Welcome back to Spun Today, the podcast that's rooted in the art of writing, yet boundless in its journey. I'm your guide, Tony Ortiz, and this is episode 258. As we settle into our narrative voyage today, we're diving into the gritty Netflix original series "Griselda," exploring the life of the infamous drug baroness Griselda Blanco. We'll also share laughs and insights with "Loudermilk," a comedy-drama that brings us face to face with the raw struggles and hilarity of recovery. Plus, I'll sprinkle in some musings on the astounding potential of AI and its applications that recently caught my attention. From the medical marvels of diagnostic artificial intelligence to how AI might redefine the very nature of coding, we're venturing into a future where creativity meets innovation. Get ready—it's time to get spun! The Spun Today Podcast is a Podcast that is anchored in Writing, but unlimited in scope. Give it a whirl. Twitter: https://twitter.com/spuntoday Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spuntoday/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@spuntoday Website: http://www.spuntoday.com/home Newsletter: http://www.spuntoday.com/subscribe Links referenced in this episode: Griselda: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15837600/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt Loudermilk: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5957766/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt A.I. detecting cancer: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/08/well/live/ai-mammograms-breast-cancer.html https://www.rsna.org/news/2024/march/deep-learning-for-predicting-breast-cancer A boy saw 17 doctors over 3 years for chronic pain. ChatGPT found the diagnosis https://www.today.com/health/mom-chatgpt-diagnosis-pain-rcna101843 https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/new-updates/chatgpt-diagnoses-4-yr-olds-chronic-pain-after-17-doctors-fail-to-do-so/articleshow/103622026.cms?from=mdr Sam Altman: OpenAI, GPT-5, Sora, Board Saga, Elon Musk, Ilya, Power & AGI | Lex Fridman Podcast #419 https://youtu.be/jvqFAi7vkBc?si=Lsc4fjWyDtigQV6e Get your Podcast Started Today! https://signup.libsyn.com/?promo_code=SPUN (Use Promo code SPUN and get up to 2-months of free service!) Check out all the Spun Today Merch, and other ways to help support this show! https://www.spuntoday.com/support Check out my Books Make Way for You – Tips for getting out of your own way FRACTAL – A Time Travel Tale Melted Cold – A Collection of Short Stories http://www.spuntoday.com/books/ (e-Book, Paperback & Hardcover are now available). Fill out my Spun Today Questionnaire if you’re passionate about your craft. I’ll share your insight and motivation on the Podcast: http://www.spuntoday.com/questionnaire/ Shop on Amazon using this link, to support the Podcast: http://www.amazon.com//ref=as_sl_pc_tf_lc?&tag=sputod0c-20&camp=216797&creative=446321&linkCode=ur1&adid=104DDN7SG8A2HXW52TFB&&ref-refURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spuntoday.com%2Fcontact%2F Shop on iTunes using this link, to support the Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewTop?genreId=38&id=27820&popId=42&uo=10 Shop at the Spun Today store for Mugs, T-Shirts and more: https://viralstyle.com/store/spuntoday/tonyortiz Background Music: Autumn 2011 - Loxbeats & Melody - Roa Outro Background Music: https://www.bensound.com Spun Today Logo by: https://www.naveendhanalak.com/ Sound effects are credited to: http://www.freesfx.co.uk Listen on: iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | Google Podcasts | YouTube | Website
Apr 11
35 min
Welcome back to the Spun Today podcast where we weave creativity into the everyday fabric of our lives. In this episode for you comedy aficionados we'll dissect the success of stand-up specials like Akaash Singh's "Gaslit" and Fahim Anwar's "House Money," examining the innovative ways these comics are delivering their content directly to fans, bypassing the traditional platforms. Then we're getting cinematic as we discuss the Oscar-winning film "Coda," exploring how the movie's heartwarming family dynamics, a passionate protagonist, and its small-town nostalgia may stir the storyteller within you. So whether you're into the art of storytelling, looking for some inspiration, or just need a good laugh, tune in as we unravel these threads on episode 257. The Spun Today Podcast is a Podcast that is anchored in Writing, but unlimited in scope. Give it a whirl. Time Stamps 00:00 - Start 05:33 - Akash discusses polarized and extreme political ideologies. 08:56 - Tony explores how Comics innovate by offering free YouTube specials. 12:32 - Tony suggests adding one promo ad before, during, after the special. 15:26 - Fahim Anwar's decides to leave behind an engineering career, for stand up comedy. 16:50 - Fahim speaks about being in relationships. 20:14 - The first Deaf actor wins Oscar for best supporting role. 22:15 - Josh Dubin is the Executive director of Perlmutter center for Legal justice. 25:16 - The protagonist of CODA is the only hearing member, translator in her family. 31:33 - In CODA the family starts successful business, but Ruby wants out. 34:33 - In CODA the family supports daughter's singing dream at audition. 38:39 - Promo for the Fire Breathing Kittens podcast. Twitter: https://twitter.com/spuntoday Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spuntoday/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@spuntoday Website: http://www.spuntoday.com/home Newsletter: http://www.spuntoday.com/subscribe Links referenced in this episode: Akaash Singh - GASLIT (2024) Full Special https://youtu.be/p_HqJyq2SYU?si=KHL_RFId_Z7SDqmk Fahim Anwar: House Money Extended Version FULL SPECIAL: https://youtu.be/lbQczAcZb_0?si=e2Fumi9e_-X3YPtI CODA https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10366460/fullcredits JRE episode with Josh Dubin & Sheldon Johnson: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3nsOv2Bl6OVvTcjUrJ1GUa?si=okU9cvVFSvKFcldj6Jv06A Article about the murder charge: https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/08/sheldon-johnson-arrested-torso-new-york FireBreathingKittens Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/firebreathing-kittens/id1459051634 https://www.youtube.com/@firebreathingkittenspodcas3139 Get your Podcast Started Today! https://signup.libsyn.com/?promo_code=SPUN (Use Promo code SPUN and get up to 2-months of free service!) Check out all the Spun Today Merch, and other ways to help support this show! https://www.spuntoday.com/support Check out my Books Make Way for You – Tips for getting out of your own way FRACTAL – A Time Travel Tale Melted Cold – A Collection of Short Stories http://www.spuntoday.com/books/ (e-Book, Paperback & Hardcover are now available). Fill out my Spun Today Questionnaire if you’re passionate about your craft. I’ll share your insight and motivation on the Podcast: http://www.spuntoday.com/questionnaire/ Shop on Amazon using this link, to support the Podcast: http://www.amazon.com//ref=as_sl_pc_tf_lc?&tag=sputod0c-20&camp=216797&creative=446321&linkCode=ur1&adid=104DDN7SG8A2HXW52TFB&&ref-refURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spuntoday.com%2Fcontact%2F Shop on iTunes using this link, to support the Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewTop?genreId=38&id=27820&popId=42&uo=10 Shop at the Spun Today store for Mugs, T-Shirts and more: https://viralstyle.com/store/spuntoday/tonyortiz Background Music: Autumn 2011 - Loxbeats & Melody - Roa Outro Background Music: https://www.bensound.com Spun Today Logo by: https://www.naveendhanalak.com/ Sound effects are credited to: http://www.freesfx.co.uk Listen on: iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | Google Podcasts | YouTube | Website Download Transcript [00:00:00] What's up folks what's going on and welcome to the spun today podcast the only podcast that is anchored in writing but unlimited in scope I'm your host Tony Ortiz and I appreciate you listening this is episode at 257 of the sponsor a podcast and in this episode I speak about a couple of hilarious stand up comedy specials that I watched recently the first one being Akash sings Gaslit and the second one being Fahim Anwar's House Money. And I also speak about watching a little late to the game here, but watching the Oscar winning film in 2018, I believe, sorry, that's 2021, the Oscar winning film Coda. Stick around for all that good stuff. But first I wanted to tell you all about a way that you can help support this show. Your support absolutely means a ton and is definitely fuel for the fire that motivates me to continue to put out These episodes as well as [00:01:00] my writing content So if you can't support the spun today podcast, it is greatly appreciated Here is one way you can do just that and then we'll jump right into the episode comedian Akash Singh released his 2024 stand up comedy special gas lit two weeks ago as of the recording of this episode And it is already up to 1. 5 million views on YouTube. Absolutely. Round of applause. Amazing feedback on that comedy special Akash Singh. For those of you who don't know is a standup comic, obviously, but he's also one half of, or I actually shouldn't even say one half. He's a co host of the flagrant podcast alongside Andrew Schultz, Mark Gagnon, and Alex media. flagrant is a dope podcast. If you guys aren't familiar with it, definitely check it out. It's probably one of my [00:02:00] favorite podcasts. Not probably. It is one of my favorite podcasts. I would say probably second, maybe behind Rogan's, but I definitely appreciate all the laughs from it, as well as the different perspectives of Schultz, Akash, Mark, and Alex. And the rest of the crew over there on a flagrant. They all have their unique personality reflected within the questions that they ask guests, for example, while maintaining an awesome chemistry amongst all of them. And that is definitely dope to see. But yeah, Akash put out this latest comedy special on YouTube. I'll link to it in the episode notes for you guys to check it out. It's absolutely hilarious. He opened it up for, with a traditional Indian dance, which was cool. That was, that was definitely fun to watch. And cool to see, you know, whenever anybody's, you know, big enough, their, their culture, where they're from, their roots. And the special was just really funny, really good writing, precise writing, had some really good misdirects that makes you anticipate the punchline that much more. [00:03:00] Akash has a way of being really animated in my opinion, and maybe animated is not the right, the right term, but I can't think of a better one right now. But he's very , , cause you know, animated makes me think of more like Jim Carrey and physical humor, type of thing. And it's not that, but he's more spunky, lively. And I liked that about his comedy and that definitely shows within this set as well. He's recently ish married, I think a couple of years ago maybe. And if I'm not mistaken, he's in his thirties, mid to late thirties, I would say. So definitely within my generation or close to it, I'm 39, so I can definitely appreciate the, a lot of the content that he speaks of within his special related to marriage, starting to pay more attention to politics and culture as we do as we grow older and start becoming washed. Now, let me stop. I can definitely appreciate his more [00:04:00] centered type of view is more objective view on both sides. When it comes to politically, he was born and raised in Texas, grew up comedy wise in New York, and I believe still lives in New York. So his POV is definitely framed. I would imagine by those two experiences. And he has a large chunk in this special of liberals versus conservatives, which was definitely fun to watch. Like a cosign on a lot of it, if not all of it, in terms of him highlighting how I felt and feel about a lot of those topics. And he was essentially saying, and literally said, that us normal people, which is most of us in the middle, are just being gaslit by the fringes of both political parties. So we're being gaslit, meaning, you know, felt, psychologically felt, you know, made to feel crazy. essentially by the both extremes of each party of the Democratic party on the left [00:05:00] and the Republican party on the right. And it's from, for most of us in the middle, from a gut instinctual type of feeling, we look out to both of those sides. Like nah, you motherfuckers are the ones that are crazy. Not us. Like some shit just say isn't normal. It has a hilarious joke about Some people in Texas believe that they can catch gay, catch a gay as if it were like catching a cold or something like that. And he acts out this part of the bit where he's just groping his stomach and he's like, Oh shit, I feel terrible. Fuck. I got to sit down. I, fuck, I must've sat next to a homosexual in the subway or something, which again is meant to highlight that fringe, ultra conservative. thought process of some folks on the right. And then while, while staying on that gay theme, flipping it back to liberals on the left, who have, in my opinion, an equally crazy thought in [00:06:00] saying and thinking things like this piece of the bit where he says, liberals in New York just be like, Oh, you think cause a dude fucks another dude that means he's gay. It's like, yeah, motherfucker. That is the definition of gay. But he highlights these two, polar opposite, but equally crazy situations. And I appreciate shit like that. I appreciate honest comedy like that. He also had a bit about genders and saying how he looked it up at some point in time, I think pre pandemic. And there were 30 something genders. And then he looked it up two years later, post pandemic, and there were 72 genders, and as of, you know, the most recent count, there's 118 genders, and he goes off on this whole rant of saying that Essentially 72 or 118 or whatever of anything is too much. We should just pick a number and stick to it. It's not to, you know, he agrees, you know, you know, gender dysphoria and [00:07:00] different, you know, folks from different, from different paths in life or just wired differently that all exists. Okay. Agreed. He can concede that, but 118. Come on. And then when some of the crowd, , Ooh, they're not or whatever, he was like, all right, anyone who's offended, just name nine. He spoke a lot about family and being married and as comics do just men in general, even in just, just like ragging their wives a bit. And he was saying how dad jokes, like the term dad joke, which are just corny jokes exist. Because moms ruin the dads and take away, , them being funny, just with, , all the judgment and criticism constantly thrown their way. And he highlighted an important point, I thought, that all men really want in life is a vacation. And by vacation, what they mean is for the wife to go on a trip and give them some solitude. Hehehehe The last thing [00:08:00] I'll say is that the guys over at Flagrant are definitely innovators of just this whole comedy medium space, Namely with Andrew Schultz being the first one or one of the first ones to really break the mold of comedians only chasing the large streaming platforms and platforms in general, like HBO's, Netflix. Comedy Central, Amazon, et cetera, to put out their specials. He was the one that really broke the mold and figured out how to put content out more for free in, in not just like the podcast, but actual standup comedy in the form of clips and on YouTube clips on social media to drive ticket sales, which is the bread and butter for most comedians, if not all. Well, most, and they definitely continue to innovate within that space in, [00:09:00] you know, putting out comedy specials on YouTube for free, monetizing through there to the point where many, many, many other comics, including Akash, for example, have followed suit with putting their specials out through YouTube and famously. And by famously, I mean here within the spun to the universe, as I, as I speak to the half a dozen of you listening to this. I inducted Andrew Schultz into the Spun Today Goats Doing Goat Shit list many episodes ago related to the last special that he put out where he wound up getting a deal with one of these platforms and then wound up putting up his own money to buy it back from them so that he can put it out himself. And I forget the platform it was that he used, but definitely look up the goats doing goat shit. Playlist of mine on YouTube and look search for the Andrew Schultz one. And he essentially put the special out on pay per view form [00:10:00] on demand for a couple of weeks, made his money back threefold, I believe it was, as he broke down on the pot one day. And then after the fact was able, you know, since he retained those rights, able to put it out. On YouTube again for free and able to monetize that way and had so much of a, an impact on the following that the next time around for his next special, I imagine all the large streamers are going to come back around, but with a much larger bag this time around and make it make sense for him to go on a Netflix or Amazon, et cetera. And I say all that to say that. This is the ecosystem that Akash is coming from, right? And a, an inch intricate part of, and they continue to innovate and something very innovative that I saw for the first time that I saw here in Akash is special was that the special had a podcast style [00:11:00] promo. It was presented by price picks, which is one of the sponsors of flagrant and other podcasts. Okay. but it's the first time that I've seen it seen a sponsored ad within a comedy special, which was very interesting to see. And again, innovative and I'm sure other podcasts or other comedians that put out their content themselves will follow suit. There are already when you put out your special on YouTube, the way that you monetize it, they're all ads. There are ads sprinkled throughout, but having a presented by. And an ad read essentially by the comedian himself is a whole another layer of monetization that they figured out and that Akash did with this special. And they were good in my set, in my opinion, in that by the time you realize it the first time that that's what it is, it's halfway through. So at first you're kind of , is this another bit? What's going on? Cause he's kind of still on stage, but you could tell something's [00:12:00] different. And he speaks about prize picks. They're , Oh shit, this is a promo ad. So it kind of takes you out of the comedy special a bit, but then it goes right back into it. Cause it's not a long, two minute promo. And he also made it funny. In that he had his mom in one of one of the drops and had his wife, I believe in one of the others. I do remember thinking though that it does, I think one is good. Obviously, you know, whoever's, you know, presenting and sponsoring are, they're going to want two or three or maybe even more for an hour long special. But I think more than one takes you more so out of the special, maybe in the beginning before it starts, maybe one mid roll and one at the end type of thing. So that, yeah. Aside from the interruptions that are already coming from the YouTube ads, adding this one more within the confines of the special itself makes more sense just in [00:13:00] terms of retention and stuff like that, I think. But again, that's just, that's just my opinion. Regardless of that, it was done tastefully. And more importantly, from a business standpoint, such a dope layer that they figured out. Of monetization to add to standup comedy specials that comedians put out themselves on YouTube. So hat off to Akash and team for figuring that out and again for putting out such a cool special Akash sings Gaslit. Available now on YouTube. A link to indie episode notes for folks to check out Faheem Anwar's House Money Standup comedy special. Fahim Anwar is a very funny comic. I first learned about Fahim through, I believe, Brian Redban. I always remember him referencing Fahim Anwar, mentioning him in passing. I just don't remember if it was the old Death Squad podcast or just like early [00:14:00] episodes of Rogan. But either way, I've always enjoyed him and his personality when I've heard him on Rogan, which he's been on a bunch of times. And other pods as well. Like you might be drunk, I'm sure Ari's podcast, the old podcast, skeptic tank he has since, by the way, for fellow Ari Shafir fans out there finally put out the, or started putting out the UB tripping episodes, his new pod, which is interestingly under the YMH studios umbrella, which is Tom Segura and Christina P's company under the. Serious slash stitcher deal that they did over there, which were also by the way, featured in the goats doing goat shit segments of the spun today pod. Again, check that playlist out on YouTube if you're interested. But yeah, I've always enjoyed Fahim's take on things. He was funny, interesting dude. That was an engineer for Boeing by trade and decided to leave that behind that stable, well paying. [00:15:00] Any parents from any walk of life would be proud of career behind and decided to be a stand up comic instead, which incidentally worked out for fans of Fahim such as myself, because we got to enjoy his content, but could have really went left. Yeah, I checked out his older special, which is also available for free on YouTube, as is this one. His older special is called Hattrick, which he filmed at. The Comedy Store. The world famous Comedy Store. Where, if I remember correctly, it's called Hat Trick because he edited together sets that he performed in all three of the Comedy Store rooms. The Belly Room, the O. R., and I forget what the other one is. The O. R. is the original room, the Belly Room. Whatever. And there's another