'm dead serious. Put on the first episode, it's really good. Like, put it on. Like, you will I there is not a person on earth that I could say would become more addicted to this show. Because like here's the thing is they took this wonderful book by Ann Rice um that everybody loves and that had gay undertones. And then when they made the movie in the 90s, they said, not gay, no gay shit here. Um, and then they made it, and they made the undertones, overtones. They're fully gay, and they're vampires and they're awesome. And it's just like the most campy, fun, dramatic show. And I've only seen like gay nerds online talk about it. I haven't seen anybody else talk about it really. Like people who were talking about Doctor Who, that's who was talking, who's talking about this that I see online. And I'm just like, I just feel like it was the most fun I've had watching a show in a really long time because it was like not trying to be something else, and like it is existing IP, right? But like they completely reworked it and completely made it their own and like completely reworked much of the story. It's just like the most fun I've had because it's like they're vampires, they're gay, they're in most of it is set in New Orleans in the 1930s, like 1920s, 1950s. Like it's literally so much fun. The the main the main sexy vampire Lestat in it is Anne Rice was like, I based him off my husband, which I love. She just wrote fan fiction about her husband being a vampire, and I love that. I love that too. And her husband does look like Lestat. She just wrote like a huge, ginormous, hulking guy with gorgeous blonde hair. And that was what her husband looked like and good for her.

SPEAKER_07 28:07

Wow, get it, queen.

SPEAKER_06 28:09

And so I just wanna I want to put in my plug-in for women who women who needed to write about sexy men, and they said, you know what, I'm picking up the pen and I'm gonna do it for you guys.

SPEAKER_00 28:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 28:19

And we need to be thinking about people like Ann and Diana more. And so that's what I'm just gonna say. Wow. This is those those those those women, my heroes.

SPEAKER_07 28:28

I forget why I'm like not into Interview with a vampire. I had to read it for a class in college. Me and that professor did not get along at all. But I remember reading the book and also being like, I'm not, I don't, I'm not really into it.

SPEAKER_06 28:43

It's also been completely reworked. Like it's originally set um like on a plantation, I think. And um the main character is now black. The writer's room is a like a diverse, cool writer's room, and they've completely worked it in a way that's not just like we're we're race bending for no reason. We're or like we're I don't want to say for no reason, but we're doing this to make a show, right? Uh like they've really thought about the implications of changing the race and changing the like sexual undertones to more overt things um in a way that is like very impressive, versus I've I've seen a lot of people talking about the new Harry Potter series online, which I won't be watching, obviously. But they cast a black actor as Snape, and of course, much of the internet is outraged due to being racist. But it's like a I would say like kind of a good example of seemingly casting a character to right a wrong of not having a diverse cast before without thinking of the implications in the snor story, which is that Snape is a Nazi and he is also the person that everybody is suspicious of for no reason all the time.

SPEAKER_07 29:50

Keep going, keep going.

SPEAKER_06 29:52

Like, if you don't handle that properly, that's just gonna look pretty shitty that all these characters are like, mm, all these white people are fine, but the black one is not. And I'm really suspicious of him for no reason, and like the whole backstory of Harry's dad being a bully. Like, oh, so Harry's dad was bullying the black. Like, it's just it's like one of those things where it's like just to be a hundred percent clear, I think the story should be much more diverse, but like I think it should be done with intention and with a diverse group of writers and people in the room, so that you don't get things where it's just like we're going to throw this in because we think it'll make people happy, and that you actually add something to a character. Like it's it's it's like the difference between like colorblind, like you're not saying that I'm colorblind, right? You're actually emphasizing that part of a character's you know, experience and stuff. So, anyway, that was a tangent.

SPEAKER_07 30:43

That was a I think you'd love it.

SPEAKER_01 30:45

It was a digression. It was a digital here. I was just gonna say, I think um, it's in in response to the new Harry Potter show. I think the ship for writing the wrongs of Harry Potter because it sailed long ago. Yeah, yeah. JK kind of dug her own grave, and also like there were like little Jew goblins in the banks.

SPEAKER_06 31:09

So the main black character.

SPEAKER_01 31:11

The writing was kind of on the wall the whole time.

SPEAKER_06 31:13

Kingsley Shacklebolt is the main black character in Harry Potter.

SPEAKER_07 31:16

Yeah, so yeah, I am thinking about this new new Harry Potter. I'm thinking of it in the way that the first Percy Jackson movies, where it just was like I'm not a Percy Jackson girl. Well, I wanted to be, and then I watched the movie in like what the 2000s, and I said, Whoa, this is garbage. And I'm wondering if this new Harry Potter is going to be received in the same way. I mean, is it already out?

