Rethinking Hot Takes: Challenging Our Own Biases

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What happens when we stop defending our hot takes and start stress-testing them? We dive headfirst into the culture wars we usually snipe from the sidelines—movies, music, TV, social media, influencers, and comedy—and challenge ourselves to separate taste from truth. The spark: a creator admitting past opinions were wrong. From there, we map a plan to revisit the art and trends that make our skin crawl and ask a harder question: can empathy and discernment live alongside strong preferences?

We start with film, picking at Disney’s sequel habit, the Rotten Tomatoes echo chamber, and whether early hype helps or harms. Box office doesn’t equal quality, and streaming’s long tail can turn yesterday’s “flop” into tomorrow’s cult classic. The “agenda” debate gets real too. We argue that every story carries a message, but the difference between a moral and a lecture is subtlety—and the best movies trust the audience to find their own meaning.

Music brings the most friction. Discovery feels broken when algorithms push virality over craft. We push back on glossy perfection, pitch correction, and sterile mixes while still committing to test our bias against pop and hip hop. If the lyrics, storytelling, or production intent are strong, we’ll name it—even when it’s not our vibe. TV catches heat with reality formats we call emotionally manipulative, but we also admit why “easy” viewing helps when life is heavy. Then we square off with parasocial “family” talk on social apps, rage-bait algorithms, and influencer “kindness content” that can look more like performance than help. Brands, do better with partnerships; creators, consider impact off-camera.

We close with comedy’s tightrope: it’s not that nothing can be joked about, it’s that lazy shock and one-sided politics miss the point. Great comics still punch through with craft, timing, and humanity. Along the way we share a few wins—new music crushes, rediscovered bands, and hype for Project Hail Mary—that remind us why changing your mind is a gift. Hit play, then tell us which take we should rethink next. If you enjoy the show, follow, rate, and share with a friend who loves a good opinion autopsy.

Fighting The Suck Since ©2026 Relatively Terrible

Transcript

Cold Open: What Was Terrible

SPEAKER_04 0:00

Okay, what was terrible this week? Rachel, I know you've got one. I can see it searing through your eyes right now. What is it?

SPEAKER_00 0:07

It just happened today. For lunch, I made savory pancakes. You take pancake mix, just plain pancake mix, and it just added like some chives and a little bit of garlic salt. Put some of that in the pan, and then you put some gouda cheese, and you put more of the pancake mix on top, and you make a pancake that has cheese melted in the middle. And then I made a garlic butter that went on top, and they were phenomenal.

SPEAKER_03 0:33

It's a pancake. But how is that terrible?

SPEAKER_00 0:36

It was terrible because neither one of you would even taste it.

SPEAKER_04 0:40

I understand Calvin not tasting it. He's not very adventurous with food, but he is picky, so that doesn't surprise me. Jackson, I can't believe you didn't try it. I'm not trying that. It was lust.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

It was look, I'm not even a big fan of pancakes, but if I want a pancake, I'm gonna eat a pancake.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

But this was like eating garlic bread, like cheesy garlic bread.

SPEAKER_03 1:03

They call it garlic bread. Don't call it a pancake. Is that the worst thing that happened to us this past week? Yeah, white people problems. Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

Oh, I know what was bad. What? Outback. That was bad. That was bad. That was disagreeable.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

Outback was bad.

Show Setup And Theme

SPEAKER_04 1:19

Okay, we've got to stop talking about our white people problems and just get into the show. I'm Josh.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

I'm Rachel.

SPEAKER_04 1:24

I'm Calvin. I'm Jackson. And this is relatively terrible. I love you, but you're all terrible.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

I recently saw a video, uh, no shock to anybody. It was book related, where a guy was talking about his previous book opinions, and saying he had since come to realize that his opinions were wrong.

SPEAKER_04 1:49

Someone saying that they're wrong. Whoa. Something Calvin and Jackson might not ever be able to do.

SPEAKER_00 1:58

Let's face it, a lot of us are not great at that. I know. And it was a pretty interesting video, and it got me thinking just about a lot of what we talk about on here, and a lot of this is just all our opinions about things, and there's lots of arguing online. Some of it is about stuff that's important, and some of it is about stuff that is not important. But that kind of led to a discussion of maybe it's time for us to use this podcast to put our money where our mouth is a little bit. Sounds dirty. And try to possibly challenge some of our opinions about various cultural topics.

