Dumbest Timeline: Taco Bell Metaverse Wedding, NTFs, etc. 03.17.23

Potatoes o'brium. That is courtesy of at least with the hot takes and the O'Reilly's auto parts jingle, which I was just listening to a version this morning where it's clear that like one of the one of the musicians, one of the vocalists really like got like either got high for the recording session or they just really like through their entire body and spirit into adding the O'Reilly that last O'Riley before the autopart. So congratulations to that artist.

We are thrilled to be joined by a co host you know from guesting on this show. Of course you know I'm from stuff they don't want you to know, ridiculous history, the new limited series. Let's start a cool Please welcome the brilliant and talented Ben Bow. Yeah a kaas asked Twitter, and they said aka Casa Della Killa ak bb cool J aka Doctor Awkward aka mister bring the Bags, which I don't get, but I support mister bring the bags. You always bring those bags of knowledge

to people. My A I am screen name in college and high school was ob cool Ja, So shout out my friend you. Yeah, that was a creation of my friend Chris, the legendary Chris, who I talked about a lot on this show. Well, Ben, wonderful to have you co hosting. You already dropped some knowledge on us that I want to talk about a moment. But first let's introduce our guests, shall we? Another Consummate podcast professional, one of the best in the business digital activists. You can

hear her on her brilliant podcasts. There are no girls on the internet Internet hate machine. With cool Zone Media, it's bridget time. Oh my god, I love every time I come here, you all give me the best introductions. It was my heart, I mean. And we do offer that because we're as we're going to get into with Sesame Street, we are running into money difficulties. I will offer to do an intro for you that you can

bring around with you. That is an NFT for the low low price of five thousand dollars, so just let me know after the recording. But Bridget so wonderful having you. The intro is always more than well deserved. How are you doing? You have new glasses that look fantastic. First, I just got new glasses, So I'm in that phase of getting a new item where you're just expecting compliments and when you get that and they're like thank you, I know, and that is correct and that is appropriate. Yeah, yeah,

they're great. Yeah. I was saying, I need I have five pieces of clothing that I wear on a regular basis because I need so many compliments to just have the confidence to wear anything. Otherwise it's just a white T shirt. Ben, you were saying before, because we were talking about the naming of dogs, and you were saying that studies have been conducted that suggests that dogs respond better to names that end in S or why yeah

or I E. Yeah, it's right. Yeah, it's a weird thing, and it's you know, we talk about names pretty often, right, because names do have power. If it apparently, I don't look up the study and send you all, but apparently side shows that dogs will tend to be more more receptive to their their human roommates, parents, whatever however you want to answer primorifies. Uh, they'll be more receptive when their name ends in that I e. Or y sound or like a plural, which which is nuts to me

because it explains so much. Right, It's like, why does every dog person we know, why do they inevitably have all these nicknames? Right? Yeah, you gotta find Finny boy. Yeah. Yeah, he did not respond to Finn. He ignored this shit on me. I was like, he can't hear very clearly. Yeah, there's nothing cuter than asking a pet owner like, what is your pet's name? And then give me the laundry list of other names doctor, like doctor Finnancy like yeah for sure, yeah, and then yeah and then like what

I was thinking about common dog names. It's like Max, which has an ass on the end spot does not pass the test. Lassie though, you know these standard names and throwing a y on the end always a good idea. So I had a kid growing up with me had

a wonderful, wonderful guy living with him named Buster. And Buster was a Golden Retriever who always seemed like very good energy, very affable, but didn't quite like didn't quite get what was going on, ye or Buster, And I think it's because I think it's this poor guy spent you know, over a decade not fucking knowing when people were talking to him. Yeah, that would be difficult. I think in my experience that's hard. All right, well, Bridget, we're going to get to know you a little bit

better in a moment. First, we're gonna tell our listeners about the plate of just hot garbage news that we have for them today. Today's news cycle seems to have been it seems like all all the news outlets were just like turn it over to chat GPT. We're just gonna and tell them about like all the all the buzzwords from the last year. So we have we have the Taco Bell metaverse wedding what too? We have a review of the Taco Bell Metaverse wedding, officiated by Cal Penn.

Of course it really can get mixed up in that. How did he get looped in? Definitely guy, it's you know that sweet sweet marketing money. The Tiger King is running for president from jail. There is a Sesame Street NFT that just got dropped. They're a little little behind the curve on that one. Admire that they're sticking to it. They're still just like, no, we think people are gonna want an NFT of cookie Monster leaning kind of seductively

on an oven. He like seems like he's it seems like a dating profile pick of Monster, which is interesting choice. He owns the means of production. Man, He's showing people that he can make his own. That's power, right. Yeah, So we'll talk about that and also the history of why Sesame Street needs to resort to selling NFTs and tickle Me's Elmo and all that shit. Before we get to any of that stuff, Bridget, we do like to ask our guests, what is something from your search history

that is revealing about who you are? Something from my search history that is revealing about who I am is the phrase sexy boy. I'm recording a podcast about the rivalry between Brett Harry Art and Shawn Michaels, and in the script they were like, oh, Shaun Michaels, his walk on song at the time was a song called sexy Boy. It's all like, oh, I have to hear this song.