SPEAKER_06 31:46

I think it's going to be received. No, I think it's going to be received like through the lens of either you don't care what J.K. Rowling's views are, or you s agree with her, and so you're watching it, or you are against it, so you haven't seen it and don't have any opinion, like, which would be my opinion.

SPEAKER_07 32:04

It'll be interesting to see.

SPEAKER_06 32:06

I also have seen like all the first look images, and I also just uh without the J.K. Rowling of it all, I don't understand why Harry Potter is being remade. I mean, like I get it's for money, but like they're very good movies, and they did not come out that long ago, and all of the images from the new one look just like a slightly different color grading of the exact same thing. And so I'm kind of like, what's the point? Like, like the train looks the same, the outfits look the same, Hogwarts looks the same. Like, because JK Rowling wrote those descriptions, and like the the movies are are like based on her writing. Like I don't know, like it's just a very weird, it's it's one of those weird Hollywood things where I'm like, I get it's her money, but I'm I'm just like, this literally has no it's just not necessary.

SPEAKER_07 32:54

It's not necessary.

SPEAKER_01 32:55

That's how I felt when they remade Mean Girls. I'm like, why?

SPEAKER_07 32:59

Oh, yeah, there's no point.

SPEAKER_01 33:02

Like, we don't need that, not even a little bit the same as Harry Potter, but still it's like, I don't know, but I agree. And I'm like, for what?

SPEAKER_00 33:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:10

When you have something, when you have a good thing, just let it be.

SPEAKER_06 33:13

Let it be.

SPEAKER_01 33:14

Let it be.

SPEAKER_06 33:15

I don't need sequels. I don't need Devil Wears Prada 2. I'm really not very excited for, even though Devil Wears Prada is like phenomenal movie.

SPEAKER_01 33:26

Don't care for a sequel.

SPEAKER_07 33:28

What are sequels that you care about? Are they toy story?

SPEAKER_01 33:33

I don't know. I don't, I'm I I'm gonna have to think on that answer. Because I'm really like uh uh an original truther, you know? Like the first thing I watch of something, I tend to like really love it. I am the I'm the same way with like music too, sometimes. Like, usually the first album someone releases is one of my favorites, or like at least the first album I hear by them, even if it like in sequence isn't their first, tends to be the thing that I latch on to, and then everything else after that, I don't really care about that much. Not for everyone, but for for some people, some artists makes sense.

SPEAKER_06 34:10

We had the one thing that we wanted to bring up, and it goes back to movies. Okay. So we're we were playing like trivia, like doing essentially like a trivia thing. And the question is that we've come up with, and we have to think about this is why, let's say we give you a trivia question, what year did this movie come out? And you know it's an early 2000s hit, right? Why is it always 2001 or 2003 and never 2002?

SPEAKER_01 34:33

It's never 2002.

SPEAKER_06 34:35

You're right. And I want you to really listen to that.

SPEAKER_01 34:38

Do you know what it is? I really think it's it's the trauma, it's the trauma, the post-9-11 trauma. You're right. I feel like 9-11 probably because if you think about like the production schedule of things that were being filmed in 2001, it 9-11 probably like halted production on a lot of projects that were supposed to come out in 2002.

SPEAKER_02 34:59

Right.

SPEAKER_01 35:00

Um, the threat of war. I wonder, I too would wonder if there were like strikes and stuff like that happening around that time. Um so that that's my answer, but yeah, never 2002. It's always 2001, always 2003. What prompted this was the trivia question of what year did holes come out. And I first said 2001, and then we were like, I it might be 2003. I think the towers have fallen. We were like, Yeah, the towers, yeah, the towers have fallen, and it was 2003.

SPEAKER_07 35:30

Yeah, but you're right, it's never 2002. In the same way that like for me, it's always 2004 or 2006, never 2005.

SPEAKER_01 35:39

2005, I more closely associate with music because so much music came out in 2005. Oh really?

SPEAKER_05 35:45

I agree.

SPEAKER_01 35:45

Yeah, like sexy back was 2005, I'm pretty sure. Drop it like it's hot, 2005. Um, I think Promiscuous Girl, 2005. Like 2005 was big for Timbaland, huge for Timbaland.

SPEAKER_06 35:59

That is that is true. So that's an interesting. Now, here's an interesting dynamic I'd like to bring up. Nick has just discussed discussed movies and said 2004, 2006. Holly's saying 2005. So, was there a shift in the space-time continuum in which we switched from movies coming out on odd years to movies coming out on even years, and then we were releasing good music on odd years. I don't know. It's just a theory. Wow. It's just my scientific brain.

