Thirsty Topics
A weekly podcast dedicated to trending topics on social media, pop culture and entertainment.
Thirsty Topics
Wildfires and Safety Fears: Unveiling Truths Behind Celebrity Scandals and Technology Shifts 1/15/25
We kicked off this week's Thirsty Topics with a heartfelt catch-up session, sharing personal stories from recent family visits and holiday adventures. Our conversation soon turned serious as we explored the devastating wildfires ravaging Los Angeles, especially hard-hit communities like Altadena and Pacific Palisades. Meryl shares her personal connection to these areas and the overwhelming challenges residents face, from battling uncooperative insurance companies to coping with the emotional toll of losing homes and businesses. We pay tribute to the brave firefighters risking their lives and emphasize the urgent need for targeted financial aid to support the recovery process.
Our discussion takes a deep dive into the unsettling safety concerns and public fears ignited by recent terrorist attacks, including the tragic events in New Orleans and the attempted explosion near Trump Tower. We shed light on how misinformation and the spread of partial truths can distort public perception, stressing the importance of careful consideration before drawing conclusions. Additionally, we navigate the viral social media sagas that captivate the internet, from a bride's makeup blunder to the high-profile scandal involving workplace harassment, examining how these stories reflect broader societal issues.
Wrapping up, we venture into the fascinating yet perplexing world of technology, pondering the implications of advancements like drones and driverless cars. Our thoughts meander through the potential TikTok ban, speculating on the shifting landscape of social media and its future impact. We reflect on language trends influenced by Gen Z and the realities of Hollywood salaries, touching on how the industry continues to evolve. Tune in to stay informed and entertained as we unravel these diverse topics, offering insights and reflections along the way.
Hello everyone, welcome to this week's episode of Thirsty Topics. I'm Lawrence Elrod.
Speaker 2:And I'm Meryl Clemo.
Speaker 1:Meryl, how have you been? It's been a long time since we talked.
Speaker 2:I'm so happy to be back. I was like I feel like the past month has been ripe with topics and I just I missed you as a human.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's true. I mean there's been a lot of craziness that's been going on lately.
Speaker 2:Did you have a good break overall? You probably talked about it on your other shows, but did it get?
Speaker 1:exciting. I had a really, really good time. My son came in For Christmas. He's actually back in town this week, so I've been hanging with him Doing stuff around the house, working on some new stuff. Our show, thirsty Topics, is now on podcast and it's on all the major podcast stations, including Spotify, iheartradio and several others.
Speaker 2:Oh, we're fancy, fancy.
Speaker 1:So, yes, I'm very excited about that. How about you? What's been going on with you?
Speaker 2:Well, first I want to know when your son comes home. Does he just like the way I atrophy, even being in you know whatever my upper 30s, lower 40s whenever I go to visit my parents, still I'm just like here's my laundry. Does your son like regress when he comes to your house, or does he maintain like the?
Speaker 1:life of a normal adult. Who's responsible? Um, he's pretty good about being responsible.
Speaker 2:He's kind of far away to bring his laundry, so I don't have to worry about that okay, okay, mine is this is so embarrassing, even to admit, but like my mom will like peel my oranges. For me maybe it's a good and only child thing, but whenever I go visit my parents, I become become very helpless, even more than usual.
Speaker 1:Hey, no matter how old you are, you never wrote to your parents.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but my break was really good, very relaxing. I felt like this was the first Christmas that I really I was in town in Los Angeles for and I just watched a lot of movies. We watched so many of the romantic comedies, like the four Christmases and holiday and all those the holiday, every single one. So I had a good time.
Speaker 1:Nice, nice, nice. Well, we got a lot to talk about. In fact, I will let you start off with the biggest thing that everyone's talking about right now.
Speaker 2:Yes, exactly. So, like my holiday was good and of course everyone is like 2025 is going to be different this year, like it had all the makings of like a 2020, where it was like this is our year, guys. And then the very I think it was January 6th I went for a walk with a friend and it was so, so, so windy here that we were almost like laughing where branches were falling and things were. You know, it was just windy and we were like you know, this is weird, but obviously we didn't know it was coming.
Speaker 2:And then the next day, january 7th, multiple fires broke out again in Los Angeles. I'm sure you know everyone at this point in the world has pretty much heard about what's happened and we live in Burbank, so we were right in the middle of there's the Pacific Palisades fire, which you know. For people, that's like the west part of Los Angeles, the Pacific Palisades and Malibu are like more towards the ocean and towards Santa Monica. But then at first, the fire that we were really worried about was the Eaton Canyon one, and that's right by Pasadena, so that's like the east part of it, and a little, a beautiful, little sweet community named Altadena is one that just burnt to the ground, and that's one that's, like you know, when I'm driving, when I feel like going somewhere for coffee or going somewhere like Altadena is one of my kind of go-to places here in Los Angeles- and it's just like I think people have this idea of LA that it's like Beverly Hills.
Speaker 2:You know it's so wealthy. Really, communities like Altadena and Pacific Palisades are made up of a lot of people that are just working really hard, and you know they're just scraping by to afford their houses as well. And you know, regardless of any sort of income level, it's so sad when people lose their houses and communities and businesses. And so right now I think it was like I looked it up it was over 40,000 acres destroyed, which obviously too, like as an animal person, we have a lot of wildlife in those canyons and in those mountains. So I've been seeing a lot of tragic photos of just bears and deer and you know, a lot of the coyotes are here confused, and so for the past couple of days it seemed like it was getting better.
Speaker 2:Until two nights ago it almost started to feel like a Will Smith movie where we're watching on the news, and pretty much it was looking like what was going to happen was the Pacific Palisades like one side of it goes into the valley where I am in Los Angeles, like one side of it goes into the valley where I am in Los Angeles, and so the firefighters work so hard and like really got it under control.
Speaker 2:Because there was a moment in time where we were worried about the winds, like carrying it down the mountain and having it just wipe out the valley, which is millions and millions of people, and so the firefighters like work overnight, and so it was one of those nights where we were checking our phone at midnight and 3 am just wondering if we were going to have to evacuate, and then it was like the best case scenario when we woke up to find that it was okay, but now this week we're just going to be dealing again with really high winds. So, yeah, everyone please give good thoughts for LA, because right now it seems to be the worst of the worst, but we don't know what the next couple of days are going to bring.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know the crazy thing about it, with all the coverage and everything, and maybe it's too early, but I haven't seen any guess or maybe speculation on what started, because the crazy thing about it is not only how big and how fast it's moving where it's located, yeah, the fact that so many are starting like right after each other I know and I think they they have detained like one or two arsonists in different fires, like there was a uh, the hearst fire, like little different ones here and there that were breaking out, and they did catch one person that was, you know, an arsonist.
Speaker 2:but like I think they're still trying to determine if there's a downed power line. And so the other thing, too, is just the social media, like exhausting discussion, where it's like, yes, climate change is real, but it's also this may have been a human thing, this may have been a power line thing, and it's just like. I feel like what we don't need is every single person making the cause like their own version or story, before we even know what happened, you know, and so um and I also have to say, like for a city that's kind of seen as very self-centered, like I've, the community response from everyone in la has just been so touching.
Speaker 2:like you know, I never I mean I knew that la was like very community-minded and sweet with each other, but it's just been overpouring efforts of people in evacuation centers. Right near me in Burbank is an equestrian ranch and that's where a lot of large animals people are bringing their large animals, so of course I want to sneak over and volunteer there.
Speaker 1:It's very hard for me knowing that there's like a million donkeys right by me yeah, you know, the interesting thing for me is I mean, yes, you know houses, cars, all those things can be replaced, but you kind of feel sorry for the things that can't be replaced. You know the memories of pictures, family heirlooms. You know memories that you can't duplicate Once they're gone, they're gone.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and I mean there's so much. One thing I was going to tell you too is just obviously like insurance has gotten shadier and shadier at this point, and so a lot of people are, I know they're trying to put up roadblocks so that insurance can't just like drop us this year and just be like sorry we're not going to.
