Czech Hunter (feat. Ira Madison III)

spiders like. Hey, welcome to make career Rose, I, for your recommendation, have been blasting Kelly Clarkson's Christmas albums um alta watsoo. It's really putting me in the in the Christmas spirit here. Don't you feel all Christmas right now?

Christmas isn't canceled justice you. Um. We are so lucky to be carrying that Christmas spirit for word with a little episode on last holiday with none other than Ira Medicine to the third co host, I have to Keep It podcast, scorned Twitter user famous for being banned from Twitter. This this movie really is in our Christmas cannon. I

would say absolutely. It is one of the few movies I must watch every holiday season, and we are going to break it down for you as to why it should be in your Christmas Anne, get ready to do a glow up and make sure you have some snacks handy a big French Yeah. We are you happy to be impell We are happy to be in plague. This is like a version the show where we give yesterday's pup gilt job to this take. I am and I

am plant. And before we get to IRAA medicine tap, let's talk about what's going on in pop Girl jail today. What is that French accent? That was my high school French teacher who was a bitch would be so mad. It's the most wonderful time of the year, don't you agree, friend? I do. I mean, my body is a little broken from spending maybe too much time at Universal Studios last Friday, but you know, I'm definitely are you still sore? My my shoulders still hurt a little bit from the four

times that we rode them. Oh my god, I mean my voice is still recovering. You can kind of hear it. Well, we turned into woo girls for a day who and like and and honestly like, Yeah, it wasn't just on the rides. It was just kind of like we were the high girls of Universal Students. It was it was we really us in our skims. Our skims and are like the sunglasses. We looked like de Mentors walking around

hat set. We went with our friend Ash, and I will say that one of my favorite moments from the day was at the end of the day, you know, exhausted, we're trying to figure out what to do with our time, and we saw this like caricature artist that was like drawing this couple and we were like, oh my god, should we do that? That would be so fun or like one of y'all said that actually it was, and I immediately was like, uh no, I'm not doing that.

It will send my dysphoria of the wazoo. And then Rose was like, oh my god, yeah, absolutely, me too, and then Ash was like, oh yeah, me too. Like it was it was like it was it was a dysphoria domino effect where we all were like, oh wait, that's um, that's really taking a risk on being perceived. It really is like I don't need him drawing me on a skateboard or something. Um. What was your favorite part about Universal Rose. Besides the warm butter beer served

at Three Broomsticks. I actually enjoyed the studio tours, so even though I think like it's kind of lame and that it's not really a ride, but it was like a nice little sojourn around the park with some exciting moment. Definitely one of my favorite parts of the day. I was not excited, and at that point in the day we definitely needed to sit for a while. Very brave of us, honestly, to spend the whole day writing roller coasters. After the emotional roller coaster that was the Sex in

the City reboot and just like that. Let me tell you so, you know, as you all know, last week we talked in depth about Sex in the City and you know, we had a lot of questions, um as Carrie Bradshaw often does about and just like that and what it would be and now we have some answers.

We've seen the first two episodes. We found out what the tea is with Samantha she's in London, and how to falling out with Carrie because Carrie fired her as her publicist, which I'm going to call bullshit on that is the laziest writing after everything they went through together, that is not how their friendship would end. And like the idea that Samantha Jones needs carries bullshit little column money for her business, Like there's no way she's got

bigger fish to fry a baby. I don't actually need a reason to know why Samantha like cut them off. Like there's a whole six seasons of toxicity in all of their relationships that like we bared witness to and to me, like it would be even more real to say, you know, we lost touch and I don't know why, Like that's even more painful to me, like and also more realistic, like you lose friends and sometimes you don't know why and it sucks, and like, you know, I

totally agree with you. I think that like it was just it didn't really hit at all. And I also will say, like when Carrie says, like I thought we would be friends forever, like that did like hit me really hard. And in the first five minutes too, I was like, WHOA, Like they really are going in when you kind of thought that, especially after all the hype of this reboot, that there would be more things that they would try to avoid because it's awkward and because

there's all this drama and ta around it. The real awkwardness of the reboot for me is the ham fisted wokeness of it. They're just going so hard with over correcting how problematic Sex in the City was, and like it is brutal. Every scene with Sato Ramirez A. K. H. Diaz doing their podcast is just like it's like a caricature. And I did feel called out when carry said, oh, I have to go record a podcast. It's like doing jury duty. Um, that felt very Yeah, that was really

funny at us. One of the jokes that made me la. Yes, there were like three jokes that I laughed out loud at and that was one of them. But the wokeness, it's, you know, the thing is, I just don't think Sex in the City works in the framework of like apologizing for the things that said. Honestly, I kind of wish that they were just making the same show and like correcting in subtle ways rather than trying to like actively apologize, because it felt like I was like, is everyone non binary?

On this show? I think that, Well, I want to get to that. I will say, like, first of all, you're totally right, like leave the word woke out of your scripts. And also like queer people don't talk like don't And that's the thing that's really disappointing is that there are no Latin or non binary writers in the end, just like that room, Like I went into this and researched, and like what we're seeing is like a product of Michael Patrick King's imagination of what he thinks a Latin

non binary person is. And I say this like lovingly, like I love sex in the city and I wanted to be better, Like, but that is exactly what it looks like on screen. Is it's not a real person, Yeah, because that's why you have moments like Cha, whose whole story, whose whole character we've seen so far is like them being like this non binary stand up comic rebel telling Carrie to step her pussy up, like that they would never say that, applying like drag terminology to this like

non binary stand up comic. Like it's just taking taking someone who's so out of touch with real queer people, like taking their idea of what the entirety of queerness is like and funneling it into one character. It's just and it perfectly cast though, like Sata is great. Like, but even though everything they have to say is doing doing, doing as much as they can with the material. I mean, you know, they're not in their thirties anymore, Like it can't necessarily be the show that it used to be.

