THIS WEEK I'M RIFFIN...

Welcome back to the pod. I’m Mike Dreyden Figueroa and this Unscripted and Unrehearsed, where I share my take on events of the day, things that I’ve seen, heard and experienced.

I’ve been taking notes of the weird shit I heard all week. Some things were really cool. Some not so cool.

Reviewing the week. NETFLIX PRICE INCREASES! The Save Act. Cheeto attends SCOUTS!? LISTEN HERE! Woman who ALLEGEDLY called Frozen Flat Foots on roofer. The United States is broke! Tizzy explains! I got scammed by INVZI! The DualShot and Social Agent Apps. I Met V Spehar of  ⁨@underthedesknews⁩ ! I think I said under the table. LOL!

NOW YOU TELL ME: What are your thoughts on Netflix price increases, The Save Act, SCOTUS hearing on Birthright Citizenship or the woman who called you know who on the roofers? How do you feel? Do you even care… No judgements.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I'm just gonna rip. What's up everybody? Welcome back to the pod. I'm Mike Draden Figueroa, and this is Unscripted and Unrehearsed, where I give you my take on things I've experienced, witnessed, heard in the past week. Normally I like to have like a theme or uh topic for everyone, but I'm like all the notes that I've taken this last week is an episode in itself because it's a lot that I want to share with you and um my thoughts on them. Um but yeah, I just I just found it hard to like come up with like a theme for the for the week. Um and I tried to have that stuff written down. Um but anyway, I'm gonna kick it off with this. The the the thing that that uh pissed me off this week the most was um Netflix increasing their prices. Now they they just raised the prices January of 2025. Okay. So back then, in January 2025, the standard monthly subscription without ads went up to$17.99. Uh the standard monthly with with ads uh went up to$7.99. Now they're increasing the prices to okay, without ads, it's gonna be with ads, I'm sorry, with ads, it's gonna be$8.99, and without ads goes up to$19.99. And if you choose the 4K HDR package, uh that's gonna that's gonna set you back$26.99. I'm like, why? It's only been a year. And I'll I I'll tell you why. This is this is why they're doing that. First of all, it's a fucking money grab because they're they're not making the money they thought they was. Although, I mean, they were gonna try to do that merger thing, which I thought would have been great, but I'm looking at at the numbers and I'm like, what would make them increase the numbers because if they fell short somewhere? And that was charging people monthly to share their accounts with other people. So what what was it? Um uh if you wanted to share your your I didn't write it down here, but there's a link that you can go to to the article that has all this in there. But I think it was if per person, and it's monthly, it would be like$8.99 a month or$9.99 a month, something like that. So if I wanted to share my my account with um, you know, three friends per person, it would be$8.99 per month. All of that is to discourage people so uh other people would just get a membership and you're like, why bother? Because I honestly speaking, when I go and I'm like, oh, I'm just I'm just feeling blah and I want to watch something mindless and just throw some. There's nothing to watch, nothing, at least as far as I'm interested. There's there's nothing there. All the stuff that I'm interested in is owned by other platforms. You know, I'm a huge trekkie, huge. I would spend hours and hours on watching Star Trek, Star Wars, you know, anything sci-fi, you know, I wish the expanse was still on, stuff like that. You know, I will spend hours just, you know, maybe in a depressed mode or whatever, just like mindlessly watching, you know, make me feel better. I can't even do that anymore. I used to watch Star Trek Voyager over and over and go to my favorite episodes, and I would do the scenes by myself. I would do the scenes by myself in my room, just you know, pretending I'm the Borqueen or I'm Janeway this month, or I'm this one then. Whatever it is. And but I can't do that anymore because that's not on on Netflix anymore. Um they have a lot of great products, like for instance, um Senseate. Oh my god, what a great show. I've watched that maybe 10 times over the time that it's been on, and it's still there, but you know, I'm not I'm not interested in watching it again. Um I've before they had the West Wing, I think they pulled that from there. I think it was on Hulu now? I don't know, it's another platform that owns it. I would watch the West Wing from beginning to end, and I've done that many times over the years. I love that show. It made me feel so smart. Um and it made and it got me to really learn about these things and how government works and etc. Um and that was from the 90s. Um with them producing a lot of great stuff, that's great. Um, you know, make new oh, even um what was it? Was it the the the wheel of time is on Netflix, right? And they canceled that. I'm like, what who don't get me started on that. Um but yeah, they're increasing the prices. I don't have a date when that's going into effect, but I you know, we just we're only what three months into the what is it? We're in the four months into the new year and now this. So I think that was some bullshit news. You know, it's a money grab, and they failed at charging people for sharing their account, and other people are like, fuck it, I'm not gonna get it, you know. There's nothing everybody joins or borrows accounts to watch the the flavor of the month. Like how many people shared their HBO Max uh content uh access or were signed up for a limited time to just see heated rivalry and then they dumped it. I don't know. Also, as a side grant, have you have you noticed how people who were leaving the cable behind, they were cutting the cord to go streaming because they found what they wanted, they had these different memberships, it was very inexpensive, and now all of a sudden they're bundling them together and they're charging so much for this and charging so much for that and get premium this and no ads that it's become the same fucking thing all over again. We're stuck, you know. And I think the the the almighty dollar speaks. So when people start dumping and cutting, saying they're not gonna change. They're not. So yeah, there's uh ABC News GMA uh link uh in the show notes. Click on that, you can read the whole article about how they're shoot uh fucking us over again. Um the Save Act, if you're not familiar, is um a bill that the Republicans introduced pardon me. Are introduced to basically they're saying to protect voter integrity, right? To uh fight against voter fraud. When when I think of this, and not because I've they just said so on the news or what have you, I looked into it because I'm like, it's a big to me, it's a big deal. Ever since I growing up, civics class, social histories, all of that meant something to you growing up, coming out of, I don't