Hot Topics Part 1: Throwbacks, Trends and Today's Tea.

It's Part One of Hot Topics! And honestly? It's giving 101.5 FM's 80's, 90's and today. JP returns to the mic and leads us through our favorite friendship past time: discussing hot topics. 

We explore pop culture through the lens of our adolescent influences and current parasocial dynamics, discuss the the highs and lows of classics being live-actioned, share a couple of reviews (if you've not seen Wicked, Part 2...skip through), and end up sashaying to the hottest topics of all. Listen and enjoy, sweet peas! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:01

Alright. And we're gonna get listen as we are here to present a two-part series focused on some various topics of our choosing. Let's start with a trip down memory lane as we explore some nostalgic moments in pop culture that help shape our affinity for pop culture and create massive buzzing moments in our lives. Then we'll dip our toes into the millennial musings and discuss some of those dating trends that have influenced our culture. Let's prepare ourselves for the heat ahead and dive into this week's Hot Topics. DJ, play that track.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Wait, is this thing on? Can y'all hear me? Okay, here we go.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Woo! Just a dash. Just a touch.

SPEAKER_02 1:10

I love when you say that, first of all. I'm like appropriate. Okay?

SPEAKER_05 1:15

It's just it feels right. It's just like they're watching, they're watching in the corner in the studio. Bam!

SPEAKER_02 1:23

Play the Bam. Okay, period. And I just I just want to say to the viewers who are watching this, you will see me blowing my nose on occasion. It's spring season. I've always had allergies, and that's just who I am.

SPEAKER_05 1:38

Right, because allergies ain't what? Worth our time.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

Oh, that's my bad.

SPEAKER_05 1:47

Gotta yeah, also make sure you take your clarinet while you're listening because you may be a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Okay, wait.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

That was actually such excellent like sound work, period.

SPEAKER_05 2:00

You can tell that I have the allergies because that came from experience.

SPEAKER_02 2:04

Okay, all right.

SPEAKER_05 2:06

Okay, and peep peep the mug. Peep the mug, peep the mug.

SPEAKER_02 2:09

Peep the mug. It's got a little D on it. This is my selection for today for my mug. Do you want to know what it says? You know my teabag always has a message.

SPEAKER_05 2:18

What's the message for today? Everyone, focus in.

SPEAKER_02 2:21

Okay, zoom in. Okay. Every neighbor can be your teacher. That's the message for today.

SPEAKER_05 2:30

And sometimes you don't like your teachers and you don't like your neighbors, so keep them from a distance.

SPEAKER_02 2:35

Okay. You know what? I it's getting spicy, which is pretty appropriate today because what are we talking about today, anyway?

SPEAKER_04 2:42

Hot topics. Yes!

SPEAKER_02 2:46

Why? I feel like when you say hot topics, it makes me think hot pockets.

SPEAKER_05 2:53

Hot topics. And I hit it with a red robin. Yum.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

My gosh. Listen, I'm gonna have it produced. Anyway, carry on.

SPEAKER_05 3:03

So as you as you all, as you all can sense from this episode, we are we are gonna be bouncing around. So we just ask that you stay with us, um, enjoy the conversation ahead because we're we're we're dipping our toes back into the realm of nostalgia. So for those millennials out there, for maybe the Gen X out there, and even for the Gen Z, let us show you, let us help you understand and remember some of these beautiful moments in time that always got us bopping and weaving, driving and laughing a good time.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

Period.

SPEAKER_05 3:36

So for today, um, let's start off, you know, going down memory lane. The first question I have for you, Dashka what do you recall as your earliest introduction to pop culture?

SPEAKER_02 3:49

First of all, thank you for using my first full name. Okay, we're keeping it formal.

SPEAKER_05 3:55

Because that's what professional.

SPEAKER_02 3:59

Not with the A. I'm screaming. Um, I love this question, first of all, and I love the fact that we're going down memory lane. I love the fact that we are touching upon nostalgia because I love reflecting back on like the era that we grew up in. I just want to say for the record, I think the 90s is one of the best decades to have grown up in. I'm kind of paying homage a little bit to the the 90s with my look today. Okay. Thank you so much, everybody. It's giving the goofy movie. It's giving Disney.

SPEAKER_05 4:33

It's giving you better be looking at me from eye to eye.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

Okay. But to answer your question, you ate that. To answer your question, I think you know what's so interesting. I have such a distinct memory of when I moved. So I lived in a couple of different places in Florida, but there was a certain age where I moved to Pembroke Pines when I was in fourth grade, which is Broward County, for those who who need, you know, some geography. But it was such a pivotal move in my life because it was also my first time being introduced to secular music. I don't know what came upon my parents where they were like, you can listen to pop music, I'll buy you a pop album. And my first like introduction was Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, Eminem, Beyonce. Like that was my first taste of like pop music. And I remember just being so I think that's why I still have such an affinity for Britney Spears. Like, I just like it was just like, who is this like woman, this pop princess? Like, she is showing her stomach, but she is fun, but she is cool. You know, like those were the sorts of things that you were aspiring, you know, stylistically to like look like the jelly shoes, the lip gloss, smackers.

SPEAKER_05 5:50

Like it was maybe not the jelly shoes, let me tell you.

SPEAKER_02 5:53

A statement still being made today.

SPEAKER_05 5:57

Still being made today.

SPEAKER_02 5:58

She still has a pair. So I think that was like my my earliest introduction to pop culture that like I hold fast to. And then I also think about like cartoons, Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, like all those sort of things I think really influenced and shaped like my creative brain.

SPEAKER_03 6:16

Right.

SPEAKER_02 6:16

What about you though? I'm curious. I'm actually very curious what your introductions were because we're such different environments.

SPEAKER_05 6:24

And that's why that's why I wanted to start with this question, too, because you think about just regionally where we both were. You were in Florida at the time, I was in New York City.

SPEAKER_02 6:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 6:33

And so I think about that early childhood. And so my cousins, we all grew up so close to one another. And so we have my oldest cousin, and our age difference is six years apart. Shout out to Stephanie. Um, but I learned so much, I absorbed and learned so much between what she was learning or watching, what my my older brother and my other cousins were watching, and just like absorbing those pieces along the way, but like seeing Britney Spears for the first time, seeing Christina Aguilera, you know, being there for Genie in a bottle, and then being like, damn, dirty did a whole nother thing.

SPEAKER_02 7:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 7:15

And I'm just like, where do where do I get that cropped up and be like Oh, you're such a Scorpio?

SPEAKER_02 7:20

You would be referencing Dir as your pop culture influence, okay?

SPEAKER_05 7:26

Because there was there was uh an awakening. No, awakening.

SPEAKER_02 7:31

That music video, we'll get there. I let me not jump ahead. We'll we'll get there, but like I'm about to act up.

SPEAKER_05 7:38

Right. And I think honestly, just music in the 90s, early 2000s, ad-libbing. That's why I think that influenced me a lot of my probably a little bit with like maybe some undiagnosed ADD there, but okay, just being able to have so many vocal stims. Like, I don't think we associated a lot of the ad-libbing that was there to now these like wonderful like vocal stims that we all have, and it just helps to break the ice sometimes. Like, I don't realize how many sometimes vocal stims that we all interact with that were like, Oh, you're cool because you get the reference. And so this now has opened up a gateway to like we can talk about a little bit more. But if I drop a vocal sim and you're like, What's that?

SPEAKER_02 8:26

I'm like, Okay, can I tell you now that you said that, two things I've told people very recently that I feel like sometimes my brain is kind of like a radio station where like you can just change the channels and like reference different things, like sometimes like that's how I'm organizing information. But the second thing thinking about pop culture was also the commercials we were watching. We didn't have like as much streaming growing up, so we actually had to sit through and watch commercials like when you were growing up. I know you're gonna remember this. You lit liquor, you Cudi Queen, you come qua, you wait.

SPEAKER_05 9:08

Orbit gum, orbit gum had the commercial networking in a chokehold. Because that team, that team did it.