So that was one of the last things I googled was to hear Sean Michaels is walk on song sexy Boy, which, by the way, if you, if you, I recommend googling it and listening to it because it's pretty good. But yeah, so that was what he walked out onto the stage too, is it bo I? They? No, this was the nineties, this was boy. We didn't know. Only Big Boy from Outcasts knew that you could spell your name spell the word boy that way. Yeah, that's right. Wow, so sexy boy.

The first Google result when you just put the words sexy boy into Google is the Shawn Michaels intro music. But it's not the first image result. I'll tell you that much, folks. Is it a sexy boy? It's a lot of sexy boys, a lot of ripped six pack abs, one in which yeah, I don't even want to describe what's happening, and that one. Since we're an audio show, I think it's I think it's necessary to tell the Zeit gang that Bridget and I can see Jack's furrowed brow.

What do you do it? Are you like trying to count apps? What's going on? How many apps are supposed to be on a Sexy Boy? Yeah? A lot. It's a lot to take in this this search history, but that thank you so much for sharing with it. I actually don't know that song. I never got into the whole ww FW. Like I was super into it for a couple months when I was like five, when like whole Coogan Andre the Giant, and then just like fell

out of love with it. I think I discovered like playing guns instead of playing wrestling, and like just moved on to some other toxic little boy bullshit. I think ramp. My dad saw Rambo and described it to me, and I was like, well, this is my new personality. Yeah.

I was so influenced by Sylvester Stallone and like his whole thing is like haunted, scarred, damaged, like you know, can barely communicate because he's like holding in so much pain and just like so thoroughly toxic with his inability to talk about his pain, to access his own pain. As identified with this as a child. Was a child because Rocky and Rambo, Like, for whatever reason, I was like, yes, take me more. Yeah, Like I fantasized about getting beat

up instead of beating people up because Rocky. That was like the majority of what Rocky was was him just getting the shit beat out of him. I was like, man, that guy can take a punch. I wish I could take a punch like that. I thought, look like Bridget. When you said sexy boy, I immediately thought of the song by the French Air Air. Yeah. I was like, that's it. I'm still relevant. I got my finger on a pulse or whatever. How weird would it be if a wrestler in the nineties his walk on song was

air going by air like. He's a real, like high brow. He's cultivating a vibe here. Okay, okay, playing Moon Safari. It's a great idea. Somebody should just have be avant garde wrestler just the most hate it. They really wanted to create a villain that America would hate. Super metrosexual. Yeah, just just Artie, just Artie. You know what is something Bridget that you think is overrated? Something that I think is overrated is it's very specific and perhaps a little

bit niche. I was in Vegas. I just came back from Vegas for podcast Movement Evolutions, and while I was there, I learned that I didn't know that. I don't know how I didn't know this, But did you know that Elon Musk's boring company has hollowed out part of the ground under Las Vegas to make what it's called the Vegas Loops like hyperloop. So this is this is where

the confusion came from. On my part. I was thinking hyper loop, like that super fast underground thing, which like you know, like I'm no expert, but it sounded I was interested to see it. So we've been sold on hyper loop, which does sound kind of cool. This what actually exists is Vegas Loop, which is so much fucking worse.

It is whatever you're thinking. It is so much less cool, and it's underground and it's just this underground road under part of Las Vegas where Tesla's drives and so it's essentially just like a fleet of a fleet of Tesla's driven by humans that drives underground goes about thirty to forty miles an hour. It doesn't go it doesn't go

wildly fast. And that's the whole thing. When you go down, you think it's gonna be cool, because it's kind of like when do you to board those Version America flights where they'd have the lights, they have the lights, they have the lights, they've got some lights, they've got some music, and you think like, oh, I'm back to be whisked away on this like futuristic loop. It's just a dude driving a Tesla. Like that's the whole thing. Subway system

with tesla's instead of trains. Uh yeah, pretty much, pretty much. And the whole time I was just like, this was this is the whole thing. It's essentially the same thing that happens above ground, but underground for some reason, Like I can't understand why it's supposed to be better to be underground. I can't. I can't get it. Anyway, very overrated it was. It just was really whacked, Like it just wasn't cool because they talked about this a lot.

I remember him talking a big game and then I had lumped this into yet another one of the things that he talked a lot about, and it sucked and it turns out that he did or actually didn't happen, And it turns out it did happen, and it sucked, So that that is actually news to me. Wait, do a lot of people use it? I don't think so. Everybody who I saw was like interested in the novelty as I was. I don't think it's something that people

are using for their general transportation means in Vegas. I could be wrong, so don't trust it, Like I don't yea that he is doing the work to make sure it is safe and not going to collapse in on itself. Personally, Yeah, I did have a couple of questions because like if you were if you had a disability and you had a wheelchair or a mobility device, it's not clear to me, like like you can't really stop, but the people are really the people driving are very invested in like keeping

keeping it going. So if you had a luggage or something, it wasn't clear to me what would happen. So certainly it's the kind I'm to say it worked about as well as an underground driving sits stem designed by Elon Musk, exactly what you think it would be. It is, like, yeah, it's designed as about as well as Elon Musk as you would imagine Elon must have four to thirty pm on a Friday energy, right, yes, exactly? What is something you think is underrated? Something I think it's underrated? Is

this is going to be controversial? Checking your luggage when you're flying, I usually carry on. I checked had a bunch of bags, so I checked them all and I don't know what, I've been avoiding this whole time. Like it it went fine. It was nice to not have to I had a connection, so it was nice to not have to schlept bags from here to there. This whole time, I've been crapping on people who aren't able to get their stuff into a carry on. I think I'm I think I'm check bags for life. Now. It's

it's really hit or miss. It's when when it doesn't go well, that's like they lose the bag, the bag takes an hour to arrive, as it did on my last flight that I took where we checked a bag. It's it's a bummer. It's real. It's really tough to just be like kind of waiting there with everybody that you were just on the plane with and never wanted to see again. One yeah, right, right right, You're like, I'm standing next to this this guy who is a way too open with his feet as well, take my

shoes off again? Yeah, let me learn more about you, bro. What kind of bag do you store your socks in? Because I think you just have the one pair. But also, like I gotta say I'm with bridget on this some team bridget On on the checking bags when it works out, because I'm I'm a sucker, and I love that moment.