room at the Comedy Store. And he filmed in all three rooms, edited it together and made that his hat trick special. Three rooms, hence the term hat trick. And then this [00:16:00] special, which is his latest, he put out two different versions of a tighter full version and then an extended cut version about two to three weeks ago, two weeks ago on one, three weeks ago on the other, and. It already has a close to 150, 000 views shout out to Fahim Anwar and his house money comedy special. A couple of really funny bits that I wanted to highlight was him speaking about relationships and he says that being in a relationship for most folks is the reason to be in the relationship or a reason to be in a relationship is so that you have someone to tell things to. That are not interesting enough to tell anyone else and slightly more interesting Than to keep it to yourself I thought that was a pretty funny distinction there also playing on [00:17:00] the whole relationship theme He says how as men We can't cry and express our emotions When we feel we want to We can't come when we want to, until at least the woman does. And our whole lives are all about just suppressing liquids. So that was pretty funny. He does a bit about different TV high school drama shows. If I remember correctly, he does them separately. Has, you know, jokes for each within them. But then, like, cross pollinates. The bit where he speaks about the Cobra Kai kids and the euphoria kids. And how funny it would be if one of the Cobra Kai kids transferred to the euphoria high school, and he just walks into an party where they did doing drugs and having an orgy or some shit. And one of the Cobra Kai kids is , Hey guys, what do you do? Karate around here? By the way, a Cobra Kai fan I've done. episodes and segments [00:18:00] of previous seasons of Cobra Kai. Euphoria, I've heard is dope, but I haven't seen it, but I know, you know, it's definitely a darker high school experience and drugs and sex. And it's where Zendaya popped off from, but that was just a funny concept. Oh, he does this hilarious bit, which I related to a bit about flying business class versus first class. And I've never flown first class, but I have flown business class a few times. And I have actually spoken about it here on the pod in the past. If you guys want to check out the India episodes, I think there's three, at least three, maybe even four or five episodes where I broke down my trips and especially the first one where it was my first experience of flying business class at that point. And I really broke down the nuances of like the differences between coach and. business class and just a cool shit that I experienced. So if you're interested, definitely check it out. But he's doing a similar thing within this bit for him and Juarez and based [00:19:00] comparing business class, the first class. And when you find business class, you're like, you know, you, you go in even from the airport experience, you go in and in a different line, it's usually emptier. You go straight through security is super seamless. The plane you could lay down in and you get these more gourmet ish type foods and all the snacks you want and liquor and drinks and in the bit he's describing that experience and then saying, how could first class be better than this? , what, what could be better than this? But, you know, it's such a big jump from coach to business. And in the bit, in the bit he says how he. opens the curtain from business class to first class just to peek in to see what the difference is and he said everyone's just like naked and fucking with fox masks on and then he goes back to his business class seat and continues eating his snacks and i just thought that was hilarious but it was a dope special i definitely recommend folks checking it out it is [00:20:00] available on youtube i will link to it in the episode notes And it is once again, Fahim Anwar's House Money. Check it out. CODA is the Academy Award winning film of 2021. Actually, let me correct that. It came out in 2021, but it won the award for the Academy Award, AKA Oscar for best motion picture of the year in 2022. Best performance by an actor in a supporting role. to Troy Katsur, who became the first deaf actor to win an Oscar, and also best adapted screenplay by writer Sian Heder. I hadn't watched the film until now, or until recently rather, but it was definitely a dope watch. Spoiler alert if you haven't seen it. Here is the official synopsis. As a CODA, which is the acronym for Child of Deaf Adult, Ruby is the only hearing person in her family. When [00:21:00] the family's fishing business is threatened, Ruby finds herself torn between pursuing her passion of going to Berklee College of Music and her fear of abandoning her parents. And as we like to do here on the Spun Today podcast, because if we don't do it, who will? And like to shout out the writers, the writers of CODA were Sian Heder, I'm not sure if that's pronounced it. Sian Heder. Apologies, which was also the director also Victoria Bedos. And I'm definitely going to butcher this other one, which is Stanislas Carré de Malberg shout out to each and every one of the writers that put this film together. And a very quick aside. Okay. I probably want to circle back to the story in a later episode, but speaking of Coda, which made me think of this, Rogan had on his podcast in [00:22:00] early February episode, 2096, he had Josh Dubin on who has been on the podcast several times. Dope, dope, dope to listen to, to Josh Dubin and all he does. Working with the Innocence Project. He's the executive director of the Perlmutter Center for Legal Justice. He works within this realm of criminal justice reform and helps get out wrongfully convicted or excessively convicted folks from prison. He's an attorney that's dedicated his time to that. And not all the times, but often when he goes on Rogan, he goes on with a specific guest that has been recently released to tell their story. And share their insights about prison and the criminal justice system and just shed light on this whole taboo usually topic. And the only reason why I'm mentioning this now is because he recently had or brought on a guest that also was a CODA, a child of [00:23:00] death adults by the name of Sheldon Johnson. Fast forward to a couple of weeks after the episode aired, My brother sends me an article where one Sheldon Johnson recently released from prison, not from, and they started the episode at the outset saying that he was definitely guilty for what he did which was assault, but they were able to commute his time because it was an excessive sentencing, if I remember correctly, which in this case, time showed that it definitely wasn't excessive for in this particular case, but. I'll circle back to that at a later date, but this dude, Sheldon Johnson comes out in this article with surveillance footage showing him coming in and out of an apartment with, or where he lived, I guess, with a wig on and different clothing and different disguises almost. He had a blonde wig on. This is a, you know, tall, skinny black dude with a bright yellow blonde wig.[00:24:00] In one surveillance photo, then different clothing in another surveillance photo, all within the span of like the same day and carrying different things. And it turns out this motherfucker had a torso, which he had been amputating in his apartment. And taking out body parts piece by piece. How fucking sick is that? Sorry, the whole CODA thing made me. Okay. Remember that but I definitely want to put a pin in that circle back to that story at a later date if you guys haven't Heard of it Till this point definitely check it out the episode. You can listen to the Rogan episode 2096 with Josh Dubin and Sheldon Johnson for reference and if I remember I'll link to the episode to the article Well, this is broken down In this episode, and if not in a future episode, when I break this down fully, cause I also want to circle back with the Rogan feedback after the, this news came out, et cetera. But now let's [00:25:00] shift gears back to the movie Coda. It was a beautiful story, very well written, very well told. It's full of a lot of heart, family at the center of it, sacrifice at the center of it. And it's this family that has, it's a family of four. You have the two parents, which are deaf, the oldest son, which is also deaf. And then the youngest daughter, which is not deaf. She's the only one that can hear and, and, and speak. And she's a senior in high school. So, you know, older teenager, but having this responsibility of, which has an immigrant kid I'm sure myself and I'm sure other folks can identify with being the, , translator for your family or for your, or your parents or older relatives or other relatives that don't speak English. Imagine that reality, but like on steroids because you're literally the interpreter, not just from language to language, but the interpreter of sound, if you [00:26:00] will. Like you're translating everything and anything. for your parents, for your brother, from doctor's visits to school, to parent teacher conferences, all from English to sign language, which has to add just a whole other layer of complexity to it. And it makes you realize it definitely made me realize in the movie, when they masterfully cut from just , you know, we're seeing and hearing what's going on in the movie, but at times it switches POV. To no sound so you can see how the character the other characters the three main characters of The father Frank Rossi played by Troy Katsura The son Leo Rossi played by Daniel Durant The mother Jackie Rossi played by Marlee Maitland how they feel and take in the space around them with silence It definitely made me appreciate of how much we take just our five senses for granted. But in this story, the main [00:27:00] character Ruby Rossi played by Amelia Jones is balancing that responsibility with just being a teenager and sometimes wanting to, you know, fuck off and go do something with your friends and dealing with bullies in school and pursuing her passions, which she stumbled upon singing And joining the school chorus. And in that chorus class, her professor, her teacher is better now, better not though. Via logos played by Eugenio Derbez. And he does an amazing job in the, in this film. He's an accomplished musician. He went to that Berkeley college of music that she wants to go to. And he's really her, he plays the mentor role. In the film. And that's from a story structure perspective, he's funny and inspiring and really pushes her to chase that passion, chase that dream of being a singer and getting into that school. And he tells her this dope line in the [00:28:00] film that supposedly David Bowie said about Bob Dylan. He said that Bob Dylan's voice is like sand and glue at the same time. And that there's a lot of people with pretty voices, but they don't have anything to say Versus Bob Dylan's for example, which is like a raspy sand deer sounding voice, but has so much to say And then he goes on in the movie to start start calling her bob instead of by her name And then ultimately tells her that her voice is not like sand That it is pretty but that it's also more like glue And she emotes having something to say, having a story to tell, which is obviously informed from her upbringing and being a CODA. The music in the film was really cool, especially all the choir practice moments. A lot of classics, really cool to listen to the cinematography throughout the movie was beautiful. It was really well shot and some parts of it, [00:29:00] wherever they filmed from reminded me of the Hudson Valley here in New York, where I've done a couple of bike marathons, which the season's about to kick off again. It's about that time. But just aesthetically, visually it looked similar, reminded me to, to that town. Cause as a lot, a lot of like scenic areas, But anyway, so Ruby and her family, Ruby, you know, from the perspective of Ruby, she's dealing with all of this. And the life is the day to day is essentially that the family has a fishing boat. They, the way they make money is, you know, they go out fishing every single day, wake up at three or four in the morning or something like that. Go out, fish, come back to the docks, sell the fish to the distributors that are there who are negotiating and low balling all the fishermen. And then they buy the fish from them and then, you know, sell and distribute from there on. And that's how the family makes its living. And it's all of them. It's The father, the father, the [00:30:00] brother, and Coda. And then from there, she , rides her bike, goes to school, and, you know, falls asleep in school often. Kids tease her saying that she smells fish. She's dealing with the dynamics of, you know, again, in every situation, having to be the one to look after her family, her father, her older brother. that can't hear. You know, legally having someone on the boat that can hear for when the coast guard reaches out or for any updates on weather and stuff like that. It's essential slash mandatory and also negotiating for the father and brother for the fish that they all call it. And hearing and listening around to the other, other fishermen that are selling their fish, for example, for a higher price. And then they try to low ball the deaf crew cause they can't hear. And then her having to stick up for them and just dealing with all this type of shit, right? All this extra stuff because of the fact that she's a quota. And that's the day to day [00:31:00] dynamic. And then the older brother kind of feels like, you know, it's my job to be, you know, to be this for our family. You're not supposed to do is, you know, go to school. You like singing, pursue the singing shit, leave this to me, you know, and he feels kind of like being babied along. Cause you know, his kid sister has to look out for them in these kinds of ways. And then she, they get into an argument and she's telling him, she's like, yeah, but how are you going to, how are you going to deal with the selling and the other people and stuff like that. And the brother makes a salient point. He's, he's like, let them figure out how the fuck to deal with deaf people, not us figure out how to deal with them. And ultimately they decide to, as a family, start their own distribution because they're being undercut so much by the folks purchasing their fish and business starts picking up, they're doing really, really well. But then at that point she wants to exit and, you know, the brother's coming into his own. The father, the mother is helping with the, with the business now. And she wants the exam and really pursue the singing thing. But the family's like, how the [00:32:00] fuck, you know, can you do that now? Especially at this time when we're literally just pivoting, put all of our eggs in this one basket of starting this business. And it's actually doing well. , why would you want to leave? And, you know, the fact that they also need someone there that, that can literally hear. And then on the flip side, she's being pushed by her mentor. She's the course teacher to, to definitely pursue this. Ultimately, she decides not to and she has this talent show at school that the family goes to where she sings and stuff like that. But she kind of in her head, she has resigned to the fact that this is going to be her last hurrah in terms of singing and putting on this, this, this show for all the families that came to watch the You know, the senior class course, and this was one of those scenes that were really great in that, you know, she was able to sing and perform, but just from a storytelling perspective, how they did that POV shift and, you know, the, the, the parents are there and they can see all the people around, you know, clapping and giving standing ovations and stuff like that, but they can't hear anything [00:33:00] then us as the audience watching the film. This town goes silent and we see them on stage dancing and smiling and singing, but we don't hear anything and shows just from their perspective, the family perspective, how they're taking in this experience. And Ruby sings this song that she's been practicing with her love interest throughout the film leading up to this moment, which is you're all I need to get by. Shout out to the Method Man and Mary J. Blige version, though. And, you know, she sings it. Everything goes great. And the song throughout has this, has one meaning, you know, in the whole, you know, love interest application event, if you will. And then when she gets home, the dad stays outside in the yard. He's looking up at the stars and he, he, she stays. And he asks her to sing the song for him and he puts his hands by [00:34:00] her throat, by her vocal cord and moments like this, like with dads and just like father, son stuff, or even father, daughter, daughter stuff, chokes me up almost instantly, even now, just rethinking about the moment. But it's such a touching moment between them. And he asks her to sing it for him. And he's feeling her voice as she sings it. And in that moment, that's the same exact song, same exact lyrics takes on such a different meaning. And it's so applicable to their relationship, the father, daughter, and family dynamic relationship. That was such a dope creative choice. I thought in the telling of this story. Then from there, the father pretty much pushes her now to pursue her singing dream. And there's this audition at the Berklee College of Music that they have to race to, to make the next day when the father makes this decision. And they all go as a family and it's a [00:35:00] private audition. So the family can't go in, they can't see her perform. So they're standing outside. She's a little bit late. So the person, and you know, didn't bring sheet music or anything like that for the person that's there to play the piano for her to sing in front of the folks that ultimately decide if she makes it into the school or not. So she's a little bit lost cause the song that she's been practicing for that audition. Now the person doesn't know the music and you know, she's kind of stuck, but The mentor, the choir teacher walks in in that moment, being an alumni of the school and offers and asks if he can play for her, cause he knows the song, they all agree. And then she goes on to start, she starts off pretty flat. He pretends that he fucks up on the piano and apologizes and asks if he could restart just so she has a minute to compose herself. And then around this time, the family, which is waiting in the hallway, sees a different entrance for the [00:36:00] balcony of the theater. And they sneak into it and go up just so they can watch her perform. You know, it's completely empty. There's three judges sitting in center orchestra and watching her on stage. And then the mentor playing the piano, they sneak into the crowd. She sees them and lights up. Begins to sing her ass off. And then in remembering that, obviously they can't hear her begins to sign the song as well, which wasn't like the hoity toity, you know, proper way to audition. But in that moment, she was like, fuck it. I'm doing this for the fam. And this is me take it or leave it. And ultimately they wound up taking her because she had that unique Story to tell. But yeah, it was a really good, really dope movie. Really enjoyed it. I'm sure you folks have, if you've seen it already, and if not, definitely check it out. And one last thing that I saw a [00:37:00] meme of online, which really made me think, and I could just Google it to see if there's an answer out there, but I haven't. So instead I'm going to ask it and pose it to you folks just for some food for thought. Which is, what language do people that are deaf think in? Interesting, right? If you're born, you've never heard anything. We form our thoughts around the language or languages that we speak. If you're born deaf, what do you think in? But yeah, that aside, definitely a film that is worth a watch. And I highly recommend it. CODA, check it out. And that folks was episode 257 of the spun today podcast. Thank you very much for rocking out with me. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Maybe even learned something, maybe took some morsels of entertainment from it. I really, really appreciate each and every one of you that take the time to listen before I let you go though. I wanted to tell you guys about a really cool podcast that you should [00:38:00] check out. It's the Fire Breathing Kittens podcast. Fire Breathing Kittens is an actual play one shot podcast that plays various tabletop role playing games with a season long plot because there's a beginning and an end to each week story. You can start at any episode. Every week has a different combination of four from the same rotating cast group of people. Join Fire Breathing Kittens as they solve detective mysteries, attempt comedic banter, and enjoy friendship. And you can check out the Fire Breathing Kittens podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, on YouTube, or wherever it is that you get your shows. I'll add a couple of links to the episode description of this podcast episode. And last but certainly not least, I wanted to tell you guys about a few different ways you can help support the sponsored a podcast. If you so choose, [00:39:00] as I said before, as I've said in the past, and as I will absolutely say again, in the future, I appreciate each and every one of you for listening. It's definitely motivating for me and means a lot that folks out there get some sort of benefit or appreciation from me putting out these episodes. If you'd like to support the sponsor a podcast, here are a few different ways that you can do just that. And then I'll check you all out next time. Peace.
