Hello the Internet, and welcome to this episode of The Weekly Zeitgeist. These are some of our favorite segments from this week, all edited together into one NonStop infotainment laugh stravaganza.
Yeah, So, without.
Further ado, here is the Weekly Zeitgeist. Well Miles, we are thrilled to be joined in our third seat. A creative and political activist who hosts Beyond the Pale and w BAI in New York Must Listen these days always a must listen, but especially of late, is a caucus member of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, co founder of its electoral armed the Jewish Vote. Please welcome back to this show, Raphael Schumanna.
It's good to have you. Man up.
How you doing, man, that's good.
You know, considering gestures to the world. Yeah, okay, but trying to it's it's so weird. It's like, I think a lot of people feel this, but like when the world is like this, you're supposed to sometimes lock it out and do your job job, and it just seems really challenging to get into normal modes like doing laundry while will you should be in the streets in what feels like all the time right now.
But yeah, yeah.
Yeah, you've been in these streets recently arrested and for your work trying to get Chuck Schumer to help bring about a ceasefire.
Yeah, and to convince his niece to stop acting and stop comedy.
And that's the social media.
Yeah yeah, watching the social media masks will slip on. Oh yeah, means like.
Whoa, all right, Well we're going to get into all of that plenty more, but first we do like to get to know you a little bit better by asking you what is something from your search history that's about who you are?
I don't know. That's like the thing I always do, and it's probably always the last thing is always I'm a bad speller, so it's every random word to just get the Google auto correct and then use that as a really boring last search start. But it's what I need. That's my my lifesaver over there.
What's the what's the what word? Are getting hung up on?
One? Is always like So now I developed a nomadic device to remember this one principle versus principal pal, and I realized, like, you know, the principle of the school wants to be your pal.
Yeah, but you just picture the principle of the school, turning his baseball cap around backwards.
Yeah, rap, I want to talk to you about some of your Instagram posts.
My man, I want my office there you go?
How to that's like we always the same thing with a capital, like a capital versus a capitol building. Oh yeah, I don't well, I still see that one get through like in like established, I guess have this quote unquote outlets for journalism and I'm like, you can't fuck that up now, I certainly can.
Can you tell me how you keep it straight? Because this principal ship is going to save my ass every time.
I don't know, I just the toll o L is always the building you know. That's for who can the bell tolls right.
The buildings around? Like, oh you could do that?
Oh hell yeah yeah, But I think I only remembered it because I only saw capital written as a kid first. And then when that new one out, yeah, like capt to caw like it over here.
So I the I used to get dessert and dessert mixed up, and then a girl I was dating, it's like, well you always want more dessert and dessert has two s's. Wow, nobody wants more dessert.
Yeah, so one so there.
We just we just spun off a new podcast.
Yeah, there you go.
Also roll when you're when something is rolling, two l's, you know, the l's get on a roll. Yeah, so that's you know, and this this could be the whole show.
Matthew Conaughey, mic con august, Hey, what do you know there?
It is?
Yeah?
Well all right, what are you doing to write? Mattheum conaughey.
So often we were doing it.
There was run.
There was like when he was talking about running for office, and we were fully in support of it, and so we had headlines such as, why not now, McConaughey, why not now? Yeah, mcconaugh hey, how about this handsome fella?
I do like to watch.
His scene in Wolf of Wall Street on a somewhat regular basis. The vocal warm up right into him just fully embodying everybody I know who has ever worked on Wall Street.
It's a patron saint of Wall Street bros.
Yeah, what is something you think is overrated?
Because it's spooky movie season? I think ari Astor as a filmmaker is a bit overrated. The Midsommar, Midsommar Hereditary and then the one that came out most recently both Afraid. I didn't see that one. I think that he let me clarify. I think he is good at making a horror movie that makes me feel very scared and unsettled. Because I saw both mitzimmartin Hereditarian theaters and they were effective horror movies in that I felt miserable and scared the whole time.
Yeah, it's loud enough to just be scared.
You want to feel worse, just like bad in general, like you've got a flu or something, right, aches.
I have an emotional I left mid No. I left Hereditary with like a migraine headache because I was just so tense and like just feel like, Yeah, but I don't think he's a good storyteller. I think he's a good director, and I think he gets good performances, and I know I think he's like good at I guess maybe is he overrated.
I don't know.
I just think he's I don't like his screenplays, Like I think he's not a storyteller. I think they're kind of sloppy. I think that he doesn't know how to write women really at all, Like you know, there's and he like his treatment of mental health and mental illness is really not good anyway.
It's really like I think there's a lot of filmmakers like that. Now who are They have all the power, and the thing they choose to do with that power is to just like be like I'm going to do my own little stories, and they would be like so much better off just you know, finding finding other people's stories to tell.