SPEAKER_02 9:18

That was a standout for me. Jingles were a standout for me. I remember when Flow blew up, like there were so many like different areas where you were just like honestly, kind of looking at performance art, just like through different mediums, like even commercials, like it was so intentional like to engage with your audience by like making your character relatable.

SPEAKER_05 9:42

Like the Super Bowl, even if you didn't watch football, you were watching the Super Bowl commercials, like you know, like everyone lived for Doritos, like Doritos had the that in a chokehold, too. It's just those moments where you think back, um, also like Stanley Steamer.

SPEAKER_02 10:02

Okay, and they switched it up, they would change up the jingles too, right?

SPEAKER_05 10:05

Stanley Steamer, the carpet cleaner, yes, got to the point, got to the point and told you your carpets are so dang dirty, you better call Stanley and bring that van around that block.

SPEAKER_02 10:17

What I'm loving right now is like when we were kids, we just loved singing the jingle. And now as an adult, we're like, got to the point. Told us exactly what we needed to know about the service.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

Like, that is not what we were relating to as children.

SPEAKER_02 10:34

We were just like, Okay, I love that song. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, we were not thinking about like this being effective, but like I think that's hilarious though, because those jingles like stay with you, and like, but I do like that when I think about pop culture, it was like everything that we were consuming, but which is I think the same today, but there was just a different way that I think that we were required to engage with it because it was actually like about the person, you know. Like, and I don't even know if I'm framing that correctly, but even when I think about Britney Spears, when I think about Eminem, when I think about Destiny Shop, when I think about the pop stars that we were relating to, we really like were enamored with them, but to me, like there was still an innocence about it, you know, like there was still something where it wasn't pervasive, it was just like, wow, this person is like a star. I don't know, maybe I was just like innocent as a child, but I feel like pop culture has really shifted in its nature, yeah, and like what it offers us and what it's supposed to serve now. Or maybe it's just that I'm an adult and I see it differently, but I just remember there being such like a kind of a euphoric feeling around pop culture when I was a kid.

SPEAKER_05 11:52

And I think that speaks to the the distance that we had from those artists. We weren't on our phones, like seeing what they were doing in their everyday life. So that proximity and what we felt like maybe that they owed us, I think that's what shaped. Now, as consumers, as we've entered adulthood, or I think the younger generation is witnessing like we are some we are a consumer and a customer, and so like as things are being delivered to us now, we are expecting random projects on tours. We're expecting it's true, they're expecting Chapel Rowan to be, you know, not belittle the children. We'll get there.

SPEAKER_02 12:33

We'll get there. Okay. See how we could just we could just jump right jump right in and like screw me.

unknown 12:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 12:43

All right, period. Amen.

SPEAKER_05 12:45

Right. But you know, I think that really summarizes a lot of a lot of the moments with like pop culture, like as in our youth, you know, we we're still developing so many elements about ourselves. So I also think about like shows as simple as and not simple, because they were lovely. Bananas and pajamas. All right, I'm gonna let me split these lyrics. Bananas and pajamas are walking down the stairs. Again, direct, but that track behind it literally had us bopping and weaving.

SPEAKER_02 13:23

It's crazy that you said that the way the image immediately popped up in my head of the bananas in the blue and the light blue, let's be clear about it, and white pajamas, like that is such an iconic image. And like now you're taking me down like the wormhole of the shows that we used to watch. Like, and okay, iconography.

SPEAKER_05 13:47

Right. Also, I had of course, this is from 1993, so I don't recall all the lyrics, but I just want to let's spit the facts here. Those bananas are in pajamas, and they are coming down the stairs. The bananas and pajamas are coming down in pairs, only two. We don't need no more, just two. It's a couple costume. That's right. That's as much potassium, I'm assuming we should all be consuming on a daily basis. And then bananas and pajamas are chasing teddy bears. Don't bring no other animal, solely teddy bear.

SPEAKER_02 14:20

Corduroy.

SPEAKER_05 14:21

Corduroy. Paddington, are you in the room with us? And then it ends because on Tuesdays, they all try to catch them um unawares.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

This is serious.

SPEAKER_05 14:35

This is serious business. We stand on what?

SPEAKER_02 14:39

Business. I love that. No, but when you're talking about show jingles, I just want to say, because you what was the one that you sent to me recently? I think it was Arthur.

SPEAKER_05 14:50

Arthur.

SPEAKER_02 14:51

Hey, it's a wonderful kind of day where we can learn to laugh and play and get along with each other. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not getting into it. But the way she ate that up.

SPEAKER_05 15:05

That could shout out to that um that that creator.

SPEAKER_02 15:08

I'm gonna find it. I'll include it when in the compilation when when we're sharing this out. But that was those jingles were everything. I loved all that sort of stuff. I was thinking, I was singing the noodle uh song the other day. Noodle. Use your noodle from PB and J Honor. P BJ Honor. Yes. Okay. There's just so also I'll say this about the pop culture from the 90s, early 2000s. I feel like there was just such an organic way of imbuing like wisdom and parting wisdom and like lessons on the youth. I can't there are so many shows that I watch when I look back on it, I'm like, there was always some sort of lesson or experience or adventure included that was like really teaching your kids. Like, even when I think, of course, Sesame Street is like an obvious, but even when I think about Rugrats, like that show was about friendship and like taking care of your friends and growing and learning and experiencing new things, like it's through the perspective of babies. Like so I'm just saying, like, I think it was a pr a pretty ingenious way, like the way that our how pop culture spoke to its different audiences at every age level when you think about the content, the material that we were receiving. To me, there was like a lot of intentionality, and I don't know if like I experience pop culture in the same way nowadays, but I appreciate the way that I did growing up.

SPEAKER_05 16:31

Right. And I think it was it was a unique experience of its time because, like you said, even with commercials, the way that everything was structured, it was dosed in a manner that was consumable for for the masses then, but also kept you on your feet on a weekly basis. Now that we have the binge culture with all the streaming, like you don't necessarily get as much time to absorb, but also I feel like, and I'm guilty of it too. Like, after an episode airs of a show, a lot of people go to Reddit. So you don't necessarily like take the time to sit and go, yo, like what did I really enjoy about that, or what am I thinking? And like I think when it comes to like the most the the show The Pit, I'm like always ready to like jump into it because I'm like, I definitely miss something. I need someone to like flag this with this character.

SPEAKER_02 17:21

So Yeah, everyone keeps talking about the pit, and I'm like terrified only because I'm like, I know the show is medically accurate, and I don't know if I'm trying to see.

SPEAKER_05 17:33

Take your time with it, take your time with it.

SPEAKER_02 17:35

But I mean I prefer that it's brilliant. The clips that I've seen, I'm like floored like by the acting and the portrayal, like it just it seems like an incredible show. So I know that I I'm I'm always like a slow burn, like I'm just getting obsessed with Sex in the City. People are like, Dash. I'm like, girl, I guess I needed something within my age bracket. I don't know what to tell you. But I I'm currently enjoying Sex in the City. I'm over a decade late. Sorry.

SPEAKER_05 18:03

So let's let's let's continue on TV for a little bit, just because I think that that is definitely something that you and I, there's a lot of correlation. But I want I yeah, my question for you is was there a particular TV show or character that you resonated with in like your youth?

unknown 18:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 18:24

Or even till this day, like you just like look back and you're like, I remember the I remember that character, I remember what that show meant to me. I carry that with me. You know, what what did that what does that spark within you when you hear that?

SPEAKER_02 18:38

Ooh. There's a couple. I for some reason it's so interesting. I never would have thought that I was like a big cartoon person, but I keep thinking of just like different cartoons that were really beloved to me growing up, and maybe it's just like that was something I shared with my sister, and we're three and a half years apart, so I think the shows with like live people, we were probably watching different things because of our age difference, but cartoons gave us that that overlap. Um, and I feel like a big one for me was Rocket Power. I loved Reggie Rocket. Woody loved Reggie Rocket, and I loved Swinelli from Recess. Like I loved those sorts of I loved Recess, I loved Hey Arnold, like I loved those sorts of shows where it was just like rascal kids like who have their crew and like they they go on adventures and like there's always a young woman who like doesn't speak to the status quo. You know, I loved that. I loved wild thorn berries, like those that I loved the wild thorn berries, and what's a meeting come on, Johnny Come on, Donny, period.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

Come on, Johnny.