I think that the strengths, a lot of the strengths of what we watched are those moments of nostalgia, right, like Susan Sharon coming in, or like them, Susan Sharon legend icon star. Susan Sharon should be in the main cast, she should be the fourth girl. But yeah, maybe I'm not shocked to see that. Like the majority of the sentiment around the show, at least on my timeline, was

really negative. Do I think it was perfectly executed? Like no, but like adapting to woke culture, like fumbling through a podcast, being a mother, experiencing grief, like those are the problems of like women in their fifties, and so coming away from it, I was like kind of thinking about the impact of nostalgia and like how it shapes the way we watch, you know, cultural objects like this and their reboots. Like Miranda kind of has always been awkward, right, Like

that's just how she's always been. But Like what has changed between you know, the show ending and where we are at now, is that Miran to became a meme queen. Everyone sees themselves in Randa. Everyone says Miranda's the favorite character. There's a book called We Should All Be Miranda's right. And so when we see like our our meme hero failing when she's not adapting to the culture that we have already thinks she's a part of, like it feels kind of like tainted. And I don't know, what did

you think about the Miranda of it all? It didn't ring true to me just because, like, yes, Miranda's awkward, but I think Miranda was always in a way, like the most street smart of them. I mean, you know, she had some fumbles, Like there's an episode early on in the series when her boss assumes she's a lesbian, so she takes the woman with her too into a

party and like tries to make it work. But I think like because of that, like and because of the fact that these women live in New York City and have for decades, like they're acting like these are their first experiences with black women, with queer people, and like that to me, either signifies that like it's bad writing or that like in the world of the show, these women have truly just been so siloed by their own privilege that I guess they are having some kind of

like reckoning I think, uh, speaking of heterosexual characters making bad decisions. I did finally watch Twelve Dates of Christmas the second season for you. Thank you, Thank you so much. I feel really seen and held by you. I love them. You basically forced me to watch it. And when we we discussed it, you know the other night when we were hanging out, and you didn't remember any of the things that I was trying to tell you. No, I

didn't remember any of the people. It's really what I wanted was for you to experience was the vibes and the experience. Let's set it up for everyone what the show is about. So Twelve Dates of Christmas is a show. It's a reality show that's sort of like trying to replicate what happens in a holiday rom com. So there are three leads um and in this iteration, there was one straight guy and two queer people, a queer woman and a queer man um and they are staying at

this beautiful um Ski lodge during Christmas. I'm saying that air quotes because it was obviously shot in like March July. I yeah, um. And they have a series of romantic interests who show up at the lodge and sometimes unexpected ways and attempt to woo them as they go on twelve dates, all leading up to choosing someone to take home with them for Christmas, which again is obviously like shot in August, and they they put like a wreath

on their dad's that door. Um. And then this season, the like secondary twist was that after they took their love interest home for Christmas, they would then spend New Years with New York City at the top of the Empire State Building. So it's it's like the Bachelor meets the bisexual season of Are You the One? Through the lens of love? Actually, I wish it had had more of like the queer messiness of Are You the One?

Because Heina, who's this like non binary character that kind of you know, gets far in the competition, is like very important for like non binary villain representation, as they are like kind of the person that really throws a lot of like kind of conflicts into the arena, but

not enough conflict In my opinion. Yeah, but I thought like it was a good example of why there should be more queer lead dating shows because like of the inherent mess of your pool of love interests all potentially being attracted to each other, and like we saw in Twelve Dates of Christmas, two of the two of the gay love interests like hooked up and ended up like saying I love you to each other after guessing with like a couple, um and then leaving together. Um Tina.

As we previously mentioned, like hooked up with the lesbian who went home first. Um Heina is um Heina's pretty big on lesbian. Have you ever seen their TikTok's? Yeah, they're they're really funy ship. I didn't know that. I'm

gonna have to tune in. Other takeaways is that like just the just the the the awe inspiring quality of like heterosexual dating, Like the heterosexual lead is like the most basic and like indecisive and boring person on the planet, and like he truly is is like every episode is the most attracted to the newest exactly because it's like, oh, shiny new thing for me to stick and every time in the confessionals, but they like to be like he talks about who the new girl is wo be like, yeah,

you know, a lot of qualities stick out to me. You know, she's attractive, she's the right height, she's gorgeous, she's beautiful, and it's like every single time it's just like yeah, kept talking about their height, which I thought was so bizarre. And also like the gay guy, honest, he was he was hot. He was hot. He was hot. I mean I liked his little like gray. And there

was other like painful moments in these first dates. There was like a moment where this girl is trying to like talk about herself for her personality's like, well, I I'm a big Harry Potter fan. It's like if you were on a first date like that is actually going to be the least interesting thing about you know, just come to the Universal Studios. There was another moment where that the heterosexual guy was like, yeah, you know, our relationship is like so amazing, like we're like Jim and Pam.

And I'm like, oh, thank you for making me watch it. I did enjoy it. Thank you for watching. I'm I'm truly less to have you in my life and um feel supported by you, especially after the last couple of days have been a little sad after hearing that Anne Rice died. It was announced by her son on on social media that Anne had passed away at the age of I believe eight was but we all know that she was three and seventy two. Yes, Um, I don't know what your relationship to Anne Rice is, but I

love and Rice. Like around the time that I started watching Buffy, I like read a couple and Rice novels. Obviously loved the movie Interview with the Vampire Queen of the Damned when it came out was huge for me. I guess like I might have even stuck around longer in the Anne Rice fandom if it was allowed, because Anne Rice was famously extremely anti fan fiction and would in fact like send her lawyers to sue people who

wrote Vampire Chronicles fan fiction. But she also wrote very like explicitly queer care aracters, like at a time when that was not a thing you were supposed to do, like Lestat and Louis and interviewed the vampire just were gay. They were gays who adopted Kirsten Dunst. And there there was something circling Twitter about and Rice talking about trans people.

