Tomorrow - 185: On a Quest at the End of the World

Episode Date: February 1, 2020

This week Josh and Ryan have a meltdown about our slow national meltdown, then discuss global financial models, the Oculus Quest, PETA, and Picard. Episode 185: It's not vegan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey and welcome to Tomorrow, I'm your host Joshua Tupulski. Today on the podcast we discuss dictatorships, club bangers, and whole foods. I don't always one minute. Let's get right into it. Yes, Ryan, we're back. Old style, original style, classic. Podcast classic, tomorrow classic. Well, I will say it's version five of tomorrow, original style, classic. Podcast classic, tomorrow classic. Well, I will say it's version five of tomorrow,

but yeah, the classic in reference. The most good thing I've been. So I was just taking a sip of this delicious water that I have provided for myself out of a refrigerator. In your writer? In my writer, yeah, must have water. Anyhow, a lot of shit going on in the world right now,

a lot of things happening, a lot of stuff to discuss. Got this the worst Bernie hashtag ever trending. I don't know if it's trending, it's a hot boys for Bernie. And it's like every, it's like every, like not hot bro from Williamsburg in my timeline being like, I'll give you a kiss if you vote for Bernie. And it's like, buddy, I don't want a kiss from you. Even ironically, I don't want to imagine it.

Well, I'll send you some screen grabs anyhow. The people are out of control. Here's what I'll say. I'll say, I like Bernie. I think he's great. I'm happy to vote for him. I'll send you some screen grabs anyhow. The bird people are out of control. Here's what I'll say. I'll say, I like Bernie. I think he's great. I'm happy to vote for him. I think he's got some great ideas. You know, he reminds me of many, many members of my family.

So it's very comforting. Bernie people are like Trump people online. They're like, there's something wrong with them. Like sorry, but like if you tweet about Bernie all day and you like, that isn't't you don't work for the campaign There's something wrong with you in your life and you need to like get it like correct it I have two thoughts about these Bernie people because I've been thinking about it so much because I I'm probably voting for him You're probably a Bernie bro. So I'm a settled, but I will say I have two big thoughts number one is like if your whole Life is your candidate

You're not gonna be serving the movement very well because you don't have like I have two big thoughts. Number one is like, if your whole life is your candidate, you're not gonna be serving the movement very well because you don't have other information and context. It's like if your whole life is writing about one topic, you're writing about the topic isn't gonna be very good in my opinion, because you don't understand the other forces that work in the world and other people's opinions.

I mean, it's kind of not just about writing about the topic, but it's more like being like I love this topic. I don't know a lot about like all of the stuff surrounding it but I really really am interested in this particular concept. So I'm going to write about my version of the concept versus all of the things that inform the thing that I actually like. It's like it's like like people, we talk about this at work sometimes, which is like, like we've talked about this, which is like, we've done the launch, we did CES, like this has been so great, but we haven't really come up for air. And at a certain point, if you're a writer or a thinker or you have like something about the world, you

want to do critically, like, like, you want to make change, you want to say something, you want to get your message across You have to come up for air and put other stuff in the machine because if you're just eating and breathing that one thing You just you don't sound like a human being anymore and you don't like have like reference If you don't have human connections You don't know how to make those human connections about the thing you're passionate about all of which to say There was like a thread of people being like actually I've compiled some data on

the way that Bernie people talk and the way that other candidates people talk. And in the data, I've compiled, actually, Hillary people are the worst. And it's like, this is the reason everyone hates you. Like, while doing this thing, she's not running. And also like, this kind of like fucking trying to find proof in like all caps thread about how everybody else is a shitty person for critiquing you at all. It's the reason that everyone fucking hates you and doesn't want to listen to Bernie.

It's like I would like them to listen to Bernie, please stop doing this. Yeah. The other thing is that people have transposed their hatred for Hillary onto Elizabeth Warren because of sexism. Because she's a lady with short hair who like talks. Literally, if you talk to a normal person who doesn't live on Twitter, they're like, oh my god, Elizabeth Warren is a socialist who's going to destroy big banks. I'm scared of her.

Regular, I mean, old people are like scared to Elizabeth Warren, because she's so radical. And she is very radical for a politician who has worked in the US government. And she's a lot of really radical, made a lot of really radical policy changes. Bernie people, she is like fucking uncle money bags right now. Right. It's like Neil Liv, a warmagnor, a public in 30 years ago. It's like, okay, so let me get this straight.

You are mad because a person who was like, I'm in this party evaluated the ideals and methods and policies of that party. And it was like, actually, this party sucks now, and I don't wanna be in it. And join the party that you're in. You're like mad, do they join your party? You're mad that they had like a change in like, 30 years ago?

30 years ago, but I don't understand. It's like, don't we want all of the Republicans to go, wait a second, aren't the policies of this party suck and the people who run it suck? Like, we should be Democrats. That should be the goal. So like, you can't really knock somebody for switching parties to your party.

It's weird. It's like you're a devout, you're devoutly religious, but you don't want anybody else in your religion. Like, okay, like you, you don't want, you don't want people to be on the left wing in the left wing, like part of the party. Like, I don't understand it. I am not going to vote for Elizabeth Warren if I've presented with

Bernie as another option, but for my own personal reason of, like, I didn't like some, like, I had a opinion that she changed recently or clarified. I didn't like how it went. And I also feel like sometimes when she's arguing or debating in public, not just on a debate stage, but just when she's talking to reporters through the press about someone or something else, the way that she sometimes like ducks on issues

makes me uncomfortable. But that's like a completely personal critique. And like I also think she's a great person who would be a very good leader. It's just like given the options on the table, I'm gonna go with something else. But like the kind of reaction that I see from other people who've decided

that they don't wanna vote for her and are gonna vote for Bernie, it's not like, I understand I'm like making myself sound like so rational in like whatever. But when I talk to other people, it's like a thing where they're like, did you know what her out of Vochie cast in 2002 to do this, you know, program where this happened? And in fact, it ended up being this. And in fact, and you're just like, okay, but like,

Bernie likes God. And that's a flaw. But like, Bernie has flaws too. They're human beings. You just have to look at them and say, like, do I think we'll win and who do I think we'll be the best to serve myself and other people out of these options. But they're all human beings. Bernie makes mistakes. He's a huge human man. I think this gets to the core of where I'm deeply

in order, which is like, it's weird. And I am suspicious of you if you like, stand a politician. Like, if you're like a hardcore, like, if you like, stand a politician. Like, if you're like hardcore, like this is my identity as this politician. Like, it's, you know, I agree, when I agree with you don't stand at anything point, but like I feel like,

I mean, anybody who's defined by something else that is not themselves, and if you're defined by like an artist or a fucking, you know, fashion style or a politician, if that's the way you shape, like all of your sort of interactions of people and your reality and your personality, like, which is what I see a lot of, at least on the internet. But that is a phase that teenagers are saying they grow out.

That's what I'm saying. So I'm like very suspicious and wary of anybody who's like, I mean, to me, like, being that into Bernie is the same thing as being that into Trump and both of those things worry me. It's like Bernie is a very flawed politician. He is a great politician in some ways. He is a bad politician in other ways. And he is like, you do not want to put all of your eggs in a single politician's basket.

What you want is a party that represents certain policies and ideas and ideals, and you wanna find a way to like pick the best in there. And that's so I'm happy to have the primary to do it out. But let's take a moment and just clarify because I don't want anyone to like pull this out. Yeah.

