Thirsty Topics podcast
A weekly podcast dedicated to trending topics on social media, pop culture and entertainment. Lawrence and Meryl have healthy discussions with multiple perspectives.
Thirsty Topics podcast
Navigating Modern Challenges: From Tariffs to Entertainment Industry Shifts for 5/5/25
The economy shows concerning signs with Target limiting self-checkout amid theft losses and Americans taking out loans for groceries, while entertainment industry faces disruption from proposed tariffs on foreign films and Lady Gaga's Rio concert draws two million fans despite a thwarted bomb threat.
• Target limits self-checkout to 10 items or less amid $500 million in theft-related losses
• NFL fines Atlanta Falcons $250,000 and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich $100,000 for prank call incident
• Climber rescued twice from Mount Fuji in four days after returning for lost cell phone
• Americans taking out short-term loans just to afford groceries amid rising prices
• Nike releases "Dirty Triple White" Air Force Ones that supposedly get cleaner with wear
• 21-year-old fan in critical condition after falling 21 feet at Pittsburgh Pirates game
• Trump proposes 100% tariffs on films produced outside the US, shocking movie industry
• Bill Belichick, 72, dating 24-year-old girlfriend who interrupted his interview
• Lady Gaga performs free concert for two million fans in Rio as security thwarts planned attack
• CBS cancels "The Equalizer" starring Queen Latifah after five seasons
Hello, and thank you for listening to Thirsty Topics podcast! I'm Lawrence Elrod, and every week Meryl Klemow and I dive deep into the stories that matter, the conversations that shape our world."
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Hello everyone, welcome to this week's episode of Thirsty Topics. I'm Lauren Selrod and I'm Meryl Clemo. Hey, Meryl, how are you doing today? Hey, hey, hey.
Speaker 2:I'm so good. How are you?
Speaker 1:You know what I am doing? Great, I feel great, I can't complain.
Speaker 2:I like your shirt For the listeners. You're wearing a chum bucket shirt.
Speaker 1:Now for some of the old schoolers that know what this is, or people with kids, you would know what this is. This is a character out of spongebob squarepants. That's so funny I felt like being a little silly today yeah, I feel like I should know it.
Speaker 2:One of my friends used to be one of the animators on spongebob, so I feel like I should know, I should know some of the lore, but I I'm always like, oh, interesting, okay, and I think of course the only one I know is actually spongebob himself. But unless it's family guy, I don't know that's true.
Speaker 1:That's true. Well, meryl, I will go.
Speaker 2:You start this week okay, I have an interesting one. Um, target is one of the the one of the many stores that is pulling the plug on self-checkout amid shoplifting surge. Now, you know we've gone back and forth a lot of talking about how AI and robots are taking over for a lot of our jobs and I know we were feeling like checkout people were going to be by the wayside pretty soon because we thought a lot of the checkout would be, you know, for more of the AI and the self-scanning machines. But now retail giant Target has limited self-checkout to customers with 10 items or less. But they're denying the claim claims the move is due to theft. Um, they're just saying like, oh, we want to go back to the normal way.
Speaker 2:But it's very obvious, I think, that people are saying it's, it's, they're losing a lot of money from checkout. Um, people are like I don't know if you've, I've never done this, but like I would be more scared to shoplift via self-checkout because I feel like they are watching. You know the cameras are there, but I guess a lot of people take it upon themselves to be like, okay, I'm scanning this and then this one I get for free, and then you know, basically, one for me one for you type of thing. So yeah, I guess, like, do you use self-checkout? Is kind of my first question for you.
Speaker 1:You know what I use self-checkout all the time. You do I like it just because it's fast, it's convenient and you know I take my sweet time just so we don't have no issues. But yeah, and you know, I've seen people, people I've had a scene, but I've heard of people you know, do learn how to do tricks. And you know the sad part is, meryl, no matter what you do, someone's going to figure out a way to work around it. I know you just got to look at does it make better business sense to to do the self-checkout or to just get rid of it or dramatically minimize it? Exactly.
Speaker 2:It's really a numbers game. Yeah, some numbers here. Target has been grappling with staggering losses due to what retailers call a shrink, a term that includes shoplifting and inventory errors. So in 2023, the company reported nearly $500 million in shrink-related losses compared to the previous year. In one dramatic case, a California woman this wasn't me, I promise, but she was convicted of stealing over $60,000 in merchandise from Target stores using a self-checkout machine during a 100-visit crime spree. So you would think like just arrest her by like the 47th time or something you know.
Speaker 1:Nah, don't get me wrong. I I do know that groceries are expensive.
Speaker 2:What the hell is she buying for? I know from target it's a lot of deodorants and paper towels and stuff yeah, that sounds like more than just a regular shopper yeah now I have so many thoughts about this.
Speaker 2:Just one of my thoughts is that I think to the self-shopping machines that I go to that are very finicky and I almost hate using them. I don't know if this has happened to you too, but, like especially the grocery store by me, the attendant always has to come over because everyone is always like trying to pay and do the right thing and then it always freezes or like it can't work. So I still feel like even with the self-shopping thing, a human is still needed, like quite heavily oh, absolutely definitely you know, um, and then my second thing was I did try.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna admit I did try. I saw a hack a few weeks ago that was like at whole foods. When you do it, if you say you're like weighing your pair or something, if you like hold the pear up a little bit, then it doesn't. It gives us like half the weight and I tried it and it just didn't work for me.
Speaker 1:So yeah, but you know what A major retailer, Walmart, got in trouble for. I guess the weights were off in a self-checkout when they were weighing fruits and stuff like that. So there's some kind of major lawsuits. So it can be abused in both ways.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I wouldn't. But I definitely think self-checkout should be an option, because it just seems like the lines are taking forever, and especially if you have like a toothbrush and a toothpaste and then everyone else in like the main line has so many items you just want to go through quickly, um, but yeah, I don't know, I don't know a way to stop it.