Speaker 2:we're going to help you but, like, even if these people get insurance, it might be a year and a lot of them don't have another place to live while they rebuild their homes. And then it's like imagine rebuilding your home but the neighborhood itself is all gone and all your neighbors are gone. So it's like I bet a lot of people are going to be probably not rebuilding their house like in the Pacific, palisades or Malibu, because it's like fires happen all the time. You're kind of like it might not be the best idea to like re redo it again.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, and you know, the interesting thing too is depending on your income level. You know, while they're obviously working through rebuilding your home, you know a lot of people don't understand they still have to pay that mortgage. Yeah, that scares me, yeah me, yeah you know you're paying a mortgage on the house that isn't there anymore, but then you have to play stay someplace else too, so hopefully you have coverage where that's taken care of, but if not, you're paying a rent and a mortgage at the same time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's really scary and that's how, like you know, we always wonder how people can just become bankrupt and all these things happen. But it's like something like this, but it's, it's really like. It's historically like one of truly one of the worst, um, just crisis isn't like to happen in los angeles history, and I mean in some of the nation, like you know like the. Luckily, though, the fatality rate is really low. I think it was 24 when I last checked.
Speaker 1:I was extremely shocked at that number. Based on the devastation, I expected that number to be much higher.
Speaker 2:Me too, and I bet it will be as time goes on, but especially with like two huge cities just decimated on both sides. But I think another good thing about LA is that for the most part, we don't play around when it comes to evacuation and I think people here are very good at like listening to orders and respecting that kind of way. There's not a ton of people that are like no, I'm just going to stay in my house, and I think I think some people are, when you know if they're older and if they just are kind of not taking it seriously. But for the most part, like the minute that authorities tell us what to do, we're doing it. So, sometimes in a way that I don't, this is an area where I like it.
Speaker 2:Sometimes during the pandemic I didn't. I didn't love it so much, but that's its own separate thing. But but yeah, I think it's just so right now, like us personally, it's so weird because it's like the Palisades fire that we're keeping an eye on, whereas a few days ago it was the one in Pasadena that we were worried about. But um, I've also heard from many, many people that, like people love getting clothes and all that stuff. But I think the best thing is if, like finding direct um, like firefighter recovery funds or like you know whatever cause you care about, if it's a women or if it's animals, like finding a direct site for that that's legit, and then like giving $50 or $20, you know, I've heard from a lot of people in different evacuation centers that like they're overwhelmed with so many people's clothing items that it just becomes a little bit too much and then they have to sort through that. So people are saying like $50 goes a long way, rather than just sending in like eight pairs of you know pants that you don't wear anymore and stuff.
Speaker 1:Oh, exactly I, rather than just sending in like eight pairs of you know pants that you don't wear anymore and stuff. Oh exactly, I mean, you know the thing is right now everyone in that area is hurting because you know one. They have to deal with the devastation of losing their home and you know you kind of wonder what kind of mental toll that's going to take on the person yeah um, you know, because you've been in this house, let's say for years, and then, literally in a blink of an eye, it's gone, just yes, yep, and your whole community.
Speaker 2:Like I, I had a full crying breakdown to my boyfriend yesterday just because, like the idea of what a lot of us live in la, because we were like following our dreams or we had this little idea of like our los angeles life and our, our minds since we were little. And then you come here and it's like really nothing like you imagined and it's I mean now hopefully it will have the chance to be a little bit better and I just keep reminding myself that there's like a lot of good in this and just seeing people. But it definitely seemed like it. It has like leveled the playing field in a lot of ways here and like like we're starting new, but for so many people I don't even know how they're going to like regroup after this.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, and it's amazing the amount of celebrities that have lost their homes.
Speaker 1:It's actually pretty shocking and you know, a lot of times you know people idolize them or they look down on them like, oh, you think you're this and that. But you know you kind of see in us in this moment that they're going through right now, that they're just as human as me and you because you know a lot of them, you know almost have tears, you know almost getting emotional that they lost, that they've been in for so many years and all the memories that are just gone. Now, yeah, it just comes to show, no matter how little or how much money you have, we're all still human I know, okay, no, what do you think about?
Speaker 2:there was one. I also feel I don't. I definitely don't feel bad for celebrities, that's not something I would say, but I do feel like, um, there's this like pressure that we put on them, like the same day that they lose their house. I feel like there's this pressure for all of them to like also be the leaders of like, and this is what you can do for your community, you know, and so like. For example, I don't know if you saw, but like Mandy Moore got a little bit of flack because she shared a bunch of things, but then her like fourth or fifth story was sharing a GoFundMe for her sister and brother-in-law that lost their home in Altadena, and she got so much like blowback from people just saying, like how dare you share a GoFundMe, aren't you rich?
Speaker 2:You know, couldn't you? It was basically asking for $60,000 for them, which it is a little weird that, like she can't just be like here's 60 grand for you, but but she lost her house in the fire too. So it's like we don't know what these people have in our bank accounts. And also like, what is she going to tell her brother-in-law? No, I'm not going to share it to my network. So you know, all these things are like such gray zones because it's like celebrities want to use their platform and share things, but then when they share, we're just like how dare you ask us normal people to pay anything? You know?
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, and you know also too, most people have to understand there's literally only a very, very small percentage that are like super wealthy, right, most, most actors and actresses don't make the money you think they make yeah, we'll learn later on oh, you're you read it yeah, yeah, we'll dive in a little deeper, but you know, a lot of people have to understand that there's so many actors and actresses out there that are trying to chase their dreams and trying to make things happen for them and are barely getting paid, if anything at all. And it's amazing how some of these actors that you've seen still aren't making the money you think they are.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly. So we don't know, and it's like sometimes these people aren't even begging normal quote-unquote or you know the everyday people they're just sharing because they have a big, a big network and a big like community. So they're just kind of like okay, these are people, um, in altadena that also lost their house.
Speaker 1:So, like some people may care, and to me it's like if you don't care, you could just either mute the person or keep scrolling, you know whatever oh yeah, definitely you know, hopefully that, uh, you know we don't have all the scams that come out, because you know, the bad thing about disasters like this is all the scammers come out, left and right, you know, yeah yeah, but but I was just gonna say some of the funniest things that have come out of it.
Speaker 2:There's just been a lot of funny things but like, um, our mayor, and you know bless her heart, but she's your karen bass.
Speaker 2:She's been been a lot of funny things but like our mayor, and you know bless her heart, but she's Karen Bass she's been getting a lot of flack for just kind of like not handling things right.
Speaker 2:And I'm glad I'm not in her shoes or any of the leaders shoes, but who knows, you know, I'm sure time will tell like what could have been done differently and what was not prepared for a fire, what was prepared.
Speaker 2:But basically she did this press conference she's already kind of like messing up a little bit here and there with some things and then she did a press conference and she ended it saying, um, you can learn more about the situation by going to URL, and then you can tell they forgot to put the actual website address. So if anyone wants to see the video, you could just Google, like Karen Bass URL and she ends her press conference with see the video. You could just google like karen bass url and she ends her press conference with for more information, go to url. It almost just seems like an episode of like parks and rec, where there's obviously there's so much sadness and like I've spent the day crying and laughing and all this stuff, but here in la, like we really are run by a bunch of like fruitcakes and so it is just it's sometimes like good comic relief, just for like all the madness and the sadness that is happening.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know, the reality is is that I would say that, before people start pointing fingers and all this, first let's get this problem under control.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's deal with that first.
Speaker 1:We can always finger point later on. Right, because I'm quite sure there's a lot of people talking about well, how did they run out of water? Because you know there's a certain name because they literally was running out of water fighting fires, yes, yes. I don't think I've ever remembered having the fire spread so fast in so many different areas all at once.
Speaker 2:I know, like like where, where the houses a lot of the houses burned down in Altadena are not like in the middle of the woods, you wouldn't think like there's a coffee shop that I really love to go to so much and it's down a little bit like you can see the mountain from it, but it's not like it's in the Canyon. You know, you would never think, oh, this would be like quickly gone in a fire. So you know, and I'm sure if there is a foul play, then I feel like we need to talk more about that as well and like, maybe there needs to be some education done on, like why people commit arson and you know, maybe greater penalties or whatever. But yeah, it's just it doesn't do anyone any justice when you feel like you absolutely know that it's like.
Speaker 2:No, it's definitely this or that you know when you don't know yet.
