The Daily Zeitgeist - Rex In Peace, Taylor Swiftly: Rip Off Artist 3.13.18

Episode Date: March 13, 2018

In episode 103, Jack & Miles are joined by writer Jessica Gao to discuss the Joy Behar / Mike Pence controversy, Putin straight killing people in England, Rex Tillerson & John McEntee being fi...red, Taylor Swift's new video, Star War's, & more. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 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.
Starting point is 00:00:18 They're just dreams. Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller from Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm. Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio iheart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts senora sex ed is not your mommy's sex talk this show is la platica like you've never heard it before we're breaking the stigma and silence around sex and sexuality in latinx communities this podcast is an intergenerational conversation between Latinas from Gen X to Gen Z. We're your hosts, Viosa and Mala. You might recognize us from our first show, Locatora Radio.
Starting point is 00:00:53 Listen to Señora Sex Ed on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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.
Starting point is 00:01:20 Voila! You got straightway. They try to save everybody. Listen to Spiraled on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Captain's Log, Stardate 2024. We're floating somewhere in the cosmos, but we've lost our map. Yeah, because you refuse to ask for directions. It's Space Gem. There are no roads.
Starting point is 00:01:40 Good point. So where are we headed? Into the unknown, of course. Good point. So, where are we headed? Into the unknown, of course. Join us on In Our Own World as we uncover hidden truths, navigate the depths of culture, identity, and the human spirit. With a hint of mischief. One episode at a time.
Starting point is 00:01:58 Buckle up and listen to In Our Own World on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Trust us, it's out of this world. Hello, the internet, and welcome to Season 22, Episode 2 of Der Daily Zeitgeist. world. Miles Gray. And I said, Gray, yeah, yeah, Gray, yeah, yeah. I said, Gray, that's my cell phone. But we can't retake that because that was too good. We're living in the moment, baby. And I had to improv that phone line. Shout out to Chris Bond on Twitter for that one because you know how I love Linda Perry. Yes, she also wrote Beautiful by Christina Aguilera
Starting point is 00:02:45 and most of the hits on most people's albums. So yes, thank you, Chris Bond. That song will be stuck in my head for the rest of the day. My mom loved that song growing up.
Starting point is 00:02:55 She didn't even know what was going on. Yet another thing your mom and I haven't commented. Yeah, right. The song was asking the question that was in her heart.
Starting point is 00:03:03 I mean, she stepped in the morning and what is it? Step outside. Wake in the her heart I mean she stepped in the morning What is it? Wake in the morning and step outside I wake in the morning and step outside And I take a deep breath And I get real high Anyway so
Starting point is 00:03:15 I'm going to let you go My AKA was courtesy of Matt Rod And we are thrilled to be joined In our third seat By the hilarious writer Jessica Gow. Hello. Hi. How are you?
Starting point is 00:03:31 I'm well. How about yourself? We're thrilled to have you on. He just steps all over my head. I answer for Miles. Miles, what did I say about speaking before I speak? I will have whatever he's having. Jessica, you are writing on, am I allowed to say what you are writing on in the future?
Starting point is 00:03:49 Corporate. I finished writing on Corporate Season 2. Okay. But that is the most recent show I've written on. Right. And you also write on Rick and Morty? Yes, I wrote on the third season. Which, a wonderful season of television.
Starting point is 00:04:05 Thank you. Very well done. What is something from your search history that is revealing about who you are as a human being? My most recent weird search history thing is I looked up Thor Bjornsson's Daily Diet. He plays the Mountain on Game of Thrones.
Starting point is 00:04:21 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I really love knowing what, like, big, strong people eat on a daily basis. Right, right, right. Yeah. And he eats 13 pounds of food a day. What? So he just puts it on a scale and that's how he decides his portion size?
Starting point is 00:04:38 No, because he's like a bodybuilder. Everything is all portioned out. So there's like weights to everything he eats like everything that's listed it's like whatever like kilograms of this and however many kilograms of that wow i want to know or i guess it would be milligrams i mean he's six nine and nearly 400 pounds so i guess it does damn yeah 13 pounds of food a couple potatoes and some steaks to power that thing i want to know how many pounds of poo he produces oh my god oh my god well it must be 13 pounds, right? If he's staying the same size.
Starting point is 00:05:10 And then I guess you lose some of the calories through exhaling, right? Do you ever weigh yourself right before and right after you poo? Oh yes. I exclusively weigh myself after I poop. You didn't see our toilet is actually on a scale.
Starting point is 00:05:26 He just does a tear move when he's on it, tears the scale, and then defecates. That would kind of be a dream for me to have a toilet that weighed how much. Okay, let's talk about that out there. That's a good engineering option. Okay, great. New Kickstarter. Oh, man. Venture capitalist?
Starting point is 00:05:42 Perk up. Perk up. Honestly, for like $14, if I could turn my toilet seat into a scale, I would probably do that just for the fun. A little more money than that because that's cheaper than a fucking squatty potty. And I think you need to spend a little bit more on a scale than a squatty potty. For injection molded plastic. But yeah, if the seat was the scale, that's what I'm saying.
Starting point is 00:06:04 And then if you got the squatty potty, your feet is already off the ground. Yeah. You just lift a little bit. Yeah. My voice sounded distant because I got away from the mic to demonstrate. Yeah. Jessica, besides Miles's Shark Tank idea that he just described on air, what is underrated in your book? Besides that, I think Kirkland's signature, everything is underrated.
Starting point is 00:06:28 Miles is standing up and a tear just rolled down his face. I think it's an Asian thing. I love Costco more than anything else in this entire world. Okay. So here's my thing with Costco. I love. I can't wait to tear you apart. Whatever's going to come out of your mouth.
Starting point is 00:06:45 There better not be a but. Yeah. But. Oh, Jesus Christ. There are certain products where they give you such large portion sizes that, like, for instance, I love Tostitos. I fucking love Tostitos and Gringo salsa. But by the end of a bag of Tostitos that I get at Costco, it's, so big that I like start resenting the Tostitos because like just how many there are. And like, just like got to get through this fucking bag of Tostitos.
Starting point is 00:07:13 That's like a sleeping bag full of Tostitos. But you're letting Tostitos ruin an entire universe. But also, if you had bought a smaller bag of Tostitos, what would you do if you finished that bag? You'd go and buy another bag. Buy another one, yeah. So, sorry, Costco is saving you free trips. Yeah, exactly. Just vacuum seal, like, you know, get you... Get one of those, like,
Starting point is 00:07:35 airlock little containers. No, I'm not. It's just something that I know. You know, when I really... First of all, Fedco, which used to be like Costco, those, like, sort of membership stores. My grandfather still, when I really, first of all, Fedco, which used to be like Costco, those like sort of membership stores. My grandfather still to this day, he's convinced he was the first black man to shop at Fedco or Costco. And he just keeps saying that to people into his 80s. He's like, I was the first black man to go to Fedco.
Starting point is 00:07:56 And I remember as a kid, we would always go for Fedco lunch, which was the sample scam. But also the first time I had Kirkland Signature light beer was when I was like, yo, this, the packaging looks suspect because it's so generic. Yeah. But it was pretty much identical to like all light beers. That's when I was like, yo, they can do no wrong because everything else to that point was on point. And I thought maybe they might mess up with this.
Starting point is 00:08:20 No. Is Kirkland everywhere? Everybody knows what Kirkland is, right? That's not just a West Coast thing. Well, if you don't know then kirkland is the in-house brand at costco it's like the acne brand we have yes but and then all devotees of kirkland will tell you that they use the actual companies that make the products you love and they just slap the kirkland logo on it so like that's part of their deal with the company exactly so it's not janky like actual companies that are actually making the name brand stuff are also making the Kirkland.