Speaker 1:but yeah, that's true. I mean, the only way I could think of is is that usually, like the store I go to um, I go to meyers, which is by me heavily, and you, they have a limit on how many items you can go through the self-checkout. So that's a good way to prevent it too, because it's easy for the person to me to watch. Yeah, because it's only like about, I think, six machines, so one person could easily watch that, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and I feel like they have to be used to people just being like okay, like grapes, bananas. But I just wouldn't, because I feel like they're looking a lot and I think the risk of getting caught and having some sort of fine is like not worth to me. How much a Kiwi would be, or something watching me, whatever it's.
Speaker 1:Sometimes it's not what you do, but how you do it. You know what I mean. If you're standing back and you're watching everyone, I have no problem, but don't come stand next to me, well yeah, that that would irritate the living hell out of me oh my gosh, especially like oh, I wear my headphones a lot.
Speaker 2:In fact, someone asked me if I was autistic because I was wearing my headphones in the group and I'm like, are you?
Speaker 1:serious, yeah, yeah, wow, because I was wearing my headphones in the grocery and I'm like yeah, yeah, Wow.
Speaker 2:Because I was wearing my headphones in the grocery store and I think they were actually being sweet. They were like, oh, I wear, I wear headphones too, cause I'm autistic. I'm like no, I'm just heavily irritated right now Maybe a sign of that but like, but yeah, cause it is a lot by the self-service people and they they stand right next to you and makes me feel like I'm not doing anything bad and then you start getting in your head like, did I do something bad? Or you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for me I get. I get that warm feeling, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Yeah that like flush feeling yeah.
Speaker 1:And then you know you want to turn around and be like okay, can I help you? Is there a problem? You know yeah.
Speaker 2:Do you guys have to pay for bags where you live?
Speaker 1:You know what? Where I live at I don't, but in Chicago they do.
Speaker 2:They do. Ok, yeah, For us it's 10 cents a bag, and that is one area where I won't say where, but one of my favorite shopper employees is always like honey, just grab a bag, like she never charges me for it. So, but yeah, I mean I can understand this with Target because it seems like a lot to manage. But yeah, I mean I can understand this with Target because it seems like a lot to manage. So I know Walmart has removed a lot of self-checkout machines, Dollar General has scaled back and yeah, we'll see. We'll see how it goes.
Speaker 1:Yeah that's true. I think that, unfortunately, with everything going on right now in the economy and tariffs and stuff like that, um, I hope it doesn't happen, but I think that problem may get worse me too.
Speaker 2:I do too, and it's so funny because a lot of this originated during covid when, like we want, people wanted to have as little contact or not have, like the person, sneeze on each other at the register and stuff so we'll see, just make sure you pay attention, you know, don't over Over bag stuff, you know. Don't over bag stuff. Don't steal those kiwis. We didn't tell you to do that.
Speaker 1:There you go. Well, this is an update From a story we did last week. This is regarding what happened with the Atlanta Falcons and what happened with Shadur Sanders. Well, the NFL has laid down the hammer. They have fined the Atlanta Falcons $250,000. And then they fined the defensive coordinator, jeff Erbick. Just so, people, in case you're not into football, jeff Erbick, he actually is the father of the idiot, I mean the man who did the little prank call. So he was fined $100,000. So, between him and the team, they were fined $350,000.
Speaker 1:Basically it's supposed to be a deterrent that this doesn't happen again. I would say this is a hell of a deterrent.
Speaker 2:Yeah, do we know how much is Jeff like a very rich? Is he one of those people that makes like $17 million a year, or?
Speaker 1:No, I don't think he makes that. I mean obviously you know the main coaches on there, they, they do make millions a year. Um, obviously, the head coach is going to make the most out of all of them. But you know, even if you, if you make a million dollars a year, yeah, like a hundred thousand thousand dollars. That's ten percent of your.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know I wonder where this money will go to you know, I'm not really sure.
Speaker 1:I mean, I think I think one of the big things the nfl wants to do is deter anyone from doing this nonsense again. Yeah, and you know also too, there's reports that other players got prank calls as well too oh okay, and so I think the nfl is just trying to make a strong statement that this nonsense will not be tolerated.
Speaker 2:What if all the money goes to Deion's son? It goes to like build him another room to not get phone calls or interviews or anything like that? I mean, we might have different views on this, but like I feel like that's too much money for them to be fined on. What do you think? Like I think it was totally idiotic and maybe the falcons getting fined 250 because that's like a team, but even though I think it was like idiotic what his son did, a dad getting fined a hundred thousand just seems like so much to me you know what I think, and and again.
Speaker 1:This is just my perspective on this because when he gave you know he, he went, he went up and he gave a conference and he apologized for for what he did was you know, for what his son did and everything.
Speaker 1:I was a little disappointed his son wasn't standing next to him because this is yeah when you're a young man right, so I was very disappointed he wasn't up there too, but you know we talked about it on the last episode and I think he's lucky to have his job. Yeah, because that's just the information that was leaked out. Yeah, well, not really leaked out, but supposedly taken by his son. You know we can argue back and forth about that, but I think that it's very clear that, hey, when you get sensitive stuff, you keep that stuff to yourself. You don't share with your family, you don't leave your computer open, though we got another issue if you gotta lock your computer in your own house when you're a kid, but that's a whole separate issue yeah, especially at 21 years old.
Speaker 2:But we think about, like I think about when I was in college, some of the bad things I did. If my dad was fined $100,000 for every time, I was an idiot.
Speaker 1:Something tells me that they had a not-so-hard-to-hard talk.
Speaker 2:Yeah, especially after getting that $100,000 hit. Yeah, and then I guess you're right. You're right, he is lucky that he still has his job. But I do think too the kid is 21 years old. I feel like the kid is an adult. So I'm glad he didn't get put in jail or anything like that. But it's just, I don't know.
