Stuck in the Aughts: Send Help & Ozempic

Dr. JJ and Dr. Domi are back — and this week, nostalgia hits hard.

The America's Next Top Model docuseries has them revisiting their early 2000s obsession with reality TV, the body standards that shaped a generation, and the complicated legacy of Tyra Banks. Plus: one of them actually walked into the Wilhelmina Modeling Agency. The other submitted a VHS tape to The Real World. No further questions.

In this episode:

• 0:58 — America's Next Top Model docuseries breakdown — exploitation, guilt, and why we watched anyway
• 17:25 — Is the ultra-thin ideal back? GLP-1s, body image, and the "MAGA face" disconnect
• 22:16 — Personal GLP-1 journeys and the psychiatry perspective on metabolic health
• 23:03 — The Pitt & TV obsessions: Noah Wyle, blow darts, and the ER we never got over
• 36:13 — Love Story: JFK Jr., Carolyn Bessette, and the last celebrities shrouded in mystery
• 40:00 — Rant of the week: Dr. Casey Means, the Surgeon General nomination, and the MAHA movement
• 42:39 — Oscars 2026: Sinners wins, a historic cinematography milestone, and One Battle After Another

Two doctors. No filter. No pre-authorization needed.

Remember: we're doctors, but we're not YOUR doctors. Please seek out your own physician for actual medical advice.

Please Rate, Review & Subscribe!

Find us on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeart Radio and literally everywhere podcasts are available. 

Follow us on: 

Instagram: @NoOtherSkillsMD

TikTok: @NoOtherSkillsMD

Twitter/X: @NoOtherSkillsMD

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to No Other Skills MD, where I, Dr.

SPEAKER_00 0:04

JJ, a psychiatrist in desperate need of a mental break. And I, Dr.

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Domi, a pediatric anesthesiologist with a dusty degree in fashion design, explore the intersections of medicine, personal growth, pop culture, and surviving a dictatorship.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

From dissecting the absurdities in healthcare, navigating midlife transformations, and delving into the latest newsworthy topics.

SPEAKER_01 0:27

Join us as we share candid conversations and learn more because we have No Other Skills MD.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

And just remember, although we are both doctors, we are not your doctors. So please seek out your own physicians for actual medical advice. Alright. Hi, how have you been? It's been a week. It's been a week. Hi. What have you been watching? What's been watching?

SPEAKER_01 0:50

I know. You know, ongoing coping mechanisms include endless, endless streaming. So um one uh fun docuseries that I got into was the recent America's Next Top Model docuseries with all the tea, which is a new word I learned recently. Yeah, I did. I did not know that a boomer. Not at all. But I did just learn that. I know I am gonna convince you on this podcast that I'm a boomer. I've decided I identify. I'm the cover boomer. She is a millennial, guys. I'm advanced in aging, as both of our brains can tell you. But um but yeah, I'm real. It's so real, and it shows up every day, morning, afternoon, and bedtime. You know, it is so real. It is real.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

I need a notepad with me at all times.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Truth. And it's fascinating in the context of dealing with our perimenopausal brains and watching these docuseries, going back to I've it's so. Did you watch America's Next Top Model when you were I totally did too?

SPEAKER_00 2:00

Religious, religious watcher. How many cycles, at least 15 cycles, yeah, college or med school? That was med school residency. I was deep into it, I had my opinions, I was in it, and of course, the fashion, right?

SPEAKER_01 2:18

So I just sucked up those three episodes, and we'll get into it today, but we are, I think, as a society right now, really wanting to go back into the like late 90s, early aughts. We are striving and looking for that. So, yeah, so that was like my coping mechanism this this uh week. How about you? What have you been up to this week?

SPEAKER_00 2:41

I am excited that my golf game has improved. And let me tell everybody the reason why my golf game improved is for superficial reasons. I got cuter outfits, I got cute clothes. Yes, and I told my golf instructor, I believe this is a difference, but I went from to an advanced beginner. He says, I am ready, I'm ready for the golf course.