For me, it always feels like the climactic moment of a rom com, you know, when I see my bag again and I'm like, oh, we've been you know, we've been hundreds of miles away and here you are coming towards me, and I know it's you. I knew from the first, you know what I mean, Like, you know, I'm like hugging the bag and yeah, yeah, I don't know anthropomorphizing. Maybe I don't think my bag cares about me the way I care about Don't be so hard on yourself. Don't say that then you do you do

you guys? Tie a little ribbon? Do you have? What's your How do you know it at first sight? Because bags are I do feel like bags have evolved, like the way that nature keeps evolving into crabs, like animals keep evolving into crabs. I feel like all bags have evolved into the same, like black, gray, hard bodied, rectangular suitcase that looks like it could have been made by you know, one of the three internet bag companies. Do you guys have a little little piece of spirit, little

piece of as on there I do. I have very distinctive stickers, So I usually travel with two bags. One is like very distinctive, no one whatever mistake it for theirs. It's like bright orange, definitely mine. The other is the classic black Oway bag, which I think I did get for free from for like making a podcast. Add like everybody has, well, everybody who had a podcast got that bag. We all had podcasts, So everybody has that bag now.

And it's a good bag. It's durable. I've had it for years and like, like truly it is like the day you start a podcast that shows up at your house with your microphone. But so I have to have all kinds of distinctive stickers on it, right because there are so many of those bags. And I also to that question, I I like to have, like I have no stickers on a car because I feel like that's uh presumptuous. Somehow people are already driving. They don't want to have to learn more about me. I'll just use

my turn signals and be quiet. But but like, like with the bag, especially because they're relatively ubiquitous and I'm partially colored blind, I have a bunch of like just travel stickers, the ones they do from when you check a bag and I just haven't haven't cleaned it, So I'm always thinking, oh, yeah, there's the one, the beat up, shitty one. I knew you from the first Welcome back. But you know, but I think it is smart when people have you know, sometimes people make a statement. Everybody

makes a statement right at different times. And I kind of love seeing weird bags in the baggage claim. You know, I'm like, oh, this guy either is super into snowboarding or maybe it's a cello right. One thing I do know is he has very specific views on you know, to bet back in the nineties. Sure from is like free to bet thing. I think that's cool. I think that's cool. And if you check a bag, like to your point, Bridget, you can especially if you have a

connecting flight. It's like the logistics is just sort of magical. I can never do that. I could never figure out how to follow every you know, watch every falling sparrow from like one airplane to the next. But it's oppressive. Yeah, Ben, to your point about that you don't put stickers on your cars, do you ever see one of those cars that just has way too many stickers on it? Where it's like you are trying to tell out way too many things, even if there are things that I like

or agree with. At a certain point, it's like it makes you're advertising too much to the world, even if it's things that I'm aligned with us too much. Yeah, yeah, it's too much. And they're always like usually include get off my ass, And it's like, will you clearly want me somewhere close to you so that I can read the dissertation that you've put together. Those stickers, the bumper

stickers are like, so, I don't know. They do not have affect industry wide fact checker, I will say, because there are quotes attributed to Einstein that I'm pretty sure are like van Halen lyrics or something. You know, what, what do you guys think about vanity plates? Oh? I used to have one. What you're saying said love This is so cheesy. It said love to teach, because I was a teacher at the time and I really did love to teach. I think, yeah, that's a good one.

That's a good I like the ones where you know, I'm I'm never going to condone being high in traffic. So for the purposes of this story, I was writing shotgun, and I got to the point where I thought regular license plates were vanity plates that I just smart enough to understand. Yeah, I was like, H four, no, no, no, keep following that guy. I gotta write this down. Follow

that man. Decode. Also, there was a stunt that I don't know if it's been replicated widely, but it's an interesting thought, is that there was a study that the people who were most likely to engage in road rage incidents were It had nothing to do with like, you know, so some of the things that you might have liked with whether they were in a pickup truck or like a different kind of truck, which would have been my

first guess. It was actually people who had bumper stickers were like that was the only statistically significant differentiator between like how likely they were to get into a road rage incident, and like, I think the theory was that if you have bumper stickers, you view your car as like an extension of your personhood more than anything else, and so like you view it as a personal insult if you're cut off, as opposed to just a thing

that happens to everyone. You know, Wow, this is like one of the reasons why I don't drive is because I feel like I would be a road rage person. Like I drive a little bit, but I really don't drive a lot. Uh when I'm behind the wheel, Like if somebody is trying to murder, like kind of box me out to merge, I will kill us both, Like I don't care, like we will die in this car. Yeah, I get. I believe that I believe the bumper sticker