SPEAKER_01 36:30

Do you want to know what they're working? What that really tracks. Think about all the good music that came out in 2013. Even think about like the 2023 Grammys or the Grammys for the 2023 music year, Harry's House, Renaissance, hello. Huge, huge.

SPEAKER_05 36:48

Wow, I have goosebumps. I have goosebumps. I mean, I'm not gonna PhD for nothing, girls.

SPEAKER_01 36:54

They call me a scientist, or even yeah, like 2009 was huge for for music.

SPEAKER_06 37:01

2013. What a time to be alive.

SPEAKER_01 37:04

No, literally, 2011. 2013 is like maybe one of the best years for music. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 37:10

Whoa. So is it either a music year or a movie year? Is that what we're saying? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:17

Because even this even this past year was a movie year.

SPEAKER_07 37:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 37:24

Not a music year. So we're having a music year upon us.

SPEAKER_01 37:28

Well, yes, but then I'm like, but then that throws off the theory of like odd years are for music.

SPEAKER_06 37:34

But what if it what if it's changed again?

SPEAKER_01 37:38

You're right. Because because we see maybe it changes every 10 years.

SPEAKER_06 37:41

Yeah, that's pretty. It could be.

SPEAKER_07 37:43

It could be. Or what if it's like one of those where it's a lot of thinking tonight? Every ten every 10 months is the cycle.

SPEAKER_06 37:49

Mayhem.

SPEAKER_01 37:51

Because yeah, I'm I'm thinking about 2025, and I think the biggest music for me was mayhem, of course.

SPEAKER_06 38:01

Mayhem.

SPEAKER_01 38:01

Yeah, but besides mayhem, like it wasn't that big of a year for music.

SPEAKER_06 38:07

No.

SPEAKER_01 38:08

No. And you know what? Mayhem is like very um theatrical, much like a movie. So wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 38:16

And you're right. Huge.

SPEAKER_01 38:18

Yeah, but 2025, huge year for movies, at least for me personally. We got especially horror, uh, which I've already discussed, but we got Sinners, we got weapons. Sinners is one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. Perfect film.

SPEAKER_05 38:35

Vampires. Interesting. It's just interesting.

SPEAKER_07 38:38

Just interesting.

SPEAKER_05 38:40

Just take it back to a place of vampires. Interesting.

SPEAKER_06 38:44

Nick, what kind of media are you thinking when you think the 2004-2006 um uh slice of the space-time continuum pie?

SPEAKER_07 38:53

I'm thinking of specifically the incredibles. Wow. I can never say which one it is, and sometimes I'm feeling like it's gonna be like, hey, actually, this one came out in 2001. It didn't, but sometimes I'm like, is it 2004? Is it 2006, or is it 2023? I don't know. You're gonna check for me.

SPEAKER_06 39:14

I'm googling it. Wow, and it's 2004.

SPEAKER_07 39:16

Oh, it's 2009. Okay, great, great, great, great.

SPEAKER_06 39:19

And what a year that is.

SPEAKER_01 39:21

You know what I think came out in 2000? Oh, maybe it was 2003. Monsters Inc.

SPEAKER_07 39:28

Uh, I think that one was 2003. I think it was before The Incredibles. Or is that a 2000? And yeah, it's Monsters Inc.

SPEAKER_06 39:34

what shifted that continuum.

SPEAKER_01 39:36

Maybe because then too, I'm also thinking about Princess Diaries, which was 2001, I believe.

SPEAKER_06 39:43

Monsters Inc. is 2001.

SPEAKER_01 39:45

2001, wow.

SPEAKER_06 39:46

Oh, pre-tower. Princess Diaries 2001.

SPEAKER_01 39:50

Our series are holding up. I do feel like a random skill I have is like I'm kind of good at like getting the date correct on things.

SPEAKER_07 39:58

Do you know Britney Spears's first album?

SPEAKER_01 40:00

Her first album was 199 1998. I want to say 1998, but it might have been 19, was it 1999?

SPEAKER_07 40:11

Eight or nine?

SPEAKER_06 40:18

Yep. It is 99. Wow.

SPEAKER_07 40:21

It's the confusion. Yep.

SPEAKER_06 40:23

Chills. Chills. Because we're in many years at that point. So now I'm like looking at this, and like the C D itself is for Britney Spears' Baby One More Time.

SPEAKER_02 40:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 40:34

Is, and I'm just gonna describe it to you guys right now. Well, there's a couple, a couple versions of it. I think it's like disc one, disc two, but it is a very beautiful butter yellow with a very gorgeous purple flower. And um I can see it in my mind. Yep, you can see it in your mind's eye. I'm just sending it in the group chat right now for posterity. And I just looking at this and thinking about this album makes me so nostalgic because I just think about I just think about that spinning in my CD player. Like I can see that spinning in my CD player. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 41:12

I can see it in my boom box and I can see it in my CD case, and I can smell my CD case. It was like blue jelly exterior. There was like something sticky on it.