Speaker 1:I think it's probably the best of both worlds, because if the NFL were to go after him, I would see charges being brought. So they probably didn't want to do that and this is the best of both worlds, you know.
Speaker 2:But you don't think? The dad makes like $60,000 a year, right, okay, okay, I'm hoping that that's not taking away from the kid's future, like buying a house or something one day.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, no, I mean the father, like I said, these coaches you? No, no, no, no, I mean the father, like I said, these coaches you know they make millions a year. Obviously, you know the coaches don't always make the most on the team, but you know, and here's the thing, and this is a great reference to it, these NFL teams are billion dollar organizations. Yeah, I don't care how much money you have.
Speaker 2:$250,000 is $250,000. Yeah, that's true, that's very true. I wonder if, like um the sun, if the one that got pranked, dion's son, if he said like don't do it, I don't care about that, I wonder if they would stop or anything, if they would like drop it you know what?
Speaker 1:I don't know but I think the NFL will go straight through with this, just because it's a tarnish on their brand too, when this kind of happens. And you know, again, these are kids that are well. I shouldn't call them kids, they're men, but I guess because of my age I look at them as kids.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they are still kids.
Speaker 1:But you know, they're literally going through life changing moments. I mean, this is the biggest thing that ever happened to them. To have someone to call and prank them like that, that's not fun, I know.
Speaker 2:They probably wanted to set a precedent of do this and you're going to get a huge reprimanding, which would be good. I wish we did that more in society of people online bullying each other we talked about it a few times ago people running and hitting each other on the head with batons or like. I feel like we need a few things, just even if they're like over punishment, just to show.
Speaker 1:I feel like I'm sounding very old right now, but I would say that there's 350,000 reasons that this won't happen next year.
Speaker 2:I think so too. Year, I think so too. The dad is probably so mad. I wonder, if there's like a mom in the picture, how she feels about all this.
Speaker 1:You know what? I would probably figure she's probably live it on a number of occasions, cause, let's face it, that's a hundred thousand dollars out of their household because your knucklehead son thought he was having a good time, you know.
Speaker 2:Exactly, didn't you say? I think there were, like other boys involved too, like you know, one of the friends or anything.
Speaker 1:But I don't know.
Speaker 2:Well, we'll keep an eye on that, oh yes.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I could just imagine I'm not even going to send the article to my dad because he would break out in a sweat from all the things I've done. I definitely had to a few times be like don't ask why the police are calling you right now. It's okay, it's okay, okay. Well, speaking of stupid things, a man airlifted from Japan's Mount Fuji returns to slope days later and is rescued again. So, uh, this is ridiculous.
Speaker 2:A climber airlifted with altitude sickness from the peak of japan's mountain last week returned to the slope and was rescued for a second time just four days later. Officials urged people to be aware of the harsh conditions at the country's tallest peak during its off season. The climber was identified as a 27 year old student living in japan, um, so he made an emergency call and he was airlifted, which, like I don't know if you've ever seen videos of people being airlifted so scary. He developed symptoms of altitude sickness and then, on saturday, he returned to mount fuji about, uh, which is 3,000 meters, nearly 10,000 feet, above sea level. Oh, okay, so he was looking for his cell phone and other belongings left behind.
Speaker 2:That's a little different. I thought he was just like here I go again, like I mean as much as we love our cell phone. I don't know if I'd climb another 10,000 feet to do it. And then basically, he had the same thing. So he was like, help, I need to be rescued again. And I just think, anytime I hear a story about this, or people like hiking mount everest or you know machu picchu or something, I'm just like, oh my god, I don't, I don't have what it takes yeah, I think he needs to find a new hobby person.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But to return to try to find your cell phone. That's even scarier, because then that means you don't have your cell phone on you. So like when the inevitable happens, like how would you even get rescued again, you know?
Speaker 1:I mean, I get it. Losing your cell phone would be a pain in the ass, because your whole life is on there, right?
Speaker 2:But yeah, I don't think think I'm gonna risk my life trying to go back for it. No, and this is very, very scary. He's lucky and another climber found him there. He was unable to move after he developed a altitude sickness for a second time. Poor thing, I feel bad. I mean he's 27, like you could just tell that's probably someone that really wanted to do this and, like, probably really had his goals set. It's a little ridiculous, but I feel very bad for him. I hope he's able to train and do it again, if that's what he really wants.
Speaker 1:I don't know. I think his buddies are probably going to sit down with a beer and say hey, you know, we really applaud what you're doing, we support you, but yeah, you need to stop doing this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's a video game where you can do that. Now, just put on this VR headset, you'll be good to go. Do you have any friends in your life that are giant rock climbers, slash hiking Mount Kilimanjaro or anything like that?
Speaker 1:You know what? I know that there's hikers in a family as far as extreme like that. None that I'm aware of, because you know, I hiked when I was in the Boy Scouts years ago. So hiking is actually kind of fun, but I'm not really looking to try to climb a mountain or anything like that. You know I have went over 50 years without breaking a bone in my body and I'm way too young to start now. Yeah, same thing. You know I have went over 50 years without breaking a bone in my body and I'm way too old to start now.
Speaker 2:So yeah, same thing. You know that's so funny. I just saw on TikTok. I've never broken a bone either, and I saw on TikTok that the universe like I don't know, of course it could be silly, but if you don't break a bone it's like supposed to mean that you're like you go through enough, like mentally and physically enough in this lifetime that like the universe bears you.
Speaker 1:I don't know if that's a good or bad thing.
Speaker 2:I know, I know I was like maybe I'll break an elbow if I, if it helps me like not be so mentally crazy or something. Um, but yeah, I know a few people that have like hiked everest, or like one of my really best friends did machu picchu in peru and like she couldn't breathe and you know, but she just she wanted to. This was like a goal of hers and I'm like, well, we just think very differently.
