The Daily Zeitgeist - Music of the Zeit 7/29: Sundar Pichai, Succession, National Chicken Wing Day, Suburbs, Starbucks

Episode Date: July 29, 2020

On this edition of Music of the Zeit Jack and Miles discuss Sundar Pichai testifying in front of Congress, Succession is trending for their Emmy noms, today is National Chicken Wing Day, Trump said people in the 'Burbs "wont have to worry" about affordable housing near them, and Starbucks is not doing so hot! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kay hasn't heard from her sister in seven years. I have a proposal for you. Come up here and document my project. All you need to do is record everything like you always do. What was that? That was live audio of a woman's nightmare. Can Kay trust her sister or is history repeating itself? There's nothing dangerous about what you're doing.

They're just dreams. Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller from Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm. Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, and culture in the new iHeart podcast, Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Sniffy's Cruising Confessions will broaden minds and help you pursue your true goals. You can listen to Sniffy's Cruising Confessions,

sponsored by Gilead, now on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Thursday. How do you feel about this, kids? Hi, I'm Akilah Hughes, and I'm so excited about my new podcast, Rebel Spirit, where I head back to my hometown in Kentucky Thursday. It's right here in black and white in print. It's bigger than a flag or mascot. Listen to Rebel Spirit on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. my favorite chefs and foodies, like Benny Blanco, Jake Cohen, Lighty Hoyk, Alison Roman,

and Ina Garten. So I started a free newsletter called Good Taste to share recipes, tips, and kitchen must-haves. Just sign up at katiecouric.com slash goodtaste. That's K-A-T-I-E-C-O-U-R-I-C.com slash goodtaste. I promise your taste buds will be happy you did hello the internet and welcome to this episode of the music of the zeit i'm told that is a phantom of the opera reference oh i'm jack o'brien that's miles gray um and here is what is trending this Wednesday afternoon. Sundar Pichai, who is the Alphabet CEO of Google's parent company, was the unlucky winner of the which tech CEO is going to be trending at the end of their grilling on Congress floor. And I think it was just he did the least convincing job of defending alphabet and google against accusations that were being leveled against them which are basically

that they're uh a monopoly it seems like monopoly is an old enough concept that congress can get their mind around it they don't need, they can't just have young Zuck walking circles around them, making fun of them for not knowing that they're an ad-supported business. They're like, you have 90% of the search engine market? Yeah, but that's just because we're the best.

I don't know, what do we do? To turn people away? It's like, shit. And they have it's like, I don't know. Like, what do we do? Like to turn people away? It's like shit. And they have over 30% of the digital. That's the one that's so fucked up and frightening. Like, and then Facebook has 53 or 23%. So together they have,

uh, like over half of just two companies have over half of all dollars spent online marketing wise, which is funny because if there are like you know i'm not sure how much of the antitrust language it's funny because republicans will deploy that language because they don't like that they'll take down like diamond and silk like misinformation posts and videos and be like it's right it's suppression of freedom of speech or whatever but at the same time like if they wander into that, it's like, okay, so let me get this straight. You think it's immoral for a small group of, let's say, people, to make it simple, a small group of people to own whole sections of the economy or a market or an industry, right?

Okay, so then let's now look at our taxes can we keep that same energy now same focus here now let's look over here where these like 15 families are running the board right now is that also okay or nah all right i lost you i lost you with the monopoly amazon paid zero dollars in taxes last year despite 11 billion dollars in profit but we're only like three percent of the global consumer game and it's like okay interest that nice defense suck or bezos or whatever the whichever yeah it was funny even the build-up when they're like it sounded like the like like watchmen or some shit because they're like and the world's richest man jeff bezos will also be testifying in front of Congress today.

And I'm like, just having that descriptor, it was so jarring, but said so seriously on the news. And you're like, right, the world's richest man ever goes to town. Right. It's really, we live in such a dystopia. It's wild. Succession is trending. Matthew McFadden, is that his name?

Yeah, Tom. Tom. Guy who plays Tom. Who is British, I'm told. Who's really taking our jobs. Yeah. I was up for that role. I know.

I remember. Couldn't get past people not calling me Jack. I was up for that role. I know. I remember you were really... Couldn't get past people not calling me Jack. People don't realize this was maybe the first... Within the first year of us doing this show, I think people thought you were going to New Jersey for a family thing, but really you were grinding on the acting lab,

like reading books, trying to work on your accent work. You bought new boat shoes just for the audition. I was like, I don't think they're going to see your feet, and you got really upset. And I was like, okay accent work. You bought new boat shoes just for the audition. I was like, I don't think they're going to see your feet. And you got really upset. And I was like, okay, fine. Get the new boat shoes. But yeah.

It was my final demand was that they change the character's name to Jack because every time they called me Tom, I just couldn't remember to look. And they wouldn't do it. They're like Mr. O'Brien.

Deal breaker. Oh, yeah. Oh, go? You want me to go? Like, you should not be acting, sir. All right, all right. It's National Chicken Wing Day. Oh, I love it. How about that?

I love it. I've been watching the new Last Chance U, the new season of Last Chance U came out on Netflix recently. And one of the people on the show, one of the athletes, he works at a wing stop. Had me thinking about wings. Now it's National Chicken Wing Day. People are still acting as if drums are worth eating.

I mean, yeah, they're fine, but it's the flat, baby. I had this conversation with the missus yesterday. It's the flats, baby. I realized that she was eating all the drums. I was like, thank you. Yeah, that's why it works. Although I do think that you changed my thinking on that. I think you taught me why flats are better

and I have gained an appreciation. And just out of reciprocity, I taught you that because you taught me that I need to wash my legs. I didn't realize. So thank you. Isn't that a white person thing, that white people don't wash their legs?

