The Daily Zeitgeist - Punxsutrendy Phil 2/2: Groundhog Day, 'Jackass Forever', Texas Book Ban, Jeff Zucker, 'Cancel Spotify', Tesla

Episode Date: February 2, 2022

In this edition of Punxsutrendy Phil, Jack and super producer Becca discuss Groundhog Day (not the movie), the return of comedy to the big screen with 'Jackass Forever', Texas banning books that explore topics relating to reality, Jeff Zucker resigning from CNN over literal fuckery, the 'Cancel Spotify' movement, and the myriad issues with Tesla Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm Jess Casavetto, executive producer of the hit Netflix documentary series Dancing for the Devil, the 7M TikTok cult. And I'm Clea Gray, former member of 7M Films and Shekinah Church. And we're the host of the new podcast, Forgive Me for I Have Followed. Together, we'll be diving even deeper into the unbelievable stories behind 7M Films and Shekinah Church. Listen to Forgive Me for I Have Followed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Gianna Pradenti. And I'm Jemay Jackson-Gadsden. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. There's a lot to figure out when you're just

starting your career. That's where we come in. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in people who do, like negotiation expert Maury Tahiripour. If you start thinking about negotiations as just a conversation, then I think it sort of eases us a little bit. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Keri Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports.

Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. Every great player needs a foil. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Listen to the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your

podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. I'm Keri Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Caitlin Clark versus Angel Reese. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's basketball. And on this new season, we'll cover all things sports and culture.

Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio apps, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke. Hello, the Internet, and welcome to this episode of Pucks a Trendy Fill, because it's Groundhog's Day, and that is the short show title. I'm Jack, and I'm thrilled to be joined by super producer Becca Ramos. Woo-hoo, hello. Hello. Woo-hoo, hello. The Becca Ramos catchphrase um what's going on becca how are you doing i'm great it is the second day of black history month i will remind every day that i am on this podcast

of february and also it's my best friend's birthday happy birthday fissy wow february 2nd a lot of good a lot of good febru Aquarius season. Yeah, yeah. All right. It is Groundhog's Day. So I'm sure most people are just tuning in to find out what happened. Did the groundhog see their shadow? I'm not going to do a drum roll, but you looked it up. You found out for us, right? Yes.

And it is that he did see his shadow or they we what is i don't know what the gender of a groundhog is but um the shadow is seen and that means six more weeks of winter but as we were discussing off the pod what does that even you know how do we gauge that like why is it that if they saw their shadow it would be six more weeks because in theory wouldn't it mean it's a sunny day and that we would have more sunshine lots of questions around the lore of what it means to see the shadow on groundhog's day yeah this is a good reminder of a couple things first of all history was like cripplingly boring like there was a time when uh it was just so boring that like your brain was at that point on the verge right between like before you're about to fall asleep and then like

something like crosses your mind and you write it down and then later look at it and it's complete nonsense like that feels like just what the entire human civilization was going through for a while there. And also I think just looking for an excuse to get drunk in a field around animals. I think that this was brought over to America by German immigrants and yeah, I don't know. I've had pets. I've never noticed them noticing their shadow before i've seen them like react to their reflection that's the thing that animals do a shadow is not a thing i've ever seen i also like it could it's entirely possible like i have three dog and three bird one hermit crab sample side so maybe those animals are just way dumber than groundhogs and groundhogs are

just like performative little, you know, they love, they love to get out there and do, do a big thing. But I can't imagine a reality where the groundhog knows that they are noticing their shadow. Yeah.

I want to read this tweet from the USDA forest service. It was quite funny. And I think just feeds into what you were saying jack about how like it's all a bunch of hooey history was boring and we needed stuff to make it fun but it says i cannot pronounce this puns tonic satani phil puns satani phil saw his shadow this morning meaning six more weeks of winter but we're not sure we trust him he's always been kind of shady okay so maybe a groundhog's not a great prognosticator but you might run across one on your national forest hashtag groundhog day so one on your national

forests huh that is that tweet is perfect perfectly encapsulates the type of person who's into Groundhog's Day, who makes really bad puns as a habit. And yeah, it's just, you know, the person in the office who like that sounds pitch perfect encapsulation of the voice of the person who's really into Groundhog's Day or other bullshit holidays. Anyways, shout out to people who are into that. I know.