Speaker 1:Yes, definitely Talking about craziness. I, like you, thought that, hey, 2025 is going to start off to be a great year. And then, all of a sudden, we hear about the massacre down in New.
Speaker 2:York yeah.
Speaker 1:Yep, unless you've been on the moon or someplace out in the universe. Everyone has heard about the gentleman who ran through and mowed down a bunch of people down on the French Quarter. People died. He got out the car, had a you know, a gunfight with the police. You know it's. It's amazing because I know for years I've been trying to get my wife hey, let's go celebrate, you know, down in new Orleans, maybe for new year's Eve or whatever and you know we could have easily been down there and be honest with you, but we weren't.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And you know it kind of makes you want to pause about you know going to places around a lot of people because you know you don't know who's there and what their intentions are vibe a lot of times at night and it can get really rowdy, but like you count on it being a certain level of safe where it's like okay, you may not want to be by there by yourself there as a woman at like 2 am, but it's. It's for different reasons, other than thinking a car is gonna like mow down pedestrians or like it's just so scary and at any given time there's just no people there, just like you know, walking the streets or celebrating any given hour of the day. And I saw that it was right by one of the hotels, I think Royal Sinesta or something. Did you see the video of the car like going through?
Speaker 1:I saw the video of the car going through. I actually saw a woman that literally missed being hit by inches. I mean, she literally jumped on the sidewalk. Really, get out of the way of this guy. Obviously, they're not going to show you everything, for obvious reasons. Yeah, video, but it was just amazing. This guy really really wanted to mow people down and the crazy thing about it was either the same day or the next day was the guy in the Tesla truck that blew it up in front of Trump Tower. Remember that. It's like OK. 2025 is not starting off the way I thought it was going to start, I know.
Speaker 2:I know and I guess those two things, like they don't think they're connected Right, or they don't know if they are or not.
Speaker 1:They don't think they are, but they may not know Because it's just too early. But a lot of people say that he picked the wrong vehicle because I guess it's like an armored tank that he basically tried to blow up and it kind of contained most of that explosion as opposed to doing much harm.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:And the crazy thing about it was, unfortunately, the gentleman that blew up the TELSA vehicle. He's actually an active duty military person that was on leave. Really, that's what's so crazy about it, yes.
Speaker 2:And it's just with all this I just remembered, even like the assassination attempt like a few months ago. It's just like it's so scary. And it's also because wasn't the New Orleans one was like a religious, I don't even want to say it in, it gets us like banned or something, but like a part of a terrorist group the guy had joined. For New Orleans yes yeah, yeah, which is like but what they did is they?
Speaker 1:first, they started off saying that they were looking for other people because it was more than just him then, they came back later. I want to say, maybe within a day or two later, saying that no, he was a, a solo person, just did on his own. And that's the thing about information is you got to be careful running with stuff, because when things happen, you don't know what the story is. Right. Much have to let it you know, play out and get real information, because you don't want to put out fake information too.
Speaker 2:That gets people riled up and upset definitely, and especially like sometimes, uh, especially with groups of people, when information comes out like, say, it's like you know, islamic terrorist group or something like, then we don't want to go and hurt innocent people that are islamic, that are walking down the street. You know what I mean. I feel so bad sometimes when these things happen and then it like profiles a large portion of innocent people that aren't doing anything bad and you know they get a lot of stuff done against them, which is obviously an issue like an overall bigger issue, but like, yeah, that's so, so, scary and who knows, even sometimes I feel like they put out information that like they want us to hear drips and drabs of it, but I bet we don't even get the whole story.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, you know. The one thing about it, too, is we don't know if it was a religious reason behind or anything, but if it was, look at that individual, don't look at the whole, you know. In other words, if and again I don't know if he's Islamic or whatever, don't look at all the people in that group based on this one individual. That's the one thing I think we need to be careful about, because we're so quick to demonize a whole group of people, and that needs to stop. I know that person did something evil.
Speaker 2:Get mad at that person. Yes, yep, and I heard also that there was other uh bombs or whatever like placed around new orleans.
Speaker 1:Scary stuff yeah, it's very scary. It's just I don't know. You just got to be careful. I mean, let me ask you, meryl, did that deter you? Deter you from, you know, going to places or going to big events?
Speaker 2:Well, no, and but remember, if you, a few weeks ago or months ago, I was just in New Orleans and for the comedy festival and I had such a great time and like where I performed was a place called the Comedy House. It's moving now, but it was right in the French Quarter. So, like you know, a few weeks ago I was that person like walking around the French Quarter at 2 am. So, no, it doesn't deter me. I already have like a level of just paranoia all the time, which is so sad.
Speaker 2:But I think it's just now. A lot of the American way is just sometimes being in a movie theater and being scared or like looking for the exits. We ended up not making it there for different reasons, but like we were going to go to the Rose Bowl parade in Pasadena this year New Year's Day, which is really fun, but like part of me was kind of like, okay, this would be like a targeted event. It seems like that would be on the more you know highly looked at type of event for these types of things that we've had to deal with with violent attacks, and so it does make me like more apt to just be like it's okay if we don't go, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it's a shame that you even have to think that way. I know.
Speaker 2:I know, but I think about that all the time, even in just like busy malls or grocery stores or you know. But that's also I'm just like anxious in general and all these things, like the new orleans thing, it's like you can't predict when and where and like how to not be one of the weird like six people that got you know that get hurt from it, or it's just so weird, very arbitrary yeah, I mean, even though that person chose, uh, bourbon street.
Speaker 2:If you really think about festivals and events going on across the united states, it literally could be anywhere yeah, definitely, and I think about every night when I was just in Times Square and like it didn't even dawn on me to feel scared then, because I almost just felt like it almost felt like so many people, that it almost felt calming in a way where I'm like, ok, everyone's just here doing their little thing and it just felt like very nice. But yeah, it's scary. I hope we're, don't you always, though, like no matter who the incoming president is, it usually gets a little crazy around the switchover time as well. Hopefully we'll be back to some semblance of safety soon.
Speaker 1:That's true. I mean, I agree with that. I mean one of the things I think we need to understand is that, regardless of who the president is, you want your president to succeed, because if your president fails, we all fail right so, even if your candidate didn't get into office, you still do not want your president to fail. Yeah, because again, we all fail and the country does. So I just hope that the beginning of this year is not a a preview of what's to come. I know, and.
Speaker 2:I know you'll like this too, but I was just thinking like there definitely were a few looter people in the fires which I mean I don't know how people can be. So whatever that, like, you know, there's a fire going on and everyone's trying their best and then some people want to go and steal, like a watch or something. But I feel like, for, like, however many say, there's like 10 looters, there's like 10,000 people donating and taking in pets and you know showing up. So I always feel like the good is going to outweigh the insane.
Speaker 1:I agree. I agree with that.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, speaking of insane, now we're going to get into some fun. Just not fun, not fun, but some catty stuff. The sad part is what the story is about, but we'll get some. Get a little petty here. Uh.
Speaker 2:So allison hulker, widow of uh twitch, you know the dancer and on the ellen show, um, this very lovely man who unfortunately succumbed to uh suicide a few, I think, about when he was a year ago, I don't know, I think about a year ago or so, but anyway, his widow, alison Holker, announced that she was going to be writing a memoir her own memoir but also a lot about him as well which included pretty much some of his stories and exposing a lot of his depression, in the hopes that it would help other people.
Speaker 2:But saying that a lot would be revealed about Twitch that wasn't already public knowledge, maybe even sharing some of his journals and like some of his private things that she later found out after he passed away and a lot of people has, it sparked mixed reactions. So, like some people accused her of capitalizing on his death and just kind of being very like clout chaser-y, some other people said this is part of her grieving process and maybe, if it does help and I think she said the proceeds of the book go to a charity, but then it's like a non-profit that she's starting to, so it's not really like an established mental health one, it's like her foundation. Um, I don't know. It's really really crazy because, like I heard her on some podcast right after his death and like I immediately did not like her very much, I thought that she just seemed like very I don't know. I don't know how to describe it, but she I did not get a good like gut check from her, from her.