SPEAKER_06 41:22

Yeah, a holographic silver one and a purple one.

SPEAKER_01 41:25

Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep.

SPEAKER_07 41:27

What a time to be alive.

SPEAKER_01 41:28

It's like that blue, plasticky, like jelly kind of material. The 2000s material, glittery, yes, yeah. 2000s, they don't make that anymore.

SPEAKER_07 41:37

You want to know you want to know what the early 2000s make me think of? Xenon. Well, of course, girl of the 21st century.

SPEAKER_01 41:45

Melissa and I were just talking about Xenon.

SPEAKER_06 41:47

You're literally just talking.

SPEAKER_01 41:48

Let me ask you this question, Nick. What's your favorite DCOM? What's your favorite DCOM? I don't uh for those listening who don't know. D com is Disney Channel original movie. And if you don't know, why are you listening?

SPEAKER_05 42:02

Get the fuck off the podcast.

SPEAKER_07 42:03

Yeah, get out.

SPEAKER_01 42:04

You're not interested.

SPEAKER_07 42:06

You can leave.

SPEAKER_05 42:08

You can leave.

SPEAKER_07 42:10

Um 13th year was a big one for me.

SPEAKER_05 42:13

Uh huge.

SPEAKER_07 42:15

Um having a crush on a celebrity felt weird because he was a m boy. Wow.

SPEAKER_06 42:23

What's that actor's name again? I feel like it's Ryan something. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 42:26

I think it's something.

SPEAKER_06 42:29

I feel like early 2000s you could just say Ryan or Kyle. Yeah. It's like the person I was thinking of. His name is Chez Starbuck. Is this what? His name is Ches Starbuck. Is this real?

SPEAKER_07 42:48

That sounds like a porn star name.

SPEAKER_06 42:52

No, it's Chez Starbuck playing Cody Griffin.

SPEAKER_07 42:56

Cody, wrong on all fronts.

SPEAKER_06 42:58

That is crazy. His name is Kyle. Alright, so Chez Starbuck.

SPEAKER_07 43:01

Wow.

SPEAKER_06 43:02

So the 13th year.

SPEAKER_07 43:04

13th year.

SPEAKER_06 43:05

Luck of the Irish.

SPEAKER_07 43:07

That one didn't do it for me. I don't know. That one was weird for some reason. Was that for you?

SPEAKER_06 43:10

Okay, hater.

SPEAKER_01 43:12

Well, I I love it, but it's not. I wouldn't say it's in my top three.

SPEAKER_07 43:16

No.

unknown 43:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 43:17

But I did really like Xenon because I liked the space station that they were on. I'd always thought that was really interesting and cool. Maybe the beginning. Zetus Lapidas. I do think of I do think it sometimes. I want to say it aloud.

SPEAKER_01 43:29

And who here thought that they were saying Xenus the penis? Because that's what I thought.

SPEAKER_07 43:34

Oh, not me, no.

SPEAKER_01 43:36

Okay. Well, maybe it was just me.

SPEAKER_06 43:39

That's what I have my villagers say. Like my on Animal Crossing to me, one of them says Zetus Lapidas. I love C Don. Zoom, Zoom, Zoom. Made my heart go boom, boom.

SPEAKER_07 43:53

My supernova girl.

SPEAKER_01 43:55

Girl, girl.

SPEAKER_07 43:57

The lag is great, you guys.

SPEAKER_01 44:01

That that he kind of had like a an Eastern European quality to him. You know, like there was something very Eurovision about him.

SPEAKER_07 44:09

100%.

SPEAKER_06 44:10

Protoza, that was why you like Xenon, is because it was a precursor of Eurovision.

SPEAKER_01 44:15

It's like pick me up and send the two the stars. The galaxy is ours, my girl. The galaxy is ours. What does he say? He says, like, pick pick me up and pick me up and send the two the stars. What does he say? I don't know.

SPEAKER_07 44:32

Hold on. Um, did the person who write that song also write high school musical? I'm just realizing lyrically they sound very similar. Music-wise, they sound very similar.

SPEAKER_01 44:42

Is Kenny Ortega the producer? I thought he was the choreographer. He's the choreographer.

SPEAKER_06 44:46

He's the producer and choreographer, but I don't think he I don't think he wrote the songs, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:51

There is this meme that I see all the time. I don't know if any of you saw the what's it called? The Ironclaw with Zach Efron, the wrestling movie. Yeah. Ironclaw.