Speaker 1:This is not like in my mind at all wow so I don't know, does she still do the hike like that?
Speaker 2:she just had a baby. So now, now, now she's conquering motherhood. But, um, but yeah, could you imagine this guy having to explain? And I think, well, maybe not because it's not america, but like here, we would have to pay to get airlifted two times. You know, our health insurance would be a couple thousand dollars, like every time that's true, and you know what it would be.
Speaker 1:It would be kind of a little bit hysterical if the same rescue team came back like dude you again.
Speaker 2:I know, I know, I heard that happens a lot too. Especially, there's like one sand dune that I've heard of in the United States where people like go down it and then there's a warning. It's like $3,000 or something if you like can't get back up, and they have to rescue you.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:It's a famous one. I'm sure people know what I'm talking about, cause I've seen it a lot on social media where, like you can climb all the way down but there's so many signs saying if you're going to have trouble getting back up, and if you do it's going to cost you like $3,000. And people are always like, nope, not me. And then they do.
Speaker 1:Wow. Yeah, Well at least they know how much it's going to cost them, right?
Speaker 2:Exactly, it's like a vacation you just added on.
Speaker 1:I think that's so silly. Well, talk about not-so-vacations. This is actually kind of sad, but right now, americans are taking out short-term loans to buy groceries. They're doing payday loans, short-term loans like that and other stuff just to buy groceries. That is a dangerous sign. It's an incredibly dangerous sign right now. It just speaks to everything that's going on with the tariffs and all the stuff like that, and I, I just, I just pray that, um, that this madness stops soon, because it's only going to get worse if we keep going down this path yeah, that is so sad.
Speaker 2:Remember, like a few weeks ago we covered an article, I think it was like doordash or something, but remember they hadn't added clarna, like you could pay your installments, pretty much remember, so we're talking about that, where it was like door dash or something, but remember they had added clarinet.
Speaker 1:Like you could pay in installments pretty much remember.
Speaker 2:So we're talking about that where it's like you know, if you have to split up like a 30 delivery of a pizza or something that's like you know you're paying in like increments of eight dollars for the next couple of months. I think I think both things. I think a that's like that is very sad and real. And b we've also gotten. I know for me personally, like I absolutely could lower my grocery budget by like not buying a lot of processed food and snacks, and you know we have to. It might it might just be like recession core, where we have to make like potatoes and onions and like more whole food stuff, which is boring and sad and like makes everyone feel like we're poor. But I think that's what a lot of families are just going to have to do to like make applesauce instead of like buying the little containers, you know, stuff that is so convenient. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And you know. The thing is is that you know it's easy to say, OK, the terrorists are going to make everything great, we're going to start building and doing stuff here. That's great, but that's down the line. If you want to build a factory, it's not something that's going to happen in a year. That's just reality. People are hurting now, today. Yeah, and especially in our household too.
Speaker 2:There's no little children, because it's easy to manage. When it's just yourself, or yourself and other adults, it's like, oh OK, we don't have to buy any extra snacks. But I'm sure when you have kids too, it's like telling them no crackers, no, like no orange juice. You know, that's just.
Speaker 1:that's a lot to manage just that's a lot to manage. Oh yeah, and you know the other thing too with all these tariffs, that's not a guarantee that everything's coming back, because if you're getting something built so inexpensive, so cheap, so there's a lot of stuff that if you double the price, it would still be cheaper to build it yeah yeah, that's what I say.
Speaker 1:It's not a guarantee, that's the thing. Yeah, now high dollar items whole different situation, but a lot of the the very cheap, inexpensive stuff. It may not be financially worth bringing it to united states States, even with the high tariffs.
Speaker 2:I know, yeah, no, it's true. And when you think about if people are taking loans out on their food for food, that means then those loans have interest rates and like you know that's true, and you can only do that for so long too. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, let's just hope things get better, because that that was actually pretty sad for me to see that that is really sad.
Speaker 2:That is really sad and I wonder like how that will change people's voting moving forward, because I have to imagine a lot of those families probably voted for what is happening now. You know or didn't know, but yeah, so it's, it's crazy, but, um, I definitely think we talked about this too, where I think, like a few years ago, it just used to be fun to go to the grocery store and like try new snacks and stuff, and now no one I know is like able to do that, you know.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, I go to this grocery store, meryl, and I blink my eyes $200. Yeah, me too. I'm sitting there like what the fuck.
Speaker 2:I'm going through self-checkout and I'm like, okay, I have a pear and like a bag of carrots I don't know here though especially, I mean I think everywhere but it's like, it is so weird in la, because it's like the culture is okay, like half of my life and everything is going to like people go to fancy restaurants and it's all about you know like flashy, just spending money and stuff, and then the other half is kind of like okay, like groceries are so high so it's hard to know which way is up that's true.
Speaker 1:That's true. I just hope that, um, I just hope that we find a better way to handle this, because yeah this is not sustainable no, definitely not.
Speaker 2:And people with children, and I think it will make people like if, if what they want is like more babies, more families, more everything like that's going to deter people from probably bringing new children into the world when it's like you can't afford them, you know you mean that five thousand dollars won't help?
Speaker 2:no, I'm just kidding that will buy someone chicken, nuggets and green beans. I think my last grocery bill was like $5,000 from getting lunch. Okay, oh, this is exactly what I'm talking about. We're talking about groceries, and now mine is like the complete opposite, where Nike is dropping dirty Air Force Ones that get cleaner the more you wear them. So this is so ridiculous.
Speaker 2:The Nike Air Force Ones dirty triple white is. It's almost like you know if you're listening, you always have to just look at it to know If you like Google. Nike Air Force One triple white. So it looks like it's been trashed, pretty much Like up top, the leather upper has been yellowed, there's dark marks across the front and like some of the stitching on the Nike swoosh has even come loose. And then the technology, technology.