It started like that on the internet. And then people who listen to 420 Day Fiance have a bit going where some people are actually convinced I don't wash my legs because I'm so deadpan about it. Because I'm just like, well, the water gets down there. So it's like the issue. Exactly. What's wrong? Okay. Do you wash your dishes after you take them out of the dishwasher? It's like, it doesn't make sense.

It's getting the soapy water in there. That's right. Stand by. Suburbs are trending. The story about Trump just, you just you know i mean we're not dog whistling as a description of what he does needs to just be thrown away uh yeah just telling people uh he's running on the promise of upholding redlining essentially and don't worry it's like i won't burden you some language used of like you won't be bothered by low-income housing no more yeah you shall be set free of the scourge of people that our government has failed to keep afloat so yeah yeah it's yeah it's not dog whistling it's it's it's like reminding me of uh like that one simpsons bit was like old man yells at cloud like or something about grandpa simpson

or something it's like or old man yells it's like that's what this is like senile racist talking on tv again he's got an audience who also happens to be president so a senile racist president uh a man with entirely too much power at his fingertips in control uh what do we do and then starbucks is trending uh people think this might be it for starbucks there's an article uh they were at a 40 drop in sales uh in whatever the last quarter was that they reported people think that you know they're just seeing nobody wants to sit in common areas. And, you know, also people aren't picking like aren't driving to work. They're working from home.

So there's not like, you know, we're learning how to make our own coffee. Right. And yeah, it does seem like I don't know why you go to Starbucks at this point. Right. Because it was like people use it to punctuate their hellscape of a workday. That's right. It's like, dude, I cannot be in this fucking office. Let's go to get coffee, pizza, whatever that thing is relative to your office that you go to be like, we got to get the fuck out of here for like 20 minutes. It's our smoke break now that we've learned smoking kills you right so now we'll just fucking trip slowly

slowly just destroy our heart yeah um the thing yeah but is it the i also think they'll be safe purely because i see so many people clinging to that habitual trip to the starbucks still months into locking down somewhat interesting like because there are a few drive-through starbucks i live by and they're always it's always going on it's just going down yeah the drive-through is for sure but i guess that's it they drive i guess they've converted i guess they've converted a bunch of their uh places to have drive-thrus where possible. The article made the argument that, but then, like, what's to set them apart? Starbucks, like, created the communal workspace before WeWork.

Right. And, yeah, I mean, I guess what my idea of Starbucks does not revolve around it being a community hub the way that their CEO claims it is. No, it's a place you go for free Wi-Fi and some unfortunate incidents, they'll call the police on you because you're a person of color. Free Wi-Fi, legal drugs. It's not shocking that people were fans for a while. But yeah, I think anytime you're looking at a product that is an addictive drug, it's usually, you can go long on that one. Yeah. Well, I guess maybe that's to your point, though.

Empower yourself. Make your own home brew. You know what I mean? Free yourself of the shackles and get yourself some free trade. And support a local coffee roaster, you know? Yeah, yeah. Shout out to Timeless Coffee who sent me some coffee.

Maybe they'll send you some, Jack. Not me, Timeless. Oh, man. Up in Oakland. Because if he was on, that one day if he was on and he was taking so long to record because he's like hand grinding his coffee. We were like delayed by 20 minutes. That was from them. So shout out to them. Well,

time late as far as me. I guess getting his DMs. Yeah, what's up Timeless? I drink coffee. I'm addicted to caffeine as well. Alright guys, that's going to do it for this afternoon. We'll be back tomorrow with a I drink coffee. I'm addicted to caffeine as well. All right, guys. That's going to do it for this afternoon.

We'll be back tomorrow with a whole-ass episode of our show. Until then, wash your hands, stay safe, stay inside, wear a mask, be kind to each other, be kind to yourselves, and don't do nothing about white supremacy. We'll talk to you all tomorrow. Bye. Bye. What was that? That was live audio of a woman's nightmare. Can Kay trust her sister, or is history repeating itself? There's nothing dangerous about what you're doing. They're just dreams.

Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller from Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm. Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Curious about queer sexuality, cruising, and expanding your horizons? Hit play on the sex-positive and deeply entertaining podcast, Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Join hosts Gabe Gonzalez and Chris Patterson Rosso as they explore queer sex, cruising, relationships, and culture in the new iHeart podcast, Sniffy's Cruising Confessions. Sniffy's Cruising Confessions will broaden minds and help you pursue your true goals. You can listen to Sniffy's Cruising Confessions, sponsored by Gilead, now on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your

podcasts. New episodes every Thursday. Hi, everyone. It's me, Katie Couric. You know, if you've been following me on social media, you know I love to cook or at least try, especially alongside some of my favorite chefs and foodies like Benny Blanco, Jake Cohen, Lighty Hoyk, Alison Roman and Ina Garten. So I started a free newsletter called Good Taste to share recipes, tips and kitchen must haves. Just sign up at Katie Couric dot com slash good taste. That's K-A-T-I-E-C-O-U-R-I-C dot com slash good taste. I promise your taste buds will be happy you did. What happens when a professional football player's career ends

and the applause fades and the screaming fans move on? I am going to share my journey of how I went from Christianity to now a Hebrew Israelite. For some former NFL players, a new faith provides answers. You mix homesteading with guns and church. Voila! You got straightway. He tried to save everybody. Listen to Spiraled on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.