SPEAKER_06 45:00

No, I didn't see it, but I know what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_01 45:02

Phenomenal movie, sobbed like literally blubbering in the theater. Um, but anyway, there's like a clip from it where it's like a wedding scene and they're doing like country dancing, and someone was like, I'll post it in the carousel. Someone was like, You can tell Zach Efron went to the fucking Kenny Ortega boot camp because he's the only one who like is hit in the choreo. He's locked in. They're right. They're right.

SPEAKER_07 45:27

Kenny Ortega boot camp.

SPEAKER_06 45:29

I love. I love. Holly and I both love Pixel Perfect.

SPEAKER_07 45:33

Oh, that was the one I was thinking of. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 45:36

Yeah. It's so good. I had a crush on Ricky Rave Ullman. Yes. Rave Allman. Is he the same? Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_07 45:44

Was he the same one who was in that uh Phil the Future?

SPEAKER_01 45:47

Phil of the Future? Yes. Yep.

SPEAKER_07 45:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:51

Best show ever made. The very same. The very same. And Ali Um Machaka on there. Where never? Wherever.

SPEAKER_06 46:02

She's so gorgeous. I just remember her having enormous boobs.

SPEAKER_01 46:08

I know. And her mole, her mole and her big lips. She was ahead of her time. Her natural face was ahead of its time.

SPEAKER_07 46:15

I remember in Fill of the Future where they would sit in the future and they would go to class for like 10 to 15 minutes, and that would be like their whole school day. They'd like sit and have their little visor over and they'd learn. And I was like, wow, that would be amazing.

SPEAKER_06 46:30

Wish that was me.

SPEAKER_07 46:32

Wish that was me. It'd be fun to learn that way.

SPEAKER_06 46:34

It is hard to think that you weren't like a big, a big learning guy. Like, I feel like you were a good student, but I don't feel like you were like a you were not like a school person.

SPEAKER_07 46:44

No, I did not study. I was I was good enough in school because I paid attention at school and then you know read the minimum of what I needed for all the homework. And I like did the homework stuff, but I didn't like study. And part of it was because I didn't I just didn't have to. I was able to keep up. I think it was because I was playing hockey. Like because I kept my body moving all the time. So like when it came to school time, I was like locked in.

SPEAKER_06 47:11

You were just like ripped as fuck.

SPEAKER_07 47:12

Yeah, I was yeah. I was 10 years old with a six-pack, and I said, Hey, you've got nothing. I could take down the world, you guys. And I did.

SPEAKER_06 47:22

Yep. Love it. You were you were one of the jocks.

SPEAKER_07 47:25

I was, I was. And then I was gay.

SPEAKER_06 47:29

Well, many said, that's right.

SPEAKER_07 47:32

True.

SPEAKER_06 47:33

I love what else? What else did we say? Oh, we also said Smart House.

SPEAKER_02 47:38

Oh, I love Smart House.

SPEAKER_07 47:39

Kind of a scary movie, man.

SPEAKER_06 47:41

Slam, Donc the Funk. Put it up. So good. So good.

SPEAKER_07 47:47

Uh Xenon Z3. We should have a Xenon night where we just like binge all three movies.

SPEAKER_01 47:52

We should have a DCOM night. Those movies are like 70 minutes long.

SPEAKER_07 47:57

They're easy.

SPEAKER_06 47:58

We could plow through.

SPEAKER_07 47:59

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_06 48:00

Gay music video night, but the music videos are Dcoms. Correct.

SPEAKER_07 48:04

Love it.

SPEAKER_01 48:06

Not to change the subject, but you mentioned gay music video night, and I just have to talk about Justin Bieber's Coachella set last night. There is, of course, discourse about it because people are like, let me let me start from the beginning. Let me describe his set. Basically, he had like a very simple but unique stage design. Um, and uh it was kind of alternating between like planned set and him at his laptop, literally reading the YouTube Coachella stream and saying, like, hey Coachella, like you guys are gonna help me a little bit with my set list tonight. And then he like took a request from the YouTube stream chat. They were, he said, okay, I'm seeing walking away. I'll sing walking away and then saying it. So he was like, a lot of the set was like planned, and then him going and like kind of consulting his laptop. Well, there was about like a, I don't know, 20 to 30 minute segment of his set where he was on YouTube, literally like doing karaoke with his own songs. So he's like, I know you guys like the for the fans, da-da-da, you guys go way back. Like, how far back do you go? And he's like, Do you go this far back? And then is on YouTube on his laptop, which is like being displayed on the big screen, and pulls up one time, or or I don't, or not one time, I think it was baby, pulls up baby, and then is like duetting himself, his young self. Now he's like a 30-something year old man, and it was really special. So he went, he kept going back to like his beginning videos on YouTube, like the first what made him famous, and like kind of um launched his career, and then it was like his adult self, like duetting with his young self. And so, yeah, really it was like um it had the vibe of like gay music video night, which is like a huge, huge thing for girls and gays everywhere. But I think people are failing to understand that like that's such an important part of stan culture, and like such a prominent part of Stan culture is like getting together with your friends who are all fans of this artist and just like watching shit about them on YouTube. So I thought it was really fucking cool that he did that because it felt very like personal and human to see something that like you as a fan do with your other friends who are fans, to see the person you're doing that for doing that with you on stage. I'm like, that's every stan's dream come true.