SPEAKER_02 3:07

That's what I mean.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

His words, cute clothes, which he complimented me on. Ooh, and he would be an expert this golf course. That's what I figure. Exactly. And outside of improving my golf look, L-E-W-K, that's how the kids say look like a cute outfit. Just watching the Oscars, and I think we'll get into that a little bit, and a little nostalgia for what celebrities used to look like. Oh, we'll get into it. Oh, yeah. Tell me about what you thought America's next top model documentary was and what you thought about it back then. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 3:47

I have to say, we grew up in the era of the birth of reality television. Like it started when we were in high school, right? So I sucked up shows like Survivor, The Amazing Race, as well as America's Next Top Model, American Idol. They all kind of came out during that time. And with America's Next Top Model, though, I sucked it up. I loved it. I loved the drama. Um and watching this docuseries now, I am just full of guilt related to the fact that these women were so exploited by this industry of just making a huge hit. And the amount of judgment I had towards them at that time.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

Same, same.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

It's it's it was a hard realization that what we were watching was really just a way for whatever television channel that was to make tons and tons of money off of these very frankly sick women in terms of eating disorders, etc. How about you, Dr. Domi?

SPEAKER_00 4:55

You watched it as you loved how, as an overweight person, which I've been overweight most of my life, I was thinking, girl, you are not skinny enough to be a model. What are you doing there? I remember having those thoughts watching the show, which is absurd. But also, they were selling these girls a dream that didn't fit the standard of modeling at the time, that if you do this and if you just work a little harder on being a little skinnier and things like that, you can be, you know, as successful as Tyra Banks and things like that. And I think the birth of reality also made society in general want to be a part of reality television. And let me tell you, I tried out for the real world in college. I have a DHS. Okay, not even a disappointed. I was not even called back. I was in college and me and some friends, we were all RAs, and we would have like nights where we would watch the real world. We all submitted a tape. Absurd.

SPEAKER_01 6:06

Absurd. Can you please tell me what was on your tape? I must hear it.

SPEAKER_00 6:14

But I know it was on a VHS. That's what I remember the most. I love it. But I legitimately thought that I was gonna be chosen. I and then that would be a way for me to get out of being in medical school because I was gonna be famous.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

I love it. I want to see you on a reality TV show so badly, I can't even tell you.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

I mean, we should I don't like drama in my real life. I I like absorbing it. I don't know if I would be interesting enough for it. But I might be willing to manufacture drama. I wouldn't really have it. It would be manufactured, but people want authentic drama, and I don't know if I could provide that. That's a caveat.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

Well, you know, based on this docuseries, I see that, you know, the producers, the people who do write these shows, they probably could create those scenarios in which you are pushed into drama and then sort of have to show yourself in a way that's very authentic. But in the end, there's some boundary between you and your real life. I mean, that's the thing. I think the the dramatization. I am a naive person. I mean, I just thought it was all real, but a lot of it was orchestrated and is ongoing in all of the reality TV shows that we're watching since the whole industry.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

I do think that they were taking such young people, and obviously, modeling is a young industry. They start casting models when they're 14 years old, things like that. But if you're bringing people who are just turning 18, 19, obviously has not developed yet, and put them in a scenario, they're not making adult decisions. And we do have to remind that yes, people are adults, but they're easy to manipulate. That's why I hate to break it to you, older men act like very young women because they're easy to manipulate, especially before the age of 25. Exactly. So we we have to keep that in mind. I do feel a little bit of guilt watching that, but my god, I had a good time watching those photo shoots. And they were asking them to do ridiculous things, which I knew were ridiculous at the time, because those photo shoots would not be found on the cover of Vogue. Pose with the spider on your face.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

Oh iconic.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

Pose with a bullet wound in your face. But I am sad that nobody became a supermodel after that. Outside of a couple of people, no one really out of the 25 cycles, maybe three models, really had exponential careers after that.

SPEAKER_01 8:48

Were there any non-winners who did either? I don't think so, right? And I mean, I guess they go on to talk about how, to a certain extent, being on the show was very detrimental to their modeling careers and limited their access to things that maybe wouldn't have been. But I agree, they were very vulnerable and pressionable. And because it was the start of the that reality TV show, I don't think that people were quite had their antenna up about all the things that you mentioned in terms of that kind of yeah, and exploitativeness and trying to rescue women from their situations and try to give them that dream. I will say, Tyra Banks, too. I loved her. I don't think I've really thought about her in a while, just because that's what happens, but I was very taken by her kind of her story, her fight, her vigor. And she was body positive in a way, as much as you could be at the time. And the smise, obviously, the iconic smizing. I mean, I still do it to this day. You can see me doing it right now, in fact. We might have to put this up on YouTube so the audience can see.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