know, the generation coming out of World War II, um, going through the civil rights era and the the um sexual revolution era and equal rights and women's rights, all of those that time, those 30, what, 10, 20, 30, 40 years, right, into the 70s and 80s. I my generation grew up learning about these important things that make what make what being an American means. These are your rights, your your obligations as an American citizen. One of them is you have to sign up for selective service when you're a guy at 18, you have to sign up. Um, and two, the right to vote. Right? I've I've always held these things sacred for myself because that's what it means to me to be an American. We have these rights and privileges and obligations that with all of our voices together, one, right? Okay. So now they're trying to implement this thing where you have to show ID. I remember when you first sign up for it, it's it was all done on books and paper. Now it's all electronic, right? There's an iPad and you can see it, right? But there was wherever you you signed up to read, you had to sign in the form, your signature, then you go to your polling place, and then you open your n the book to your name, and you see your signature, exactly how you wrote it, where your your your last vote, where you were, and what district, all that, and then the new district, and you just sign underneath your name because there's your name printed, and then it's it's a a copy of your signature in black, and then you sign under it. Um, and that's how they you know you approved it. Your signature, they you they match the signatures. I don't know anybody who can fake a signature to go vote. So, I mean, possibly, I don't know. But I've never had that problem or issue. You know, you walked in, they said, What's your name? They didn't ask for ID, they looked you up, say, okay, sign here. Did they ask me last time I voted for ID? I think they did. They asked me for my driver's license. I don't recall ever having to, except for recent memory. Um, so yeah. So Lee McGowan, aka political girl, she has you should follow her. She explains it all. But basically, the it this is not a voter ID bill. This is a voter suppression bill. And whereas, for instance, and I mentioned this before, if you're married and you're you're a woman and you take your husband's name, your documents don't match your current name. So if your ID has, you know, I don't know, Martha Draden Figaroa, right? And you took my name, right? But your birth certificate says Martha Velasquez Jidloda. Your your birth certificate says that, but your has your maiden name, but you don't have your your married name on that, it becomes invalid. If you're it just makes for nonsense. That's one thing that they're doing to keep you from now. If you take your wife's name. I know one instance where my coworker, her, she got married recently and her husband took her name. I think that's that's very romantic, if you ask me. Um if he goes to vote, if this thing passes, he's gonna have to change all of his document documentation to reflect his current name. It's crazy. So it, yes, you need your ID, you need your passport, your birth certificate, all of that is all fine and good. But what happens is they're gonna the plan is this, and they've already tried this with Georgia, I believe. They went and they seized all those voter records just to prove the 2020 election was rigged or whatever against them. Still no news on that because we already know the news on that. They've done it, they found it, nothing was there. They went through every single nothing was there. If anything, all the votes that came back that were suspect were all Republican votes. In like, I think it was uh Arizona, there was one guy who tried to vote for his dead wife. Um, someone in the Northeast tried to pull some shenanigans. Because we all know if we fuck around, we're gonna find out, right? So nobody wants to fuck around with the vote. They want to be on point, right? But they're trying, still trying. So what they're trying to do is get all the voter records. So this way, if they centralize it and they have control over it, every month or so they could just purge the voter rolls just randomly. Like they did in um in the South, I forget which state, and she says it in her post. They they verge the voter. So when you go, and they don't even have to tell you, you can go, do do do do, I'm gonna vote, I'm voting for Kamala, blah, blah, blah. And you get there, and oh, we have you you're not registered to vote. I've been registered, I've been voting since I'm 18 years old. I voted for Dukakis, who failed terribly because he fucked up. And he I voted for Dukakis, yes. Um, I've been voting since then. In New York City. My whole life. I just turned 57. There is a record of me. I at least I hope. How do how do how do you reconcile that? People my age who have the wherewithal and the and the ability. They're doing this to people who are older, they want to do that, who are POC, people of color, women, um who have don't have access or or resources to get the documentation they're gonna need to if this thing passes. It's all a way to control the vote and dump people. And then randomly it'll be, oh, it's just so happened you're a Democrat, and you would just purge from the role. So she explains it. Um again, Lee McGowan. She's been on um, I forget what news shows it is, but they have clips all the time where they're debating. Um, and uh she she goes on there a few times, so she's very I had not, I I mean, I think it was like after 2020 and all that stuff. She's just started popping up in my feed, and I was like, oh, she's she's smart. And then I got overwhelmed with a whole bunch of shit. But then I'm like, oh I like I like her a lot. So follow her, Lee McGowan, aka political girl, on on uh Instagram, I think. Um, but yeah, the link is the link is there. I'm looking at the link is in the show notes. Click on it. So um I'm looking at the time and I I'm I don't think this is gonna be a very long video today, unless I just rant or whatever. But okay, anyway, the Cheeto went to SCOTUS. Now this is this is blatant intimidation because I'm like, how many, how many, uh, how many uh okay, perfect, perfect example. And if you know, you know. Michael is stand sitting in front of the Senate, and he's going on and on and on about his family business and and all the allegations about the Corleon family. Uh oh no, no, I'm sorry, let me go back. Um Cheech, I believe it is. No, no, Cheech against the door. I forget who's his name. He's in front of the Senate, and they're grilling him about the Corleon family and did this and did that. And then all of a sudden, here comes Michael with the guy's brother who flew in from Sicily, and all of a sudden he changes his tune. That's what this idiot thought he was gonna try to do. I know it. I know it. Because he thinks like that. He's from Queens. He's an idiot. Not that people from Queens are idiots, but he is from Queens. He's an