Yeah, or like I don't know, send your draft to someone and get.
Well, he doesn't need him, because Mark I saw that thing. Martin Scorsese is like the pacing from Killers of the Flower Moon is like inspired by Midsommar and he's like, oh yeah, there's the fucking goat and I'm like, I wonder what that means for this movie.
Oh yeah, this guy's never gonna not make his own screenplays after this.
Yeah, yeah, you're goodbye to anything.
But like Scorsese, Spielberg, Kubrick, like those people.
All made other people's screenplays like those.
Yeah, you know, you can still be a good filmmaker and not just write bad screenplays and makers like.
The two or However, many scripts that Steven Spielberg wrote are like not very good. He's a far better director than he's screenwriter.
What are his I actually didn't even.
Know the Oh let me look it up here. They used to know this, but ai I think oh.
I was a collaboration with Kubrick, which also yeah, like maybe.
Yeah, it's but by Spielberg. And then the story by Ian Watson. Close Encounters are the third kind, right, that's written and directed by Spielberg.
Oh, and he wrote The Fableman's which tracks because it's like pretty autobious biographic but.
It makes sense.
I like didn't like that movie very much.
And then Goonies is Chris Columbus based on a story by Spielberg.
Hmmm, I will I will give him that one.
Older guy pretty good. But that's also three people writing with a story by Shielberg. Yeah.
I didn't realize until very recently that Richard Donner made Goonies, like directed Goonies. I always thought it was Christopher Columbus because he wrote the screenplay. Richard Donner like really was responsible for my entire childhood with like Superman, Doonies, and Lethal Weapon, which I saw way too young, and I was like, those are like my three favorite movies. Dog, Yeah, those hit pretty pretty hard. What is what something you think is underrated?
Apparently we've been severely underrating the money making potential of movies for adults. Right, of course, I see film did very well last weekend. Now, it had an incredibly high budget, but it performed very well. And obviously this is coming off the summer one, the Oppenheimer movie, a biopic, A Freaking Rock Oppenheimer made nearly a billion dollars worldwide, made more than any of the recent Marvel movies has made. There is clearly they have clearly created a void of
demand for movies for grown ups. And it's because once one time the narrative was, well, it's just it's just Tom Cruise, the last movie star. He's the only one keeping at the loft. It's like, no, not really. The last Ession of Hossible movie did not do well. But there clearly are adults who want to go out to the theater with their families or and and not watch the Mario Brothers movie. They want to see something for for grown ups that looks good on a big screen.
Some adults. Mario Brothers movie, Okay, laugh, Mario Brothers movie.
Christus Man, how does he do those how does he do those voices?
He just disappears into every role.
Hey, it's me Mario. Oh my god, I've done it again. Shape shifter.
Yeah, it's the Oppenheimer thing is worth like, yeah, at the time, it was part of this Barbenheimer Boppenheimer phenomenon. That yeah, I feel like we rushed past the fact that a biopic of Robert Oppenheimer made almost a billion dollars. That's doesn't really make sense and doesn't cohere to any form of Hollywood logic.
You know that, right?
Is it just it's just because it's Nolan and when you have a filmmaker but like has when Stanley Kubrick was making movies, like people people weren't rushing out to see them, like like it was a blockbuster, you know, like it this this feels like it's a new phenomenon that we haven't really seen, like a director who anything he puts out is just like that's going to make a billion dollars and it can be like a dry ass you know, and not none that this was like
a dry, boring movie, but it's it's pretty remarkable and very adult of us. And I must compliment we the
movie going public. All right, let's uh, let's take a quick break and we'll be right back and we're back and rat First, first of all, I listened to I think it was the most recent episode of Beyond the Pale is the most recent episode that was on SoundCloud where you were talking about your experience, you know, like we referenced earlier, you know, protesting at Schumer's house getting arrested.
That there was a story from.
The bus that m ypd I'll put you guys on the bus after and that there's a story about it where there's original and about a wedding song that just like kind of warmed my heart in gave me something to warm my heart in a place that I wasn't expecting necessarily to have my heart warmed.
Can you talk about those two stories.
Yeah, So we were in front of Chuck Schumer's house to push him to back the ceasefire legislation that's coming out that already has come out since then by Corey Bush and Rushido to Lave and others. And he's used to people in front of his house and he also heard about it. So police were ready. So what we have to do is block the streets and Grand Army Plaza, which is a big plosa that's like a major Artery in Brooklyn, where he lives, and that's where we were arrested.
I think over fifty three of us or so. Yeah, and of course we were put in these buses. NYPD likes to commandeer MTA buses when they have a mass arrest, and that's what they did. And they were basically pulling us into the bus, blocking the traffic. And it's Brooklyn, so half the people we blocked the traffic before, we're like cheering us and recording and putting on social media.