Starting point is 00:08:45 The big thing is that people like to espouse is that Kirkland signature brand vodka is Grey Goose. I did some research on that and it technically isn't Grey Goose but it's made by the same distillery and using
Starting point is 00:09:01 the same water that's in the area and it's part in the same region in France. Oh, wow. So it's basically like all of the elements are the same. Right, right. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:09:11 And I think most vodkas are approximately the same. Yeah. I feel like it's mostly you're paying for the- I mean, that's- Yeah, I don't know. You ever drink Popov? Yeah. Popov is really bad.
Starting point is 00:09:21 Popov is water mixed with rubbing alcohol. Yeah. It's nail polish. Well, here's the thing. There's no real difference in taste because that's the point of vodka is that it's odorless and tasteless. It's supposed to be. But I think the real difference in quality of vodka is really just whether or not – the impurity so that whether or not you have a hangover the next day. Right. That's true. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:09:39 Are you a vodka drinker? No. I'm a scotch drinker. Oh. Yes. Have you ever had – do they make scotch? They do. You know, I just purchased, I think this is new because I haven't seen this before, but there is, I just bought a Kirkland
Starting point is 00:09:51 18-year-aged scotch that is aged in a sherry cask. Single malt? Yes, of course. I only drink single malts. Okay, you never know. I don't know. I'm just learning about this. What do you think this is, Miles? I don't know. You think this is a Jessica. What do you think this is, Miles? I don't know.
Starting point is 00:10:06 You think this is a fucking game? I'm learning. You think it's a fucking game? Jessica, this is why I don't let him speak first. He asks questions like that. I ask dumb questions. I 100% sign off on that policy. How old is Kirkland brand?
Starting point is 00:10:17 Is it 18 years old even? That would be interesting if it started as a different brand. Right. Well, no, but what they do, I mean mean they buy from whatever distillery they're working with. Because I know that they've done collaborations with McAllen before where it will say – they actually did one where it was like Kirkland and McAllen together on the label. I'm going to tell you right now because I had to pull up the Wikipedia. Kirkland Signature is Costco's private label. It was sold at Costco.
Starting point is 00:10:42 The name is derived from the location of Costco's corporate headquarters. Yeah, it should be from the 80s, I believe. Introduced Kirkland as a private label in 1992. 92. So it is 23 years old. Yeah. No, 26 years old. I do not know how to do that.
Starting point is 00:10:57 That's the non-Asian side of you. Yeah. Malfunctioning. Jessica, what is something that you think is overrated? I think that ju think is overrated um i think that juicing is overrated um like cold press juice and basically juicing in general right because you're just i mean like it's so crazy to me that people are like treat it like it's such a healthy thing but it's like you're really just only you're extracting all the sugar from like fruit and then not eating any of the fiber, which is the part that's good for you, and then pretending that that's like healthy.
Starting point is 00:11:31 Yeah, there are people – I had a few friends who were just exclusively just existing on green juices. Yeah. I mean they're really just drinking flavored sugar water. Ugh. Like, my parents love pseudoscience. And my mom is one of those people who is, like, always, like, very concerned about, like, body and weight and things like that. And she's always on some sort of, like, fucked up, like, dumb diet that, like, she claims she read in a Chinese newspaper. I don't believe any of these newspapers exist.
Starting point is 00:12:05 I feel like she must be getting flyers from people like outside of a Chinese supermarket like cause you know sometimes I'll go over to their house and she'll be like oh I'm on this new diet where like I drink coffee in the morning and then I only have porridge for dinner and then I'm gonna lose 20 pounds like it's all like crazy shit you know like she did there was this one
Starting point is 00:12:21 time where like after dinner she stood up and she started she made her hands she made fists and she used her fists to rub her belly. And I was like, what are you doing? She goes, oh, I read in a newspaper that if you do this for 15 minutes after you eat, you'll have a flat stomach. And I was like, you think that the secret to having washboard abs is to rub your belly for 15 minutes? If that were true, everyone would look incredible. That's not a thing my uncle in japan he used to beat himself with a bamboo stick yeah on his arms and chest and stomach and he's like that's how i get tough and i'm like yo you got mad bruises
Starting point is 00:12:56 you're not getting more ripped so yeah it's it's interesting pseudoscience yeah blessing and so the like my parents have been really into like juicing and they bought the Jacqueline juicer from Costco, obviously. And they're just doing – it's like apples and bananas and shit like that, and it's like, dude, you're just drinking sugar. Right. And they think it's so great, and they're like, this is so healthy. You should really be drinking orange juice every day. Right. Smoothies have the fiber still in them, right?
Starting point is 00:13:25 Yeah. So I'm very pro-smoothie. Okay. Oh, because you're just straight putting the fruit in there and blending it. Right. Yes. You're eating the entire thing. Right, right, right.
Starting point is 00:13:33 Yeah. Cool. Also, for people who aren't familiar with Costco, we can all agree that the rotisserie chicken is- One of the best. Oh, it's the greatest thing in the world. I mean, not to mention the best value that's left in America. Well, they take a loss on that because it gets people to come in.
Starting point is 00:13:52 It's a loss leader. Yes, and they put it at the very back of the store. So you have to walk all the way to the back and past all those aisles of stuff. Most grocery stores, you'll notice, have the milk at the very back. And that's by design because people always need to get milk, especially people with large families who need to buy a lot of groceries will buy milk, and they put it at the very back. But yeah, Costco knows what side their bread's on. I mean, look, you got to also get the pizza there. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:14:17 Oh, yeah. The garbage pizza. The chicken bake. That's great for a big party. Oh, yeah, yeah. Because I always would love going with my parents and then just being like i'm gonna eat the costco food stand food yeah because it's like a dollar 50 for a whole meal did you know i'm just reading now that in japan and korea they have a bulgogi bake do that yes that sounds great exclusive shit and they have poutine in canada so look
Starting point is 00:14:39 maybe we need a show where we go around to the different costcos of the world and just kind of do some i would love to do that. That's like my dream. Oh, I read an article about how the Costco's in Korea, like people because you know how like at the concession stand, they have that turnstile of like onions, like where you turn this wheel and it just drops out like freshly chopped onions for like your hot dog. It's for your hot dog. And then there's like ketchup and mustard. But in Korea, because people are used to eating like uh any meal with like banchan which is all the side dishes um they make their own that they call costco banchan which like they get a
Starting point is 00:15:14 whole plate of the onions the chopped onions and then they mix it with ketchup and mustard oh interesting wow yeah and so the costco in seoul think, goes through 14 times as much onions as any other Costco. God. I'm honestly – we got to go. We're traveling to all the Costcos. We're hitting all the Costcos. Yeah. I firmly believe that like the second half of my life is going to involve like just Costco.
Starting point is 00:15:37 Just doing – like there are a lot of old white people who will like do the – all the American ballparks, all the Major League ballparks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, man. Costco, you guys should do a commemorative pin for every location so that people can go and go like them. That's a great idea, actually. First of all, I'm just looking to, let me tell you the places we can go. Australia, they got meat pies, exclusive.
Starting point is 00:15:59 Poutine in Canada, seafood pizza in Asian and Mexican locations. Clam chowder in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, jacket potatoes in the UK. I mean, like, we're on a war tour. Yeah. Tribe called Quest. Tribe called Quest. All right.