But are you complimenting me on my we'll go on YouTube? Let me tell you, I think she didn't take enough accountability, and that has been some of the chatter online. You are a producer, but sometimes you can just own up to saying, and she did a little bit, that back then things were different. What we thought was normal, and you could say that throughout history over and over again. But we exploited them a little bit, and back then I didn't see any fault in it because it was normalized. I think a statement like that would have gone a long way, but she's not getting any praise online, she's getting a lot of criticism because she seems like she's not taking accountability. Like that was then. This is now it's okay to say I was wrong back then, yeah, and I was surrounded by people who were also in the wrong and we didn't recognize the damage that we could have done. There's always personal responsibility, but we all took part, including the audience. I was eating up cycle after cycle after cycle. I was. I totally hear you.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

Yes, it was the case that we participated in it and wanted more and more of it. And I do agree that there was a sort of limited accessibility to the reality of her experience in the show. And also, I think it's a cutthroat world. Like I think that she did what she had to do, and then to escalate to her future success with her Tyra show, and then onward to other things that I don't know. I'm sure she's I hear she's selling ice cream now. I yeah, it sounds like Australia is a good place to go. I've also recently watched another show that took place in like the early 2000s. Were you a Veronica Mars fan?

SPEAKER_00 11:46

I was not, so I don't think I've watched a single episode. I'm aware of it. I remember the star, I know the premise of it, but it just never seemed appealing to me. What was going on with Veronica Mars?

SPEAKER_01 11:59

Yeah, I didn't watch it at the time, uh though it was like in my sort of radar. She plays like a high school private eye uh who helps fellow high school kids solve crimes or issues that have come up. But I watched it recently. I mean, one uh part of the first season involves her dating, she's 16 years old, and she's dating a police officer in his 20s. And I remember watching this show, and they've made many future versions of it. I think there's been a recent reprise of it, and I don't know, recently. But I was like, what is this? This is something that was an early 2000s show, and they're promoting this statutory rape situation, and her dad's even aware of the relationship and okay it. And I think it also just recently came up in another show that I've started watching. Oh, I'm telling you, TV and me are just it's it's the medicine to remain calm right now. In the in a show that I'll talk about too called Your Friends and Neighbors, starring the amazing John Ham. But yeah, his daughter is 17 in a relation with somebody in their 20s, and he actually is like WTF. Like, what is this? Whereas in that show, it was just not even a blip on anyone's part.

SPEAKER_00 13:18

The problem.

SPEAKER_01 13:19

I mean, she's very mature, but it was insane. I'm like, what is this? But anyway, just to say it's really interesting having this return to the aughts and watching all these stories that were part of our upbringing and kind of influenced us in terms of our own sense of self, self-esteem, body image, all of it. And the shenanigans that were depicted openly in pop culture obviously a reflection of what was going on, if we were to think about Epstein and his world, and you know, so I mean, we just kind of I guess continue to evolve. I don't know, or it's just how humans are, how evolved we are.

SPEAKER_00 14:00

Because I am so influenced, I think I'm so easily influenced. You know what top model also influenced me to do to walk into, and I wish I were lying, to Wilhelmina modeling agency to see if they would be interested in me as a commercial model. Because Tyra Banks said commercial models don't have to be as tall or fa-ish, etc. And I thought maybe I could be a model, so I don't have to go into medical school. I think I was trying to avoid going to medical school, guys. I actually went and I had a meeting with some shots of just me on my staircase wearing some cute heels, and they were very nice and said no, thank you. But I I did feel I appreciated that beholden to it. This is when you looked up Wilhelmina and there was no Google, so you actually had to work to find this information where they're located, call them for a meeting. It's ridiculous that I thought I was going to be Tyra Banks. But if I, as a viewer, were deluded enough to believe that I could be a model, you can see how these 18-year-olds, and I was older than them, right, were deluded enough to believe that this show could catapult them into being Cindy Crawford and all the people who were top models back then.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Yeah. Oh. Impressionable, influential. I mean, there was that one, I guess, season where they just had a riot of people trying to try out, right? Just the amount of people who showed up for a casting call in New York that led to a major safety issue is huge. So wow, that that was in high school, college.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

I think in college, it must have been college, tried to be a supermodel, and then I realized that's not for me. So that's why I'm an anesthesiologist today, guys. You're welcome.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

Your patients are very welcome. Yes, I was gonna say, because you're a brilliant anesthesiologist, and thank you, thank you. And of course, a fashionista as well. I mean, it is it's really something.

SPEAKER_02 16:09

I can read a model, it's not too late. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

And rewinding the clock. It's been what, 20-ish years since that started that show. I've noticed, I have to say, that there's been kind of a trend, whether or not it's with um memes. People are posting pictures of what they were like when they were in the 90s and 2000s. There's a lot of reprisal of stories from that era, including, I think you will probably talk about a little bit later, but the the JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bassett, like kind of romance. Oh, yeah. Tell me. Tell me.