So we were going into the bus and I realized I sit down, puffed in this bus and hey everyone, because police here pretty much are obsessed with arresting people for jumping fairs, not paying fairs, and everyone just started singing a song like like just calling them out for all, like not only comingdeering a bus for free, but all of them just walking in for free, which is they actually Yeah, there was a story where we were arrested with two elected officials in the state and one of
them was Zoron and he was on Mendani and he was with me and a friend and this woman, an older woman, amazing adorable activists. Her name is we call her Raz but her name is Rosalin Pachessky, and she's a very like long time and very involved member of Jewish Voice for Peace BAVP, which was part of that coalition of left Jewish people and activists that were confronting It.
Was like two thousand people came out to confront Schumer on this and they bring her into the buns and she sits down and you imagine like maybe a five foot tall, like sweet grandma, and she's looking in and sits down. Her hands are behind her back, and what we realize is that she's not really cuffed, like she's somehow waiting to get a cussed with.
To pro move.
Yeah, so your hands buying your back immediately, and they'll assume that you've been.
I don't think why she was cuffed or why maybe someone felt bad for her they didn't cover I don't know, but the thing is she's like has her hands on her back and everyone thinks she's cuffed. And there's this Zara Muslim and one of the few are only actually
Muslim elected that in that state Assembly. He's just like, you know, sitting there, we're all like in pain with these cuffs, and he just does the most Jewish motherly kind of amazing thing, which was you just see her hand, you see him and her kind of look and wait till the cops are looking the other way. And then her hand slips out from her back, goes into a bag and takes out a candy which I immediately realize is
a word. There's original it and Zoron without a word, turns around, opens his mouth, and she feeds him this candy and makes her hand back in behind her like she's a cuff. And it just was the most amazing thing for someone like me who often has a camera on him. Is really so I'm telling I'm gonna I'm reaching Molly Crabapple with this story. She's like, I think you all know about her. She's this amazing illustrator, and I want to have this illustrated because to me that
it was this magical moment. And and while I'm experiencing that moment, I mean, where there's original Like, where are there commercials like this? Like didn't we grow up with were there's original commercials like this? Not like in a bus getting arrested.
Right when people are protesting.
It would have been way more.
Yeah, But it was like typically like an older elder or someone.
Yeah, an elder showing love. Yeah that is, and none of.
Us we're ever excited by where there's original.
No, but like in that situation, hell yeah, like the brand is strong.
I didn't know it was still around, but I could use one right now. But yeah, I don't like. Yeah, so that that's like the story, that's like the ones. There's so many stories of ros wherever you go with her. He's a powerful figure that brings a lot of history, whether her she was like acunity professor and reproductive right scholar back in the day when like no one was that, Yeah,
she's incredible. And then there was this other I think the other story you're referring to, who is while I'm like, while we're kind of like looking down and we were like shaking the bus. We were like giving the cops
a really hard time. And during that moment, one of my someone at Jewish for Racial and Economic Justice, their new political director, he came on the bus and I guess enough of us knew Alicia actually got married that day earlier that day that then that day, Alicia was had her marriage and decided that her honeymoon was going to be getting arrested with us, and so people just started stomping and singing, and it's a bustle of Jews, so it was like the Jewish wedding song. I was like,
everyone's like stand stomping. It was so beautiful. Even I even caught a cop like put his hand on his heart and just be like, ah, way are you pretending?
He's like, do y'all need some chairs for the horror? Like what take these cups?
Sorry?
Yeah, he's been to it looked like he'd been to
a Jewish wedding. And you know, those are just like the two beautiful things that happen in this kind of movement space where where people come out for real shit and still we find like joy and write friendship and stuff and these things and those long conversations we have in jail cells and sitting on a jail cell and seeing the carvings of like act up etched on the thing, and one day, twenty years from now, someone else sitting there seeing the etchings of BLM on the chairs and
just getting that energy from from this long arc.
You know, yeah, I don't know that story.
And just generally the movement that you're involved in is such a beautiful testament to the Jewish faith that like, I don't know, so many people at this time of terror are willing to like advocate for justice, and it reflects like a clarity and a humanism that is uncommon in the religions I grew up around, you know, like a Baptist in the South, or like Catholicism or you know.
But I've always I've always admired.
The Jewish faith, and you know, I feel like this is a time when, yeah, people like the things that are getting talked about are this violent Zionism or anti Semitism. It's like, no, like what about these stories?
You know?
Yeah? Absolutely, yeah.
But you were also there for a story that came up on the show in DC, the action on the rotunda and the question that we were asking on this show is where the fuck was the FBI?