Starting point is 00:16:15 We're trying to take a sample of what people are thinking and talking about right now, today. And the way we like to open up is by asking our guest, Jessica, what is a myth? What's something that most people think is true that you know based on your personal experience to be false? Well, I guess I'm going to have to dip into TV writing. Yeah. Other than Costco, I know very little about most things in life. I find that oftentimes people don't understand that there is a hierarchy in the writer's room because people feel like,
Starting point is 00:16:45 oh, like if this, I don't know, it's happened to me where like I've been like the only person of color on a show or the only woman. And then people will be like, well, why, why didn't you, why didn't you stop this joke or why isn't the show more representative? And it's like, dude, if you are a lower level writer, you have zero power in the room. You have no control. It's not egalitarian. Like, and also at the end of the day, the showrunner who is the boss of everything is going to make all the decisions. Like, uh, I think that's the other thing too, is that people don't understand that there is one person who is a writer called
Starting point is 00:17:18 the showrunner who literally runs the show and they are the end all be all of all decisions. Because I've seen people like argue about casting too. They're well that's not the writer's fault that's like the casting director and it's like but who do you think that a casting director answers to so i guess for people because we're all la people and understand the industry please break down sort of the hierarchy of power creative decision making on a show so i think for people to really understand what how this all works um so on a show there's a right one first of all like tv is the writer's medium like it's different in film in that like in film like the director is kind of the end all be all right and it's their vision but in tv it's always the writers and uh and specifically there's always one writer called the showrunner who is the boss of every every single on the show. And they usually are the creator of the show,
Starting point is 00:18:05 but not always because sometimes, you know, like a more inexperienced person might create a show and the network will be like, well, you've never run a show. You've never really worked on a show before. So I'm going to bring in somebody who's more experienced. That we can trust. Yes, exactly.
Starting point is 00:18:19 But that's who the showrunner is. And it's always a writer. And then on the writing staff, there are two types of writers there's upper level writers and there's lower level writers and the simple way of explaining it is that the way they're paid is differently um but but it's also like experience and power so here are the titles like this is what's very confusing for a lot of people when they look at the credits of a show which is there's no credit that's just writers right like they all
Starting point is 00:18:41 have yeah yeah they just all they all have different. And so these are the titles of what writers are. Lower level is staff writer. Staff writer is the lowest possible level writer. That's like entry level. And then next up is story editor. And then next up from that is executive story editor. And these are lower level writers. They're paid a weekly salary. And then upper level writers are all people who have the word producer in their name. So co-producer, producer, consulting producer, supervising producer, co-executive producer, and then executive producer. That's the highest level writer besides showrunner? So the show – well, the showrunner is credited as an executive producer. Oh, okay.
Starting point is 00:19:16 But most – here's what's more confusing is that not all executive producers are writers. Right. So like – so there will be like 10 executive producers but probably only like one or two of them are actually writers right like james l brooks for the simpsons yeah yeah totally and like and uh executive like the the show creators um managers if they have managers will be credited as executive producers if they were the ones who kind of like put the whole thing together so they're and then like executives from like every production company that it went through, like it's a whole thing.
Starting point is 00:19:48 But upper level writers are, you know, because they, you kind of work your way up to that. So they're more experienced. And so generally speaking, at least in a comedy writer's room, most showrunners will look to, everyone's obviously different, but most showrunners will look to the everyone is obviously different, but most showrunners
Starting point is 00:20:05 will look to the upper-level writers to kind of do more of the big-picture stuff, like the structure of the story, like the actual story, emotional arcs, seasonal arcs, whereas like with lower-level writers, they generally kind of just want them to pitch jokes and like – just be joke machines really. I mean everyone is different. There are a lot of showrunners who are more egalitarian. It's like everyone should have a hand in everything but more often than not that's kind of the breakdown of power so you as one person cannot completely dictate what the show is going to be
Starting point is 00:20:33 if you're not especially especially if you're at the lower level at the lower level you're just like looking for like when is the conversation you're allowed to join you know right yeah have there been moments where you've tried to bring up a concern in a writer's room a million bajillion times and then it's just sort of just like is it more like you're heard or people just kind of go uh-huh it depends it depends on the people at the top it depends on who you're talking to because there's some showrunners who are like look i'm just trying to keep my fucking head above water here right like i'm trying to deliver a show like and if i don't deliver a show like my life is over right you know this is this is everything to me um i don't have time to like listen to the concern of like
Starting point is 00:21:09 you know a young writer who's this is like their first job you know right but there are other people who but there are also other showrunners who are like yeah i want to hear it i want to you know especially if they're like a more uh sensitive or woke-ish uh like white showrunner and the person that is bringing up a concern is either a woman or a person of color or LGBT or something like that. Like they should like want to listen to that and be like, how do I not sound like a shitty 80s comic, you know? Right, right. It's crazy that joke writing is not like a main person thing because that's that's something that's like for the staff writers because well no like i mean obviously everybody does it but like but generally speaking
Starting point is 00:21:51 they kind of at least in more traditional rooms they generally want the lower level people to just be joke machines like when the when the upper level people like get to a point where they're like okay we just need like pitches like that's that's kind of when you're the conversation yeah that's kind of when you need to shine. Nice. All right. Let's get into the stories for the day. We will obviously get to the dismissal of Rex Trillerson. But first up, we wanted to talk about Joy Behar and Mike Pence, the Behar-Pence controversy.
Starting point is 00:22:22 You said this was trending? I had no idea this was even – Yeah, so this was the number one story trending on Google this morning. I went to check, assuming it would be Rex and the gang. But yeah, so apparently Joy Behar,
Starting point is 00:22:36 so I'll tell you that from the beginning, Omarosa went on Big Brother Celebrity and was like, yeah, Mike Pence hears voices. Like he claims – Oh, she said that on Big Brother? Yeah, she said that on Big Brother.
Starting point is 00:22:50 Mike Pence hears like God talking to him, like literally hears voices throughout the day. So Joy Behar responded to that by saying, well, you know what they say. Talking to God is prayer. God talking to you is schizophrenia, which is, uh, an old joke. Uh, for instance, that was in an episode of the X-Files in the nineties. Uh, and she just kind of put it out there as a, you know what they say type thing. And this just made Fox News explode. Tommy Lauren went on Fox and Friends and was like, she just doesn't understand what it's like to have a relationship with Christ, obviously. And one of the Fox and Friends hosts was like, yeah, well, she's Jewish, right? And then had to come back and be like, oh, no, she's not Jewish. She's Catholic. But are they just going off her New York accent?
Starting point is 00:23:44 Right. Yeah. Wow. Totally. That's like so totally that just going off her New York accent and just assuming, wow. Totally. That only Jews live in New York or something? But also as if Jews don't believe in God. That they don't pray.
Starting point is 00:23:56 But so Mike Pence went on Hannity last night or two nights ago and was just furious and was like, i'm being attacked for my faith and just made it this big thing because he's like such a thin-skinned bitch like the the rest of this administration they're just so fucking sensitive but also the first to say that other people that the left are snowflakes and overly sensitive and outraged by everything.
Starting point is 00:24:27 Right. They took our Delta discount away for the NRA. Right. Okay. But yeah, I mean, that's the sort of joke, like, if you talk to God, you're praying, and if you hear from God, you're schizophrenic. It's like a Bob Hope joke. That's like a joke that I'm pretty sure i've heard a priest say at
Starting point is 00:24:46 catholic mass growing up like it's the sort of thing they would say like the cool priest would say to be like hey i'm i get it i don't take this whole thing too seriously and mike pence is like no i'm serious jesus talks to me everyone knows that apologize for doubting it um yeah and did joy behar apologize? She did. Yeah, that's a bummer. Yeah, it is a bummer. What did she say? Was it like a full-throated?
Starting point is 00:25:11 I don't know the specific details. I just know that she eventually went out of view. Okay, I'm just getting now in my earpiece. Super producer Nick just said she called him and reached out. She reached out to him. Oh, boy. She called him directly. Apparently, they have a great chat.
Starting point is 00:25:24 At the time, he was reading about it i'm i'm reciting this as i hear it in my headphones she had not to that point apologized publicly on the view but may have now i think she did today is why that was well good for her that she has a direct line to mike pence maybe she can talk some like how the fuck do you have that number? Well, apparently, anyone can reach Trump. You just call his... Wasn't it like you just call his office or something? His hotel? And they just patch you through them? Hey, can I talk to Trump real quick?