Shout out to the Groundhogs and Groundhog's Day. Yes. And also I do like that movie. It's a good movie. Bad holiday. Jackass Forever. Speaking of good movies, I don't know.

I haven't seen it, but people are pumped. People are psyched. The new Jackass movie comes out in theaters. I believe it's this weekend. And this is the first live action major studio theatrical comedy in two years. Wow. That like they just gave up. They're just like, yeah, no no it's no comedy movies make a billion

dollars so why isn't it just like we're done like the oscar circuit this year generally like it's all kind of wonky because so many movies just like delayed releases over the past two years of the covid it's kind of interesting to see what's coming out now, what they've been holding on to since 2019. Yeah, I mean, I'm curious. Do you think this might win an Oscar? Is that why you're... No, no, no. I was thinking of cinema at large.

Jackass, I don't know if it's quite the Oscar audience contender, but I feel like I saw jackass back in the day uh i have a brother you know he has friends they love that kind of stuff so i'll probably go see it why not yeah i'm not like as into it as a lot of people but i did i i'm old enough to remember when they were just like skate videos that were going viral. Like when I was in high school, I visited a friend in Chicago and he had like literally VHS is that he

showed me that were like Johnny Knoxville, like fucking around on skateboards and like they were cool and they were very funny. And, but like, I don't know. I, I,

it's not a thing that I need to see like on a giant screen but i guess you know comedy is always fun to see with other people agreed so yeah uh texas book ban what's happening where they're they're banning more books banning more books it is very much a thing of that conversation with critical race theory. And I think very, how do I say this? White sheltered parents afraid of their kids learning something outside of the purview of what's going on in their home. So Texas is banning preemptively books that they're worried that uh lots of parents are going to be mad about specifically like judy bloom books specifically right uh lgbtq focused stories stories that talk about sex or race all really important topics for kids to

have space to explore on their own just like i know I needed to read some coming of age books for me to like, understand what was going on in my life and just, you know, have an escape from the day to day. And it's just kind of crazy that this is a headline, the Texas book ban, because in my curriculum, I grew up in Texas. I went to school in public schools in Texas and I don't even feel like there was enough books

about queer theory or race already. So I can't imagine how worse it can get with book bands. So I mean, knowing the audience they're trying to reach be like, this is news to me that Judy Blume wrote books that contained cool shit, like race and sex and lgbtq uh characters and this would have been the first time that i was interested in reading a judy bloom book and i'm assuming that's like most teenagers right like this doesn't this isn't a successful uh strategy

that they're going worth with no and i wonder there wasn't too much on the story yet. This is still very much a budding story, but I wonder if it's the curriculum that is pulling books or if it's just generally libraries pulling any books that have like sex or queer conversations or anything like that, right? Because a lot of kids can just go to their school library without it being something that they need to get for class and go get a book.

It's a great resource to get free books. And I'm wondering if they're just like, parents are writing into schools being like, my child out of their own free will went to the library and rented this book and I don't like that they brought home this book. It makes me uncomfortable. I want it pulled from the library. So I'm curious if that's what's going on too. Cause if so, that's like super messed up because kids deserve to have access to, you know, education and, you know, uh, different experiences that are outside of their,

you know, normal everyday purview. I know my mom is dealing with this stuff in her own classroom. She's a Spanish teacher in Texas, and she has been facing strife with her own curriculum about talking about race in her own classroom, which is a Spanish-based class. Right. Yeah. Can't. Just Spanish. Purely Spanish.

No mention of any cultural. We only talk about Spain. We talk about Spaniard Spanish. Fuck, man. All right. Well, this is the first time that I've ever heard that maybe cancel culture is out of control. It's just they're canceling the important works of art. Not Joe Rogan, unfortunately.