Man?
More evidence that the deep state has a massive left wing bias?
Am I right?
I mean there was yeah, like Marjorie Taylor Green said, this is an insurrection with that same energy, which was really baffling to see when truly we're seeing people come together to advocate for peace.
But there's this Fox clip I should send you, and it's it's them like wondering how we got in and how we did it. And then the Fox journalist actually who was on the ground was kind of like honest.
And he was just like, Oh, they got in by just going through the metal detector and saying that they're coming to practice free speech and that's our free speech laws. Like they were trying to make it into this big thing like people look a way.
So did Antifa open the doors for that enter it?
Yeah, exactly, But it was just like anyone can go into the rotunda and meet their their Congress member and talk, you know, you could literally talk to their staff. You passed by, AOC's a bunch of post its on the wall, like she's like the rock star in Congress of all these post its like showing their adoration and support of AOC, and it's kind of it's kind of cool, but.
Just like, so, so what's the difference between that and what happened on January sixth? Like that's why I like, oh, just because you guys weren't ripping things off the wall and chanting that you wanted to hang.
The vice president. That's that's why you're allowed in.
The public. It's it's basically the public doar in public?
Come on, right, how did you get this cheat code that you weren't supposed to rip things off the wall and threaten to kill.
But it was It was that there was two actions in DC. One was led by if Not Now and that was sealing all the entrances and exits to the White House, which the Secret Service arrested people for. And then this event a couple of days later for the for Congress, and that was to really just take over
the rotunda. And what happened was there was ten thousand people outside supporting US, five hundred went in and together that was the largest Jewish action for Palestinians in history anywhere in the world.
Wow.
Yeah, can you describe what if Not nows? Just for anybody who doesn't know.
So there's two groups really largely at play here. One is if Not Now and if Not Now so j Alstar JVP Jewish Voice Piece because it's older, it's like three decades old, and it started of course with in solidarity with Palestinian So it's very much like their orientation is like go to the front line of who's being affected by the occupation and apartheid and let them lead and we be their Jewish allies, their comrades, you know,
and that's a beautiful model. And if not, now it's ok another level, not in competition or anything, but like that identifying that there's also something in our culture and how we were raised that needs to be addressed and that we need to unlearn the things that we were raised with throughout our lives. And so it's very much inward and it's very much more youth oriented at least initially, and then also really specifically about ending American Jewish support for for apartheid and occupation.
Like and I've seen so many wilds, Like I've seen people call Jewish Voice for Peace like a terrorist group, like some really awful shit or like and I and rap. Since I've known you, and like you've come on the show, like we've had a lot of conversations where your work in you know, standing up and they're being in solidarity with the people of Palestine has opened you up to all kinds of tacks like that people would accuse you of being like self of self hatred and things like that.
I'm really curious, especially for you, who's so involved in this and is looking at it through the perspective you are like what that's been like to watch watch these things unfold the last few weeks and begin to see these rifts open up in really really dramatic ways, and you know like what that process is to sort of look on and say like so, like some of us are here, others are completely there. Yeah, like what how do we make sense of it?
That's such a good question, And there's still so many open things that we're learning, Like right now there is a U saw the statistics. There is a huge difference depending on your age and like where you fall. And this issued either as an American of any faith or no faith, or as a Jew. But I think if not now in JPP had like shift the paradigm and made it safer for a lot of people to be able to say, like why am I being called anti Semitic?
If these Jews are also believe what I believe? And then also we do that too, like we say, why are we called self hating Jews? If Israel's largest human rights organization calls it apartheid and there's a whole society called breaking the silence? Who are veterans in Israel who oppose the occupation. Many of them had even refused to serve and spend jail time refusing to serve, and it continues today. And these are like teenagers, like or early twenty year olds. So there's all this kind of layers
upon layers of people seeking safety through validation. And it's kind of sad because what results for Palestinians is that I think you've probably seen all these super clips online, and that is when Palestinians are brought on to news shows, they're not asked about if their families, okay, who they lost,
what they fear. They're asked if they support terrorism, you can ask, yeah, exactly, and it's really and then some of the Palestinian guests and experts and journalists would say, oh, by the way, my uncle died and my niece is missing and x y Z thanks for asking, you know what I mean, and they would just go they would just pivot back to Amman, which is really it's it's really I can't imagine what that feels like to have to be to not only have to disavow things like
I posted. I mean the other day it was an asteroid that was coming to Earth to destroy and I wrote, yeah, but do Palestinian support it? You know, like it's just
like becoming this thing. We're just gross. And also when they do speak about anything with Israel and Palestine, a Palestinian has to be like a PhD in European anti semitism in order not to say something that's triggering and this, and I understand those triggers, but also there's almost zero grace for Palestinians to just even mourn or speak for their own security.