Starting point is 00:25:54 Please hold. What? Just like that? I don't know. That's a bummer. Put another one in for the people who claim that uh christianity is all about bullying people into uh you know believing what you believe and uh letting you say whatever you want to say yeah the hypocrisy is like bonkers it's yeah uh all right let us
Starting point is 00:26:19 take a quick break and then we'll be right back. This summer, the nation watched as the Republican nominee for president was the target of two assassination attempts separated by two months. These events were mirrored nearly 50 years ago when President Gerald Ford faced two attempts on his life in less than three weeks. President Gerald R. Ford came stunningly close to being the victim of an assassin today. And these are the only two times we know of that a woman has tried to assassinate a U.S. president. One was the protege of infamous cult leader Charles Manson. I always felt like Lynette was kind of his right-hand woman. The other, a middle-aged housewife working undercover for the FBI in a violent revolutionary underground.
Starting point is 00:27:09 Identified by police as Sarah Jean Moore. The story of one strange and violent summer. This is Rip Current. Available now with new episodes every Thursday. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I've been thinking about you. I want you back in my life.
Starting point is 00:27:31 It's too late for that. 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. One session. 24 hours. 8pm, 1.10. 1. BPM 110, 120. She's terrified.
Starting point is 00:27:48 Should we wake her up? Absolutely not. What was that? You didn't figure it out? I think I need to hear you say it. That was live audio of a woman's nightmare. This machine is approved and everything? You're allowed to be doing this?
Starting point is 00:28:04 We passed the review board a year ago. We're not hurting people. 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.
Starting point is 00:28:26 Hi, everyone. It's me, Katie Couric. Have you heard about my newsletter called Body and Soul? It has everything you need to know about your physical and mental health. Personally, I'm overwhelmed by the wellness industry. I mean, there's so much information out there about lifting weights, pelvic floors, cold plunges, anti-aging. So I launched Body and Soul to share doctor-approved insights about all of that and more. We're tackling everything. Serums to use through menopause, exercises that improve your brain health, and how to naturally lower your blood pressure and cholesterol. Oh, and if you're as sore as I am from pickleball, we'll help you with that too. Most importantly, it's information you can trust. Thank you. slash body and soul. Taking better care of yourself is just a click away. Sure, totally normal humans. Embark on a journey across the stars, discovering the wonders of the universe one episode at a time.
Starting point is 00:29:48 We'll talk about life, love, laughter, and why you should never argue with your co-pilot. Especially when she's always right. Right, and if we hit turbulence, just blame it on Mercury retrograde. Or Emily's questionable space piloting skills. Hey, join us on In Our Own World for cosmic conversations, stellar laughs, and super corny dad jokes.
Starting point is 00:30:09 Listen to In Our Own World as a part of the My Cultura podcast network available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And don't worry, we promise to avoid any black holes. Most of the time. We promise to avoid any black holes. Most of the time.
Starting point is 00:30:33 And we're back and we're talking about Baskets, which is a great underrated show. Great underrated. How is Louis Anderson? Has he won anything? Yeah, he won the... Oh, great. Then I'm just going to fade to the back. Yeah. I also love that in this current season, it's basically Louis Anderson's show now.
Starting point is 00:30:44 That's the main character now. And the reason we bring that up, if you haven't seen it, is because as the mother, her home is fully stocked with only Kirkland Signature's finest products. They don't like call attention to it. It's just like a joke. Yeah. They just talk about it like it's a part of their lives, which is really great. And then also Martha works at Costco and drives her little Costco branded car, which I love. And super producer Nick Stumpf is the baskets mom of our studio.
Starting point is 00:31:13 He is wearing all head to toe Kirkland right now. All Kirkland gear all the time wearing Kirkland underwear, which I didn't even know was a thing, but he says it is wonderfully comfortable. Kirkland toilet paper is the best i love it not bad yeah it's great and i love my mom's and i love i love having 36 rolls of toilet paper in my house at any given time right if yeah you feel safe you feel confident you feel so safe yeah yeah never resent having too much toilet paper if i yeah when i get down to my last six pack like i get real nervous
Starting point is 00:31:45 and have to go get another i think it'd be like when i get down to my last 20 i'm out before i'm out the door because if any sort of apocalypse happens i need to know that i can wipe my ass yeah right like that's the one thing that's the one reminder of home oh for you that would be like my old life that's what i want is my kirk toilet paper. A lot of doomsday preppers speculate that coffee will be the most expensive post-apocalyptic good. Interesting. I don't drink any coffee. Oh, well, then you're going to be –
Starting point is 00:32:11 Yeah. I'm going to be Negan. Start – yeah. Yeah. I can't wait. Start hoarding that toilet paper. Why wouldn't it be booze or cigarettes? Why coffee?
Starting point is 00:32:19 I think because you could make booze, right? You know what I mean? Like if you really wanted to, you could probably make your own booze. People have a daily dependence on coffee. Yeah. Like most people. Like almost all people drink coffee, whereas like booze and cigarettes, it's – They're there.
Starting point is 00:32:31 Yeah. Yeah. At that point, you have gone crazy from all the radioactive fallout. You're not going to think about turning up with a 40. Right. All right. Well, hey, from baskets to kicking the bucket. Whoa.
Starting point is 00:32:45 What a segue. Thank you, staff writer. Hey-o. You should write for Leno. There's a free one. There's a free one, Leno. So that is something that Vladimir Putin said. He said traders will kick the bucket as they were doing a spy exchange with the UK.
Starting point is 00:33:08 And the guy that they were exchanging to go to the UK, who was a double crossing spy, according to Russia, was then like openly publicly attacked with a nerve agent. Not too long ago, I guess, in the past couple of weeks, right? I think it was last week. Last week. Yeah. His name is Sergei Skripal, perfectly pronounced by me. And yeah, he and his daughter were at a mall and got attacked by some mysterious substance that turned out to be a nerve agent that is mainly produced by russia
Starting point is 00:33:46 right like it's yeah like it's hard to find anywhere other than well it's very specific i think it's called nova chalk which doesn't yeah that sounds like it was made in america um it basically yeah they the russians are known to be manufacturing it and that's their thing so it's uh it's very very obvious it's a calling card. Yeah. It's like them signing the assassination. I'm like, yo, this was us. Like if it was Kirkland's signature nerve agent, you would know it was the U.S. Right. Exactly.
Starting point is 00:34:13 I thought you were going to say you would know it was me. Yeah. Come get Jessica, right? So apparently this is a thing that goes on in the UK pretty regularly that Russia will just assassinate enemies of their state in the UK and just get away with it. The US spy agencies will tell the UK government and British police, hey, these are like clearly murders being committed by Putin and his government. And the British police up to this point have just been like, no foul play. This all looks good to us and just kind of let it slide. Yeah, well, there's a lot of people don't want to sort of antagonize Russia. And also Russians invest heavily like in the financial sector, like in London and own a lot of property in London.