idiot. From he's an idiot from Queens, not a Queen's idiot. You get what I'm saying? Okay. He thought he was gonna try and pull that shit, and I think that's exactly what was going through his head, because no president in the history of this country has ever gone to the Supreme Court to hear oral arguments on an issue. And I was like, the minute I heard his, I swear to God, I swear to God, this was on Wednesday, I was thinking, oh, this has got to be an April Fool's joke. People are gonna fall for this shit. Bullshit. This is not gonna happen. Lo and behold, boom, there it was. I was like, oh shit. And you know what? I'm kind of proud because I was skeptical, but none of them acknowledged him, at least not in the what I heard. And I listened to the podcast for the for SCOTUS, and it's a great if you ever want to listen to listen to arguments and how it's presented and what they say and what you all the questions they ask. I urge you, if you really want to understand how the Supreme Court hears cases and decides. Um, the decisions come later, but they how they listen, then the questions that they ask, so you can guess what what they might be thinking. Um anyway, they did not they did not acknowledge him, and I don't think they were, they were definitely not intimidated, and thank God he didn't like blurt out or anything. But I'm I'm like, why would why would you do this? And do you not see how this is not gonna work in your favor? Because anyone with half half a brain would underse that this is an intimidation tactic. Okay, fine. Um so his argument, this is about birthright citizenship, and this is why he went there. And he what he's trying to do is change the law or get the law changed, where is uh illegal and no one's illegal, but uh in as for the for the understanding of documentation, illegal aliens or illegal people, people illegally here in the country, in the United States, if they have a child here, that the child does not become an automatic citizen because they were born within the borders or in our one of our territories. Okay. The Constitution, as it's laid out in the 14th Amendment, explains all of this. And the R the R arguments back and forth was very fascinating. Um I gotta backtrack though. He the Cheeto believes that we're the only country in the world that has birthright citizenship. There are 33 other countries that have birthright citizenship. You can look it up. It's a fact 33 other countries have birthright citizenship. So that means if you're born in in England, you're an English citizen, you're you're a citizen of Great Britain, right? If you're born in Spain, you're a Spanish citizen. If you're born in Canada, you're a Canadian. If you're born in Mexico, you're a Mexican. Um so yeah. The Solicitor General, um D. John Sauer, S-A-U-E-R, Sa. So apropos, um, he he starts his arguments about uh what it, you know, about this whole thing. Uh the questions that were asked I thought were very fascinating because I didn't even think of this. Because they ain't they considered Native Americans who, while on um uh reservations considered sovereign land, they're not they're not um what's the word I'm looking for? They're not uh shoot. I want to say all different kinds of words, but I don't think they're the right word. They're they're not beholden to let me let me start say it this way. United States laws do not affect anything within the sovereign nation of a of a Native American's reservation, because they have their own police departments, they have their own legal system, they have uh own representation, if I'm saying this correctly. But it's a symbiotic relationship to a lot of extent. I think that's right. Um, it's been many years. But anyway, they they you'll hear that and if you listen to the arguments. Um so the question was like, how do how do we reconcile that? Are they citizens then if they're Native Americans? And the thing is, is like even it was like a while back, someone um someone was arrested and they tried to deport her, and she kept and her family was like, they came running because they were right off the reservation, had her documentation, all that. We're Native Americans, we're not Mexicans, we're not from another, we're from here, we're Native Americans, and they tried to deport this girl. I ranted about that the other day, um, that time. Anyway, so he they argued that, and then the the argument of um, for instance, people who come here, say as a tourist, and they happen to, although I don't think you're allowed to fly when you're very you're that very pregnant, um, or if you happen to be here on a work visa or what have you, and you happen to get, you know, you were, I don't know, became you became pregnant before you got here, and then you're how does that affect this person who they're not they're not considering staying in the United States, but and they go back to their country, are there are their children dual citizens? Or do do how do we define that? You know, do they not get to be American if they're America says if they're born here, but the parents and everything involved plans on returning to wherever they came from? Good question. How do you reconcile that? So he argues. Um and then he threw this. I look, I could be wrong. I don't know of anybody who would do that, but this would be an interesting tactic, uh, where he said China has this thing or program uh called um uh birthright uh tourism where people go, Chinese people have been coming to the United States, having children here, raising their children here, and then they're go back to China and they take all the knowledge and experience and all that, and it becomes this it's this whole thing. I was like, that well, I mean, thinking strategically that would be interesting if you have someone who's you know an American citizen. Yes, sir, what are you doing? You want to come up? Max is here, he wants to say hello.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

Say hello, come up. There you go. There you go. Hi, Baba. Hello to the world. Oh, thank you for the kisses, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

Where's your sister? You don't know, okay. Thank you. All right, go lay down. Lay down. Uh where was I? Oh, I just think it's strategically advantageous to do something like that. But that just reminds me of the TV show The Americans, where they had these Russian agents who were um uh pretending to be Americ they're American, they were agents that pretend to be Americans and they had kids here and then the kids find out, and it's very, very fascinating. Like what how do you how do you do that for your kids? How do you pr okay? So listen, we're spies and we're going back, and this is not your life. It's crazy to me, but it's strategically interesting. But is it a racist thing to say though? Oh, the Chinese are coming here and they're you know, they are they are guilty of um of uh uh what do you call that? Uh I can't think of words today. Um intellectual property theft that was a mouthful.