Speaker 2:The more that you wear them, they actually get a little bit more white. And it also comes with a um, like a cleaning kit. If you wanted to do it, that comes with the nike branded toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste if you, like you know, want to wear them white. White, uh, they're going for 130, which I actually thought was pretty affordable, knowing like nike for sneakers and I I just I mean, my first thought of these is like I always kind of snicker slash, laugh a little bit when I see people wearing those. Like what's it called? That's not gray goose, it's like something goose like the shoes that are like already. Um, they look dirty, like they already are dirty. The trend of just buying sneakers dirty seems like so I think I'm officially too old to find that cool yeah, we've.
Speaker 1:We've seen our sarah's trends, you know, from written jeans to the ones that look like you, you, you, you peed on yourself, remember those.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, I remember that. Yeah, oh yeah. And Golden Goose is the sneakers I'm thinking of. Yes, yes, they look tattered and they're like $600. And to me personally, that is not a flex. Anytime I see someone wearing them I'm like that is whatever. The opposite of a flex is, that's almost as bad as you, you remember this guy, who? Who bought this?
Speaker 1:supposedly art, we're literally banana on the wall and this guy paid. What was it? I want to say, uh, was it like a million dollars or 70? Yeah, it was some insane amount that he paid and he bought the banana and then just ate it. I'm like, dude, you could you know, you gotta like that, just throw money. Okay, you could throw it my way if you're just gonna throw money away exactly I I don't get it.
Speaker 2:I think, like I mean, I I like nike air force ones. I think they look really cool and I I like them the best. I think, of all the pre-worn looking sneakers from like balenciaga, new balance, like I like, I like the Nikes the best, but I just don't get buying something that already looks dirty and spending more money because of that.
Speaker 1:That I won't do. That's stupid. I know.
Speaker 2:Now, I do have.
Speaker 1:Air Force Ones myself. You know mine was bought white. And one thing about Air Force Ones is when you first buy them they're not really the most comfortable shoe, but over time it actually loosens up and it feels good really yeah so, but you wouldn't pay extra money to have them be dirty from the start I would just buy some air force ones. You just don't clean them.
Speaker 2:I'm not gonna pay extra for like at the mall the mall by me they have a little kiosk of a guy that I really want to try out. He has the whole.
Speaker 1:I'll make your shoes white again Sounds like a bad slogan, so they're going to be another one there pretty soon where they're probably going to be like hey bring those white shoes over here, I'm going to dirty them up for you.
Speaker 2:Yes, One time I went and I saw the Golden Goose people were showing people how they take the sneakers and make them really dirty. I was like I feel like I'm watching an SNL skit or something right now.
Speaker 1:Then you watch it and go, so people actually pay for this yeah.
Speaker 2:It's so weird to me. I'm not the target demo here.
Speaker 1:Must be nice to be able to throw money away like that, huh yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, this is a kind of a sad situation here, but we're going to pray for him, and you may have heard about this. A gentleman, his name is a 21-year-old, is he 20? Maybe early 20s? His name is Kevin Markwood Kevin K-A-V-A-N. Markwood and he fell 21 feet onto the baseball field in Pittsburgh. It was the Pittsburgh Pirates versus the Chicago Cubs. He's now in critical condition and you know, of course, everyone's praying for him. They had to stop the game, obviously. Well, not stop, but pause the game. And he was taken out on a stretcher and went straight to the hospital and I guess he was really excited and somehow or another, I don't know if he jumped up, he leaned too hard, but he he just fell over and landed in the outfield and and when he landed he wasn't moving.
Speaker 2:So it was. I saw that. Yeah, it's really scary because you you see him like jump up a little bit. You can't really tell like what exactly happened, and then it's crazy that his body went up and then flopped like a rag doll like down and it's really scary and weird, Like could you imagine that? I mean don't imagine, but like just being with your friend or loved one and having that happen and it's just like unbelievable.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, and you know the crazy thing, merrill, is that some stadiums, to me the pitch is a little bit too deep.
Speaker 2:Yes, oh yeah. Yeah, I won't sit up at the top because if you slip on like beer or something, I swear to God.
Speaker 1:It feels like if you trip you're not a shopper. I know, I know.
Speaker 2:And it's always like a set of like stairs and then stairs. Yeah, I've heard some people say that they think he was inebriated and that might have helped because it's like your body's so relaxed. But I think the last I heard, too, he was in critical condition, is that. I think that's really scary and so sad.
Speaker 1:I was actually shocked to hear that. I don't know the number I have to do some research on it, but there has been a number of fans that have died by falling over the rail.
Speaker 2:I didn't know, oh my gosh, I don't know. This is like now I'm I'm barely moving. Already as it is, I'm never moving.
Speaker 1:But uh, I mean, I, I, I have beers when I go to the game, I have a good time. I don't ever get that happy or that really, where I'm not sure around me, because you know the sad part is, if you fall over, that's your life. If it's high enough 21 feet it's a miracle he's still alive, because that's a huge drop you took.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know and imagine just like the players on the field or like people in the dugout. You're just like sitting there and all of a sudden you don't know what happened. There's just a man like flopping on the field yeah, yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1:I mean you, you kind of wonder if, if it happens sometimes, when people are like trying to catch a foul ball, yeah, and I've seen people flip over you know, thankfully not that high, but I've seen people flip over the rails trying to catch the bones like oh, my god, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:I wonder if they're gonna like, if this will make them put the railing up or, you know, do any sort of? They'd have to outfit the whole stadium, I guess, to change it, but I wonder if they'll make any changes because of this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but the only thing is, how high can you put the railing? I know, because the problem is, if you have an idiot, that idiot can find a way to fall over. I know and I was going to say, if they put nets but then you know that idiots are gonna be then intentionally jumping into the nets and that's like so yeah, that's really sad, scary.