Let me clarify that like voting for Trump is ethically and morally worse than voting for Trump. I don't mean the psychologically, you're not, it's the same on how they play. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, way. We're talking about Google that way, or talking about any single thing that is like, I mean, we wrote a story about fanboys years ago on the verge. It kind of exploring this idea of this like, of defining yourself as this like, you know, outspoken sort of public facing defender of a brand. And it's like, it's a very odd thing to be. When that brand is ultimately just like,

or that person is ultimately just like a small part of your overall life in reality. Brands and companies and fictional characters and fashion styles and artists are not your friends. They are not your God. They are not your guru. Gweneth Peltro and Bernie Sanders are not gonna tell. They are not your God. They are not your guru. Gwyneth Peltro and Bernie Sanders are not gonna tell you the secrets to the universe.

They are other people with platforms who have ideas that you can listen to and critique and you can take some of what they have and leave a whole bunch of it. You can call bullshit on some of it and love some of it. I mean, if anything should teach us that. People who love Marvel movies,

they're not going to tell you that every single one of them is the same thing. Able to sit down and say, like, Ant-Man had some flaws. I didn't love Thor 2, but like, I really enjoy these movies and I have a good time. Disney's a bad company. Like, you can't step back and say Thor 2 is bad, then you got problems, you know, and you do evaluate what's going on with you. Anyhow, my point is not to take this in a super duper political direction right off the bat. But we are in the moment, literally at this moment as we're recording,

we're about to watch the GOP senators block witnesses from appearing at this impeachment trial of the president and Basically sign off on Donald Trump being able to do whatever he wants in office that he feels is in his best interest and like It's pretty fucked up. It's divine right of kings It is pretty fucked up in scary because it is actually that is actually how dictatorships work like we're not this is not like Whoa, we're turning into Nazi Germany or like whoa whoa, he's a fascist dictator, whatever. Like this is literally how it works, enabled by other bodies in the government. They decree, they say that the president or the leader is the de facto state and his decisions, whatever they may be, are good for the state.

And therefore, whatever he needs to do to get what he wants is acceptable and does not rise to the level of being controllable by the laws that we have in our, by what is set out in the constitution or any other laws that have been created in this country. And so like it is really fucking crazy and scary. And all I hope, like just to cap off this whole politics conversation, because I actually don't really wanna talk about politics right now. I mean, there's a bunch of other interesting, fun,

weird shit to talk about that we've been covering on input. But to cap this off, I will say, like if you like Bernie, if you like Elizabeth Warren, if you like fucking Buttigieg, whatever, Biden, we, the Democrats need to show up in a huge fucking way in the 2020 presidential election. And if they don't, I mean, we are seeding the fucking country to the worst, worst fucking crooks,

liars, and fucking evil men that this country has ever had in power. And like it really comes down to this. Like I don't care if you love Bernie, and you want Bernie to win and he does. And if you'd like Elizabeth Warren and you're disappointed, like you need to go vote. But if Elizabeth Warren is the fucking candidate or Biden, who we all agree,

is not the best candidate by a fucking mile, by 10 miles. We just need to like change what's happening in the government right now. And you might have to take one for the team, unfortunately. I know everybody's very idealistic, but I don't think you want to keep going down the road that we're going down. So all I really care about at this point and all I can hope for is that that everybody who's so riled up now about politics, that you don't like lose your fucking energy

because your boy didn't get in, or your girl didn't get in, that you actually think about the good of all of the people who are represented by these fucking politicians. Because the reality is, what is good for you is not the only thing that exists in the world. And you've got to think about the other people around you.

And you can take your fucking ball and go home. A lot of Bernie people did in the 2016 election, but you're hurting all of the people that you claim you want to protect, and you're hurting all of the chances for things that we have to get better because you're so self-obsessed and self-concerned. That is the opposite of what the Democratic Party has historically represented and should represent and does represent, in my opinion, which is why like, I come from a family of socialists who have voted Democrat for the entire time they've been in this country. And I think that like, whether or not you get the best of the Democrats or the worst of

the Democrats, it's infinitely better than either of those things on the Republican side. And we need to be really fucking concerned about that. It's like the scene in the movie, The Favorite, which came out a couple years ago. I'm seeing it. Is it going to be a spoiler? No, no, no. There's a scene where the queen is having like an emotional breakdown. And someone like one of her advisors, like her like choice advisors says to her like,

like it's like a personal breakdown Like I have to go deal with manners of the state and she screams in the woman's face. I am the state And we're like at the point where we are making it an insane person like a fully mentally ill not well reality Television star who's been on in vitamins for decades and Like used to come up with fake personas to talk about himself to reporters, we're making, we're giving him like the divine right of kings and we're saying that like anything he does,

the US government is co-signing the idea that anything he does and that is in his interest is in our interest. And first off, that's factually not true. And history has proven that at time and time again that that's not gonna work. But also, I worry that we're so focused on this election and we're so focused about our person winning this contest

that I don't know that the contest is real. And I'm starting to think that Trump's not gonna leave office anyway. And we need to all band together if not just to vote for a one candidate, but because the same people in the room need to look at each other and be like, we will do whatever it takes to stop this because this has to stop.

And I'm not calling for like going and stockpiling guns and like, that's not what I'm calling for, but I am calling for like, we need to work together and like, like the Neo Lib fucking Bloomberg people and the fucking like, Bernie Bros and the fucking people on the compound making ads for PETA all need to like look at each other and be like, we've all got our fucking wing not bullshit. We're all, we've all got some bad takes, but we all realize that we know, we, that, a system that balances all of our concerns out is better than one that like, unknowing a single person, whoever they are. And we need to like decide that that system of voting

and the system of like group control and democratization and and basically encouraging education and involvement about your community is the thing. And if it means creating small local boards and governments and getting involved in local governments and states being ready to break away from the orders of the federal government, we need to be like prepared for that in a real way. And we should have been prepared for that. And frankly, the conservatives were prepared for that. They have had states that just did shit and then apologized or asked for forgiveness later.

They have an entire media company that is willing to spew whatever they decide. They have whole factions of people with stockpiles and paramilitary bullshit. I don't want to go in that direction, but they are prepared to do whatever the fuck they want. And right now what they want is to like, anoint a God king out of an insane person. And like, we need to create an infrastructure where it mitigates some of the effects of that. And I don't, I think it starts with us like all agreeing to disagree on some of the smaller potatoes and like, find common ground. Let's be, Let's be real. Like there are, there are worse and better democratic candidates,

but when you think about some of the things that are happening, like, the Transmilitary ban is one that I think about all the time. The fucking, this money's being spent on this wall, this bullshit wall, our immigration policies, putting kids in cages. Now, I know Obama did shit that was bad too, but it has gotten infinitely worse. The rise in hate crimes, the rise in hate speech, the rise in neo-Nazi terrorism. Like these are things that are truly supported

and leveled up by the person who's in office right now, and not one of the Democratic candidates will do what he is doing in those regards. And the way, like if you think about like the push for gay marriage, the push for civil rights for LGBTQ community, the community further civil rights for people of color in this country. Like these are things that have been pushed by the Democratic Party hard for a long time, not always exactly as fast and as perfectly as we would have liked, but they have not

been pushed by Republicans, right? Like immigration reform is not being pushed by Republicans, right? Like immigration reform is not being pushed by Republicans, it's not, they want to stop immigration. They want to remove immigration. Well, what we're circling around, and what I think the thesis of this is, is that like, and what I think you're saying, but even in a bigger way, is like, we are all,

I am not a Christian, but we are all not without some sin. And frankly, we have all made mistakes, and we all have bad ideas and bad takes, and we all, some of us are still clinging to old bad ideas. However, if we can all agree on one idea, which is like, we should take a vote, and then that vote will decide things, let's like cling to that. Because at the moment, we're literally saying that like courts of law shouldn't hold God King's accountable. That's what the government is literally about to vote and set.