Starting point is 00:35:05 So there's one of those weird things like, oh, well, we can pretend it didn't happen because it's so odd. But yeah, I mean because I think it's something like 14 deaths or something to this point. Yeah, 14 deaths. Of people who are suspected of victims of Russian hit jobs. But that should be expected because Vladimir Putin was basically like, yeah, anybody who is a defector or like enemy of the state, like we will get you wherever you are kind of thing. Essentially, and there's open order that from the Russian government being like you have a license to kill anybody who is an enemy of the Russian state anywhere that's not Russia. Like globally, we're good with it. You just do your thing
Starting point is 00:35:45 right um is it do you know is it specifically russian nationals or is it anybody because i think that it would be a very different story if they were killing like british nationals you know no i think a lot of them have been former russian like they're russian nationals but i think it's exclusively that yeah because i think that they would have to take it exactly do something more serious if it was yeah yeah it's this very delicate line right now blair's buddy or something you know tony blair and his pals yeah the guy he plays basketball with on the weekends probably sucks at basketball i would i would love to see him throw a baseball right oh man because you don't have the throwing motion in europe like we do people really don't say like we can't kick shit in the u.s like watching american try and kick something like europeans it's embarrassing
Starting point is 00:36:32 but like you'll be surprised as an american watching somebody try and throw something who's from another country how unnatural that motion is like it's really it's something we learned from an early age but like yeah they can't get it like five feet in front of them like they don't even have the chest pass right you know what i mean like even with soccer like when they get the ball they do the overhead not many people do this the chest pass like not into play but just to each other anyway that's a that's a whole other nuanced conversation so anyways uh the uk has decided they're not fucking around this time right now so theresa may uh went to parliament yesterday and was basically saying like you have till midnight tonight tuesday the russian
Starting point is 00:37:09 government that is to explain what the fuck happened uh because like they did that with like litvinenko was another uh like former spy who got hit with like polonium like years ago i think like 11 years ago or something right they put polonium in his tea yeah polonium is like a radioactive substance that literally could only come from like the russian government they put it in his tea and he died a slow agonizing death yeah uh and so this time they were like look this nerve agent is clearly you guys so her thing was like there's only one of two conclusions uh you guys fucking did it or you gave the nerve agent to somebody else to do it so which one is it you can pick it and then answer to us uh and
Starting point is 00:37:50 she's basically saying like yo we will we will retaliate like we will figure something out to do that will you will feel the effects of trying to kill somebody on british soil so like a lot of the things that have been floating are sanctions which is the typical thing. Expelling diplomats, sure. They could seize property because there is a lot of assets. Apparently, a lot of Russians have been moving liquid assets into Russia out of EU places. But fixed things like property, you can't just fucking carve out your house and then airlift it the fuck out of there. So they could seize that. Like cyber retaliation.
Starting point is 00:38:26 Military is unlikely. They would evoke article 5 or something like that with nato uh and one thing that was floated was like boycotting the world cup because it's in russia but england is not going to fucking you wrote seriously lol yeah like seriously but lol they're not there's no way not happening no they every year you know england has to massively disappoint all their supporters uh chasing that's part of that's the greatest tradition it is i mean look they did it once in 1966 but again they're not going to make a point like no football fan is going to say yeah take our team out of the most important sporting event like in the world so yeah we'll see what happens but the Trump administration is totally on board and they've come out and they'd said,
Starting point is 00:39:07 fuck Russia. Yes, we're on board with our ally, right? No. Wait, what? Of course. So look, we already know that this administration goes through painstaking lengths to not say Russia or even like suggest that they're bad. Russia could be a 400 pound guy in his basement.
Starting point is 00:39:24 Yeah. And like suggest that they're Russia could be a 400 pound guy in his basement. Yeah. So for starters, yesterday, I think that Sarah Sanders really did a good job of commenting. Someone asked her, what about this attack of Skripal in the UK? What do you think? She read a statement and literally masterfully avoided actually even using the word Russia once you hear this. Look, we've been monitoring the incident closely. Take it very seriously. The use of a highly lethal nerve agent against UK citizens on UK soil is an outrage. The attack was reckless, indiscriminate and irresponsible. We offer the fullest condemnation and we extend our sympathy to the victims and their families and our support to the UK government. We stand by our closest ally in the special relationship that we have.
Starting point is 00:40:04 to the UK government, we stand by our closest ally in the special relationship that we have. You're not saying that Russia was behind us? Right now, we are standing with our UK ally. I think they're still working through even some of the details of that. They openly said what it was. And we're going to continue to work with the UK, and we certainly stand with them throughout this process. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Starting point is 00:40:23 Yeah, we'll see how long we're allies with the uk also like what the fuck i yeah so uh to go along with that when trump was asked i think this morning about like what would happen if they agree with the assessment that the uk has they were saying well we'll let them you know uh finish their investigation and if we agree with the facts then we will we will condemn russia or maybe whoever else it was yeah we agree with the facts, then we will condemn Russia or maybe whoever else it was. If we agree with the facts. Because that's how facts work. You have to agree on them.
Starting point is 00:40:49 Agree or disagree. Yes. It's subjective. Right. When the doctor's like, yes, you have male pattern baldness, I said, I disagree. Right. You do have male pattern. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:40:57 Like, tell me something different. Tell me it's a cool design of a hairline. And they wouldn't. So, yeah. But facts are tricky like that. A fashionable horseshoe pattern. All the guys are rocking these days. Don't call, oh't call oh fuck you male pattern get the fuck out of here but yeah and then this sort of feeds into the rex tillerson thing because i think yesterday or the day before rex tillerson unequivocally was like this was clearly the work of russia and did he say russia yeah specifically
Starting point is 00:41:20 he came out and said russia oh that wasn wasn't smart, man. What happened to him? His words are it's highly likely that Russia was responsible and the poisoning was part of a certain unleashing of activity by Russia that would certainly trigger a response. But, yeah, he was basically saying's personal assistant, has been fired. That, among other people, obviously, we're like to the other one. Very dubious financial. Well, it's really weird. These reports are just so strange. So first of all, it's just weird that his personal assistant, like the guy who has all the dirt on him, was a like he has a seven million view trick shot compilation on YouTube where he's like throwing footballs and basketball hoops from like four yards away. So he was last night escorted out of the White House, and it was such a serious matter that they wouldn't even let him get his jacket. So it was between 36 and 41 degrees last night in Washington, D.C.
Starting point is 00:42:40 They were just not letting him go back to get his jacket. They just kicked him out in his shirt sleeves. Come on, buddy. Get the fuck out. Can I get my jacket? No, man. We're serious.'re serious like they're throwing out a drunk from a bar as like 2 a.m but that's kind of what the white house but what's crazy is we all see this unfold stuff like this has been unfolding for the last year and a half and yet more people continue to want to join this administration which is so crazy yeah i mean it's one of the few places you could be a felon and they'll hire you.
Starting point is 00:43:05 Right. Yeah, that's very true. So obviously with something that serious and apparently, according to sources close to the administration, it was related to, quote, serious financial crimes. So obviously he is screwed and won't be able to find a job anytime. Oh, wait. is screwed and won't be able to find a job anytime. Oh,
Starting point is 00:43:24 wait, uh, he has already got his next job, uh, to be the senior advisor for campaign operations for the Trump campaign for 2020. cool. So there, apparently he knows something because they're trying to keep him as close as
Starting point is 00:43:41 possible. They don't want him having another, uh, 7 million view YouTube video where he's like, okay, so this shit was crazy. For my next trick shot, I'm going to play a voice note I took.
Starting point is 00:43:53 Boom. But I guess, yeah, that was a big firing. That was a big firing, but the other story that everybody's really talking about, Game of Thrones for Dumb people continues. Rex Tillerson is out as the secretary of state. This was something that had been rumored to be coming down the pike since the fall that he was going to get fired because, you know, once he called Trump a moron and then the press was like did you call trump a moron he was like i'm not we're not talking about this like he just refused to deny yeah well he like he could have lied yeah all you guys do is lie to the media that's all you do but he was i think he
Starting point is 00:44:37 was sending a message an honest man yeah he's just like no the guy's a fucking idiot yeah yeah he's like i'm wrong yeah you're gonna sit here and tell me you haven't called him a fucking moron? Called him worse. And yeah, so Trump fired him over Twitter. And Tillerson's main right-hand guy told the media that Tillerson found out about his firing on Twitter. Oh, he did? He really found out on Twitter? That's what Tillerson's right-hand man said.