SPEAKER_05 19:52

The legend, the man that that boy is.

SPEAKER_02 19:55

I loved Darwin on that show, like I really like related to that energy, so I loved shows like that, but then I also really loved I really related to um Lizzie McGuire. I loved the Lizzie McGuire show. I loved like even Stevens, like those are the ones that come to mind, but I would say like terms of characters, I also really loved Sister Sister.

SPEAKER_05 20:18

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 20:19

And I think I really related to like each of the twins on a different day. Like I really loved seeing that portrayal of like young black women on television. Of course, that's so Raven. Like, those are like the shows that stick out. But the characters, if we're being specific, I would definitely say Reggie Rocket. Reggie Rocket was my number one.

SPEAKER_05 20:39

That's Reggie Rocket icon. That would be a great Halloween costume.

SPEAKER_02 20:44

It was a Halloween, I did do it as a Halloween costume, but it was like when I hosted a Halloween party, and you're too busy, like making sure everything's happening. I don't think I really got to enjoy that costume. I think I have to bring it back.

SPEAKER_05 20:57

I always what I love too was because, and this is all going to make a connection to my example that I'm gonna bring.

SPEAKER_02 21:04

Okay, tell me.

SPEAKER_05 21:05

Reggie Rocket always gave me Christina Vidal in Brink.

SPEAKER_02 21:13

I love Pup and Suds.

SPEAKER_05 21:15

That was like that's where I thought Reggie Rocket would like be in the future, and kind of like that. Was that older route, so to speak. Like, that's the trajectory that they were going. But Taina, a Nickelodeon.

SPEAKER_02 21:29

Oh my gosh, Taina. I think this is a great show.

SPEAKER_05 21:35

Would be sitting in my room, seeing her again, young girl who dreams of becoming a professional singer and actress in New York. And again, I gotta pull up these lyrics or the theme song for people to understand um just what this meant.

SPEAKER_04 21:51

Okay, we got Taena, Tyena. I know I can't wait to see my name. No one's gonna stop me. You'll see. I will go far. What's my name? Taegena. Tyena. I always had dreams of me being a star.

SPEAKER_02 22:15

Yes. Come on. No, but actually, the theme songs of our shows were also incredible. Just remember, sister sister. Sister sister. Okay. You never know how much I missed her. And now everybody sees her different. No, we had we had bops with those shows. That's so real. I love that you brought up Taina. That for some reason made me think of my cousin Skeeter. Do you remember my cousin Skeeter?

SPEAKER_03 22:52

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 22:54

That was a good show, too. There was just a lot of Jet Jackson was a show that I really, really loved that I feel like people forget. I really love Xenon of the 21st century. Okay. Boom, boom.

SPEAKER_05 23:06

Static shock? For those out there, static shock.

SPEAKER_02 23:10

Static shock. Johnny Tsunami was also one of my favorite cartoons. Cartoons. I loved Invader Zim. Invader Zim.

SPEAKER_05 23:20

Listen, Invader Zim, friends, listeners. If you have never seen Invader Zim, Gur. Gur, why is there bacon in the soap? I did it myself. Like, guys, you don't get such a stupid show. I was there. You know, for all those listening, I was a nerd. I was a nerd. Cartoons were my jive. So I was there.

SPEAKER_02 23:46

What was the one? Oh my gosh. I think it was.

SPEAKER_05 23:49

Danny Phantom.

SPEAKER_02 23:50

I loved Danny Phantom. That's not what I was thinking. Jimmy Neutron was the one I was thinking of. But I loved Danny Phantom. Which honestly, do you remember um Jake Long, American Dragon?

SPEAKER_05 24:03

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 24:04

Okay, I which came first? Danny Phantom, right?

SPEAKER_05 24:07

I think Danny Phantom. I'm gonna check, I'm gonna check my sources.

SPEAKER_02 24:11

In my head, and if that's come on, check the sources. Because I was gonna say, I feel like Danny Phantom walked so that Jake Long could run. I feel like Danny Phantom was like the first, for me at least, if we're talking about like cartoon crushes, Danny Phantom was a crush for me for sure.

SPEAKER_05 24:29

So Danny Phantom released in 2004, and Jake Long, I think, was a little later. I feel like it was later 2000. Well, it was a year later, actually. It was a year later.

SPEAKER_02 24:40

Okay. Look at our.

SPEAKER_05 24:41

Because Danny Phantom was Nickelodeon, Jake Long was Disney Channel.

SPEAKER_02 24:45

Maybe that's what it is. I'm like, I'm I feel like they were making like the cute cartoon young teenagers with a superpower. Like, you know, like they always like had an equivalent. Oh my gosh, you know what? I just realized I forgot to mention. Tell me. There's two of them. Dexter's Laboratory. Dexter's Laboratory.

SPEAKER_05 25:04

I got you in a second, you go.

SPEAKER_02 25:11

You ate that. Dexter's Laboratory. And the other one is the Powerpuff Girls.

SPEAKER_05 25:23

Listen, Bubbles hardcore could take all of them out in a minute. Because listen, you come at her wrong. You know how those pigtails are facing down? It's like a cat. When they go up, she was up.

SPEAKER_02 25:35

I'm screaming.

SPEAKER_05 25:36

It was on site. Because when they play tag that one episode.

SPEAKER_02 25:40

Oh my gosh. She that's the thing, though. Because she was so innocent when she would actually get really mad, it was like actually terrifying. And then she would shrink back and be like, and it's like, I'm gonna walk away. That's the one to be to be careful about, okay? That's the one you should be most concerned with, is bubbles.

SPEAKER_05 26:00

Did you ever see that the CW was planning on doing like a live action?

SPEAKER_02 26:04

What do you think of that? What do you think of that when they do that?

SPEAKER_05 26:09

I was What's the reaction? I was sitting there like, you could try. And but honestly, I was rooting for my girl Dove Cameron. Because they had Dove playing bubbles.

SPEAKER_02 26:21

Now Dove.

SPEAKER_05 26:22

And I just think that it would have worked. But they were like, it's too risque.

SPEAKER_02 26:27

I just like, you know what? That's actually a show where I think like if you were camp with it, you actually could eat up a live action of it. But people would have to understand, like, this is not intended to be PG, like it's intended to kind of be an homage to like these characters. Because I do think Dev Camera would be an excellent bubbles. Who do you think would be Blossom and Buttercup?

SPEAKER_05 26:49

They had the cast. They because there was like a trailer or something release of the show. I can send it to you.

SPEAKER_02 26:56

Is her name Rachel Zegler?

SPEAKER_05 26:58

No.

SPEAKER_02 27:00

No, no, no. I don't think so. This would be like me. Who's the girl who did Snow White and like got in trouble because she was that's Rachel Zegler? That's what I'm thinking of.

SPEAKER_05 27:08

Like for like Oh, I thought you were talking about for if they casted her, I was like, nah.

SPEAKER_02 27:12

Not as Blossom, but maybe as Buttercup. I don't know enough about her. It was just her look. I was just, you know what it was? In my head, I was like, she would look good in a bob.

SPEAKER_05 27:22

Activate that bob.

SPEAKER_02 27:26

Um but yeah, it's interesting with live actions. I feel like sometimes they work. I have like mixed feelings because I feel like we're now existing in an era where companies that were beloved to us growing, like let's take Disney, for example. There's so many live action remakes that are being made of every single movie, and there's a part of me that understands, like, okay, this is your way of trying to like refresh and renew this for this generation. But at the same time, like, I also feel like I don't know, like, the classics are are incredible, and sometimes things don't need to be remade. So I think it's it's hit or miss for me sometimes, is what I will say. But I do think like I do think the Powerpuff Girls could be camp. It just depends. I feel like the right person would need to come up with the idea to create that, but I'd be open to it. I'd be open to it.