Mar 28
42 min
Welcome to the latest episode of the Spun Today podcast! In this episode, host Tony shares his personal writing stats for the past few months and reflects on his creative journey. He delves into the writing tips he has picked up, including an insightful perspective from actor and filmmaker Kevin Smith. Tony also discusses the books he's been reading, offering a glimpse into how literature and storytelling influence his creativity. Finally, he shares a free-writing piece from his own collection, drawing on his experiences as a writer. Tune in to immerse yourself in a world of writing, creativity, and inspiration, and discover how you can support this podcast in its pursuit of sharing invaluable content with you. Check out all free-writing pieces at: spuntoday.com/freewriting. The Spun Today Podcast is a Podcast that is anchored in Writing, but unlimited in scope. Give it a whirl. Twitter: https://twitter.com/spuntoday Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spuntoday/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@spuntoday Website: http://www.spuntoday.com/home Newsletter: http://www.spuntoday.com/subscribe Links referenced in this episode: Writing advice from Kevin Smith via the IG of: ScreenWritingInLA Writing advice from K.M. Weiland: authorkmweiland The Daily Dad by Ryan Holiday: https://amzn.to/43jdVGx Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl: https://amzn.to/43fqy5u The Expert Myth: Navigating Self-Doubt on the Road to Mastery https://www.spuntoday.com/freewriting/theexpertmyth Get your Podcast Started Today! https://signup.libsyn.com/?promo_code=SPUN (Use Promo code SPUN and get up to 2-months of free service!) Check out all the Spun Today Merch, and other ways to help support this show! https://www.spuntoday.com/support Check out my Books Make Way for You – Tips for getting out of your own way FRACTAL – A Time Travel Tale Melted Cold – A Collection of Short Stories http://www.spuntoday.com/books/ (e-Book, Paperback & Hardcover are now available). Fill out my Spun Today Questionnaire if you’re passionate about your craft. I’ll share your insight and motivation on the Podcast: http://www.spuntoday.com/questionnaire/ Shop on Amazon using this link, to support the Podcast: http://www.amazon.com//ref=as_sl_pc_tf_lc?&tag=sputod0c-20&camp=216797&creative=446321&linkCode=ur1&adid=104DDN7SG8A2HXW52TFB&&ref-refURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spuntoday.com%2Fcontact%2F Shop on iTunes using this link, to support the Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewTop?genreId=38&id=27820&popId=42&uo=10 Shop at the Spun Today store for Mugs, T-Shirts and more: https://viralstyle.com/store/spuntoday/tonyortiz Background Music: Autumn 2011 - Loxbeats Outro Background Music: https://www.bensound.com Spun Today Logo by: https://www.naveendhanalak.com/ Sound effects are credited to: http://www.freesfx.co.uk Listen on: iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | Google Podcasts | YouTube | Website
Mar 14
31 min
In this episode I sit down and speak with my long-time friend Jose De La Rosa. We speak about Jose’s journey to becoming a gold & silver Golden Gloves boxing Champion. We speak about his decision to become one of New York’s Bravest, a FDNY Firefighter and also about his lifelong dedication to fitness and much more! *Original Release Date: August 19th, 2021* The Spun Today Podcast is a Podcast that is anchored in Writing, but unlimited in scope. Give it a whirl. Twitter: https://twitter.com/spuntoday Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spuntoday/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@spuntoday Website: http://www.spuntoday.com/home Newsletter: http://www.spuntoday.com/subscribe Links referenced in this episode: Follow Jose on IG: @doctorfists Check out photos and more: https://www.spuntoday.com/podcast/255 Video’s of Jose: https://youtu.be/of8_YH36xsU Defending Golden Gloves champ Jose De La Rosa fights like an underdog in win over Chordale Booker https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more-sports/defending-champ-delarosa-fights-underdog-article-1.1736100 New York Golden Gloves: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Golden_Gloves Golden Gloves Finals Come to Barclays Center: http://www.foresthillstimes.com/view/full_story/22343371/article-Golden-Gloves-Finals-Come-to-Barclays-Center FDNY FIREFIGHTER DE LA ROSA FULFILLING TWO DREAMS https://tss.ib.tv/boxing/boxing-press-releases-articles-and-news-videos-results-rankings-and-history/21317-fdny-firefighter-de-la-rosa-fulfilling-two-dreams FDNY Boxing Team: https://fdnyboxing.org/our-team Get your Podcast Started Today! https://signup.libsyn.com/?promo_code=SPUN (Use Promo code SPUN and get up to 2-months of free service!) Check out all the Spun Today Merch, and other ways to help support this show! https://www.spuntoday.com/support Check out my Books Make Way for You – Tips for getting out of your own way FRACTAL – A Time Travel Tale Melted Cold – A Collection of Short Stories http://www.spuntoday.com/books/ (e-Book, Paperback & Hardcover are now available). Fill out my Spun Today Questionnaire if you’re passionate about your craft. I’ll share your insight and motivation on the Podcast: http://www.spuntoday.com/questionnaire/ Shop on Amazon using this link, to support the Podcast: http://www.amazon.com//ref=as_sl_pc_tf_lc?&tag=sputod0c-20&camp=216797&creative=446321&linkCode=ur1&adid=104DDN7SG8A2HXW52TFB&&ref-refURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spuntoday.com%2Fcontact%2F Shop on iTunes using this link, to support the Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewTop?genreId=38&id=27820&popId=42&uo=10 Shop at the Spun Today store for Mugs, T-Shirts and more: https://viralstyle.com/store/spuntoday/tonyortiz Background Music: Autumn 2011 - Loxbeats & Melody - Roa Outro Background Music: https://www.bensound.com Spun Today Logo by: https://www.naveendhanalak.com/ Sound effects are credited to: http://www.freesfx.co.uk Listen on: iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | Google Podcasts | YouTube | Website
Feb 29
2 hr 41 min
In this episode I speak about season 6 of Black Mirror on Netflix, the final season of Jack Ryan on Amazon, the movie American Fiction and another addition to our GOATs doing GOAT $hit segment! The Spun Today Podcast is a Podcast that is anchored in Writing, but unlimited in scope. Give it a whirl. Twitter: https://twitter.com/spuntoday Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spuntoday/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@spuntoday Website: http://www.spuntoday.com/home Newsletter: http://www.spuntoday.com/subscribe Links referenced in this episode: Black Mirror season 6: https://www.netflix.com/title/70264888 Jack Ryan series finale: https://www.amazon.com/Jack-Ryan-Season-4/dp/B0BYT9NB1G Tom Clancy writers: https://rare.us/rare-life/tom-clancy-books/ https://tomclancy.com/author/grant-blackwood https://tomclancy.com/categories/jack-ryan-novels https://tomclancy.com/categories/jack-ryan-jr-novels American Fiction: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23561236/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt Joe Rogan’s new Spotify deal: https://www.wsj.com/business/media/joe-rogan-podcast-spotify-deal-28eb5f74 https://apnews.com/article/joe-rogan-spotify-deal-76fa0e2c9d4b137f510428528ea6226b Get your Podcast Started Today! https://signup.libsyn.com/?promo_code=SPUN (Use Promo code SPUN and get up to 2-months of free service!) Check out all the Spun Today Merch, and other ways to help support this show! https://www.spuntoday.com/support Check out my Books Make Way for You – Tips for getting out of your own way FRACTAL – A Time Travel Tale Melted Cold – A Collection of Short Stories http://www.spuntoday.com/books/ (e-Book, Paperback & Hardcover are now available). Fill out my Spun Today Questionnaire if you’re passionate about your craft. I’ll share your insight and motivation on the Podcast: http://www.spuntoday.com/questionnaire/ Shop on Amazon using this link, to support the Podcast: http://www.amazon.com//ref=as_sl_pc_tf_lc?&tag=sputod0c-20&camp=216797&creative=446321&linkCode=ur1&adid=104DDN7SG8A2HXW52TFB&&ref-refURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spuntoday.com%2Fcontact%2F Shop on iTunes using this link, to support the Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewTop?genreId=38&id=27820&popId=42&uo=10 Shop at the Spun Today store for Mugs, T-Shirts and more: https://viralstyle.com/store/spuntoday/tonyortiz Background Music: Autumn 2011 - Loxbeats & Melody - Roa Outro Background Music: https://www.bensound.com Spun Today Logo by: https://www.naveendhanalak.com/ Sound effects are credited to: http://www.freesfx.co.uk Listen on: iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | Google Podcasts | YouTube | Website Download Episode Transcript [00:00:00] What's up, folks? What's going on? Welcome to the Spun Today podcast, the only podcast that is anchored in writing, but unlimited in scope. I'm your host, Tony Ortiz, and I appreciate you listening. This is episode 254 of the podcast. And in this episode, I speak about. Season six of Black Mirror on Netflix, the final season of Jack Ryan on Amazon, the movie American Fiction, and another addition to our goats doing goat shit segment. Stick around for all that good stuff. But before we get into the episode, I wanted to tell you guys about a quick way you can help support this show if you so choose. Then we'll jump right into the episode. Black Mirror season six was released in 2023. For those of you who don't know, don't follow the show. It is an amazing watch. One of my favorite shows for sure. And it has six seasons available [00:01:00] on Netflix. And if you haven't seen any episode, don't worry. It's not like one of those types of shows where you have to follow specific characters or like watch it from, you know, episode one through to the latest episode. Each season, each season is like a, it's an anthology. So it's like these individual stories, individual short stories, if you will. And each one is kind of like its own movie. Think of it that way. So you can literally go in, check out the descriptions, see which ones you might, might be interested in and like, and it just started that way. That's what I did initially years ago. When I, when I first got put onto the show. And since have watched every single episode. I think every single episode, actually. I was Well, reading up and refreshing my memory on a few of these episodes, I went back and noticed like one or two episodes that I either don't remember or [00:02:00] maybe never even saw. But yeah, and it's not a lot of episodes per season. Some seasons only have three episodes, for example. Some have six, some have five, some have four. This latest season, season six, has five episodes. All of which are really cool. I would say two to three are awesome. Two are awesome. One is really good. And a couple of them I could were my favorites. But they were worth the watch either way. Because it really is a good show. Very well done. And here's the official synopsis of the show. Black Mirror is featuring stand alone dramas, sharp, suspenseful, satirical tales that explore techno paranoia. Black Mirror is a contemporary reworking of The Twilight Zone, with stories that tap into the collective unease about the modern world. In the synopsis for this specific season is twisted tales that span eras and terrors. Deliver a [00:03:00] myriad of surprises in this game changing anthology series. Most unpredictable season yet. And as we like to do here on the Spun Study Podcast, wanted to shout out the folks that make it all possible. The writers. Black Mirror was created and is mainly written by Charlie Brooker. And there was one episode here in season six that was written by Bisha K. Ali, shout out to the writers of this amazing series and awesome season.[00:04:00] So the very first episode of the season is called Joan is awful. And the summary is that an average woman discovers a global streaming service has adapted her daily life and her secrets into a drama starring A list actress Salma Hayek. The name of the streaming service is Streamberry. It's similar to think of like Netflix for example. And this lady is essentially, you know, going through her life. Goes to work. Has certain conversations at work. She has a husband or, or at least a fiancé or live in boyfriend or something like that. That they depict their relationship kind of as like very routine, very going through the motions. And she Gets a text from like an [00:05:00] ex boyfriend or an old flame and says that he's in town and just wants to meet to say hi for a drink or something like that and she hesitantly goes Winds up going. I think they wind up kissing or something like that. And then they she leaves and goes home then they are about to Have dinner her and her boyfriend and They put on the TV and they say, Oh, Oh, look, there's a new show called Joan is awful the hell. And her name is Joan and they start playing it and watching it. And it's going through pretty much everything that happened to her that day. So it shows her like in the show, it shows some high, which plays her character going through the motions with a boyfriend, goes to work, shows a very similar conversation that she has. Her assistant is very similar and quirky and shows like what she said behind the back of someone that she fired and almost [00:06:00] identical to like what happened to her in real life. So she's watching it like, wait, what? What the fuck? Is this a joke? Like, what are you doing? What is going on? And then the boyfriend, he's just like, well, what are you talking about? You know, just like a show. But then he even starts catching on like, wait, this is very similar to, this seems like us. And then he sees in the show that she gets a text from an old boyfriend and then she's like, wait, that didn't happen. That's not true. And then, you know, she wants to stop watching for obvious reasons. He wants to keep watching for obvious reasons and so on and so forth. In long story short, the world of this main character like falls apart. And in almost real time, it's showing this on the show, like in the next episode of Jonah's Awful, and just highlighting how she's like a bad person and she's like flipping out and going to, she goes to a lawyer, she tries to sue Streamberry, [00:07:00] she loses her job, and all of this is being depicted on the show as well, right? Like, like a beat behind what's actually happening in real life, and she's like, how the fuck is this happening? And then the lawyer winds up letting her know that in signing the terms and conditions, you know, like the, those like pages and pages worth of terms and conditions that we all just like click the checkbox on and click accept, which I believe South Park did an episode of like years ago, but the lawyer explains how in the terms and conditions, one of the things you signed off on was giving your likeness, right? Signing over your likeness to StreamBerry and it's completely legal and they could do what they're doing. And from a company perspective in StreamBerry, they're using some sort of like AI and like high level tech to enrich their algorithm such that it gives the user, like the [00:08:00] watcher, the most targeted experience possible, which I can totally see a corporation doing. Like something like that through like algorithmic optimization and just like focusing on the bottom line, you know what I mean? Like an evil corporation that just wants to increase profit quarter after quarter after quarter and losing sight of the damage that it's doing otherwise. And then there's another layer to the episode where it gets into this like quantum computing baseline reality versus fictive reality. Type of thing as like the, the Joan is awful, the main character that we see that we think is the real Joan. She starts investigating the company and, and you know, taking matters into her own hands, tries to break into the company and figure out where they have this super computer that's facilitating all this. And she finds out that there's layers and layers and layers to this Joan is awful character. Where she's seeing Salma Hayek, this famous actress, playing her life. [00:09:00] There's, she is the. Actress that somebody else in a different layer or a different level of reality is watching her in a similar way on her streaming service, watching the Joan that we think is the real Joan, they're watching her on TV and so on and so forth. So she's like, wait, she's like contemplating mine, like, not even real. Am I like CGI? Am I like AI or something like that? And then it gets into the question of what's real. What's what are people quote unquote. What if we do create like AI or like sentient AI? Do they really have feelings and thoughts and are they real? Should they have rights, et cetera? It's really, really interesting. It's like a mind bending, when you think you know what the episode is about, it winds up opening up like all these other layers and inevitable questions. And that was definitely either my favorite or tied for favorite [00:10:00] episode of this season, Joan is awful. The second episode of Lock Henry is the one that I would say is like my tied to tied as my favorite episode of the season. And the summary for it is that while filming a nature documentary in a sleepy Scottish town, a young couple catches wind of a juicy local story with ties to shocking past events. Now in this episode, what stood out to me was first of all, like the way it was shot. It's very scenic. It's very beautiful looking the acting is great Everyone in it from like the main character his girlfriend his mother his best friend like stole a show. He was like the comedic relief and It follows this couple that goes Back home to, to the guy, the guy's hometown and the mother's meeting his, his girlfriend for the first time. And this town is really beautiful, but it's like [00:11:00] dead, like almost nobody's around. It's kind of eerie and creepy in that sense, but it's so beautiful and the girlfriend's even even notices that and she's like, what's going on here? Like, you would think that, you know, especially with this weather and this time of year that. This would be like a pop in place, you know what I mean? like a vacation spot for folks and She even asked this to The guy's friend Which is running a family Restaurant slash pub and the friend tells him wait, you didn't tell her about Ian Adar And remember, they're, they're like these film school kids that are, like, home from college to do this like, nature documentary. And that's what they're into. Or to do a documentary period, and they chose to do it about nature, a nature documentary. And, the kid is like no, no, no I didn't wanna, like, speak about that or whatever. And she's like, wait, who's Ian Adar? And [00:12:00] The friend or he and the friend but mainly he, the main character, he starts telling his girlfriend the story of Ian Adar. And this is probably like the scene that, that made the episode for me was his telling of the story of Ian Adar was like perfect spot on storytelling. Like it was just enough. Detail for like listeners and like watchers of the show to like add their own color and the visuals that they showed during his telling of Who Ian the Dar was definitely helped as well But it's absolutely like what roped me into to the episode But essentially this Ian the Dar character was a local guy who's kind of like a loner creepy guy that used to like go into the the pub and drink and and get drunk and Lived in a house down the road with a farm and [00:13:00] the, the main characters father in present time had passed away, but he used to be a police officer and they tell this very suspenseful story of how there was like a one day he got really drunk to see in the dark character after a couple that was on vacation because it used to be a really popular spot, this place. Which ties to the, the girl's expectation of, you know, why isn't this like a more popular place? It used to be. And then this couple went missing. And they couldn't find them. And then one day Enidar is in the pub and got really drunk. And then winds up going home and there's a disturbance in his house. And somebody calls the cops. The father of this kid goes and winds up getting shot by Enidar. As the telling of the story not killed, but then we find out that later on from his like wounds and like stuff like that, he got sick [00:14:00] and it was never the same and then wound up dying. So the mother and, and like the family blame Inidar for the father's death, but ultimately they found like this hidden dungeon in the house and like the remains of these people that were missing. And this Inadar character was some sort of like serial killer guy. And since then, the town became like a ghost town. Hence the state that it's currently in. Now the girl, she's like, We're not doing a fucking nature documentary anymore. We have to do a documentary about this. This is the story. We have to tell the story. And you know, they're film buffs and he's reluctant to do it. Doesn't want to open up like old wounds of you know, the family and the father dying and The story and stuff like that. The friend wants to, wants them to tell the story as well to see if it brings like more popularity back to the town and more tourists and stuff like that. And the girl's [00:15:00] really pushing for it. And even the mother says that she, it's important to tell the story. So then the kid gets on board and they start, you know, investigating and going into the house that was boarded up and going into that dungeon and taking videos and pictures and all this stuff. And the mother's this very like proper, you know, buttoned up lady. And the, like the kids are walking on eggshells around her. Don't want to make so much noise. And