SPEAKER_00 22:10

Coffee for that.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

Um yeah they are guilty of that. And um a lot of that has been proven in court. A lot of people have been busted because of it. Um so yeah but the everyone's intentions uh if they come from somewhere else I don't think that anyone comes here with the intention of and I could be wrong. Maybe it is the priority of some people but I know that when peop people coming to the United States they're literally coming here for a better way of life because regardless of the the the bucket of poo that we're in now you know for the most part this is a great place to start over and and do something great for yourself or for your children or you know just to start over and not not just here but you know I I think you can do that in in a lot of places. But here is you know the dream of that right give me your tired huddled masses. I mean that's the whole point of it all so yeah do me a favor if you listen to podcasts if you I don't know if it's there's a visual portion of that but if you listen to podcasts and you enjoy you know law and um uh political science I I really should have gone to fucking law school I'm so stupid I'm not stupid I'm just lazy I should have done it and I was fearful that was you remember that story I told you anyway um it's great it's a great listen you can listen to a lot of cases the ones that I listened to were the Ogilby one they're not gonna hear it up again uh the one on uh Roe v. Wade it was so hard to listen to and that that was messed up this one is really powerful to listen to I don't know which way the they're they're leaning but um the sense I got was they asked they asked real questions that that you could really um take in and and mull over without any kind of leaning for the first time I felt that listening to all of them talking um and asking questions so yeah click the link listen to the to the pod and release the files okay uh the other thing that that boiled what grinded my gears no this shit really really pissed me off and this is not the now I put this at the end of this this portion but this is not the first time I've heard this um the woman who called allegedly called uh the the frozen flat foots on the roofers that were working on her house again this is not the first time I heard of them just to get out of paying uh a 10k bill or whatever it was that that was for them to roof that these people were working from guatemalan Guatemalan men who were roofers day laborers I suppose or they're working for a company um they were doing this work and then they were all done and trying to square things up and lo and behold while they're you know putting their shit together and you know coming off the roof here comes rolls up the Flatfoots and allegedly again she's denying it they're denying it so I'm like let's see the phone records so if I think these guys are gonna sue and I hope they do and I hope they take her house and I hope they take everything that she's worth and then release the phone records and then let the whole world say yes you did call them and yes they did get the call that that be that um I there's a special place in hell for for people like this because if you needed it desperately done that bad and you couldn't afford to pay for it I'm more than certain that people are accommodating when it comes to hey can we do a payment plan? Because this is the roof of my house you know and I don't I can we can do this and what have you I'm sure they would have they would have worked something out. So like why would you do that? And then this is the other thing too you think this is cute and funny you're gonna get them arrested you don't have to pay ha I got away what about the family of these people you just screwed you know you have the maybe the only breadwinner of their family they might have a sick wife they have like maybe a child in the hospital you know they're they're on the on the verge of homelessness themselves you know you don't know what these people are going through why would you do that to them you know and as as sometimes as a dick that I know I can be and I'm not heartless and I I I think I get that from from my both my parents because I know my mother raised us to be good people of course my father one time I was just being an ass and he was like don't do that which floored me because you know sometimes I thought he was a heartless dick but no he was like don't do that um like how how do you how do you feel inside now that you think this is such a great thing you did you know I'm so yeah I hope she gets her ass handed to her I hope she loses her house I hope she loses all her her her um her social shit just blows up and everybody in the world knows who she is she can't get a job anyway I hope she pays and and I hope she goes to jail for this because this is this is there's gotta be this is a crime that is a crime that's a crime it's a crime so yeah um you guys follow Tizzy I follow Tizzy I found him during quarantine um he outs bad actors on the internet which I think is good because people need to be held account accounted for the shit they do and sometimes I check myself because sometimes I want to be a real big ass and I'm like you know there's cameras let me just let it go um thank you meds um the we're broke US Treasury is broke we ain't got no money to pay the bills basically we're insolvent and this is and this is not making news this is not making we are insolvent and what that means for those who don't know is that we have more debt than we have in our pockets and we can't pay our bills yes the country can print more money but that devalues the money that we already have out there in the system this I learned basic 101 when I was uh training to to become a bank teller you had to take some financial courses and learn stuff how money works and I think I think it's apropos but no no the only people that are going to actually suffer from all this is us those who are not filthy rich or have money or have you know money somewhere outside of the United States. We're the ones that are feeling the brunt of this and it's getting worse every day. And they're not talking about it because they don't want to panic the people who are going to take their money out of the bank because that's what will happen. When we when the governments because what happens I don't know this I learned when I was becoming a teller you put your money in the bank it's not just sitting there the bank