SPEAKER_05 28:19

Camp is a very strong approach when you think back and you think about the audience that it captivated, the fan base that's still there, and then also just like a lot of queer people resonating with that show, and like camp is one thing that we enjoy about these shows and how it's incorporated, like the character him, or like the mayor's assistant that you never saw her face, but body tea, hair lace. Yes, but actually face missing, face missing, but everything else is true though.

SPEAKER_02 28:54

There are so many characters in that show that I think were really just like enjoyable um to like watch and that were a little bit out of the box, you know, cartoons kind of gave me permission.

SPEAKER_05 29:08

One show that I don't understand why I was like living for it, but I would be jumping off my couch in my house, getting yelled at, rolling on the floor, thinking that I was the most active person in the world, Jackie Chan eventually.

SPEAKER_02 29:22

Oh my gosh, Jackie Chan. Oh my gosh. Because good. I love Jackie Chan.

SPEAKER_05 29:29

I'm out there thinking I'm a go-find talisman, rolling around, breathing fire. It was, and the niece Jade, she was that she she she deserved her own.

SPEAKER_02 29:40

You know what's so interesting too is like, I don't know if you felt like this as a kid. I I still do this sometimes. If I like watch a a really good movie, I like leave the movie theater thinking like this is like I can do this. Like X-Men, I'll leave it. I'm like, what about if I have powers? I'm like, I start like imagining like if I were an X-Men, like what what would I be doing? If I were a Power Ranger, what would I be doing? If I was like Jackie Jan. I'm like, I the problem is I think I can do this.

SPEAKER_05 30:11

You think you can do these things, Nemo?

SPEAKER_02 30:14

Oh my gosh! Finding Nemo. Now that is also a movie that stands the test of time that is a classic, I would say, part of my pop culture zeigeist, for sure. For sure. Lilo and Stitch for you, I would say.

SPEAKER_05 30:31

Stop. Don't even get me started.

SPEAKER_02 30:33

I knew I would get you with that.

SPEAKER_05 30:35

I just, y'all, okay, we're gonna be honest. We're gonna be honest. That live action film.

SPEAKER_02 30:40

Oh my gosh. I want to see it.

SPEAKER_05 30:43

What we're gonna do.

SPEAKER_02 30:44

I didn't see it.

SPEAKER_05 30:45

And controversial yet brave. Maybe some agree. Maybe some were like, it wasn't for you. It was for me. Okay, it was supposed to be for me. No, it wasn't for me. It was supposed to be for me. And sorry, let me let me redefine. It was not the T. Okay. It was supposed to be, but it was supposed to be. Shout out, shout out to the the actress that was there. She she held Lilo down. Um there was no need for Nani to have left the sister. I I I think one of my favorite comments. Would you like me to spoil it for you, or do you would you would you like to watch it?

SPEAKER_02 31:27

I'm not gonna watch it. I'm and I'm I I'm not gonna watch it because I don't think that Lilo should have been turned to some sort of AI character. I like I not Lilo, excuse me, Stitch. I don't want Stitch to be turned into some sort of like creature character. I I like Stitch as a cartoon.

SPEAKER_05 31:44

It's the decision in the original film, the family stays together. Uh Jumba, pleakly, they're all there.

SPEAKER_02 31:53

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 31:53

It's a family, they build the family.

SPEAKER_02 31:55

Yes, Ohana means family, family. And nobody gets left behind.

SPEAKER_05 31:59

We're here we are in the next in this remake, and Nani gets to go to college. I respect that. She should have the choice to do that. However, we could figure there are some programs nearby, she all could have been together. And then they made Jumba a villain. And I was like, We didn't need that. Because if you were sitting in that writing room and you said that the difference in this film is that we're gonna take the community away, and we're gonna make the villain stay. No.

SPEAKER_02 32:32

That wouldn't read over well with audiences. Who was the first screening audiences? Why would they go with that sort of ending?

SPEAKER_05 32:38

It wasn't me, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_02 32:41

It wasn't a true fan, and that's it wasn't a true fan.

SPEAKER_05 32:44

And you know what? People listening, if you disagree, I get it. Solely an opinion. This is just coming from someone who loves that show, that movie so much, and it's just like I bet even Pudge the Fish was pissed off. Because I think he made one small cameo. You know what I mean? Like that's an iconic monologue.

SPEAKER_02 33:04

To this day, I still like like to think that fish eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because of the.

SPEAKER_05 33:12

Pudge controls the weather. Also, let's talk about how Lilo Molly Whopped the hell out of that other girl.

SPEAKER_02 33:21

Okay, yes. Is that in the film?

SPEAKER_05 33:23

Don't be talking about my mama. Don't be talking about my family.

SPEAKER_02 33:28

I might watch it just for that.

SPEAKER_05 33:30

That scene.

SPEAKER_02 33:31

It sounds like it's a bit more of a dramedy than a comedy.

SPEAKER_05 33:35

No, but I'm just talking about like in general. Because like in the in the film, you know, what's her name? Myrtle.

SPEAKER_02 33:41

Myrtle. I think her name is Myrtle.

SPEAKER_05 33:43

It was Myrtle with the orange hair.

SPEAKER_02 33:45

I'm screaming.

SPEAKER_05 33:46

Again, we don't condone violence, but don't be talking on anybody's mama like that.

SPEAKER_02 33:50

Maybe one day I'll watch it, but I have trouble watching live actions that like include animals. Like Lion King.

SPEAKER_05 33:56

Lion King was rough. I was like, I don't need to see this live action one.

SPEAKER_02 34:05

Like, we didn't have I want to see the animals stacked on top of each other, and I just can't wait to be king. I know it's not realistic. Like, that's the whole idea. It's not realistic that there are animals in the safari singing to me, like to begin with. Like the whole story is not based in reality. I don't think so.

SPEAKER_04 34:22

She wants to be the main event that King was before.

SPEAKER_01 34:27

Yes. Yes. And and that's not.

SPEAKER_05 34:30

Is that so much to ask for?

SPEAKER_02 34:31

Is that so much to ask to have my giraffe stacked on top of my hippopotamus at the watering hole? Like, that's what I'm looking for. That's what I'm looking for.

SPEAKER_05 34:40

It just, you know, you go back, and I think there's something with, and I feel like a lot with the Disney Company, they're still doing animated films. There's the incorporation with the Pixar Company. There's a lot of stories that are being retold.

SPEAKER_02 34:55

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 34:56

And there's not anything unique to them. And it's just like that's what I'm saying. The audience wants something refreshing, something new. Like, honestly, and we both watched this one together, Luca. Yeah, Luca is so beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 35:09

They do have some original stories, but they do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 35:13

But I do think like before if you're gonna take years to write a film and you're just going to copy and paste from a film that happened in the last six years.

SPEAKER_02 35:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 35:25

Don't don't riddle me, dumb. I see that. But since we're talking a little bit about reboots, I think one thing that, you know, definitely hot buzzing topic for the world is this Harry Potter reboot.

SPEAKER_02 35:36

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_05 35:37

You know? Where people stand on that? Drop it in the comments. And in the comments when the episode's released, drop it in the comments.

SPEAKER_02 35:47

Because truly the seriously genuinely though, I do want people like I would love to see a discourse on.

SPEAKER_05 35:52

Because the energy is the energy is like les boycott, or am I still watching energy that we have out there? And so, you know, how are you feeling? I know like like many of us, we all grew up watching the series, reading the books, but like, yeah, where what are you seeing? How are you like sitting with kind of this what's coming out in the universe?