SPEAKER_04 2:40

I think that's a great idea because I was thinking about this the other night we were at Torchies for Dinner and we're discussing music. And Calvin and Jackson's opinions are, in my opinion, spot on. But sometimes they don't have the reasoning and the information to back those opinions up yet. So that kind of brought us to this. Maybe we need to go back and look at some of this stuff and see okay, I still don't like it. Here's why, but here's why I I can respect it.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

Right. We frequently challenged people to think critically, to use some discernment, to consider how other people feel.

SPEAKER_04 3:23

And so those are a lot of big words.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

Yeah, and there are things that maybe aren't always fun to do, and sometimes your opinion is purely subjective, and that is okay.

Plan To Challenge Our Opinions

SPEAKER_04 3:36

So for this episode, we're gonna go real high level on several different topics, and then over the course of the next several episodes, we're gonna go deep dive into some very particular things that makes our skin crawl.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

Yeah. So we're gonna challenge some of our opinions, do some research, and see if any of our minds change. Or I think at the very least, I think the goal should at least be to have some sort of empathy or understanding for the people who have an opinion that's different from us.

SPEAKER_04 4:09

And side note, we are going to see hoppers. And Calvin is going to do a little mini episode about hoppers that'll only be available on Patreon.

Movies: Originality And Disney

SPEAKER_00 4:24

So we can wait because he thinks it's there's no way it's gonna be that good. So let's just use that hoppers as a jumping off point, maybe to talk about movies a little bit. Do we each have an opinion? Do we have an opinion? Yes. About movies that we think we're probably gonna need to talk about in the future.

SPEAKER_02 4:46

We're the type of people that have opinions on people who don't have opinions.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

Yeah, we're we're pretty bad. So, Calvin, let's let's just start with you. You ranted in a previous episode about Disney.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

So, what is your I mean, Disney, whenever they create something original now, it sucks, it doesn't do good in the box office because it's not a sequel. And I don't know, it just it needs to be a sequel, but Hoppers, it looks dumb.

SPEAKER_04 5:11

But just because it's not a sequel and it doesn't do good in the box office, does that mean it's bad? Not necessarily. Okay, can you think of one besides Hoppers that has come out in the last five years that you're like, I like that. It wasn't a sequel, it wasn't a remake. Can you think of Disney? Like Disney or Pixar, let's say.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

In the last five years?

SPEAKER_01 5:34

Okay, honestly, this wasn't five years, Coco. That was 2017. Wow. What? He always has dates. I think that was 2016 or 2017. That was the last original Pixar movie I thought was good. That was not a sequel, and guess what? That's getting a sequel. Oh. That's getting a sequel. 2029. And then I think before Coco was Big Hero 6. So that was 2015, so that was 11 years ago. So that's that's it right there.

SPEAKER_02 6:05

Jackson, let's go ahead and uh move to you. Well, we said this point on another podcast, but critiques and reviews are destroying good movies. Um, a good score on Rotten Tomatoes can be bought. I mean, I remember when the Taylor Swift movie came out 100 Rotten Tomatoes. Yeah, what no. Okay. And but no, I read the reviews, and everyone that wrote a review was a Swifty, which makes sense, but I didn't hear an actual movie critic give a non-biased review on that movie. Is it actually a good movie? Will it stand the test of time? I think Jackson needs to watch the Taylor Swift movie.

SPEAKER_01 6:47

Oh no, no, no. And see, that's the problem. It's not even a movie, it's just a concert. It's just a concert. It's not even a movie.

Reviews, Hype, And Box Office

SPEAKER_04 6:55

But how can you because listen, the people that are reviewing that, like you said, they're not, it's not movie critics reviewing it. For that one, so that's very skewed, and it the the 100% is just based on people who love our music. So of course, yeah, but it's like you guys said, it's not even a movie, it's just a concert experience. And but I still think Jack's.

SPEAKER_02 7:18

But but I think those early reviews of movies are they either destroy or make a movie go up here, and the fact that Thunderbolts didn't do that well in theaters, it's just so.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

That's weird because all the reviews before it came out, people were loving it.

SPEAKER_02 7:39

But no one goes to the theater anymore, and that's another problem with movies. No one's going the theater experience has gone down so much.