SPEAKER_06 50:32

Yeah, I would be, I would be able to do that.

SPEAKER_01 50:35

If any member, if any member of One Direction did that, and I'm using One Direction as the example because that's who I was like the hardest stand for. But any artist I love, if they were on a stage doing that, male, female, gender doesn't matter, sick to my stomach, I'd be gagging, obsessed, like freaking out, because like, what do you mean you're on stage and we're having like gay YouTube music video night? He also was like playing just like funny YouTube videos, and I loved it. It was my favorite part of his set. I thought it was so just brilliant, especially because like YouTube is what launched his career.

SPEAKER_02 51:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:10

Well, of course, the discourse machine starts, and now today people are like, he's so damn lazy. He got paid like 10 million to do that, and like he can't even put on a show. He's just showing up with his laptop and playing shit on YouTube, like blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. If a um, if a female artist did that, a woman would never get away with that. And it's just so like, well, first of all, women don't get away with anything. It doesn't matter if they have, it doesn't matter if it's Taylor Swift doing like a marathon three-hour eras tour performance. Guess what? People are dunking on her because she's a terrible dancer. So immediately that argument is like uh null and void because it doesn't matter what women do on stage, we're gonna criticize them regardless.

SPEAKER_06 51:50

So as discussed in our previous episode, right? We hate women. Like we hate women.

SPEAKER_01 51:55

The world hates women. Yeah, the world hates women. Women, um, women deserve to be punished. Um, and everything wrong that they do is like punishable by death. Literally, anytime a woman does anything, it's like, should we kill her?

SPEAKER_08 52:07

Like, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 52:09

So to see people making that argument of like a woman would never be able to get away with this. Correct, because women can't get away with anything. So maybe they shouldn't try so hard. Maybe Billy Eilish should get up there and start pulling up YouTube videos. Maybe Beyonce should do that. Maybe freaking Ta and two, I'm like, Taylor Swift should do that. Her fans would eat that shit up.

SPEAKER_06 52:32

Her fans are buying would be dying if she did that shit.

SPEAKER_01 52:34

Her fans are buying albums just for the additional like voice memo bonus tracks where it's literally her like into her phone. Like, people want to hear the uh very human, non-branded celebrity um versions of like their favorite people. So I just am like, I think the people who are like outraged by his set and think that it was lazy and this, that, and the other thing, like just fundamentally misunderstand stan culture and what it means to like really be a fan of someone. So I don't know. His set was for the fans and the true fans liked it. I was never even like a believer like that, but I'm I'm in fan culture, don't worry. And I thought it was just a I he couldn't have it couldn't have been better. And um, Justin Bieber, in my opinion, doesn't really need anything but like a mic in his fucking voice. Right. They don't make male pop singers like him anymore.

SPEAKER_07 53:33

Right.

SPEAKER_01 53:33

He don't he doesn't have to do much to impress me, so yeah.

SPEAKER_07 53:37

And you're right, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 53:39

I was just gonna say, I think like I think the other thing that it speaks to as well with some of that is and I like I really hate the shit of like concerts and coachella and just like all experiences now are content.

SPEAKER_05 53:54

Correct.

SPEAKER_06 53:55

And Coachella has been content for a long time. I think people are like this year it's only influencer. I'm like, Coachella has been like this for a very long time, it has been where the LA influencers are flocking.

SPEAKER_01 54:04

Really, really since Tumblr, since like 2013, I would say what are you the lack normal year.