SPEAKER_02 36:13

I'm still proudly proclaim myself to be a potter head. It's an interesting, like many things that like don't age well, you know. I think it's ironic that in this case it's not the story, but it's the creator of the story. I think like Harry Potter has created such a life of its own outside of J.K. Rowling, who I also call she who must not be named, because she's the true Voltimore of this story. I feel like so much has existed outside of her that I can look at the books and I can look at the original movies and still hold a lot of love for them. However, none of my dollars in 2026, actually, it's been a while since before 2026, are going towards anything that woman is involved in. And also, when the show came out, when I even saw that they were creating a show and casting for a show, I was actually really annoyed. I was just like, we don't need that. We don't. Like, I think it's like costing like over a billion dollars at this point to actually produce that show, create that show. There's a part of me that's like to what you were saying before, where are the original stories? Like, there's brilliant new talent in the world. We have all these streaming platforms that like are constantly over like indulging us with content, and you're giving us something that we already have access to enjoy in so many different facets and mediums. The original movies still stand the test of time. I don't think those stories even work well in a show format. I'm like, I'm not sitting down every week to like watch like this story, but also I'm just like I feel like J.K. Rowling is a person that we can all the audience that like Harry Potter speaks to, in my head, I'm like, who is making this decision? Because I think it's pretty evident that people who are fans of Harry Potter are not fans of JK. Like, I think that's become pretty clear over the last few years that not only are the people who watch who are fans of Harry Potter, but the people who've been involved in Harry Potter. Daniel Radcliffe doesn't associate himself with J.K. Rowling. He doesn't come out in defense of trans people, in defense of LGBTQ people from the jump. You have characters who are part of the community. You know, like there's just there's so much that's like incongruent with even having making a decision to remake Harry Potter at all that I'm confused that it was Greenlit. And I'm like, it's not, is this supposed to be a distraction? I don't understand the strategy of it. I will tell you this every time the commercials come on, I skip it. Like I just have no interest. I feel pretty apathetic towards it in general. And it's just like it's one of those things that's unfortunate because I think that Harry Potter is such a beloved story, just overall. And it's not about I I've seen a lot of people like dragging, like, oh, it's not even original, and JK's not even original. Like for me, I'm not gonna like minimize what Harry Potter meant to me in my life, or the ways that I love the characters, or you know, how the stories like influenced me. I'm not doing that because it was such a special and significant part of my life, and I don't think I don't think it's a bad story, it's unoriginal, or even JK's a bad writer. I think she's a bad person.

SPEAKER_05 39:40

I think it's in use to hold. I'm trying to think, you know, for me, it's like when you've read the first book, or if you like waiting outside the bookstore to get it, like I share these memories with like one of my like aunts who would like go to the movie with me every year it was released, and like what that meant to us in the community and the relationship that we built. And then realizing this whole time, like the creator of this world and the these messages and these intentions turns out to be just as evil as Voldemort. And you're just like the message was lost along the way, lost in translation. Fame became too much, which is insane. The proximity and the distance from where they were because I think I think recently we when we were in Portugal, I think there was a local bookstore or shop that's like claim to fame, like where she wrote the early stages of the passage.

SPEAKER_02 40:38

On the back of Napkins, this woman was I remember going, they had like a gallery years ago in New York. It was a pop-up all about Harry Potter. This woman, that's the craziest thing, too. Like, you you come from humble beginnings. Like you were a single mother struggling, writing this story on the back of napkins. You were given this incredible gift to share this story with the world that impacted a generation of children, a generation of people, you know, because it included their parents as well. And to turn around, and I feel like the first word that came into my head is besmirch, but it's true. Besmirch, your legacy, besmirch, your legacy. I'm like smirch, besmirch. But I'm like, why would you do that? Like, this is such a blessing that you were given uh given and you gave the world, and you've turned around and you're constantly just I just the things that she says to me are so inhumane, and it shocks me because I'm like, how could you write a story like this that's celebrated so much of the humanity between people, between friends, between mentors, between adults and children, between brothers, sisters, and then you turn around and you're talking about your fellow human beings as though they're just like things.

SPEAKER_05 41:58

I think you say as you say that too, I'm like, I think about it's confusing. You know, where she may have been at the time, desperately wanting to be heard and creating this story that held all this meaning and beauty at times, you know, with with the themes around it. And then when someone is heard and they have the platform, they just truly go off the rails. And what they find what they they find, I've been watching too many Dairy Girls. Another show that we have to come back to and talk through Dairy Girls, just realizing that their voice is so loud now, and that whatever they feel comfortable saying, they're going to. And so that dichotomy of like, I'm not being listened to, I'm not being respected, I'm not being appreciated. So, like, well, now that I'm here, you're gonna hear everything I have to say. It's like, actually.

SPEAKER_02 42:53

Yeah, actually, babes. I'm not sure I'm I'm doubting it.

SPEAKER_05 42:58

I don't think it's happening for me. So, with that, um, I think I think we'll we'll definitely nip that one for her. We don't need to give her any more air time. We don't, but yeah, that root the reboots coming out, so you watch it, you don't watch it. Um, there's also other great shows out there. There's also original content out there, yeah, such as the Dairy Girls um available on Netflix.

SPEAKER_02 43:20

Is that with Nicola from from Bridgerton?

SPEAKER_05 43:24

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 43:25

Claire. Watch that show. I love that you brought up Zairy Girls though, because it really does. There's a lot of shows that I think, like international shows, that I also really, really enjoy. There was this show, um, Misfits. Have you ever heard of Misfits?

SPEAKER_03 43:41

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 43:41

That was such an excellent show. I think it was English, but also sex education.

SPEAKER_05 43:47

Skins, if you ever saw Skins.

SPEAKER_02 43:49

Okay, now, okay, getting a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a skin's indeed.

SPEAKER_05 43:54

Skins, and then also Elite, Elite on Netflix, girl, them, them high school students. Doing too much.

SPEAKER_02 44:01

I continued watching that show, but I have to pay attention to subtitles, and I just didn't have the patience. But but it did look like it was a sexy show. Okay. I liked that. I think that's a good show. I also really loved Money Heist. Do you remember?

SPEAKER_05 44:16

Okay, I I didn't watch that one.

SPEAKER_02 44:18

I think you would like Money Heist. That was a great I didn't finish.

SPEAKER_05 44:23

Because the subtitles?

SPEAKER_02 44:25

No. That's what was compelling enough for me to keep watching with the subtitles. It just got to a point where it's like you there are some shows where like you have to keep investing in the story till the end because it's about a group of people who like steal from a bank. But it's it's more compelling that the reasons they're stealing from it, there's like a mastermind behind you know why they're stealing from it. It's like for justice. They're kind of like a Robin Hood group. But then each season the story builds up. And I think by the time they got to the last season, I was like, I get it. I get it. I get what's happening.

SPEAKER_05 45:00

We're doing some things here. We're doing some things.

SPEAKER_02 45:03

Excellent storytelling, and it definitely has some hot, like smoky scenes for sure. But to your point, like there really is a lot of new original content and so many shows. There is so much on TV. There is so much on streaming devices, there is so much to explore. I'm always trying to find shows that are really just like not American shows, because it's like also storytelling is done so differently across the world. And so it's so poignant or poetic, like the way other people tell stories.

SPEAKER_05 45:35

And as you mentioned, there are so many things that are available on TV or streaming, and one of those things is wicked part two.

SPEAKER_02 45:42

Oh, that's right.

SPEAKER_05 45:44

And so, you know, we want to take a few minutes, you know, shout out to the cast.

SPEAKER_02 45:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 45:49

Y'all, y'all did the part two. You did it. Um, and I just want to take a minute for us all for all the musical theater, you know, heads out there. We all know what act two is in that show.

SPEAKER_02 46:06

Okay. It's a struggle bus.

SPEAKER_05 46:09

It's a it's the beats, low beats, low beats.

SPEAKER_02 46:14

You know, we have low five beats.

SPEAKER_05 46:16

Low five beats. There's just and this is from someone who like I read the book, yeah, and I know that they really did not again, these are two different adaptations.