How like trans people are sacred and have like existed in every culture and so like yes, well I may not have agreed with and Rice's views on fan fiction, I do um you know, like celebrate her and everything she contributed. I think like the modern preoccupation with vampires like was started by her, and like you do not hump Twilight without and Rice, and for that we lift her up in celebration. Don't, don't, don't don't don't. What are your what's your favorite part about the holidays? My

favorite part about the holiday is is traveling. Like I once I got my first real job and was able to, I just became a holiday traveler. Yeah, because my grandmother's birthday is December fourteen, and my niece's birthday is the same day. So I visit home then between Thanksgiving, between Christmas,

and then I just Christmas. I'm just like gone, gone, you are international, smile the that girl's chip about you've spent well, you've been to like for for the holiday summers, you go to like Paris or where else do you go? Like I went right before the pandemic my last Christmas, I went to um Bash the Mexican Love. Okay, I just love being you know that, like I've always aspired to be that um, that aunt um who you know always travels from the holidays and then shows up with

like presents. It's like, Hi, I never see any of you, and you a gift. Now I'm about to get out of play big ant energy. I love that I newly became an aunt almost a year ago, and I'm trying I'm trying to manifest or trying to fest that same that same wealthy aunt energy. You need to buy more calf Dan's. Yeah. Well, I also for me, it's really about the opportunity to turn my nephew against my brother and his wife and make him hate everything that they love.

That's my niece's favorite. As you just listen, you just gotta like it's just a random day when you're feeling it, just like hit her cash at with the money so you buy just like I blessed I blessed the cash app like the other day. Wow. I mean just imagine like being like having you as your uncle. That's so fucking cool. That's amazing. Yeah. Wow, well, um, speaking of traveling, the setting for this movie that we're about to discuss is Prague question Mark. Yeah, you all been to Prague.

I have not. I'm really mad because a friend of mine um just went in October and I couldn't go because I was working. I do like in an Eastern European moment. I've been to Budapest, so like like it's it's a really hard when people do it because they're really trying to They're really trying to show you that they are international trials. Yeah, New York City. Yeah, but I know never been to Prague, but I would love to go. But but like I think only if I

stayed in the kind of hotel that Queen Lativa stays. Yes, you got to stay in basically a castle. Yeah, truly, I don't know if you know this world. But unfortunately I have been to Prague before when I was like in like freshman or sophomore year. No, no, no, I think it was in seventh or eighth grade on a missions trip with me. I just took another step of the I want to kill myself continue. No, it doesn't. But I was teaching check teens about Christ our Savior.

Did you buy any chance find out that you were going to die um from a brain disease right before you went? No? I didn't but the check teens that I was teaching the Bible too were very hot, and I remember like being like, these are some like we were both teens. I was like teens teaching teens about Jesus, and you're a bit of a check hunter if you no,

I'm believing. So for those so for those who have never seen last Holiday before, the concede generally is like Queen Latifa finds out that she has a terminal illness. She has what three or four weeks to because she okay, because she slips and hits her head while working in the department store that she works in, which has a hospital in it where she gets a cat scan. Literally has a hospital in which, you know, every time I go to Bloomingdale's, I'm like, you know what, let me

get a cat scan. Well, I'm here. The insurance covers that. I feel like it was. You half believe it because growing up I always got like my eye exams and things done like Sam's Club, but definitely not a hospital. I did not question it as a teenager. When I saw it at all, I was like, yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, So she embarks on this journey to Prague. It's because she decides she's going to spend all of her money. She's saving because she has like a recipe book, right,

and she's like saving it her possibility. Very it's very very sad um. But what's amazing is that she cashes her four oh and kay, and they're like, oh, how are you going to spend it? She's like, I'm just gonna blow it all. And I also have to say that when I was like extremely broke and had first moved to New York City after my first publishing job, I ran out of money and I did cash my fur owen kay at the age of like twenty four, but it was first saving. I had one once at

some point when you got a job. I look, I had a four ward came when I was at BuzzFeed. Where is it where? It's probably my My dad cashed in his four oh when k and bought a house in Costa Rica, um that I once spent a summer in. And it was a bad decision on this part. I think, Um he has since sold the house and gone back

to work. It is a really beautiful depiction of I guess like kind of that wish fulfillment trope in like films of like, what would you do if you, like, all of a sudden, had all this money to spend in three or four weeks or whatever, and three or four weeks to live as well? I don't know what would you do if you found out you only you had less than a month to live and had a bunch of money to spend. What would you do? Well?

I would immediately take up smoking again cigarette case I miss it and if I knew I was going to die anyways, you know, definitely I would definitely go on a European vacation probably, Um, where would you where? Where would be the first stop? M? I mean I'd have to see Paris? Yeah, of course. I would probably go to New York. I would probably be boring and go on like a vendor and see a bunch of shows. I would buy a bunch of Heroin and like just do it. What Yeah, that would be the thing you

would do. Yeah Heroin. Out of all the things you could do, you're like Heroin. Yeah, Okay, got it, got it, got it, got it, got it, got it. By the way, when she goes to Europe in this film, um, I want to point out another thing that is as ridiculous as a cat scan being in a department store. She is in coach and she's like, why is supposed to keep leaning back against me, like I don't have any room?

And then they're like, well that's because you didn't spend the money on first class, and she's like how much is it? And then it cuts to her like in first class with like lost or like the champagne or whatever, and I'm like, baby, there is the way you could just like give them some cash an upgrade. There's a lot of dollars, like delta, how do I do? This doesn't work like that and it's usually booked. Yeah, used to be like that. No, like it was never it

was never that easy. But I mean her in first classes a moment as well as her um sitting down at like the fancy French restaurant. Is it French's Yeah, it's a French restaurant in the chef that she's always and she said, I'll take one of everything. Well, this is this is because also she's a foodie and loves cooking.

She this is I think, Uh, this was during like Food Network, the Pinnacle of Food Network, and Emerald was on TV and so her Possibilities book is all like recipes that she was in the modern days, she'd be like on you know, like Tasty's Instagram. She like cooks all these amazing dishes and gives them to her neighbor and then eats Lean Cuisine. Um does that? Did anyone eat Lean cuisines? Did I remember those Swedish meatballs from

Lean Cuisine? Hit? Oh? My good? Hit really hit. No, I'm just remembering it from like when I was broken New York. I guess I have I have some Swedish meatball trauma because of Ikea. Don't get me started the era where everyone was like, let's go to Ikea for the meat bawls. Weren't that damn good? No? No, and like they were acting like they were it, like that was culinary masterpiece, Like Queen Lativa cooked it and gave

it to her neighbor. So so Queen Latifa. Um. She goes to the Grand Pop Hotel and she um like makes her way into this group of rich people. One of them is the guy who owns the department store that she used to work at something, and she's just doing all these amazing things. She goes base jumping. Oh we also forgot Queen Lativa's love interest in this movie is ll cool Ja who looks so good the movie l l in a movie, Yeah, like get get him up,

the Kangol Hat, take him out of whatever. In c I S City, he's in Everybody's in a Damp Show? Or C S I. Which one is the one with the goth girl who's like the forensics, Yes, the Polly Parette, right, I think so, Yeah, I think it's n C I S. Maybe I think she left she had a stalker and it was a wild story. I love sker not for their safety, but stalkers in general, just like amuse me

because everyone seems like a stalker these days. If you had to stop, if you were to stalk someone, if you see someone's tweets, it's just like, oh, you're stalking me, you know, like if Laura darn saw like a gay tweets about her, just like, oh, stalker behavior. But the stalker takes it to the next level of I'm outside your house. Yeah, if that's stalk anybody, who would it be? Mm hmm. I don't know what mine answer would be, actually, I know it's like that sounds like a lot of

effort to stalk someone. If if you had a stalker. Would you be secretly kind of into it? Oh? Absolutely, I'd be obsessed and then pretend to hate it. Would be like very Jena Maroni from Dirty Rock having like a relationship with her stalker. That would be me. I'd just be like showing her up to places with my friend's life guys, sunglasses on. I'm so sorry, I think I was. Yeah, exactly, I had to get a gun

this week security. So Queen Latifa is doing all these amazing activities and it turns out at the end she's not actually dying because the cat scan of the department store was faulty, right, which makes sense. Don't get a cat scan at your local department store. And it doesn't even it doesn't even seem like a Nordstrom kind of department store. It seems like Sears Level or Coals. It's called Coles has become a through line of this podcast. Did you spend a lot of time at Coles as

a as a youth? Oh? Yeah, all of my outfits are from Coles. Is my favorite place to shop as a child, spot you can get back to school. Yeah, I have never jeans on sale. I've never been inside of Coles. Wow. Well, we went to Sears. I'm from Florida, Okay, yeah, from Milwaukee. Calls was very Midwest. How much cold cash? Do you have? Too much? I could last holiday, but I won't, but you good? Yes, Yes, I worked at a department store. Walk worked at Macy's. No way, what

did you do? I worked in the women's shoe department. Of course, I also worked at a department store. I worked at Bloomingdale's and worked in the men's shoe department. But I worked at the blooming Deals in Soho Um for six months and then on New Year's Day, I had done a bunch of ecstasy the night before, and I was on the floor and was like the most hungover I've ever been. And I just looked around and said, I don't want to do this anymore and walked out.

You walked out kind of like Queen Lativa did, now that I'm thinking about it, And I remember for weeks afterwards, um my manager like thought, I was in rehab and I was just watching Veronica Mars at home. Parallel taste. I worked at the mazeas in Um Milwaukee, which also mass and blooming Gales are basically the same store. Well, their parents coming yeah, yeah, um, sister, it's always wild thing like the Beverly Center. Here, it's like it's a maze's here, blooming gals, here be one store. Um. I

worked in Milwaukee. It was so I moved here in there's a brief period where right when I moved here, I went broke and then I went home. For like three four months, I worked at the Macy's shoot apartment there, and I like just itching to get back to l A. I'm like, what am I doing here? And basically every day to keep myself staying, I just told lies just fantastic lives are Like my coworkers what kind of like I think? I told them I was engaged. Love, that's good.

It's like, you know, I just got to get back to l A. You know, behind like my fiance he's there. What did your fiance do in this scenario? He worked in the music industry? I'm sure, yeah, I Love. Do you have any other poignant memories of working in a department store either you? Well, so did you work on commission? Yes? So, like the like the older people at the department store. I mean it makes sense because capitalism, right, who work

on commission like they are throw it commercial. It's if they see you talking to a customer that they like made even brief eye contact what they walked in the store, they will be up next to you like that's my customer, Ira. I'm like, al right, girl, get your commission. It's also such a the I think the scammiest thing about working in a department store is signing people up for credit cards. Yes,

oh my god, Okay. I used to work in American Apparel R I P. M at the Flagship in New York, and we also worked on commission and they would have a white board with everybody's like commission sales on it and like arrange people and rank them. So that was the first thing you saw when you like clocked into work every day. It's also evil because for us, like I think most people have figured it out. But you

can return anything to a department store. And the thing about Macy's was it used to be um Marshals um, and so you could return things that like you would bought at Marshal's and like the nineties, you return anything. That's the policy. I could take my bra off right now and return it at a Macy's anywhere in they take anything, and so The thing is you work on

commission in Milwaukee, like it snows there. The thing that people would do would they would go and buy shoes for like the holidays are like New Year's or whatever, and then return them at the beginning of the year. So like the money that you make on commission, when someone returns it, that money comes back from dark yanked. It gets yanked from you. So like you could have a good ask Christmas and then in January when someone returns ship, like you have a bad year. Chat. Yeah,

I didn't know that. I mean I was so Yeah. I had moments where I would see a person that I had helped walk back in the store like a week later and just be crushed because I knew I

never noticed. I was laser. I only worked in American mile for two months, but I was laser focused on being like sop top sales person because at the flash of American Apparel, the target demographics were like trust fund babies, their mom's, gay guys, and then like girls looking for Halloween costumes or girls looking for like outfits for their birthday. And I am like the perfect person to sell close to all of those people. You know what I mean, you are um Ira. What was your sales style? Like

how did you get people to buy things? It would just sort of like you have to lead into the game. A girl look so good, like come on, give me a little walk. That would work on me. Actually no, I don't know because when I go into a store, I don't want anyone to talk to me. And that's the problem too. It's like being on that side, but knowing when I walk into a store, it was like,

leave me alone. Yeah, I will ask you for help if I need it, But to size great, give me this like you walk into it, like the Bloomingdale's here, Like you walk into I was like, you're looking at one shirt? Can I start a room for you? Baby? No? You cannot. God, okay. I My technique doing sales was I would walk up and I would say, uh, and if you need anything else, my name is Francisco, like San Francisco. Because they need to remember your name at

the register. You gotta give them you gotta have a gimmick. Yeah, yeah, And that was always my thing, which is an insane thing to say to a person. They would always be like why didn't you just but that it would they would always remember my name. But I used to. I picked up at least two, if not three different guys while working at American Apparel. American Apparel was very crazy. Oh yeah crazy and yeah yeah people were gay idiots and gay shoplifters and like that was the shoplifting t

was insane. I had friends. I had a friend who worked at American Apparel, like right after college and had figured out how to make it so that just when they rang people up, it was like zeroed out. So they would have their friends come in and bring them up at the register and they would just leave with bags of cloth. We would do that too, or in backstop, you like stuff or bags or whatever. Um. I used

to steal from a Banana Republic like college. The Banana Republic game was and and m was the easiest to steal from. Yeah, it has become it has become so much harder to steal. But I've noticed on TikTok now there's some people who make um like shoplifting hack videos about where you can get away with it, and you know what, I you know what I love about shoplifting is people really think that they are like Carmen San

Diego level spy getting away with it. No one knows when they're walking around targets stealing things like baby Girl. They know that they just don't care. The jig is up. They know that you are taking that like Hayndes underwear, like whatever. The only people who know, the only people who care are lost prevention. I don't care. I see you stealing something. I have a good day. I'm not chasing you out the store of this Gap. I did used to work at a GAP at a Banana Republic.

Used to work at a Banana Republic also my my senior year of high school, like very briefly I worked. So I worked at Gap in undergrad and during the Red Campaign, by the way, and very very at the Michigan Avenue of Chicago one so like I was so sad that I started the day after like they got the job and then they scheduled my first day for the day after Oprah like came to the store and at the Red campaign on TV. Fuck you gap um.

But then I went to Banana Republic. Uh, And Banana Republic was the job that I used to transfer to. When I moved to New York. I worked at the rock Fellow Center. Been a Republic. I think I worked for eight shifts day. I just stopped coming in. That's how you have to do it in retail because like we're in, when you're working in retail, everyone's interchangeable, like they will forget about you immediately. I'm I'm a really bad retail employee. I do not know how to sell

to people. I don't care if they buy anything. I'm just they're trying to, you know, like get my money. The best job was, honestly being at the cash register because turn off your brain and you were scanning people. Don't put me on the sales floor. Also, I have to say in Bloomingdale's, the music that they played was hitting. I don't know who was making those playlists, but I heard it put me onto a lot of things. But like before they came out, So I mean, thank you too,

whoever I constantly heard. Is it any wonder it was? I loved? Was it okay? So this is taking us back to sort of, you know, like the moment I guess that last holiday was released in you know, like

early mid adds culture. Yeah, two thousand six. Um, Queen Latifa was I think hot off the heels of Chicago and she had done Taxi beauty shop, like she was in a lot of these, and this was really her first rom com roll because she had always been you know, she was Matron Mama Morton and Chicago, and she kind of always did like buddy comedy movies and which I used to own bringing down the house. But this was her first leading lady rom com roll, and unfortunately it

was a flop. Yeah, it's sad because it's so good. It's so good, holds up. I think it's really funny. She's so charismatic carry like the plant of it in and of itself is like obviously very predictable, but she well it's also based on it's a rewike of like a nineteen fifties you know movie or whatever. But she's like so charismatic and she like carries and there's I mean, there had never been really a rom com with someone like her as like, you know, the romantic lead, you

know what I mean. I think I'm thinking a lot about um. Do you remember when like Rebel Wilson was like she was like I also I also tried to personal beat well. First of all, background was like Rebel Wilson was all like I'm the first plus size person to be in a romantically blah blah blah, and everyone was like, Um, Queen Latifa is right there, Ricky Lake is right there. I don't know if that was I don't know if that was a great Rebel Wilson because

she saw Australia. Oh is she really? I actually had no idea. Well, she's my Nemessida tell us Okay, So I was it. When I was still a journalist. I was in London for the Cats Junket, and you know for that movie, everyone had to be like pre approved by the talents teams for you to be interviewing them. Um. The night before I was in my hotel in London, I was on Grinder and someone hit me up and

and said like, you look like Rebel Wilson. And I said, oh, that's funny, which I was like, I didn't know if it was a compliment or not. I think she's pretty um, but I thought it was funny because I was interviewing her the next day. So I took a screenshot of it and tweeted it and said like, l O L this is, you know, funny because I'm interviewing her tomorrow. I showed up to check in and the PR girl who was leading the junket, was like, um, just so

you know, you won't be interviewing Rebel anymore. And and I was like, oh, can you tell me why? And she said, okay, I'll get back to you, and hours later they said yeah, apparently her publicists just like you know, said that they changed their minds about having you interview her. And I did. I do think that her publicist was you know, like trolling like or like looked up all the journalists to make sure no one was gonna, you know, like catch her out with a question or whatever. You

know what. I'm sure like the interview would have been bad anyway, but that is my what have to say truly, And also like because I think the problem was because when I tweeted, I said, wouldn't it be funny if I brought this up during the interview And I wasn't going to. But also that would have been funny. And those interviews, interviews are so awful, and when I when I did them, I always tried to like make them at least a little fun. And when you have a

good like good talent, they respond to it. For those of you that don't know what a junket is, it's based really like when they corral dozens of journalists, many of them from like sealist and dealist, like you know, media publications, and each of them gets two to four minutes to interview celebrities in this like death carousel of like interviews, um for whatever movie. It is like that's

the same thing every time. At least you get a little glam though sometimes because you're on camera for these junks. But sometimes it can go wrong because sometimes they have like one person doing hair and makeup and it can

be rough. I hate the weird hotel. It's like I don't love I tried to make them fun, and I think that's why I like some of the some of the interviews I've done have like gotten like good response, and I think if I had been able to interview Rebel Wilson, we would have had a great time, a great time because also I looked I'd like watched some of the interviews she did afterwards, and I feel like she was the one who was bringing up like, isn't it so weird that like my my cat character is

naked and you can't see my vagina like whatever, Like yeah, um, but yeah, I mean back to the main part of the discussion. I mean Queen Latifa, I feel like, I mean, I were like, what's your relationship to like the cultural relevance of Queen Lativa, Queen Latifa, either at that time or now or like to me, like, I feel like her charisma really carries what could have been like a very mediocre movie, right, Like, if you put anybody else in that role, it really would not have been an

engaging watch. But she's so delightful to watch and actually, like Roger Ebert and other critics at the time kind of said similar things, even if they, you know, we're kind of shady about the film. I've loved her to live in single, you know, so like you grew up on Miss Latifa, and um, that was a good era for her. I mean, her career has always been so interesting.

I think because of that she was a black celebrity and so it was sort of like she had this relevance and also from like her hip pop career that was before, which she didn't really do much of that anymore, but it was just sort of She's just always a person, you know, is like a celebrity, this Queen Latifa, you know, like she is a a Staple. Uh. And it was nice seeing her get to do this but didn't really work out, you know, like you think about this, you

think about just right. Yeah, where she's like from she's romancing Common. She is is a physical therapist who loves basketball, and Common has an injury and she's working as his physical therapist. But her sister is into Common. The sisters like going on dates with Common, but they have and I think the sister baby Paula Patton uh, and they have, but they start to fall for each other. That seems inappropriate, That seems like a professional boundary, maybe like the beginning

of a medical malpractice immediately sued. But I mean, I think is I wonder if that movie was successful when Last Holiday wasn't. And I wonder if maybe, like you know, because Queen Lativa is queer question Mark and like she's acknowledged it, she's acknowledged her partner okay recently, and so maybe like there was some dissonance with her being like a straight romantic lead in these rom coms. But don't debut at number four behind Iron Man two, Robin Hood

and Letters to Juliet Oh, Letters to Juliett. I'm gonna google right film stated theater seven days. Oh wow. But but you know, like she put she put butts in the seats because when we talked about Last Holiday, it was Queen Latifa in Last Holidays. It could not have been anyone else. She was the moment, she had the chrisma. That movie was I'm sure written for her specifically, and

she slayed something that I only realized retroactively as well. Say, um, Chloe and Hallie Bailey made their acting debut in this movie. They play like five year olds in this movie. I had no idea. I only saw like after I read the IMDb um for Last Holiday. You know what the one that was I think successful before that was um Beauty Shot Oh yeah yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. I mean that was massive and that was Steel Magnolia's right. It was supposed to like be a quote unquote adaptation of

Steel Magnolias or something like that. I don't know, but I love that. I should say it was just sisters in the Barbershop that's been off of Barbershop. Um, yeah, but I think that. I mean, I don't know which Like Rose and I watched this movie um Last Holiday, um, and it was like for me like such a um, it was such a like an example of like what

it means to like enjoy your life. And obviously, like I don't think the film is trying to make this commentary, but it was very like, you know, fuck the man, fuck your nine to five, fuck like you know, are broken health care because like, well it's also very of its time. It's pre Obama, pre recessional recession. You know, I'm gonna blow it all. Yeah, yeah, And I think in the movie, she like she could her health insurance

doesn't cover the procedure she needs. Yeah, she goes to see that woman and the woman tells her it would be like a crazy amount of money to get the surgery. But also I feel like, is that how much money she spends going on this holiday? Die? Which is a serve? It's it's it's I feel like movies of this ilk always lead into that though that like capitalism is like the man is bad, like bosses or mean workers, that it never translates, but the world like that capitalism is bad.