SPEAKER_00 16:45

But before we move on to that, I wanted to talk about America's next top model right before then came in the Kate Moss her when she and is that coming back? I mean, thinness has always been an ideal, I would say, of Western society and American society as of recent decades. And it's associated with prepubescent white women. Yes, heroine chic. That's that's been the look. And it kind of ebbs and flows, it comes back, it goes away. But I feel like with the GLP ones, is it back for real?

SPEAKER_01 17:26

What are you seeing? I I do feel like we're cycling back into that ultra thin wave, barely eating any calories look a little bit with this return to the GLP ones, but it's like a little different, I will say, in that I think it also comes with this face shift, for lack of a better way to put it, the MAGA face, the plumped up lips, yeah, the big, like kind of prominent cheekbones, the sunken face. So I think it's the the wafish body plus this overfilled face, and like, I don't know, big hair, a lot of makeup, a lot of fake eyelashes. It's this kind of disconnect. You have the plumpness up here with a kind of weaveness down below. And you know, I'll say it, I miss that sort of booty positivity. Like a little bit of that came and went. It came and went, it was there for a minute, and now it's sort of, you know, uh showing up. Though the GLP ones too have their own positiveness. You know, I've been overweight all my life. I've thought about it too. I'm kind of like, oh, is this something that could be beneficial, especially as my knees feel different and my body and my sort of weight that I carry around me is adding up after 45 years, right? So I think about the positive shift and change that the GLP ones have bought, especially in terms of obviously glucose control, diabetes, like really being an intervention that is quite life-saving. And I've had friends who've really used it and have found it to be extremely beneficial. Yeah. I think there's middle ground, but I'm worried about those who are using it in a way that is a vehicle to help kind of manage their eating disorder, actually. So the screening is concerning and how it's being delivered is there's two ways to do it, right? With a physician under that guidance or these direct-to-consumer options that are really in vogue. But again, I think we're in that place where we're finding that good middle ground, perhaps, to have it be safe and helpful.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

And I wonder, as a psychiatrist, with the GLP1s, has your community, not necessarily you with your particular patients, noticed an increase in actual diagnosis of eating disorders?

SPEAKER_01 19:54

Yeah, that's a great question. I think with eating disorders, I think the prevalence hasn't increased. I think it's just being able to continue to restrict your diet purposefully is helped by lack of food noise, right? Which is a primary thing that is helped. I will say, within my populations that I treat, it's been a fantastic addition to our armament to help people with metabolic syndrome and weight induced by medications. Like having somebody who has bipolar disorder or a psychotic disorder who's taking medications that put on weight, increase your risk for diabetes, high cholesterol that really do reduce your life span has been fantastic. So I will say, like, it's been a way to keep people on medications that keep them in a state where they're not having mania or psychosis. So I'm a big fan of how this is showing up in my population. I don't really treat a lot of people with eating disorders, so I wouldn't have the best data on that, but I do know that it's something that is being given to people who do have these diagnoses, probably without proper vetting and a vehicle for people to remain restricted in a way that's really dangerous. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:07

I'm thinking that maybe some people don't stay on medications because of the side effects. And I'm sure, you know, depressive medications as well. If you think or you know that you gained 20 pounds, 30 pounds as a result of the medication, you're simply not going to take it. Because honestly, at some point you'll see for me, that that would be that would be a sticking point to a medication if it maybe gained 20 or 30 pounds. And if you have another medication that really offsets that and has other positive side effects, you can keep people compliant. And that actually, I didn't, I never thought about that, but ooh, it's a win-win.

SPEAKER_01 21:46

Yeah, it's been a miracle. I mean, the reality is half of what I do with some of the people who are on these medications is navigate around the weight gain. Like, okay, yeah, you are having weight gain, but would you like your voices to come back? At some point, you're gonna get off these meds because they are really impactful on your cardiac health, your weight, how you feel about yourself. But it could also be so life-saving, these medications. So that's kind of something that comes up often and why I love these meds.

SPEAKER_00 22:16

I really do. I personally, as I've stated before, am on a GLP one and I feel like it's been life-changing because I did not recognize how much food noise I had. And I just thought that everybody always thought about food all the time. I just thought that was a default, and basically, skinny people, I'll put that in quotations, just were able to navigate that better. I did not recognize that people who do not have obesity issues were not constantly thinking about food every moment of every day. So we'll see. But every every plus has a minus. So we'll I think this is a topic we'll revisit. Oh, yeah. That's also my personal journey. Uh, but let's talk about other medical news. What's happening in the pit?

SPEAKER_01 23:02

Oh my god, what isn't happening in the pit? It's again uh an excellent uh episode four was a truly beautiful episode. First season. First season, exactly. They did have the psych border just to focus in on the psychiatric patients, sort of wake up after the medications wore off and had a team of five have to go in there and I am them with uh interesting combination of medications, not necessarily what I would have picked, but they did reference blow dart sedatives, which do exist where there are people blow dart. Literally, there are sometimes patients who get agitated for whatever reason. And you know, it's can be quite dangerous having to go in there and manage uh like agitated patient in restraints. And in order, you usually do need many people, and it's often the case that somebody might get hit or inadvertently uh impacted. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 24:00

Oh, we do that in anesthesia too. Oh, you must always autistic children, autistic adults. Um just don't call it a blow dart. You have another name that I will not uh I will not repeat here.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

Oh no, but a blow dart is actually a different way where you can literally actually blow a dart. It does exist in certain places, and you aim for the person, and so that's a way to kind of prevent yourself from having to get it. I thought you were being facetious. No, it does exist. I don't know where, but that would be fantastic if that was so that was kind of a fun little uh and of course it was about the reality of what it's like to be an ER doc and having to treat psychiatric patients because there's not enough psychiatric beds in this whole damn world. And so they often end up days, days, days at a time in the ER just waiting for a transfer. So that was a really good part of it. But I think a big part of the pit is thinking about ER coming back to our nostalgia for the 90s and 2000s, and Noah Wiley. Can we just say I think he's one of I I do love him? You don't? I mean, have you already done that out? I have an ongoing crush that I think I don't think it'll ever go away, but he's just so wounded, and I think it's just so great. I love a wounded man who just I do. I can't wait to see him actually cry and let it out. It's like right on the edge there, a lot of flashbacks, and I'm I'm looking for that. But you know, I I can't remember everything about ER, obviously. He was so wide-eyed and innocent then. And I mean, I can't help but think about ourselves as we've gone through the medical system and churned out, and here we are now doing this podcast, both trying to work as little as possible clinically, and and and what's behind that and of all of our stories, right? Of what we've encountered and even talking about agitated patients, right? Right for us, what that's like. I'm sure you're dealing with that with like a delirium that's showing up in the OR or for us also on the medical wards, but also in the inpatient, just sort of that challenge and like, you know, managing that in a in as a physician who's there for what we are there for to provide care, to do no harm, but also really encountering really hard scenarios and facing that on a constant basis and like why you know, we've tried to jump ship in different ways. You in particular, I think, have tried quite a few different things, but I'll still try, and I may walk into Willamina tomorrow.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

I think I've re-inspired myself. I, Dr.

SPEAKER_01 26:47

Domi, you are gorgeous. Yes, I think it's time. It's time to revisit that.

SPEAKER_00 26:52

Maybe I should be an influencer. I think I've tried over time that I just I'm not a social media person. I like to consume it. I don't necessarily like to put anything out there. It's very hard to put ourselves out there.

unknown 27:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:06

In case you follow us on Instagram at No Other SkillsMD, you notice that you'll see cartoon figures because both of us are like, oh, I don't know if I want to take a picture. I don't know if I want to take a video right now. We're both a little hesitant. So the chances that I will be a supermodel and have the cameras and attention on me are slim to none. Never say never. Slim to none.

SPEAKER_01 27:30

Exactly. It's very, it's very hard for us to put ourselves out there. But also it's so healing for us to kind of talk about all of this stuff because cathartic. It's very cathartic because it's the, you know, again, the pit just bringing it back is a real, it's real life in a way that I I cry numerous times during every episode, and I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop, right? So it's that combination of everything. So great episode. I am going slow, I can't go faster. But as an antidote to that, I did watch another, you know, 2000 celebrity John Hamm. Love him. Love him, your friends and neighbors. It's a uh an update on Mad Men, basically. Instead, we have a hedge funder in the New York suburbs, kind of out of a job and managing the excess of his life and all the management of his wealth and life and family. And that has been an excellent, excellent vehicle for distraction this week.

SPEAKER_00 28:34

I think it says a lot about class. I think it says a lot about what you show other people as far as your wealth and how that still exists. Like, people are not comfortable sometimes saying where they're actually at. And oh, let me show you this car I bought, let me show you this house I have, let me show you two and a half kids with a wife, and all the cracks below, which is a reflection of how people are because one thing happens and then people are homeless. And you're like, I thought you had a Bugatti in the garage, I thought you had a three million dollar house. Why are we suddenly broke? Why is this suddenly so I think it's a nice reflection of what does really happen to people when they get caught up in being perceived a certain way, and we all do this in one way or another, but it's it's interesting to see that in a TV show with one of my favorite actors.

SPEAKER_01 29:25

Exactly. Yeah, he has all this material things, yet he has to he can't get hired, and then he has to resort to stealing from his neighbors and friends in order to make ends meet.

SPEAKER_00 29:39

And it happened so quickly. It wasn't like he was out of work for six months and needed to resort to these things, which means that you're doing things for show. You don't have enough in the bank account, and that happens to a lot of people. I think you see it a lot on one of my favorite reality shows, which is The Real Housewives, and I love every city, I love New York, I love Beverly Hills, I love Miami, Salt Lake City. I've caught Dallas when it was on uh Miami the second time around. I'm not a big New Jersey fan, it's a little ghetto, in my opinion. Rhode Island is coming soon. I will catch all of Rhode Island, it takes almost nothing for everybody to go broke when they were on a yacht two days ago. And there's a recent housewife on Potomac, which I didn't even know was a place before it became a real housewife's franchise. I don't think it was a river. It was a river, I didn't know it was like, you know, a town, so wealthy town. And there's a I say character, it's a real person, Wendy, who's been accused of insurance fraud to keep up with the jones, essentially. Basically, how are you going to do it? And filing it with different companies, allegedly. Okay. I don't need lawyers coming after me. Allegedly. Yeah. But it's it happens time and time again on each city. Someone pretends that they have money that they don't, and it takes four seconds for that house to come crumbling down. Unreal. Especially in a marriage. When the husband leaves a wife, oh yeah, and that happens a lot on the real housewives. Yep, all of a sudden, someone who is living the life, the woman ends up having nothing. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 31:26

So, as you know, I don't really watch any of the real housewives. It's been around for a long time. And so good.

unknown 31:32

So good.

SPEAKER_01 31:33

I know. I just I think it's promoting this sort of wealth accumulation and trying to keep up with the Joneses, and then how it I think impacts people in general, in terms of like obviously fashion, like what they have in their homes, the kind of cars they uh drive, etc. But it is so sad that people kind of, as you mentioned, this alleged insurance fraud situation, how you can sort of put yourself out there on a literal reality TV show and also do that. I mean, for all of everybody to watch, like, hey, what is happening?

SPEAKER_00 32:14

I think people, and obviously, I have an element of this myself, want fame. They want to be recognized and they're willing to do anything to get it. But also, apparently, people go on this show without any pattern recognition. This happens on every season for like the last 15 years. Do not show so much wealth if you really don't have the wealth to back it up. And also, I think because I have pattern recognition, I tend to see things two seasons before they actually happen in real life. So it's just interesting for me to see certain things. But I think it's uh can be a testament to women to get your life together and don't depend on a man for everything because it will come crumbling down. Would I love to marry rich? I absolutely would. But you have to have some income on your own because that gravy train, what we're at 60% uh divorce rate, will not last forever. And you don't get something for for nothing. They always say if you marry rich, you'll be paying for it for the rest of your life. If you marry for money, specifically for that reason. But I have pattern recognition, so I'm always watching, and I can't believe that nobody else sees these things coming. But I guess if it's your own life, you have blinders on, which we all do, of course.

SPEAKER_01 33:34

Oh, yeah, I think that there's huge blinders on in order to kind of manage and continue that sort of facade. This week I went to a gala, actually, that was a private school fundraiser. I was my sister's plus one, and it was really interesting to be at this event while I'm watching your friends and neighbors and thinking about the real housewives of any place. I was like the real housewives of Oakland. And at some point, when somebody dropped, and I kid you not, $20,000 on warm lunches for their two children enrolled in this school. I went like this. I went, money, money, money, like kind of cheering about the true excitement everybody in the room had about being able to donate this money to a private school that you already have to pay buttloads of money in order for your children to be enrolled in once they're accepted. And I was like, I live in a completely different world than this level of wealth. And I'm just like curious, like, I need to look up the statistics myself. How many people live this life? I mean, I don't think I do, I don't think you do, but it's but they're they're everywhere, and there are a lot of TV shows about it. There's that world is depicted on screen, but I'm seeing it in real life, and I'm like, what are we doing? I don't want to be in that world, but I was really taken by this situation.