to road rage correlation. Yeah, it's like you probably feel much more like this is my this car is my property and an extension of me, and I will protect it, which I hate to say. It's like an instinct that I get. And I wonder if they I've never had a bumper sticker, but I do wonder if when you have a bumper sticker, you start assuming people are driving a certain way around you based on You're defensive. You're like, oh,

you don't like Einstein. You don't believe that I ran a half marathon, like I'm gonna take this to the death. You're you're you're like laying on your horn and to yourself, you're just muttering, Well, this guy doesn't fucking coexist. That's right, you know. I h I see it and this is just further cementing my no bumper stickers on my car situation. You know, it's it's great, You're right, though, it's it's

a lot. I think people always want to sort of tell a story, right, because we are the stories we tell ourselves. But to you guys, point how many should there be a limit? Should somebody like right right to our local representatives and say, hey, I know there's a lot of stuff going on, but like three bumper stickers, max, you know, like let's bring people together. I don't know, I don't know. I believe there should be a limit

on bumper stickers. And also signs in your yard. Like again, even even if it signs of things that I agree with, it's like, we get it. Three is plenty three. You don't need you need, you don't need to like, let's just keep it reasonable. Three. It's a diminishing return exactly. And some people like try to build, Like there's houses that are like we do this this week and we're gonna like, I don't know, it's it reminds me of like those like mini library things that I think are cool.

But I think a lot of people are like this is how we build community. And it's like, well, you're not really interacting with anyone. Feels like yeah, yeah, I don't know. I'm glad those exist. I just don't know that they're the answer. This just a Jack o'bride library hater.

I told you that was an offline thought. I'm still workshopping, so I mean, Jack, it's not like you ever see like crowds of people hanging around a free little library, you know, talking about the buck We have one like right next like in between our neighbor's house and our house, and it's yeah, you don't you don't see people like hang out there, but you see people like walk up by themselves. It gets a lot more traffic than I

would have expected. It's pretty, it's definitely useful. It's just, yeah, people don't hang together at the at the free yard library. It's a free yard library we got. I do want to give a quick shout out not to Durellis here in Atlanta and activists. Artist friend of mine named Aileen Lloyd has created on the heels of the book banning stuff that's happening around the country, has created a what what she's calling a little contentious free library, which is

all banned books like that. Yeah, yeah, she's way cooler than me. But but yeah, it's like, you know, it's it's a real problem. If you're preventing people from being able to encounter knowledge, you know, at a at a formative age, then that, I don't know, Yeah, different might different in the future. That might be the like we'll all have to have little libraries where we give out books that are banned elsewhere because yeah, their schools aren't

doing it in some states. So all right, let's take a quick break and we'll come back and get into the Taco Bell metaverse wedding. And we're back, and Taco Bell is in the metaverse. I don't know this. So Taco Bell held a contest where the winner, yes, the winner, got to have their wedding in a digital Taco Bell in the metaverse. That was what you want. That feels like a punishment to me. But the ceremony happened at the end of last March. But people who attended, just

I don't know, broke their media embargo. I don't know. And it's just truly, I don't know that this story made me feel as empty as any story we've covered in a long time. But I did have to talk about it. So the bride and grooms avatars faced each other across a sacred fire. It was so the wedding was a traditional Indian ceremony other than the fact that it was in a taco bell In the metaverse, it

was hosted by Calpen. The bride and grooms avatars faced each other across a sacred fire made of taco bells signature fire sauce. See, okay, okay, all right, you're on board. No, I look, I get it. Wait a second, I feel like, yeah, I'm like, oh, okay, now I'm back in. I didn't know it was Signature fire sauce. But I gotta be honest. This um is gross, and I wish everybody like marriage is tough, you know what I mean, Like, I wish

everybody the best of success finding your person. You know, it's like even better than that roten Com moment with your bag at baggage Claim, right, It's like that forever and that's really noble and cool, and that is, for most people, the height of romantic luck. So you're saying this is even more than seeing your bag. Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, okay, okay, we're we're very statement. But okay, Bridget and I are

being paid by big checked bag, I guess right. But okay, there's like again, you know, a good friend of mine, actually my best friend, uh is, he's getting married pretty soon, and he was telling me all all like how stressful it is and how messed up in crazy planning this thing gets. And so he and his partner they have decided to elope, which I think is cool, you know, cut past the nonsense and then make it their own.

So maybe for this couple it's their dreaming thing. Maybe they were like, hey, we met it a Taco bell or like you know the metaverse. Yeah, yeah, Gordon front wraps are really the glue of our partnership. My problem here is not the Taco bell theming I will say that they but the official Taco bell, theming, the fact

that it is. I don't know, I just feel bad for like, if you want to diminish the amount of stress associated with an event, adding a corporate sponsor who has notes on everything, like, it just seems like not the not the way to go. I mean, I think like the idea idealized version that like they pitched when Taco Bell, you know, signed onto this idea and contest is probably that it's like, Yeah, they just start expressing their love and they're two couple weirdos who just love

Taco Bell. But in practice, for anyone who has been involved with sponsored content and trying to get any amount of art through past past corporate sponsors who have notes, I just like, I don't know, it seems seems difficult.