Speaker 2:um, I'm sure she is grieving and it sounds like she really did love him very much, but the whole thing just seems like the fact that his parents are very upset about it. His friends have said that it's like some of the tackiest things that they've ever seen. It's like even if you think it's a good idea, the kind of hubris to go forward with this when you've gotten so much backlash. I feel like if this was happening I would just be like oh, never mind, like I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1:I did this Just like. How can you do that when someone's family is really upset by it? Yeah, I mean, I guess there's a few ways to look at it. You know, because this is his wife, you know she sees another side of him that the public doesn't see and she knows him way better than you know I hate to say it but even some of his family members, because they're married. They, you know, they're with each other day in and day out and you know there may be a lot of things he'd been going through that no one knows about. You know, a lot of times when people unfortunately decide to go down the route of taking their own life, they've been going through some things for a while and most of the time suffering silence. So I guess for me it depends on how it's portrayed. Um, you know, if it's laid out in a way of showing his struggles, how he's trying to get over his struggles, maybe warning signs that were missed?
Speaker 1:I think that's a healthy thing. I think that's a good thing. Now, if it's a lot of scandalous stuff that's going to make him look a certain way different than what most people see him as, then that would be wrong.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think it's a little bit too early to know and again, I can understand from both point of views. Um, because sometimes you know you want to tell your own story, or someone you love, you care about, has passed away.
Speaker 2:You want to make sure that story is told the way they think that it was, it should be told right and I think you're right if it overall serves a purpose to help out with like mental health or recognizing signs of things or I think, then I'll be okay with that. But if it's salacious details about him and she's exposing him and not really her, it's like why don't you, If you're going to be super vulnerable about anyone, do it on your own experience? To me it just seems like that. But I don't know, I don't get the greatest vibe. But we'll see.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, like I said, we vibe but but we'll see. Yeah, I mean, like I said, we'll find out sooner or later. But the family has to realize is that you know the wife is the next of kin.
Speaker 2:So you know, yeah, plead, beg, get angry or whatever, but you know, at the end of the day, you know she has to say so I know, I know, and it's always weird when there's children involved too, because now they're seeing like not only whatever details are about to come out, but now they're like seeing their mom get a lot of backlash and it's probably causing a big rift in the family in general, within their friends too. You know, a lot of people have spoken out just that, who are friends with both of them and just kind of called her like not, you know, not the greatest thing, so, um, we'll keep an eye on it.
Speaker 1:Or maybe it could be like the nicest, most tactful book and everyone eats their words and basically it's like, oh okay, that's not what we were expecting yeah, and you know the other thing, merle, which is really sad is, you know, a lot of times celebrities and celebrities family really have to get ahead of things. So, in other words, if they know something not so flattering is about to come out, it's best for you to put it out and frame the narrative, versus it come out a different way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, totally, and I know she keeps saying he would want this. I think he would probably want her to be helping people, but I don't know if anyone would want all of their details that they did keep private to be exposed in a book. And then her going on book tours and like I don't know. It just seems a little weird, but who knows?
Speaker 1:That's true. Well, like I said, the proof will be in the pudding very, very soon. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I don't trust anyone that dances full time Honestly between like Ellen and like I swear it's a big red flag for anyone to notice that if someone's like constantly dancing and looks happy 24-7, it's a ruse.
Speaker 1:Talk about a ruse. This actually goes into a good one that we're about to talk about. I don't know if you're really into sports, Meryl. Have you ever heard of Skip Bayless?
Speaker 2:Not until an hour before today, when I read about him.
Speaker 1:Before that, no, I haven't.
Speaker 1:For most people who really aren't into sports that much. Skip Bayless used to be a reporter or commentator for Fox Sports. For Fox Sports, he's now being sued allegedly for offering female co-worker $1.5 million for sex, and there's a whole bunch of other allegations of things that he have done or may not have done. And what's interesting about this is you're starting to see this trickle effect of various athletes, various high-profile entertainers and all this stuff coming out with sexual assault, assumed sexual assault, very disgusting behavior and stuff like that. I don't know. It's just crazy to me that it's like the floodgates have just opened up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was reading one of the things that the reports, that it said, like I think he wrote to her at one point like the more you tell me no, the more I want you. The more you say no to things, the more.
Speaker 1:I want you, which is like so weird, yeah, and you know the crazy thing.
Speaker 2:Say no to things, the more I want you, which is so weird.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And you know, the crazy thing is, if that is true, I mean that's kind of like borderline be a charge too. Yeah, yeah, when a woman tells you no, no means no, I don't give a damn what you watch, ot, what people tell you, well, no means no, it doesn't. No means no, period.
Speaker 2:Right, and if he was going to pay her $1.5 million to sleep with her or something? Did I see that correct in the article?
Speaker 1:Yep. I don't know, but if you're a half-decent guy, you don't have to spend $1.5 million. I'm trying to be very clean and professional with this, but you don't need to spend $1.5 million, no.
Speaker 2:Maybe $150, but no, I'm just kidding, not that much. For that. They better take me to like the French Riviera or something. But yeah, no, I mean that's just crazy. And especially when a woman that's around your profession repeatedly tells you no and says she's not interested and is not for sale basically, you know, or not for hire in that kind of way, then yeah, you should not be keep pressing and make her feel uncomfortable, but good for her. Like we said too, like the more we see this about people speaking out about athletes and it's getting more and more where the playing field is not like people aren't so afraid of public figures or coaches or athletes that they they can't speak up yeah, that's true, but you know, the interesting thing is and a lot of people are not talking about this is that you know it was kind of like a standing joke that a lot of people in the office there knew what was going on.
Speaker 1:It wasn't like it was an isolated event. And, yes, it's a good thing that if he did do this, he's getting called out and he's going to have his feet brought to the fire on it, but I still say that other people probably need to have their feet brought to the fire too. Yeah to the fire too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I mean it's a tough line to walk because I feel like there's offices. There's always not always, but a lot of times there's a dynamic of like the creepy person hitting on you or you know, like someone making passes, and it's like it's hard to know that balance of when it becomes an actual issue and when it's just creepy and just kind of unwanted, so I think that's. A good point is that usually there's other people witnessing what's happening too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know I just don't like when people go. Well, you know I don't want to get involved, it's not my business, whatever. But you have to understand that when you allow this stuff to go on around you, you don't say anything about it. Not only do you perpetrate it and keep it going on, but you also create a very hostile work environment that no one wants to be in.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And this person is not going to get any better. Once they do something, they think they got away with it. They're only going to get worse.
Speaker 2:Yeah, do you know, does Skip have a family, like, does he have a wife and kids or anything?
Speaker 1:You know what that I do not know.
Speaker 2:Okay, that's. The other thing too is like if he does, that's also a double layer of embarrassment, and like I'm sure he will be getting a divorce or you know whatever. Whoever is out there that might be with him too is probably obviously not happy about all this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know. The thing too is, I know that there's some people that work with him that are, to his best, saying well, you know, skip is very cheap. I can't see him doing that. Because you know this and that you know you got to be careful, because the one thing you don't want to do is go down that hole with them and then find out all this stuff is true. And then now people are looking at you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and a lot of like leaders too. Or you or you know not leaders, but executives can do the thing where they're like, oh, I'll give you 1.5 million, and then the day comes and they either don't make good on their promises or they're like, okay, I'll give you ten thousand dollars, like a year, for the next 90 years or something. So, um, but could you imagine also people saying, no, the reason you didn't commit assault is because you're cheap. It's not like no, you wouldn't do that because you have character or high values. It's like no, we know him, he's cheap.
Speaker 1:That's true. That's true, but I don't know, it's just weird, and I just don't understand why men do that personally. Why men do that personally. Yeah, to me there's enough women out there that love sex just as men, right as much as men. I'm quite sure it can't be that hard Now. Granted, I've been married about 30 years, so I may not know. Okay, I'll be the first to admit that, but I cannot see it being that difficult to where you can't find someone. And I could be wrong, I could be totally wrong.
Speaker 2:Especially if you're a guy in an industry like something like sports or, you know, like a flashier industry where a lot of people you may not even have to be the most attractive or most charismatic, but if you have a cool job that goes for a lot of things too, and if you're well-connected, like you know, those are attributes that tend to usually have no issues with at least finding people. It may not be like quality partners, but that's true, that's true.