is using your money to invest and do all kinds of other stuff in the hopes that you're not going to come back looking for that money whenever you need it. They're just they're using it right to build up their systems and their business and grow and you know offer you products. Because like if I want a loan where do you think that money's coming from from other people who have money in the bank right or the money they may have in reserves but it's all our money. Where is this money coming? It all comes from one place it's not special money out of the air it's money that you know like for instance when you have your budget you get your paycheck it's a thousand dollars one fifteen hundred dollars all right you pull out the money for your rent you put out money for your for your savings first then your rent and then your your bills and then whatever you have left over that's that's what you got right okay the bank uses your money and when you go and take it out they have to pull it from somewhere to make sure that it's accessible for you. Okay so now the treasury is insolvent we've borrowed so much money against our I know that there was a time when in the news where our bonds were being if this is the report if I remember correctly if other countries who are holding our debt call in our debt we are fucked because we have they have bonds so this is guaranteed we will pay you back you know but we're using our money we're growing blah blah we'll pay you our bill that we have to pay we ain't got no money to pay the bills. FYI watch your spending don't buy anything you don't need don't if you don't need it don't get it if you need to get something get it in bulk just in case remember what happened with the toilet paper. So yeah Tizzy the link is there check it out he's got a great take on this um I'm uh so I in in in this life of mine that I'm you know uh pursuing my theater career and trying to be an actor well being an actor that's not working on stuff that I want to be working on I'm creating my own stuff and that you know the podcast is part of this and I wanted to do a lot of content creation so I invested in the Kickstarter for the first time from InVinci um INVZI and it was um a great thing it's called the maghub uh go and basically if you look it's right here this is what it is um I thought it was great because it's mag safe it goes on the on the back of your your device and it's a hub it's not only not only is it an SDD card uh is a two terabyte one that I I decided to back um which allows you to use the pro features in in your uh camera your phone's camera um um uh features whatever um you use pro high res uh resolutions and features which is great and not not a lot of people know that they just point and shoot and they don't realize the capabilities of these cameras is phenomenal. So I'm like oh this is great. So the reason not only that was there's a a slot where you can put your um put your uh microphone thing so like for instance um like all right so in in this is the so this is the you the uh USB C version right so right now in this phone that I'm recording on it's the lightning version so it had the map the the the hub had a slot like you could put here or on the side what it was mostly the top right on the side it was go into your phone and on the bottom there was a a port for power so you would not lose power and not only would it be charging the hub it would be charging the phone and also these these um microphones have a charging slot too so you can while you're plugged in here for power be powering up your device I'm like oh my god this is great and and the coolest thing is that the button in the middle is finger uh fingerprint um security uh password so you just set it up put for your no one can access it without your fingerprint I thought that was fucking genius I'm like I gotta get one I'm like hmm I need a two terabyte because what I'm planning on doing and what I'm working on I need a lot of digital space um so yeah I backed it 219 I was ready can't wait they were expecting it to be um so this was back in February 2025 so the release date was uh uh projected to be August great that's wonderful sometimes I wonder if I am so gullible so pardon me coffee so August came still nothing I'm waiting I'm like oh this is the month yay I'm checking for email updates I'm looking at the Kickstarter and they got updates and people trying to people are ranting and ranting can't wait can't wait can't wait and a notice okay we're um they're they're having an issue with the SSD cards they're the one they they can't find them there's a delay in in getting them over here and putting but not to worry September will they'll start rolling out their delay so that was the SSD card delay and then it was a few months go by nothing then they oh it's the tariff delay now because they you know tariffs are in place and can't get the D card the SSD cards etc etc all right all plausible then they went dark then I want to say January this past January they they send out a notice okay um we're gonna send you the casing involved but when the S you're gonna do put the SSD cards inside yourself we're gonna send them to you at no extra charge separately all right that's not what I paid for that's not what I I I supported um and a lot of other people said those that exact same thing in the the the comments because basically it was like oh there was an overheating issue as well I forgot about that um so they had to you know change some things around so I'm thinking all right they're not gonna send us these SSD cards they're gonna send us this hub that basically is useless I'm like all right when are they so they're gonna right everybody should then they ended up everyone should have gotten their their hubs now blah blah blah and uh the fucking comments are crazy they're like I didn't get it I didn't get it I didn't get it this is bullshit we got scammed and it went off and off and off and I was like wow this is this is really messed up because I was really excited so then I started looking into other options like that like what is what's out there and I couldn't really tell because there was one thing that I saw on Amazon that I thought was really um interesting where you put in these um sd card readers but they weren't SSD cards and I was like are these is this compatible is this what I you know because you can get an SSD card that's a terabyte and I'm like I don't know if this is the same I don't know if the you know what have