Holiday Cheer and the Price of Creativity

You have to take PTO and I'm saving my PTO for next month when we go to the Tina Turner review . Anyway , happy Thanksgiving . Day after Thanksgiving . I hope you had a wonderful time with your family , good eats and everything I know we did . It was so funny because our daughter volunteered .

My husband actually suggested that the kids start taking over the Thanksgiving . I don't know if he was serious or half joking when he said it . We were all out to dinner one day and together and gracie , my daughter , volunteered , she said I'll do it . She hasn't . She's moved into a new home . So she wanted .

She lived apartment life her whole , her whole life and she finally moved into an actual home with a yard and everything , a house . So she wanted to host it . So we said okay , and it was really nice .

She it was her , her husband , the gent , and I , my son and his wife and Cameron , of course , and then my daughter had a couple of her friends come over too Single girls that came over . Uh , very good friends they . They've been friends since high school . So it was nice . It was very interesting , dynamic , because we were not in charge anymore .

It was not our house , it was not our oven , it was not our turkey , it was not our hosting , so so it was nice to just kind of sit back and enjoy and be present and focused . We were , we were the elders in the room and I'm . That was wow , that was pretty amazing . Anyway , it was good it was . The turkey was delicious .

My daughter did a fantastic job with the turkey . Proud of her . The turkey was delicious . My daughter did a fantastic job with the turkey . Proud of her . Alright , so let's move on to the topics . Thanksgiving is over . We watched the Thanksgiving Day Parade . We saw Santa come in at the end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade .

The holiday season for Christmas is upon us . Now we can put up the tree , okay , and that's what we're going to do , hopefully , this weekend . All right , I have two podcast topics and then we're going to go to a deer abbey .

I've kind of dropped my yo carol thing , um , just not happening because , also , we're ending this podcast , so there's no sense in doing yo carol , yo carols anymore . I have two podcast topics , all right . The first one new york city fruit vendor who is 74 years old who sold the banana , devastated after it became viral 6.2 million artwork .

He says I am a poor man . Oh wow , poor guy . You remember this banana artwork ? Well , somebody you know had to sell him the banana . The New York City fruit vendor who sold an ordinary banana that was duct taped to a gallery wall inside Sotheby's and sold for a whopping 6.2 million , was devastated to learn that he was made the butt of the joke .

But New Yorkers and the art buyer are now lining up to support him . Oh good , shaw Alam , a 74-year-old fruit seller who works a sidewalk stand outside Sotheby's on the Upper East Side for $12 an hour , sold the piece of fruit that would become part of Italian artist Marzia Catalin's absurdist work titled Comedian .

The New York Times reported Thursday I didn't know about this artwork . I kind of saw headlines about it , but I didn't know the specifics and details . This is a shame . Sotheby's needs to be put out of business . This is ridiculous .

It's like the guy walked by the fruit and said , oh , on his way to work to Sotheby's and the fruit guy was outside oh , let me get a banana . Oh , let me just duct tape to the wall and that'll be our artwork today . Shame , shame .

The conceptual piece , which first debuted at Art Basel Miami Beach in 2019 , offers a commentary on the ridiculousness of the art world . Well , yeah , but you profited off of it , didn't you ? I guess that made me kind of smart then . With its meaning tied to the money and fans it attracts , it was sold by Sotheby's last week on behalf of an anonymous collector .

In that way , the work becomes self-reflexive . Okay , the higher the price , the more it reinforces its original concept . Last week , that meaning swelled to the millions at auction . All right , we know all of this .

So Alam , a nearly blind Bangladeshi immigrant who doesn't speak much English , had no idea his 35-cent banana was resold for the eyeball popping price until a times reporter found him and told him last week how does he know that this is the guy that sold him banana ? I am a poor man . Alum told the reporter , his voice breaking .

I have never had this kind of money . I have never seen this kind of money . Uh , wow , the fruit seller moved . Okay , well , we don't need to know all of that . We don't need to know his background , let's just get to what happened . Did you guys help him out ? He didn't get the concept behind the community but felt like the joke came at his expense .

Those who bought it . What kind of people are they ? He asked the Times reporter . Do they not know what a banana is ? Do they not know what a banana is ? Catalan , who was not compensated for the Sotheby's sale , said he felt the vendor but didn't offer to help him .

The reaction of the banana vendor moves me deeply , underscoring how art can resonate in unexpected and profound ways , he told the Times via email . However , art by its nature does not solve problems . If it did , it would be politics .

Justin's son , the new owner of the Comedian , whose net worth is estimated to be at least $1.4 billion , meanwhile offered to pay Alam for more of the yellow fruit . To thank Mr Shah Alam , I've decided to buy 100,000 bananas from his stand in New York's Upper East Side . These bananas will be distributed free worldwide .

Why don't you just give him the damn money ? I mean , so what ? So we're like 35 cents , a banana of 35 cents times 100,000 . I guess that's a pretty decent . I don't know . Somebody do the math on that . I'm going to do the math here in a minute . Let's see . Let's see what the math is .