Speaker 1:And if you're on TV yeah, you are I'm quite sure there's people lining up to want to date you.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:So, Weird.
Speaker 2:Very, very weird um, oh, okay, I'm so excited for this next one. Okay, this makes me really happy, okay. So, uh, I saw this and I was like man, we have to talk about this, okay? So a bride named lauren avery gained viral attention after posting a tiktok video where she removed her professionally applied wedding makeup, saying that she you know it was a video of her basically washing her face like I can't wait to take this makeup off. And then she ended up doing the makeup herself, which, funnily enough, like, looked very similar to how it was done before. She redid her whole face to pretty much have it look to us very similar of how it looked. And the makeup artist ended up responding because it was getting millions and millions of views.
Speaker 2:And, um, at first, of course, people were like, oh, I'm sorry, girl, but then the pendulum, as it always does, started to swing and more and more people were like, why would you put this public and not just like, keep it private? Or, you know, your makeup looks great. What you're trying to be mean about this makeup artist? And basically, this is someone's hard work. Um, so it ended up gaining so much traction that then the makeup artist uh, conger or kendra jones, I think she's twirly, she is on tiktok was kind of summoned and she she appeared and she's like okay, well, this is my first tiktok and I guess this video has been seen by like 21 million people so far, and so I think she did the best reaction, saying I remember this bride.
Speaker 2:She was actually really nice and I was so shocked to see this video because they did like a dry run of all the makeup before, so she did the bride's face. The bride seemed happy. They kind of did the same thing again on the wedding day and she was like you have every right to tell us that you don't like something. But instead the bride acted sweet and happy and was smiling and then made this horrendous video, just basically trying to like embarrass and humiliate her, and she got so much like people were just commenting that she got so much support and other makeup artists were backing her up and stitching the video and just calling the original woman out. So I thought that was really cool and I just thought like I don't know, that's such a bitchy move of the girl and her wedding was five months ago, so like it wasn't like a heat of the moment thing where just it wasn't in real time where this just happened this weekend. It was something that happened five months ago.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think it was such a.
Speaker 1:It was a pretty shitty move and right I mean she's like a snotty girl, like I mean if you don't like something you know you tell that person right away. I don't think you go online and you try and call them out to try and get viral, viral videos and yeah, but because also, what you could do, you could, you know, destroy this person's career.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, luckily she did have support on there to help her out. But you know, to do that was just shit it to me there's no way around it no, and I could see it.
Speaker 2:I think it flopped too, because it would be one thing if she came out looking like how that character, mimi on the drew carrie show, used to look like. You know, if it looks so obviously horrendous that it's laughable, then sure, put it up and be like. This is not what I wanted. You know we talk, remember I forget if you and I talked about this, but a few months ago there was this like sepia gate thing on.
Speaker 2:Some wedding photographer made this one person's wedding photos, all this like sepia filter colored. And then it was this big thing on tiktok where, yeah, remember where it was like this big discussion of like who who could make who, who owns the, basically the creativeness to your wedding photos, and so I feel like that was something that, like at least a lot of people are like, yeah, that's a weird sepia toneed thing that that does look different than what I would like it, whereas this wedding makeup looked very neutral and natural and it wasn't like offensive by any means, and I thought this woman just had like the best response. Um, I think that's the power of tiktok or, you know, social media is that she was able to come on and just talk right to the camera and be really authentic and so many celebrities were like commenting under her and she just like it was good to see a response that was more truthful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know, if she's asking you hey, do you like this? Is this okay? That's your opportunity to say no. You know what? Can you add a little bit here or take a little bit yeah. Don't let her do it and say everything looks great and then turn around and try and throw her under the bus later.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and just filming a video of yourself taking off your makeup, like that's not that news-breaking of a thing. Like you know, I can see if your makeup is running down your face or like something monumentous happened, but like why do we need to see a video of like a kind of snotty girl like and her snotty friends like washing off makeup?
Speaker 1:it's just like a, it's very mean girlish yeah, I just think that she just showed who she really is yeah, that girl is cooked, as the kids say now because she's. She went private real fast on her social media yeah, didn't go out the ways that she thought it was exactly, you know, it backfired so much I don't know.
Speaker 1:I mean, if you had a client like that, how would you feel? Though you know, you think you're doing a great job. They tell you everything looks great and then they turn around and pull this nonsense. I mean, how would you feel?
Speaker 2:Probably honestly, like the first level of like shocked and probably feeling like you got it, like not the wool pulled over your eyes, but a little bit of just yeah, like shock, I would say I luckily have not had that happen.
Speaker 2:But probably I would react in the same way where I think I would probably wait to calm myself down just because it is work related, and I wouldn't be defensive, but I would just say, hey, like you told me you like this work and I'm a little confused, and then I would make their life hell, then I would take out a voodoo, hit on them. But no, I think I think you're right where everyone's like I've had that before with hairstylists where I've just, at the end result, I've told them, hey, I really like my hair looks purple, or like I don't know why it looks like this and we've had a communication about it. You know, I feel like, especially for females not everyone, but beauty things are a big deal where it's like a bad haircut or a bad makeup thing could really ruin not your life, but it's like you could ruin a day or a week or whatever. I understand the gravity of it, but communicating like that is definitely very assholey.
Speaker 2:What about you.
Speaker 1:I think first I would agree. I would have to calm down first, because I'd probably be enraged, and then I would reach out to them and like why did you say this is okay if it really wasn't? And instead of just talking to me, why go this childish route? I would have definitely went to them about that. Of course I have to be clean because we're on the show, but my words probably be a little bit different.
Speaker 2:Exactly, I think, when people have good intentions, or not even good intentions, but just neutral intentions, then when people do us wrong, that's where it makes me feel crazy, because I'm like no, I mess up enough on my own. I don't need to assume that I'm like, no, I like mess up enough on my own. I don't need to be like you know, assume that I'm doing something on purpose poorly when I'm not.
Speaker 1:I hear you talking about poorly. This is actually pretty shocking, but and I'm going to try and say this slow because I've been known to butcher people names- try not to butcher his name, this is an actor. He actually starred in Shazam the movie. I don't know if you got a chance to see it, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep, his name is Dajaman Hunsu. Hopefully, again, I didn't butcher his name too bad. Recently he disclosed that he's struggling financially and what's interesting about him is, besides being in Shazam, I've actually seen him in other shows and other movies, stuff like that, and I was pretty shocked to see him make that statement because, being that he's on the big screen and I'm guilty of this too I figured he's doing pretty well for himself. So to hear that, uh, you know, he's not getting paid what he feels he deserves, and stuff like that, is actually pretty sad and it's actually more common than people think yeah, I think we would be shocked if we saw what's in actors bank accounts.
Speaker 2:I feel like we would be shocked both ways. Where I bet there's people like influencers and more internet personalities, I bet we would be shocked at how wealthy they are. And then I bet there's a lot of famous actors and more of the actual traditional actors that I think we'd be shocked at that they're not billionaires, trillionaires the way that we think they are.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I mean, I remember when Taraji P Hinton was really upset about not getting paid her worth in the music, in the film industry. You know she's been doing a lot of great films over years, a lot of iconic roles. You know I think about her and I think about a lot of other actors and you know you wonder is it an industry thing? You know, is it an issue that you know people of color still have to fight to get their due? You know there's a whole lot of possible reasons to it yeah.
Speaker 1:But you know, when you see them on the big screen, that's where it kind of surprises you, when you hear about people struggling, you know.
Speaker 2:I know and to think, like I always think about that, where I'm like, oh my God, matthew McConaughey has to like pay bills.