All right. Let's take a quick break. We'll be right back. I'm Jess Casavetto, executive producer of the hit Netflix documentary series Dancing for the Devil, the 7M TikTok cult. And I'm Clea Gray, former member of 7M Films and Shekinah Church. And we're the host of the new podcast, Forgive Me For I Have Followed. Together, we'll be diving even deeper into the unbelievable stories behind 7M Films and LA-based Shekinah Church, an alleged cult that has impacted members for over two decades. Jessica and I will delve into the hidden truths between high-control groups and interview dancers,

church members, and others whose lives and careers have been impacted, just like mine. Through powerful, in-depth interviews with former members and new, chilling firsthand accounts, the series will illuminate untold and extremely necessary perspectives. Forgive Me For I Have Followed will be more than an exploration. It's a vital revelation aimed at ensuring these types of abuses never happen again. Listen to Forgive Me For I Have Followed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It doesn't get more Mexican than this. Lucha Libre is known globally because it is much more than just a sport and much more than just entertainment. Lucha Libre is a type of storytelling. It's a dance. It's tradition.

It's culture. This is Lucha Libre Behind the Mask, a 12-episode podcast in both English and Spanish about the history and cultural richness of Lucha Libre. And I'm your host, Santos Escobar, the emperor of Lucha Libre and a WWE superstar. Santos! Santos! Join me as we learn more about the history

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We all know something is wrong in our culture, in our politics, and that we need to do better and that we can do better. With the help of Stanford psychologist Jamil Zaki. It's really tragic. If cynicism were a pill, it'd be a poison. We'll see that our fellow humans, even those we disagree with, are more generous than we assume. My assumption, my feeling, my hunch is that a lot of us are actually looking for a way

to disagree and still be in a relationship with each other. All that on the Happiness Lab. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. MTV's official challenge podcast is back for another season. That's right. The challenge is about to embark on its monumental 40th season, y'all. And we are coming along for the ride. Woohoo! That would be me, Devin Simone. And then there's me, Davon Rogers. And we're here to take you behind the scenes of, drumroll please, the Challenge 40, Battle of the Eras. Yes. Each week,

cast members will be joining us to spill all of the tea on the relentless challenges, heartbreaking eliminations, and of course, all the juicy drama. And let's not forget about the hookups. Anyway, regardless of what era you're rooting for at home, everyone is welcome here on MTV's official challenge podcast. So join us every week as we break down episodes of the Challenge 40 Battle of the Eras. Listen to MTV's official challenge podcast on the iheart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts and we're back and um there's this like jeff zucker story he's the head of nbc during like a bunch of their you know must-see TV era with like friends and Seinfeld and then he took over CNN and he just stepped down and his explanation is as part

of the investigation into Chris Cuomo's tenure sorry I get choked up when I talk about Jeff leaving he's just a good friend uh as part of the investigation into Chris Cuomo's tenure at CNN, I was asked about a consensual relationship with my closest colleague, someone I've worked with for more than 20 years. I acknowledge the relationship evolved in recent years. I was required to disclose it when it began, but I didn't. I was wrong and therefore I'm stepping down. And I don't know. This strikes me as not the real reason. Yeah. That I don't think.

Me too is trending again because of the story as we were, you know, researching Jack. I noticed that. So, you know, I feel like there's more to it. It feels like if it was a consensual relationship between colleagues, why would you be stepping down? Right. That evolved in recent years. And just for like a little extra tea, even though this also doesn't seem like it rises to the level of this person needing to step down immediately. uh, step down immediately. But,

uh, Katie Couric, uh, who released a recent memoir that was all sorts of problematic, but did, um, she did not guard herself, uh,

in some cases, unfortunately, but, in other cases, uh, we get stuff like this. So when she was launching her today show, uh,

career, um, Zucker pressed her to hire Gullust, the colleague that he was having an affair with to oversee publicity. And Katie Kirk wrote, I had to wonder why Jeff was angling so hard to bring

Allison on board. She and her husband and kids had moved into the apartment right above Jeff and his then wife Karen's. Everyone who heard about their cozy arrangement thought it was super strange. So just, it might not have only evolved in the last couple of years,

according to Katie Couric, who loves to talk that shit. Let's see. So some people are, I don't know the last time we talked about the Rogan thing, but some people are pulling their podcasts off know the last time we talked about the rogan thing but some people are pulling their podcasts off spotify mary trump roxanne gay uh both took their shows off spotify to protest joe rogan's vaccine misinformation we'll we'll see if this changes