SPEAKER_04 7:47

Yeah. Um well, also people are watching stuff on their phones. People are watching things that are broken up, like a movie broken up into 52 a minute and a half clips. People would rather watch it that way. Yeah. But you gotta understand, guys, like if somebody doesn't have money to go to a movie, they usually still have a phone. So they get to have that experience. So it it's it's weird.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

But I do think you could we could definitely do some research and just look at you know, classic movies, high-ranked movies. Like, there's definitely lists and things out there. And what were the Rotten Tomato scores? What happened when the movie first came out in those reviews? And there's also lots of examples of shows that didn't do well at the time, and then because of streaming and other things and the internet and people finding stuff.

SPEAKER_04 8:39

They have a resurgence.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

They have a resurgence.

SPEAKER_04 8:42

They're definitely, I mean, cult classic movies, that's what they are. Yes. People, movies that were crapped on, and then all of a sudden people found out about them, and they're like, this is really great.

SPEAKER_00 8:51

What what so I do think there is some validity to the sentiment that there's there's an audience for almost everything. What about you with the movies?

SPEAKER_04 9:02

You know, agenda-driven movies and storylines and forcing things into movies is just kind of making me sick. But also, on the other hand, am I going overboard with like just because I'm gonna say no because there's been some things where there's gay characters, there's these kind of characters where it doesn't really There's not an agenda being pushed, yeah. Well, yeah, and it's not like forced to the forefront, like these people are gay, check them out, whoa, and then back to the regularly scheduled story, yeah, you know, like, and that's so like stupid. I I don't like just like with representation of different ethnicities and different cultures, I love all that stuff, yeah, and we do that stuff well, so why can't we do the gay stuff well?

Agendas In Film And Subtlety

SPEAKER_00 9:56

Well, and too, and I I do think like we're taking some of this a little too far where we're even looking for an agenda where isn't there isn't one, like Superman. I thought that movie got a lot of negative attention because they thought there was a particular agenda being pushed, and I was like, I didn't feel that.

SPEAKER_04 10:11

What agenda were well that was more of a political agenda, but let's be honest, agendas are all political. Yeah. I mean, it's all a political thing, but yes, Superman, that's a a great example. I didn't feel that either.

SPEAKER_00 10:24

And and even if there is, every movie is trying to tell a story, and there's going to be some kind of agenda there. Call it the moral of the story, whatever you want to call it, there's an agenda.

SPEAKER_05 10:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

But how hard it's pushed, and most movies and stories should make you feel something. It should make you think about things. But when it's what what when there's no subtlety, when it's just slapped in your face, when it's you can only think this one thing, and if you feel differently about it, then you're a bad person.

SPEAKER_04 10:57

In the movies that do it well are the ones where you come out of the theater, everyone in the family's talking, everyone has like, everyone got a different thing from it. Like when we make our movie, part of our agenda is gonna be to talk about social media because we're social media creators. But and and our and our thing is gonna be it's taking over the world, it's a bad thing, it's it's causing IQs to go down. But how can we say that in a funny way, a way that makes you think, and not be too in your face about it?

SPEAKER_00 11:28

And not just be wagging your finger at people saying you're wrong. Right. Yeah. Music.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

Oh, God. Okay, this is this is the I got a couple names. We can't spend an hour on this. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

Let's not drop names right now. Let's just high level.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

What is an opinion you have about music that you think we're probably gonna end up challenging or exploring in a future episode?

SPEAKER_04 11:53

Okay, I I have I want to go first. Is that okay this time if I go first? Oh finding bands and new artists, and not just finding them, but finding good ones. The internet, especially social media, that is a new tool that record labels have that they give to these small bands that they sign, and they tell them to go out there and just post stuff on the internet. And it's so hard to find bands now. It's so hard to find bands that are good. I've found in the last five years good terms, and I found them on TikTok. I can't tell you any other new bands that I've discovered. And then the ones that I see that they want you to listen to that they're pushing because they're viral, they're viral, they're viral. Terrible, absolutely terrible.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

So, Jackson, music, music just one just one.