Starting point is 00:45:07 And then the White House contradicted that and said, no, we told him Friday that he was going to be fired. And so he knew about it because we're a professional organization. Why would we fire him over Twitter? And then they fired Tillerson's right-hand guy who had contradicted them for telling the truth, apparently. They're just cleaning house, man. For these very important negotiations.
Starting point is 00:45:28 My favorite part of the firing is that Trump did it and said he'll probably be much happier now, which is like the sort of thing that you would write like like that. A passive aggressive, like wounded lover would say about someone like, I bet you're real happy now. Does she go down on you in a theater? Oh, hell yeah, I'm honest. Anyways, he continually undermined Tillerson. I'm sure he is much happier now. Everybody who has any history in diplomacy was like, know this guy should quit like especially when when he was negotiating with north korea and trump came out on twitter and was like don't waste your time
Starting point is 00:46:13 rex these guys like right he's like no i think dialogue is the best route right well because so now that means that mike pompeo who is the head of the CIA, is now next in line or that's who is going to be the next secretary of state. Right. So we'll see how that goes because they differ a lot on certain policy issues. He's pretty hawkish, right? Yeah. And like he's down to pull out of the Iran deal. Uh-oh.
Starting point is 00:46:38 Because like as we were saying before, that's the only thing keeping them from having nuclear weapons. Right. But just Trump just wants to make good on his campaign pledge because it's just a bad deal. Right. But OK, sure. Well, it was done by Obama. Yeah. So everything is bad.
Starting point is 00:46:52 Obama bad. Everything good. And like Rex Tillerson wanted to stay in the Paris climate agreement. Mike Pompeo doesn't really care. He's kind of like a climate change denier. I think he's openly a climate change denier. In his confirmation hearing, he was like didn't really want to talk about science at all uh so in that way i guess trump has found a buddy that will just kind of go along with whatever he says right and also tillerson came
Starting point is 00:47:14 out in the aftermath of the announcement that north korea and the and uh trump would be meeting and was like well we're let's pump the brakes a little bit here, guys, like we're we're not going to just like throw Trump in there in a meeting. And Trump apparently didn't like that. And he's been sort of against Tillerson getting any credit for North Korea from the start since he released that statement being like, don't waste your time, Rex. And apparently, according to inside sources, Trump decided to replace Tillerson now to have a new team in place before upcoming talks with Kim Jong-un. So it was explicitly like the North Korea thing. Jesus. Mike Pompeo. Dennis Rodman better be part of that delegation. Oh, for sure. He will be.
Starting point is 00:48:00 Just to make. I feel like that would be the only safety mechanism we have at this point. Well, sadly, it's a tennis round. You know what would be baller? What? Is if he came with Pippen. Oh. Because his whole obsession is the 96 Bulls.
Starting point is 00:48:11 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. If he just showed up with Pippen. He's like, hey, my man, it's Steve Kerr, Tony Kukoc. I even got Luke Longley. Right. Not Jordan, though. Not Jordan, yeah, because Jordan's an asshole and probably wants to watch the world burn.
Starting point is 00:48:23 Right. though not jordan yeah because jordan's an asshole and probably wants to watch the world burn so uh but then that means then there's an opening at the cia which means the deputy director gina haspel uh is who trump wants to be the new head of the cia and she'll be the first woman to run the uh the spy the spy group a victory for all of womankind yeah but uh you know she's got a little bit of a a past what's that like most c CIA people do. I think she was one of the, she ran the first black site, like torture facility in Thailand. Yeah. And was also, you know, she's one of the top people running the torture program, along with the al-Qaeda suspect Abu Zubaydah, who they waterboarded 83 times in a single month and like slammed him into walls, put him in a coffin. Her parents must be so proud.
Starting point is 00:49:04 Right. They're bragging to other parents that they know. At one point, they thought they killed him from all the torture. And then they found out he didn't have any useful information to provide. So he went through all that shit just for that and also ordered the destruction of videotapes of those torture sessions. She's the one who destroyed the videotapes. Yeah, I know Dianne Feinstein blocked her once too
Starting point is 00:49:22 when she was going to get a promotion again a lot of intelligence people was like look you're not going to be able to be a top cia person and not have your fucking hands all over the dirtiest shit but at the same time i don't know if that's like a good enough reason because a lot of people will say like you know she was basically carrying out a program that the president the white house and other top people had signed off on and she was just following orders. But we'll see, because she'll still have to get confirmed. And if like, you know, John McCain is not a fan of torture, so he might not be a vote
Starting point is 00:49:52 that would confirm her. Rand Paul, I think, voted against Pompeo. I mean, so there's, she might not be immediately seated. John McCain's not a fan of torture? No. Apparently he had, he went through something. He had a bad experience with that. So do we have any reason to believe that Pompeo will be like somebody who actually staffs the diplomatic positions?
Starting point is 00:50:16 Because, I mean, that's the thing that Tillerson's tenure has been marked by just not hiring any of the positions in the State Department. We'll see. I mean, he systematically gutted the State Department. So I don't know what Mike Pompeo of the positions in the State Department. We'll see. I mean, he systematically gutted the State Department. So I don't know what Mike Pompeo's vision is for the State Department. Right. He didn't like gut the CIA when he took it. No, I mean, he was just, yeah, you can't. You got to keep that agency running, baby.
Starting point is 00:50:36 Right, right. All right. Let's take another quick break and we'll get down to the important news after that. This summer, the nation watched as the Republican nominee for president was the target of two assassination attempts, separated by two months. These events were mirrored nearly 50 years ago, when President Gerald Ford faced two attempts on his life in less than three weeks. President Gerald R. Ford came stunningly close to being the victim of an assassin today. And these are the only two times we know of that a woman has tried to assassinate a U.S.
Starting point is 00:51:16 president. One was the protege of infamous cult leader Charles Manson. I always felt like Lynette was kind of his right-hand woman. leader Charles Manson. I always felt like Lynette was kind of this right-hand woman. The other, a middle-aged housewife working undercover for the FBI in a violent revolutionary underground. Identified by police as Sarah Jean Moore. The story of one strange and violent summer.
Starting point is 00:51:38 This is Rip Current, available now with new episodes every Thursday. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I've been thinking about you. I want you back in my life. It's too late for that. 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.
Starting point is 00:52:02 One session. 24 hours. BPM 110, 120, she's terrified. Should we wake her up? Absolutely not. What was that? You didn't figure it out? I think I need to hear you say it.
Starting point is 00:52:19 That was live audio of a woman's nightmare. This machine is approved and everything? You're allowed to be doing this? We passed the review board a year ago. We're not hurting people. There's nothing dangerous about what you're doing. They're just dreams. Dream Sequence is a new horror thriller from
Starting point is 00:52:39 Blumhouse Television, iHeartRadio, and Realm. Listen to Dream Sequence on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, everyone. It's me, Katie Couric. Have you heard about my newsletter called Body and Soul? It has everything you need to know about your physical and mental health. Personally, I'm overwhelmed by the wellness industry. I mean, there's so much information out there about lifting weights, pelvic floors, cold plunges, anti-aging. So I launched Body and Soul to share doctor-approved insights about all of that and more.
Starting point is 00:53:15 We're tackling everything. Serums to use through menopause, exercises that improve your brain health, and how to naturally lower your blood pressure and cholesterol. Oh, and if you're as sore as I am from pickleball, we'll help you with that too. Most importantly, it's information you can trust. Everything is vetted by experts at the top of their field, and you can write into them directly to have your questions answered. So sign up for Body and Soul at katiecouric.com slash bodyandsoul. Taking better care of yourself is just a click away. Do you ever wonder where your favorite foods come from?