And that is like a state of things we can't even fucking discuss. We can't discuss immigration. This is what I'm saying is that if he's not beholden to, if the president is not beholden to the other If he's not beholden to, if the president is not beholden to the other arms of our government and not beholden to the rulings of a Supreme Court, which now will basically rule in his favor because he's stacked it that way. We have a bigger problem than like the you really like burning and he didn't win or you really like Warren and she didn't win. The bigger problem is that like whatever America, and this is true. People say this and they're like, oh, you're being ridiculous, you're being insane,

you're being absurd. This is true. Like this is fucking true. And we've seen it over the last four or three years. The America that you have grown up with that you know, for better or worse, is going to change. And the change will not be positive for most people in this country.

We'll be positive for the rich, the white, and the powerful. And it'll be very bad for everybody else. And I say this, like, from a place of privilege where I get to enjoy a lot of the luxuries of being, certainly being like a white man in America and not wondering where my next paycheck is coming from. Like, I'm really scared. Like, it's really fucking scary to me what's happening. It should be scary to you. Like, this is actually like destroying the thing that America is built on. The idea that America is built on. Like, what's happening with the Republicans right now?

Should be way bigger and more scary to you than anything that Biden or Warren or Buttigieg is saying because it is, because it legitimately clearly, a case is. So like, you know, listen, whatever, this is my plea to all of the everybody out there. Like, I get it, we're gonna fucking disagree about shit. But at the end of the day, you need to turn out. We need to have an overwhelming turnout

to vote for whoever is the candidate that is not Donald Trump. And like, that's it. Like, because otherwise, we're on a path that will not be broken for a very long time and may never be broken and is like chipping away like the fucking bedrock. I mean, we're on a path to is states fully seething and going to war with each other. And like, I promise, but you like, honestly, might be an improvement. And no, no, no, I promise you that is not a world you want to live in. You do not want

a little world where the United States government does not have some level of cohesion and impact on the world stage. We are living in an age of nuclear warfare. We are living in an age of facial recognition technology. We are living in an age of climate change. We do not have the time to drop bombs on other fucking states next door to us over shit, like fucking trans people being in the military. Right.

We all this old stuff that we should have settled is piling up and I get it, but there are things on the horizon that we write about every day about technology that are coming and that are scary and that we need to legislate and work around now. Because if we don't, like Peter Teal's fucking apocalyptic dream of finding and drone striking, brown people is going to have- Here's my positive final word on this, and then we should talk about some things

that are less terrifying in life threading than what's going on in politics. Young people, by very large margins, agree that Republican policies are bullshit and are lean much more progressive and much more left. Young people largely fucking get it, right? People who are teens now who can't vote

and people who've just gotten the ability to vote and people who are going to who are in college or just got out of college and have been maybe have sat shit out and can vote and should. If those people step up and I don't care who energize them if it's Bernie fantastic, if they step up and if we continue to like educate and build future generations that are have fucking functioning brains and see the divide and see what is good for people and what isn't, Then I actually have a lot of hope for this country to get better at treating all of the people who live here in a way that is humane. I just think that the difference has to be those people show up, right?

It's not going to be boomers who fix this. They fucking broke it. They're not going to fix it. It's like everybody from 42 fucking 18, those are the people who need to come out and vote. And like that's if they do, then we can solve a lot of these problems pretty fucking quickly. Like that's the big question. You know, they didn't come out in 2016. They obviously weren't excited about Hillary. I don't know how much, I mean, 2018 was different. You know, those races would look really, really different. If 2020 looks like 2018, then we have a chance to fix this.

I just want people to fucking go vote. I just want them to recognize that if you don't get exactly what you want this time, it's not the end of the world. It might be the fucking end of the world. If Trump continues to be president in this country. I think if we can all put our shit aside and whoever is picked, if it is my candidate, if it is your candidate, if it is fucking Tulsi Gabbard,

I know it tastes terrible in my mouth as I'm saying. Oh, come on. But, come on, don't be ridiculous. If that was to happen, if we can all come together and say we are voting for someone else and we will not accept a president who postpones an election or says that the results are fake or decides to postpone handing over power or whatever, that is a place to start.

We can't start undoing any of this. If we can't even get together and say what we want. Right. Let's just get some control over what's happening in the government right now, and then we can start to actually have real conversations about things like, you know, the Democrats aren't like, we need to make climate change a priority.

Nobody's like, I don't know about that. They're all like, here's how I would do it. Right? The Republicans are kind of like, I mean, climate change isn't that big of a deal. Like that, the difference is that, and that's what I want everybody to do. That's why I hope everybody understands. The difference is that, and that's what I want everybody to do. That's why I hope everybody understands.

The difference is not like, we all agree on the basic truths of reality. Now let's figure out, and we're going to debate the right way to solve them. I don't think there's any Democrat who is like, every American shouldn't have health care. I guarantee you, if you ask any Democratic candidate, they say every American should be covered, every American should have healthcare, right? That's they agree. The Republicans don't agree with that. The Republicans don't fucking care if every American has healthcare.

Now the debate is, how do you get everybody to have healthcare? That's a debate that I'm happy for the Democrats to have. And if they control the White House and the Senate and the Congress, the way the Republicans have, they could actually get legislation fucking past. But like, if we all sit shit out, like the way Democrats have been sitting shit out and we let the Republicans run roughshod over us,

whether it's Jerry Mandering or in elections or just by fucking tweaking laws to their benefit, then like, none of this will ever happen. And there will only be like extended pain for people who believe that there should be like a progressive stance that America takes towards how it treats its citizens and how it acts in the world. So like, the difference is not like Trump and fucking whoever are the same. They're not. Trump and Hillary are not the same. We would not be having this conversation if Hillary had been elected. I'm not saying Hillary was awesome.

I'm saying that she's not Trump. I'm saying that there is a difference between who you elect. But you know, if you don't, there is a difference between the Republicans and the Democrats from a policy perspective. So like all I'm saying is young people, all people, don't sit this one out, because it will be fucked up if you do. Like, think fucked up things will happen,

the likes of which I don't think we can possibly comprehend at this moment. And that is not like panic. This shit's really happening. This is real. Like, what's happening right now is real and it's bad. It's bad. It's like fundamentally bad for America.

And if you can't see that, then you're not really paying attention. Oh my god. Okay. We've got something that isn't this. Also, maybe you can cut this down or put it at the end or something like. Maybe I don't know. I feel a level of social responsibility, which is the reason I'm talking about it at all. It's like, no, so do I. Plug our stories and talk about cool tech gadgets and tell you what awesome things I did with my fiance this week. That would be a fun hour But I can't always I couldn't sleep at night if we didn't talk about this on a platform that we have. I just couldn't In any event

In any fashion event. Yeah, um, all right. What else is going on? You're talking about Elon Musk's club banger? I guess they do. That's a good transition. That's a way to ease it. There's really nothing to say. I mean, Elon Musk got stoned again. Definitely, I don't know where he's finding the time. He's got like 28 kids, and he's like,

got another one on the way with Grimes, and he's building rocket ships and new electric cars. But he's somehow found time to like bust out reason and do a Actually like a moderately passable like Techno track that he put on soundcloud. I mean, it's not good But it's like it's like if I heard it in a club. I wouldn't be like with the fuck is this I'd be like Well another song will come on soon. Yeah, I think it's a testament to how maybe I'd be like, well, another song will come on soon. Yeah, I think it's a testament to how maybe

two easy modern software makes it to like produce music that sounds reasonably like music. Like, I don't wanna be like an old guy with where it's like, you know, if you don't have to play guitar or fuck off, but like, I do think it maybe is, if Elon Musk can also create like a passable, like a club track, you know, like a fucking like house track.

Like I think, well, it was like, maybe it's one of the drag grace queens came out with a house album and it was like all sample music, but someone found out it was all from one sample pack that they purchased. And they were like dragging them across the internet for not doing anything at all original, besides like throwing it into it app and letting the algorithm do the work. And the other queen was like, who cares? And it was like, oh, how dark is this? I remember like, I remember what you'd hear like a producer, they'd use like a preset sound from like a keyboard that I knew, and I'd be like, that's fucking lame. They're using the preset of that. You know, there'd be like these like, whatever. And it's like, but now it's like, I mean,

look, I'm not complaining, by the way, I'm like very happy for anybody to go like, you know, fuck around with making music. Anyhow, I'm just saying like, I'd like to know, I'd like to have a little behind the music on Elon Musk's process for getting this track from idea to completion. I assume Grimes was present for some of it, but I don't know.

I mean, she is a musician who produces, so hard to completion. I assume grinds was present for some of it, but I don't know. I mean she is a musician Who produces so Hard to say any how's there really much to say about it like Tesla had a great fucking earnings Great quarter who hasn't I'll say this if you're a major Corporation with getting favors done for you by the American government, these have you taxes and fucking incentives. Yeah. You're doing a very powerful, how do great quarter Amazon run a great quarter?

Oh, there workers are dying, but they are making a big Amazon, you know, cross Nintendo crush Amazon crossed over into the one trillion dollar market cap area again after its earnings came out. It is doing incredibly well. They beat estimates, Apple, beat estimates. It does seem like very large corporations that get a lot of bad press and people are very like suspicious of their business practices and they are often seen either a warring with or dining with Donald Trump and his cronies, seem to be doing very well. Meanwhile, Amazon's treatment of warehouse workers is completely fucking insane and horrible.

And it's like, it's a good illustration of what's going on in the world right now. You know, like the world is burning and people are suffering, but Apple's doing great. I moved recently and the fairway market, which is a beloved supermarket in New York closed because a private equity firm purchased it, ran up $500 million in debt and then the whole chain of four or five stores closed down. How a couple grocery stores has $500 million in debt and then the whole chain of four or five stores closed down. How a couple grocery stores has $500 million in debt, I don't know, but that closed. So we were like, hmm, where are we gonna shop?

So John and I have been bouncing between Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. Both of them give you basically a very good experience, affordable-ish prices for high quality food, large selection. I worked at a trader Joe's in high school and it's like a career you can have, like working at a grocery store if it's trader Joe's. You get full benefits, tons of support, pretty fair pay, livable hours. You can get mentored in their mentorship program to move up if you are, like,

if your ambitions are higher than what I was hired to do, which was just like move boxes. They literally were like, do you want to take management trading courses? Do you want to learn about how we source food? And that was all really great. And they're a profitable company. Jeff Bezos just cut the healthcare for part-time workers at Whole Foods and shifted a bunch of their staff from full timetime to part-time. And they're making record profits.

And it's not a better nor experience. And when I go into Whole Foods now, I'm just like, there's something wrong in the system here. Because like Facebook, we've published a few stories recently about Facebook's, or end YouTube's like horrifying conditions for their employees. And it's not the employees that they report to you. It's not the ones that are shiny representatives of the company. It's who get their lunches catered and live in pods.

But it's the people who actually do the hardest work for those companies. And so it's hard to see all these earnings reports and these glowing reports about Tim Cook being like, an operations genius who knows how to like, source the cheapest parts without being like, to what end, like to what end are all of this. And like not to make it political again,

but it's like really hard in the tech space right now to like see people doing it right. And when you do, it's so, it's so right. Like Jeff Bezos is a great example. Now, I sort of like, I'm trying to think of the right way to phrase this. I like the concept of Amazon and I do use Amazon to buy things. So like, let me just say like, I think that Amazon

has some really good ideas and it's really, really great for a lot of things. And I think that prime is a pretty cool idea and is really great for a lot of things. But it would not be hard for Amazon, making as much money as it does, as much profit, right? Revenue and profit, I mean, as everybody I'm sure listening knows, but if you don't, are two different things, how much money you make versus how much money you actually get to keep is different, but they're making a lot of profit, okay? Like they are a profitable company. And revenue is meant to be, at least,

is obviously a lot of that is going back into the company. It wouldn't be hard for Amazon to be way better, to its workers and to invest in more initiatives that help to offset some of the bad stuff that it does, right? Like the shipping kind of debacle that it's put the world into the treatment of... I mean, killed 10 people by a hiring legally blind drivers. Yeah, the warehouse conditions, even Jeff Bezos is the way he's giving to charity, for instance, the guy donated like $690,000 to fight Australian wildfires. I mean, it could have been $10 million and he wouldn't have felt it.

And that would have had a huge impact. So what annoys me and what is troubling, I think, what everybody's mostly mad about, is it would be easy for you to be better, and yet you're not. And I think that, like, you know, the problem is you get to a point where you can't just suggest it, right? You get to a place where, just saying to Jeff Bezos or Ryan Artichol, or, you know, having an op-ed publisher in the New York Times about how, you know, why aren't these companies doing next-wire Z? Isn't enough, right? Which is where government regulation ultimately comes in. an op-ed publisher in the New York Times about how, you know, why aren't these companies doing X, Y or Z,

isn't enough, right? Which is where government regulation ultimately comes in, not that we should regulate how he gives the charity, but you can regulate better conditions for workers, you can regulate fairer policies around shipping, and, you know, there's a bunch of stuff you can do around taxes, for instance, how much the company pays in taxes.

Without a government that you can trust, without, not to, again, it's like you said, not to go back to in taxes. Without a government that you can trust, and without, not to, again, it's like you said, not to give out a politics, but without a government that supports what the interests of the electorate are, not the interests of big business. I mean, this is the healthcare debate. We don't have universal healthcare in this country.

We don't have every American covered because it is lucrative to get people to pay for healthcare. And there's a reason why healthcare costs money, by the way. Like it is a thing that requires people to be paid and drugs to be purchased and procedures to be done. So like there's money there, but the way the money is directed and the way it is regulated and the way the types of practices that companies are allowed to engage in. Those have to be mandated, regulated,

and ultimately in some way owned by the government or it's never going to get better. So like the thing is like you could talk, like we could say like, well, Amazon's practices are horrible and they should change somewhat. I think until we have a government that understands these problems really, truly, and cares about the well-being of the electorate, not just big businesses, not just Wall Street.

I mean Wall Street loves to, I mean, what's the time of these earnings? We say, wow, Amazon's trillion dollar market cap. Those are, that's a relatively arcane way of judging the health of something, you know? It is financially healthy, but that doesn't mean it's healthy for the people that it employs or the, or the populist that it serves. And so I think like, it also means, doesn't mean it's healthy for the people that it employs or the populist that it serves. And so I think like, it also means, it doesn't mean it's good for the overall economy. One company making a trillion dollar or having a trillion dollar market cap is not necessarily good for the overall economy.

If that company is a monopoly and like pushes out all of its competitors and uses unfair practices to incentivize like further growth. That's not like good for the whole economy. And it's hard to communicate that because people will walk away with the easiest thing to understand, which is like Amazon's camera. And that is a metric, but it's not the only metric. Anyhow, so the point is like when we talk about that stuff,

it does ultimately lead back to a conversation about like, can we have representation that actually is good for people, human beings in this country, not just for the people who, you know, the very rich people who run these companies. Well, actually what I was also gonna bring up, which it is like a good model to understand what we were just talking about,

is that Nintendo Switch broke 52.5 million consoles sold according to Nintendo's reporting, which means that it's more popular than the Super Nintendo ever was. This number came out and it's like, definitely interesting that the Switch is such a huge success and it's worth like analyzing the reason why and like Nintendo's Strategy of like doing something different than anybody else is doing always seems to pay off and when they deviate from that like with the Wii U

the doesn't really play off but it's like those laws kind of hold true for other areas of Like the tech sector and of business. And Nintendo will always fascinate me because they're so uniquely, their story is so uniquely digestible. And the Switch is just so easy to understand why it succeeds.

It's like, they made partnerships with small game developers to bring indie games on. They created a console that filled a hole in the market that other people weren't. They have beloved characters and IP that they take care of. You know, like they're doing things that like are admirable and they make their success clear. Yeah, well, I think they also did something that is now in retrospect, I'm like, oh, yeah,

this is a really good idea, but I didn't you. And again, it's like the genius of Nintendo. The idea that you basically are getting two consoles, right? When you buy a switch, you're like, it's a home console and it's a portable one. And like, that's a really, that's really like pretty attractive for a lot of buyers, I think, where it's like, and it's cheaper than either of those other options separately. So it's kind of like, you're right. I mean, it does like become like very obvious.

I mean, I, when the switch came out, I'm like, I'm like, I thought it was cool and interesting and I'm like, I don't want it, I don't care about it, I don't need this. It is like a combination of the novelty of the device itself, but also more than anything, more than the AAA, like Nintendo titles, the indie stuff is the thing that attracted me to playing the Switch.

My favorite Switch game is Dead Cells, which is an indie game that is not in any way a AAA kind of thing but it's like brilliant for the platform and like we wrote about this game 1980X which I just started playing last night and it's and it's so just unique and interesting and well done and just the kind of thing that almost doesn't get like, you know, doesn't get like airtime on the other consoles. It was coming out for some of the other consoles, I guess, but it's just not the kind of thing. Like when I sit down with my PlayStation, I'm like, yeah, I want to play control.

Like I want to go into this big, you know, sort of like this overwhelming experience. But the switch allows for some experiences that are very different, I think differentiated and valuable in a different way. Well, I said different a lot there. Anyhow, it's interesting. But also, you know. Well, I mean, I did an interview recently for the 10th anniversary of the iPad with the program lead and the software design lead, who are a married couple who are no longer at Apple, but they wanted to reflect on that platform

and what it meant to bring it into the world and what people really didn't know about the development of the iPad. But one of the really interesting things that they were talking about was in gaming applications, they brought the iPad around to developers and they were like, okay, but we don't have, there's no buttons and no joystick,

we're gonna have to create attachments. And they were like, no, the whole thing is the button and the accelerometer is another input method that you can enjoy being creative with. And think about this differently. And it's funny because it's like, if Apple had made a game console in the way that Apple made Apple TV Plus,

it might have seen success, but it's not the way to actually serve consumers and create a market for yourself and move the needle forward in some respects. Apple TV Plus is a clone, and Disney Plus are clones of Netflix. And that's great. Netflix needs competitors and like,

they definitely have some innovative ideas that I think are in small ways, iterations on that. But they were talking about how Apple used to and how Steve Jobs is really focused on new platforms, new experiences, moving things completely forward, trying something very different and having to evangelize that to other people,

to be like, no, not having buttons could be interesting and different. It's not gonna replace buttons, but you could create experiences for the iPad that you couldn't create another place is, and it was the same thing with the phone. And to me, that is the side of things that I think, companies see the most success at,

but they're also like the hardest, but it doesn't, Nintendo made some mistakes with like the Wii U, but it learned from that and then could create something that other people like weren't making. And, I mean, it ties into like, I also did, I worked on a piece with one of our writers, Marine, about smart kitchens. And it's like rather than coming up with a new completely new cooking method, smart kitchen, like kitchen gadget makers, just like throw Alexa in a toaster,

and then they're like, that's $100. And you're like, how does this do anything for me about? Like how is this helpful? And I think like we need to look at the earnings calls and like the entire tech sector a little critically and being like, what dynamically you doing like not to don't just tell me like numbers that you're like You killed at this quarter on phone sales that you've been selling this phone for 13 years like what do you what else you what else you got? And I think like right right that's why I've been playing with the quest a lot recently and I'm working on something about the quest But the quest is funny because it's like, I hate Facebook so vehemently,

but they didn't create this really nice package and nothing else can do what it's doing. I mean, it's, they found a price point and a solution for the whole, like you got to plug this into a computer or you got to stick your phone inside of it, both of which for a lot of users are just, or plug it into a PlayStation,

for a lot of users who want to dabble with the R are not going to go the distance on that shit. They're just not going to go the extra mile or it seems cumbersome, which it actually is. The quest kind of hit this, and I think the quest could have gotten there without Facebook, but certainly having Facebook's money and resources. I mean, I agree with you. I fucking hate a truly dislike Facebook on so many levels and it's in what it's done to humanity and how it is run and who runs it But and it's like every time I use the quest I'm like what weird data is being collected

Use to sell me something or I know that it's all the things in my apartment And I'm like, but who's it telling about that? Right, right now. No, no, it's it's it's a nightmare It's a total nightmare, but they have actually figured some things out that other people have. I mean, looking Oculus was way ahead of the curve. Just on thinking about VR, but it is about that package of figuring out how to like make the software accessible and the device sort of complete end to end and making it simple for somebody to put it on and go like, okay, I understand what I'm doing here. I think that that, I mean, that's what Apple's known for

when you think about their top, one of their top talents is not to invent a completely new category of thing, but to take a category that exists and just tweak it a little bit this way and a little bit that way so it's kind of perfect. And I think in some way that's, I mean, it's not perfect because the question's a kind of perfect. And I think in some way that's, I mean, it's not perfect

because the question's a lot of problems. They don't create new technology. They create new platforms. And that is a difficult and revolutionary thing to do. Well, it's also, you need to write off. Well, Apple does a little both. I mean, they definitely create new technology. And they definitely create platforms.

I mean, they didn't invent like a capacitive screen on a talent. No, no, no, but they did say if you want to make games work, we have some thoughts about how this could be good and different. They have a lot, but Apple has a lot of patents around things like how that screen works and what that screen technology is. I'm talking about the technology is talent is what I mean. Yeah, I mean, it is, it is synthesis really is their talent right? I mean what is brilliant about the iPhone

And we just had it we just I mean speaking of you know you did that piece about the 10-year anniversary of the iPad What is brilliant about the iPhone and less so on the iPad? But obviously some of this brilliance is there is that is the way that It conceptualizes like how a capacitive screen would work with no physical buttons and keyboard really to speak of, you know, and how the software would interact with that kind of hardware arrangement and how it would tap into services. Now, I think Apple, for some of its services does a brilliant job. For many of them has stumbled. I think that their music integration, for instance, has been like a decade of total,

like, very weird. I'm sorry. They do that is very weird. It's just bad to this day, it remains bad. And, you know, I mean, it's gotten better because everybody's moving away from having physical things that need to be turned into digital things or having a collection that exists somewhere

on like a local drive. But the point is that Apple, the synthesis of the parts is where it becomes kind of the magical thing that Apple does. And the packaging, right? Like beautiful packaging matters. I mean, this is something I think about all the time. Like, we live in a world that the iPhone is essentially like created, indicted, and, people miss this so often. I mean, the Quest actually does a pretty good job of putting the complex idea of virtual reality into a pretty beautiful package

that is like immediately understandable and somewhat attractive. I put my dad in the quest when he came to visit last weekend. My parents like surprised me, which was a lovely experience, but they just like showed up at my apartment and I was like, oh, surprised me, which was a definitely experience, but they just, like, showed up at my apartment and I was like, oh, hi. And so we were just hanging out and, like, we booked dinner