SPEAKER_06 54:12

But I think, do you know what doesn't make for an interesting thing to post online is no set, an unplugged and unplugged performance, exactly. And so I think it also speaks to that because like what you're saying is that it's like it's really like for the fans, because I mean everybody I saw so many believers who were like, I wasn't trying to go to Coachella and now I'm trying to get there because like if he sings baby, like it's over for me. Yeah, like and so I think like it's really nice to see something for the fans, but I think for everybody who's not a fan, like even there were so many videos I saw the Coachella crowds, and I'm just like, are you guys alive in there? Like they're just they're just recording, and like I I don't think they understand that they're at a concert. And I understand that for many people it's their job, right? But like I just I think it kind of speaks to that of missing the fact that it's like a for the fans experience and not just like a a gorgeous show that you can post online, which is also amazing. Like, just to be clear, I think Gaga's show is the the best show I've ever been to in my entire life, and I doubt that could ever change, and like that every shot I could take from there would be beautiful if I posted it online. But I would just as much love for Gaga to be like bringing up her old demos and sitting on a stage doing nothing else and like singing that because I'm a such a fan of hers, but that doesn't make the girls good with content. So I yeah, I also think it's it speaks to the greater like what what purpose does a concert serve for people?

SPEAKER_01 55:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 55:42

And if it's content, then that's not really gonna cut it.

SPEAKER_01 55:46

Exactly. Yeah, I just I think for some artists, they don't a a big production isn't really necessary. Even like I'm trying to think of like, you know, think about like acoustic, like female artists or like even like Adele. You know what I mean? It's her and a Mike and maybe some backup singers, but she doesn't have like dancers and lights and this and that and the other thing, and like she puts on a phenomenal show. So I just yeah, again, it was for the fans, and I think you're totally right. I think people want something that they can record and post as content and like have it as like a TikTok clip and like a whatever, instead of like enjoying the experience of like how cool is that to like be doing like YouTube karaoke with fucking Justin Bieber. Like, hello, if you even like him a little bit, you'd be excited by that. So I don't know, the criticism is crazy. I also too was thinking about like me and friend of the pod Bray Lynn saw Justin Bieber in this must have been like 2016, maybe, maybe 2017. It was around that time, it was between 2015 and 2017, when he was kind of at like a quite low moment of his life, really struggling publicly, like having the cops called on him all the time and like at a low point, right? We got day of nosebleeds behind the stage, worst seats I've ever had for anything ever. We were like on the side back of the stage in like the top back row, horrible seats. Um, but they were like $30. We were like, why the hell not?

SPEAKER_02 57:22

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 57:22

And even from that terrible angle, I could tell I felt guilty for being there. Raylan and I left the show and we were like, we feel bad for like attending because that was like he was visibly miserable. He was like a marionette going through the motions on stage. You could tell he wanted to be anywhere but there, and like was clearly really struggling. And I felt like guilty attending that concert. You know what I mean? Because I'm like, damn, his life sucks. Like he's miserable, and it sucks that he like has to do this. Um so to have to know that he has that kind of experience, like touring and performing, as well as like being a young boy in like Diddy's corner. Uh yeah, the the things he experienced as like a young boy and then young man being chewed up and spit out by the industry and just abused and all sorts of other things. Like, I thought it was really cool that he got to do like a kind of I don't know, stripped, very basic performance that he wanted to do. Um, I don't know. I think that's really cool. And I would think that was really cool for any artist doing that, you know? Um, should we get into some confessions?

SPEAKER_07 58:37

Let's get into some confessions. Um, my confession, literally the one I was I had prepared for today. So this is really funny.

SPEAKER_06 58:47

Um Justin Buber.

SPEAKER_07 58:48

It's about Coachella. So you guys know me. I famously in the past haven't given a shit about anything. So like Coachella didn't know what it was, didn't bother to look it up, never saw anything about it. So in my mind, I was like, Coachella is a fashion show.

SPEAKER_06 59:08

Wow. And so it is in many ways.

SPEAKER_07 59:10

It is in many ways, but honestly, I thought it was a fashion show up until about a year ago when I realized oh it's it's a music festival.

SPEAKER_02 59:20

Okay, yeah, cool.

SPEAKER_07 59:22

Okay, um, again, like there was no reason for me to care. Like, I just I those are two things that I didn't participate in. I didn't go to concerts, I also didn't go to fashion shows. So, like, it makes sense why I just didn't didn't know. But also, that's a really big event. That's something that I should know. And so now I know it. But that's my pretty big event.

SPEAKER_01 59:43

Yeah, so you know, do you know what like Lollapalooza is?

SPEAKER_07 59:48

I I it was in the same it was in the same camp, except I assumed Lollapalooza was more of a concert festival thing. I thought it had some sort of mission behind it for some reason, like there was some other like unifying factor other than it just being a bunch of people singing.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:08

Do you know where Lollapalooza is held?

SPEAKER_07 1:00:10

Is it the one in Chicago?