Starting point is 00:53:51 Like what's the history behind bacon-wrapped hot dogs? Hi, I'm Eva Longoria. Hi, I'm Maite Gomez-Rejon. Our podcast, Hungry for History, is back. Season two. Season two. Are we recording? Are we good? Oh, we push record, right? Okay.
Starting point is 00:54:06 And this season, we're taking an even bigger bite out of the most delicious food in the world. And it's history. Seeing that the most popular cocktail is the margarita, followed by the mojito from Cuba, and the piña colada from Puerto Rico. So all of these... We have, we think, Latin culture.
Starting point is 00:54:23 There's a mention of blood sausage in Homer's Odyssey that dates back to the ninth century B.C. B.C.? I didn't realize how old the hot dog was. Listen to Hungry for History as part of the My Cultura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back. And we can't stop thinking about the idea of Pompeo staffing the State Department with the 96 Bulls and Jordan coming in at the last minute and saving us,
Starting point is 00:55:02 which would mean that Space Jam predicted the future, kind of, in sense that like Jordan is playing basketball for the fate of humankind. Yeah. And who watching Space Jam at the time it came out didn't think it was a prophecy of the future. This shit's going to happen. Just watch. It was in the National Enquirer. We know. Do you think Ron Harper is OK?
Starting point is 00:55:21 Do you think Ron Harper would show up? I bet he's doing well. I bet he's he seems like a real solid dude. Remember Robert Parrish played on that team too. Did he really? Yeah, in the 96-97 team. Robert Parrish? Robert Parrish played on that fucking team. Chief! Anyway. Alright.
Starting point is 00:55:35 But yeah, like I said, we have to get down to the serious news because there is a video that is currently number one on YouTube. There's a new Taylor Swift video, you guys. Oh. And it is a sight to behold.
Starting point is 00:55:55 So it's getting a lot of shit for being a ripoff of the Spike Jonze video starring Margaret Talib Kweli from The Leftovers. And the nice guys, if you don't know who she is, she's, I don't know, a really recognizable face, but apparently also a trained dancer. And there's this video Spike Jonze made for Kenzo with her dancing around that's just really fucking awesome. I hadn't seen it until this morning. Yeah, it's a gorgeous video. Really cool. And it's for perfume.
Starting point is 00:56:26 Right. Yes. Which made it that much more memorable because I think the only perfume ad I remember is White Diamonds. Yeah. I'm going to go out and say top five perfume ads. I mean, look, I'm not going to say White Diamonds, but... Because for you, White Diamonds is number one
Starting point is 00:56:42 through five of top five? It's White Diamonds all day, every day. I only know White Diamonds is number one through five. It's White Diamonds all day, every day. I only know White Diamonds. Also, did you guys see the Apple Spike Jonze FKA twigs? Yes. Yes, that's a great video. That shit is. He's on a streak.
Starting point is 00:56:55 Awesome. But back to brass tacks. Yes. This Taylor Swift video. This Taylor Swift video is getting shit because it seems like she's basically stealing moves from the quality spike jones joint i mean not just moves the whole thing the whole vibe the tone the the setup the look everything because the spike jones video starts off with margaret like at this like gala in a beautiful ballroom gown and in the middle of, she walks out and she goes through this like, you know, in the
Starting point is 00:57:27 building, she just basically does this crazy choreographed dance all through the building in her ballroom gown. And in the Taylor Swift video, it's very similar. She's at some black tie event, like a war chair gala or something like that. And she's also wearing a floor-length ballroom gown. Also green. Same color. Yeah. I thought hers was blue. Hers blue oh and then also similar color that's how they get by on that technicality they're like well it's a blue we can't go full rip yeah yeah and then she does
Starting point is 00:57:54 the same thing she she dances through the building and out into the street but the only difference is that she's not a good dancer the way that margaret is. Right. Margaret Qualley, it looks amazing. Like the crazy thing is she's doing all these like crazy aggressive dance moves in a ball gown. And Taylor Swift, it feels like she's making fun of the concept of dancing when she's dancing. Like it's like she's doing these like exaggerated things where it seems like she's sarcastic dancing. The difference is Margaret in her performance, I mean she is living in her choreography. And Taylor Swift is kind of just dipping her toe into the pool of life. It also feels like Taylor Swift doesn't 100% understand what irony is.
Starting point is 00:58:40 And so like it's never quite – she's like approximating what she thinks irony is. Right. Yeah. Well, and if you look – yeah, there's even like facial she's like approximating what she thinks irony is. Right. Right. Yeah. Well, and if you look, yeah, there's even like facial court. There's a lot of overlapping stuff. I even think there's a lot of choreography kind of similar to the weapon of choice video
Starting point is 00:58:52 that Spike Jonze did for Fatboy Slim that had Christopher Walken dancing around like an empty mall. Um, and apparently as a super producer, Ann Hosey just slides me this note, Akweli improvised most of that routine. Anyway, just Google. Did she really? Yeah. Just Google Spike Jonze Kenzo. Yeah. Spike Jon jones kenzo k-e-n-z-o that video take one thing from this episode google that and yeah it's a gorgeous video is a talent and watch someone live
Starting point is 00:59:16 and then you can watch taylor swift and then be do the under like shitty version. Yeah. Right. Although I don't hate the song. All right. Moving on. I watched that video on mute. Do you not? You don't know if you hate the song? No, not a fan. You don't love her?
Starting point is 00:59:35 No. Oh, no. Look, Jack, love her. No, I do not love her. I think she every once in a while picks a good song out of the loads of songs that get offered to her. Sounds like Jack love her. That is what that sounds like. So we wanted to talk about the announcement that Star Wars is going to be making a TV show, which after the last Star Wars, I was kind of like, yo, like, do we need more?
Starting point is 01:00:04 Do we need more do we need more star wars after this uh but apparently we do and uh it's going to be a tv show made by uh professional vanilla filmmaker john favreau uh is going to be sort of the overseer uh the showrunner um and you know i guess he'll be hiring different directors but he's the showrunner. And, you know, I guess he'll be hiring different directors, but he's the showrunner. And yeah, it's just yet another in a long line of Star Wars movies that have been given to white dudes. Straight white men. Straight white men.
Starting point is 01:00:39 You know, which is weird because like the entire story department is women and it's exclusively women by design. So they did that. That's really cool. But then for some reason, anytime they're hiring a director, it's like, well, obviously it has to be a straight white guy, right? Yeah. what's that's been happening with this franchise is that they hire like dudes who have like very specific kind of styles and visions then they're like no we don't want you to put any of your stank on any of it you know like then why hire these guys who have very specific styles and it's not like they're misrepresenting themselves as like conventional by the numbers directors and
Starting point is 01:01:21 then doing a bait and switch it's like no you know exactly who these guys are and then you hire them and then you're like don't do any of that right and there's such a merry-go-round for like for the solo film and like episode like the people are just i don't know why the films just get sanitized suddenly they're like whoa whoa we didn't expect like you to do the film like this or whatever yeah and it's like if you want paint by numbers directors then hire paint by numbers directors right exactly yeah well well i mean because it's like if you want paint-by-numbers directors, then hire paint-by-numbers directors. Exactly. Well, I mean because it's usually like – J.M. McNamara kind of wrote sort of like other things of sort of like the legacy that women have had on Star Wars. Like the first three were really good because his wife edited them, right?
Starting point is 01:01:57 Yeah. Isn't that true? Yeah. That is true. Yeah. And then when they got divorced, he said it was the most expensive editor. Did he say that? Yeah. It was something like that. Oh, because they may have gotten like divorced between films or something right yeah yeah she
Starting point is 01:02:10 came back and did empire and jedi and then uh she did not edit the prequels so i mean wow and those were great yeah those were uh exactly as well received as the rest of the movies so uh and it's crazy to think that there were even like female x- X-Wing pilots in Return of the Jedi, and then they just hit the cutting room floor. Yeah. Also, another, like, example of, like, giving chances to male directors you would never give female directors or, like, people of color, because, like, I mean, these guys are, like, TV guys, you know?