I also like the fact that they keep saying that they want a contest to become the first people married at a Taco Bell in the metaverse, as though this is going to be an ongoing thing that we'll be looking back on them as the fucking George Washington's of this thing that we all then went on to do as a people. Yeah, I mean people do have like

really strong feelings about Taco Bell. Like I have no trouble believing that this couple maybe met in a Taco Bell and Taco Bell was a big part of their relationship. And I didn't have Taco Bell for the first time until like five years ago, so I am not in that particular group. But yeah, we weren't allowed to eat it when I was growing up like a weird a weird role my mom had no Taco Bell, no mountain dew, but all the other stuff was fine. Yeah, all fine. I don't know why she just like had a thing

well for mountain dew. She said it was because this is this is her words, not mine. It was quote for white trash. We weren't allowed to drink. I think Taco Bell might have been in the mix as well.

My family didn't encourage it. I will say that I never went out to dinner with my family to Taco Bell necessarily, but you know, I got it like after you know, a game or something like if I you know, we we just it was the thing that was open that we could like scarf down in the fifteen minutes we had and yeah, it's such perfect point, just like so delicious. I don't know. They lit up something in my brain that I have been unable to increase from there.

And the same is true of mountain dew. When I lived in Kentucky, I became addicted to mountain dew and have never been able to fully like I don't I don't go frequently because of or like drink mountain dew frequently because for self care reasons, because like if I have a twelfth pack of mountain dew at my house. I'm not going to be able to not drink at all, But what if you could do it in the metaverse? Brow Now we're talking be thank you. No, that's mountain

dew was originally slang for moonshine. That's the etymology of it. Yeah, I haven't tried it, but I do agree with your mom Bridget. Oh my god, actually onto something but that like, wow, you've never tried I've never tried it. I've tried the red kind, but I've never had regular mountain deergular, you get the you get the overall. Yeah, wait, Ben, have you did you say you've never tried it? M I've never tried mountain dew. I probably this is like asking

someone if they've always been vegan. There was probably something in the drinks. But anytime there was a mountain dew situation Asian available, there was some other soda or something to drink. So I would end up I would end up going with that. And also growing up, some of my relatives I didn't care for we're into mountain dew. There was super into mountain dew, and I would look at them and I would be like, better you than

me my friends. You know, so like, okay, but Taco Bell though the appeal, the late night appeal back in the day, you know, you got like twelve eighteen bucks. You're high in a car following another car because you think it's a vanity license flight. They grow into a Taco Bell. Yeah, and then you're like, I'm living like I am the fucking emperor of bad decisions. You know what two case ideas grow into euros yo, you know yeah, oh man, cheesy Gordia crunch I just discussed like Miles,

I think turned me onto it. Like I loved Taco Bell and I wasn't even getting the best stuff growing up. What's the good order? I mean, cheesy gord ud casady I've always had. And then I like to get a grilled stuffed chicken burrito with That's the healthy part of my order. Grilled stuff chicken burrito extra grill, like put it on the grill for a little extra time if we don't mind. But something you could ask for that, yeah,

well done, Yeah you brito, well done. But then I'll freelance and then of course with the biggest Baja blast that they will allow me to carry out. You're in deep water my friends, Like, like, I had no idea this was a thing. So wait though, I get like once a year at this point. But and I don't tell my kids or my wife. Yeah, it's just like a dark trip to under start of the night. I turn my headlights off, dark night of the soul. Oh, I got bridgie. He's got like a fake mustache on.

So wait though, wait though a wedding in the metaverse, you gotta tell us these uh, these folks get married. They were in person, right, This wasn't like a remote

like they were together. They kissed, They kissed each other's faces like real people in love and all that stuff, which is all like that almost makes it because then you're like, oh, so they are really like married now, like this was really their wedding, because like the picture that you see of it is like two people deeply in love kissing one another and then they're like weird avatars and a purple like on a purple throne, like

kissing each other above. But so the vows were written by chat GPT, so like the story seems like it's being written by chat GPT because just like all the stupidest buzzwords coming together here the vows were written by chat GPT. It was within a video game, so it wasn't even really the metaverse. But like, I don't know how to feel about that, Like I'm not I'm no

metaverse snobs. So if they want to do it in de CenTra Land the video game, it just seems like it was a poorly orchestrated publicity stunt by Taco Bell, which has to hurt a little bit when like the big viral marketing campaign that is sponsoring your wedding, like doesn't even put it in the real metaverse. But I don't, I don't give a shit. But if they pay for the wedding though, I mean, at that point, it's just

like yeah, absolutely, like that's that's great. However, but like also the wedding in the metaverse, so like not really sure did they I guess this is like I'm sort of sort of breaking my brain. Did they pay for a ceremony? I RL? Or only within the metaverse? Also does a Taco Bell within the metaverse have employees? Like I have a lot of questions, Yeah, yeah, I think

they have employees. One thing that we do know for sure is that and this is my favorite point because it's like you suspect, Okay, the core brand is going to have some notes and ideas that they're gonna want to implemented. The one place we got to see this is that in addition to having cal Penn host their wedding, they also had a twitch streamer like he who was narrating the whole thing to the point that the guests

of the wedding couldn't hear what was happening. He a play by play, yes, like a play by play, but not even like he was just a twitch streamer. They were like, here, do your thing, like had no relation to the couple. So he's just like over the top, keeps singing. No one so this is no one could hear what was going on because the twitch streamer Taco Bell hired kept singing about Taco Bell throughout the ceremony.