Music: Discovery And Overproduction

SPEAKER_02 12:46

I know, I know music has become too perfect. It's all crisp, it's all clean, you know, it has to be pam, pam, pam, pam. And I hate that. I'm glad that musicians have the production now to be able to produce their music and get it out there. But I hate that it's so perfect. I hate pitch correction and auto-tune. That's not what real vocalists and musicians should use. I love it in old music when you're able to hear not mistakes, but the human qualities. You know, when you can hear the drummer's sticks going on the drum on the drums, actually, not just you know, clean beats. When you can hear the guitarist fingernails on the strings, I enjoy stuff like that. And you know I don't know. I enjoy stuff like that. Now look, I don't agree with what this with everything this person's done, but Dave Roll said that he loves the imperfections in music that you can hear because that shows the true you know human nature in music and it's not all robotic and all you know perfect. And I and I have to agree with that, and we need to get back to being okay with stuff that isn't completely perfect, because some of those imperfect things in music are what make it so unique. Yeah. So I'm sick and tired of all this overproduction. It sucks. Music that sounds good.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

Go ahead, Cal. I would have to say lyrics. Uh that's my main problem. Explain, please. Well, my main problem with pop music is like the themes of like sex, uh, especially Bruno Mars. Bro, come on. I've never heard of Lock Out of Heaven. That song, bro. Oh. And then he came out with Fat, Juicy, and Wet. That's the story. I don't even need to read the lyrics for that.

SPEAKER_04 14:48

Do you want me to get out the lyrics to Story of uh Story of the Boys from Dance Gavin Dance? Do you want me to Do you want me to read that? Do you want me to read it? But it's floaty. Oh man, okay. Talking about okay, we're not even gonna go there, but again, this is but keep going because this is your time, your turn.

SPEAKER_00 15:08

But I mean WAP was another one. Oh WAP, you know, where it was like, again, something people had to explain to their kids. Don't be singing it.

SPEAKER_01 15:17

Now that I know what that means, I'm like, what the heck? People were listening to this? People enjoy this?

SPEAKER_02 15:23

They sing along to it?

SPEAKER_04 15:25

Exactly. Yes. That's sad. I know there's there is a lot of examples of that throughout the years.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

So it's not just now. One more thing is people writing lyrics and how sometimes they will be lazy. Like, for example, Travis Scott with the song Fiend. He's just yelling out the word fiend, fiend, fiend.

SPEAKER_02 15:48

Oh, did you see the clip that at one of his concerts he played that shit 10 times in a row? Yep.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

And it caused And it caused an earthquake. And I'm just like, listen. And like two billion streams. And I've listened. Fiend! Fiend! I can make that right here and now with a little bit of production.

Lyrics, Trends, And Taste

SPEAKER_02 16:06

And I really don't understand that song because when that song was at its height, I've I've heard I've heard the whole thing pretty much. And I seriously don't understand why it's getting that much attention. The lyrics suck, the production overproduced, like most music today.

SPEAKER_04 16:24

And I just perception we need to challenge for you guys is your distaste for pop, your distaste for hip hop and rap. Because some of the rap, maybe even though you don't like the music or you don't like the lyrics, what if there's something genuine behind it? Okay. You don't have anything for music?

SPEAKER_00 16:47

I mean, I agree with everything you guys have said. I especially the stuff about trying to find new music. I have all but given up. Uh so next one is TV.

SPEAKER_05 16:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

I will go first.

SPEAKER_04 16:58

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:00

Reality TV is trash.

SPEAKER_04 17:02

Yes, it is.

SPEAKER_00 17:03

And that is gonna piss some people off Royal. You like the Kim Kardashians? What the f You know, and it's funny because I see a lot of people online, a lot of people who I'm surprised when they bring up like the Real Housewives, and I'm like, you watch that garbage?

SPEAKER_01 17:19

Wait, that's an actual show?

SPEAKER_00 17:20

Yeah, and there's different ones. There's a Real Housewives of Atlanta and Real Housewives of Whatever. And that just I cannot, but I gotta be honest, never watched it. So I think I might have just committed myself to watching some episodes. But I need to understand here, people, like and and I know there's different genres of reality TV. I generally dislike all of it, but I think especially these like reality um like Real Housewives, where it's based on the people, but I also can't stand um the competitive games, like the beast games and all of this stuff, like gag me with a spoon. There's gotta be a better way to spend my time than than watching this, and we all know that it's scripted and so much of it isn't real.

SPEAKER_01 18:09

Especially beast games. That has to be scripted.