SPEAKER_02 46:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 46:28

But if you needed to find something to fill in the gap, you have a book that you maybe could pull some things from. That's very maybe not the, you know, how do I put that word?

SPEAKER_02 46:43

I was gonna say that book is very intense.

SPEAKER_05 46:46

And it's very intense. So there, you know, you gotta be choose wisely what you pick in.

SPEAKER_02 46:50

But I just understated. That's like a very political, it's very positive, you know.

SPEAKER_05 46:56

And again, not the musical touches on it, they don't go so so ham on in that aspect. Yeah, but you mean to tell me the best songs we could come up with is the girl in the bubble.

SPEAKER_01 47:08

You are bright shiny. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 47:11

I don't know if you did some throat coat before hopping on the mic.

SPEAKER_05 47:14

I did do throat cooler. Shout out to my girls at Celestial Seasonings.

SPEAKER_02 47:18

Because the the the vocal chakra, the throat chakra is clear, okay?

SPEAKER_05 47:22

The way you surprisingly, because the back of my neck is killing me from the roller coasters.

SPEAKER_02 47:27

We are polar opposites today. I'm out here and you're out here. I agree with you though. I I do agree that I feel like I don't know what it was about the second one. I think we talked about this before, like after like because we saw it together. And I feel like in the moment, watching it in real time, because I am a fan of the show, I was able to enjoy it. But it definitely felt like they were almost like filling in screen time that wasn't necessary. Like, I I feel like the way they decided to portray the story was like they were trying to create character development, but they weren't actually delivering on it, you know, like with the additional context they gave us. Like the girl in the bubble, even the film that excuse me, the scene itself was not new information. Like, we already knew that Glinda like pretends she has magic, like that she's right. We already know that she's spoiled. We already know that like her her biggest wish is to be magical. You know, like it was like you're not giving us any new information. I almost wish like that scene was more about the fact that like maybe there's a pressure that she constantly feels you know to live up to a certain ideal because of the You're referring to the flashback of her as a child. Yes. When she's at the party and she's like she gets a gift and it's a wand.

SPEAKER_05 48:56

It's a wand. What can that wand do? Not a dang thing. So what does she do? She lies.

SPEAKER_02 49:02

She lies.

SPEAKER_05 49:03

She tells the children there's a rainbow.

SPEAKER_02 49:05

Yes, and that she's the one who did it. And I'm like, so Glinda's always been trash. Right.

SPEAKER_05 49:12

Me being color deficient, being like, I see it, I swear. I swear it's out there.

SPEAKER_01 49:19

I really, that just made me so sad to think of there are rainbows out there as a gay man you're missing out on because you're colorblind.

SPEAKER_05 49:27

I can see them. There's just a deficient.

SPEAKER_02 49:30

What about the one behind you?

SPEAKER_05 49:31

Girl.

SPEAKER_02 49:32

What about the one behind you?

SPEAKER_05 49:35

That's a rainbow.

SPEAKER_02 49:36

You said no, but I but I do think like there were things that were lacking in in the second one. And I don't know, it just didn't carry the same magic as the first one. I think also the tone of Wicked Part 2 is more serious and more political. I would love, though, this is just like, I guess, a hot take on hot topics. I would love for them to do an actual true rendition of the book. Kind of like the way that we see. Like when I think of Cinderella, when I think of Into the Woods, like, I think of like how the Brothers Grim stories were actually a lot darker, like those stories. And we don't really have depictions of that unless it's like turned into like a horror film or a camp film. But I actually think the wicked stories like the true book would be really interesting to see how that would be portrayed. And I wonder if that would make part two. I think there's a lot that gets left out in part two because it's really a more political, darker twist of the story, and they were trying to make it more lighthearted, and you can't blend those things like that.

SPEAKER_05 50:44

Right. You want to be make it digestible for the family to entertain, but you know, you really can't do like the Osdust Ballroom is not just the club. Let's just say that. All right.

SPEAKER_02 50:54

Okay. We're not out here doing hand performance.

SPEAKER_05 50:58

Right. It's on the corner. That club is on the corner of bumping and humping, and that ain't it. That's bumping avenue and humping street.

SPEAKER_02 51:08

Okay, just to be clear, if anybody, if you just need to put that in your GPS.

SPEAKER_05 51:12

Yeah, so when you look at the Oz map, look for those cross streets, and it's right there on that corner. Right there on the corner. Let's go, Greenie!

SPEAKER_02 51:26

I actually really did love that line, and I did love that. That's a perfect example of like a moment that I loved, but just was like misplaced for what this story of part two is. It's like this but bye dodo. Bye dodo.

SPEAKER_05 51:41

That whole like 40 seconds.

SPEAKER_02 51:44

It's all improved hilarious. And it's great. It just like it would probably feel better if we didn't know that they were going to like get Fiero and burn him alive. Like, you know, like it's just in that time frame.

SPEAKER_05 51:59

You know, boys out there getting roasted and toasted and about to be turned into kettle corn.

SPEAKER_01 52:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 52:04

And these two are swinging wands and baton lines.

SPEAKER_01 52:08

Come here, greedy. Like, you know.

SPEAKER_05 52:11

I think my another great delivery line in that film. Her sister. So we're not just gonna talk about that. You responsible for her sister for getting smashed by the house?

SPEAKER_02 52:24

You always speak that up. She didn't even listen. I think at that point, you know, Alphabet was too busy getting down in her cardigan.

SPEAKER_05 52:37

She said, kiss me. Listen, listen. Sixpence none the wiser, none the richer. I always get the song, I always get the group wrong, but that takes me to our next, you know, topic here.

SPEAKER_02 52:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 52:57

Dating. Dating.

SPEAKER_02 52:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 53:00

First of all, you like that pivot?

SPEAKER_02 53:02

Yeah, I like that pungent. I really do love the way you're taking us on pivots. I love that. You are being really smooth with it. I'll give you that, first of all. Your face right now is taking me on. I do. I do love the way that you're inviting us to each top to each hot topic. And I will say, like, I do think Elfa Bun Fiero, that that is quite a match that I'm rooting for. And I know people be hating on that yarn Snuggie that she was up in there making love in. But I was here for it. My girl, this is she's a first timer, okay? And she's with the man that is gentle and sweet and communicative, and that's exactly what we're looking for.

SPEAKER_05 53:43

Now, right. Because you know, up in up in Oz, they they're not dealing with the same dating app fatigue that's going on and the current. There it is.

SPEAKER_01 53:51

There it is.

SPEAKER_05 53:54

She said, I found a man. Now, is that man kind of you know doing something with a little friend here? Sure.

SPEAKER_02 54:03

Now that's a different story. So dating, so what I'm hearing is dating is also trash and odds. That's what I said. That's the pivot.

SPEAKER_05 54:12

Whether you read the book or if you watch the movie, dating in that realm, kind of messy. Because here you got what's his name? Bach out here in love with Glinda, but then you got Nessa Rose being like, I see you, and he goes, Ann.

SPEAKER_02 54:29

What did she call what was the what was the mistake name that she calls Bach?

SPEAKER_03 54:34

Vick.

SPEAKER_02 54:36

Okay, but I do want to I do want to switch gears as we're talking about, even though like I do think that was a great pivot because it really is kind of like the complicated nature of romance and relationships in Wicked is actually pretty reflective of what the mess that people deal with in the modern day, I would say.

SPEAKER_05 54:55

Right. Well, we think about the three R's. We got um romance, relationships, and resourcefulness. Oh. And how we're using our resources to try to find romance to end up in a relationship, but those R's ain't linking up.

SPEAKER_02 55:11

Girl, because I was about to say everything you said right now was a maze to me. I'm like, where am I going to get what? For where? For who? What?

SPEAKER_05 55:21

We got the dating apps that were like the prominent resource for you know testing the waters, figuring things out.