Starting point is 01:02:40 Right. And, like, I know they've done, like, some, like, feature work, but, I mean, this is a huge fucking franchise. You know? Right. Right. Right. They do the whitest TV show in existence also. have to work so many years before people still wouldn't even consider them for stuff like this. They're the whitest TV show in existence also. Right, right. What would a Catherine Bigelow Star Wars look like? Probably pretty good.
Starting point is 01:03:16 Or an Ava DuVernay. I mean, I just... I don't know. I don't know what to say. I'm just... We're trying to move forward, right? And we're still just doubling down on straight white men? God, was it Colin Trevorrow? Now I don't want to slander him, but I feel like it was some director like him who said,
Starting point is 01:03:34 oh, well, the reason women are doing these big temple movies is because they don't really want to. That does feel like a thing Colin Trevorrow would do because it seems like he begrudgingly made Jurassic World like the whole thing was like about how shitty like commercialism was or like he tried to make it that and then didn't really come through but but he's a great example of a guy who did like an indie movie and then got like a a movie that's huge and enormous and like a right a legacy franchise yeah here's a quote yeah from Colin Tre Here's a quote from Colin Trevorrow. So it was Colin Trevorrow. Yes, it was.
Starting point is 01:04:06 And it's pretty interesting. I want to believe that a filmmaker with both the desire and ability to make a studio blockbuster will be given an opportunity to make their case. I stress desire because I honestly think that that's part of the issue. Many of the top female directors in our industry are not interested in doing a piece of studio business for its own sake. These filmmakers have clear voices and stories to tell that don't necessarily involve superheroes or spaceships or dinosaurs um i i can't believe nobody knew that at the women in hollywood meeting they elected colin trevorrow as their official spokesperson like how did that not
Starting point is 01:04:43 make the round or maybe he just has this like direct mental pipeline to the minds of all women it's like a what women want kind of scenario he gets it yeah they don't want and it's the same shit people always say about disenfranchised groups in anything right like it's like the same thing when john kelly was suggesting that immigrants weren't getting off their ass to register for daca like yeah it like, oh, it's not us. They just don't want it enough. Right, right. Shut the fuck up. Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 01:05:08 And it's just... Yeah, there's not one woman on Earth who would want to direct a Star Wars movie. Yeah, who also has the ability to, by the way. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, right. Desire and ability. Yeah, because here's the thing.
Starting point is 01:05:19 The subtext of that is there's already such a small group of women who have the ability, and then within that group, there's zero desire. and that's the only reason there aren't any who are directing temple movies and not because like guys like him get told by people like steven spielberg when i look at colin trevorrow i saw a younger version myself that's what steven spielberg said and it's like did he really say that yeah well that's why he like took him under his wing because he he
Starting point is 01:05:43 reminded him of his younger self and it's like yeah because you're both fucking white dudes you know like you think steven spielberg would have looked at ava duvernay and like been like i see a young me and no yes um well but i i think we have the answer for why it's all straight white dudes because colin trevor just explained it so we should yes that's hard out that's because Colin Trevorrow just explained it. So we should cut this part out. Yes, that's true. You got to the bottom of it. Yeah, yeah. People don't want it that way.
Starting point is 01:06:08 Never mind. Sorry, guys. Sorry for wasting your time. Jessica, it has been a pleasure having you. Where can people find you, follow you? Dan Harmon and I have a podcast called Whiting Wongs. And it's about race and writing. And I'm on Twitter at ChairmanGao
Starting point is 01:06:26 Gao spelled G-A-O Got it. Miles, where can people find you? You can find me on Twitter and Instagram at Miles of Grey. You can find me at Jack underscore O'Brien. You can find us at Daily Zeitgeist on Twitter. We're at The Daily Zeitgeist on Instagram. We have a Facebook fan page
Starting point is 01:06:41 and a website, DailyZeitgeist.com where we post our episodes and our footnotes. Footnotes. We link on to the sources of the information we talked about today. That is going to do it. Miles, do you have a song that you want to ride us out on? Yes. Okay.
Starting point is 01:06:56 So rapper Craig Mack died last night at his home in South Carolina. Heart failure. and his home in South Carolina. Heart failure. He was one of the first... He basically had the first hit on Bad Boy Records, Flavin' Year. And look, people just... This is hip-hop.
Starting point is 01:07:14 This is history. So to send him out, I just want to play Flavin' Year by Craig Mack. It'll hold up. Yeah, it does. All right. That is going to do it for today. We will be back tomorrow
Starting point is 01:07:25 because it is a daily podcast. Talk to you guys then. Bye. And just like a piece of sizzling You'll fit inside my stomach with the eggs and crisps between The king is what I mean, I mean My man, get a cup and put some change inside your hand Now hold up, let's make this official Everybody let's agree that MCs need a tissue The folks my only issue
Starting point is 01:07:57 I bet your mama miss you And I bet the Mac that go off like an Amex missile No more of your whining on the charts Climbing as I make the phone kick it out More holler than a lion And if you didn't know who's rhyming We'll be right back. Time for new flavor in your air I'm kicking new flavor in your air I got a brand new flavor in your air Pragmatic, 1,000 degrees You'll be on your knees And you'll be burning, begging, please
Starting point is 01:08:33 Brother, freeze Man's disputed and deep-rooted Folks smoke and leaves your brains booted This bad MC With stamina like Rooster and all The winner takes an MC for dinner You're crazy like that glue That think that you can outdo my one-two That sick like the flu We'll see you next time. No flame could ever dig a grave over the back of a power pack and black make you see man crap. And here comes a brand new flavor in your hair.
Starting point is 01:09:08 Back to brand new flavor in your hair. Here comes a brand new flavor in your hair. Time for new flavor in your hair. I'm kicking new flavor in your hair. Back to brand new flavor in your hair. Here comes a brand new flavor in your hair. Time for new flavor in your hair. I'm kicking new flavor in your hair. Thank you. Lord, the MC's shakin' with this track that my man's makin' MC's will run like a bomb threat, I bet Or better yet, make you sweat, gettin' hotter than the sun gets
Starting point is 01:09:49 Craig Mack is the blade that pops from here to Tibet I break all rules with my action That the Maxxins and MCs start relaxin' This brand new sheriff that's in town Gettin' down, leavin' bodies buried in the ground I set up rhymes for a decoy down for bad boy. Watch the M's die, destroy. Here comes the brand new flavor in your ear.
Starting point is 01:10:11 Time for new flavor in your ear. I'm kicking new flavor in your ear. Back to brand new flavor in your ear. Here comes the brand new flavor in your ear. It's time for new flavor in your ear. I'm kicking brand new flavor in your head. It's time for a new flavor in your head. I'm kicking a brand new flavor in your head. Max, a brand new flavor in your head. Ha! Kay hasn't heard from her sister in seven years.
Starting point is 01:10:55 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.
Starting point is 01:11:13 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. Do you ever wonder where your favorite foods come from? Like, what's the history behind bacon-wrapped hot dogs? Hi, I'm Eva Longoria. Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Margarita, followed by the Mojito from Cuba and the piñocoladas from Puerto Rico. Listen to Hungry for History on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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.
Starting point is 01:12:10 You mix homesteading with guns and church. Voila! You got straightway. They try to save everybody. Listen to Spiraled on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In California during the summer of 1975, within the span of 17 days and less than 90 miles, app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The other, a middle-aged housewife working undercover for the FBI. Identified by police as Sarah Jean Moore. The story of one strange and violent summer, this season on the new podcast, Rip Current. Hear episodes of Rip Current early and completely ad-free and receive exclusive bonus content by subscribing to iHeartTrue Crime Plus, only on Apple Podcasts.

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