Okay , so if I did my math correctly , it's $35,000 , which is more than he makes in a year Slightly more than he makes in a year . I guess that's pretty good . Better than over and finish this , finish this story . It's also unclear if , if alam's tiny neighborhood fruit stand has the supply for such a large purchase . That was my next question .

That's going to be more trouble for him to try to get all these bananas . I think I would think that's what I'm saying . Just give him the damn money . Mr alam's contribution to this extraordinary artwork is the indispensable , highlighting the boundless possibilities and value hidden in everyday life .

I hope this initiative will bring the story to a broader audience and one day I look forward to visiting the fruit stand in person to express my gratitude again . An anonymous New Yorker launched a GoFundMe for the fruit seller and promised to match the first $5,000 raised .

Wow , do we really want to live in a city where we can shrug off a street vendor who's moved to tears by the fact that he's been made the butt of a joke involving the amount of wealth obscene to him while celebrating some smart ass for figuring out how to make $6 million from that joke . If this utter and gross indifference isn't what ails us , what is ?

The fundraiser , who only listed their initial JS , wrote in the GoFundMe Alright . So there you go , he's going to be alright . We're moving on to the next topic . Do you guys shop at costco , especially during the holidays ? I don't think I . Uh , nope , I'm not doing it . First of all , be prepared with your holiday shopping .

Okay , as far as like your food and you're going out to buy stuff for Thanksgiving . Don't go at the last minute , because it is crazy out there . Footage of a heated confrontation between customers , apparently taken inside a Costco , emerged the day before Thanksgiving . If you're shopping the day before Thanksgiving , you're doing it . Oh so wrong .

Thanksgiving , you're doing it . Oh so wrong . Sparking online debate about naughty shopper behavior as gift buying season gets underway . An aggravated man rammed a woman's shopping cart with his own as he impatiently tried to push through a sea of shoppers in an aisle . According to a video a fellow customer posted on a Reddit Costco thread .

Boy , reddit has everything , doesn't it ? If you want to go find something , I guess go look at Reddit . I have got to get more into Reddit ? I guess I don't know . Do I need to get more into Reddit ? Do you guys use Reddit a lot ? Let me know that will be the question of the day . Do you guys use Reddit and , if so , do you find it useful ?

Should I start using Reddit ? All right , sharing down the ? Okay , I'm not even . I'm not going to read the rest of this . The gist of it is and they have pictures in this article . It's from the New York Times , I mean New York Post . They have pictures of it and it does look so damn crowded I would have lost my mind .

What I would have probably done is left my cart right there in the middle and walked out and said , nope , not doing it . That is , there is just car carts after carts after carts . There is no way I could do that . I don't have the patience for it . I don't think I would ram somebody's cart , but I'm not doing that , that's for sure .

And I have one word for you for your holiday shopping Amazon . Now , you may not want to do your food shopping on Amazon , but I think they don't . They have groceries . I'm sure they do . Just order your groceries online and have them delivered , pay the little extra cost for it . It's to keep your sanity , okay , do that . All right ?

Oh , dear Abby , we need to do it . Dear Abby , I think I had a good one here . Let me go look it up . Sorry I'm taking . I thought I had it pulled up here . Bear with me . We only have a few more days of the podcast , because what today is the ? Because what today is the 30th , 29 , 30 , I don't know .

I think Sunday is the first of December , so that means Friday . We got two more days of November . December's the Sunday the first , and then after that only okay , eight , nine , ten more days . All right , we're moving on . Dear alice , um , oh , here we go . Dear abby , how do I tell my elderly gambling addicted aunt she can't move in ?

Uh , you just tell her no . I suppose I don't know how do I handle an elderly aunt who has a gambling problem . I live in a town with casinos . She lives in another state , four hours away . She calls me often to ask to stay with me and if I am traveling she asks to use my house , etc . A year ago she called me to help her get excluded from what .

A year ago she called me to help her get excluded from gambling in the state where she lives because she was out of control . She could no longer gamble where she lives , cannot afford a hotel to go to towns with a casino and sees me as her gambling getaway . I have explained that I have a roommate and my place is small .

I have no interest in someone who spends hours at a craps table coming into my home . I'm health conscious and I flat out cannot accommodate her as a guest . She won't give up . Is my only option to end communication with her , not betting on her ? Well , I mean , you apparently seem to be telling her no , but she keeps calling .

So what is she doing is just , I don't take her phone calls anymore . I don't know , just keep telling her no .

I don't know what to do with this one . Let's see what dear . Let's see what dear abby says . Dear , not betting . Screening her calls isn't one option , and that's what I said . The other is to keep repeating your mantra that you cannot accommodate her because you have a roommate and your place is too small . Then encourage her to find another hobby .

If you do , she may stop asking you and look for another enabler . Uh , okay , I think that's just totally made up whatever . All right , we gotta go . You already have the question of the day and I appreciate y'all listening and the gents and I will be back tomorrow because it's the weekend . Saturday and Sunday we will be back with an episode .

So , yeah , you guys have a good one . Thanks for listening .