Let me go spend all this money and buy all these things that will make me happy before I die. But they do make her happy, they would make me happy. Well, but the moral that she learns at the end is that it's actually she's actually not happy being all alone in this place that she's dreamed of all her life. She wants to go back and be with the people who love her. But by that point L cool J has flown to Prague to see her, to see her,

and she's dying, I love you. And it's very romantic because because the nosy neighbor shows him her Possibilities book and he's in it, which also she's right all back. It's really creepy. She's cut out his picture and her, She's cut out their faces and put them on a wedding photo, which, oh my god, I didn't even think about it. I don't know if I saw that, well, I probably would be flattered and I would be too,

but anybody else would be like what the fuck. But also at the end of the movie, doesn't she she doesn't the seat the boss or the CEO or whatever, like yes of alleged and like she tells him like life's worth living for, doesn't he want to jump because he's like so destroyed by the fact that a woman like Queen Latifa could have a better life than him or something like. That's kind of why he decides to commit suicide. Yeah, and also his assistant, who is his mistress,

has left him because Queen, because feeble power. Queen Latifa was like, girl, you're better than him and this job. You should do his job. Why are you sleeping with him and being the mistress? And honestly they should have gotten together. That's how the movie should have ended as

Queen Latifa and the red headed assistant. I do appreciate that. Like, even though it is a rum come, I do feel like when I watched this movie, it was predominantly spent on like between Latifa, just like bibing, you know, just like enjoying her life. The makeover Vermontage, a magup Vermontage for all makeup Vermontages. What are some of your favorite

makeup vermontag isn't God definitely clueless? Obviously Princess Diremies Devils product that is that is, I mean, that is the iconic one, and then you get yes, such a vogue and then it in then it ends with you know, the are those the which I think we as a community as a community need to let that it. It's gotta go that along with like high Gay or like whatever. I think High Gay is like recent enough that it's still funny and there's more permutations of it to be done.

It's been a very long time. It's it's been when Christmas, people do right, but people do the right? Are you the eighth grade report card that I had my mom's basement. Yeah, it's like all right, like everyone makes it into a new thing. Let it. Actually, as much as I love that movie, Devil wors Product, discourse could leave the Internet. Well, the real villain of the the real villain of the Devil war Is product is the friends we made along the way. I think I tweet it was in my

hey day. I think I tweeted that the real in the Devil Words product is all of you who were shut up about this movie. I mean, Devil wors product is. Can we categorize as a rom com? Also? I guess technically maybe it's a workplace comedy, and it's a workplace comedy, But you know, in the antheon of rom coms. You know, as we're talking about Last Holiday, what are some of your favorites? Yes, what are the best rob coms? One of mine is Last Holiday. We were just talking about

how those are. That's like, literally Rosen my favorite. I'm Christmas. Maybe don't watch the Holidays. The holiday we're talking about, last holiday, last holiday. The holiday. Pretty Woman of course is really iconic and like it's a it's a rom com about a SECS worker, which I think is like pretty cool. My best friend's wedding, Oh, my best friend's wedding is it is Julia Roberts does a rom com. Okay, America Sweethearts not one of my favorites, but it's it's good.

But yeah, my best friend's wedding is the moment Cameron Diaz's performance, and that is incredible. Yes, the scene in the bathroom alone, I've never said that I would have killed her if that. If I was getting married and that was going on, I would have said, Julie Roberts, you're dead. You've never seen it. Wait, this is my best friend's wedding or yeah, oh, I have seen my best wedding, and I remember empathizing with the diabolical nature

of trying to break up this marriage. I also love the way it ends, because it ends with her not winning and her being alone at the wedding and her gay best friend comes and it's like, yeah, this sucks, but like we have each other, who plays the gay best friend again? So it opens up with like the musical number that is that is cinema. Okay, that is that is a good time at the movies. Marty Scorsese agrees that is what we need back in film. Okay. Oh god. I think my ultimate rom com obviously is

going to be Moonstruck. I mean I have it like tattooed on my leg. I guess that is. It is a rom com technique. Yeah it is. It's like a prestige rama, is it, I mean, is it? Yeah? Yeah. I was gonna be like, because there's always the romantic dramas, but it is a romantic comedy. It's comedy. Yeah, it's intentionally comedic. I do. I do love a rom com.

And I think this era that Last Holiday came out in was kind of the golden age of rom com by the way they were really cranking them out, because this was when j Lo was making all of her rom coms. Kate Hudson, you know, the girls were working, they were booked and busy turning these out a couple of times a year. I love a teen rom com too, you know, like, um, get over it never seen it as a classic. Uh and then um, well the other two I love like feel more like Devils was probably

probably work force comedy. It's like, don't tell me, I'm the babysitter's dad as elements, but I think it's a workless or a family comedy. Why would you classify that movie. I don't even know these like kind of a family comedy. Yeah, there's hijinks and working girl, but it seems more like workplace. Um, just like Devil, But I don't know. I like Devil. I love that we've shortened it Devil. I was on the plane the other day watching Devil, and then people

think you're talking about the night movie. Oh, that was a horrible movie. Just takes place on an elevator, Yes, it did. The whole movie takes place on an elevator, which is probably where I will die on an elevator, really on the Tower of Terror. On the Tower of Terror, so you would die going up, or you would die in the actual right itself. Well, now it's guards in the Galaxy. Oh it changed in l A. But in Florida for like lawsuit reasons, because no, because they just

wanted to add a Marvel ride but tower. People have died on the Tower of tot Also, have you seen the Tower of Terror movie starring Kirsten Dunst. It was a Disney Channel original movie about Tower of Terror. I think it can maybe just a ride like as a way to promote it. I feel like I've seen every Disney Channel original every day. Yes you know that. I that the girls were working specific age. If you were, if you were watching Disney Channel as like like middle

school high school, you were like Friday Disney. If you were our Lord and Savior Christy Carlson, Romano and newly minted gay icon who also probably voted for drum Probably um wait, I have seen this, Steve Guttenberg, Steve Gutenberg, Yes, this is wild. If your life was a rom com, what would the premise be? Love? I mean, I know