Here we get this article in the La Times over the weekend about how the left has really let us down. I mean that we've gotten this article over and over again.
It's like, yeah, it's millennials are killing X industry. Is the left is really there this week it's this thing.
And like they're going to be able to find anti semitism on the left because there's anti semitism everywhere, Like anti semitism is it is a huge problem. But in this context, as you're as you're there involved in this struggle for peace, it seems like you've seen something quite different from anti semitism being on the grid for these protests and these actions.
We like to say peace and justice, right, like peace, yeah, because like a lot of people, yeah, a lot of people define peace, and I think peace is the right word, but a lot of people have redefined peace. I mean quiet, and like you know, there's no there's no there's no rally as I can tell, or or Black Lives Matter right now on the street that's very large right now, But that doesn't mean there's peace, right there's still those
things are still happening every day. So I guess I like to remind folks to also say just this part, because peace in Gaza is four hours of electricity a day, calorie counting by Israel, to not allow too much food and water, limitations, blockade around every well, note travel restrictions, it's just open air prison. And a lot of people define the day before that horrendous attack by Hamas on civilians, A lot of people define that that day before that
is peace. And yeah, anti Semitism. Yeah. Another thing is like it's very easy to kind of assume anti Semitism is like in the water in the air, and it's really it's something that's manufactured by the right and it was created by the right in Europe in order to remove to create, like a middle manager like to create.
So the core of racism is this like supremacy, ethnic supremacy, and for example, the idea that someone exists like Martin Luther King or Nelson Mandela or something exists like black culture defining global culture for decades and decades, all of these amazing accomplishments, all the inventions, all the things, all the scientific breakthroughs that any black person does, negates the idea of white supremacy. So a useful tool to undo
that is the idea of this mystical Jewish person. This Jewish person, be it Sorrows or whoever, is behind the success of black people. It's behind the migrant, you know, like the idea that America is this immigrant beaconto for immigration and all these things. And so it's a really useful tool to a redirect like financial pain and suffering from capitalism to a group of people, and also to
protect the idea of the myth of white supremacy. And I guess, like what I'm seeing on the streets to your question, finally, what I'm seeing on the streets, I do see occasionally anti Semitic thing. I will see it, and then sometimes most of the time I'll call the person in and be like hey, like they'll be like the Jewish state. This is like what the Jewish state does. And I'll be like, well, do you mean the Israeli state or do you mean the Jewish state? And then
they're like, oh, I didn't think about that. But had they said that in front of a New York Post reporter, that would be on the front page and would be used to define DSA, would be used to define anything and try to destroy the left. And what I saw in Israel there is an Arab town I forget the name right now, there's an Arab town that after the attacks,
welcomed Jewish refugees. And the history of that Arab town was it was one of it was the site of the most horrific massacre by Jews of Palestinians of Arabs in that town. And they still are opening their doors to the families affected by that attack by Hamas. You know, you're seeing these things on the street and you're you're basically going to find what you're looking for, right, And the question is what are you amplifying and what are you using to define an entire thing with?
Yeah, because I've seen how useful that sort of the left is anti Semitic, like that, how that take has been used by like establishment democrats and shit to completely try and take the wind out of the sales or question the validity of people pointing out that the ills of Palestinian people living under occupation and then just being able to sort of use this like thought killing cliche to be like, well, they're all anti Semitics, So let's now back to our person on the ground from the
IDF that is going to tell us exactly what's happening now. And yeah, like I see how like in a way, like for the establishment politics too, like this has been used to being like, oh, we can also sort of try and kneecap a movement as well by bringing it into this, you know, a very skewed perspective that they want.
To show absolutely absolutely And also what I saw the difference in our protests, the Jewish ones, the police were like there and they threw a lot of people around and did this stuff. But when I went to the Palestinian youth protest in front of the Israeli Embassy in DC on that Friday night, it was riot gear. It
was cars parked in a way. There was also this guy, infamous cop I forget his name, but he's known to have killed a BLM protester and he's just walking around like it was so different, and these were two kid it right, and it was it was wild that these kids in this little residential neighborhood of this very secure Israeli embassy were met with riot cops versus us in the heart of the power of the United States and
the most sensitive part of the world. And we were just you know, singing into a bus, you know.
Right, Yeah, let's uh, let's take a quick break and we'll come back.
We'll keep talking about this.
We'll be right back, and we're back and we're just going to get right down to right down to it. Five night Freddy's video game movie that did not was not aware that I had a sense based on the poster. It was something it was a movie based on something based on video game and it's like spooky Chucky, did you guys, Yeah.