Legion except the O in legion is a que for probably Q and on reasons but I have no idea spoke through every minute of the ceremony. He shouted out his followers and made up little songs proclaim his love for Taco Bell as he showed off his avatar's various outfits during the wedding. Wow he sounds like a rowdy wedding. Guess that you have to throw out of your wedding because they've had one too many. But like during the ceremony, it's like, how at the ceremony? How can I make

this wedding about me? He said, you know which that happens that he heard war stories. I you know what, I don't want to I've never met these folks. Wish them the best again. Yeah, at the top them, it's just we live in Hell, all of us, and this is amazing. And Hell is a combination Taco Bell, the metaverse wedding chapel. Yeah, oh my gosh, what other things you're going to happen in the metaverse? What other is Taco Bell gonna have a funeral contest next? Like? Are

they gonna have a kincinera? Like, what's what's going on? Who would? Who would think this is a good idea? I want to meet the couple that steps up and has their divorce in the metaverse. Yeah, like if you're to be about that life, Yeah, Like they didn't look at the by laws in the entirety of their wedding, including like the consummation. Everything has to happen in the metaverse, Oh my god, what if they kill Bell present narrating all of the whole thing. Wait wait, wait though, wait

less less less question. What if what if there is something I think you're onto someone with the fine print? What if there is something where they cannot get divorced? And less Taco Bell signs off right, Taco Bell like, we don't love this for our Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if it was in the contract. I'd be surprised if they upheld it if, like, I'm sure they put it in the contract, being like, because now this is

gonna be America's sweethearts. Everyone's going to be paying attention to the the first couple to get married in a metaverse Taco Bell. And then now that it has happened, and everyone's just like, oh my god, we live in hell, they're probably like, never mind, you guys, do your thing. But yeah, I'm sure the contract gives gives them rights to the first two offspring from the children, you know, or front from the wet from the marriage. All right, so let's take a quick break and then we'll talk

about more insane news. All right, Big news, Uh, we're back, Big News. Tiger King Joe exotic guy is running for president from jail to remind you if you didn't watch the whole thing or manage to like strategically forget that you watched it, that part of the pandemic. Currently serving twenty one year federal sentence for taking out a hit on his rival and also for unlawfully killing at least five tigers because he's a bad person. Yeah, I don't know.

The story is just that we talked about fractals yesterday with our guest Baritunde Thurston, and like the idea of like small patterns that like explode and like turn your whole society into the thing that is happening at the smaller level. And like this way in which I and I don't know which came first, but like toxic narcissism, like debilitating narcissism, like people just have their mind and life taken over by a narcissistic personality disorder being the

cheat code to get famous. This just seems to be like another example of that replicating itself. And I don't know if it's just the overall conditions of social media and the attention economy and all of that just leading to that but it does seem like this overall sickness we have as a civilization. It's like results in a world where Joe Exotic is still a celebrity. Hey, George Santos is running too, You know what I mean, they look at me. Casino of social media is in full effect.

I imagine, I imagine Jack, that you are very divided. Which of these two candidates most deserves your vote? Wait, George Santos is running for president? Well, I mean unless he's lying about it. Yeah, I mean that's such a non sequitor. But the weirdest lie that he told is that he was one of the producers on the Broadway adaptation of Spider Man Turn Out the Dark. Yeah, so it also was like what like, yeah, that production was like a disaster. People got hurt. I think somebody got,

like one of the actors got very hurt. Why wout you want to Why would you want to be like, Oh, yeah, I was part of that production. I produced that Actually, Like what, like, what a weird thing to lie about? Yeah? Oh, I'm sorry. That's his genius. Yeah, he picks very specific things that nobody else would lie about. Like he didn't say he was on he said he was on Burut College's volleyball team, which they don't have a volleyball team, and like New York is not known for its volleyball.

So he like gets in these like little like you know, corners where nobody would even think to look, and lies about that. I apologize. Accuracy is important he has he's running for reelection. I don't know if he's quite president, just get elections. Well, you know, he knows how to say in the new campaign. Yeah, but I I mean,

but he's no, he's no tiger king. I saw tiger kings like most of us during the pandemic, right, and uh, And I don't understand a lot of quote unquote reality television, but I fucking love tigers, you know, I love animals like that. So I'm like, oh, let's see what's happening. I was thoroughly unprepared. It was like a later season of Walking Dead where zombies occasionally show up and it's

mostly just regular people who are bad at communicating. And I'm like, why don't you change the title of this to like a guy? There are also, hey, Ben, there are also some tigers in here occasionally, right, Like, yeah, tiger content severely lacking and he's still locked up for how long this guy Joe twenty something years, twenty one years, so like well passed to the end of his first term. I will say, yeah, he's playing to ask Liz Cheney

to be his running mate. He's also like running on the like he's saying that, like one of his big platforms is corruption in the Partment of Justice, which is real,

like and Trump is hitting on that too. The Department of Justice is a complete shit show and like one of the most toxic, like just all the FBI, like all these things that Trump gets to be the person who like points out it's very frustrating, but he at least knows how to imitate the parts of I think he kind of got forced into focusing on Department of Justice because he is in jail and convicted of attempted murder. But can you do that? Can you? Can you become

when you're yeah, yeah, I believe it's constitutionally permitted. I'm going to write that down in my nose. Wasn't he angling to get a pardon from Trump? Like he was like yeah, he was like waiting waiting on the call before Trump left office. I think that was like a big part of season two or for some reason, I have like some memory of him like waiting on a pardon from Trump. I don't think I watched season two.