you but and I don't want to waste the money trying to figure it out until something similar comes up maybe I will try it but I don't know uh so what blew my mind was okay none of this none of us are getting our our promised investment let me just look on the website and see what they got going on maybe there's something on the website about it you know what have you and then boom there it is new product I'm like oh shit they okay so maybe oh there let me look into it so I backed I I I what's the word to use I'm not donated but I I supported backed 219 bucks so I can get a two terabyte hub the website is offering them for$69.99 I'm like I'm not gonna buy it like this I'm gonna be like um I supported this through the Kickstarter campaign I still have yet to get mine when can't I get crickets? So it's been weeks now no update since January I finally called my credit card and I said hey look last year again we went through the whole thing I'm like I'd like to dispute this charge and get a charge back or whatever the term is you know it's 219 and this is the product this was the Kickstarter I had all the information there and I'm I'm kind of impressed by my resourcefulness sometimes because when I really need to like get get shit done I find maybe maybe I shouldn't I mean I mean I'm I'm just built that way whereas I'm gonna make an argument about something I'm gonna have all the facts that I can muster and I had everything you know date time car uh the uh tracking all you not tracking but you know confirmation numbers all of it I had it there ready to go um and so yeah the card was like hey yeah we'll we'll we'll submit it we got we got what we need you should be fine let's we'll see we'll take next steps we'll see I'll we'll be in touch I'm like okay good and I'm disappointed because I was really excited I mean as you can see like look at look at the picture of this setup and how it would look and you know it it would be it would be useful and I would feel like I could get offer something to people um a really high quality thing and because because the I the idea is that I because I don't want to if I if I'm not acting I'd like to be creative for other people as well and it my hobby is making films and doing little edits and yeah I love doing that stuff it it's it's it's fun. I love it. And then with the technology as it's growing every day there's so much I mean if I had all of this back in the 90s oh my God oh my god all back then all we had was you know you did you you'd have to go to an editing uh my uncle had a friend who had an editing studio in Chelsea somewhere I don't even know if they're there anymore but each they had these big this big giant like loft size um space that looked like an an office office offices and in each room because he was um helping edit a film and each room was this big editing bay and you had these giant monitors and all these I was like whoa this is crazy they had videotapes and they were splicing and it was incredible and then some of it they were just starting using digital um editing so they had all it was amazing I was like oh my god but if we had these devices back in the 90s can you imagine oh my god my life would be so different absolutely different so something may come of it I mean hopefully you know I don't know I'll find something comparable but yeah I could get as and the thing is that what made it can was the convenience of it so compact and could do the thing the thing of three devices whereas like if you set up a rig you would have the SSD card reader and then you would have to have a mount to put to hang it onto your rig and then that going into the to the phone and then um you would not really be able to attach any other things unless you had a hub which you had to attach on another part of the the rig. It just became this big thing and this just whittle as you see in the photo there it just brought it from all these different things to this to this. And I thought that would be fantastic you know the one of the best things you could do if you're if you're a content creator or whatever is it would make your life so much easier is a quick setup and a quick breakdown. Because all the other stuff you need to get done and all of that you know make sure your batteries are charged and get the shots and the this and the that set up breakdown and everybody loves that because you're in and out and it feels like like the best thing ever so more on um digital apps that I that really took my week by storm and I was like I got it I got it so okay um I'm not using the app to record this I'm using the native iPhone camera app to do this but this um Derek Downey Jr. Bro my brother congratulations all right he created this uh app called uh dual shot app right basically if I'm recording like this it's simultaneously recording a uh landscape video and you can see it in the screen if I'm using the selfie camera if I'm using the uh the other facing camera you you sort of have the frames of both so one is like um like there's a bars here the using the rule of thirds you're there's two bars here right now you can't see that but I can see where my thumbs and fingers are right uh you can see that outline there so that's exactly what's shooting in the in the um in the landscape uh screen uh camera what have you the only problem is like so if I'm if I'm framed like this in the selfie app basically this much of my head is cut off in the landscape part and I'm like ah it doesn't autofocus you in so if I come down further to be in that frame here like this I got all this space up here that's empty and uh my first of all my OCD will not handle it and I don't want to put stuff up there for you know and it just makes the angle look weird so instead of I'm being straight on like this I'm sort of like tilted backwards and I don't like that I've always hated it because it's like you're looking up someone's nose and or maybe down at the it just I don't like that that POV point of view. But anyway I'm like oh let me check it out so I download it's$6.99 worth every penny but it this is the the cool thing he he came on like the it had a new post because I set up alerts so I can every time he posts something I want to see what's new with it. He was like excited that he got a call from someone I guess maybe his mother or girlfriend or whatever um like a friend friend not like a girl girlfriend girlfriend um just like oh my god your app is number one in this in the app store he's like what and it just blew