SPEAKER_00 35:09

I was like, wow. I've been to a gala like that as well, where people were donating to a charity but dropping 30k, 40k for you know, some prize, whatever it was. But you're you're not really paying for the prize, you're really paying to donate. And it would be nice to have that cash. But I think television, especially reality television, makes us think there's so many more rich people than they are. They they call those people the 1% for a reason. The way we perceive it is that we're just a hop, skip, and a jump from being a billionaire. That's what that's what it can feel like when you're watching television. But that's not reality, or if you're watching social media, you're hop, skip, and a jump from rubbing elbows with Jeff Bezos or whomever. And it's not really that way. You can fake it, you can fake it pretty well, but eventually pattern recognition that that house will come crumbling down if you don't have real wealth to go with it. Right. And talking about real wealth, generational wealth, I started watching Love Story on Hulu about JFK Jr. and his romance with Carolyn Bassett, Kennedy. And I remember when paparazzi shots and it was very page six of them getting together and all of that, and she was this icon that everybody there was so much mystery around her. But there's also mystery around generational wealth, and how much do they really have? But Kennedy, it was just it's interesting to see a show now about it. And we don't because everything is so accessible through social media, we don't really have those kind of figures anymore where we know they're a mystery, like we know a little bit about them and we can be kind of enthralled about the idea of what life is like behind those rich people walls, but now we see everything, and yeah, we don't really have uh curiosity like we used to for figures like that, right?

SPEAKER_01 37:16

There was so much mythology around them. I remember growing up, I was sort of obsessed because I too had a crush on JFK Jr. I don't know if that was something head of hair, gorgeous hair. My goodness, loved his magazine, George, was probably misogynistic, but I still like I just thought he was so interesting. And then of course Caroline showed up and she was thin, gorgeous, blonde, just like refined, it appeared to be the case. I don't know anything really about her except that you know she died because of him. But in the end, I mean, I mean, that is a price you pay, I guess. If there's if they did die, who knows? Maybe they're just on an island somewhere living their lives. But no, they're dead. Yeah, oh that's so sad.

SPEAKER_00 38:03

I mean, but I I wish that were the case where they escaped to an island. I feel for her family, obviously for the Kennedys, too. U plane crash is a terrible way to lose anyone, but they lost two daughters. That's right. Her sister Lauren was all also on that flight. It's just a you know, kind of the fear of small planes. Oh, from from things like this, kind of reiterate. I don't know why it would be better in a big plane, a commercial airline, but yeah, uh things like that. It was like, oh, why didn't he go with the instructors? Things happen.

SPEAKER_01 38:39

You know, I make we make human choices, right? And those are the ones that get us in trouble. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:45

Um their lives would have played out and what their children would have experienced in this public eye, because their children would have been in their 20s now. I would say if they had if they had children, if they chose to have children young, and what that would be like with social media. What would young Kennedys right would uh those kind of hereditary families be like nowadays? Right. Really see that because we don't have Vanderbilts outside of Anderson Cooper, right? Um, maybe Rothschild, I don't really know.

SPEAKER_01 39:19

There's some, yeah, and there's some other Kennedys that would have been cousins, I guess, who are sort of around, of course. They I think some of them are running for political office, and of course, we have you know one that continues to exist, unfortunately, which just really segues into my rant of the week, if I may let us have it, let us have it. If I'm not mistaken, I think it's RFK Jr. who's probably put up the person who wants to be who's who could potentially be the next Surgeon General. I believe her name is Dr. Casey Means, who Doctor is a strong word. Exactly. I don't think I think her medical license she in she voluntarily did not renew it. Do you know? I just want to say for the audience getting a medical degree, becoming board certified, these are all parts of the steps to becoming a physician, but getting your medical license is one as well. Which once you have it, renewing it, if I'm I'm just gonna say it, it's extremely easy to renew your medical license. You just have to pay money as a you gotta pay money. I don't know why she voluntarily did not continue her medical license. It makes me think that she got in trouble for something. I'll have to do some investigating, but I don't get this person's need to become the surgeon general, but it's all in line with the Maha movement, right?

SPEAKER_00 40:48

She's a surgeon, she didn't finish residency, correct?

SPEAKER_01 40:51

I I want to see.

SPEAKER_00 40:57

Another one.