Speaker 2:Yeah, hopefully, um, hopefully it gets better and uh, like I said, we're praying for him. This is this cemented, because I will not sit like anywhere higher than like a level 108 or something. I just will not ever go to the third because, same thing that the padres one too, in san diego, it's really high, like if you're on the third tier, like if you're looking down, it's one of those it looks like straight down that is true okay, well, something else, scary, of course.
Speaker 2:I know we talked a little bit about the tariffs already, but, um, I don't know know how true or current this is, but Trump said that he will 100 percent put tariffs on films produced outside the US for movies and the movie industry. And so the movie industry is rightfully shocked and confused because obviously we all know, between the pandemic and the strikes and the AI and the robots and everything, it is tough times here, you know, for many movie makers. Um, president donald trump's plan to enforce 100 tariffs on foreign produced films was met with shock and disbelief across the european film industry. Obviously we've been in such a good swing with, like low budget movies, studio movies, like so many movies are being made in the UK, france, germany.
Speaker 2:It seems like a lot of movies have been made in Italy lately, and especially like Harry Potter, lord of the Rings, you know, mission Impossible, gladiator, just to name a few. It's so weird and that's like cutting into just culture and it employs a lot of people, like it employs a lot of americans, british people, it like, you know, we do a ton of stuff with london. It's just like so weird. But um, yeah, I don't know, I don't know how far that will go, because then also I feel like the one thing that trump likes is to have support of people he cares about and I feel like pissing off like all of hollywood wouldn't be a very smart move, even though I know he doesn't care about hollywood, but pretty weird yeah, I'll just say this you're talking about the same person that thought it was cute to do a picture of himself as the pope.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'll just leave it there yeah, yeah with I.
Speaker 2:I had to look on his own page to be like is this true? True or not? And also just from a no matter like who. Like we've grown out of that where we we like to work with other countries and like blend other cultures, you know yeah, I mean.
Speaker 1:The thing is we're a global economy, yes, yes, and literally what you're saying is you're going to double the cost of production. Now you and I, being and we're in this field, know how difficult it is, especially for smaller type entertainers, to try and put stuff together, get money together. So by literally doubling it, you're going to literally cancel out so many different people that will not be able to follow their dreams and do what they want to do I know it really feels like a like a hundred years ago type of decision to almost just be like we, we're going to tear up the movie.
Speaker 2:You know other countries in the movies and now when you think about, like, the Cannes Film Festival, like all the crossover that we do with just different countries and the industries, it's so weird, like that's just so weird. But a lot of people also said great, if this goes through now, you're going to see the rise of AI even more more. Now humans are going to be taken out of the equation, like even more, just because they're not going to want to pay the tariffs.
Speaker 1:Um, so yeah, yeah, I, I do agree with you. The one thing that I would say is um, thank goodness that you know they addressed the ai issue and the strike that they had. Yeah, um, because you're right with something like this. If this um, because you're right with something like this, if this goes through, you're right they're probably going to see a lot more ai, as opposed to going over to other countries, which the actors and actresses will still get paid, maybe not as much, they'll still get paid but I think what's going to do is that um, they're going to go, okay, no problem, we're going to hit you with the 100% tariff as well.
Speaker 2:Which is so weird. I just can't understand, like I don't know, just the thought of making other movies and having other actors be coming to America and us going over there. It's just like a very nice thing in life, but whatever.
Speaker 1:And you know, the sad part is I don't think their administration really understands. See, everyone is really laser focused on the producer director and the actors but, it's so many people behind the scenes that makes that picture. You know they take those words, they take all the things going around and they create magic.
Speaker 1:Where you see, you hear and you feel it, there's a lot of people that go into yeah, you know if a person ever wants to figure out what all goes into it at the end of a movie. If it's recorded, slow it down so you can see how many people are actually.
Speaker 2:Yeah part of that to make it you know, to make it a success and when we think of all the the films that we've had where the director, the writer, whoever the actors, have been people from other countries and stuff, it's like that's a lot of our best people. So it's like those people would never now get the chance to come to the US and work on a Dreamer visa type situation. It's just crazy.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, and I think where it really is going to hit. If you think about marvel movies, yeah, how expensive it is to make those movies. Can you imagine getting a hundred percent tariff on a 100 million dollar budget movie?
Speaker 2:yeah, ryan reynolds can't afford anything more if he's getting sued, or. But yeah, totally. And so much filming has been in Canada too. I feel like it's almost like so many productions I've heard has been in Canada and that's like a big been, a big thing for their you know economy. So it's just crazy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so hopefully this doesn't go through, but we'll see yeah.
Speaker 2:That's why we'll make our own movies and we will not tell anyone about it.
Speaker 1:There you go. Well, this is an interesting one too, meryl. Do you know who Bill Belichick is?
Speaker 2:I sure do Okay.
Speaker 1:For anyone who's really not into sports Bill Belichick is a famous head coach in the NFL. He's coached multiple teams and I think he's looking at going to the college side now. But that's not the big news. The big news is okay, he's 72 years old and he has a girlfriend and she is 24 years old.
Speaker 2:Whoa mama.
Speaker 1:Literally she could be His granddaughter, or possibly even great granddaughter, oh my god. So he was doing an interview and In the interview they asked him well, you know how did you and your girlfriend meet? And she jumped in it and said Well, we're not answering that, which is kind of a little on the ignorant side to me. But anyway, yep, yep, but you know, it's kind of interesting because it's like you know, she, I guess, interviewed multiple times and then his daughter-in-law, which she's married to his son, kind of weighed in on what she thought about this and you know, it's not really a good look. Even Charles Brockley Charles Brockley is actually a really good friend of Bill Belichick he didn't go into details, he just said he doesn't like the things that he's seen, he doesn't like what he's been told and he's probably going to have a one-on-one talk with him.