up so but then he came on um that he's you know he so he wanted critique on you know feedback just to let me know and he was just like it's out there I hope you guys love it because he showed how he had before he had two phones he had one that did um uh portrait and then one that did landscape he had that big you know that uh tripod there with the big knobbly legs like that and the lights he's like if anybody is a content creator you know you know right so this is what you were shooting right all at the same time I'm like Know I never really thought of that. That's kind of cool, but I wouldn't want to do that. That's a lot of work. But he created the app that does both at the same time. And it's not there's other apps I saw in the app store that that have the same function, but his was seems a lot better. Paid$6.99 for it. There's updates coming, and he did warn with the updates because now you can zoom in on using the screen with pinching and zooming in. I send in my feedback about sort of like getting each side to like automatically frame you in frame. So hopefully he'll be able to work on that. And also to uh like if I touch the screen here, I can adjust the um the AE lock and uh the the uh the aperture where it's allowing more light or less light in. Um so hopefully he'll be able to add my suggestions because that would be great, because right now if you touch the screen, you don't all you can do is well, I haven't gotten the update, but you get to pinch and zoom in or what have you. Um uh what was the other thing? Um oh yeah, so he said with the the updates that are coming in, it's gonna increase the price. So right now, go check it out. If it's$6.99 still, download it because if you're a content creator, you'll love this because it will save you time instead of and and when you and I tested it out, when you download the video, you get two videos, one portrait and one in landscape. Pop them in your editor, whichever way you're going, or whatever you you're using, and you you know, instead of downloading from two different phones, one download, boom, two videos, and it's really cool. So yeah, um, kudos to him. Now, the other app that uh took me over was um uh I just realized the time it's not gonna be a short video. I'm so happy. Uh the social agent app. Now, at first I saw the original ad and I thought, oh, this is stupid. Um but then I saw a different video, I think it's of the women, the woman who created it, or uh they were trying to pitch it or what have you. Um basically what you're doing is you're you're hiring someone to come and shoot content for you. Like you can't do it all by yourself, right? So you're at a party and you want to get content of you there and the people and that what have you. So you hire someone, and uh you can also hire uh apply to be an agent to go there, they'll hire you, and you go and you do do all the shoot all the content for them. And there's lots of options, and it seems really, really usable. And I'm not getting paid for this for either one of these apps. I'm not getting paid for this, and I found that these this would be great if you with the gig economy. The way it is, is like, okay, so there's a lot of delivery apps, there's a lot of mostly delivery apps. I'm like, I there's no app for like stuff that I like to do. At least I had this is the first time I'm coming across it. So, oh, this is great. I mean, this is something I like to do, it's a great hobby of mine. Um, maybe I can make a little extra money on the side. So you can hire you can apply to be an agent or hire someone to come and do your content, right? So uh, and the pricing is reasonable, reasonable. So if you're an agent, uh you hire someone, you can choose um it's anywhere between 120 to 500 an hour, and basically for and that's up to four hours,$500 for four hours. So they will shoot raw content for you, um, unedited, nothing, just you know, shoot everything and give you the the the content and you do what you want with it. Um or you can choose the agent edit, um, and that that ranges from anywhere from uh$40 to$160 for editing photos, depending on the number of photos, and it tells you in the app like how many. Um, or uh$40 to$90 per reel to edit for your social media. Um and that's in on top of the hiring the agent for the the time frame. So say you have an agent for an hour, so that's$120, and they're gonna shoot an hour's uh worth of um uh content, and uh you're gonna let them edit edit it for you, 40 bucks. So you're looking at 160, right? Um yeah, there's lots of options. And the app is kind of cool, it's very futuristic. Um should check it out. But here's the the app for that. Um that's what it looks like. Uh now to apply to be an agent, it's very thorough. And I started filling in the application. So um they it's multiple choice questions on your level of expertise. So if you just use you know you're a novice or you you have experience doing reels or this, that, and the other, uh, they ask all the questions that you click on, and everyone that you click on, they take you to the questions regarding that. So they really go through your your expertise, what apps you use. You can write in more about what you do. You can write in the equipment that you have. So I have like an um M7 gimbal, I have a V3 gimbal, I have these two iPhones, um, have some lights, um, I have an ND filters, um some tripods, um, and handhelds, right? Um, so I could I put that in there, uh and then they ask for samples of your work, and you would I think they want 30 seconds of you know something of you using music and lighting and movement and captions, and I mean in 30 seconds, I don't know what you can really do in that. But um, so I went looking for the I'm so dumb. I panic over space on my phone, which I really don't need to because I always save everything to my external hard drive. After I'm done with it, I put it away, but I took it off the phone, but I still have it. Um but when I needed something like this, I'm like digging for for videos to upload it, and it's not like I was anywhere that I could access my hard drive. So I'm like outside doing it. I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh no, go through my camera roll. I don't have anything to post there. So I'm going to, and the stuff that I wanted to use, I don't have anymore. So I'm just gonna create new stuff and then do it later. Maybe it'll be some something I can do in the summer on my Mondays. When Mondays I have off, I can go and shoot content