Speaker 2:You know, obviously at his level he has people paying his bills for him. But I think about that too A lot of times where, say, if they get like a million or 2 million for a movie, okay, well then, like their agency might take out 8% or something, and then they have other fees managers, assistants. You know, by the time these chunks kind of break down, it's still a lot of money and it's a lot more than the average American is making. But like it's when you're living in Los Angeles and your rent is $27,000 a month and you know you have all these things to do, it gets, it does get pretty costly just to like exist in this world. I think it's also an image thing because we see these people with certain clothes and certain things. But we also have to realize a lot of times those are gifted, where they, you know they borrow diamond earrings at the Met Gala or like a lot of these things are rented basically. So it's a lot of the smoke and mirrors, but oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And you know the other thing too, and you actually hit on a great point what? And you know the other thing too, and you actually hit on a great point what a lot of people don't understand about when artists whether it's music, whether it's in the movies, a small screen or whatever their pay is so much different than everyone else's pay. Yeah, because let's say and we'll just keep it even let's say, they make a million dollars, wow, that's a, that's a large payday, that's nice. Well, for them, they have to pay their agents. If they have stylists and other people. Yeah, they have to get paid. That comes from the artist, that doesn't come from the studio.
Speaker 2:Right PR people that's so expensive.
Speaker 1:And then also, too, when you have these contracts, you know it's suicidal for you to read a contract on your own, so you're going to need legal representation, yeah, yeah. And then, when it's all said or done, you're paying about 40 to 50 percent tax. Yeah, so it's not as much money as you think when it's said and done.
Speaker 2:No, I think the people that have the big bucks. There's different sections, I think A, the ones that have diversified, like who have started production companies, like the Reese Witherspoons and the Drew Barrymores, and the ones that just get out of being an actual actress and then move on to more of the producer taking on roles, and then B, the people with residual checks coming in, like the Jennifer Anistons and the people that have friends, but hopefully we don't know what deal they made up front. But the people that are getting the Seinfeld money, the Friends money, all that stuff. I feel like that's where because even if it's not a ton, you still have money coming in, whereas a lot of people if you just do one movie you're kind of like out done with it.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, and you know the other part too, and it's so important you got to have the right lawyer because really you make your money based on that contract yeah you know.
Speaker 1:So in other words, if you have a movie or, let's say, a series that you know is probably going to be in a lot of rotation for reruns, you want that contract written correctly to where you get a little something every time it's played yep, and it's like why do we think so many people too are like game show hosts after they, you know, I bet, if you ask most game show, I mean some people love that, they want to do it, but it's like you could.
Speaker 2:Or doing like geico commercials or something. It's like they're not they're not doing it just because it's fun, it's because a lot of times they're they're used to living this very like high up their lifestyle too, and a lot of people it's hard to go from like a hollywood mansion just to a normal little like humble family house.
Speaker 1:For a lot of people yeah, I mean, you know, in the same token I actually read something I don't know if it's true or not Do you remember Jaleel White? He played Urkel on Family Matters. Well, he's actually a game show host on a network, which really shocked me. But yeah, you know, and he was. He was interviewed and supposedly he said that he turned down a lot of roles because basically and they give a great example they wanted him to do some type of reality show and in a reality show he was going to basically talk about his addiction. Well, the problem to that is he doesn't have an addiction and never did. They just wanted him to make up on, doesn't?
Speaker 2:have an addiction, and never did they just wanted to make up on it or something. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:They wanted to pay him half of what he got paid when he was on Family Matters. He's like no, I'm not doing it. He's like no, it's not that serious.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh it makes you wonder how many of these? Because denzel washington did the same thing, where he turned down roles, uh, even as a starving actor. Um, because he just wanted to play certain roles and he just wanted his career to go a certain direction. And I I tip my hat off to him, because a lot of actors and actresses their mindset is is well, I'll take anything right now because I want to get my name out. Yeah, sometimes that's not a good thing.
Speaker 2:Right. No, I know, and I think we think of like all actors, like the Vince Vons and the A-list people. But then there's so many B-list and C-list actors that we see on TV and we're like, oh okay, they were in the office, you know they must be famous, but they're like, nope, they're living like a very like upper middle class life, not a, you know, crazy like lavish lifestyle.
Speaker 1:That's true, and you know times change too, because I remember Todd Bridges, which sadly he's the only living member of Different Strokes now, because everyone else has passed away. You know, he, that you know back then they didn't have the life-changing money that you know that actors and actresses have today yeah, yep so yeah, it's, it's very interesting, but um, yeah like I said you know, just because you see someone on a big screen doesn't mean they're making the money right and and.
Speaker 2:And. The flip side is sometimes it's like I can't believe how much some influencers get paid for like brand deals or you know what I mean. It's almost the the flip side, where it's like it's become less glamorous to be like a hollywood actress and almost more lucrative to be like a digital influencer. As soon as we crack into that, then it's amazing how much some of them work.
Speaker 1:I know like are you. Are you effing kidding me this?
Speaker 2:guy like twenty thousand dollars for like one instagram story. Meanwhile, I'm posting like 800 instagram stories and getting like three views and, yeah, totally, people will pay me to stop posting. Um, let's see. Oh okay, this one is fun too. Wait, can you still hear me?
Speaker 2:yes, I can okay, good, yay, uh, okay, I thought this was a cool one. So right now, uh, there's a university lake superior state university every year comes out with its banished words list a tradition that dates back to 1976, highlighting words and terms that are overused, misused or just unnecessary, and so they gather submissions from all over the world from US, canada, australia you know all these places and it's all in good fun, but they take a lot of words and phrases that are just like we're over it. We need to move on. You know, it's kind of almost like how we pick a word in the dictionary each year that's our new. This is almost the opposite, where it's like we're getting rid of some stuff. So I wanted to share with you and we could give our thoughts. One of the banished words is cringe.
Speaker 1:We're really getting rid of that word Really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, in this university I love it. So a lot of people wrote in that it's overused and like right now, ironically, cringe is cringe, Like saying cringe is cringe To me. I still feel like we're not done with it yet. How do you feel?
Speaker 1:No, I can't see that word going away, absolutely not. Because there's a lot of cringe-worthy stuff A lot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's a good way to describe it. Okay, next up is describing anything as a game changer. Really, yeah, I don't mind that either.
Speaker 1:That's surprising because you know, to me that's like and actually you hear that in a lot of sports and a lot of business too, so I'm surprised that's on the list, but okay, this is so funny.
Speaker 2:I feel like this is really just Gen Z like hating on millennials. I think so funny. I feel like this is really just Gen Z hating on millennials.
Speaker 1:I think so too Right.
Speaker 2:Okay, we're supposed to drop saying the word dropped. So stop saying that someone dropped a video, an album, this new song drops. Now we're supposed to say something else for dropped.
Speaker 1:You know, I haven't heard that term in a long time, so I guess people aren't using it anymore.
Speaker 2:Really, I feel like I say it Like oh, I'm going to drop, we're going to drop a podcast episode. I don't know, it's a little bit cringy. It's the same as me, of like, when I hear people saying they call a podcast a pod. It has that same thing where it's like a little bit like oh God, but but it's just like vernacular that we're using nowadays. You know, I don't know, sometimes it's just like the easiest word to use, ok.
Speaker 2:And the last one is 100 percent. Saying, like you know, to agree with someone like 100 percent, which I type out 100 percent, a lot.
Speaker 1:Like I don't really say it, but I type it Right, I'm actually surprised, because I do use that a lot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like I'll say 100%. It's kind of like another one on this list is the same thing like period, which I don't really say that that seems like a little bit too current for me to say. But 100% I'll text back if someone is saying something and I'm like I agree with you.
Speaker 1:I think the new generation is just getting down on the old generation there, right, no offense, but they're introducing so much.
Speaker 2:that is cringe. I feel like so many of the bad and the new things, I'm like we don't need all this.
Speaker 1:That's true, but 100% though. I use that all the time, because sometimes that's the perfect response to something. When someone makes a statement you agree with you just like a hundred percent.
Speaker 2:You don't even have to make a whole sentence like a hundred percent.
Speaker 1:You know what it means.
Speaker 2:Now do you always add the percent, though, cause we have a friend that just writes a hundred, like he just writes.
Speaker 1:I'm kind of weird. I put the percent on there too, me too.
Speaker 2:I feel like that might be a little bit older thing that we do Is like we just want to make sure they know that we're talking about percentage wise.
Speaker 1:Exactly exactly.
Speaker 2:So I thought that was fun. I guess maybe we could think about any words that we want to ban, but I'm okay with that. I'm more like I don't have words I want to ban. It's more like the tone lately where people will go Like huh, okay with that, I'm more like I don't have words I want to ban. It's more like the tone lately where people will go like huh, I don't know. It's almost sometimes tones that get me annoyed, rather than the actual words.