Which is I'm bummed that the movie sucks because it was Chuck could really use the good pr right now.
Yeah, there, Did either of you play it?
I never played it, but I remember that was the first video game I ever saw, like play through YouTube.
Yes, yes, okay, I've I never played it, but when we were both working at Playboy Jamie. When I was doing video there, there was like a video series with two playmates that are gamers, and I remember I had to like produce a shoot with that, and I was like, what the fuck. And I was like, oh, this game
is fucking freaky. But I'm not into horror as a like a genre, but I have seen it played and like, at the time, this was like the biggest shit, Like I think it came out in twenty fourteen, but yeah, it's like a you know, huge, huge, like indie game. M yeah, it was.
I didn't even realize it was an indie game because of how like, yeah, that was the first time I had ever like encountered that as a thing that happened and thought it was isolated. And then you know, obviously I've never stopped seeing it. But it's I mean, Haunted Animatronics a great idea, and the guy who invented the Chuck E Cheese animatrons very racist, like don't don't fuck with this guy.
However, however, there he uh, at.
Least up as as recently as a couple of years ago, still had this warehouse in Florida where the animatronics were once made, and was really trying to capitalize on the success of five Night Freddy.
And because he basically lived in uh.
You know, like haunted Animatronics palace, so he started like selling the like five Night Freddie birthday party experience with his like scary old animatronics and it seemed to be somewhat successful.
At some point. I mean, like the real the diehard fans are like they fuck. I mean, it's there's a reason why it became a Blumhouse film. It's because he definitely there is an audience. There's an absolute audience for it.
Producer Victor is noting that there are multiple three hour lower documentaries about five Night, five Night.
Five Night Freddy.
Yea Reddy?
What could that possibly mean? That's that's so interesting.
Well, that's like a big thing that like as the reviews come in, like there's a whole debate where some people are like it's not really for casuals man, like if you don't funk, like, or some people are like there's not enough for vision. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it is wild, Like I'm and I'm like, it's interesting following the reaction because, like anything, when you have a huge like when a fandom gets to that point where now like a Plumhouse or major studios like, yeah, let's see if we can
make money off of this. It's always interesting to see how like inevitably the fans will be disappointed. I think it's just generally what's always gonna happen, Like it's there's only a few instances where you have something with like a huge mega following take that next jump to like major film distribution, and it be you know, palatable.
I was kind of I was positive because I didn't see I kind of forgot it was coming out until I they showed the trailer at saw X and I was like, damn, they got Hutcherson.
And my friend was like, I don't think that's hard to do.
What did you just say, Yeah, damn, Josh's what like twenty twelve, Yeah you need something.
I did see Josh Hutcherson getting into a very quiet argument with his girlfriend in front of a restaurant near my house once.
So it is like not that hard to get Hutcherson.
But but I was like, I don't know, maybe I just like went twenty twelve brain for a.
Second, where like, oh my damn, they got Hutcherson. Five Night Freddy is huge.
Yeah, it's bigger than Hunger Games.
Yeah.
Yeah.
There's something about the minds of people who are like scared of animatronics I guess, or like into I don't know, because the writer of the original indie game also like a right wing person.
God, what is it with animatronics and being a piece of shit?
I think because they're like techno slaves or some shit. Probably you know, Yeah, it's like I make them do what I say, and I can make you in my like I don't know. That's probably some weird god complex.
Yeah, yeah, I can some level.
But hey, I would love to see where the where the woke anamaz.
Right, I mean there's certainly woke animatronic fans, but I right right, but we're not technically minded unfortunately, right right.
Right right, you're just there for the commentary.
We are topping out for five nights at Freddy's. We are topping out on metacritics. So the overall metacritics score is twenty nine, an average of twenty nine, and we're topping out. Usually usually you will get like one or two that's like, hey, I actually enjoyed this because I was like, my meds are dialed in or something, you know, Like so like I sometimes I just enjoy the hell out of them. Like one of my favorite filmgoing Expirits was Die Hard for for no reason other than I
was just in a good, good movie. Right place in your life, Yeah, good place in my life. I loved that movie the first time I saw it, and then I watched it again, I was like, oh, this is bad, right right right, But like this is at we're topping out at two out of five stars. Most of them are lower than that average, and this like not all reviews are in, but it's it seems pretty dismal, and everyone's saying it's boring. Yeah, it's not boring.
Yeah, I mean even like the fans, Like there's a guy who would like stream it on YouTube, like this guy, Jack Septic guy, Like his review is like it is not great, sort of like the nice person and a lot of people were like, you made a lot of five nights of freddie content. But again I think that's where like you see a lot of you know, other other fans come in and be like it's just people aren't gonna understand it. It's not for normies. But then this guy who like plays the game a ton is
like just felt rushed in some spots. Other parts it just was very normal, like did not feel like as you know, original as like the game the original idea is itself.