TV: Reality Shows And Mindless Drama

SPEAKER_00 18:12

But it's very popular. The million dollars. There's got to be something there. Why are people drawn to this? I I think I'm games I understand more than the than like the Real Housewives. Even even the even the Kardashians I kind of understand because you're drawn, they're celebrities and they have all this money. Who are these women on the Real Housewives? Who gives a shit about any of these people?

SPEAKER_04 18:39

Something you can have on with your phone in your hand. You don't need to pay attention to it. There's nothing important, but there's no storyline.

SPEAKER_00 18:49

Josh, they are into it.

SPEAKER_04 18:51

How do you know that?

SPEAKER_00 18:52

Just from what I see online, like that is it's not, this is not something that's just on in the background while you're going about your day.

SPEAKER_03 19:00

Yes, it is.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

Here's what they know their names, they're following their fashion trends, they're following what's happening to them after the show ends. They're going to all of the I'm telling you.

SPEAKER_04 19:09

No, there's there's about five or six people that do that, and then the other women that talk about it online are just the ones that watch their social media clips about it. That's it. Okay. Maybe. And then they're like, oh, I watch it.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

And then they're just sitting there like I I genuinely, I genuinely want somebody who enjoys this franchise to help me understand what appeals about it. And and again, I I think maybe I just need to sit down, like, tell me which one to watch.

SPEAKER_02 19:37

Reality TV show, at least to my perspective, people who watch reality TV are those who would rather watch people living life than have a life on their own. That's how I perceive it. It's funny because a couple months ago we finally did sit down and watch a reality TV show because it was funny. We found it funny, it was entertaining, it was different.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

No, major cringe. Major cringe.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

You know, we watched Love on the Spectrum. We thought it was it was good, but at the same time, this isn't a show we're watching constantly or we're going back to. Once you watch it once, why would you watch it?

SPEAKER_00 20:18

Wait, but all of it's a lot of people. It's just people living life. I think that's my other thing with reality TV. Either I just think it's boring or it's all of this uh manufactured drama, or the cringe factor on so much of it is so high. Like there were so many times the secondhand embarrassment that I would feel from watching Love on the Spectrum made me want to walk out of the room a few different times.

SPEAKER_04 20:43

I even remember still living at home, and my parents, I think my dad was into like Big Brother and stuff like that, and it was like I couldn't do it.

SPEAKER_00 20:51

But I understand why the networks are behind it, they're easy to produce, it's cheap. You know, you're gonna find there's always probably millions of people who are auditioning trying to and those shows, I will say, like, I think if it's like Big Brother or something where you're auditioning to get on it, I think that's also very different.

SPEAKER_04 21:08

You know, it's it's entertainment, but it is mindless entertainment. And so I think people we already mindlessly scroll, so that stuff on the TV that's reality TV just makes perfect sense.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

I don't want to say I don't think there's a place for mindless TV. I definitely think there's a place for all kinds of mindless entertainment. You want music that's easy to listen to sometimes. You want just to throw on this is why I like a lot of the animated TV shows because it just it's easy to watch. The world can is a heavy place. There and there are particularly seasons of life where you just can't, I can't deal with tough content right now. I'm not in a place where I want to be challenged. I just need something to decompress for a little while. I can appreciate that.

SPEAKER_04 21:57

But then why? That's a great point. Then why would that be reality TV? Most of it's high stress and drama.

SPEAKER_00 22:04

Exactly. So to me, reality TV. Reality TV is not where I'm gonna go.

SPEAKER_04 22:08

It's high stress. They're manufacturing all of these. They're manufacturing all of this. And if you're stressed, why would you go watch that?

Short Seasons Versus Long Runs

SPEAKER_00 22:15

That's what I'm saying. I think there is a place for mindless TV and for easy watching. There is definitely a time and a place for that. I just don't see how reality TV fills that void. Whether it's a game show, because again, you you know, a lot of times with these, you're getting a lot of people who they've all got some kind of sob story about why they need this$10 million. They're competing for. So it's all tugging on your heartstrings. It's emotionally manipulating the viewer. It's emotionally manipulating the contestants. I don't want to be emotionally manipulated when I'm already.

SPEAKER_04 22:50

Emotionally manipulated?

SPEAKER_00 22:52

Whatever. I don't want to be manipulated when I'm trying to just do it. Well, it's on video, so no big belly bear.

SPEAKER_04 23:00

Memotionally.