SPEAKER_06 1:00:11

Yeah, yes.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:12

Oh, okay, cool. Cool, cool. All right, yeah. All right, look at me. I'm clutching up you guys.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:17

Woo! You did it.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:18

I did not know. Wait, where is Coachella? You said LA. My I thought it was in New York.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:23

It's it's certainly not New York, it's in New York, California. Yeah, it's in the dead south of LA, I think. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:29

Cool.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:29

Yeah, New York, uh, Woodstock is New York. Well, Woodstock was New York. True. Big the big famous music.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:36

I knew that one. Summer of 69, babes.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:40

Hell yeah. Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:41

Yeah, that's my confession. I've confessed.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:44

Love it.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:45

You have to on the topic of swagged out white boys like Justin Bieber. My confession is that I am sexually attracted to Chet Hanks. I do unfortunately need him. Do you know who Chet Hanks is, Nick?

SPEAKER_07 1:00:58

No, but with a name like that, I like imagine a country star.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:02

So he's the son of Tom Hanks.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:06

Yeah, and he is like a swagged-out white boy. Like he loves to like he loves to like just kind of be speaking.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:13

I'm sending you his Instagram. Okay, great.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:15

Yeah, he sort of he loves to kind of be speaking in like a Jamaican accent. Um again, Tom Hanks' son. Yeah. Um, I I do need him, unfortunately. I am so attracted to him. I just got really like in a reel spiral of him like buying an RV. And he I do believe that he has the RV just sort of like parked in the driveway of his mansion. But he does have an RV, and I really got sucked into watching that journey on reels. And unfortunately, I think he's hot. There's he's a dumbass and probably a bad person, but he's sexy. Sorry.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:52

That t-shirt with whatever picture he's saying, it says white boy of the year.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:58

And that's true for Holly.

SPEAKER_07 1:02:00

And that's true for Holly. I'll send this post to you.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:03

Amazing. Um that's my confession. Jillian did text me a moment ago about Justin Bieber's set and ask me what I thought. Well, Julian, I thought it was brilliant. Listen to the pod. I should respond, listen to the pod in two weeks and find it. Listen to the pod in two weeks.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:20

Um, okay. My confession. I'm like, I'm like nervous to say this out loud because I actually do feel embarrassed by this. And I've been thinking about I've been trying to remember to say this confession for about a month now. Is that I hate this. I feel like this goes with like the Chet Hanks Coachella of it all, honestly. Um, I I like honestly, seriously, am thinking about learning how to shuffle. Like the dancing. Because I am watching all of these. I've been sucked into like an Instagram, like of all these women shuffling in their garage, and I just like can't get enough of it. It looks so fun to me, and I just want to learn how to shuffle, but that's like a deeply humiliating thing at the same time. And so um, that's my confession is that I like kind of really want to learn how to shuffle because it just looks fun, it looks fun to me. Um, but I don't think I would ever allow somebody to see me shuffling, you know? Like I don't want people to see it. It's it's a private me time thing.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:20

When you have like have the zoom eats at home in the middle of exactly I just start shuffling around my house, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:26

Well, yeah. Yeah, I feel I feel that lasting. I feel that you shuffling would really activate Penny.

SPEAKER_07 1:03:33

100%.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:34

Do you know what I mean? Like, I feel like she'd see that and start like really just sprinting around.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:39

I'm gonna also just say as we're recording day, happy birthday to my daughter Penny. She's so bad.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:45

Yes, it's Penny's birthday. Happy birthday, mama!

SPEAKER_06 1:03:49

She's in Aries.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:50

I'll leave us with that. Where is she?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:52

Are you gonna feature her?

unknown 1:03:54

I know.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:54

She's I think she's sniffing to the mic.

SPEAKER_07 1:03:57

Please hold.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:58

This is huge.

SPEAKER_07 1:03:59

We need the sniffs.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:01

Special guest appearance.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:02

There she is. Happy birthday to Penny.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:10

Happy birthday to Petty Penny, give us a little sniff.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:18

Penny doesn't really bark, so she won't bark into the mic, but what's this?

SPEAKER_05 1:04:23

She says, I just woke up.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:24

She's actively turning away from the microphone. She's actively turning away.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:28

She just woke up. She was asleep out there. She's like, Where am I now? Are those your friends?

SPEAKER_07 1:04:34

She's like, I'm so cute. Hi, Penny.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:36

Hi, Penny babes. Hi. She's literally like, Where am I? I've just been awoken from my slumber. My birthday girl. All right, that's all I wanted to say. Love you guys. Love it.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:50

Loving you. Love and light.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:53

Love and light. See you guys later.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:56

Goodbye. 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_02 1:05:14

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