Speaker 1:That's true, that's true, and you know also too, especially when you're talking to someone, that body language says a whole whole lot.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, like when someone goes, you goes whatever. No big deal versus whatever. Even though you're technically saying the same thing, they mean two different things.
Speaker 2:Yes, people are so sassy nowadays it's like, oh my God.
Speaker 1:Yes, definitely. It's like, okay, him in the mouth, there's a camera over there, so that's okay, we'll just walk away. Interesting conversation here. I wanted to find out, meryl, do you think that drones are getting out of control? Yes, and what I mean by that is a few examples.
Speaker 1:There was this big drone light show that they did probably a few weeks ago. There was some kind of malfunction or whatever, where drones just start falling down to the sky and this kid got hit in the chest with a drone and he had to go to emergency heart surgery because of that. And then there was the incident recently where one of the planes that was fighting the fires in LA was hit by a drone. Luckily it was able to land safely and everything. But now they have to repair the big gaping hole in that plane and they're trying to find out I don't know if they found him yet trying to find out who the owner of that drone is. And then also all the drones that you saw over New Jersey. Do you think it's kind of gone a little bit crazy with the drones lately?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it definitely seems like the personal use examples that you used, the one that got in the way of the plane and the plane had to be grounded. That one obviously, yes, because I feel like people have to take responsibility no-transcript jersey or what was happening with that but to me that that was very weird. I don't know if it was the drones per se that was driving me crazy. It was more like the lack of transparency of what was happening. Um, but yeah, I mean I think it's going to be really weird. I kind of wish that there was a way that, like, the drones could help with the fire, you know, like instead of hurting the planes. But you would think, if we had these things, like I don't know what they could really do because they can't obviously like dump a whole bunch of water. But yeah, it's weird. I really hope we don't have like drone Amazons flying over us in the next year or taking up too much real estate in the sky.
Speaker 1:I know there's a company I don't remember which one that is trying to get approval for air taxis. Basically like an Uber or Lyft, but in the sky where they take people to their destination. I don't know, if I'm too comfortable.
Speaker 2:No, I would need it to be like 10 years or 10,000 years in the making, and drones are just kind of like fugly and ugly. I feel like, between the cyber truck and all these things, we're just introducing a lot of weird, ugly, futuristic things to our life when, like most of us need nature and to go back to like kind of more simpler things.
Speaker 1:I agree. I agree. I mean even when you talk about the driverless cars. Now you know there's a driverless car service that's in California and they showed this one guy who was basically trapped in a vehicle because the car kept going around in circles oh yeah, that is so scary it's like, okay, what? What do you do there then, when there's not a person?
Speaker 2:yes, I know you're just like going round and round and you can't get out, and it's just. And remember, we saw something where they were all like beeping at each other, I think in san francisco.
Speaker 1:They were all like stuck in a parking lot, like I tell you, if I I lived next to that, I would be pissed Me too, because even through the TV you can see like you know what I would be really angry about this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's just, you know, one car beeping is one thing, 30 to 50 to 100, yeah, oh, that's insane, yeah, and with the other like the drone stuff in New Jersey, it's kind of like I don't hate the player, I hate the game kind of thing where it's like the drones itself are annoying and kind of unsightly, but it's to me it's more. There was no explanation for these families of like why there's a huge drone flying over their house and they might not have. I mean, I think we all know a few different reasons of like. Maybe they didn't want to panic us, or maybe something was happening they were looking for, but I don't think it was aliens. I don't think aliens are showing up in the form of drones.
Speaker 1:I don't know, oh, that's right. That's right, you are a.
Speaker 2:UFO. I forgot who I'm talking to. I don't think aliens exist, but are they really coming in the form of metal drones?
Speaker 1:You know what I'm not saying. They are, but some of those drones which kind of shocked me and I'm surprised a lot of people are talking about it some of these drones were the size of cars. That's a commercial drone. That's not something that you're going to buy for your son or daughter. That's a commercial drone and it's like, huh, the size of cars and I'm like nobody caught that.
Speaker 2:But don't you think. But I think they were like flying according to FAA rules. It would just be so weird if, like the other matter on planets were drone, were like metal, you know, like drones that were lit up and that had like operating, I don't know. I guess I just picture aliens looking a little bit more globby and blobby. I mean the plasmoids absolutely. I do think like life from matter from other planets, like it absolutely exists and I believe in it. I just don't know if I picture it being like drums and having it formed like that. I I picture it a little bit more exciting to me unless it's a probe.
Speaker 1:Maybe Could be a probe.
Speaker 2:As you can see, I watch a lot of Star Trek, and I heard that a few drones were coming up from the water. Did you hear that too?
Speaker 1:Like they were coming out of the ocean. But you know, the real thing that's crazy is that the law enforcement and government agencies for the most part were pretty quiet about it. Yeah, people caught that.
Speaker 2:They were kind of quiet about it. I know Well, it's so weird when local leaders were like asking for. I think a lot of local mayors and governors didn't know what was happening, and they weren't you know, they weren't getting answers, and it just shows how, like when the the our government, the national government doesn't want us to know something, they really are not going to tell anyone, and just yeah, it's really weird very, very weird.
Speaker 1:So I don't know.
Speaker 2:I make sure my phone stays uh charged all the time, just in case I see it was so funny because at one point I was like why can't someone just send their drone to go? Look at those drones. I don't understand to me where I'm like okay, if there's a drone like however many feet up ahead, couldn't we just like send our own things? But I guess they were, so they were good about not being caught where, like someone's drone, would get up close to it and then it would like go away.
Speaker 1:That's true, that's true, but then again, maybe they're coming down to introduce themselves to us.
Speaker 2:I would hope so One of my comedian friends had the funniest joke I was laughing so hard where they said I don't feel bad, I'm not scared that it's aliens. I'm scared that if it is aliens, the first thing they're going to see is people from New Jersey. That's their first sign of life. It's really funny, which I love. I have so many new jersey friends I loved I. I was like in on the facebook groups of like my friend, let me in on like jersey mom's facebook group so I could see and if anyone's going to solve an issue, it's going to be jersey moms because they are not letting up. So they were like asking their local officials what was happening. But yeah, but one of my really best friends was just like, yeah, I look out my window and I see a million drones and it's like very unsettling to be taking your kids to work and seeing your kids to school, I mean, and taking going to work and seeing these like huge things above you and also like what are they looking for with just normal everyday lives?
Speaker 1:You know that's true, but, like I said, uh, it's really amazing. And and also, too, they're saying that they still have those drones, that that are coming up, but the la fires have taken up so much real estate and you don't hear about it anymore we can only care about one thing at a time, which is like I'll be.
Speaker 2:I'll be back on my drone bullshit in about two weeks, hopefully, oh okay. Well, my favorite technology in the whole wide world is TikTok, and you know there's this big kind of is it going to get banned? Is it not going to get banned? Last year, congress passed a law that forces TikTok's parent company, bytedance, to sell the US operation or it would face a nationwide ban. They say that ByteDance's ties to China is a national security risk if the user data is shared with the Chinese government. And now it's supposed to shut down like very at the end of this month. And I think it's so funny where basically these videos on TikTok have these people like going up with a binder saying like hello, chinese government, here's my information, just take it. And so I guess number one I forget Are you on TikTok? A whole bunch.
Speaker 1:Yes, I am.
Speaker 2:OK, because I'm obsessed. For me, that's been my favorite app ever, and definitely the social media where I spend time. And now there's been a lot of talk about like, if it does get shut down, where are we going next? And I don't know if you've heard about this one, but I've heard red note is like one that is popular I've heard red note.
Speaker 1:I've also heard, I think, lemon eight.
Speaker 2:I think it's called oh yeah, I've heard of that too and me personally I'm gonna do a wait and see.
Speaker 1:Basically, I do social media on multiple platforms, not just one. For this reason because you never know what's going to happen, and the other platforms like one platform I heard wasn't the greatest. So I'm going to do a wait and see. But the one thing that I got to say is and I think it's an age thing a lot of these younger people that are on TikTok, that have a whole bunch of followers, are not taking this seriously. Once you build up and you have hundreds of thousands of followers, that is very, very hard to duplicate and right now, unless something changes, TikTok is pretty much going to go dark.