If I did, I'm very disappointed in myself. But yeah, I remember there being like a big thing where he was like putting all his chips on Trump was going to pardon him, and then it didn't happen. Yeah, the Tiger King part of the pandemic was really weird when we were all just like glued to it. Yeah, our collective fever dream, you know, when when everybody was incredibly afraid with good reason. But then also, yeah, you're right,

because you're right. I remember these conversations I would have was strangers, you know, we're all like, we're all like massed up, so everything has like this tension because they're looking at each other's eyes, you know. Yeah, and uh, and then you would have these covers and Tiger King got mentioned, yeah in in these just very short right. Well, I mean I'm from Atlanta. We all talking to each

other constantly, you know, in any line or elevator. But yet Tiger King and you would pointed out off air Jack he's running as a libertarian. Yeah, libertarian with a campaign of shutting down the IRS, assassinating Putin, and making undocumented migrants pay fifty dollars of months to avoid deportation, which is an idea he says he got from Billy's. But real winner, this guy assassinating Putin. It's funny. They're like, so, but you're you're saying you're gonna kill He's like, yep,

you quote that wherever you want. Well, does he think this CIA is going to read that and go, oh shit, lightbulb moment will all right, let's talk about Sesame Street NFT is because the NFT market is exploding right now, and we this is another edition of stock Corner Jack stock Corner. So the NFT market is. I'm shocked that there are still NFTs, but uh, you know, I guess

these things take a while to develop. And there is a new sixty dollars cookie Monster NFT, the first of a series of official Sesame Street team to NFTs, brought to you by the letters W, T and F. These are just hitty JPEGs, like they are just Yeah, I don't know, I don't even know what to say about this. Did they just announced this? Yeah, they just announced this. I feel like, if they'd announced this last year, I might be like, perfect sense, we wouldn't have had to

talk about it at all. I would say that, but I would be at least like, Okay, it's kind of in the zeguy. Sure, yeah. But so people are disappointed in this and they're they're like, but Sesame Street is the educational show for everyone. Why would you be charging money for a jpeg? Like, why would you be making a product that is the equivalent of like seventy dollars bottled water? You know, it's just like dumb. Nobody needs

it and what what are you doing? So our writer Jam did kind of a deep dive into the history of funding Sesame Street, because when it was created, it was that this idea that like we will publicly fund PBS, Sesame Street will air on PBS and be like get

half of its budget from public funding. And then Nixon came into the White House and was immediately he was like, I love Sesame Street, but I can't stomach the government funding a single dollar of this, and you know, just attacked public PBS essentially, and they've just been having to like struggle and grind to just get fund enough money to keep the show afloat all of the years, you know, they've had to like lobby, they've had to like do

DoorDash commercials. There was a Sesame Street door Dash commercial in the Super Bowl a couple years ago that people were like, guys, door Dash is not a good company for you to be hanging out with, watching watching your kids hang out with like bad I don't know, like smoke cigarettes or something. It's like, why is Big Bird

doing hanging out with DoorDash executives. But it's been Yeah, it's just been violating its ethical ideals for since the start, because the Republican Party, like starting with Nixon, just has had its crosshairs on Sesame Street because not just because like it's not you know, the when it started, the show's budget was eight million dollars, so it's not like

this massive government expenditure. But I think what it represents to the Republican Party is like something and great that was openly created from public funding and like a great work of art that was like openly you know, it's

just like too much of a success. And so ever since an extent, like Nuke Game, Rich also like got in on it, and like in the nineties, was like, we shouldn't be giving them any money because they sold tickle me elmos so they can fund their budget as much as they want, which just yeah, it's completely misguided. And but but I think they're afraid of what Sesame Street represents. And in this country, like just any beacon of socialism is, you know, the country is allergic too

coming for libraries. Yeahs have been. Yeah, libraries and Sesame Street the number one evils that are the threat America. Yeah. Sure, somebody called the Tiger Gang. Let them know the real enemy, right, Uh, But I like, Okay, so this is the thing. Sesame Street is a wholesome kind of connecting point for a lot of people. It's difficult to look at something like that and vilify it. And I will say, this is an opportunity for me to reference a weird Nixon fact

bridget Jack Psyching. I recently learned that Richard Nixon genuinely said, I woten thought that if they're a bit of a good rap group around in those days, I might have chosen a career in music instead of politics. What. Yes, he was a rap fan. He said that, you know, he almost he heavily implies that he would have gone into music instead of politics. I don't know what he was listening to, but this was found in a nineteen

ninety seven tour through the Nixon Presidential Library. So was it like something he said at the end when like just random neurons were firing off in his dying brain. Because it feels like he lasted long like that, we just kind of decided that he wasn't going to be an ex president that people paid attention to. But like there's a photograph that always blows my mind of Nixon

and RoboCop like at the same event. Yeah, because they were at like some boys and girls club event together, Like it just somebody dressed as RoboCop, not the real RoboCop everyone from the documentary. But like it seems like, well that can't be because those like RoboCop is from a different time period than Nixon. But he was still around and out there and just being like I didn't

do anything wrong. I got screwed, Like yeah, yeah, it was definitely in a big former president energy, you say, you know I, oh, yeah, well I could have also in awesome music. But you know, just you know, it's not my fault. It's the world's fault. So I am not a fan of Nixon. To be absolutely transparent about it, it does not surprise me that he and his ilk object to free education an inequitable, wholesome way. But also NFTs are stupid. Can I say that one show? Okay,

absolutely not, because zeke cooin is still coming. We're still developing it. It will be released. We're targeting a Spring twenty twenty six launch for ze coin. It just takes a lot. We just have a lot of notes on the design of the JPEG, the pixel placements. Yeah, no, of course, I mean Bridge, you know more about this than I do. So, like, what's our NFTs? Are they a GRIFFT? Is this something? Total scam? Yeah, total complete scam.