So you see the trailer, You're like, oh, they got Hutcherson, but they but they Like now I'm kind of embarrassed because Hutcherson knows like what I'm into, and like they did such a bad job with the lore that now like I'm like, they shouldn't have done this to Hutcherson or us.
Or Matthew Lillard, you know Matthew they got they got Lillard, that got Lillard.
I mean Mary Stuart Masterson.
Kind of a star studded cast. I was really impressed with the cast. I love that they got Lillard. I feel like Lillard.
Played the game.
That's my guess is that Lillard was into it. Hudgerson, we don't. I don't know of his hobbies. I don't know.
His agents were like, hey man, you're gonna have to say yes to this.
We got bad news.
You have to be the leading five knight Freddy.
You're five knife Freddy because you're Freddy Freddy.
Your Knife. Yeah, you're Knife Freddie, because nobody was fucking with Journey to the Center of the Earth too.
God, he was in that.
Uh it's a bummer that we would eat at the same realm in place. It's like when I saw Taylor Lautner at a bar, I go too, and you're just like, this is this sucks recently. It's like five years ago, so I think that.
Well, yeah, but I mean like post like super high Twilight Peak.
Yeah, yeah, And it was like a place where you get like, you know, three dollars backwash.
I'm like, why the hell is Taylor Latner here drinking three dollars backwash with the pleabs?
Was he doing the thing where he had his back to the bar looking out at the bar.
He was holding court, he was holding the court.
It was really cool, Like he bought rounds, he was holding court. He had no issue with you knowing he was drinking backwash at the bar, which is cool. That's a cool quality. He was with I think his girlfriend now his wife also named Taylor. That's not very cool. I don't think Wait he married a Taylor. Yeah yeah, now they're the Tailor's Lotner.
Yeah, that's incredible. Should we talk about the Britney Spears memoir the audio book.
Have you got Williams. Yeah, I've just slowly seen some like excerpts get sort of elevated to the top. But obviously I think the big one with the release of the audio book was everyone sharing the clip of Michelle Michelle Williams doing an impression of Justin Timberlake doing a black scent.
Yeah, it's what It's a lot. Have you not heard it?
No, Jamie for someone who is so online, I'm like, James, this is old hat for Jamie, I'm sure. Okay. So I was.
I was trying to. I was like, let's see how long I because I was like I want to read it. And I also was waiting for an episode of Chelsea Devonte's podcast about it.
It was like, and then I'll engage.
Oh yeah, wait, just one excerpt, you know, like this is one loose line that's like blowing up where she's first of all, like Britney Spears is talking about why she was fucking with in Sync over Backstreet Boys. She's like in sync, like they listen to hip hop, like they seem more oriented towards that kind of culture or the back She Boys. Felt very white. I'm just gonna we'll just play this clip really quick because there's.
All white guys from Florida, and yeah, like by the same guy.
Let's not forget Chris with his techno dreads either, but hey, let's focus on Skylark. So but yeah, this is a this is one of the excerpts here, just talking about this time where he met another famous R and B musician.
So the other thing, like a lot of people are pointing out like this seems Michelle Williams is a five time Academy Award nominee. People are like, why is she doing this? And then they're listening and they're like, oh, she's the best that has ever done this before. She's killing it. She's doing a great job. So yeah, this is a little sample of that, and it's an anecdote that a lot of it's caught a lot of people's attention.
His band in Sync was what people back then called so Pimp. They were white boys, but they loved hip hop. To me, that's what separated them from the Backstreet Boys, who seemed very conciously to position themselves as a white group. In Sync hung out.
With black artists.
Sometimes.
I thought they tried too hard to fit in. One day, Jay and I were in New York going to parts of town I'd never been to before. Walking our way was a guy with a huge, blinged out medallion. He was flanked by two giant security guards. Jay got all excited and said so loud, oh yeahes Genuine, what's up, homie? After Genuine walked away, Felicia did an impression of Jay. Oh yeah, boches boshes Genuine.
Jay wasn't even embarrassed.
Wow, I like the there's like a YadA YadA pass that. I'm sure they had an interaction, but it kind of suggests that Genuine just he did that and Genuine just walked away.
Yeah, it was like, oh my god, the fuck is that?
The abrupt switch after the like the audio book pause before Genuine walked away, Like you're.
Just oh my god, after Jaine walked away.
She's a professional's good professional.
That alarming.
I'm looking forward to, uh to reading that book or probably more likely listening to it.
Celebrity memoirs are meant to be.