SPEAKER_02 55:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 55:28

And then, like you said, I we were talking about it, you know, people are like actively deleting the apps, where the whole approach to now meeting organically being actually realistic. I think it it hits as we talk about this. I also think about not just dating, the realm of dating, but also when you are moving to a new community, a new environment, and testing out new relationships or trying to meet new people. Yeah. Like there's this big gap, so to speak, about like how does this happen organically? Is it realistic? And yes, but it just takes so much effort. And I think the effort piece is where a lot of people are getting caught up on are these people ready to match my energy? There are people out there that probably want to match your freak, if you remember that song. However, if you are trying to date, that was why. I came with you laughing.

SPEAKER_01 56:27

That was so wild. I'm so sorry. You caught me off guard with that one.

SPEAKER_02 56:31

I was like, damn. Well, it's interesting, like listening to you, because I feel like, first of all, having two different perspectives here, like you're a boot up, you've been booed up for a minute, you have a wonderful.

SPEAKER_05 56:45

Come on, LMA, because I'm boot up.

SPEAKER_02 56:47

I'm screaming, baby bad. But you have, you've been in a wonderful relationship, a wonderful partnership. I'm single. I've gone through the world of dating, dating apps, and also meeting people organically. Like, I feel fortunate actually, like earlier on, like dating apps, like when I was entering the world of dating, was not like it existed. Like you had like okay, Cupid, you had like those sorts of things, but it was still considered kind of like a last resort. Like when I was like in my early teens, early 20s, like for day that was not something in my head, like that was not how I was meeting people. It was like for me, like my dream, even now, my dream scenario, ideal scenario, was like at the time in my early 20s, it's like, okay, like where I work, there are people around the same age as me. I meet someone, I hit it off, like we start dating or something like that. Or you meet someone at like an outing or at a party. Like, that was the vibe on how you met people, like you actually were socializing with them. And it's interesting because I've never been like a dating app person. Like, I've tried it several times. Like, I think that I've always been a more in-person, one-to-one sort of person. And I've had to learn that dating apps are basically like you talk a little bit here and you determine if that person is worth your time, like on the first date. For me, I would have trouble because I'm like, I'm not going on a date with you if I'm not if the conversation is stale. Like, why would I do that? So, like, I had so much like dating apps for me, have always kind of been like a mm-hmm like I'll go there like if I'm really not finding connection in person. But I'm curious about how like you feel about dating apps because I feel like your experience also kind of varies with dating apps or like meeting in person. Like, what do you what do you think of dating apps?

SPEAKER_05 58:34

Yeah, I mean, like, from my experience on them, I think they were they were very helpful. But I think what I learned early on is that the attention and the proximity, or like the dichotomy of early stages, if you were trying to do online dating, there was such a stigma of like why you're you're having you're having to use that. Damn, you really can't get yourself anybody.

SPEAKER_02 59:03

It was really it was last short, desperate measures.

SPEAKER_05 59:06

Also, as like a queer person in what like 2013, 2014 at that time, really starting to date, there was still uh a comfort within myself trying to figure out what it is that I'm looking for. Like, honestly, I didn't start dating until I was like 21 because I had goals in life. I said, I'm trying to I'm trying to graduate, I'm just and more from the sense that like I felt like if I tried to incorporate dating early on, that I would get lost in it. And like there I had a goal going to school, like I wanted to be out in four years. There was a lot of the pressure from family and things of you moved cross country or you moved across states to go to school, you're gonna be out in four, you really can't have anything disrupt that. So unfortunately, dating for me was perceived as a disruptor.

SPEAKER_02 59:59

Okay, but you usually be.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:06

Listen, that's for another story. That's for another story. Okay, that's another time. Listen, but I was not dating. Let it be known.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:24

No, but I do I agree with you though. I kind of I I agree in the sense that I had that same sort of I feel like we were similar in that way. Like we had goals to meet and ambitions to meet, and I think we came from families where like we had something to prove to ourselves and also to like the people around us, and and I think that that was also I wasn't prioritizing dating in that way. And so I do think when I got around to it, it was interesting how dating apps had kind of shifted into like a more normal, a more normal part of like engaging with people. Like that was that was an adjustment for me, I will say.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:03

Right. I will say also for me dating, and as I was experiencing it, I got very I and we've talked about it as we grew up together, just I was very um selective about people who I wanted to be then like interacting with my inner circle.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:26

I feel like that's like an unspoken like an unspoken rule, and I don't mean that in a territorial way, and it of course like everything is always circumstantial and contextual, because you have like people who started out as friends in a friend group and then they come to like each other and start dating, so they just so happen to have the same group of friends. Like, we're not talking about that, but like there are some times where like it's pretty distinctive that like I I think one of my biggest pet peeves, I'll just say, is like dating someone who actually like doesn't have a life of their own or doesn't have friends of their own. Like, I'm I'm not looking to be anybody's savior. I hate when people are like, we're two halves of a hole. No, no, like, and I don't even think of people that way. Like, you're your own person, you have your interests, you have your friends, you have your family. Same thing for me. And like, if organically like we meet that point, those things will intertwine, those things will become a mess. But like, I'm not immediately when I'm dating someone, like you are now like part of my friends, and you are now integrated into everything I do, and like we do everything together. I've never I've never been that way.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:41

Right. I think I I'm glad you brought that up too, because like I've noticed or I've learned, I've seen the growth in myself where that notion though of like I don't want to share my friends like with those that I'm dating has evolved the more the more I've established in my relationship. It's not something that's going to happen night and day, but you know, if we're spending years together and the relationship is growing, of course that's going to happen organically. But I I don't want people to assume that just because now that you're in my orbit, that everything that I circulate around or circulates around me is innately yours. Because I don't want to lose my sense of self even though that relationship is there, as if I would not want you or that person to lose any of that, because there are individual goals that you should want to attain. There should be things that bring spark joy to you that may not do the same for me, but I'm going to support you in them, make sure that you get to do them. But you don't always have to be codependent. And I think that just like as you're maturing and growing, and I think a lot of that also came during COVID, because if you were dating during COVID and I was about to say the amount of like breakups and divorces that occurred during COVID because people actually, and this is not to be a downer, because I think to your point, the opposite was like people really got to know their partners, really got to know their girlfriends, their boyfriends, their roommates.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:11

Like when you're stuck with people, there's a different way that you have to engage with them. And I think the pandemic really it's one thing for you to have a choice to be with someone. It's another thing when you when you just like that's taken away from you, and you just have to be with that person and you have to learn to understand them. And I think a lot of people realize maybe we weren't having the conversations that we should have been having in terms of determining whether we complement each other, whether there's compatibility. I think that's a huge thing with dating apps that has like that makes things challenging is understanding the distinctions between chemistry and compatibility. And I think that meeting, that's what I enjoy the most about meeting somebody in person or meeting someone organically is I love the idea of figuring out I'm attracted to someone because of the conversation I'm having with them. Not like, of course, like I am a I'm able-bodied in the way that I can see, you know, so I have that, and I'm not gonna sit here and pretend like I'm not taking in what someone looks like, and that's not a determining factor in like what makes me attracted to them. But I will say, like, if someone is not a good conversationalist, or if someone turns out to have a stank like personality, you become kind of ugly to me. Like, I kind of that's like kind of how I operate, and so I feel like I always have trouble with with dating apps because I just feel like it's hard to like understand someone's personality sometimes through like those chats or even like someone's profile. I try to capture myself, like you've seen my my dating profile on Hinge, which is which is no shout out to my boy John And it wasn't even like a giving up thing. I was just like, I'm not really. I think like when I went on a dating app, for me it was more about how do I exercise this muscle again because I've been single for such a while. And honestly, like people, someone said to me recently at work, they were like, I'm so surprised you're not in a relationship. Like, I feel like you there's something about your personality and who you are. I could just definitely see you in a relationship. And and all I said was, Oh, really? Wow. She said, Wow. I was like, Yeah, like I mean, I don't know, I don't know what to say to that. Like, I don't really know how to respond to that. But also, it's like I I love the idea of being a partner to someone I'm not afraid of. And you know this about me. Like, I'm not afraid of commitment. I'm not afraid of being in a relationship. I've been in wonderful relationships before, but I'm also not the sort of person who I think I've just reached a point in my life where I'm just not gonna settle for any bullshit. And I'm and I would rather operate in my own happiness and my own contentment, you know, in and bask in the love that I receive from so many different channels than turn around and settle when I know someone is not celebrating or bringing out the best in me, you know? And I feel like the worst thing you can do is be in a relationship where you still feel alone because you're not actually happy in it, you know. So I think sometimes I think we're reaching a point in society where people are more willing to make that trade-off than settle for something that's just like the bare minimum, which seems to be, you know, we spoke about this in another episode, so y'all can go back and listen to it.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:40