Speaker 1:Yes, At some point it won't disappear off your phone or your device, but you won't be able to get any updates and at some point it just will stop working.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, that's so sad. I feel like I'm going to be saying goodbye to like 10,000 friends and people I care about Not actual friends, but people that I lurk on.
Speaker 1:Now I would think that, even though the owners of TikTok wants to keep it, I would think that the greed in most business people would say that you know what? If we're not going to win this by this date, we're going to sell this baby and get as much money as possible. I could be wrong, but I think that probably would be the logical thing that happens, because just to go dark doesn't mean anything, because you're not getting anything for it.
Speaker 2:I know that's true. Yeah, I mean, it's definitely like I feel like ever since the pandemic I downloaded it and it's just like I feel like that's I'd rather like scroll TikTok than watch TV, and you know, people are so funny on it. I think Like even just the commenters like it's definitely the most entertaining app we've ever seen.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that I personally think that the government should be open with us about what they see, because I know people got to understand Democratic Party and Republican Party. They don't agree on nothing and for them to unanimously buy with a bipartisan bill, want to take TikTok down. There's something that scared the daylights out of them that they're not telling us.
Speaker 2:One of the things I heard in my conspiracy groups is that it reads brainwaves or something. It might be so far out there, but they said that somehow it reads brainwaves, and that's one of the reasons how you're able to just kind of be thinking like, hmm, I wish I could go to Florida and then all of a sudden you'll like see something pop up on your TikTok for Florida.
Speaker 1:You know what the scary thing is that could be true. A lot of people will think I'm nuts, but think about it like this have you ever been on your phone or computer, doesn't matter and you look up something. The next thing you know you get like 50 advertisements of what you just look for, right or the occasional. You know you're thinking about buying something, you're thinking about going some place and then magically the ads pop up. That could be a coincidence, but I'm quite sure you felt like, whoa, this is weird, what the hell?
Speaker 2:you know what I mean yeah, but I like I always wondered, like how would a technology do that? And obviously it's not the creators, it's not every video we see, there's not every creator. Isn't like putting this weird sheen on their video to have something happen? So, but you're right where there has to be something. And I don't know if it's just the threat of, like, the Chinese government learning about all of us, but I feel like the everyday person like you could pretty much know what we're all looking at and doing. Like it's not that crucial, I think, for them to know. I don't know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then allegedly I don't know if this is true or not they said well, if they did sell it to a company, they wouldn't give them the algorithm. Okay, why the hell would they buy the company without?
Speaker 2:the algorithm.
Speaker 1:Right, exactly the hell. Would they buy the company without the right?
Speaker 2:exactly. So it kind of makes you wonder well, what's?
Speaker 1:in your algorithm.
Speaker 2:That, yeah, people to see it does scare me too, because, like, I'm definitely addicted to like scrolling. My screen time is at an all-time high, so it is very like maladaptive in the way that I might take a break and maybe not go right away to a next platform, because I'm like, do I need to be addicted by like a whole other thing? You know, I can't imagine too, because I feel like I spend so much time on tiktok that it might be interesting to see what life looks like without, uh, that whole kind of portion being used up, because, like, I don't care at all about instagram, I'm barely on facebook.
Speaker 1:Like those things aren't very addictive to me the way that tikt Let me ask you this If TikTok does go away, what do you think or where do you think the people from TikTok are going to go to?
Speaker 2:Well, today I've been seeing so much about Red Note, which I signed up just to see. Right now it seems like a lot of it is in Mandarin. But it seems like a lot of the people on Red Note in China are very funny about it already, where they're like, hello, we're your new chinese spy, like, but they're basically saying like yay, we can live together as one and like people are saying so far, right now, that's very, it's a very wholesome app and like they're saying oh my god, we almost feel so bad for like infiltrating it and kind of swinging over. I feel like there's going to be a bunch of them, but I think it will take a while for us to see which ones stick and which ones are cringe, as they say yeah, I could be wrong, but I think you're gonna see a huge boost from both youtube and instagram I know, I know, but instagram is really gonna have to like win back some people on reels.
Speaker 2:I think, like the everyday person, yes, like I think Reels is still out there and really big, but I agree, youtube is still kind of young and coolish. But a lot of people I know just feel like as creators, it feels like Instagram is good to reach people on Reels.
Speaker 1:But, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think one of the losers in this is facebook, because for some reason, a lot of young people don't like facebook I know, and the one thing I love is about tiktok is like that I don't know anyone like I barely I don't follow my friends on it, like I just follow creators, or like nature things or food things, um, and that's one thing I don't love about instagram reels is like my algorithm. It shows me stuff that I lose interest in really fast, Like it doesn't, Whereas TikTok I can just like watch the same way I'd watch a TV channel. So I feel like we'd almost have to get more into that, where the next thing would be way more like little bits and bytes, like how it is now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree. I mean, I think the date is the 19th, which is literally only six days away.
Speaker 2:I'm in denial. I feel like we're in a Superman movie where something's going to happen, but, like I said, it may be. If we knew the truth I may be like, oh my God, get this thing off my phone right now. Right now, you know like which is? I think they owe it to us to at least tell us why, but why it's so detrimental.
Speaker 1:I agree, because it's something that's really scared them, because again they don't agree on anything.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And for them to be to agree on this. And if you notice they're not wavering away from this, you know. So there's something Behind the scenes that has scared them or, you know, kind of raised some hairs Like whoa, we need to cut this.
Speaker 2:I know, you know who I feel like would be the Person to tell us is Trump Of all the times, to blabber, blabber your mouth and just like, put it out there For us, like now could be a time where we just want you to blabber.
Speaker 1:That's true. Do you think we're going to find out the truth, though, if they do ban it, what the reason is?
Speaker 2:Yes, I really do. I think either between Trump spilling the beans and saying it, or afterwards we will find out why.
Speaker 1:I agree, I think it is going to come out, but I can't wait to see what happens.
Speaker 2:so we'll be talking about this again I know, if tiktok goes down, I my uh, every like 30 of my content I'll have to find new things because, like every single thing, I'm just okay. This makeup artist, this thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it'll be interesting to see.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:Wow, this has been one great episode.
Speaker 2:I know I'm so happy we're back Back baby.
Speaker 1:Yes, and for anyone who did not catch the beginning of the show, we are now on podcast.
Speaker 2:Woohoo.
Speaker 1:So all you gotta do is look up Thirsty Topics on all of your major platforms and we're there. We have a new episode every single week.
Speaker 2:I'm subscribing right now.
Speaker 1:Oh, thank you, Merrill.
Speaker 2:I'll be your 8 millionth subscriber.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you, thank you. Speaking of things coming up, merrill, what do you have coming up? Well, thank you, thank you. Speaking of things coming up, merle, what do you have coming up?
Speaker 2:Well, depending on if Los Angeles combusts or not, supposedly tomorrow, by the time this comes out, it will be over. But I have a show in Santa Barbara, but we will see how that goes, weather permitting. And then, if anyone's in the Seattle area, I am going to Seattle for a show January 30th, so I'll be at one I forget what the name is, but one of the big Seattle comedy clubs. I'll be there. So that's my next kind of show I'm excited about.
Speaker 1:Ooh, nice, nice. Do you happen to remember the name of the venue?
Speaker 2:I think it's like called the seattle laughs or something, but I'll have to look it up. But it's so funny. The name of the show is called hotties and bodies and a lot of the comedians may be stripping on stage. I, fortunately, and unfortunately for everyone will not be one of them. There's many people that are both sad and happy about that let's see, comedy is Now.
Speaker 1:that's an interesting combination.
Speaker 2:I know, I know and I think during my set I'm going to be like having someone dancing in the background too, which will be amazing.
Speaker 1:Nice, Nice, Sounds like a nice crazy event.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just the kind of thing I love.
Speaker 1:There you go. Well, everyone, thank you so much for watching. This has been a great episode, the first of many for this year.
Speaker 2:Woohoo.
Speaker 1:I am Lawrence Elrod.
Speaker 2:And I'm Meryl Clemo.
Speaker 1:Have a great day everyone. Bye.