any anything about spotify's approach but i mean it's been trending for a little bit on twitter the cancel spotify you know i think anecdotally we've talked around um the office about people moving off of spotify i personally it's gonna take me a little bit to divorce from them i should but that bundle really got a chokehold on me the hulu spotify bundle uh so yeah right it's good to see you know there's actual movement though you know i was kind of worried like many things with joe rogan that it was just going to be another thing swept under the rug that uh people are like okay well he's doing misinformation but it's corporate america capitalism what are we gonna do but it seems like a lot of people are really taking a stand with

spotify and that's awesome tesla is trending for a number of reasons. So some Tesla drivers say they're experiencing an increase in phantom braking in which their cars make random jolting stops because they misinterpret hazards like trash on the road, trucks in nearby lanes, oncoming traffic on two lane roads. in nearby lanes, oncoming traffic on two lane roads. And so they have filed complaints with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. We have something on our, we have an SUV and it has like a thing where when you're backing up, if there's a car like anywhere in the hemisphere behind you, like it will slam on the brakes and it is very startling. I can't imagine that happening on the fucking highway. That would be a true nightmare. I mean, I was driving a rental car in December and it was one of those like with it was buttons for the gear shift instead of like an actual gear shift and i accidentally pressed neutral um and said i don't even know what i was trying to do but it

stopped the car in the middle of the road and that was terrifying so i can't imagine if without my own prompting of accidental error the car just stopped in the middle road that is horrifying yeah they seem to be really intent on turning people against like self-driving technology because they also introed full self-driving but then the cars didn't fully stop at stop signs they would like do uh little rolling rolling stops which like you're yeah we've all done it we all but like that that's a weird thing to program into your car especially because you can still get pulled over for that i have been in my own neighborhood many you know as a young driver in my own you know suburban area rolled a stop sign

and had a cop immediately pull me over so you know if your car's just doing that yeah that's not great like i didn't i don't know but that does give us an excuse now yeah the car wouldn't stop the car it's a tesla um also also on the on the tesla front a german teenager uh says he found a vulnerability in an app installed in some Teslas, which allowed him to unlock doors, flash headlights, and blast music. So, yeah, it's basically... So it's not an app made by Tesla. It's a third-party app that many Tesla owners use

to analyze data from their vehicle. Using a security vulnerability, he was able to access 25 teslas to use the app he did not have access to steering braking or acceleration uh which uh the article notes could be especially dangerous um but i don't know i don't it would be weird to have somebody be able to start unlocking and locking your door flash your headlights and blast music and flashing your headlights is a real one but flashing headlights also presumably means they could turn off your headlights while you're driving which not great um i'm gonna say not good i'm gonna where do you weigh in on this one becca i weigh in is really not good

yeah it's just you definitely hear a lot of people be like the tesla is a super cool product and like say what you want about elon musk but like he does not have a very good attention to detail or like an ability to cope with inconvenient like details and that's yeah very scary i wouldn't want to fly on one of his rocket i don't think i'd want to fly on one of his rocket. I don't think I'd want to fly on any of them, but like he definitely seems like the type of person who'd be like, we need to hit this deadline. Yeah.

Yeah. Anyways, those are the things that are trending on this Wednesday. We are back tomorrow with a whole ass episode of the show. Thank you so much for joining Becca. Where can people find you and follow you? You can find me at Bex, B-E-C-C-S Ramos, R-A-M-O-S, at Instagram, Twitter, TikTok. But I will say I'm only active on Instagram.

So find me on the other ones, but you're probably not going to find much. Instagram. Cool. Well, that's going to do it for us. We are back tomorrow. Like I said before, and until then, be kind to each other. Be kind to yourselves. Get the vaccine. Wear a fucking mask, maybe. Don't do nothing about white supremacy. And we will talk to y'all tomorrow. Bye. Bye. There's a lot to figure out when you're just starting your career. That's where we come in. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in people who do,

like negotiation expert Maury Tahiripour. If you start thinking about negotiations as just a conversation, then I think it sort of eases us a little bit. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jess Casavetto, executive producer of the hit Netflix documentary series, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. we'll be diving even deeper into the unbelievable stories behind 7M Films and Shekinah Church. Listen to Forgive Me For I Have Followed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Keri Champion, and this is Season 4 of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. Every great player needs a foil. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball

just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Listen to the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark

versus Angel Reese on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports.

I'm Keri Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's basketball. And on this new season, we'll cover all things sports and culture. Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio apps, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke.