Tomorrow - 201: Lord of the ROMs
Episode Date: August 9, 2020On this week's episode of Tomorrow, Ryan journeys to the great state of Vermont and Josh journeys to get his MRI results. There's also some talk of TikTok, the Analogue Pocket, Samsung, and electric m...otorcycles. You will never gets our precious from us, hobbits. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Hey and welcome to Tomorrow, I'm your host Josh Wittipolsky. Today on the podcast we discuss motorbikes,
SAG, and GOLUM.
I don't want this one minute. Let's get right into it.
Alright, we're back. Another...
Look at us!
Another 201. We made it.
We're 201 years old.
We're into our bison ten year years.
It's very good, I love it.
I'll never forget this day.
I'll never forget turning 201
and just really loving the life that I've lived.
Anyhow, so we're back, it's the tomorrow podcast.
It's been a big week, big, big, big crunchy week,
full of granola.
Perfect, cause I'm in Vermont.
Yeah, exactly.
It's like a parfait, except the parfait is made out of excrement.
No.
The parfait is made out of e-waste and e-girls.
Yeah, and e-girls.
E-waste and e-girls.
So, okay, big week, Trump, big week for President Trump.
You know, he finally took initiative. You know, I was honest to listen, you know,
I've been critical of this President Ryan. I think you know,
have you?
Yeah, I think you know, that I've had a lot of problems with, with President Trump
and haven't liked really, I haven't loved all of his policies, you know.
But this week, you know, I think President Trump truly became the President.
We all knew that he could be when he signed an executive order, I think President Trump truly became the president.
We all knew that he could be
when he signed an executive order banning TikTok,
the teen dance app so that we can have,
finally have security and safety in America.
And I think importantly, he didn't ban it
just because he's a massive petty,
crybaby bitch who got made fun of by the people on TikTok
and wanted to take revenge.
He banned it because there are legitimate, meaningful,
massive security threats that are happening because of,
hang on, wait, I'm just being handed a note here.
Oh, there's no security threats.
There's no proof of any, no documented security issues. Okay, actually, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I sorry. Can you hold on a second? My delivery order, I ordered, there was a bunch of advertising
networks that were collecting data on everyone around the world and selling it to the
highest bidder. Anyone really, China, who cares? I bought it and it's just getting delivered.
So I'll be right back.
Oh, great. I love to see. Who is that? Is that anybody I know? Is it? It's a great bit.
We should just do. Our new thing should just be we're interrupted by the producer with
an important message. At any rate, so fucking, I mean, I'm sorry. Like, listen, I don't
want to, I know, like, I just, listen, Tony, I know you dialed in originally. You punched
up the code for the tomorrow podcast. And you're like, can't wait to hear my favorite gadget blog or talk about tech.
And now here I am just like, Alex Z.
Bold to talk about.
We're going to talk.
Hey, we're going to get to it.
Don't you worry.
But here's the thing.
But, but you know, sometimes you just, but here's the thing.
Here's the beauty of it.
Like Tony, I think you know the world as we predicted many years ago that when we started the verge our talking point was like technology culture is going to be mainstream
culture and that is why we made this thing and low and behold here we are in
fucking 2020 the year of our Lord and Donald Trump the reality show star who is
now the president of the United States is signing an executive fucking order banning
TikTok which is known for people dancing and being funny in short-form videos
who are by the way many of them not even fucking voting age but but but the
president has not signed the Defense Production Act.
He has not put that into order.
He has not signed an executive order saying,
I want businesses to begin making protective equipment and ventilators.
He has not created a nationwide plan for enforcement of mask wearing, for enforcement of safety measures in schools,
has not created, has not written a fucking sign in the executive order to give people
who are out of work in America by the tens of millions, some kind of money or income
or opportunity to get, keep float these fucking months where they're getting
absolutely fucking destroyed has not put in to place a federal, thoughtful, fucking
mandated plan about how we're going to get kids back into school.
I mean, he literally is like a thousand people are dying a day and he literally said literally said
it is what it is meaning that's the president the president of the United States reaction
to a thousand Americans dying every day for no reason except his fucking incompetence is
and if when tiktok makes his Tulsa rally look bad. He signs an executive order to ban the app and the company.
So give me a fucking break.
I'm sorry, if you voted for Trump, you are so dumb.
And if you still think Trump is good,
I don't know why you're listening to this podcast,
but if you still think there's an ounce of value
that you can squeeze out of the dipshit,
out of the orange that is Trump,
like you're just so, so, so fucking lost.
And I really feel bad for you.
I really feel sympathy for anybody
who looks at that person in his policies
and the way he's governed and the government
that he's created and the shit that he's put this country in
and goes, yep, that's my guy.
Like I really feel bad for you
because your brain is a peanut
and you need to like be sent to an island somewhere
where like for the criminally stupid.
Anyhow now let's talk about the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2.
You won't be playing Fortnite on it.
I get it, Warner numbers.
Well I mean listen, I mean this president, this president, I don't think is going to
is a real detail oriented mother fucker. I wouldn't be surprised. He's like,
you know, let's also bend the Koreans while we're at it.
I mean, it's, he's not like real smart about stuff.
He's, yeah, he's just like, oh, yeah, I mean,
like what can I do that like we'll get David Duke fired up?
You know, David Duke has a fucking enormous boner right now.
Like David Duke has never been harder than it right now.
Just so erect and add attention with every move that Trump
makes.
Those are the people who really think he's swell, like the biggest turds and losers in
America, the KKK guys, the white supremacists, these fucking Bougaloo, QAnon, whatever they are,
the people who literally are just sucking their own dick 24-7. Not to, by the way way not a bad thing if you can do you know kudos, but I'm just saying
I mean honestly we're all trying to make money on only fans. You know what?
Check out my only fans
A lot of good raunchy stuff a lot of nasty sexual activity featuring yours truly
Well, let's talk about that. Let's talk
Smash cut smash cut
Let's talk about that song. Let's talk.
Smash cut.
Smash cut.
Speaking of leaks.
Speaking of leaks,
a torrent, a gusher of leaks.
Huge, just a absolute flood of Samsung leaks.
So yeah, so the day before their first off,
Samsung's been, I mean every every component of
Everything that Samsung announced was basically leaked like weeks days months weeks or days before
They're in it. They had an event this week
But then um the day before
There were leaks of like the videos of the new fold the videos of the new galaxy note all the colors all the spec Note, all the colors, all the spec information, all the price
and it was like, I don't know, Samsung.
Like why, if it's this bad, if you can't keep
any of this shit under wraps, why do the event?
Yeah, and why do the event need to be cure hours?
Oh my God.
And the event's so bad.
I mean, Samsung is actually known
for having really bad cringe-worthy live events, but the
pandemic, I have to say, if anybody has really been hurt by the pandemic, I'm going to say
it's like Samsung's marketing team, which just is like-
Yeah, it's like going through something.
It's just like very uncomfortable, like two solid hours of just absolute discomfort. Like, like just cringe inducing, you know, face palming,
like why is this guy here, like,
did have these people ever talk?
Why is this being done live?
There was a lot of mistakes.
No, right, you couldn't predict.
For all the leaks, you think they could have put it,
like, you know, like, oh shit, our production leak,
because we've been working on our live event our quote unquote event you
know you can tell the apple one wasn't live you know yeah they you know if if
Tim cook for like flood a line he's like the new eye pads are for he's like
let's take that over you know it's like they weren't like just let it fucking
roll Tim it's no big deal you know like they're gonna run out of storage
space for video like the new eye fads are wait that's not the what they're gonna run out of storage space for video. Like the new eye fads are wait,
that's not the what they're called at all anyhow.
Let me take that one over anyhow.
I don't know.
Are you gonna buy any of this shit?
So you know here's what happens with Samsung, okay?
Do you are?
No, no, no.
The way you are, the way I am with video game shit
is the way that you are with phones.
No, they, they, they, no.
The, here's the deal, okay?
I watched the event.
You know, saw all the posts and stuff.
We did some, we, you know, Evan went and did, he'd shut some photos and Ray got some,
you know, did some briefings and we know, you know, we knew about this, we knew about
some of this stuff.
And so we had some posts on it,
and so like, yeah, I read, here's the thing.
Every time a Samsung renounced them,
I'm like, I don't need this, I don't want this,
there's no, it's like, it's cool looking,
like it kind of is cool,
but it's always to me, it's always a cycle of disappointment.
And that's not a knock on Samsung actually.
It's just sort of Android in general for me lately,
is like the last couple
of cycles of Android stuff have been like, you know, one like, you know, I switched to iPhone,
I don't know a year ago, a year and a half ago, or whatever. And I kind of have like,
you know, Apple has been making, listen, the new OS has a lot of stuff that I have wanted
and been asking for. It's very satisfying. It's, it's, there's very few, I can listen to the new OS has a lot of stuff that I have wanted and been asking for. It's very satisfying.
It's, there's very few, I can find almost no reasons
at this point to be like, I mean, there are things
that still annoy the fuck out of me, you know?
Totally.
There are things like, I'm like, you know,
it's gotta be easier to share something than this,
like, or like, I just need to do, you know,
I just need to save this file, this must,
like, I just wanna play, like, you know, Zelda has like a thing,
she's doing a musical and they sent us a bunch of MP3s
and they're like, make sure your child practices this song and I'm like, okay, cool, how do
I get the MP3 onto my phone and it's like on the iPhone, it's like, I don't know, like
it can't be done.
You know, it's on the Android phones, obviously, I'm not sure.
You can play it in Safari.
Yeah.
Like, literally, it's like, okay, I'll it in Dropbox and then I'll play from Dropbox.
I was like, no wait, I can find, I can stick it in.
Here's what I actually have started doing.
Here's how fucking insane it is.
She wants to hear it on our Sonos speakers.
I'm like, okay, how do I do this?
I don't have, it doesn't like read the library
from my phone because I have no music on my phone anymore.
And also you can't add the MP3 there.
So I will take it, I have, you know, my Google music,
my play music account or whatever,
you can like put it there and it'll like grab the song from your library and then you can play it,
it's so dumb. Anyhow, getting back to my thing about Samsung. So like, I watch the event,
I'm like, okay, fine, whatever. Then I started looking at the stuff and I'm like, you know,
this new note's pretty fucking cool. I'm like, I'd love to try this like laser fucking focus or
whatever. And it's got 5G and like, 5G, and I think we're starting to see
a larger 5G implementation in America,
and that could be kind of fun.
And I definitely was going through the steps
of purchasing the new Galaxy Note
and trading in my old one, which I bought last year,
which I did the exact same thing for the nine and the 10.
I was like, I got the nine and then I'm like,
I don't need the 10, it's basically the 10,
and I was like, fuck it, I'm getting the 10.
And so they give you a huge discount
because you trade in the old phone.
Yeah.
So I was gonna do it,
and then honestly Craig kinda talked me out.
He's like, what can that phone do
that the one that you have doesn't do?
And I'm like, honestly, nothing,
and also I'm not gonna use it to my main device,
and so who really cares?
And so I stopped myself from doing it.
I just don't think there's anything there.
Like, I have the fuck, I have an iPad pro. I have a I have an iPhone. I have several
very high-end Android phones like sitting in drawers. You know, I've got a Pixel 4 XL. I've
got a Note 10. It's like there's really it's not really getting me anywhere at this point.
And it's always this feeling of like, oh, I love like taking a new device out of its packaging.
I love like seeing the new bells and whistles in the software
in the hardware.
And then like a week later, I'm like,
what, why did I buy this?
You know, and we're in the middle of a pandemic.
And I don't really think I should be,
just donate the money to Black Lives Matter.
I don't think I should be blowing money on things like that.
Like honestly, I mean, I certainly am still
blowing money on things, but I'm trying to blow
the money on things that are a little bit more,
you know, yeah, just strippers are a little bit more you know.
Yeah, just strippers.
And of course, you know, I props for my only fans page.
You know, but a lot of sex toys for my only fans page.
But props, you know, like giant.
You said giant.
I pictured like, you know, and people get like a pie in the face.
Yeah, I'm actually doing a lot of slapstick.
I'm doing a lot of slapstick.
I'm doing a lot of slapstick now on the only fans.
Actually more of a comedy channel, really.
A lot of nude tripping content.
Yeah, I'm like falling on my erection, volume three.
I'm gonna get it actually.
That's actually like, that seems like
the right middle ground of like porn and slapstick comedy.
I guarantee you it exists.
It exists, it definitely exists.
There's one thing I've learned during the pandemic is that it all exists.
You're looking for it, it's not only fans probably.
If it's not not only fans, there's some other service that's weirder and darker than only
fans and that's where you'll find it.
And I have of course, of course, subscribed to all of them. Yeah, so that's my thing with Sam's
tongue. So I don't like they released a new fold. They put a bigger screen on it. I think it's fine.
Like honestly, Evan did this thing. He wrote this thing about he bought a fold, the original fold
at like a like a refurbished price from Amazon and he's using it with one of those like phone controllers
to play retro games and it's like it is honestly I will say is the first time ever where I was like
oh shit like I want like maybe I want to get one of these you know I was like this actually is
get one of these. You know, I was like, this actually is really interesting and might be like what I'm looking for in a device.
And, you know, but I haven't done it yet. Um, it's one man. Just one
man's opinion. It made me, it made me drool. Certainly to see that
you could use the 16 by nine screen on the outside for wide
screen games and then open up before by three screen for a huge
like full screen gaming experience. Well, it'd even better on the new fold because the outer screen is much larger.
It's like on the old one, it's very small and has a giant bezel around it, but on the
new one, it's basically the entire face of the outside.
That's one of the things I think is interesting.
As I will say, now you can use the fold folded as a phone, like as a real full-size phone,
which to me actually definitely seems like,
now I'm literally talking myself into buying it,
by the way, I'm actually...
The phone looks like a prototype compared to the second one,
which is always the way.
Yeah, and so, you know,
maybe I'll get a Galaxy Fold when they're out,
like when are they out?
I don't know, Is it like a Verizon
inclusive? I'm looking right now. Also, it's the worst name ever. The worst name of all
time. Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G. Like, come on. Can we just call it a thing?
We reserve now.
7 series mobile.
How much is it? It's exactly like that. Honestly, this looks very good. And having used the, having used the Galaxy Z
fold or whatever you're calling it, whatever they're calling that one, it definitely like,
this seems like they fixed all of the things that were wrong about the first one. I gotta
say I'm looking at the website now and I'm like, maybe I do want this.
You serve $2,000.
Is it that much?
Yeah.
That's nuts.
That's a wild that is
Insane for that price you could get a scooter that you could fall off of when is it available?
I'm putting myself down I'm reserving
Reserve today to be among the first on the gals is the full two five G
I'm doing it
No, don't send me any tax. Don't send me any tax about this
I'm doing it.
I'm just literally reserving it right now.
Oh my God.
Great, done.
Am I planning to trade in?
You bet your ass I am.
Yeah, Sam's on Galaxy Note 10.
Oh, wait, no, no, no, wait.
Shit.
I was the wrong trade in.
Anyhow, so you see I'm a very sick person.
I need help.
It's very bad.
Anyhow.
Well, in other areas.
What else happened this week, yeah?
We have Ian wrote a piece about how he went flying off of a revel scooter.
Oh, yeah, we've a great piece.
We've got a couple really some really good original pieces on the site this week.
One of them is about revel, this company revel.
And if you don't know, revel is a company that was renting.
They call them mopeds, but they're actually scooters, and I'm going
to get to why that's important in a second.
And two people have died on these things, and I think there were some other serious injuries.
And Ian Savante is one of our writers actually had an accident on a revel that he rented.
They started in New York, and then they expanded to us some other large cities like DC and
Austin and Miami.
And, but there's a large concentration of them
in New York and, you know, it's interesting.
So, they've been renting these things.
They're essentially like the way that you don't need
a motorcycle license to ride one.
Now, if you wanted to buy a scooter like a Vespa,
you would need to get a special license. Like, when I wanted to get a motorcycle, I had to go and take classes. I spent like a
weekend of like full days taking these like special classes to get certification to be able
to go get the, to get the license. And they weren't, it's not that easy. I mean, they actually
are pretty, it's like pretty like, you know, it's a pretty full on, they do a pretty serious like road test, like you really have to understand how
the bikes work and understand like where the dangers are and they actually, there's a lot
of a bunch of reading that you do beforehand because you really can't go into the class,
like not knowing a bunch of laws and rules about like what motorcycles do. And the same is
true for scooters, right? So like you need essentially the same license, okay? But if
the engine is under 50cc,
meaning if they only go a certain speed
or have a certain amount of power, then you don't, right?
So it's this interesting loophole because
these things that they're renting are
in every way possible are exactly like a Vespa, right?
They're electric, but they're exactly like a Vespa
in the sense that it's a scooter you sit on,
you need to have a driver's license to ride it. They have license plates. You have to wear a helmet when you ride it.
They have a throttle. They have two different brakes, one which is controlled with your foot, one control with your hand.
They have turn signals. They have mirrors. It's a relatively complex device.
I'm not saying they're that hard to ride, but it's not a bike, okay?
And so the company, interestingly enough, Revel calls them MoPeds.
MoPeds traditionally, and for a very long time,
up until very recently, MoPeds were essentially a bike
with an engine added, right?
So a bicycle or a bike-like form
with an additional motor that would help you.
So kind of like, do you see some of these electric bikes
that are out there, a little bit more like that, meaning riding,
it is very much like riding a bike.
And it goes all of the places that a bike goes
and it doesn't go that fast.
And if you need to pedal, you can pedal, right?
Like it breaks like a bike, it operates like a bike.
So they call this a mode pad,
but the reality is it's actually a fucking scooter.
And a scooter is very different to handle and to navigate and it's, you can't put it in
bike lanes.
It's on the road.
And so it's interesting that like this company was like, yeah, it'll be fine as long as
people don't go over 30 miles an hour.
That's literally the law, essentially, that they're scurrying is, if you don't go over
30 miles an hour, then you don't need a special license to ride these things.
And the truth is, I mean, you could just, the thing that bothers me is,
I mean, we talked about this yesterday,
maybe it's not a one-to-one,
but it would be like I was in a Ferrari,
and we were like, well, it's only gonna go
30 miles an hour, so you don't need a license,
because it's a go-car.
It's exactly the same idea.
I mean, it's very much like going, okay,
well, this is a car, but, you know,
it only goes, you know, 20 miles an hour,
and so you don't really need to get the license for it.
And like, you know, first...
This is a walking, you're basically walking.
I mean, also, I mean, what's also interesting is that,
yeah, you're basically, it's not, yeah, sure,
it's like you're in a Ferrari,
but you're really just walking down the street
inside of a large vehicle.
What's interesting also is that a driver's license
basically does nothing for you when it comes to a motorcycle.
In my opinion, and I say this as a person who,
I mean, yes, of course, knowing the rules of the road,
like you stop at a red light and you have to stop at a stop sign
and you need to use a signal when you're turning
and like shit like that, you know,
this car has the right of way, like yes, that's all true.
That stuff, you know, you should know even if you don't drive
because you need to know how to navigate the roads
of the world that we live in, right?
You didn't know when to cross and shit like that.
But in terms of actual use of these things,
in terms of actual controlling and operating
and riding, like a scooter and a car
couldn't be more different in a million different ways.
And like I will say this, these are unsafe,
like generally speaking, when you're on a road
that where you're surrounded by large cars and trucks
and SUVs and you're on a two wheel vehicle,
it is a well-known and well-established fact
that they are very fucking dangerous.
And in general, there are two people on them.
I have never seen a revel scooter in use that wasn't,
I'm sorry to say this,
but a couple in their mid 50s with the like woman
on the back holding it with a big grin
on her face waving her arms,
which complicates things so much more.
Yeah, I mean, this is, I mean, you have to understand,
like, there's stuff that you learn
when you start riding a motorcycle
that you would never think about ever
before you get on the motorcycle.
Like, cars don't see you, okay?
And you're sharing the roads with them.
Cars basically, like drivers tend to many accidents
or cause because they literally don't see the motorcycle.
It's small, it's thin, it's often in a blind spot.
One of the things that's good about motorcycles,
they make a lot of noise, they make one of the things
that a lot of riders like about the noise
that motorcycles produce is that it lets cars know
that you're there.
And this is like something that is like well documented
and talked about and even still,
it's massively dangerous to get on a motorcycle and ride.
The thing about a bike in New York is like, yes, it's dangerous to ride a bike in New York,
but there are dedicated bike lanes.
Those bike lanes are often cordoned off in a way that even if you want to put a car in
it, you couldn't.
There are actual demarcated places in many areas.
Then also, there's just the straight-up lines on the road.
The cars tend to, not always, but tend to not drive in those lanes.
There's a clearly demarcated space for people on two wheel vehicles or scooters or whatever.
I mean scooters like the kind that you, you know, like a razor scooter that you kick or
whatever.
These are not that.
These are a fucking vehicle that you ride that you share the road with cars and trucks
and SUVs.
And so it becomes just like unbelievably more dangerous.
So Ian wrote this great piece and I want everybody to read it. We spoke to Revel, you know,
and they basically were like, yeah, we knew like people could die once we started, you know,
putting these out in wider circulation. They're literally like, like, it's a quote. You know,
like, yeah, we knew like the dangers of the road. It's like, I mean, to me, it's incredible that this even got this far.
It's incredible that they were able to skirt.
And I really believe, and we don't go into this deeply in the piece, but I really believe
their use of the term moped to describe these is a thoughtful attempt to skirt a law that
is very clear. And I think the fact that the law basically
is like, well, if it goes 30 miles or less, then you're fine. Is an insane law that needs
to change. I don't think that can be the only criteria that we use because you've got
all of these new electric, and by the way, I'm a big fan of two wheel electric vehicles.
I'm like really into them. We actually, I actually have a zero motorcycle
that I got sent a few days ago that I've been testing
and it's like super fucking fun and really cool
and I love it.
And also it is terrifying to ride
and I'm a person who has riding experience
and knows how to ride a regular motorcycle.
And these vehicles, like all these new electric vehicles
that are coming out like the Super 73 stuff, the Onyx bikes, which are, those are closer to MoPeds,
because they have like proper pedals and they're sort of more minimal to wheel vehicles.
But they still have like the power of a pretty decent electric motor in them.
These things are fucking scooters.
I mean, I think this is a totally different class of vehicle altogether
and has no business just being handed out to people who don't know how to ride them. But as we see that there are more uses for electric motors and new types of vehicles and
we're thinking about cities and new ways, especially post pandemic, we really need to
start rethinking some of the laws around how you ride these, where you ride them, what
the vehicles actually can be, what kind of experience you need to get your hands on
one.
Because I think it really presents a pretty scary proposition for a world where pretty
much anybody can grab one of these things.
And in busy and congested cities, it can become a real danger both to pedestrians and to
the riders.
And so anyhow, you should read Ian's piece. It's the headline
is, Rebelscooters were never safe for the average person and the company knew. And I highly
recommend it. And Ian is okay. He's did not suffer any permanent bodily harm as far as
I know. And he said, I believe he's currently in Colorado and joined their very liberal weed
laws.
I don't know if actually I don't know if he even smokes weed, but he'd be a fool not to.
All right, what else happened this week?
Anything any other big major events?
I feel like it was a long week, but a short week, am I crazy?
It kind of blew by in a blur.
We've got another original piece in the state that I did want to talk about,
which was Jay Ferguss wrote a piece for us. Oh, yes. Yes. My favorite hobby horse. You love Quibby.
You love Quibby. This guy's a Quibby. You may be the most, you know, you're Quibhead. You're
maybe the most avid Quibby user that actually have you ever used it, you've used it, right? I used it
for like a half an hour once. And you're like, nope. I was like, not for me.
I'd be perfectly honest. Anything that requires me to look at my phone
to get the content, like if there's no other option.
No. I have a very low interest, I would say.
I'm like, I'm like, really get my attention.
Like the thing about TikTok is, is it like, does every trick
in the book to make you look at it, which is the fun part?
Yeah, yeah.
No, I mean, TikTok, I mean,
I've been looking a lot at TikTok lately,
both for personal and professional reasons.
And I have to say like there are,
there are,
there's something very addictive about it.
And also, but TikTok's actually done a really good job
of also making their stuff like really web friendly,
which is something that I feel that-
It's super social, you can screen-
It's super social, you can screen-
You can screen-record it.
Yeah, and I feel like Snapchat really kind of missed
an opportunity by not being more webby,
like right off the bat.
Yeah.
And anyhow, it's just, I think TikTok did a really good job.
But also, you know, I mean, TikTok is obviously the biggest threat
this country has ever known.
And so we need to get behind American innovations like Quibi.
We have to, we have to get, we just have to get, we just have to.
We just have to.
I mean, it's the only choice.
Anyhow, so sorry, Quibi, let's talk about the Quibi piece.
Yeah, so Jay, one of our writers wrote this incredible piece with a lot of exclusive reporting
about how Quibi essentially is scurrying Union laws by loop-pulling their way very similar to
Revell, loop-pulling their way into like movies, but releasing it in five to ten minute chunks so that it's technically a web video so they don't have to hire a union
of crews or pay like scale to actors. And they can basically just exploit the fact that none of this
has been, there's no union policies and there's no regulations around web video for the most part,
so they can shoot a TV show and cut a half hour TV show into three 10
minute chunks and then they can lowball everybody and pay them like below living wages to work on
these productions. As it should. And it's a little bit horrifying because obviously Hollywood is
already a very exploitative, exclusive place to work and to get a career going and
contrary to popular belief working in Hollywood is not very glamorous and it's not very well paid.
I can tell you from experience. And so to even lowball these people further when you're working with
like billions of dollars in investment and your Jeffrey fucking cats in bird is it's really Craven and it is a perfect example of how like having a completely inactive congress and a completely deadlocked government and
completely unsupportative infrastructure for unions in this country at this particular moment when the digital revolution is changing, like the rules of everything. God, I sound like I'm talking about the information super highway.
But at this exact moment when like media is really evolving
like so fast that like two years ago,
I didn't even know what the fuck TikTok was,
and now with the most important thing
on the president's docket apparently.
And so having literally no infrastructure
or for support for unions and no Congress
or like federal government stepping in
to make rules about this stuff, they can just go hog wild. infrastructure or for support for unions and no Congress or like federal government stepping
in to make rules about this stuff, they can just go hog wild.
And obviously, Quibi is such a failure that it won't end up really, it'll be a drop in
the bucket about, you know, Hollywood pace schedules, but it is a model that other places
can emulate.
Like, yeah, they can just say, well, it's an 18 minute episode. So it's not 22 minutes, so it isn't a sitcom.
You know what I mean?
It was like, he coming up with ways to skirt the rules.
No, I mean, when I read the piece,
it's really interesting because it also is like, you know,
Katzm, Jeffrey Katzmberg, who's the, you know,
CEO of the company, and, you know,
is has a long history in Hollywood.
It's sort of like, it's sort of like he's been in
and aware of these kind of loopholes
for a really long time in the industry and has clearly like it seems very obvious that
they saw this as an opportunity. I mean, it's funny because he really calls his own
himself out on it. He basically is like, oh yeah, these aren't 10 minute shows. These
are like a two hour movie cut into, you know, 10 parts or whatever. Yeah, he admits it. And it's like, it's really interesting
to think about this, right? I mean, they're basically saying like, we're making movies,
and then we're cutting them into these chunks, and then like, because of that, we're going to
negotiate a rate that would never fly for a movie, right? Yeah, it's like, if you went to a movie
theater, sat down, and every 10 minutes you had to push a button to continue the movie and then they're like this isn't a feature film right well
I mean that would be a very jarring feature film experience, but I mean the reality is it still is like really
shady and
unfair to the crews and
You know is like for a company that has received a billion dollars in investment and supposedly wants to make this a sustainable project
Which is not going to be based on literally everything that I've seen
You know you you think you'd pay people fairly you know, especially people who are
One-have unions and are often shafted by
By production companies and often shafted by you know
are often shafted by production companies and often shafted by, you know, really are like, of course, they're the background players to the stars, but they are often like taking,
you know, taking the shit that the stars never have to deal with.
Anyhow, I would have, I honestly would have never understood or really like known about
this practice that Quibi is, has undertaken if Jay hadn't written this piece and really looked into it and talked to people who are involved with the extremely rude and dumb practice.
And so anyhow, I recommend,
I highly recommended to read this,
the headline, if you're looking for it,
is on top of everything,
Quibi exploits a union loophole to underpay workers
and it's a bit of a long read,
so you can save it your favorite app if you want.
Shocking moments that make it, you could read it in five minute chunks and really enjoy
it.
Actually, we just chopped it up.
So we should do, we should release it as a series, a Quibi series.
Well, they might get Quibi some attention, which they desperately need.
Imagine, just imagine, I feel like I've talked about this before, but just
imagine somebody's like, here's a billion dollars and you make one point eight billion.
No, it wasn't that much.
Was it?
Yes.
Is that right, hon?
Quibi.
One point eight investment.
Honon.
During a pandemic, 40 million Americans speak to this.
Here it is.
Here it is.
The verge.com has raised close to $2 billion.
This is back in the hay day, the sunny days of March 2020.
Maybe this has been updated.
Has raised too much.
It hasn't even launched yet.
Why didn't it launch?
Did it launch right when the pandemic happened?
It launched like March.
Incredible.
This is like on March 4th.
Anyhow, it also sucks to be. I don't think Quibi would have done very, like to be clear,
it was a failure either.
I mean to be clear, Quibi's like, you know, I'm sure they're like, well, the pandemic
really hurt us because this was supposed to be a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, and sitting on trains and buses and I only wanna watch like short amounts of content, which by the way, like it's insane
because that is not how people
want to experience content.
They're not like, I only have 10 minutes.
So give me 10 minutes of content
to fit into that window.
No, people list of podcasts that they pause.
Right, they go, they go, oh, this is great.
I'll start it on my commute in
and I'll finish it on my commute out.
They're not like, okay, I just need a chunk
for this one little window and then I'm gonna move on. you know, I'm sitting at line at CVS time.
Yeah, one point film. So they raise 1.75 bill. It's 1 billion, 750 million fucking dollars for Quibi. Do you know how many fucking jobs could have been saved with 1.7 billion dollars?
I mean, do you know how many we could basically end hunger in the United States.
I mean, we could start, like, I could start a fucking legitimate
competitor to the New York Times for far less than that.
Oh, okay. Like, like, I could fucking, like, I could put together.
You could start your own Tesla, really.
I mean, it's a lot of money. I mean, I'm just saying like 1.75 billion dollars.
1 billion, 750 million dollars is an insane amount
of money to raise for something that is so obviously
a fucking piece of shit flop.
And just to be clear.
For Chrissy's court.
Just to be clear, I've never talked to a single person
in the tech world or in the entertainment world.
And I've talked to people in both of those worlds
a lot about Quibi. Not a single one of them has ever said,
yeah, I think this is gonna be a hit.
Every single person I've ever talked to,
and I mean like, from like, you know,
reporters who cover this beat to like, producers
who had deals with Quibi.
I know people starring in Quibi shows,
who were like, I got to keep the footage
and like, I'll take their fucking money.
It's like, every person.
For day one.
I'm not trying to name drop anything.
I'm just saying, I mean, when either of us are,
I'm just saying, like, up and down the line,
people have been like, oh yeah, this is a complete,
like, non-starter.
So, like, you know, I'm sorry.
Like, I think, like, they literally could have just,
they would have done better
if they literally just put the content on YouTube.
Yes.
I mean, just their trailers get hundreds of thousands
of views on YouTube if they're known properties.
Their trailers do really well,
their celebrity videos do really well on YouTube,
because that's where people go to watch short form content
and it has all the features, the social features
that people are looking for to do that.
It's truly insane.
Anyhow, so you should read this great piece that Jay wrote.
I think it's really interesting.
I think it exposes, not only like, you know,
I mean, he really exposes how craven the Quibi people are.
They got all that money and they could have paid people well
and they didn't.
They cheaped out and I won't stand for it.
Ban Quibi, that's what we should be banning. I need an executive stand for it, ban quibi.
That's what we should be banning.
I need an executive order for quibi to be banned.
I want President Trump to ban fucking Jeffrey Katzenberg
and Meg Whitman from ever doing another video startup ever again.
Jay on that next.
Yeah.
Hashtag ban quibi.
You wanna put, let's put that energy,
that presidential energy against something that really matters
in this fucking God for Satan world.
Anyhow, what else happens?
Speaking of our God for Satan world,
maybe we should move on to nice things.
Well, are we there already?
It's a fast one.
It's true though, we both have,
this is, we both are in the middle of a very busy week,
leading into the weekend.
You're in Vermont.
I am in Vermont where you have,
I know you have like a butter churning
appointment pretty soon.
Yeah, pretty much.
You have like, you gotta do, you gotta go like tap,
go tap a tree and make some syrup.
Yes, that's literally what I'm doing.
Are you doing?
That's great, that sounds fucking really enjoyable, man.
I wish I was doing that.
Now what I'm doing, I'm maybe,
I don't know if the listener knows,
but I have a severe back injury.
That sounds really bad.
I have a pinch nerve and maybe some kind of arthritis and all of this apparently is causing
some severe, both back pain and back and arm pain.
Also a thing that I find just fascinating, which is the way the pinch nerve functions
is that in certain positions,
you know when you hit your elbow and you get like,
um, uh, funny bone,
a fun, you hit your funny bone
and it like is incredibly painful and uncomfortable.
In certain positions, uh, like laying flat, for instance,
in bed or sitting in certain positions,
my arm will just begin, it starts almost like, you feel like,
I think like, oh, there's like a bug on me. And then my arm will just begin, it starts almost like, you feel like, I think like, oh, there's like a bug on me.
And then my arm will just begin,
the entire thing will begin like vibrating and throbbing
in the most.
Like exactly, exactly like,
well, I found a position that I can sleep in
and also they prescribed anti-inflammatories
and muscle relaxers for me.
So I'm taking like medication.
But yeah, it'll just start that and it won't stop.
It's like the funny bone is coming from inside the house.
You know, the call's coming from inside the house
and then it just keeps going and it won't stop.
Like sometimes like actually when we're working,
like sometimes when we're on a call and stuff
and I'm like trying to type something,
my arm gets into that position
and I like have to like, I have to like,
I basically must look in saying
because I'm like jerking around in my chair,
trying to figure out like,
how to get my back and arm to be into a position
where it's not putting pressure on the nerve.
Anyhow, it sucks, ass.
My like, my index finger has been numb
for like a week and a half, like,
this is your nice thing.
Yeah, this is my nice, no, this is not my nice thing.
I'm just explaining why this is a,
we, and I have to go to the doctor, because I got a fucking MRI. This is great.
This is the talk of an MRI and apparently they're gonna tell me exactly which
nerve is is the culprit and supposedly gonna offer some solutions for me. I
don't know anyhow. So yeah, I mean I get us getting off this call soon. You want
to go into nice things. Let's do nice things. Why don't you start and then I'll
join you. Anyhow, that is to say that I have a an injury that I mean, I get us getting off this call soon. You want to go into nice things? Let's do nice things. Why don't you start and then I'll join you.
Anyhow, that is to say that I have an injury
that I'm hoping to get treated and fixed soon.
And anyhow, that's my story.
But please do your nice thing.
And then I'll join you when appropriate.
I'm in Vermont.
It's beautiful.
It's gorgeous.
Last night was the 200th episode of Real Housewives of New York,
one of my favorite, like,
Halloween of the day.
Halloween of the day.
Real Housewives.
I've never seen a single episode of it.
Never seen one episode.
It was spectacular, sparkling.
Every, never lets me down.
And it was all glorious and wonderful.
But in fact, the nicest thing I did this week
wasn't any of that.
Even though all of that has been wonderful
and I have a beautiful memory.
Oh, I mean, intrigued.
The nicest thing I did was order my analog pocket
and every accessory they offer.
Oh, wow, we didn't even talk about the analog pocket.
Wow, I forgot.
It was that was so long ago, that was Monday.
That was, that was like a year ago.
I know, it seems like a million years ago.
Yeah, you ordered the analog pocket.
I was the last person in the office,
everybody put their pre-orders in and got them except for me.
And I was the only person who was like foaming at the mouth over this thing
and then eventually it went through, which was very, very thankful
because even like Elijah Wood couldn't get it.
It was such a small drop.
It's true. Elijah Wood, I gotta new like I have a whole new perspective on Elijah
Wood as a human being but he was like
Basically like why not whining but he was like on Twitter like hey to anybody get one of these like I couldn't like they were sold out by the time I
pre-ordered or whatever
And I felt really bad for the guy. I will not be giving mine to Elijah would I would give Elijah with a lot of things
But I would not give him my analog pocket.
I was like, I was like the Joker in the dark night when, you know, Batman is like beating
him up and he's like, you know, what, you can't do anything with all your strength.
I was like, Elijah Wood, you're like a movie star.
You're in the fucking Lord of the Rings movies and you can't even get a fucking analog pocket
and I got one who's laughing now that I blew up to people that he loved I
Don't I do say to see the irony in me being like cupid's little special thing
You're you're the you're his new goal basically you've got it he wants it excited
It looks sick. It looks cool. It looks gorgeous.
I love it.
Lord of the roms.
You know what I'm saying?
Lord of the roms.
I gotta get out of here.
Shit, that shit is good.
That's gold.
Lord of the roms.
I'm sorry.
If this episode is not entitled Lord of the roms,
I'm going to be very mad.
Very mad.
Just to let you know.
Oh shit.
Is it time for me to do my nice thing?
Yeah.
Oh fuck.
What is my nice thing? I'm trying to think about this week.
Let me think about this week.
What did I do this week?
Oh, well, whatever.
You know what I'll say, actually on topic.
My nice thing is as horrible and wrong as it is.
I, as I said, I got, I'm testing the new zero,
zero's biggest, baddest, most insane electric motorcycle, the SRF.
And it's, it's, it's, yeah, it's really, really awesome.
It's so much more bike than I need or want, but I have become completely, absolutely
convinced that I am going to get rid of my, at least like one of my gas bikes, which
I, I basically don't get on anymore because I find them to be, they're so anxiety-inducing that they're not fun.
Like, there's just two, I'm sorry, I'll admit, I have a little ADD, a little.
I have ADD.
And there's too much going on on a motorcycle for me to feel comfortable,
you know, and that's my biggest problem.
And this is what I'm saying about riding these things.
It's not the same for a scooter, but these things,
so the zero bike is a lot like any electric vehicle
you've ever ridden, which is like there are no gears,
there's no clutch, there's no shifting, it's a throttle,
and you just go and it is so fun.
Now it feels dangerous, don't get me wrong,
but I have become absolutely like,
I'm like absolutely enamored with the thing.
I think it's so, it's so much fun, it's so much easier.
I love the fact that it doesn't, you don't put gas in it.
It's like, I have super windy roads around here,
the handling on it is completely insane.
It's so, so tight and clean feeling.
And it's like, basically, it is like a motorcycle Tesla,
and I don't know, I'm just very into it.
I'm very excited about it.
And I think I'm going to, I'm going to write some stuff about it.
And you guys will hear and see some of what I'm talking about.
But also, it's just like, just super, it just reminded me of why
like motorcycles in the first place, which was just this feeling of like total.
I mean, I think the thing is that like when you aren't thinking about the, oh, do I need to shift or what's my foot doing or
like, what, when you're not thinking about like the clutch essentially, it is like just a super fun,
super focusing and experience to be out on a motorcycle and just riding. And so anyhow, so I,
so my nice thing is like electric motorcycles, which is a weird thing,
but like I've had one to play with for the last week and I'm really loving it.
And against all better judgment and certainly the wishes of my family, I think I'm going to get an electric one.
When I get rid of my other ones, I'm not, I mean, if I put any more shit in our garage, I'm a dead man, so that's not an option.
But the idea of you riding your electric motorcycle,
like whipping around curves to your MRI appointment
is I will leave that for everyone here today.
Yeah, rules, the idea rules.
I just like, I just somehow like dropped my phone
out of my hands and it like bounced onto my keyboard
and opened a new tab on my computer.
It's pretty thrilling.
Anyhow, I think on that point we should.
Here's the pre-order page for your next phone.
Yeah, it is like you bought the Galaxy Note 20 5G.
Congratulations.
Yeah, all right, let's end this nightmare.
Tony, I'm sorry, it's a short one today,
but I gotta find out if my back's gonna be
permanently damaged or not.
That could affect my zero motorcycle riding.
Anyhow, let's get out of here.
Bye. Bye.
Bye. 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, though 10 minute chunks and people really aren't liking it.