Speaker 2:Wow, really.
Speaker 1:And I don't know. I mean there's a whole bunch going on here. One I'm really shocked that he had his girlfriend there in the interview. She wasn't in the interview, she was off to the side, but allow her to interrupt that. And the one thing that was and I have to check, but I want to say it was CBS, I think, but I got to verify that but they had said that they cleared it with him, that they could talk about anything. Now a lot of people don't know and I do this even on my show is I always talk to the, to the whole, to the guests that's coming on my show, and I ask them is there anything that you don't want to talk about? You know. So this way they're not surprised and you know you have an awkward moment in front of the camera. So they reiterated that we cleared this with him and his team. They didn't just go off the rails, I mean they cleared it yeah.
Speaker 2:So that's one issue, and it's not even that pressing, it's not even that bad of a thing. Where did you guys meet? I'm surprised they don't already have a stock answer that they say oh yeah, and what's so weird about it?
Speaker 1:Meryl is like okay, and I look at it over and over again. I'm like okay, this isn't the scandalous questions, like okay, where'd you guys meet? Why is that a problem? Yeah, I mean, is there something that you know, we don't know that? We'll be like, oh my God.
Speaker 2:Like sugardaddiescom or like yeah, we're assuming it's not going to be like church or you know, selling girl scout cookies or something like if the age gap is that big.
Speaker 2:So I don't know what's your take on this I mean I number one, I agree with you, and it's annoying to interview people when, like their fiance or you know best friend or someone is in the room. It's just it kind of takes away from that moment that you're having when you're just interviewing the people. So that's annoying. Um number two I hope he has, like I mean, they're not married, so not a prenup, but I hope he has guardrails in place so that he's not getting like taken advantage of or you know, vice versa, whatever it's. It's weird and I think, uh, I don't know, maybe she just at some point, maybe he has made it so that she has a lot of license over and she kind of thinks like she's also the star as well.
Speaker 1:So I'm sure I'm sure there are reasons why she feels comfortable doing that, you know that's true, but you know, I don't think it's right but you know it goes back to you know an old saying that that, um that people have said is never bite the hand that feeds you yeah, and it makes her look weird with the media and everything. Exactly yeah, so I don't know. She had a weird look on her face too, when she said this yeah, I saw it. I know I'm like dude what are you? Angry about what's the problem.
Speaker 2:It's also like there's nothing kind of snootier than like a hot 24-year-old you know who's dating a rich man, so she probably thinks she's on top of the world Like she has everything that you could probably want.
Speaker 1:I mean. To me, love is love. Hey, if it's real love, go for whatever.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know again, don't let her cost you money, because you know that's a real thing. You know, if people feel like she's toxic, that could potentially hurt your career.
Speaker 2:Definitely, absolutely, and I'm sure that's going to be one of many like when he's out in the public or I'm sure she hears about it Like I'm sure they're at like a million events Like every night. There's probably something that they have to be at and I can see if, like, she's crabby and just having a day where she's kind of annoyed at the media. But then you don't even have to be in this interview. No one's telling you or asking you and I get it it can be real tiresome.
Speaker 1:It can be bothersome too, because he is a famous head coach. But by dating him you sign up for that too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly. Oh my gosh, I can't imagine, even even now, dating someone in their 70s. That's just so crazy.
Speaker 1:And you know the thing is, let's be real, if he wasn't who he was, would she be with him? Yeah, I know, I don't know, I'm just saying I know, I know.
Speaker 2:But then a lot of people are probably like, okay, they're using each other. He's using her for her looks and youth and she's using him for her as like clout and money and stuff you know to mash made in heaven yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1:Just don't let her uh cause you from losing money yeah, yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2:Um, okay, I think this one is my last one, if I'm correct. Oh, we'll pick a good one. Um, there's a lot here. So lady gaga just did a concert. I mean, the main news story here is that lady gaga did a concert to over like two million fans on saturday night in rio de janeiro. Um, and that is amazing. I don't know if you got a chance to see any video footage of it yet. If not, everyone should you know if you want to look it up, because even if you're not the biggest lady gaga fan, just the footage alone of like her on stage and then it pans out and it just shows you think it's gonna end and it just never ends in a sea of people, and it's really amazing to see. Even the rehearsals itself drew like hundreds of thousands of people, which is super cool.
Speaker 2:Um, but the other part of the story that I thought was crazy was that the concert was targeted for a bomb attack by a hate group posing as for little monster fans and thank goodness that the local authorities were able to get in there and have nothing happen but the suspects were recruiting participants, including minors, to carry out coordinated attacks using improvised explosive and Molotov cocktails to carry out coordinated attacks using improvised explosive and Molotov cocktails. So this could have been devastating. You know who knows. But any time you have a gathering of two million people, like I assume something weird is going to go down or you know that everyone would be on high alert. But I just think like good for the people, the security that are working that night, because how on earth do you look after 2 million people? And that's just. I mean my hat is off to the everyone involved that has to like be part of the security and police and stuff.
Speaker 1:Oh, definitely. I mean, it was great on a number of levels. One I don't know if you noticed or not, but that was actually a free concert that Lady Gaga gave yeah, I saw that, yeah, which is super cool and it was.
Speaker 1:Oh my god, you're right, it was so, people. And the beautiful thing about it, merrill, is that security and the police I guess they were working hand in hand, whatever but they thwarted that to the point to where lady gaga and her team did not know till afterwards right, which is amazing because you have to be so scared if you're hurt too.
Speaker 2:That takes such bravery to be in front of two million people and just have the trust that like that. I mean you have to know in the crowd that there's going to be like thousands of like weirdos there. You know, when you get a two million people, oh yeah, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1:My hat off to her, my hat off to the police that handled it. That was great, that was awesome, and it just shows that you can have a great time and still keep everyone safe.