SPEAKER_01 40:59

What is she gonna treat? What are you gonna do? You can't. Yeah, she dropped out of her surgical training, um, and then she went on to become a functional medicine doctor, which is a very broad term. Yeah, some other ways that you could refer to it as like maybe a naturopath, and these are people who have not gone to a medical degree, they haven't gotten a medical degree, such as an MD or a DO, which is a it's allopathic medicine versus osteopathic medicine. These are two very well-trained, highly respected ways to get a medical degree. Naturopath is not a medical degree. I might be wrong about that. Somebody might be able to correct me out there, but it's functional medicine, it's like integrated medicine where people are often using a lot of testing in order to find out that you have heavy metals and need chelating agents in order to feel improved in terms of your fibromyalgia. So it's like kind of a little quackery, for lack of a better way, yeah, to put it. So this is my rant this week. And thanks to that, I guess JFK Jr. and RFK Jr. would have been like second cousins. Would that have been like kind of the family tree? Because of the first cousins, right? Oh, yeah, that's right. They're first cousins, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:25

RFK Jr. has a worm in his brain, and I think that worm is active.

SPEAKER_01 42:29

Yes, and it was bet a lot of drugs too. Yeah, so anyway, that's my rant for the week. How about you? Do you have any rants or raves?

SPEAKER_00 42:39

I am raving. The Oscars just happened last night. So many time you guys listen to this, and it would have happened close to a week ago. I'm happy that Michael B. Jordan won Best Actor for Sinners, because I've seen that movie literally four maybe five times. Yes. I'm happy for the original screenplay for Ryan Kugler. I wish it would have won Best Picture, but I'm I'm happy with those. Ludwig, their sound person that he always works with, won an Oscar. And what's very exciting, a woman for Sinners won for best cinematographer, first time, black person, yeah, Asian person, she's also half Filipino, Trifecta, but yeah, first time for a woman cinematographer. It's a really big deal.

SPEAKER_01 43:30

That's huge. I was I saw that this morning, and I was like, it's the first time a woman wants for that. Oi. Excellent, good job. It was a gorgeous film. I've watched it twice, and it I've and Michael B. Jordan, the amazing accolades to him and Ryan Kugler. I agree, like the best picture was a little bit of a loss. I did enjoy one battle after another as well. Okay.

unknown 44:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:01

You have to get into something.

SPEAKER_00 44:03

Yeah. I have seen so many black women online basically saying you may want to hold on to your mental health because of the portrayal of, I guess, Tiana Taylor's character. You may not want to see it. This is a film about, and I'm, you know, obviously I have not seen it, about a white man fetishizing a black woman, and there's got this white supremacy vibe to it. More than that. That means you're the mixed, mixed child of this, and it just doesn't take any responsibility of that. And so there's something where I've seen several creators that I follow that I trust saying for your mental health, you may not want to see it. And the fact that this became best picture says a lot about our society. What are your thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_01 44:54

That's a great question. Yeah, well, it wasn't even kind of white supremacy, it is a huge feature of this film, and it's a depiction of a revolution started by Tiana's character, and she is fetishized by Sean Penn's character, um, and also the partner of Leo DiCaprio's character as well. So I I I watch that. It's a it is a ride, it's really intense, it's non-stop. I will be honest in terms of sort of the depiction of her. There's she's so fierce and a rebel and a kind of a revolutionary leader that does shift some of the narrative related to women and being a mother as well that is depicted throughout the movie. But I agree, I think that going into it with a feelers on, being mindful of your mental health is appropriate in terms of sort of really good advice. But I do think that there is with sinners a completely different approach in terms of women being depicted in this much different way, obviously. They're not exploited, they also show their power in a beautiful way in the context of the tragedy that unfolds, and of course, all the symbolism and metaphors that are brought up in that movie. So I think, yeah, that caution is important for one battle after another. It's entertaining.

SPEAKER_00 46:31

If they had a different director, what would have changed? Is my question, you know? What if Ryan Kugler had that script? What would the movie be?

SPEAKER_01 46:40

It would be really different, I think. Yeah. And I think that Paul Thomas Anderson has made other movies that are similar to this. There's been different versions of this showing up in his career. It's like uh a story with multiple characters, and there's a lot of like storylines that weave in the end and this culmination. So it's kind of like a ride that you take that's very entertaining, but is it best picture? Is a good question. And I feel like throughout the awards season, it's been between sinners in one battle after another, right? I don't know who one more than the other, but yeah, I think that that's been the rivalry of the moment in terms of like best picture.

SPEAKER_00 47:20

All right. Well, good to know. Thanks again for joining us at No Other Skills MD Podcast. We hope you got something out of listening to your friendly neighborhood doctors.

SPEAKER_01 47:30

But please remember we are doctors, but not your doctors. So for actual medical advice, please reach out to your own personal physician.

SPEAKER_00 47:38

Please rate, review, and subscribe to our lovely podcast and refer a friend to us in the future. No preauthorization needed. Bye. Bye bye.