reservations and we had, like, 40 minutes to wait for them. And so we were just hanging out in my apartment. And I was like, so, my dad was like, so what have you seen at work? Tell me about what, like, happened at CES. And I was like, talking about new technologies. And I was like, oh, I kind of have something to show you. Have you ever done VR? And I think I, like, tried to get him to do the PlayStation one and he was like, hell, I kind of have something to show you. Have you ever done VR? And I think I tried to get him to do the PlayStation one

and he was like, hell no, these glowing ball sticks. Like, I'm not doing that. But the ingenious thing about the quest is that it's soft. Like, it's made of fabric and it's one package. And you understand that you just put the goggles on and you should be pretty good. Like, it will give you instructions from there. And he put it on and I put him in the intro,

like first steps app or whatever. And he was so delighted and thrilled to throw a ball or pick up a paper airplane and throw it or whatever because he finally understood. And because the device was sort of warm and made of materials that were familiar to him, he wanted to explore it and give it a try. And I think something Apple did,

which was making Teclik jewelry, was a real development of being like, I want to have this around me, it's pretty, and I'm motivated to learn how it works and stuff. I mean, it's a question of, can you endure people to a product a lot of the time? Can you make someone love a product, even if the product isn't that perfect?

And I think that Apple has been expert at that. I mean, I have a lot of complaints about my iPhone. The most recent one, being that somehow the latest update for the iPhone has completely destroyed my ability to use Google keyboard, which is aggravating because Apple's keyboard sucks now really bad. Apple's auto correct. It's not so bad in the last few years.

It's not a control. I mean, it really is like, does anybody in Apple use the keyboard? Like, what is going on? Like, are they all, they all use the third party keyboards over there or something? Because it's really not. Oh, I mean, even just the way that it decides what, I was live tweeting the Grammys,

and I was tweeting about Alicia Keys, and I had this like thread about her going, and because I was like doing it quickly, I didn't realize that it was adding an extra E to her name, and it was because I had someone in my context that had that last name, but very obviously, I was talking about Alicia Keys, the known celebrity, and also the word keys is not spelled

the way that my context last name was spelled. So at what point did my keyboard decide it was just gonna go in and change that? Yeah, it's very. And I've said it. I find it that I have to like proofread basic text messages to my mother. It's so bad. Yeah.

It's gotten really, really. No, I have like a high level of anxiety when I'm using the regular Apple keyboard, which now is I'm forced to because literally G-Board like crashes in the new update. I mean, this is like the second time that they've done an update and messed up third party keyboard integration, which to me is highly suspicious.

Like the keyboards were working fine, and they did the latest, you know, major software version, and they were all broken. And they're like, oh, we issued an update for it. And now it's broken again. And I mean, maybe I can blame Google for this, but I'm going to play a map. What else is, what else has happened that we need to talk about? I'm so disheartened thinking about the political landscape right now. I just want to crawl into a ball.

Did you see this PETA thing with Pux-Z-Tari Phil? Oh, yes. I'm very excited. I mean, I think, yep, they want to pop out Phil and they want to pop in an Ibo. I think here's the biggest problem with the idea. The idea is this. I'm gonna explain it. So, Pita is like, Punks of Tony Phil is an abused animal and he shouldn't be held in captivity and this is wrong. I mean, obviously, Pita is very well known for having very strong opinions about animal rights, which I'm all for, and I agree with them, like basically, on everything.

Like if somebody was like, it's been made illegal to eat, you know, any animal, I'd be like, that's fine and right and good, and I'm happy with that, and like, I just bother me at all. Like, but, they're like, we should replace Punks of Tony Phil with an AI-powered, animatronic version of Punxutani fill that can really predict the weather. And it's like, so my number one, first of my number one problem is like,

no, just nobody wants this and this like completely, I mean, the whole idea is it's like an actual animal, okay? Like that's the whole thing. The whole, the whole life. The whole life. Yeah, but the other thing is like, if it can accurately predict the weather, like that takes all of the fun out of seeing if the fucking dumb ass animal is right. Like the thrill is some animal,

which definitely has no idea what weather is, you know, beyond like its own comfort or lack thereof, is like we think like the animal is going to somehow know about what's happening. It's like a hilarious and really dumb idea that's like from another, you know, another generation. It's like literally adjacent to people like thinking like the sun is a god or whatever, you know.

It's like the animal will guide us will will we have more winter? Let's get the let's get the groundhog out and And what how do I don't even have the determinants? It's shadow like it looks over like any other point is the thrill of the thrill of punks Atani Phil Is that he's a dumb groundhog who shows up, does something that truly has no meaning, and then we ascribe a bunch of mystical shit, and like hilarious sort of, you know, we intuit something from this, you know,

completely meaningless act. And like, if it's a robot that knows the weather, then there's nothing, nothing whimsical or magical about it at all. It doesn't seem like the spirit of the groundhog is speaking to us. It's just like, oh, the robots that we're gonna have more snow, I can go on weather.com and get that information.

I wanna be carried to a magical world where animals are commune with nature in a way that we can't possibly fathom. But it's also like, hey, Peta, could you take like all the effort you put into this whole stunt and just like help reason awareness about impossible foods? Like, do you want to move the needle on animal rights? Or do you just like,

I don't know if you heard. I don't know if you heard, but the impossible nuggets that they're working on for KFC aren't vegan. So, oh boy. That gonna be bad news for everybody. That'd be bad news when I'm jamming them into my mouth 20 at a time. Fucking dipping, putting some fucking dipping sauces all over those motherfuckers. When Dipper starts carrying them nugs. I'm gonna fucking dip those fucking nuggets in so many sauces.

The sauces won't know it hit them, but it'll be a, it'll have been a nugget. This sauce is only to write the group. Yeah. The sauces are good to fucking. Yeah, like litigate against me for abuse. Anyhow, I'm excited about the fake nuggets, basically, is what I'm saying. And I'm not mad that they're not vegan

because I live in a world where, not everything's gonna be vegan Yeah, I'm not knocking vegans fine do it up do your thing, you know like listen Bill Clinton I'm a vegetarian great, you know vegetarian for a long time, but I have a leather belt and I'm not fucking giving it back Well listen, you got to use the whole animal as they say leather tends to go to waste So no one else is gonna use sure. I'm so annoyed. I have a Bluetooth mouse that has intermittently is intermittently working and I can't scroll. I was looking at our things that are topics for us, but now I can't look at them anymore. So you'll have to inform me.

What else is there to talk? Is there anything else to talk about? I mean, there's just so much. I feel like there is the razor. The new razor is coming out on February 6th. Everybody's gonna finally get to the razor. People want the razor. People want the razor. People non-techy people want the razor. Everybody's jazzed about the razor. I think the only problem with the razors

that people are gonna realize it's a mediocre Android phone that doesn't have iMessage. And they're gonna be like, oh yeah, I can't use the razor. Well, I think the thing about it is that it's gonna put into people's minds that that's a form factor that they want and then Apple will in four to five years have a version of their phone where they're like you can fold it and put it in your pocket and then everyone's gonna be like this fucking rules man but right now I mean maybe honestly the folding feels like a little bit of a

stopgap I mean it feels like not really I mean to be honest with you it's cool and I like the idea of it and and I miss being able to flip open and snap close a razor, but I think most people feel very good about the idea of the way the iPhone is designed. It was cons of the Slurb. If it was smaller, and if it fit in your pocket smaller, and you had not much less kind of premises than currently you have in order to get that done. If they can get it to a place

where that's just an added thing that it's smaller, people do not like that their phones are so huge. They just don't. I mean, that's true. I think but then you still have a large phone and just folds up.