you know, she's nice, but very like buttoned up and proper. And long story shorter as they're investigating and the girlfriend is in the house by herself for some reason, like the, The guy went to visit with his friend or something like that. I forgot where he went, but she's just like rewatching some of the footage that they shot that day. And they were recording on top of an old VHS tape of some sitcom show that the mom used to watch and the father. And she finishes watching the footage and, but [00:16:00] the leaves the tape playing while she's like writing something down or something like that. And then the, this other footage comes up. All of that same dungeon area in the house, but it's like old footage. And she pretty much sees the couple that went missing and the mother of the guy and the father, and they're into this like eyes wide shut style, sex torture thing. And the girlfriend is watching this like, what the fuck? And then realizes that the mother and the father, the cop were the ones that killed that missing couple. And they were, you know, they did it again in this like Eyes Wide Shut style, like sex play, torture, craziness. And she like stops it and then right there there's like a knock at the door or the mother opens the door and she's like, Oh, dinner's ready. And she, and she, you know, she's trying not to freak out. And she's like, Okay, I'll be right there. And then winds [00:17:00] up going upstairs and saying that she's going to get some air or something like that. And it's night time, but ultimately she goes, she winds up getting out the house. The mother realizes, you know, goes back to the room, realizes what she saw, and then tries to find the girl. She drives and catches up to her. Then the girl, like, runs into into, like, a wooded area, like, down by a river and tries to hide. Winds up, like, slipping and banging her head, and pretty much she drowns in the river and dies. Then the mother just had another added twist to everything. The mother winds up going back to the, to the apartment, taking out all the VHS tapes and footage and stuff and set and write a letter to her son, which still isn't home by the way, and explaining to him everything and what she was involved in. And what his father was involved in and that with the footage that's on that tape, he'll make [00:18:00] like an amazing documentary and then she winds up hanging herself, which is sick and unexpected. And then the story goes on to, to show the kid, you know, being the film buff that he is, but also reluctant to like the whole thing. He winds up putting out this documentary, the town blows up with like tourism and stuff like that. It like fast forwards, like a year or two later and he winds up winning like all these like awards and, you know, like Emmys, Grammys, whatever it is that you went for this, but it's like that type of event and he's like pretty much miserable. Like, he has obviously what he wanted with this, like documentary filmmaking fame, he brought back life to his hometown, but obviously lost his girlfriend and his mother and is completely mind fucked with what happened. So. Dope, dope episode. Lock Henry. Now the next three, I'll go a little quicker. We have beyond the sea, which was a really good episode. It starts my [00:19:00] guy Jesse from breaking bad. And he and he plays this astronaut, he and another character and it says in an alternative in 1969, two astronauts on a perilous high tech space mission. Grapple with the fallout of an unfathomable tragedy back on earth. And essentially they're these astronauts that are in like in deep space. But they have these only two were made state of the art, like physical bodies back on earth. And they're able through some sort of technology laid down in a pod for like in their like spaceship or wherever they are in space. And It puts them to sleep, but like beams their consciousness into this body that's back on earth and they could do it for, I don't know, five hours, eight hours a day or something like that, or every so often, you know, and while one does it, the [00:20:00] other one has to, you know, be in the spaceship, you know, man, the spaceship and, and everything and the other, you know, does that to spend time with their family, both of them are like married, they have a kid or two. So And They take turns doing this every day and then the rest of the day, you know, they're working out in space and doing the research and work that it is that they do. Then one day, one of them goes back and I forget exactly how it happened, but it was, Oh, I do remember how it happened. The somebody breaks into their house and, it's like this think of like the Sharon Tate style murders. But it's like a religious cult thing that this is like you know ungodly You know, you're like an abomination here on earth. You're not really human It's like that type of mentality that drove these folks to like break into the house. They wound up tying tying up the guy [00:21:00] and He you know his body it that's not his real body But he's you know, he he's beamed in and then they top his wife his kid And they wind up killing his wife and, and child in front of him while he's watching, and he can't do anything about it. And then they, you know, they can't kill him because it's not really his body, but they fuck up the, that machine, robot, AI, whatever, body so he can't ever, like, beam down again. Then he beams back, obviously he's in, in real life, you know, he's in outer space. Not in real life, but, you know. And he's completely distraught. It's a, you know, story blows up. It's pretty much going crazy. And then his other astronaut buddy friend is, finds out about it. And then he, you know, they, they speak back to like space command or whatever it's called. And they try to give the, the friend you know, pointers and things to speak to him about. And, you know, they try to [00:22:00] like keep tabs on him. To see what's going on, you know, don't fuck up like the mission and then, you know, he has to deal with him coming back to his family and his life, but knowing that he left this unstable person up there that just lost his entire family and they think of like he and his wife think of, you know, like once he's like a little bit more settled, you know, They offer him to use his body. So Jesse's character offers him to use his body to go down, you know, to beam down. Just so he could feel the air again and be around people. And he winds up doing this. They wind up doing it every so often. It's apparently, it's helping him. But then he and the wife kind of hit it off a little bit. And he's into painting and they get a little flirty.[00:23:00] The wife you know, pushes back on the whole thing eventually. But then Jesse's character finds out about it, gets upset, tells him that he's not going to let them, you know, beam down anymore. You know, they're not supposed to be doing that anyway. Cause it like breaks protocol. And then the guy convinces him to do it. One more time. Just so he could apologize to the wife and he reluctantly agrees. Then he comes back and then the next time Jesse beams down, he beams down and he sees blood everywhere. He's like, what the fuck? And then he realizes the guy beamed down that last time and wound up killing his wife and kid. And he has no other option but to like beam back up. You know, he beams back up and the story ends with them. Him just like flipping out, but then him telling him to like, take a seat. He's like completely calm and fucking psycho, but tells him, you know, take a seat. Now, now we're even basically, I lost my family. You lost yours. You can't tell anybody about it. Cause you know, there's [00:24:00] nothing anybody can do. We weren't even supposed to be beaming in each other's bodies or whatever the hell. That was a really good episode. Now, the last two that I'll mention Maisie day. The main character is played by Zazie Beetz from Atlanta. Great actress. It wasn't my favorite episode. It's a troubled Hollywood starlet who goes to great lengths to escape packs of invasive paparazzi as she deals with the aftermath of a hit and run. And yeah, it didn't really, it wasn't a favorite episode of mine. She plays a paparazzi that's like in the paparazzi game and wants out, wants a different life. But they're tracking this like super popular actress who's trying to like hide out in rehab because she has like a drug problem. And then there's like this, I don't know, felt like lazy twist unexpected. I don't know, not maybe not lazy, but. Because it got me like I was interested in the episode just because [00:25:00] of like the acting and the writing in general and the characters in it. And it was. Somewhat suspenseful, but like the what happened at the end. I was like, ah, come on which was pretty much the The starlet that they were tracking down Was in this like rehab place and like tied down and they they wound up trying to save her Because they pretty she pretty much went into this rehab place and they like tied her down To, you know, like fight off the, the drugs and, you know, she was going to get sick and throw up and stuff like that. And they didn't want her like breaking out and getting drugs or anything. So it would be like an easier time for her if she was just tied down. So the paparazzi, Zazie Beats, and a couple other folks, they track her down. They try to get a picture of her because it's worth a lot of money in the rehab place. But then they realize that she's tied down. And when they go, they go to free her and she winds up turning into a werewolf. So, and she winds up killing a couple of the [00:26:00] paparazzis as he beats, gets away. And then at the end, I think winds up killing her as well. But yeah, that was a little, just like a little far fetched in my opinion, but that thing was great. And the last one is called Demon 79. This is Northern England, 1979. A meek sales assistant discovers she must commit terrible acts to prevent an imminent disaster. This was another one that was good. It keeps you roped in because you want to know if it's true or not, what she's going through. And it's this Indian girl in 1979. She's a she sells shoes. She works at like a malls department store selling shoes. And the people she works with and, you know, her boss and coworker and stuff like that, they all treat her different and they say, oh, you have stinky food and, and, you know, she's treated, she's very othered, you know, her neighbors or the people treat her [00:27:00] like very differently. And then this like demon appears and that only she can see in here and tells her that she has to essentially kill three people or the entire world would end. So they're showing this and you as the, as the viewer are like, is this real or not? Is she like a schizophrenic imagining demons and shit? Or is this like really happening within this world? And she's going through those same emotions. She's like, she thinks she's going crazy, but then ultimately is convinced of this and winds up going through the motions and doing things with the, with the demon. And the demon tries to like aggro on and, and. And, you know, motivate her to, to kill people and forget what it was. If it had to be only good people, it couldn't be bad people because bad people would be too easy. It has to be like three innocent people or something like that. Or if it was the other way around, if it had to be bad people and couldn't be innocent people and she wound up killing [00:28:00] like an innocent person, I think that's what it was. It's one of the killing an innocent person. That person didn't count. So she wound up killing like an extra person. And then at the end, she winds up getting caught like in the act and is, you know, there's like a cutoff time. It's like midnight at, you know, you know, three days later or something like that. The world was going to end and she's like in the interrogation room with the cops and they're writing her off as fucking crazy. The clock strike struck 12, nothing happened. And then she's like coming to the realization, holy shit, I killed these people. I am crazy. It's 12 o'clock and nothing happened. And then like three or four minutes later, you hear sirens going off and like the towns, like fog horns and everyone in the precinct is like going to the windows and you just see like bombs and fire and plague and just like everything going to shit. And then she comes to the realization of, Oh, I'm not crazy. [00:29:00] So she's happy about that, but then at the same time, oh, but the world is ending so There is that But yeah, Black Mirror Dope series, like I said in the beginning of this little recap and review Go back to see all the seasons all the episodes Some of them are fucking amazing. A lot of them are great most of them are either great or really good and there's like a I could count on one hand, less than one hand, probably just two or three that even, even the ones that, like I mentioned in, in this season six, the last two episodes weren't my favorite, but they were, you know, it wasn't like, Oh, why'd I watch that? You know what I mean? And that is my little recap and review of black mirror season six available on Netflix testing, testing one, two, one, two. Tom Clancy's, Jack Ryan, created by Carlton Qs and Graham Roland. Based on the characters by novelist, Tom [00:30:00] Clancy had its series finale last year in 2023. Very quick aside, because I don't wanna forget Tom Clancy, I, I looked them up like when I, when I'm into like a show or a movie or, or like a book, and I may not know the author or the writer or the creators. I look them up usually like to follow them on, on Twitter or Instagram and just to see like what they're up to, what they're working on currently. And I did that with Tom Clancy being that this is a character that he developed, that he created and has like a bunch of, of novels about him. And I found out that he died in 2013. And since, since he died, he's put out more content, whether it be films, Shows like this one and books and at first I'm kind of like, yeah, that's I guess it kind of sort of makes sense if you, you know, you create certain characters and you have like a, [00:31:00] a large backlog, you know, your state or something can like license out the content and one of your older books could be adapted into a movie or TV show, et cetera. I thought it was like that type of deal. But then I found out that's not the case and that he's since he's. Past again in 2013. He's put out over a dozen new books. We're not he is like physically impossible but He built out such a well known IP in like his name tom clancy and all the characters that he's created and Like Jack Ryan, for example, but also different, like, series of, like, movies and shows, like, The Hunt for Red October, starring Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin Patriot Games, starring Harrison Ford, etc., that his name alone is the Tom Clancy name, like, it became an entity, essentially. And The publishing house [00:32:00] has other writers that since his death have written under the Tom Clancy banner, if you will, but under the Tom Clancy name. So it'll be a new book by Tom Clancy, but it's really written by Grant Blackwood, Mark Cameron, Dick Couch, Mark Greeney. And Mike Madden probably amongst others by now. I thought that was so fascinating and interesting and just a testament to something that I like to highlight and underscore the importance of owning your content, owning your IP. At whatever level you're on from zero listenership and readership to millions and millions and millions of listeners and or readership, because ultimately, if something does pop off in the direction of being financially viable, why not have your situation set up in a way where you didn't give away the rights, you didn't sell off the [00:33:00] rights for a one time fee or, you know, the short term bag, but you've created something valuable. That can and will go on for decades after you're gone and your kids and maybe even your kids kids Could benefit from it Like why not set it up that way, you know what I mean, but to each their own. Anyway, Jack Ryan is a dope series and The official synopsis is of the show is up and coming CIA analyst Jack Ryan is thrust into dangerous field assignments and it stars John Krasinski From the office, which when I first saw the show, I was like that, like, I know him as like Jim from the office and it's a comedy. And this is like a serious, you know, CIA analyst guy, but it totally works. And it just shows like his range as an actor, in my opinion. Also starting Wendell Pierce, shout out to Wendell Pierce, shout out to the wire [00:34:00] and Michael Kelly. It was a great, like character actor. I think that's what you call a character actor. Shout out to a house of cards where he played Doug. And as we'd like to do here on the sponsored a podcast, because if we don't do it here, then who will let's shout out the writers. First and foremost, Tom Clancy, of course, based on the characters that he created Carlton Kuse, Graham Roland, Joe Griscoviak, Jeff Kempler, Jada Nation, Aaron Rabin, you name it. Vaughn Wilmot, Stephen Cain and Robert David Port. Shout out to each and every one of the writers that, and creators of the series that put together this final fourth series finale.[00:35:00] So like the synopsis says, if you're not familiar with the show, it all revolves around this genius. CIA analyst. He's kind of like a desk analyst research guy that winds up going into the field and then you start finding out that, Oh, he can, he can do the field as well. He has like a background being like a Navy seal, I think, or just like one of those like superhero type characters in, in shows, you know, they could do it all smartest guy in the room, toughest guy in the room. And I love shows like that. Cause I could finally relate to someone, you know what I mean? Let me stop. But definitely, I definitely do enjoy those shows. You kind of like vicariously live through characters like that. And this season, this final season, [00:36:00] had to do with a drug cartel teaming up with a terrorist organization. And how that type of matchup would combine unlimited resources with Like unbridled terror and hate, which is obviously a dangerous combination, especially when, and if it's aimed towards the U S for example, Michael Pena is a big part of this final season as well. Another great actor. If you don't know him by name, he's, he's the, the Spanish guy that is like in everything. When you see him, you'd be like, Oh yeah, I know that guy. And in the very first episode, actually, Ends with a really dope scene where he is in Jack Ryan's apartment. When Jack Ryan gets home with his girlfriend and they get home [00:37:00] from some event that they were at and she's going to go take a shower or something. He's going to the fridge and Michael Peña just points a gun to his head and tells him to turn Pluto back on. So at this point. The story. Basically, Jack Ryan has ascended and he's like assistant to the head of the CIA like sec second line. And they're getting a lot of pressure from, from the Senate to be more transparent and highlight programs within the CIA, like covert operations and stuff like that because there had just been a coup slash murder of a president in a country in Africa and. You know, conspiracy theorists and folks were blaming the CIA as them having something to do with it. So a way that Jack Ryan and Director Wright chose to deal with that was to turn off the funding for all these [00:38:00] programs that you couldn't trace or like where the money was going to and stuff like that. And one of these programs was Pluto, codenamed Pluto. And Michael Peña just shows up, puts a gun to Jack Ryan's head. Remember, Jack Ryan's like the badass, you know, handles everything, knows everything that's going on at all times. And here's this guy, apparently within the CIA as well, in his apartment with a gun to his head, telling him to turn the shit back on, turn the money back on for that operation. And we see Michael Pena's character in Mexico. Like they show a few scenes of him there and like being a bit like a bad ass there. And as the viewer, we're kind of like, wait, is he CIA? Is he part of this cartel? Is he like a double agent? Like what's up with him? And ultimately we find out that he is in the CIA, but he's being used by the folks that are running the Pluto program that are working with This either the drug cartel and or [00:39:00] the terrorist organization side to try to facilitate what they have going on and they're pretty much being paid off. That's essentially what this season is all about. It has great fighting scenes, very suspenseful, like scenes with a helicopter. Oh, I'm sorry, with a plane that they're finally getting away. Jack Ryan's character is and. Mike November's, which is Michael Kelly's character and Kathy Mueller, which is John Krasinski's Jack Ryan's girlfriend played by Abby Cornish and Michael Pena's character. They're all like getting away from a situation that they're in that they're flying out of to take a chow fa the head of this drug organization or not the head. He was like the higher up about to become the head, but he, he was turning against the organization. And like speaking to the CIA to be able to get his family, his wife and daughter out. So they're in this situation where [00:40:00] they are about to get out of the country on this private plane. They load everybody up, but then Jack Ryan and Michael Pena themselves have to stay behind so the plane can go, can fly off. With Jack Ryan's girlfriend, Chao Pha's wife and daughter. Cause you have like a ton of just like jeeps and jeeps and with heavy machinery machine guns and a bunch of soldiers just like coming at them. So the plane can take off. They stayed down to like, you know, give them a cover pretty much and like shooting back at them. And then