It's funny. I was at south By Southwest this time last year and everything was an FT, this crypto that that was the thing. And I'm not at south By right now, but I've lots of friends who are and I'm hearing that that this is like NFTs who we don't know her, Like the quickly everybody was like maybe not and how like it was people had like gone all in on it just a year ago and today

it's like not a thing. Anymore a total scam. It breaks my heart that Sesame Street has to resort to and also resort to it and get there kind of late. Like again, like if this has been announced last year, I might have been like, all right, but yeah, been to your point about the way that public television, particularly for children, has been like scrutinized and attacked. You know,

you were like, oh, it's very wholesome. You know, they really what could they find to be upset about the way that folks on the right are trying to politicize Sesame Street, to target it, to be like this is why we need to defund it. I remember when Big Bird got quote unquote got the COVID shot and they were like, oh, like this is so political, and I have to say I respected sesame Streets a stance of being like, nope, we're just you know, amplifying what the

American Association of Pediatrics has said. It's good for kids, and so that's what we're gonna do. The way that Republicans continue to try to target and scrutinize and weaponize Sesame Street precisely because it is a source of kind of wholesome often like identity based education, for children. I think it's really disgusting and it's sad then that they have to resort to what is just a scam Like NFTs are not a good investment, It is not a

good use of anyone's money. It just makes me, it breaks my heart, and I think it really is a testament to the fact that we do live in this like new tech hell I guess, like like a tech hellscape where even Sesame Street has to go the NFT route, you know. Yeah, but Cookie Monster does look like he wants to fuck me, right, Like that's what's happening, and that's like, that's yeah, clearly they're like, maybe you're interested

in NFTs now. Button isn't like an NFT of Cookie Monsters hinge profile exactly either way, Jack, you're not gonna get all the way through, Like you're not even gonna get through the first thirty minutes. So whatever, you guys watch on Netflix because Cookie Monsters got a vibe there, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, have Flix and it's not

gonna be very chill. That's a cool timely reference, right, yeah, Bridget very figure on the pulse, Yeah, Bridget, such a pleasure having you as always Where can people find you, follow you all that good stuff. Oh well, it's always a pleasure to join the Viking. People can find me on Instagram at bridget Marine DC, on Twitter at bridget Marine, on TikTok at bridget pod makes pods. I think that's what it is. Hey, I just started it, so forgive

me for how bad it is. You can listen to my podcast There Are No Girls on the Internet, or you can listen to my brand new podcast with next chapter podcast called Beef, where we are getting into the juiciest rivalries you've never heard of. Bret Hart or Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, Sylvester Stallone and John John Claude van dam had a very interesting rivalry. If you're interested in historical rivalries, check us out put on John Club Van Damon who Stephen Sagal? Wait, No, I'm sorry, Wait

is it Stevens? Yeah? I think that's right. Step makes sense. Yeah, they hated each other. Oh, that's right. And is there a work of media that you've been enjoying? There is a work of I guess I'll call it a work of media. It's a little niche, but I had never seen this video of Azalea Banks doing an impression of Ti. It's so mean, but it's also the funniest thing I've ever seen. Please look it up. Like I was dying laughing at Azzalia Banks doing an impression of Tea Ben.

Where can people find you? Is there a work of media you've been enjoying? Yeah, you can find me at Ben Bulling Bowl I in on Instagram. You can find me at Ben Bolling hsw on Twitter. Work of media unrelated that I've been really enjoying. I got I got super into just very low fi pov walking chilled music tours on YouTube. So my my YouTube history is probably quite boring right now because it's just the perfect eye bleach of someone walking with very chilled music late at

night through very nice cities. It's delightful. I'll send it, I'll send it. I'll send it to you guys. Yeah. Yeah, you can find me on Twitter at Jack Underscore O'Brien tweet I've been enjoying Sana at Fruit Lover tweeted I'm watching Nathan for you with my mom and she keeps asking me what's wrong with this guy? It just feels like exactly right parent response to Nathan. You can find us on Twitter at Daily Zeitgeist. We're at the Daily

Zeitgeist on Instagram. We have Facebook fan page and website Daily zey Guys dot com where we post our episode's done, our foot notes where we link off to the information that we talked about in today's episode as well. It's a song that we think you might enjoy. Hey, super producer Justin is there a song that you think people might enjoy? Yeah? The only way I can describe this song is that it sounds like if someone smoked angel dust and then freestyled over the Rugrats or Sesame Street.

I guess theme song in a traphouse basement. Okay, you get in situations. Yeah, yeah, Yeah, it's very specific. But I'm just calling it how I see it, full sits. I think you'll agree with me. So this song is called Jig a Dame by Maxe Cream and you can find that song in the foot foot notes. So the

Daily Zey Guys is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio is the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast or wherever you list your favorite shows that it is going to do it for us this morning, back this afternoon to tell you what it is trending, and we'll talk to you all then by