Speaker 2:I know I wish more people. I wish we were just able to have large, large gatherings without even needing to have security. But I feel like I'm living in a disney movie or something yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1:Unfortunately talk about unfortunate. Have you ever seen the show the equalizer on cbs?
Speaker 2:no, I haven't. I haven't until now. That wasn't the one that your cousin was on, was it?
Speaker 1:no, she was on, uh, fbi, okay, uh, in case people have not seen it um, the show the equalizer is actually uh based off of, uh, a spinoff from the movie equalizer that denzel washington played. You know, he was an ex-cia agent and he went out to people, um kind of like a vigilante. Okay, so Queen Latifah is the same thing, but she has a team behind her, so it's her. Then, um, you know, she has a guy who's a a computer whiz, and then his wife is ex-military um, real paratrooper, I just kick-ass type person and then you know, she has her boyfriend. Well, they're now getting married, but I don't want to give it away in case we don't see the last one, but you know, it was a great show.
Speaker 1:It was on five seasons and now they canceled it. And what's so crazy about it, though, merle is? Within the last year or so, they switched the time because it came on at seven uh, my time and then it got moved to I want to say eight or nine. I have to double check, but you know how they tell you hey, you know, check out this. Whatever it's a new time slot, they, they didn't do that, so it's like, hmm, it's almost like they're trying to kill it off.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and this was on CBS. You said CBS.
Speaker 1:Yes, huh, that's so weird. What else?
Speaker 2:does CBS have going on?
Speaker 1:I guess the year before they had ratings about 6 million people watching and then it dropped down to, I want to say, $5 million or $5. Something, million, and it's like, okay, I get it.
Speaker 2:It went down a little bit, but yeah, but it's still like a good show and you're building a fan base, Exactly, and they're like well, you know, it was basically budgetary reasons.
Speaker 1:I'm like that doesn't make sense.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I was kind of sad to see that go what do you think? Have you? Have you had any shows that you really love get canceled on you? Um so funny.
Speaker 2:I feel like all the ones that I've loved have like canceled themselves pretty much, like there's one or two. I guess there's one that I really like. That was like, uh, people will probably be able to think about it, but they were like on top and then they, they were, they did such a good job and they were like, and we're done, and they just wanted to like end things on really on like a good note. Oh oh, succession, yeah, succession was my favorite, one of my favorite shows ever, and it just ended like, and you know, they wanted to end on a high note. I think it was their decision. And then suits is another another one I liked, but I feel like Suits went on for like eight million episodes, so someone could have canceled it, I think, at some point. But no, I haven't had anything, maybe, oh, oh, you know what, um, I think this one just didn't get renewed.
Speaker 2:But there's a really awesome show. It was called Divorce and it was with Sarah Jessica Parker and Molly Shannon and like Thomas Hayden Church and I never hear people mention it, but like it's one of those like, if you know, you know type of shows where everyone that like has watched it, loves it so much, and I think it was on for maybe two or three seasons and it was so good and I loved it so much and then it just like never came back. And I same thing is that people were like okay, it's not budgetary and and you had a big fan base and like it has, just like Queen Latifah is like this, had Sarah Jessica Parker and had huge stars attached to it. So I think I'll watch like the three seasons of that show and I'm like what happens? What happens?
Speaker 1:That's true, that's true.
Speaker 2:But I'll have to watch. I'll have to watch the seasons one through five of it. At least. I love Queen Latifah. I think she's so pretty and cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this was a good show. I was actually shocked that they were canceling it.
Speaker 2:I know.
Speaker 1:I heard buzz about it on social media but you know, until it's like, really confirmed, you kind of take social media with a grain of salt because there's all kinds of crazy stuff being said on there, exactly yeah. Social media with a grain of salt because there's all kinds of crazy stuff being said on there, exactly yeah. But yeah, once it was confirmed by cbs, it was like and then some of the um, the actors on the show, on their site they were talking about oh yeah man, so yeah.
Speaker 1:So I guess I'll have to find something else to watch on sundays now exactly.
Speaker 2:It won't be any um new italian shows shows, or they'll be getting tariff tax on it. We won't be watching any French films or anything like that.
Speaker 1:Talk about stuff to watch. What do you have coming up, Meryl?
Speaker 2:Yay, I just had a really fun show in Dana Point, so that was super cool. And then, coming up, I have nothing this weekend because of Mother's Day, so I wanted to spend it with my mommy. And then next week, the week after, I will be in Santa Barbara. So I think May 15th, if people are around, I will be at an awesome venue called the Red Piano in beautiful Santa Barbara.
Speaker 1:Nice, nice. So everyone watching. Make sure that if you're in the area you go see Meryl.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would love that Come say Nice, nice, so everyone watching, make sure that if you're in the area, go see Meryl. Yeah, I would love that. Come say hi.
Speaker 1:Very fun. Well, this has been a lot of fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is so, so fun. Are you doing anything special for your wifey on Mother's Day?
Speaker 1:You know what. We're going to do something different, I told her. I said, you know what? We need some time to ourselves. So I think we're going to do like a staycation, you know. Just, you know, get a hotel room someplace, you know, have a good time, you know, maybe get a couple's massage, do a little shopping, just relax. You know something a little different.
Speaker 2:That's so cool.
Speaker 1:That's so sweet. So yeah, it's a little bit of a last minute thing, but to me those are the most fun parts.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, definitely, Well, wonderful.
Speaker 1:For everyone watching. Please make sure that you continue to support us and also make sure you support Meryl, as well Thank you and for everyone out there, for all the mothers, early Happy Mother's Day to you.
Speaker 2:Happy Mother's Day. I'm sorry, groceries are $8 million.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm Lauren Sellerot.
Speaker 2:I'm Meryl Clemo.
Speaker 1:Have a great day everyone.