Michael Kelly's character, Mike November just comes with a fucking helicopter and like mows down all the. Like at the last second when you're like, how the fuck are they gonna get out of this? They're like in this open field completely surrounded or fucked and Mike November shows up in this helicopter and with enough like weaponry to like hold them off [00:41:00] and allow Jack Ryan and Mike and Michael Peña's character to get in the helicopter and get the fuck out of there. It's like dope scenes like that. Acting director writes characters from Queens. Shout out to Queens. There's some dope scenes towards the end of the series where Jack Ryan actually gets captured and he's being tortured, you know He's like tied up. He's being electrocuted fucking whipped and just like fucked up like a sick torture scene and to John Krasinski's Credit did a phenomenal job. It was like so believable and it's like a sick scene and Michael Pena is In this like bunker place where they have Jack Ryan, he like broke into it to save Jack Ryan and there's a part where he, all he has is a spear gun because that's what he couldn't buy in terms of weaponry from like a villager that lived [00:42:00] close by and he gets into this facility and there's a, you know, there's this guy guarding a door and he's walking, you know, he hears something, he's walking around with a gun And Mike Pena fucking spear guns him in the dark, it was such a sick scene. And just wound up like fucking everybody up one by one like John Wick style to ultimately free Jack Ryan. And I like this show in particular because it's not like the bad guys in the show. They make you not relate to them, but they're written in such a way where I don't want to see you empathize with them. But they humanize them a bit, you know, they're not like over the top just like evil for evil's sake type bad guys I think the the best villains in stories there's like something about them that you could relate to or at least that you can sympathize with their Rationale whether you agree with it or not for like doing certain things and there's a few of those characters Within this season within the show in general, but within this season, especially like the ex CIA guy [00:43:00] that felt wronged and he was like a, a hitman for hire basically for, for the bad guys. Chau Fa's character, which was the head of this drug organization and was doing it to get his wife and daughter out. And he killed his brother in law who was like on to him. So on and so forth. But yeah, really good show. It's definitely a fun watch. There's four seasons available on Amazon if you're interested. It's one of those that are just like action and entertaining and well written, in my opinion. And that is Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan. Available on Amazon. American Fiction. So a few weeks back, prior to the health related issues that I mentioned that My family's going through right now. My wife and I wanted to do one of our favorite things, which is go to the movies. It's one of the things we really enjoy doing together. And We saw American Fiction. Which was [00:44:00] so, so good to me. On a few different levels. It's about a novelist who This is the official summary. It's about a novelist who's fed up with the establishment, profiting from black entertainment. And he uses a pen name to write a book that propels him into the heart of the hypocrisy and madness he claims to disdain. Before we get into my little recap, let's shout out the writers, as we do here on the Sponsored A Podcast. Because if we don't, who will? American Fiction was written by Cord Jefferson and Percival Everett. Shout out to them for putting this together. It was also directed by Cord Jefferson. Now it has a great, great all star cast starting with the main protagonist, Thelonious Monk Ellison played by Jeffrey Wright, Lisa Ellison, his sister played [00:45:00] by Tracy Ellis Ross, Arthur, who is the publisher of Thelonious character played by John Ortiz. Coraline, who plays a love interest of Thelonious, played by Erika Alexander. Issa Rae is in it, she also plays a writer. Cintara Golden, Keith David, plays Willy the Wonker. It's like a funny little like parody scene within the movie itself. I really like the Myra. Lucretia Taylor plays Lorraine. She's like that housekeeper slash caretaker for, for the mother. Agnes Ellison, played by Leslie Uggams. It's such a good film. So it follows Thelonious Monk Ellison, who's a writer, and he plays like this jaded writer that is a little snobby about his writing. You know, he's respected by his peers, but he definitely doesn't make money, or at least not a lot of it.[00:46:00] And he's snobby towards the genre of writer that seems to just be writing to the market. Issa Rae's character, Sentara Golden, is one of these writers, which makes a beautiful case for it. And like there's a scene where they have a dialogue with each other. And back and forth and makes a strong understandable case for writing to the market because there are writers like that, right? There are writers and creators like that, that literally only write to and for a specific market. There are podcasters like that as well that, you know, they'll do Google trending searches, for example, and say, Oh, X, Y, and Z is trending. Let me do a podcast episode about that. Or writers that write to, Oh, what's popular now, vampires. Made of glitter that also own a knitting factory. Okay, let me write a story about that and they'll literally write a novel, a book, a short story or whatever about that. That's called like writing to the [00:47:00] market. And then you have other folks that write for the art of it, that write what they want to write, whether it's popular or not. I think I would fall more into that camp and they speak about what they want to speak about. So on and so forth. And it's not passing judgment on either. You know, both are, you know, The creator's prerogative, but Monk's character is one that has disdain for the folks like Issa Rae's character, Centaur Golden, who is literally just writing for the market and her case was essentially, you know, if there is a market, if there are people that want to read this type of stuff that you call, you know, trash or like fast food, for example, in fast food type of writing, and I'm able to create that for them to fill that demand. And make a living while doing it. Why is that, you know, like, why are you shitting on that? What's wrong with that? And the answer to that is essentially, [00:48:00] there is nothing wrong with that. That's, you know, the choice of that creator, that writer, and also the choice of that consumer. To consume whatever the fuck they want to consume, right? But what I love for it from a this like writing, you know, This, like, shining the light on this, like, area of like writing and creating Is that the type of, like, story she's writing are Like thought to be like racist and like over the top and highlighting like stereotypes of African Americans And like she's doing a reading for example, and she's you know, speaking normally and then You know being interviewed and then she's reading an excerpt from her story and then she's like, oh, yeah. Sure I would love to read an excerpt. Let me share this passage here. And then she starts reading quote Hey, yo, Sharonda use pregnancy again and not at 19 years old What is that, your eighth baby mama? You know, like, shit like that. She's like, writing in the book. And then Thelonious Monk's character is like, has like such disdain and grossed out and [00:49:00] like, what the fuck, how is this selling? So he as like a kind of to like shit on his certain publishers that don't want to like publish him anymore. And Arthur, by the way, is not his publisher, it's his agent. The character played by John Ortiz. He decides to write this like over the top hood, like spoof almost, and submit that to the publishers that don't want to publish his, his other work. Cause again, it's not selling and the publishers are in the market of, or in the business of making money. So they're like the embodiment of creating for the market, minus the creating part, you know, they're just like peddling, but I digress. He submits it as kind of like a fuck you to them. And then, and they wind up loving it. And they wanna, and he, he submits it like under a pen name. And Arthur, his agent calls him, he's like, yo, they wanna publish it. And he's like, really? They wanna publish my book? He thinks it's his, like, other book that, that he wrote. The more, you know, like, [00:50:00] snooty writing and, you know, the shit that he's into. His literary fiction, if you will. And John Ortiz's character, Arthur, he's like, no, no, the The other book that you sent me over under the pen name and they want to give you a 250, 000 advance or something like, I forget the exact number. That might be it. But he's like, what? He's like, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not going to do that shit. What are you fucking crazy? That was supposed to be a joke. But monks characters in a situation where this is a, another layer of the story where it really resonated with me. His mother, Agnes is elderly. Her memory is starting to slip. They take her to. And they confirmed that it's like early stages of dementia. My father, as I mentioned here in the pod has dementia. So that definitely resonated and as well as him and Tracy Ellis Ross, which is his sister. And they have a third brother Clifford Ellison [00:51:00] played by Sterling K. Brown. But they're like between siblings, they're dealing with the fact of balancing the responsibilities of taking on the fact that their parents are getting older, that their parents are getting sick. And what, how are they going to balance that? And what's that going to mean moving forward? And who's taking on which responsibilities? How are they going to tackle all of the issues that need to be tackled and taken care of? And that's something that definitely hit home. And something that we all inevitably deal with to one degree or another. So he's in this situation where he, they need the money to confront you know, like the changing and added responsibilities in, in, in their lives with their mom being sick. And he's out to a lunch with his sister and, you know, they're speaking about these things, trying to iron out certain details and, you know, speaking about how money's tight.[00:52:00] All around and then his sister right then and there literally has a heart attack while they're having lunch out of the blue Tracy Ellis Ross's character which sucked that she she like died like spoiler alert so early in the story Which just threw a another curveball and an added need for him to get money because the other brother He's like going through a divorce with his family kind of like a midlife crisis coming out the closet like type of thing he's like selfish and doing drugs and more of a burden than a help, you know what I mean? So it all kind of falls on Jeffrey Wright's character. But then he, you know, he has this dilemma where he definitely really needs the money, which Arthur, his agent, is highlighting to him to take care of his mom. But also, his creative beliefs and what he feels about like his integrity, his creative integrity, is being thrust into this situation as well, right? He doesn't want to publish that. But ultimately he does. [00:53:00] Begrudgingly and at the same time, I felt that that situation does a great job of, of being like social commentary for what's wrong with the virtue signaling. And you have these two agents from the publishing company who are white and just like thrilled to speak to the writer, which again was under pen name. And he just kept playing it up and making it more absurd. He was like, yeah, I'm an ex, I'm an ex con. I don't do interviews cause I'm still running from the law. I'm running from the man and this and that or whatever. And they were just like eating it up and they're like, Oh my God, this is so authentic. This is so real. And it was like cool to see like that highlighting of that type of like hypocrisy of what happens when, you know, writing to a market or just like doing something ultimately for financial gain alone. Like when that runs amok, like. [00:54:00] Just highlighting all that is wrong with that type of mentality. And not to be mistaken with that, that is all wrong. But what could be wrong with only thinking that way. Lorraine's character, she was so sweet. Played by Myra Taylor. She is the like, home health aid caretaker of the mom. And has obviously like been with the family for like years. So to the point that she's like family. She was like such, such a sweetheart. And I felt like the ultimate, like, full circle moment for him, for Monk's character was a couple of things. Like, on a personal level, you know, being more open, being, you know, letting your guards down a bit, letting people into your life, letting them love you. He was very guarded, very cagey. Pushed people away. Which is not an uncommon trait for a writer or some types of creatives You know, you're kind of sort of always in your own head and you wind up doing[00:55:00] Things like that even without noticing at times. I know I definitely have and then from a professional level the full circle for for his character was That ultimately he always wanted he wanted And needed money, but also wanted the validation that comes with the recognition of all your peers and being thought of as this amazing writer and he kind of sort of came to the realization that these are two different worlds and it's okay you know i mean it's not like an either or type of situation it's the ideal circumstance that you can do like your artsy fartsy type of writing and everybody and their mother would love it and it would be mainstream and niche at the same time and You'd be a literary hero and a millionaire simultaneously at the same time like sure but very unlikely that Would ever be the type of situation [00:56:00] that you would be in as a creative But there is a happy medium with come again coming to terms with the fact that maybe not always but often it would be a separate different type of approach to to creating and that part of the charm if you will of being on a creative journey is a Finding that medium of the happy medium where you are able to create without compromising your artistic integrity, if you will, and also make some money while doing so, which will help facilitate you being able to do more of what it is that you love to do, which is the writing and creating. And if sometimes you wind up sliding to the left of that spectrum a little bit, and going more towards the making money side, and then sliding back to the right a little bit, and going more towards the doing what you [00:57:00] love side, then so be it. As long as you ultimately stay within that happy medium, which should be the place where you're most happy, I think is the ultimate creative. goal. At least I feel like that's what it is for me. Anyway, tons and tons and tons of that I related to in this movie. I highly recommend it. American fiction. Check it out. Goats doing goat shit. This is the spun today segment where I like to highlight extraordinary individuals that do extraordinary things. Even when, and especially when They don't have to this episode's installment of a go to doing goat shit is none other than Joe Rogan who has made the list before this is probably his third if not fourth time and the reason why as originally reported by Spotify's blog and picked up by the Wall Street [00:58:00] Journal Associated Press and others which I will link to in the episode notes is because in February of 2024 this month Joe Rogan inked yet another Multi year licensing deal with Spotify for those of you who don't know one of the other reasons actually when Rogan initially made the go to doing goat shit list was because he inked a 100 million licensing deal to take his podcast, the Joe Rogan experience exclusive with Spotify for three years. I want to highlight again, it was a licensing deal, which I love harping on and highlighting here on. The podcast, because there's a huge difference between selling something and licensing something. When you license something that you create, you can license it for X amount of dollars, sometimes, and usually less than what you would make if you just sold it outright. But what's great about a licensing deal [00:59:00] is that once that license is up, you still own everything and you can license it out all over again. So Joe Rogan did a licensing deal for 100 million, three years ago that recently expired. And because it was such a lucrative deal for Spotify and its shareholders, which saw many, many, many times that hundred million dollars in stock profits as soon as the news broke. But Rogan since again, maintained ownership of his show was now able to license it yet again. And this time the deal has a few interesting caveats. First and foremost, it's another multi year licensing deal. The number of years I'm not clear on. I'm assuming it's around 3 to 5. But I haven't found actual reporting on the number of years. But it's a 250, 000, 000 licensing deal. Shout out to the [01:00:00] podcast, The Goat. So not only did he make 100, 000, 000 over 3 years with the original deal, Now he's making another 250 million, which includes, by the way, upfront guarantee as well as revenue sharing on his ad sales. But the sickest part, in my opinion, is that it's no longer exclusive with Spotify. This deal was so lucrative with Spotify that they didn't, they didn't even hold on to that part of it. That part of the deal. It said Rogan and team negotiated that. The podcast will once again, go wide, it'll be available everywhere. So if you want to listen to it on Apple, you can, it's already actually on Apple. And there will be a video version available on YouTube as well. Which is interesting because back in the day, before the Spotify deal, Rogan's Pod was wide, you know, it was available on every podcatcher. And the video versions were [01:01:00] exclusively on YouTube just because YouTube had the that's where videos would be seen, you know what I mean? It wasn't by virtue of any deal with YouTube, but that's just where video podcasts were viewed. Part of when Rogan went to Spotify, part of the deal that was negotiated was that Spotify had to develop the capability. Of streaming video as well as audio, and they developed this entire video capability through their app because of Rogan which other podcasters and, and content creators obviously have benefited from as well. But now that the deal is going wide again, or the show rather is going wide again, we will once again be able to watch the podcast episodes on YouTube, not just the video versions on Spotify. But it does seem, for example, that Spotify is keeping, aside from YouTube, seems to be keeping, at least as of the recording of this episode, [01:02:00] the video rights with Spotify, because you can still watch the videos obviously on Spotify, but on Apple, for example, where the podcast is already on YouTube. Available it's audio only so Spotify does seem to be retaining that I would imagine that the video versions of the podcast will be available on YouTube as they stated but probably on some sort of like delayed release like maybe a week later the video will be on on YouTube or something like that but that's just my personal speculation on that shout out once again to Rogan the undisputed heavyweight champ of podcasting goats you For not only having one of the dopest and most important essential outlets on the planet Where folks from any and all walks of life? Can come and share their art and discuss their thoughts and share their [01:03:00] expertise with the world but also for doing it right always doing a show with integrity and honor and giving other podcasts everywhere including myself A template for how to do it right and not just in caring about what you do, loving what you do, pursuing your passions, striving to be a better person, wanting to help others, but in realizing that there's different ideas and thoughts out there, and that it's okay that they coexist. It's okay that they're differing opinions are shared and explored. It's essential, but also in just the integrity that comes with the whole financial aspect of things. And in doing things right and correctly where he was very much the architect of not just selling ads on his podcast back way before the Spotify deal, way before the whole thing blew up when he only had one sponsor, shout out to Fleshlight, where He, again, was very much of the architect of not just [01:04:00] selling shit to sell it, but only selling things that you believed in or that at least you tried and you liked and not, you know, just doing McDonald's ads just because they came with the bigger bag. Having that level of integrity and foresight clearly snowballed all these years later into the 250 million more than doubled up from the previous 100 million deal. So shout out again to Joe Rogan and to Spotify for inking this deal and for making yet another appearance on the Spun Today goats doing goat shit segment. And that folks was episode 254 of the Spun Today podcast. Thank you very, very much for taking the time to [01:05:00] listen. It really does mean a lot and I hope that you all are taking away gems from the episode. And, or it's just helping you pass the time and whether you're at work or at the gym or whatever it is that you do while you're listening to this driving. I hope it can help you pass the time. I hope it finds you and yours in a good, healthy place. Maybe even motivates you and inspires you to do something creative on your end, which I'm definitely a proponent for. If you have another minute or two, please stick around to listen to a few ways you can help support this show if you so choose. And I'll catch you guys next time. Peace.