Listened to, especially oh yeah, because I'm pretty sure what Britney spears personally was like I want Michelle Williams to narrate this, like, this is why this is happening.
Very weird, very weird.
How do they know each other dialed in so well? Though? What better person to lend your voice or to have their like, have them lend their voice and have Michelle Williams do the Britney Spears book so good get the egot?
Yeah she will, this is her grammy, Yeah, yeah, beautiful.
There's I mean, there's all sorts of There's also the story that Britney Spears almost got what was the famous role that she almost oh the Notebook, the Notebook, Yeah, she almost was cast in the Notebook.
She was like in the field.
It was between no.
It, she was in the final two, between her and Rachel McAdams, and like they like Scarlett Johansson all these other people had tried out and they were like, Britney Spears is like fucking nailing this really absolutely like an amazing actor.
Oh wow, there's like her audition tape.
Is event I think they camera tested with with Ryan too.
Yeah, that's I always want.
I mean, I know that there were a number of extenuating circumstances in Brittany's life that uh, but I was her her movie career was like a non starter, and up until recently you couldn't even get Crossroads, Like you couldn't even stream it until recently. Even though that was like an early Shonda Rhyme's.
Script, Oh I didn't realize that.
Yeah, that was like one. I think it was like SHONDERI. One of Shonda Rhyme's like first produced scripts ever was the Britney Spears vehicle Crossroads.
And she's so good.
In it, and she's so charming and like she's a good actor, and it's like there it worked out for Mandy Moore many more kind of dropped music and started this is Us singer. I still don't know what that show is about, but damn, she would have been cool in the notebook.
Yeah, here's what Shonda rhymes. Also, didn't she do Princess Diaries too?
That was like another super early one.
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, sean shot after Crossroads? Yeah right yeah, pre Crossroads And if I'm recalling, I know I know too much of Shonda's filmography. I think it's just shy of It's like the year before Grey's Anatomy. She did Princess Diaries too, Royal Engagement, yep, sure enough, it is true.
It is true. But I'm like, what is Shonda's relationship with Britney? Is there one? Yeah, I don't know, we don't know.
Right what could have been? You know?
Truely if she was Meredith Gray, yeah, you know.
Yeah, right, but then it's like we would have been I mean, and again this is like not even taking into account what happens later in Britney's career, but like we would have we would have not gotten some really solid Britney albums if she if she had gotten too far into acting.
So so yeah, when she talks about it, she's like, you know, at a certain point, I decided to stop auditioning and just record, just drop classic albums on you all.
And if yeah, if.
We got because if we got like if we got Brittany in the Notebook, we may not have gotten Blackout And that would have been challenging for me as a youth.
That would for American culture, that would have been pretty hard.
America's bad right now. I think America's bad right now. Try and picture this counterpack. But yeah, and also she has a quote, like in one of the articles I read about the note Book thing that she was like it was just mentally too difficult, Like I just embodied the character, and like trying out for that character like got to me so like she was almost like too meth for to to like actually pursue acting because it was just like too painful for her, that one.
Which sounds like a great actor, like, yeah, let's let's make it happen.
Yeah. It's funny too, like because Justin Timberlake does not come out looking good in this too. Like she talks about how like she became pregnant like with his child and then you know, have an abortion and things like that, and then like now it's funny to see the pr machine move in Justin's direction and they're like, Justin Timberlake is fine. He's actually just focusing on being with his family like amid the noise.
But it's also like pretty well documented that his family does not like him.
So cool, I hope.
I'm sure they're.
Really enjoying spending time with you on this your fiftieth cancelation. I was trying to I was trying to think of, you know, like because of SAG rules, I'm like I have to think of like a Halloween costume I can wear, and I have a lot of I can pretty close to replicate the Justin Timberlake denim outfit. And so I'm trying to put something together like recently Disgrace Denim boyfriend.
But but it's getting the hat together because then I, you know, and then I was just gonna put you know, tears, streaks, some snotch like that recently disgraced dnhim boyfriend.
That's a that's a free one for everything.
You got to get those gradiated, like those gradient shades too.
Oh my god, yeah, like the yellow, the freaky late nineties blue blockers everything.
Yeah, yeah, Yo, it's so wild like that that outfit. There's like how there's like tutorials on how to make the Disgrace Denim boyfriend outfit. Like it's like it's how to make your denim Britney and Justin good lord, what a time?
What a time?
I mean, great, great, horrible man, great outfits. Brittany, God bless her, she's.
A keep on dancing with those Knights girl.
Or done? All right, that's gonna do it.
For this week's Weekly Zeitgeist, Please like and review the show If you like, The show means the world to Miles. He he needs your validation folks, I hope you're having a great weekend and I will talk to you Monday. Bye.