And I would like that. I would like a large phone that can go in the tail. But the phone's ultimately still big. Yeah. You understand what I'm saying? Just because you can fold, it doesn't mean that when you actually use the phone, it's not going to be gigantic. Sure.

I just don't like that. It's so big in my pants. Okay. I don't mind to be in big in the pants. You know, in fact, I prefer it to be big in the pants. And I like to know it's there. I like to know that I got something I'm to work with, you know. And I want to grow or not a show. So I hear what you're saying. I understand, you know, you know, you want to be surprised. You want something to surprise you. Pop out and surprise you. And that's totally understandable. And I love to, you know, you love to see the the razor at its full

length. But I just think that I don't know if Apple would, I don't think, I don't see Apple doing a folding phone. That's, I'm going to put my official, here's my official opinion. I don't think Apple is going to do a folding phone. Ever? I think Apple will take it to whatever that. Yeah, I don't think ever. I don't think they'll ever do a folding phone. I think that they're, they will find, as I think every folding phone maker is going to find, that the technology, getting the technology to be seamless, every pun intended, and work consistently, is a much larger engineering challenge than the concept is worth. Meaning, there's probably something after the concept of a folding phone that is like, you know,

there is no, what? Liquid phone. No, or like, it's like the phone that all the phone is is a screen that's a receiver for like, because we live in a high bandwidth world where the processing no longer even has to be done on device. And we figured out like secure cloud communication or whatever. And so all processing is done in like a server farm somewhere and like beamed instantaneously with like no lag whatsoever to your phone, which now is really just like a screen and a receiver and a transmitter. Yeah, no, I want the opposite.

I don't like that at all. Well, I'm just saying like something like that, but then eventually, you know, it's gonna be like, is the phone, does there even a phone, you know, is it like every surface has something or like, there's a, it's like, not a scroll, but maybe it's like, I don't know. I'm not sure, but like, is it a phone?

I don't know, you know, maybe it's like, between the watch and the thing in your ear and like the fact that every service is now a display that automatically recognizes who you are and puts up content that only you can see. You know, you're at your local Starbucks that the windows are display, but it's got some kind of like privacy,

like holographic privacy layer. You know where I'm going with this, don't you? Yeah, you're going to like fucking minority reports. Have you seen Picard? Picard is full of shit like this. Picard is like, we should write down a Picard. Picard is full of shit where it's like people just like, they like whip out, it looks like a fan that you're gonna like, you know, cool yourself off with, but it's actually

like a holographic floating display. I have a lot of questions and I don't want to spoil anything for anybody. And there's really very, I'm not gonna do any spoilers for Picard right now display. I have a lot of questions, and I don't want to spoil anything for anybody. There's really very, I'm not gonna do any spoilers for a card right now, but I have a lot of questions about like the beaming technology in a card suggests that like people can kind of beam anywhere they want.

Like they beam into rooms. It's like, I feel like how do you control where and when you can beam into places? Like, so I feel like there'd be a lot of people beaming into like bedroom as well, people are getting it on. That's what I feel like would be going on. A lot of people beaming into like bank vaults, you know, I guess they don't have money anymore,

so it doesn't really matter. Like, right, nobody's using bank vaults because there's no money in them. But, maybe you create a no beam zone. Well, that's what I'm saying. But like, how do you create the no beam zone? I don't know, I mean, this is the... I mean, this is the...

I mean, this is the... I mean, this is the... I mean, this is the... I mean, this is the... I mean, this is the... I mean, this is the... I mean, this is the... I mean, this is the...

I mean, this is the... I mean, this is the... I mean, this is the... I mean, this is the... I mean, this is the... I mean, this is the... I mean, this is the... I mean, this is the...

I mean, this is the... I mean, this is the... I mean, this is the... I mean, this is the... I mean, this is the... I mean, this is the... I mean, this is the... I mean, this is the... watched as a teenager or something like Charmed. We're like, you know, you can just teleport anywhere and I can summon whatever I want. And if I rhyme, then it happens. And it's like, well, at that point, you're like an omnipotent godhead. Yeah.

Who like consumes the universe within your own it. Yeah. And like, so what are we doing here? And you know, Charmed used it to get them in bikinis. But it's just, I can't use the new Star Trek Picard because I just can't take any more disappointments. Well, you're not watching it. You're not watching it? I can't. I haven't watched it. I just can't take any more disappoint. Wait, you're not watching it? You're not watching it?

I can't. I haven't wanted it. I'm watching it. And it is not disappointing, but it's also not good. I mean, I hate to say it. My review is like, it's got some stuff that is like fun and interesting, but it also has a lot of stuff that is like kind of good and sort of like, there's a ton of like, instead of doing the plot, they're doing a lot of a lot of like exposition of like explaining the plot. It's like they're trying to fill in a lot of like blanks for us

but the instead of doing it in a really like creative like artistic subtle way it's like Picard remember five years ago when you had this thing happen that you didn't understand well now we have an explanation for it And Picard's like wow, okay, that means that now we can go and find this lost thing that I've always wanted to get or whatever And it's like okay guys like Could you do it? They actually start the second episode with a flashback Which does a much much much better job of illustrating things that are discussed in the first episode

So I'm kind of like why didn't we do something like this to start things off? And here are a lot of shows being made and the basics of storytelling, which is like strong characters and interesting ideas to explore for those characters and new situations for them to be in. Like kind of go out the window.

Yeah, I've been watching the outsider also. I don't know if you're watching that, but Stephen King book that has been turned into an HBO, like it's basically like a true detective style show. And it's like, they're really, you really kind of are like, wow, like really good stories aren are truly hard to come by. Like really compelling stories with really compelling

characters that actually move you along and don't have you going like, I don't know about that. Like are actually much rarer than I think we all think they are. You know? Like I've tried like a million times to watch so many shows where I'm just like, yeah, this is not good. Like the Witcher. People are like the Witcher.

It's like the Witcher is bad. The Witcher and the Mandalorian have the same show. Sabrina, it's bad. It's not a good show. The stories are dumb. Everything is about like the intricacies of some like BS religion that doesn't exist. I know.

I can't sink my teeth into you guys debating like the merits of your weird religion that isn't real and doesn't exist and doesn't matter and has no stakes. You know, we're making up as you go along. And that's the thing to, especially when characters have no strong consistency. Like the great thing about Buffy is that you knew who every single character was and they were really strong and every choice they make. It made sense for them and what motivates them in their history and weird little things that happened two seasons ago Would tie in and it would be part of a larger tapestry of that perspective on the world and like so when you were like The you know the musical demons here It was actually so moving and touching because you're like this is how each person would react to this

But when you don't have strong characters and we're just like Sabrina has three boys that like her and she's decided She doesn't like boys, but then she picks a strong characters and we're just like Sabrina has three boys that like her and she's decided she doesn't like boys but then she picks a different boy and you're like what is that? What is that called? Hey spoiler alert. What are we talking about? Yeah, I mean it's just so anyhow,

like yeah a lot of modern entertainment or at least a lot of entertainment at this point feels like we're feeling like. Oh wow, Mark Kowski, hold on, sorry. I'm just seeing this stuff live. Kowski says no, okay cool. The, I'm just seeing this stuff live. Kowski says, no, okay, cool. The worst, the GOP is the worst. The creators, the worst traders.

They're so bad. I mean, people don't even, I feel like people don't fully realize what has actually happened. I'm sorry, not to get off topic here as we were talking about Sabrina, a great topic. But like the, sorry, just happened to flip on to the New York Times for a second. The, yeah, TV is very, I think, very poor right now. There's not a lot that's good that's going on.