Feb 15
1 hr 8 min
In this episode I share a mashup of the Spun Today GOATs doing GOAT $hit segment, from previous episodes. The Spun Today Podcast is a Podcast that is anchored in Writing, but unlimited in scope. Give it a whirl. Twitter: https://twitter.com/spuntoday Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spuntoday/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@spuntoday Website: http://www.spuntoday.com/home Newsletter: http://www.spuntoday.com/subscribe Links referenced in this episode: Conor McGregor “Doubled” His Net Worth After Selling Proper No Twelve To Tequila Company: https://www.republicworld.com/sports-news/other-sports/conor-mcgregor-doubled-his-net-worth-after-selling-proper-no-twelve-to-tequila-company.html Joe Rogan VS Carlos Mencia: https://youtu.be/9vHmRVN97Zs Rory & Mal Stitcher deal: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/siriusxm-signs-rory-farrell--jamil-mal-clay-bringing-their-podcast-new-rory--mal-to-stitcher-301400443.html?utm_source=podnews.net&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=podnews.net:2021-10-15 Issa Rae WarnerMedia deal: https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/24/business/issa-rae-warnermedia-deal/index.html AWKWARD Black Girl | "The Stop Sign" [S. 1, Ep. 1]: https://youtu.be/nIVa9lxkbus Kobe and body armor deal. 6 million = 10% = 400 million post coke acquisition https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/kobe-bryant-coca-cola-bodyarmor-sale/ YMH Stitcher deal: https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/siriusxm-signs-deal-to-integrate-ymh-studios-into-stitcher https://variety.com/2021/digital/news/tom-segura-christina-p-siriusxm-podcast-deal-1235136980/# Get your Podcast Started Today! https://signup.libsyn.com/?promo_code=SPUN (Use Promo code SPUN and get up to 2-months of free service!) Check out all the Spun Today Merch, and other ways to help support this show! https://www.spuntoday.com/support Check out my Books Make Way for You – Tips for getting out of your own way FRACTAL – A Time Travel Tale Melted Cold – A Collection of Short Stories http://www.spuntoday.com/books/ (e-Book, Paperback & Hardcover are now available). Fill out my Spun Today Questionnaire if you’re passionate about your craft. I’ll share your insight and motivation on the Podcast: http://www.spuntoday.com/questionnaire/ Shop on Amazon using this link, to support the Podcast: http://www.amazon.com//ref=as_sl_pc_tf_lc?&tag=sputod0c-20&camp=216797&creative=446321&linkCode=ur1&adid=104DDN7SG8A2HXW52TFB&&ref-refURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spuntoday.com%2Fcontact%2F Shop on iTunes using this link, to support the Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewTop?genreId=38&id=27820&popId=42&uo=10 Shop at the Spun Today store for Mugs, T-Shirts and more: https://viralstyle.com/store/spuntoday/tonyortiz Background Music: Autumn 2011 - Loxbeats & Melody - Roa Outro Background Music: https://www.bensound.com Spun Today Logo by: https://www.naveendhanalak.com/ Sound effects are credited to: http://www.freesfx.co.uk Listen on: iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | Google Podcasts | YouTube | Website
Feb 1
46 min
In this episode I recap and reflect on the top 5 Spun Today episodes of 2023. I also share some of my writing and podcasting goals for 2024. The Spun Today Podcast is a Podcast that is anchored in Writing, but unlimited in scope. Give it a whirl. Twitter: https://twitter.com/spuntoday Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spuntoday/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@spuntoday Website: http://www.spuntoday.com/home Newsletter: http://www.spuntoday.com/subscribe Links referenced in this episode: Episode 233 Links: https://www.spuntoday.com/podcast/233 Episode 232 Links: https://www.spuntoday.com/podcast/232 Episode 231 Links: https://www.spuntoday.com/podcast/231 Episode 229 Links: https://www.spuntoday.com/podcast/229 Episode 227 Links: https://www.spuntoday.com/podcast/227 Get your Podcast Started Today! https://signup.libsyn.com/?promo_code=SPUN (Use Promo code SPUN and get up to 2-months of free service!) Check out all the Spun Today Merch, and other ways to help support this show! https://www.spuntoday.com/support Check out my Books Make Way for You – Tips for getting out of your own way FRACTAL – A Time Travel Tale Melted Cold – A Collection of Short Stories http://www.spuntoday.com/books/ (e-Book, Paperback & Hardcover are now available). Fill out my Spun Today Questionnaire if you’re passionate about your craft. I’ll share your insight and motivation on the Podcast: http://www.spuntoday.com/questionnaire/ Shop on Amazon using this link, to support the Podcast: http://www.amazon.com//ref=as_sl_pc_tf_lc?&tag=sputod0c-20&camp=216797&creative=446321&linkCode=ur1&adid=104DDN7SG8A2HXW52TFB&&ref-refURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spuntoday.com%2Fcontact%2F Shop on iTunes using this link, to support the Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewTop?genreId=38&id=27820&popId=42&uo=10 Shop at the Spun Today store for Mugs, T-Shirts and more: https://viralstyle.com/store/spuntoday/tonyortiz Background Music: Autumn 2011 - Loxbeats & Melody - Roa Outro Background Music: https://www.bensound.com Spun Today Logo by: https://www.naveendhanalak.com/ Sound effects are credited to: http://www.freesfx.co.uk Listen on: iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | Google Podcasts | YouTube | Website Transcript [00:00:00] What's up, what's up folks, what's going on and welcome to the Spun Today podcast. The only podcast that is anchored in writing, but unlimited in scope. I'm your host Tony Ortiz and I appreciate you listening. This is episode 252 of the Spun Today podcast. First officially recorded episode of 2024. Second episode of the year as I re released an episode last time about marathon running. It's a great interview sit down that I had with a long time friend of mine, Christy Medina. So definitely go back and check that out. Thought it would be fitting for, you know, New Year's resolution, trying to get fit, trying to get in shape, trying to pick up a new hobby. It was a fitting episode to re release for those purposes. Also, life as it does, through my family and I, a unexpected curveball. Towards the end and beginning of the year, [00:01:00] health wise, and that obviously becomes number one priority. So, this episode, which is the 2023 Spun Today wrap up show, I was intending to release last time, but because of that issue, I didn't, and you're getting it a couple weeks later. And also because the situation is ongoing. There may be weeks here and there where I'm not able to produce a new episode on my regularly scheduled bi weekly timeline. But when and if that occurs, I'll definitely do my best to repurpose, remix, and remaster some previously released content. Maybe repackage it differently. Which is something that just generally I want to do a better job of. the board, not just for promotional, social media and stuff like that, which is where I see the bulk of that happening with other podcasters and counterparts and creatives and just like entrepreneurs and [00:02:00] business folks, they not necessarily have to have a brand new piece of content to produce every single day or, you know, whatever their schedule is. Although obviously that's ideal, but you can have evergreen content. Which is something that I'm applying more so from the writing space. If you write a book, it's not like you write it for sale for one day and then, you know, two years later, folks can't read it for whatever reason. You know what I mean? It's evergreen. It's supposed to be forever. You can do marketing and repackaging and remastering and re putting out of the contents of fiction more so than non fiction, but, well, certain specific types of non fiction. But you definitely do that within the writing space. And I think I've, I've done that a bit within the podcasting space. So let me tell the podcasters, especially around holidays and stuff like that when listenership goes down. But I just want to get more creative with it, more, more purposeful, instead of [00:03:00] just regurgitating an older episode where feasible, I want to try to create new content from pieces of older content, if that makes sense. But. I digress on that point. Just wanted to be transparent as far as that's concerned. This is definitely, as you all know, a medium for me to express myself, get my thoughts out there. It's cathartic and definitely good for my mental health in terms of things going on in my life, just generally. So I definitely will do my best to maintain that schedule, but like I said, What's going on is a higher priority for sure, but that said, let's get into this episode in this episode. I'm going to recap and reflect on the top five spun today. Episodes of 2023 in this episode, I recap and reflect on the top five spun today, podcast episodes of 2023. I also share some of my writing and [00:04:00] podcasting goals for 2024 as well as reflect on. The goals I had set for myself for 2023 stick around for all that good stuff. But first I want to tell you guys about a really great way that you can help support this show. If you so choose, then we'll jump right into the episode. All right, folks, the top five most listened to episodes of 2023 of the Spun Today podcast. Let's get into it. Starting off with the fifth most listened to episode of the Spun Today podcast is episode number 233 tips from creatives for creatives part two big shout out to that episode and that episode is actually a good example of what I was speaking to earlier in terms of repurposing older content in more creative ways so one thing that I have Which hopefully more [00:05:00] folks listening will partake in this year is a Spun Today questionnaire. It's a five questions aimed at writers and or creatives. You definitely don't have to be a writer, just someone who's into anything creative. It could be painting, it could be cycling, you know, whatever it is that you're into that you like. I personally feel that creativity translates over a lot, if not most of the times. You know, I can take a tip from someone who's a painter and apply that A writing version of that to my own writing or podcasting, for example, whether it be from a discipline perspective or some sort of ritual or practice or just a mindset thing that I can borrow from a different type of creative outlet and apply it to my own thing. So the questionnaire, which spuntoday. com forward slash questionnaire is something I put out there. Anybody can fill it out. You can remain to you can choose to remain to be anonymous [00:06:00] or not. And if not, it's just absolutely free promotion here on this podcast on the free writing session episodes that I put out, which is more my more writing focused episodes. Writing related where I share tips and advice from other writers and share some of my own writing, etc. I also share. The responses of these questionnaires. And if you're a writer out there, you know, I say who you are, plug your Twitter or your website or your latest book, and I just read your responses to the five questions that I have there on my website, which are all related to your craft and what it is that you do and how you find enjoyment in it, how you find the discipline to actually do it when you don't have time to questions like that, so on and so forth. Five very easy, straightforward. Open ended questions for you to speak to however you see fit. So again, SpunToday. com [00:07:00] forward slash questionnaire. And in some of those older episodes, you know, I would have one or two responses to this questionnaire. So what I did for this episode, which was again, the fifth most listened to episode in 2023 of the Spun Today podcast. Episode 233. What I did was, instead of just re releasing those episodes individually and separately, I cut out the chunk that was just the questionnaire responses from a few different episodes, and I mashed them together, and I put out this new episode from that repurposed content. And it did fairly well. 5th most listened to episode in 2023. Shoutout again to Episode 233. 233, let me just share with you all really quickly the description from that episode, which was in this episode, I share a throwback montage of four spontaneous questionnaires that have been submitted in the past. Why not have a single episode that [00:08:00] centralizes all the tips, motivation, tools, and tricks Adopted by fellow writers and creatives. If you like to partake in filling out your own, check it out at spuntoday. com forward slash questionnaire. Thanks again to Amy Marcello, a person who chose to remain anonymous. Joshua Robertson and Elaine Almonte, which were four different folks whose questionnaire responses I reshared within this episode. So thanks again to those folks. And for anyone interested, definitely go back and check out that episode. The fourth most listened to episode of the spun today podcast in 2023 was episode number 232. Titled The Fableman's SpaceX Starship Launch. Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon axed from Fox and CNN. And based on that very creative title. And I say that sarcastically. In case that's not coming through. Sure you can tell [00:09:00] the topics discussed during that episode. But here I'll share the description from that episode. Which is interesting because for this episode, I tried out a program, this new podcasting, not new, but new for me, a podcasting program called Cast Magic. Now there's a few different ones like this. Descript is one that I've been using more so lately. There was at least one other that I tried out. Descript is one that I've stuck with but something that Descript is lacking, which Cast Magic had, and I really liked and might revisit and consider using Cast Magic. But, there's all these different types of tools, right, that assist with editing your podcast. So, removing the ums and, , dead space. Which would honestly take me hours [00:10:00] to do for every single episode I've ever done. Even today, you still have to do some, even after using some of these, these AI tools, but just for context, like one episode of, I'm sorry, one hours worth of recorded content for me would take me a minimum of two hours worth of editing afterwards. So it takes a very, very, very long time. Using a tool, the script for example, which again I am currently mostly using, you take the audio unedited, drop it into the script, and it does a couple things for you. It cuts out, not perfectly though, so that's why I still have to go through it and re edit certain sections. But it's definitely, definitely a time saver, but it cuts out large gaps of silence so you can cut out anything. For example, you can tell it anything that's over two, you know, two or [00:11:00] three seconds worth of silence. Cut it down to half a second. You can remove all the ums and the and stuff like that throughout the entire ness of the audio. It'll also transcribe. The episode for you, which is great for podcasts in terms of search engine visibility and things of that nature. You can create your own audiograms, which are little clips within the script. You can do so with the other tools as well. It'll suggest, you know, 10 to 15 different clips for you, which are from those, , similar, for example, to Headliner, which I use for that purpose. But within 10 clips, I might take , you know, two or three that I actually like that are fitting or that make sense. And then I make, create my own on top of that. But anyway, one thing that Cast Magic had as well was that it would create multiple versions of a [00:12:00] description for you. You would write your own description but it would also just based on the content that you recorded, create a description for you. Also create a title for you and give you multiple different options. So I would take, look at those different options and, you know, create my own description based off that description. And it was really, really good for that purpose. And this is the description of four episodes, 232, which was again at the fourth most listened to episode of 2023. Welcome to the latest episode of the sponsor day podcast. In this episode, I dive deep into the highly anticipated semi autobiographical film, The Fablemans, which provides a unique insight into the life of legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg. Next, I explore the historic SpaceX Starship launch, which, spoiler alert, ended in a fiery explosion. I share why it is still considered a successful mission and its implications for the future of space travel, [00:13:00] making for a fascinating discussion that you won't want to miss. And lastly, I also discuss the recent upheavals in the corporate media industry. With both Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon being outstated from their respective networks, Fox and CNN. So it's definitely a doper, I would say, for lack of a better word, description. Cast magic also, for example, gave better timestamp gives you timestamps and tells you, you know, at this time, this is when you started talking about, you know, space X at this time stamp, this is when you started talking about the fable men's at this timestamp, you mentioned X, Y, and Z, you know, it's, it's, you know, system generated AI driven outputs. So it's not perfect, you know, I might listen to it and be , it's incorrect or just not fitting for. The purposes of creating its own timestamp, for example, and then you just make [00:14:00] obviously your executive decision from there and include it and not include it to a different version of so on and so forth. But all these new tools that are coming are definitely great to, to try to use, implement and, you know, treat them as what they are. They're tools to enhance the content that you're putting out. Definitely leverage them to save time, which is my main goal. Instead of now spending two hours on editing, I'll spend an hour or maybe 45 minutes even sometimes. And I'm sure as these tools get even better, that'll cut down that much more. But shout out again to the number four most listened to episode of 2023, which is episode 232. The number three most listened to episode of the Spun Today podcast in 2023 was. [00:15:00] Episode number 231, a night out audio book, re release. Now for the audiobooks, that's a type of episode that I re release that I do not do much to. I might re record an intro and re update the outro. If it's especially one of my older short stories that I made an audiobook for. But if there are updates within one of the audiobook episodes. That's the extent of it. The actual content of the audio book itself remains exactly the same. And A Night Out is the most recent short story that I wrote. It is actually the very first short story in my short story collection that I published this [00:16:00] past year. Titled Melted Cold. And this episode is a re release of the audio book. In it's original Format, which was prior to being professionally edited. So there are some slight differences. If you listen to this version of the audio book versus reading the published version of the story in my short story collection, but definitely still, and clearly worth a listen. Here is the official description, which by the way, is going to be a stark juxtaposed description in comparison to The previous cast magic AI enhanced description, but this one is, this is the audio book version of the short story, a night out by Tony Ortiz, not very captivating and eyeopening, but shout out again to the number three most [00:17:00] listened to episode of 2023. Episode number two hundred and thirty one, a night out audio book. The number two most listened to episode of twenty twenty three was episode number two hundred and twenty nine. Chris Rock's comedy special Selective Outrage and Marlon Wayans comedy special God Loves Me. Definitely shout out to both of those hilarious specials. The much anticipated first time Chris was going to speak about the slap heard around the world at least within his medium of expression which is stand up comedy. So that was definitely highly anticipated. And then Marlon Wayans special which was essentially an entire hour [00:18:00] about and around that same content which was a slap heard around the world. Which just a quick refresher was when Will Smith at the Grammys got up and slapped Chris Rock on live television for saying a very innocuous joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett. But Marlon structured very creatively, I thought, and showed a huge leap forward in his stand up comedy, in my opinion, from his previous specials. But very creatively put together an hour. That was super funny and restricted to this content of the slap, but also of anecdotal stories of him being in the unique position of knowing all three of the people involved from Will Smith to Chris Rock and Jada Pinkett and growing up with them essentially, both professionally and just in life in general, knowing them. And here is the official [00:19:00] description. In this episode, I speak about watching two stand up comedy specials, Chris Rock's Selective Outrage and Marlon Wayans God Loves Me. My reaction plus some of my favorite bits. And that was the number two most listened to episode of the Spun Today podcast in all of 2023. Episode number 229, Chris Rock's comedy special, Selective Outrage, and Marlon Wayans comedy special, God Loves Me. And now for the moment that I'm sure each and every one of you have been sitting at the edge of your seats for probably not, but it makes me happy to think that there may be a universe out there where that visual is actually true, but the number one most listened to episode of the Spun a podcast and all of 2023 was a Episode number 227, Growing Up Dominican.[00:20:00] That was definitely a good one. It was a ton of fun making it. It was different from, for me in that it was the first time I ever recorded an episode with more than one guest at the same time. I've done, for example, multiple guests. On an episode, but I've recorded each of their segments or chunks separately. Like for example my 9 11 episode Which I re release yearly all 9 11, which is a collection of Just reliving and recapping With some of the closest people in my life from my father to my brother to my wife My in laws my best friend And just recapping with folks where they were on 9 11, what they went through, what their families went through, their thoughts reflecting on it so many years later, so on and so forth. But each of those folks, again, I record all those [00:21:00] separately and edit them together later on. But this was the first episode where I ever had more than one guest at the same time. It was four guests, so five of us in total. So it was a little tougher to manage in terms of just from an audio perspective, you know, different voices speaking at the same time, sounds absolute shit on the receiving end as a listener. So you have to really monitor that carefully and give everybody their space to speak, but also not step on folks too much when they're, you know, debating something or going off on a tangent or a rant. You don't want to cut off stuff like that. Making sure that you know, tuned into what each and every guest had to say and ask follow up questions and I engaged them pulling other guests in that aren't speaking as much getting my points across. So there's a bunch going on, but it was definitely a fun episode to record a great learning experience for me. And [00:22:00] clearly one that was enjoyed by folks because it was the number one listened to episode of 2023. And here is that official description. In this episode, I sit down and chop it up with four of my oldest friends. We share stories about growing up Dominican. Join us for discussions on having immigrant parents, mental health, raising children, gender roles within our culture, favorite Dominican foods, traditions. And much more. Shout out to Steven, Abi, Leonel, and Vini. All of which made it a great episode with an array of varied interests and takes on things and specific topics. And just had an overall great time. Definitely looking forward to recording another one of those types of episodes. Maybe even a Growing Up Dominican Part 2. With some of the same folks, if not all, and some folks that hit me up after listening to that episode and told me [00:23:00] that they wanted to jump in at a bunch of points during that episode and, you know, give their two cents of things that they remembered growing up so on and so forth. So maybe definitely something to stay tuned for in 2024, but shout out again to the number one most listened to episode of 2023. Number 227, growing up Dominican. So now let's speak about goals that I set in 2023 versus goals that I'm setting for myself in 2024. And of course, reflecting on if certain goals from 2023 were achieved or not. Let's start off specifically with podcasting. I set a goal in 2023 to increase my [00:24:00] listenership or I set the goal rather in late 2022 when I did the recap for that year. But the goal I set for 2023 was to increase the listenership of my podcast by 50%, 5 0. And to make it even more difficult, it was based on the IAB stats. Versus the unique stats, which I broke down last year was something that it seemed that the podcasting industry industry was moving towards, but now it's still, it's still up in the air. Still fractured. You have certain outlets that do track the IAB stats, which is meant to be this industry standard across the board. Cause you know, if you look up stats in YouTube or Apple or Spotify or your podcasting host on and so forth. They're all different. They all do it in their own way. So this IAB was meant to be something to standardize it all.[00:25:00] But a lot of folks don't use it. The folks that do still also report their unique downloads. But that said, no matter how much way you slice it, that goal of increasing listenership by 50%, which was I'll admit a very ambitious goal. The goal of me to try to strive for such a number. And also how it low key underscores the fact that it must have a, you know, half a dozen folks listening to this thing. If I'm talking about 50 percent increases, but that goal was not achieved. Now I had been consistently gaming at least 20 to 25 percent listenership year over year. So an increase of about 20 percent year over year This year for the first time ever in the nine year history of producing the Spun Today podcast listenership dropped[00:26:00] and it did so by 26 percent That is definitely an L right there now a bit of a not even a saving grace because I'm not including these numbers in just because I'm not 100 percent certain if they're being counted into if my host is counting them into my total stats, which is what I'm using to compare you over a year, you know, apples to apples to make sure I'm always, you know, comparing the right set of numbers to the right set of to the same set of numbers year over year. But if I included my YouTube stats, which are tracked separately. Which my host Lipsyn is not counting according to [00:27:00] my stats breakdown that I downloaded. And I count all my videos, which again is a little, would be a little disingenuous to lump together. If I did, which I did not. My videos and my shorts, because those are not all full episodes of the pod. Some of them are. You know, like every episode is released on YouTube as well. But the vast majority are clips of those episodes, you know, like one episode might have five six ten clips to it Both in like longer segments and you know, so shorts that I release on youtube and all that gets aggregated separately. So It wouldn't be fair to include all those numbers into the total but If a portion of them were My stats would obviously be higher if everything was accounted for and I compared it to my previous year's total in terms of downloads and listenership, I would have [00:28:00] almost doubled my listenership. But again, it's not completely accurate, , mathematically to do that, so I'm not going to. What I am going to do, though, moving forward is continue to track how I have always done year over year. Which again, this year had a 26 percent drop in listenership. Let me hit myself again with that. But I'm going to also track my YouTube videos separately, my YouTube shorts separately, and then the grand total of all downloads via my host, which is Lipsyn, which accounts for, you know, somebody listens on Apple, Spotify, on a web browser, you know, wherever it is that folks listen to, to an episode. And I'm going to aggregate all those together for a grand total, but I'm going to track them separately. So three separate columns plus a grand total column. So that next year when I do this again, it's going to have a pretty fair comparison year over year for all those separate categories. Another goal I set for myself podcast [00:29:00] related was to continue to be creative and active in terms of adding posts and clips of different episodes. On all social media platforms, I did continue to do that. So I would mark that goal as achieved. And I would add it to it for 2024 to not only continue doing that, but to also add TikTok for 2024. There's a lot of the Reels content, the shorts, stories, etc. They're used on IG, YouTube. So forth that I can repurpose on the platform to talk and see how it fares there. See if that drives traffic to the episode as a whole or not. Definitely worth a shot. So that is a goal that I would add for 2024. That is definitely within that lane of creating posts and clips for social media. I [00:30:00] did have a goal in 2023 of customizing clips for each individual site. , for example, creating motivational content for LinkedIn. And I would say I failed on that and that I didn't do it. I don't even really think that's a good idea to customize. Maybe I'm wrong to customize the content per website. As opposed to just creating the subcontent, you know, like the clips and stuff like that. And just promoting it on all the websites to drive traffic towards your show. Because I think it could be a little bit misleading, right? If you, if I do only motivational type content and post it on LinkedIn, then folks will go to the show expecting just motivational content if they're interested in that. And they'll wind up with a show that will definitely give you that motivational content, but also nuances and tips and tricks related to the craft of writing. Breakdowns of movies, of books, [00:31:00] current events, et cetera, which might not be what they're looking for. So I the idea for 2024 to continue to try to expand in those other platforms like a TikTok or LinkedIn, but definitely not customizing them per site. And speaking of Cast Magic, which I mentioned earlier on, I did begin a LinkedIn. In 2023 for spun today, but I only posted a handful of episodes on there. It's definitely something I have to revisit, but cast magic, for example, made that very easy. It created LinkedIn specific posts of your episode. So it's the same content, but just the sales copy, if you will, for it was formatted in a way that is more fitting to LinkedIn. That was definitely another plus of Cast Magic. So yeah, goal for 2024, I'd say, again, [00:32:00] just to tie this out, to continue doing what I'm doing in terms of repurposing content, but also expand it to TikTok and LinkedIn much more frequently. I had a possible goal, tentative goal, of increasing the output of episodes to weekly instead of bi weekly. That's definitely still not feasible for me at this stage, but it's always a down the line thing that I do want to do someday. Right. And the last goal that I had for the podcast in 2023 was to have five or more episodes this year that were interview episodes. Like when I sit down and have a guest on. I would say that I failed that goal. Although. In the number one, listen to episode depends on how you want to break this down. I did have four guests technically. So if you want to [00:33:00] be technical, you could say that I am one person shy of meeting that goal because you did get four different people for different perspectives, but on a singular episode versus my intent. I guess when. Writing this goal for myself, which was to interview, have five separate episodes with five separate people in 2023. Cause as you know, the majority of my shows are solo shows this one, for example, but either way, whichever way you want to look at that, it still didn't meet that goal. I am going to revise the goal for 2024 and I'm going to specify at least three interview episodes. All of which are separate, just so we're not splitting hairs at the end of 2024 and those folks are my podcasting goals that I set for myself in 2023, as well [00:34:00] as the goals that I'm setting for myself and for this podcast for 2024. And let's wrap up the show with my writing goals for 2023. Let you know how I fared with those and what my goals will be for 2024. So in prior years I would set a shitload of goals for myself with the kind of mentality of, you know, these are all the things that I want to do. Not necessarily within a year, just stuff that I want to do and get done. But I'm going to put them out there to see if I could force myself to get them all done within one year, which was definitely not sustainable or doable. So for my goals in 2023, I got a bit more realistic, a little more under promise over deliver mindset. And I get myself two main goals and we split the difference on those. The first goal was to submit. My [00:35:00] final draft for editing of My second novel, The Continuation to Fractal, and on that goal, I fell flat on my face. Did not achieve. For the second goal that I had for 2023, it was to publish my first short story collection, which I am happy and proud to say. Absolutely achieved and knocked it out of the fucking park[00:36:00] melted cold. Available now, definitely check it out and learn more about it at SpunToday. com a forward slash books. Now for 2024 in terms of writing goals, going to set two for myself. Once again, the first one, which will just be a carryover of submitting my second novel for editing. Of which, spoiler alert, I still have a long ways to go. I have at least begun to re dig into it. And what I'm doing now, for example, is I know the type of story I want to tell. I know the topic that I want to dominate the majority of the story. And I know one of the storytelling devices that I want to use within this story. If that makes sense. I kind of don't want to give too much of that away. So I'm not going to get too detailed into that. Which is a big improvement from where I was even a year, two years ago, which is not knowing the direction that I wanted to go with this kind of having an [00:37:00] idea, but not having, you know, just having zero momentum towards that idea. But now I have all that in place as well as rereading my own book fractal which is the part one, which is a weird thing. Cause I'm reading it now as a finished product, right? It's a, it's a published book that's out there that I do plan by the way on getting it professionally edited before putting out the continuation. So it's going to kind of be a re release of Fractal, but a second edition version. And then the continuation of, of the story with the, the second novel in that series. But anyway, it's kind of weird and wild to read your own finished product kind of just as a straight consumer and there's certain things that I like about it. Definitely a lot more things that I don't about it, which I guess is a good healthy thing to try to, you know, make myself want to improve. If I was sitting there just thinking, Oh, this fucking guy's a genius, [00:38:00] then there would definitely be something wrong with me. But. I'm halfway or more through reading the book just to remind myself about everything and combing through things that I want to update for the second edition, but also scenes and places that I want to revisit from book two into book one, which ties into my whole a storytelling device that I want to use within creating the second book. So definitely much more momentum already. From previous years, and that is again the number one goal that I'm going to set for myself in 2024, which is complete and submit that second novel for editing and my second and last goal, which I'm going to set for myself, my writing goal for 2024 is going to be to record and put out the audio book version of 2024. My short story collection melted [00:39:00] cold, which is different from the individual audio book, short story episodes that I've put out. For example, I'm going to do an official audio book for melted cold that folks are going to be able to purchase and download from Amazon audible, for example. And those are my goals, my writing goals specifically for 2024. And I hope by this time next year, we are speaking about how I met and or exceeded those goals. And with that, folks, it is a wrap. That was episode 252 of the Spun Today podcast, the 2023 Spun Today wrap up show. I think it's important to have these types of episodes at least once a year. These reflective episodes where, you know, you look back at all the momentum. That has gotten you to where you wind [00:40:00] up creatively at the end of the year and just stop, take a look around, you know, really take inventory of what you accomplished, what you didn't accomplish, recalibrate and proceed with that clear mindset for the upcoming year. In my case, 2024, thank you very much to each and every one of you who do take the time to listen. Hopefully you got something from this episode. You can apply it to your own creative endeavors, or at the very least, I hope you got some enjoyment out of listening with that. I will check you guys out next time. Peace.