for people and here, there you go, and make a few bucks. So um the pay ranges uh anywhere from 30 bucks to 50 bucks per gig, not per hour. And they're very adamant about that. It's per gig. So if I'm doing an hour, blah, blah, blah, 30 bucks. Um, they're paying for the other stuff. So I don't know if you get you you definitely get a portion of that. I guess that's where your 30 or 50 bucks come from, but yeah. So if you do like, I don't know, depending on the amount, I guess that's where you're gonna get paid. So if it's just an hour, you're gonna get 30 bucks. If you're doing four hours, maybe you'll get 50 bucks, you know. Maybe and how many of those are you doing? So there's eight hours in a day that you can get good stuff, you know, maybe more. So and so I'm going to close out this episode with a geek out that I had. I met a gay liberty, a celebrity, I met someone I adore and love and follow. V Spehar or Speehar. I don't know how to pronounce your name. Uh you ever watch Under the Desk News on uh on Instagram? Uh she's a girl with uh her hair is up like this, and she's got great glasses, and she's talking about the news. I love her. So I'm I'm taking tickets and they're coming, and then all of a sudden I saw her, and I just blurted out, oh my god! And she looked at me, she went, oh my god! I'm like, can I have a hug? I love you, I follow you. And she gave me a hug and she was with her wife, and um I geeked the fuck out. She geeked, she met my energy, got hugs. Um, I'm I was so excited and so emission by myself. I forgot to ask for a selfie. I'm so upset. So this is this is V right there, and so you recognize her. Um so yeah, that that that made my week because she's cool, she's smart, she's she her videos are um well, she's it's like uh it's Monday and the world's on fire. You know, stuff like that. Or it's Thursday and yeah, it's snowing. You know, we're we're I love I love her presentations and it's so it's it's heavy, it's intense, it's it's you know, sometimes it's lighthearted, um, but it's very knowledgeable, very, very factual-based, and you get the information. And sometimes I I feel like when I'm watching her videos, um when I'm watching your videos, my friend, I feel like I my buddy is telling me stuff that I didn't know. It's like, oh hey, check it out. Did you did you hear about da-da-da-da-da? And this is what you should do, da da da da. And don't if you don't have the I know where you can get the information you need, you know, get yourself ready. That kind of it's like I'm hanging with a buddy, listening, getting the the low down on shit, and uh, or maybe saying, oh no, you're wrong. This is that's not how that goes. It goes like this. Um, or if you're misinformed, I get properly informed. Uh so yeah. I'm sorry I forgot your wife's name if you're seeing this. Um it was great to meet you two. You guys are awesome. You are awesome. Thank you for everything you do. And I said that to her too. It's like, thank you for everything you do. So yeah. Follow her. That's great. Stay, you'll you'll you'll feel smarter every time we listen and watch. Um all right, folks. Tell me how you feel. What do you think? What's on your mind? Uh, what do you what what are your thoughts on the uh the Netflix prices, Netflix price increases? I get time tied. Oh, you know, is it I know I'm pissed because I'm dumping my Netflix. Um, I I re-signed up and I'm like, you know what, fuck this shit. You know, whatever. Um, what do you what do you think about the Save Act? You know, how do you feel about that? Did you get your passport? Did you get your birth certificate? Did you get your documents? People, my friends, please. Pardon me. It's gonna take a little bit of time. It's gonna take a little bit of money. Instead of going out and drinking with your friends this weekend, take that money that I know you're gonna spend, what is it, 12 bucks for a fucking bud light in a bottle? What the hell, man? Um, what, 15 bucks for a vodka tonic? One weekend, two weekends in a row, take that money you'd be drinking or do whatever, eating out, save it, get your documentation, get it. Because if shit goes sideways even more so, you're and you don't have your documentation, it your life is gonna be harder. I promise you that. And I have I have my passport, I have a new birth certificate, I have a new social security card, um, I have all of that. And I promise you. And you know, as a side note, if you want to get through DMV faster, go to the one near Queen's College. Don't tell them I sent you. Don't tell nobody. I'm telling you, go there. It's not that busy. You get in, make sure you have all your paperwork, you get in and you get out, you don't have to deal with all the madness. Don't go to the one on 125th Street. It is loud, it's crazy, and there's a long wait. Because a lot of people go in there. Um, the one in downtown Brooklyn. It's a long wait. You're gonna be there in the morning and you're gonna be there all afternoon. Don't forget I said anything. Don't go to the thousand.

unknown 54:41

Don't tell nobody.

SPEAKER_01 54:43

The one across the street from Queen's College. It's a trick, buddy. It's like what do you think about birthright citizenship? And what do you think about that that I was gonna say the B word, but what do you think about that woman that that called the flatfoots on the ones the frozen flatfoots on those workers? I wanna know I really do want to know what you think about that. And what do you think about birthright citizenship and the right to vote? These are important things. I I really want to know what you think. So tell me tell me. And even if you don't give a shit, say I don't, Mike, I don't give a shit. I don't take your shirt off. Whatever, you know, no judgments. I want to know that too, you know. Oh my god, you guys, I had to use the pause button. I had a peace so bad. I hope this works. I don't know what's gonna happen here, but uh so until next time. Thanks for watching. I love you, I appreciate you all. If you like this today's episode, give me if you made it this far, give me a thumbs up emoji. Um, hit the like button, share with everybody, you know. Um if you're listening, hit you know, uh, wherever you listen to your podcast, thank you. Rank me up, you know, five stars is great. Um and you know, I'm still trying to keep this ads free, so uh support me if you can. If you can't, that's fine. But if you enjoy watching it, please let me know. I want to hear from you all. So have a great week.