I do think that we went from the Golden Age to the Silver Age to like the TV bubble so fast. Like it's crazy. Yeah. I mean, Edgar, Edgar wrote a piece about this earlier in the week about the kind of that we're drowning in the sea of content. And I think it's true, but not only are we like, there's an overwhelming amount of content that's out there for people,

and a lot of it is not good, but like the discovery systems and the ways of getting to that content and the services that you need to be subscribing to or thinking about in order to do it, is just becoming so overwhelming that I think we're gonna see in the next few years, a pretty rapid rethinking of this strategy where everybody has their subscription

service and everybody subscribing to multiple things. I think you're gonna see the breakdown of that model happen really quickly. I mean, we're currently in the Atari of the 70s, which is just like anything that we want, anything anyone makes, we're going to throw up there just in case it works. And people will see through the lack of quality and curation very quickly. And I understand we all like TV and it's a way we're integrated in our lives than video

games were. But there will be a turning point where people will just, there will be a turning point where there will be a reckoning where people will just, there will be a turning point where like there will be a reckoning of some kind because people are not going to be shelling out $15 for a million different services if every show is of the quality of Riverdale. Yeah, no, I mean, it's, it's, it's unsustainable. Anyway, all right, anything else we should discuss? Let's talk about nice things.

Oh, nice things. I love, I love sort of my nice things you want to go first. So my main nice thing this week I'll be highlighting is a podcast because podcasts continue to that's a certainly an area of content where creators can make and throw as much shit at the walls they want, but there's less lift to it. So people with good ideas can eventually get something out there. I truly love podcasting, distributed platforms, love it. But a new podcast that I absolutely adore is called Ask Rana. It is a podcast hosted by a fictional character called Rana Glickman who is sort of like

an old Jewish mother from Massachusetts who has flawless taste and will never admit she's wrong. And it's basically her and Brian Safi of throwing shade, taking advice questions every week with a guest and answering them. And it's so insightful. And having a character through which to voice, like both your opinions, but also to filter your viewpoint through is such an interesting thing, especially with something like giving advice. I mean, to put on a persona to give advice is such an odd idea and it's so funny.

And I don't know how to explain why it's so good to you, but you have to go listen to it. I mean, they just give recommendations of luxury items that a wealthy Jewish woman from Boston would purchase on her trip to Europe. And the bond moths of insight into why one would purchase this luxury item over the other one. And it's placed in your philosophical world. And the intricacies of human relationships is so weird and funny. And Brian Safi has always been kind of a delight on a podcast and he's such a perfect foil

for this no-at-all character. It's called Ask Rana with Rana and Brian and it's so wonderful and their guests are so perplexed by them and this week they had on the guy from Superstore Ben Feldman and he is just such a different, he's like a straight guy who like has like a wife and kids and he's just from such a different perspective than both the character and Brian the person.

And to hear them talk about people's problems, like one of the listeners wrote in about how she's a doctor and autism doctor for kids. And one of her husband's nephews is showing a ton of symptoms and nobody in the family's addressing it and the husband told her not to say anything. And she's like, okay, but this kid is going to grow up pretty fast. And I have the resources to like change this kid's whole life and outlook. But everyone will hate me if I do it.

And it might like cause a divorce. And it was just like an interesting problem to have to pick a part and come up with strategies for. And it's just, it's really, it's delightful. And, and if that's not a problem that occurs in your life that you could apply the advice to, the advice is like so large and encompassing about like priorities in life and like relationships and funny that it doesn't matter. And you can walk away with like such good insight. So I would highly recommend everyone go listen to it and when you are addicted to it, please at me on Twitter and tell me that you love it. And at Rhonda and tell her I recommend it so I can be on the show.

Wow. Okay. Interesting. Interesting plug there at the end. Very good. So my nice thing is like actually sort of on the topic we were just discussing, like Lauren, I have been going back and watching six feet under. I don't know if we ever talked about this on the show. I feel like we have at some point, but. All of us finale. Yeah, I mean, flawless finale. Speaking of finale, I have to finish watching

the good plays finale. Oh, I cried the whole time. Yeah, it seems like a real tear jerker, which I kind of don't go in for on sitcoms, but it's so good. But Six Feet Under is like an incredible show. I feel like it's been somewhat lost in the kind of sort of sands of time of like prestige television It is one of the first like truly great like golden era prestige shows

You know, it's sort of like in the sopranos yeah mad men and yeah, and it just like it's really really fucking good It is very weird. It is both like serialized and episodic in nature. It has like incredible character development. It has incredible performances. It pushes all kinds of weird boundaries that definitely when it was on the air,

we're boundaries, and even to this day, some of them are still boundaries. And it's just like incredible storytelling. And I feel like it's so subtle, it's so like concerned with a kind of human interaction that so few shows actually explore, that it's just like a nice break from where everything has to be like the big idea show. Like every show that you watch now is like you're kind of like, okay, just dumb. When are we going to get to like the reveal, like the big thing that happens where you're like, oh my god,

like this show the outsider that I was talking about, it's like very well produced, very well directed, wonderful acting, really interesting story, some really like kind of scary, gruesome parts. But like the whole time I'm like, all right, let's get to the big reveal, let's get to like the big thing. And like even with like the first, the first season of True Detective, I felt like, yes, the show was about solving the mystery, but the mystery was very, it felt in many ways secondary to the way they developed and explored those characters over time. And it just felt like, yes, it was important to figure out what was going on with these murders, but also, you were happy to live

in the episodes that weren't really about them necessarily or that were focused on that kind of character development. And like a Shilix 6 feet under just reminds me that there's so much that you can do with there's so much you can do with with the with the medium. And it feels like there's so little that's actually being done with it right now in so many ways. I thought we wrote a great piece, speak it, not just take this back to pieces. We've written, but there was a great piece that we did about how Netflix, kind of the way that it evaluates success of shows actually pushes out some of those like newer, fresher, more differentiated voices

that they say they really want to support and give a platform to. I think that in the early days of HBO, when HBO was figuring out what it really did best, it did give license and room for so many things that never would have flown on network television or anywhere else. That was the stuff that made the difference. I do think it's like now. Yeah. and that was the stuff that made the difference. And I do think it's like now. Yeah, Jay Ferguson wrote this piece.

I definitely want to credit them because it was about how like the algorithm looks for specific things that you could program into it. Like did you watch the two of these comedy specials in this show, then we'll show you this thing by a small, like a lesbian of color who created a beautiful fairy tale love story and it won't show it to anybody else, even though they probably would find something to connect with it because in the surface algorithmic, like tags, that's not something that you

quote unquote, like. Um, yeah, exactly. I mean, anyhow, where HBO editors, like HBO creatives for a while, we're able to look at the show and be like, it's about family bonds. And we don't have a show about family bonds. And so we'll write this beautiful love story about family. And like that will be our programming thing. And they weren't necessarily looking at it of like, we don't have enough shows with lesbians.

It's like not the way to make TV. Anyhow, so I guess my nice thing is six feet under, I recommend everybody goes back. If you haven't seen it honestly, if you haven't seen it ever, it's so worth the time, so interesting. I mean, it's not for everybody, but I think it's super fucking good.

And if you've seen it, if you haven't seen it in a while, it's like definitely worth revisiting. It's really an interesting, just a different way of looking at, you know, looking at, you know, looking at how you can tell a story. Yeah, well, all right. Great, well, now it's time to go and watch

the destruction of the US government. Well, that is our show for this week. We'll be back next week with more tomorrow. And as always, I wish you and your family the very best. But if your family lives in America, things aren't looking that good right now. you