Jan 18
45 min
In this episode I speak with my longtime friend, Christy Medina. Christy completed the Chicago marathon in October of 2021 as well as many others prior and since! We speak about her experiences training leading up to the event, how the marathon went, cool things she did while in Chicago and much more! *Original Release Date: November 11th, 2021* The Spun Today Podcast is a Podcast that is anchored in Writing, but unlimited in scope. Give it a whirl. Twitter: https://twitter.com/spuntoday Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spuntoday/ Website: http://www.spuntoday.com/home Newsletter: http://www.spuntoday.com/subscribe Links referenced in this episode: Follow Christy on Instagram: @never_minding_ Check out the Chicago Marathon: https://www.chicagomarathon.com/ New York Road Runners: https://www.nyrr.org/run/race-calendar?gclid=Cj0KCQiA-K2MBhC-ARIsAMtLKRvjSZ7EBjz_IYC59d_9yLZM-3IjEqB9V9EgOh2G_zZJd1Tlvl8ql8kaAvG9EALw_wcB Check out photos that Christy shared with us, on the episode webpage: https://www.spuntoday.com/podcast/251 Highland Park in Brooklyn: https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/highland-park/highlights/19651 Giordanos Frozen Pizza: https://giordanos.com/frozen-pizza/ Portillo’s: https://www.portillos.com/index-shop-and-ship.html Get your Podcast Started Today! https://signup.libsyn.com/?promo_code=SPUN (Use Promo code SPUN and get up to 2-months of free service!) Check out all the Spun Today Merch, and other ways to help support this show! https://www.spuntoday.com/support Check out my Books Make Way for You – Tips for getting out of your own way FRACTAL – A Time Travel Tale Melted Cold – A Collection of Short Stories http://www.spuntoday.com/books/ (e-Book, Paperback & Hardcover are now available). Fill out my Spun Today Questionnaire if you’re passionate about your craft. I’ll share your insight and motivation on the Podcast: http://www.spuntoday.com/questionnaire/ Shop on Amazon using this link, to support the Podcast: http://www.amazon.com//ref=as_sl_pc_tf_lc?&tag=sputod0c-20&camp=216797&creative=446321&linkCode=ur1&adid=104DDN7SG8A2HXW52TFB&&ref-refURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spuntoday.com%2Fcontact%2F Shop on iTunes using this link, to support the Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewTop?genreId=38&id=27820&popId=42&uo=10 Shop at the Spun Today store for Mugs, T-Shirts and more: https://viralstyle.com/store/spuntoday/tonyortiz Background Music: Autumn 2011 - Loxbeats & Melody - Roa Outro Background Music: https://www.bensound.com Spun Today Logo by: https://www.naveendhanalak.com/ Sound effects are credited to: http://www.freesfx.co.uk Listen on: iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | Google Podcasts | YouTube | Website
Jan 4
1 hr 21 min
In this year-end episode I speak about watching the movies, Leave the World Behind and Old Dads. I also speak about watching Stavros Halkias’ latest stand-up comedy special: Fat Rascal. Lastly, I wrap things up for the year with the final Goats doing GOAT $hit installment of 2023. The Spun Today Podcast is a Podcast that is anchored in Writing, but unlimited in scope. Give it a whirl. Twitter: https://twitter.com/spuntoday Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spuntoday/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@spuntoday Website: http://www.spuntoday.com/home Newsletter: http://www.spuntoday.com/subscribe Links referenced in this episode: Stavros Halkias – Fat Rascal: https://www.netflix.com/title/81690511 Leave the World Behind: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12747748/ Old Dads: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18394190/ I Built 100 Wells In Africa: https://youtu.be/mwKJfNYwvm8?si=kPVfccQZvZJdAVf9 Beast Philanthropy: https://www.beastphilanthropy.org/campaign/mrbeast-100-wells Get your Podcast Started Today! https://signup.libsyn.com/?promo_code=SPUN (Use Promo code SPUN and get up to 2-months of free service!) Check out all the Spun Today Merch, and other ways to help support this show! https://www.spuntoday.com/support Check out my Books Make Way for You – Tips for getting out of your own way FRACTAL – A Time Travel Tale Melted Cold – A Collection of Short Stories http://www.spuntoday.com/books/ (e-Book, Paperback & Hardcover are now available). Fill out my Spun Today Questionnaire if you’re passionate about your craft. I’ll share your insight and motivation on the Podcast: http://www.spuntoday.com/questionnaire/ Shop on Amazon using this link, to support the Podcast: http://www.amazon.com//ref=as_sl_pc_tf_lc?&tag=sputod0c-20&camp=216797&creative=446321&linkCode=ur1&adid=104DDN7SG8A2HXW52TFB&&ref-refURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spuntoday.com%2Fcontact%2F Shop on iTunes using this link, to support the Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewTop?genreId=38&id=27820&popId=42&uo=10 Shop at the Spun Today store for Mugs, T-Shirts and more: https://viralstyle.com/store/spuntoday/tonyortiz Background Music: Autumn 2011 - Loxbeats & Melody - Roa Outro Background Music: https://www.bensound.com Spun Today Logo by: https://www.naveendhanalak.com/ Sound effects are credited to: http://www.freesfx.co.uk Listen on: iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | Google Podcasts | YouTube | Website Episode Transcript [00:00:00] What's up, folks? What's going on? Welcome to the Spun Today podcast. The only podcast that is anchored in writing, but unlimited in scope. I'm your host, Tony Ortiz, and I appreciate you listening. In this year end episode, I speak about watching the movies Leave the World Behind and Old Dads. And Old Dads. I also speak about watching Stavros Halkias latest comedy special, Fat Rascal. Shoutout to Stavi Baby. Lastly, I wrap things up for the year with the final goats doing goat shit installment of 2023 stick around for all that good stuff and more. But before we get into this year end episode, I wanted to tell you about a quick way that you can help support this podcast. Your support means a lot, especially with the motivation and inspiration that provides for me to continue putting out this content. Here's one quick way that you can help support the Swan [00:01:00] Sunday podcast. And then we'll jump right into the episode, leave the world behind. It's a movie that came out in select theaters and it's a Netflix movie that was available as of December 8th, 2023. Here is the official synopsis. A family's getaway to a luxurious rental home takes an ominous turn when a cyber attack knocks out their devices and two strangers appear at their door. And as we like to do here on the Spun Today podcast, I'd like to shout out first and foremost, the writers. Leave the World Behind was written by Ruman Alam and Sam Esmail. Shout out to them. Also of note is that the movie is based on a novel written by Ruman Alam. And I'd also like to mention that Sam Esmail is the writer, creator, director of Mr. Robot, which is that series. Starring Rami Malek, which [00:02:00] I've covered here on the podcast in the past. If you're interested in that, feel free to look at the Spun Today archives for all that good stuff. Now let's get into my little recap and review of this movie. Where as usual, I'll share a couple of my favorite lines and overall just let you guys know what I thought of it. First off and foremost, I'd like to start out by saying, Y'all Are a bunch of fucking HATERS I've only heard negative Just shitting all over this movie And for the record, I enjoyed it. I liked it It was a good watch. I thought it was a good movie I didn't think it was a piece of shit or like, you know It was So so worth watching, whatever, not a waste of time I thought it was a good movie, I enjoyed it First and foremost So I'm going to put that out there, but what's funny to me is that this movie also of [00:03:00] note, it was produced by Barack Obama and his production company and the deal that he has, I guess, with just producing content for like Netflix and Spotify, et cetera. And most of the critique that I've heard, on the negative side of things, again, only the negative side of things, and also not just from. My friends on the right, for example, but just random or not random, but just like different people from different walks of life and just folks, you know, personal friends and people that I found online that watched the movie just all had the same negative type of reaction towards the movie saying it's a complete waste of time. I just wasted, you know, two hours of my life, etc, etc. And as I'm watching, I'm . This movie has to end horribly for that, all those, all, all that negativity to make sense to me, in my opinion, because I liked it all [00:04:00] throughout and the ending was just even more fitting. I was , what the fuck? What's the everybody's beef with this movie? But anyway, one of the biggest critiques of it is that since this is produced by Barack Obama, there's some sort of hidden meaning and it's like left wing propaganda. I heard some folks stating shout out to Vinny, I believe from the PBD pod stating that this is called a predictive programming, which is when at least my layman understanding of it, when media or movies or music or books or, you know, different types of art kind of try to prime society for something that is to come. That's called the predictive programming and this movie, especially because of the fact that it's being produced by Barack Obama and his production company, got even more of those labels attached to it and that like conspiracy lore, in my opinion. Does [00:05:00] anyone know for sure? Of course not. One way or the other. I just don't think that that's the case and I'll tell you guys why in a bit. But essentially the movie, what it's about is. This family lives in the city, in New York City, decides to go out to a house in Long Island. Seems like the Hamptons or Montauk or something like that. A fancy, you know, big mansion with a pool. And the parents, played by Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke, who did a great job. And their two children, played by Farrah McKenzie and Charlie Evans. Now they decide impromptu to go out to this little family vacation getaway. And while they're there at this Airbnb mansion that they rented, the internet goes out, the phones are down. There's a bad connection, signals going in and out and the TV's not working. And then in the middle of the night, Mahershala Ali and his daughter, Myhala, I believe that's how [00:06:00] you say her name, which by the way was an actress that was in an episode of Black Mirror, the latest season, which I completely forgot to recap and review, which I thought was a great season So that'll be coming soon 2024 But she was the main actress of Locke Henry, which was my favorite episode of Black Mirror Well, I don't know my favorite, but definitely one of my favorites of that last season. But more on that when, when I recap that. But they show up in the middle of the night and they knock on the door. Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke open up, you know, mind you, they're in the middle of nowhere, Long Island in this mansion that they just rented. And two people show up. Dressed to the nines. Maha Shali is in a tuxedo. His daughter. My, my that was probably more wrong than I said it the first time, [00:07:00] but she has a, you know, beautiful nightgown on and they pretty much tell them, listen GH Scott, I'm George. I'm the person that you emailed with. And this is my house. You know, we, we rented it to you guys because we were going to stay in our, our house in the city. Cause I'm part of the Philharmonic or some Ritzy Rich thing he mentioned and Julie Roberts and Ethan Hawke are kind of like taking it back what? We,, what are you doing here? We rented this place and they explained that there was like a blackout, the city's all dark and you know, their apartment is a penthouse in the 40 something floor. So they decided just to drive back there and they were hoping they could stay in the basement. So they're in quite a predicament, you know. Nobody's phone is working. The, they eventually ask him for ID. To prove that it's his house. He left it in his jacket supposedly at the theater. So he doesn't have ID on him.[00:08:00] Ethan Hawke is more on the side of believing him. Julie Roberts is super skeptical. And there's a liquor cabinet that's locked. That was supposedly not part of the rental. So there was no keys for it for it. And Mahershala Ali kind of used that as the proof that it's his house. And offered them a 50 percent refund. And he went to that liquor cabinet. And they're being super nice, you know, because they understand it's a really awkward situation. And why should they believe him? And he goes to the liquor cabinet, you know, he's, he's looking for the keys, doesn't know exactly which key it is. But eventually finds it and opens it, unlocks it and gives them money. And I just thought of a, a story telling device that I just realized. They say you're not supposed to show a gun, for example, unless you use it later on in the story. Unless you shoot it. But I guess you could argue that it was used. [00:09:00] It wasn't shot, but it was used. Because in this scene when he's opening up the liquor cabinet, He opens a drawer that has money there. He takes out the envelope of money, but the camera pans to a gun that's there as well. So it's kind of like, you know, ratcheting up the tension of the story. And that gun is never used or shot except for when Mahash Ali is has a confrontation with a neighbor. Kevin Bacon when they go to his house To he's a doomsday prepper. So they figured he would have supplies that would help and Charlie Evans this character, which is Ethan Hawks kid Got bit by a tick or something that and and got pretty sick so they went over there to see if he had antibiotics or something like that and Being a doomsday prepper, you know, he comes to his porch Respectfully but kind of not with a Shotgun And eventually they, you know, they make a trade for some meds, which does make the kid better. But I guess in that [00:10:00] moment Mahash Ali does pull out the gun kind of to protect himself against Kevin Bacon's character having the shotgun. So technically it didn't break that storytelling device. They showed the gun and they used it. They just didn't shoot it, I guess. But okay, going back. So there's this awkward. Thing going on where, you know, is this really his house? Is it not his house? They seem to know where everything is. He had the keys, but he doesn't have ID. He shows up in the middle of the night. You know, nobody's phones are working. Like, what the fuck is going on? TV's not working. Radio, , nothing. So they ultimately agreed to let him let them stay. But stay in the basement. And then the daughter, she's kind of upset because she's , wait, this is our fucking house and the worst thing in the basement of our own house. She kind of has that more confrontational attitude that Julia Roberts is reciprocating. And they're kind of like, you can see that there there's tension between them and they're gonna butt heads from jump. [00:11:00] Ethan Hawke's character is more laid back, more trusting. Mahershala Ali is more disarming and more understanding of the situation. And also lets on that he knows something of what's going on. He works in finance, deals with billionaire, really rich clients. Kind of lets on in speaking to his daughter and confidence that one of his clients told him something about what's going on, but he doesn't want to raise suspicions or scare anyone. And he's not a hundred percent sure either. He's just kind of reading the financial tea leaves, if you will. Now, another, I guess, conspiracy layer to this whole thing being this whole production being a predictive programming or whatever, is that the kids had a NASA shirt, t shirt on, and the other kid had an Obey t shirt on, and the Obey t shirt what it's supposed to symbolize, it's a, you know, a counterculture skateboarder brand, and what it's [00:12:00] supposed to symbolize, Within the, you know, conspiracy lore is, you know, speaking truth to power and not obeying the narrative or something along those lines. And then the NASA thing is supposed to be some sort of conspiracy thing, but I couldn't find anything on that. I don't understand the significance behind that and why, you know, it's considered an issue by some that it was in the movie. Also, that kind of fueled the whole conspiracy theory thing is, That apparently Obama said a statement where he stated that he gave a lot of notes to Sam Esmail and Rumaan Alam, who again, wrote the novel that this movie is based on. Sam Esmail wrote the screenplay for it, adapting it to the screen. But Obama provided notes on how to make the movie more realistic. So because of that. [00:13:00] You know, folks are saying, you know, he's trying to tell us something, you know, they're priming us for something that's going to happen. And ultimately what does wind up happening, spoiler alert, is that there was a concerted attack on America, specifically our electrical grid. And everything from communication to hospitals, electricity itself, is all tied to this, you know What we know to be this crumbling infrastructure of an electrical grid that we have that's super outdated and that politicians always run on stating that we need to fix it because if not, if we don't make serious strides in terms of fixing it and enhancing it, it could be catastrophic. But in the movie, some hackers apparently were able to bring it down. And America began to be bombed and it was a concerted effort by America's enemies.[00:14:00] Now, to that point, and also to the point of the t shirts that I was speaking about earlier, I buy the fact that it's a realistic, I don't know about hackers and stuff that. Maybe it is, but a realistic thing, because it's something that we've heard for, for years and years, probably decades that The infrastructure, the crumbling infrastructure of the electrical grid is a problem that needs to be dealt with. So I feel like something fucking up in that realm or whether being bombed or hacked or just deterioration over time or what have you is going to have detrimental effects to American society. That doesn't seem far fetched, that doesn't seem like a conspiracy, that doesn't seem like I guess the angle from the conspiracy perspective is that They're letting us know that this, you know, is looming this, this threat or something like that, or it is happening to them. But it's definitely within the realm of possibility, right? Like, I don't hear that and say , Oh my God, that's, that's nuts. That would never [00:15:00] happen. It's actually the exact opposite. It seems very plausible. Now to the part about the t shirts and, you know, left leaning tendencies being sprinkled throughout the movie to that, I say, of course. It's produced by Arguably, probably not even arguably, but the most influential Powerful Democrat in America, which is Barack Obama Sorry, Joe and He's behind producing this movie If Dwayne the Rock Johnson was producing this movie, I'd expect to see Wrestling t shirts and and shit throughout the movie You know what? I mean? It's like No shit is going to be left leaning and, and to have a bias in that direction, because it's being produced by someone that has that bias and is from that direction. Also, and this is just my speculation, if it also seems plausible to me that someone Barack Obama, who's [00:16:00] in, you know, obviously the highest of the public eye, former president of the United States now is going into this space of media, whether through Spotify deal and podcasts and producing movies and books. To me, it makes sense that part of the reasoning for that is to do what he can from his former being now being a former president, doing what he can to influence. A big way to influence is through culture. A big way to, an effective way, seems to influence culture and sentiment is through the mediums that society consumes. That we as consumers take in, whether it's movies, whether it's books, whether it's podcasts, whether it's music. So if he, which I don't know any reason to think otherwise, but if he, [00:17:00] Has this concern about the, the grid, the electrical grid, as we've heard many politicians in the past, you know, speak to probably been Obama. I just can't remember any from memory right now, but if he does have those concerns and he's in this space, you know, mental space or what have you of wanting to do something about it or what he can do about it, And with the tools that he now has at his disposal, again, movies, media, books, podcasts, it makes sense for him to push that type of narrative. You know what I mean? It's a, it just seems , so like, duh, to me that I don't understand, , what's the kind of gotcha type of feedback that I'm hearing around this movie., Oh, look what he's trying to do. It's , yeah, if I was a president, I was trying to get legislation passed to fix the infrastructure, infrastructure and the electrical grid. [00:18:00] And it didn't pan out the way I wanted it to. And now I'm doing movies. Yeah. I'm going to make movies about that shit too. To see if this works. You know what I mean? Like if that's my thing that I want to get done, but I digress now for my friends on the right and other folks that, you know, not necessarily from the right, but just I think that this is a big conspiracy or whatever. Something that is very interesting that I would think is a better argument to those points is the fact that Mark Zuckerberg, for example, in Hawaii recently came out that he is building a hundred million dollar doomsday bunker under the ground in Hawaii in this area where supposedly, allegedly, Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos and others have also purchased land. That, that definitely caused the, a raising of the eyebrows, , wait, are they trying to fucking tell us something? Is something coming? And also, , what is the purpose of it? If [00:19:00] that is the case, right? Let's, let's, let's say this predictive programming is a thing and just , you know, secret societies of folks running the world and stuff that., is the purpose to prime the public in hopes that they're less freaked out if. The grid failed and everything went to shit. , wouldn't we still equally freak the fuck out at the same levels? Whether we have seen this movie or we're primed with this information or not. You know what I mean? , is there something about it that makes us just psychologically, more accepting of the fact, , I don't know, that's beyond my comprehension, but. Yeah, I thought that was definitely interesting. The fact that folks are building these doomsday bunkers, especially to that scale Now a critique that I definitely do agree with is the score of the movie They laid it on very thick [00:20:00] and I thought that was a failure of the movie like they made it very I felt like I was watching a Freddy Krueger or Chucky movie from the 80s in terms of the score just this ominous Something's gonna happen suspenseful music and throughout the whole shit it felt like from beginning to end. It was just this Scary fucking ominous thing that was laid on so thick that it took away from I feel the, it took me more out of it than into it, if that makes sense. Normally the score will help enhance the mood that you as an audience member should be feeling, but this I felt was trying to do that so much so that it took me out of it a bit. So that's my critique of that. Now one more big spoiler alert. So again, fast forward or skip this. If you haven't seen the movie yet, but I'll say this before I share a couple of lines of dialogue that I appreciated from the film. Throughout the whole movie, the daughter, played by Farrah McKenzie, is [00:21:00] obsessed with the show Friends. She was streaming it on her tablet, and she was up to the final episode of the final season. And that's when, you know, the internet dropped and she couldn't stream it, basically. Anyway, so she annoying her brother and pretty much everybody with wanting to find out what happens with Ross and Rachel. And, you know, there's a lot more serious shit going on, obviously. So everybody kind of just pushes her concerns of how a 90s sitcom ends to the side. But towards the end, she winds up. Going up to the, you know, disappearing for a while. She, she was , went in the woods and the mom is looking for her as well as Maha Ali's daughter, whose name I'm not gonna try to pronounce again. They kinda mend their relationship in this moment that, you know, they're looking for the daughter and something happens with them in the woods. They wind mending their, their relationship, but then they see this house at a [00:22:00] distance, which they had, foreshadowed before. It's a big white house with the red door and they know the daughter took a bike from the garage and they were following these bike tracks to figure out where the heck it is that she went. And Kevin Bacon's character earlier when he had the confrontation with Ethan Hawke and Mahershala Ali mentioned that this house and how that neighbor supposedly had. Some doomsday prepper, bunker set up in this house. Cause Kevin Bacon was a construction worker and architect. And so he knew everybody's house, the ins and outs of everybody's house. But ultimately they pan to the daughter being in that house. Apparently the, the owners of the house weren't there. And they probably got stuck in the city, which at this point it's being bombed and bombarded. And she finds this door that she follows. To a huge [00:23:00] basement underground bunker that has crops and hydroponic lighting and exercise equipment. And aisles and aisles and aisles of canned foods and huge jugs of water. And it's just a doomsday preppers wet dream, right? Space to sleep and bunk beds and the whole nine, a huge TV and a wall full of wall to wall. DVDs is a computer that somehow has some sort of access to not like full internet computer, but it's getting a feed that is stating what's going on. And it confirms there at the end of the movie that, you know, the country is under attack. And there's large amounts of radiation and a whole bunch of shit. And then it just ends with the girl pulling out a DVD from the wall, which was Friends. And then, going to the final episode and [00:24:00] pressing play. Then the Friends theme song begins to play and the movie ends that way. Which I thought was so fitting. You know, cause you know the mom, and Mahershala Ali's daughter found the tracks and know where she went so they were like headed towards the house And you know that Ethan Hawke and the the brother who somehow instantly started feeling fine with the the medication that They got from Kevin Bacon And Mahershala Ali were knew about the place and we're ultimately gonna wind up there as well It's all those loose ends got tied out and it was just a very Fitting and, in my opinion, satisfying ending. But yeah, spoiler alert on that. Let me tell you guys about a couple dope lines of dialogue. So Mahershala Ali is breaking down a few things that he knows about what's going on and what he works in and finance and who his clients are and stuff that. And, you know, he's going on and on. But then ends it with, you know, I don't want to freak anybody out, I'm not, I'm not, you know, [00:25:00] sure. This, that and the other. I don't know any more than that, blah, blah, blah. And Julia Roberts character just flips out on him and she's like, really? You seemed pretty fucking certain a while ago with your haunting soliloquy. I just love that line. That line. Haunting soliloquy. Another great line I thought was the next two actually from Mahershala Ali's character, I believe. Which is the quiet is so noisy, or that may have been Julie Roberts, but I think it was him. The quiet is so noisy. And then this last one, which is definitely from him, where he stated, Nothing frightens me more than a person unwilling to learn, even at their own expense. And then lastly, a line that Kevin Bacon said, which was that we made a lot of enemies around the world. And in his opinion, it looks like a few of them teamed up, which, you know, what that made me think of that made me [00:26:00] think of the BRICS alliance that we were recently hearing, hearing about, because they were having their, which I thought was a