Jump back to that episode. We'll you know, touch points here. But no, I think also with the dating apps, too. It's like I think what I hear from peers that are on the apps, it's like the it doesn't feel as genuine, or sometimes when you finally get off of the app, and maybe you're texting, or when you get to actually meet physically in person, there's like nothing in the eyes of that person when they meet them, and there's not substance. And I'm like, damn.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:13

It's scary.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:14

But two, it's also just like we have now immersed ourselves in a culture where like you can be really good behind the technology and engaging with people, but when the phone's down and I look you in the eyes, and I'm like, what is your biggest aspiration in life? Granted, you know, we're not going that grand, but it's also like if I ask you what are some of your hobbies and what does it mean to you, yeah, and you say, like, I do this thing. Like if it if it just continues to feel like a closed-ended question or like they can't answer an open-ended question, then it's not even and it's not even looking at the. In the words of Whoopi Goldberg and Ghost, Molly, you endanger girl.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:58

You endanger girl. But I think you bring up a good point because I think that I think at first, because I I will say to play devil's advocate, I know for some people they do like dating apps because it gets rid of like the anxiety they feel of like getting to know a person if if they are more introverted, if like just some people are not like gregarious and like able to just hold conversation, and it's an easier way for them to showcase who they are or to talk about a topic of interest to them and really you know engage with the person. So I know that for some people dating apps actually break the ice or like help with their nerves, and I totally get that. And I think like if it's something that feels like it actually makes dating feel more accessible and it makes it feel just more grounding for you, I'm all for it. On the flip side, I do also feel like dating apps have really made people lazy conversationalists, you know, and I think even it's it's not even just what you're talking about, but the proximity of time that's you know being spent on holding a conversation or when is this person gonna respond? Like, because you're not beholden to each other in any way, it's like you can ask a question and you're getting an answer a few days later, you know, and I'm I'm guilty of that too, you know, because I don't prioritize dating apps in that way, versus if I hit it off with a person, you know, at the bar and we're having a great conversation, and I really like, even if it's just on this one topic, we could be talking about travel. But if there's some sort of like relatability there, the likelihood is like I'm gonna want to talk to you again if there's a spark. And I feel like with dating apps, like it's much harder to create that or find that. You know, it's like a needle in a haystack. It works for some people, but it's now it's not the new thing, it's not a novelty thing. You know, dating apps now have become, I think when it first started, it felt like such a new, fresh, engaging way to meet people. And now it's something that people use like to their advantage, you know, to like let me see how many people are available and like let me play games with people and let me just have a quick f and let me, you know, like people do not there's the intentionality.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:13

You're gonna have to bleed that one later.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:15

Will I? No, I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:20

Well, damn.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:21

But I'm just saying, you know, I think it's lost its gravitas like as a tool to meet with people, and that's why I delete it. I was like, girl, this is not giving what like it used to give or like what it's supposed to be giving. And that's that's my personal opinion, child. That doesn't have to apply to everyone. That's not a penny, but it's not it's just not for me personally, it's not for me.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:46

I I think just to kind of sum it up too, just because again, it's definitely a topic we could go on for hours about, but I think it's just a matter of always thinking about revisiting what our what are our expectations when we're getting on those apps. Yeah, um, we may not get to get the whole truth and authentic expectation from somebody else. We can be asking all the questions we want in the world, and sometimes unless you're sitting with that person face to face and like you can get a better read of what's going on, like just understand that that there's effort and work that's going to go into that. Because the work and effort is going to happen if you actually connect with that person and you want to build a relationship. So it seems like a lot to do in the early stages, but wouldn't it be worth your time to engage in that manner and see if that person is worth your time and energy?

SPEAKER_02 1:12:41

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:41

And then if it works out well, then set set those, you know, set the expectations or just have a conversation. Okay, expectations is it's a big word, but if you can be honest with that person and they are meeting you there, I would say it sounds like a green flag.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:03

I would say that the way I would close this out as saying about dating apps is stop treating people like they're disposable.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:13

Because listen, last time I walk, I woke up, I was not a Ziploc bag. I'm screwed. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:20

What the hell?

SPEAKER_05 1:13:24

Because you may ask me.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:26

I'm stealing that.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:27

Because if I ever feel like a plastic bag in the wind, flipping through the wind, then you know that you're acting on some some disposable ish, and we need that behavior to see. With no Grammy in it, because that was the past. Sorry, Shady, but I had to.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:52

That was Shady Boots.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:54

Boots. Speaking about boots, Zara Larson, we love ya.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:58

Oh, we do. That's true. No, but but genuinely, I do think like I that's the piece of advice I would give. Even if you're not interested in someone, like you can still hold like a decent conversation with someone and just be like, you know what, I don't think you know there's a connection here. You can be kind and decent and and still be on these dating apps without ghosting, or just like being stale, or like not being communicative, or rushing through conversation, or just being played up weird. Some of the things people be saying are just like weird.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:33

There's weird and then there's goofy. And we gotta remember, though they're both five letters, they make quite the difference when you interact with them.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:41

You are I want that on a mug, I want that on a shirt, I want on my next hat, actually.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:49

We'll be selling merch at the end of the season. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. This is all for joy and fun. All for joy and fun. However, if you want to sponsor me.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:59

Oh my gosh, I'm pretty obsessed with you right now.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:03

Listen, if if y'all need any creative thoughts or you know, slogans, let me know. Because we love a good jingle.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:11

Dude, you are good at commercial.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:13

Listen, I will tell you if Flo ever is about to step out, Flo, give me a call because girl, I want a consistent job like that. Because what's his name at State Farm? Where do I get that?

SPEAKER_02 1:15:25

I'm are you talking about Jake?

SPEAKER_05 1:15:28

Jake, I couldn't remember his name for that.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:30

Jake from State Farm. Those are the best gigs. I don't care what anybody says. If you're an actor and you get get a Jake, if you get the Verizon guy, if you get Flo, all of those sorts of if you're shoeing in that way for years to come, you've got a steady income and paycheck being an actor, being an actress, and you're recognizable. I think that I think that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:54

Because as you say that, Lil Mama from the ATT commercials, she was in Project Hail Mary.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:01

Oh my gosh, I haven't seen Project Hail Mary. Is that good?

SPEAKER_05 1:16:05

Amazing. But I'm just saying, if you could sell phones and do advertising, then you can definitely play an astronaut going into space.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:12

So that's not where I thought you were taking that at all.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:16

That was shady. I heard it. I heard it in my head.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:19

That's not where I thought you were taking that. I cannot say that I agree with that.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:23

I've also not seen Project Hail Mary, so maybe I will afterwards.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:28

With that, I think we got a pivot in the sense that we're gonna meet you for the second episode. This was just part one. It was just getting spicy. And we just want to leave you with with these with these final words as you you know finish up, finish up your day. Walk. I'm feeling fab. I'm feeling free. I feel exceptionally me. Hate all you want, but I'm dangerous. Runway, Lady Gaga, Dochi, put it on after this video and let your ears be blown.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:06

I don't have anything to say. I'm actually gonna go follow these instructions immediately. That is the perfect way to wrap up just a dash.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:16

I will see you next.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:18

Bye. Till next time. Catch you on the airway, sweet peace.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:24

DJ, play that track again.