myself and my Leo behavior. My rom com would be the one where like, oh, you're like you're you're like in a high powered job and like you're you're sort of mean and like you you yell at people and then um, some like some person who like comes across

your path, Um, you find love? Love that I know exactly, Yeah, you know, or like you know, I also think I would be very much like intolerable cruelty like me and my Like I could see myself in a rom com where it's someone helps me find love, or it's the reverse ones where it's like you are falling out of love and you're feuding with your partner and then you get back together at the ends, right right, you know

little Adam's rib moment. Mine would also be a workplace comedy of some a workplace romcom of some kind, but it would definitely be more of like an ugly Betty scenario where I am, like, you know, executive assistant, like can't fend for myself really like you know, just like kind of bottom of the verial person in the environment. And then it would definitely be makeover montage to like win the guy or some thing like that. I don't know,

maybe my boss. Maybe it'd be a little risque, like there's an element of like, you know, uh, forbiddenness to our relationship. But I'm sure woman assistant love that pretty woman meets the intern. Yeah, the intern y Yeah. And my rom com would just be She's the man starring a man to mine. No, that movie is iconic remains in like the non binary of Pam Beyond. It's like truly a transnarrative. I mean, my rom comm would definitely

be like derivative of a Shakespeare play. As I think, you know, like some of the best rom coms we have are based on classic literature. That's our era, that's our era. They were, they were studios were like, who's the shakespeak another romo and Juliet Let Yeah, I want to I want to do a rom com based on the Tempest. That would be amazing. Get over it is been somewhere nice dream by the way, no way, Kirsten Dunt and they are doing a production of Midsummer Night's

Dream play within a play. Yeah you got you gotta see this movie. It opens up with him him being dumped and um vitamin C and the rest of the town like show up behind him and saying Captain and Tinneil's love will bring us together. I love that. So as we talk about rom coms, I think rom coms were the way that a lot of us like learned

what we thought relationships were like. But what I'm interested in is things that we found like sexy as kids are like that we thought were the models of what sexuality were like, and so I'm really interested in, like through media, what your first experience of something you thought

was kind of sexy, you're like erotic? What? So I'll give my example, which is the Flintstones movie which one Viva Rock Vegas the originally so first some reason halle Berry and Kyle McLaughlin had to me this like insane electric sexual chemistry. And I remember as a child being like, this is hot and this is how like adults are sexy with each other? Is there like scheming and like, um, barefoot, I love a scheme? Yeah, Taylor was in this movie. Yes, I feel like made me feel like every romance he

pursue needs to have obstacles. Yeah, you can't just beat somebody and start dating them. It's you have to overcome them having another boyfriend, or it's like you are across the globe from each other, or someone's scheming to keep you apart. It's like you get turned on by obstacles. Unless, of course, as we've discussed on this podcast before, it is Twilight and there is no plot in the movie at all, and there's no stakes to their relationship in any way, and you're just in love and one of

you's a vampire. Yeah, Ira, what was your media sexual awakening? I think about that. I mean it's so base, which was I love horror movies, but you're like one elm Street, you know, And it's it's not just like to like the actual homoe erotic one. It's just like, wouldn't I feel like those movies gave you like a hot guy like a Johnny Depp or something. Yes, in a crop top being stalked by the killer. Back to stalking, Yeah,

back to stalking. Honestly, this whole podcast is rounding to a point, which is that stalking is hot and should be more socially if you would like to stalk any of us, and here are addressed security numbers. Here's my preferred coffee shop Dred Pennsylvani. Yeah, we did it, Joe. Well that could die too. That also could die. I was with someone the other day who like earnestly was like we did it, Joe, and like not even like making you talk out of it, And I was like,

we're still doing that. It's been a year. Girl. Also, what did you do? Um? Do you have a wish for the holiday? Like a holiday message to share with everyone? I do you know? Um? Be kind to one another, be kind, and most importantly, be kind to yourself. Spend that money on yourself. That's right, Go buy a book, buy a trip to Prague. Everyone should do their version of like last Remember when everyone used to say, treat yourself. Everyone should like last holiday themselves? Oh my God should

cast their falling? Did did Queen Latifa invent self care? Whatever you're like, If you're saving for something, look at the world around you. Okay, look at it burning, and take that thing you're saving for and go do something fun. Just believing your possibilities. Yes, go to your sense, your essence cart and and by the time, yes, we will be back next week to have a discussion about, you know,

the birth of Jesus Christ, the War on Christmas. We'll be talking about the eternal tension between religious Christmas and capitalist Christmas. So before next week you should all crack open your bibles. Um, turn turn to the Book of

No I'm just kidding. Um. You can, however, call us to confess and let us know what is the thing that in pop culture that you would just force all of your friends to watch that you need them to watch in order for them to understand who you are as a person watch or read or you know, listen to or experience in some cultural phenomenon. You can call three to three Penance. That's three to three, seven three, six to six to three. You can tweet us your

takes on this week's episode. Tell us what you really think about Queen Latifa's red dress. Let me tell you. Please leave us review on ap A podcasts, especially if it's a positive review. It can be a little shady, but like give us five stars. Thank you. I'm your co host fran Toronto. You can find me at France Squish go on all social media and sub stack and I'm Rose damn You. You can find me at Rose Damn You on Instagram, Twitter and now TikTok. That's right.

You can subscribe to like a Virgin wherever you listen to podcasts. This is an I Heeart radio production. Our producer is a Phoebe Inter, with support from Lindsay Hoffman, Julian Weller, Jess Cranechitch and Nikki Etorp. Until next week, See you later, her Jons. Christmas isn't canceled, but this episode of this podcast is should We Hold Hands? And Singing Tabu Dore have Mother