new alliance or something that. And it's not the BRICS alliance for those who may not know is BRICS is an acronym that stands for an association of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. And it's an intergovernmental organization. Comprised of those countries that was formed in 2010 and in 2010, that's just when South Africa late joined the enemy and it became bricks before that was brick B R I C it's a group of emerging economies, but we were recently hearing of them and it was because they had their 15th annual state government summit or something that. But anyway, that line of dialogue from Kevin Bacon of, of, you know, a few of our enemies, quote unquote, teaming up. Just made me think of that for some reason. And yeah, I'll just say this in closing, which is that I don't think, obviously don't know for sure, but I don't think that there's this, like, [00:27:00] secret cabal of humans running the world and, you know, pulling all the strings and having specific ideas of where they want the world to be and go and where it's been, etc. But I do believe that the world is ran by incentives, and depending on how those incentives are aligned, you can get people to make certain decisions and, and do certain actions, etc. And the way society is set up, we have groups of people, whether it be small groups or corporations or countries, which is a large group, or individuals. That absolutely are driven by the motives and motivations that the incentives in their respective fields or interests, how they line up. And for the most part, folks are just living their lives, want the same or similar things, you know, [00:28:00] health, happiness for themselves and their families to create a better life than a previous generation. And also guided in part by. The incentive structures in your life, you might be incentivized by let's think about it at a very micro level. You might be incentivized financially, which drives you to work extra super hard to try to get that promotion at work. You might be incentivized by a bad or negative diagnosis. That a doctor gives you, and that lets you know you need to do something about your health, and that incentivizes you to become uber healthy. You might be incentivized by laziness, and you just want to watch TV and eat potato chips. You might be let's think of a large group. A corporation is incentivized by their bottom line. They want to increase their bottom line at all costs. They have a mandate to do so, and a fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders. So they're incentivized in that [00:29:00] direction, depending on The industry that they're in that takes different shapes and forms So on and so forth. So I think it's more a function of that than it is a function of you know, this secret society's running shit But yeah, that's just me And I digress That is my little recap and review of leave the world behind Definitely worth checking out And you can do so By checking it out on netflix old dads It's a movie that debuted on Netflix on October 20th, 2023. Here is the official synopsis. Three best friends become fathers later in life and find themselves battling preschool principals, millennial CEOs, and anything created after 1987. As we like to do here on the Sponsor Day Podcast, let's shout out the writers first and foremost. Old Dads was written by Bill Burr and Ben Tischler. [00:30:00] Shout out to those guys. Of note is that the movie was directed by Bill Burr as well. And it starred the three best friends, Bill Burr, Bobby Cannavale, and Bukim Woodbine. Also of note is that it was produced by All Things Comedy, which is Bill Burr's production company, co founded by Bill Burr and Al Madrigal. And tying it to the what we were speaking about earlier with the biases of the producer or producers of a movie coming out through the movie. This being produced by All Things Comedy and Bill Burr writing it and directing it highlights that point perfectly in my opinion. Because if you're familiar with Bill Burr's stand up comedy or his podcast and his personality in general, you see a lot of it in this film. And that's obviously his point of view, his movie, [00:31:00] he wrote it, he directed it, he produced it, of course you're going to get that, you know what I mean? , that should not come as a surprise. But I was really happy with this movie, I thought it was a masterclass in just social commentary and all that's wrong with. Social virtue signaling and what we prioritize to speak about and be quote unquote angry about or, you know, signal to other folks, Hey, this is what I'm angry about now. To get social brownie points or whatever the fuck it is, I thought this movie was a masterclass in that. It was funny, it was engaging, certain frustrations that I as a father deal with, I saw a bit of myself in, you know, some of the characters in the movie., there's a scene in the beginning where Bobby Cannavale's kid, which is just that. They're at a party, a birthday party, and there's a bunch of kids around and parents and you know, everybody just doing their own thing, barbecue in the backyard. [00:32:00] And one of the kids, which is Bobby Cannavale's kid, is just running around, hitting people with sticks, throwing shit, just being that asshole kid at the party. And then he has his mom, Bobby Cannavale's wife. Which is the type of mom that, you know, thinks that their kid can do no wrong, you know? Meanwhile, this, , five year old, six year old, whatever he is, is, , literally grabbing a branch from a tree and smacking people across the face with it, across the head with it, and , just screaming at the top of his lungs and just, , acting the fuck out. But the mom is, you know, thinks he can't do any wrong and is making excuses for him. Oh, he's just expressing himself. What's wrong with expressing yourself? It's not He's not allowed to express himself. Is he supposed to suppress his feelings, et cetera, et cetera. And it's , all right, lady, relax. , I get it. But at the same time, check your kid. , that's not normal behavior. And yet there's a scene where the kid winds up hurting Bill Burr's kid, pushing him or something. He scrapes his knee. And then Bill Burr, you know, doesn't want to baby his kid. [00:33:00] You know, he's like, you know, rub some dirt in it. You'll be okay. And then sees that Bobby Cannavale can't even stand up to his own wife. Although he agrees with Bill Burr that his kid is just , wigging the fuck out. And what Bill Burr does is, he waits until nobody's looking, the kid is passing by and he just trips the kid. I thought that was definitely hilarious and something I wanted to do. In that scene also there's a cameo by Rick Glassman which lives across the street. and it's a hilarious exchange between him and Bill Burr. And he tells him, oh, you know, he shouldn't rub dirt in it. He should put some Neosporin in it or something like that. And Bill Burr's like, yeah, who the fuck are you ? What you a doctor or something? He was , no, it's just, you know, common sense. You, you want to keep a, a cut clean and and dry or whatever. And in true Bill Burr fashion, just lets his anger out on him type of thing and tells him to fuck off and mind his business. And that was a dope thing also about the movie is that there was a bunch of cameos with a bunch [00:34:00] of comics, which I to see. I love that in the Machine movie and in these bigger productions that these comics are coming out with. Rick Glassman is in it. As I mentioned, they showed a mural that's in LA of Brody Stevens. R. I. P. to Brody. Paul Verzi is in it. It's a couple scenes in Strip Club, which were funny. Natasha Leggero is in it. She plays, , one of these, , uber progressive moms in the PTA. Rory Scoville is in it, another comic. It's really funny, really good. And basically, in the movie, Bill Burr and his friends, you know, they have this company that they started. They're making good money but they made the decision to sell it. And they wind up selling it to this new agey type of tech startup ish type of company. Meanwhile, it's a, the company that they built is a company that makes throwback jerseys or something that and some other apparel. [00:35:00] And it shows really well this cultural stylistic difference between this new agey corporate BS or not BS rather, but mentality versus. A more old school, blue collar ish type of approach to running a business. But there is a lot of new agey corporate BS buzzwords and stuff that. When this CEO millennial kid is speaking to Bill Burr and Bobby Cannavale and Bokeem Woodbine's character. Pretty much telling them that if they don't get with the, you know, new program and Stuff like that, that they, they would be let go because they sold the company, but they stayed on as founders and Bill Burr with his charming anger just tells them, are you threatening me? And then the new agey corporate CEO guy just tells them, no, it's just transparent leadership. And he has a bunch of like these flowery buzzword terms[00:36:00] to relabel what he's really saying. There's just a bunch of funny exchanges with him throughout the movie as well. Another hilarious scene is the dude that played Big Head in Silicon Valley. He's Natasha Leggero's husband and they're in this PTA meeting type of thing and it's them two and Bill Burr and Bobby Cannavale because their kids all go to the same school and a couple other people and he interrupts Bill Burr because he's saying that he is using too much of his white privilege or something like that and making decisions or offering opinions that come from a white privileged point of view and that he feels triggered by it. Meanwhile, the guy's white and Bill Burr's , wait a second, aren't you white? And he looks at Bobby Cannavale and he's , ain't that a white guy? It's just moments that. That's fucking hilarious. And then Big Ed's character goes. It says something to the [00:37:00] effect of, excuse me, I did my 23andMe and I am 1, 000th of a percent Native American or some shit like that. And that percentage of me is triggered by you offering to blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It was just a funny, really funny exchange. Which ties back again to the me saying that this is a masterclass social commentary. , all that type of, , virtue signaling, you know, being angry about shit that doesn't really matter., acting you're mad about shit that you're not really mad about, but you think it's, , the cool thing to be upset about and to highlight, to signal about. And yeah, it was just a a funny, entertaining watch, again, written and produced and directed by a comic who makes it funny for a living. You know what I mean? So, it, it, I love seeing that. And I definitely want to see more of it. Shout out once again to Bill Burr. And all things comedy. Oh, and also the lovely Nia who made an appearance. She had a cameo as a I don't think [00:38:00] it's a cameo technically. She was the nurse that delivered Bill Burr's Bill Burr's baby. For Nia, for those of you who don't know is Bill Burr's wife in real life. And that was pretty cool to see as well. Old Dads. Definitely, definitely, definitely worth a watch. I highly recommend it. It is available now on Netflix. Stavros Halkis Fat Rascal is a very funny stand up comedy special currently available on Netflix that came out in November or maybe December of 2023. I think December actually. It's his second stand up special, if I'm not mistaken. I actually have to go back and watch the first one because I haven't, but I'll circle back to that in a second. The official synopsis on Netflix is that comedian Stavros Halkis cheerfully skewers tech culture, air travel, sex, breakups, and himself in this raunchy and righteously acerbic [00:39:00] stand up special. Full disclosure on Stavros. I was a Stavros hater. And I'll admit it was just me being a hypocritical piece of shit because I hadn't seen any of his anything before. I just saw that he was, , he started popping up in my feed and I saw him, , making rounds on podcasts that I normally listen to. And he just, , rubbed me the wrong way. I don't, and I don't know why. Again, completely piece of shit take and thought from me, especially literally not even,, seeing any of his content. I It was just a, an initial knee jerk reaction and I was just like, I'm not going to listen to this episode or I'm not going to watch this clip with this guy that is going around. But then enough podcasts, episodes and enough clips came up and I was like, let me see, let me see. But you know who this guy is at least, instead of just negatively judging him for absolutely no reason. [00:40:00] And he's fucking hilarious. He has one of the most contagious laughs as well. Which is great just when somebody has a contagious laugh that their laugh makes you laugh. And I listen to and watch Stabby's World all the time which is his podcast now. And have since gone back to watch episodes of other podcasts that he was on that I watch or listen to. And just think he's great. So Stavi, apologies in advance for having that completely unprovoked, just negative reaction towards you for what it's worth. And you know what's dope about Stavi's world, the podcast, he has callers call in and leave voicemails with questions and just advice that they want from him. And. It's both hilarious because people call in with things I heard on the other day that was a clip of one [00:41:00] where a guy is married to a girl who has three kids from an ex and that ex stayed cool with that girl's mom and is now banging and dating the mom. So it's fucked up scenarios that and not just things that. Also people calling for relationship advice and. Life advice and stuff that. And they're funny and he has funny takes, but he also gives excellent like life coach level advice to these folks, which is an interesting juxtaposition that I appreciate. But yeah, a couple of my favorite bits from this special, again, fat rascal available on Netflix was One where he says that he's Greek, so he's, as if you couldn't tell from his name, Stavros Halkias. Where he says that Greeks are more Arab than white, but that folks consider them white because just whites in general wanted to pad their white resume with, you know, [00:42:00] democracy and philosophy. They're , nah, fuck you Arabs. We're keeping that. We're only owning those guys. We claim them. There's just a funny premise, a funny bit. It has a really good long airline bit, which was really good. And I loved probably my favorite bit of the whole special was his take on Neuralink and Elon Musk in general, but mainly Neuralink, which I've spoken about in the past. Here on the podcast, but if you don't know, Neuralink is one of Elon's endeavors, one of his companies where the goal is to have chips, computer chips implanted in your brain. And the idea is to start with paraplegics or people that are paralyzed and use that technology to bridge the communication gap that's happening between your brain and your spine and Your limbs that's not allowing you to walk anymore and people that are [00:43:00] blind that aren't able to see anymore and through this type of technology being able to repair those types of physiological issues But also down the line the thought of neural link is that it's kind of like having the internet in your head So you can Google shit in your mind type of thing Very black mirror ish But it's literally a real company that exists that is endeavoring to do this and has shown and had test subjects in pigs and monkeys and they actually featured it, I believe, almost certain I featured it as a video of the week in my, my free newsletter, which you all can subscribe to absolutely for free at sponsored. com forward slash subscribe, where I put out cool curated content like that. Interesting stuff. But yeah, they show videos of how this technology works and eventually how it will be adopted to humans, so on and so forth. But Stavros take, which is a very unique, very interesting and [00:44:00] very plausible take, is that he was , No tech company is going to create some shit Neuralink and, and I'm paraphrasing by the way. Hopefully I don't butcher this, but he says that no tech company is going to create something Neuralink and just give everybody the ability to know everything that exists in the world by, you know, Google searching shit, in your head and making people super smart and, you know, bettering humanity. He was , what a tech company would do and what they're more likely to do is just to put Get in your brain and start putting your own memories behind the paywall and say, Hey, you want to remember that hug from your dad? Deposit 99 cents here. Or do you want to remember that time that that girl, Sarah jacked you off in the back of the school bus when you guys were going on that class trip? Sorry, you can't access that memory because you're currently not enrolled in our platinum level memory program. He was like, [00:45:00] please enter your debit card. Or you get ads in the middle of you thinking back on something and trying to remember something with your mom and It's saying this memory is brought to you by Burger King Fucking hilarious, man, and it's so true, right? You could think of corporate greed mixed in with that type of technology and ability in the hands of the wrong person I could definitely see it going in that direction And it was just hilarious But yeah, I said, something I still need to do is go back and watch Stavi's first special, which is also available now and free on YouTube. I think it was from last year, but this one, I definitely highly recommend Stavros Halkis's Fat Rascal available now on Netflix. Goats doing goat shit. This is a segment where I like to highlight goats within their respective lanes, exceeding expectations and going above and beyond. This episode's inductee into the Spun Today Goats Doing Goat Shit segment is none other [00:46:00] than Mr. Beast. Shout out to Mr. Beast. Mr. Beast, for those of you who don't know, is the most popular YouTuber of all time. He does these really elaborate YouTube videos and not stunts, but Let me give you an example of The type of content that, that a type of content that he puts out, which is, for example, giving someone building a house in the middle of nowhere, a small little house and challenging someone to stay in the house. They can't leave the house for 30 days and if they do they get, I don't know, 500, 000 or something that. Can't see family, no internet, no anything. They'll have food and water and that's pretty much it. Then they'll have, you know, he'll do things there's a big circle in a field somewhere. Everybody's in the circle. Last person to leave the circle [00:47:00] wins, you know, X amount of dollars. You know, people are in a very cold frozen room. Last one to leave wins X amount of dollars, stuff like that. He also has a philanthropy arm to his channel, a completely separate channel dedicated to doing good. He recently had a video that I featured as a video of the week in my newsletter, Spuntrade. com forward slash subscribe if you're interested, where he paid for the cataract surgery for a hundred or a thousand people or something that that literally couldn't see for years and years and years and years because they couldn't afford this cataract surgery. Didn't have insurance to cover it. And through his philanthropy channel, did this their videos, they get millions and millions and millions of views generates funds for him to continue doing this type of thing. Now, the video specifically that I wanted to feature Mr. Beast [00:48:00] for is one that I will link to in the episode notes titled, I built 100 wells in Africa. So he literally went to Africa, him and his team. And coordinated and showed the building of 100 of water wells in Africa. Now, these are small, very, very impoverished, poor villages that live in conditions where they have to either walk miles to try to get some water, whether clean or not, usually not. Multiple times a day for drinking and cleaning and showering and that type of thing. There's no running water in these, these areas, these villages and many of the children especially grow up just with having diarrhea, getting typhoid disease and dying young and it's just a part of their, their lives. You know, we as humans get used to anything as they say, right? But what he did in building these natural freshwater wells. Which the process [00:49:00] essentially is this huge and they break it down in the video more eloquently than I can but these huge trucks that dig deep deep into the earth past all the rock and soil and pollutants into Fresh water reservoir and that allows them to add a spigot to the top and provide fresh drinking water To all these areas and it's unlimited fresh drinking water That can produce approximately 3, 600 gallons a day 3, 600 gallons per day per spigot and can pump for 30 years plus Completely free Aside from obviously the cost of doing this which is what mr. Beeson is for philanthropic channel covered what they paid for to do That setup also provided a pressurized water source, which will allow folks to have running water and pressure to be able to wash clothes and stuff that and no longer have to go to the Rio [00:50:00] to wash clothes and bang, bang the clothes up against a rock. So on and so forth. He also in one village provided the clean water for a clean water well for a hospital that was there. It's obviously very important to have clean water in a hospital, but they were also dealing with, you know, unsanitary conditions and dirty water or having to go through hell to try to get clean, clean water. And a bunch of avoidable, unnecessary obstacles. There was another village where they had to cross this very shaky, rickety bridge where people constantly you know, you know, A handful of people die every year just from trying to cross a river. On this rickety bridge, he got that bridge rebuilt to a bridge that is poised to last 100 years. In another village where he built one of these 100 water wells, he provided [00:51:00] the school with all new furniture, all new computers, a soccer ball to every single student. In another village where he built one of these water wells, he provided a bicycle to every single student. In another school, he provided projectors and bookshelves filled with new books in their classrooms. And all those, , ancillary things are all just little cherries on top. The big takeaway, obviously, is the fresh water that we all take for granted that these folks living in these villages never had access to. Now, he did get flak from And this part is just frustrating to me because I just don't get this part of human nature. If it's you wanting the credit or you being upset that someone helped more than you could have, instead of just be happy that the goal of obtaining fresh water was met. But there were certain NGOs or aka non governmental [00:52:00] organizations against Mr. Beast doing this through his philanthropic arm of his company stating things like, you know, there are organizations that exist that do this type of work. He came out of nowhere and did this and now he's getting all the credit. These things have to be built sustainably. He's doing it just for clicks and likes so on and so forth. Yeah. To that I'll say. One, 100 percent as stated by Mr. Beast himself in the video, 100 percent of the money raised from the video is going back into building more wells and two for the other major concern of sustainability. These water pumps were built and spigots to be able to run for 30 years. That's three decades. If that's not sustainable, I don't know what is.[00:53:00] Now, if any of those things turn out not to be the case, then you have somewhat of a case against Mr. Beast or, you know, his methods to doing this. But even if those things weren't the case, let's say he was doing this just for clicks, just for money to drive around in Ferraris or some shit. He still provided 100 water wells to 100 villages throughout Africa to people that otherwise did not have access to that water. Your motivations for doing that, I don't give a flying fuck about. The goal was met of providing water to people that need water to live, to survive. You know what I mean? Your personal motivations for doing so is secondary to me. The fact that he apparently has the motivations of this altruistic goal of just providing the water and a hundred percent of the funds raised from it are going to go back into the same thing. And just cutting through all the bureaucracy and bullshit is admirable to me. And the fact that they were [00:54:00] built sustainably to last 30 years. That's like above and beyond in my eyes. Just the goal of meeting the fact that these villages have sustainable water now or just water in general. Let's say it lasted six months, a year. You made everyone's life better for that period of time. Let alone the projected amount of time that and generations that this will affect if in fact it does last for 30 years. So folks stop hating on folks doing good, trying to do the right thing, just because it wasn't the way that you would go about doing it. And shout out to Mr. Beast and team for quite honestly, having the balls to try to do good and try to do better in spite of the blowback received for this video and others it. And that folks is the. Mr. Beast's installment of Goat's Doing Goat Shit. And that, folks, was episode 250 of the Spun Today podcast. [00:55:00] It's been a heck of a year. Another one in the books, the final episode of the year. I hope you guys are enjoying your holidays or about to enjoy your holidays. And wishing each and every one of you a happy and prosperous new year. Let's continue to grow and build and love in 2024 and do less of the hating and tearing down. And I say that as much to myself as I mean that for others as well. Until next time, until next year, peace.
Dec 21, 2023
1 hr
This episode is the audio book version of the Short Story; Fly. If you want to read along with the audio book, please visit: http://www.spuntoday.com/shortstories/fly. I also speak about self-publishing my first book and the process that entailed. Happy Holidays to you and yours and may 2016 be the year that finally begins to bring your ambitions and desires to fruition (don’t forget to work hard for them…it’s kind of a key ingredient). *Original Release Date: December 31st, 2015* The Spun Today Podcast is a Podcast that is anchored in Writing, but unlimited in scope. Give it a whirl. Twitter: https://twitter.com/spuntoday Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spuntoday/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@spuntoday Website: http://www.spuntoday.com/home Newsletter: http://www.spuntoday.com/subscribe Links referenced in this episode: Read the short story: https://www.spuntoday.com/shortstories/fly Check out Brenda Raquel’s short film: https://youtu.be/u-ph4C5oFGs?si=MOKKHL7d_S208bpY Get your Podcast Started Today! https://signup.libsyn.com/?promo_code=SPUN (Use Promo code SPUN and get up to 2-months of free service!) Check out all the Spun Today Merch, and other ways to help support this show! https://www.spuntoday.com/support Check out my Books: Make Way for You – Tips for getting out of your own way & FRACTAL – A Time Travel Tale http://www.spuntoday.com/books/ (e-Book & Paperback are now available). Fill out my Spun Today Questionnaire if you’re passionate about your craft. I’ll share your insight and motivation on the Podcast: http://www.spuntoday.com/questionnaire/ Shop on Amazon using this link, to support the Podcast: http://www.amazon.com//ref=as_sl_pc_tf_lc?&tag=sputod0c-20&camp=216797&creative=446321&linkCode=ur1&adid=104DDN7SG8A2HXW52TFB&&ref-refURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spuntoday.com%2Fcontact%2F Shop on iTunes using this link, to support the Podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewTop?genreId=38&id=27820&popId=42&uo=10 Shop at the Spun Today store for Mugs, T-Shirts and more: https://viralstyle.com/store/spuntoday/tonyortiz Background Music: Autumn 2011 - Loxbeats Outro Background Music: https://www.bensound.com Spun Today Logo by: https://www.naveendhanalak.com/ Sound effects are credited to: http://www.freesfx.co.uk Listen on: iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | Pocket Casts | Google Podcasts | YouTube | Website
Dec 7, 2023
49 min
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