SPEAKER_00 23:01

Memotionally.

SPEAKER_04 23:02

No memotionally.

SPEAKER_00 23:04

Anything else big on TV.

SPEAKER_04 23:06

I want to say mine. Because my perceptions on this have changed, and that's the eight to ten episode seasons that are on like streaming platforms now are not a good thing. Um for certain outliers, like Breaking Bad, Better Call Song, that wasn't streaming, you know, Walking Dead when they first started, uh, Stranger Things, those are outliers. But I watched this video and it kind of changed my perception on it. It's like shows like The Office, you've got 24 episodes per season, something like that. And usually it starts to get good at the end of the second season, and then they hit their stride.

SPEAKER_05 23:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:48

But the problem is then by the fifth or sixth season, it should be done. It should be done.

SPEAKER_00 23:52

Yeah. King and Queens, prime example.

SPEAKER_04 23:55

Yeah, there's a lot of examples of that because I think what happens is the writers get bored with it. The people on the show are becoming successful, so they're going different ways, and then the people at home are kind of bored with it. And that sucks for everyone involved, but also it's just the nature of what you're doing.

Social Media: Parasocial Tangles

SPEAKER_00 24:13

Especially the shows that involved kids. You know, again, we've talked about TGIF before. Yeah. You know, family matters. When Urkel grew up, I'm sorry, he was not funny anymore. That shit should have ended well before it its time.

SPEAKER_04 24:30

Do you remember the major trope because of that?

SPEAKER_00 24:32

What do you mean?

SPEAKER_04 24:33

The major trope in sitcoms.

SPEAKER_00 24:34

Ati kid. The ati.

SPEAKER_04 24:36

Yep, because you needed someone cute.

SPEAKER_00 24:38

The kids grew up, so then they had to have another baby or they had to adopt or they brought in the wheel. The Cosby show did it. They brought in Raymond Simone. You know, it's just it's just the trope. So interesting. I agree with you. I think you're probably right. Yeah. Okay. Social media.

SPEAKER_02 24:58

Okay. Do you want me to start? No, I'll I'll go. Okay, go ahead. Uh the parasocial relationships on social media have gotten out of control, and it all stems from kids being online way earlier than they should be, being on it too much, and looking to social media, either for friends, entertainment, relief, whatever. And then, you know, I see these influencers all the time describe their fans as family. We love and appreciate all of you for supporting us, but we are not your family. We're entertainers. We're here to entertain you. We're not your mom and dad. Sorry. We we can't.

SPEAKER_00 25:40

We're not even your cousins.

SPEAKER_02 25:41

We're not even your cousins.

SPEAKER_04 25:42

Because as much as we love you, Jackson's right, we do love you guys.

SPEAKER_00 25:46

This is very one-sided. We don't see you, we don't get to talk to you, we don't know what's going on in your life.

SPEAKER_04 25:51

I can't help you the way a family member would. And if I would think that way, that would crush me constantly because we have millions of fans. So it would be like, I can't help all of them. But guess what? When we see you in public and you want to take a picture, you want to say hi, you want to chat, we are there for you. And even more than that, when we're at these cons, we love to hang out with you guys. Um, but we don't want to give you this false narrative. And if and what you need to know is these other people that are saying your family, they're just they're playing on your emotions to try and get a little more of this from you. And I just won't be a part of it.

SPEAKER_05 26:26

Again, emotions. There's a lot of things.

SPEAKER_02 26:30

Even if it's not money, it's your time, it's your constant time. Again, it's a form of emotional manipulation.

SPEAKER_00 26:36

It's a form of emotional manipulation.

SPEAKER_02 26:38

I agree with you 100%. One-sided relationships are just so unhealthy.

SPEAKER_00 26:43

They are.

SPEAKER_02 26:43

Um, even in a normal relationship with another human being, if one person's doing all the heavy lifting and the other person's not doing shit, that's not a relationship. And that's exactly what having a parasocial relationship with these online influencers is doing. Yeah.

Trends, Algorithms, And Frustration

SPEAKER_01 27:01

Yeah. Calvin? Uh, I hate trends and sounds. Uh, specifically, these videos that I get on my for you page where it's someone playing Fortnite, it's just Fortnite gameplay, and then it's a sound of iShow speed being motivational. And uh, oh yeah, guys, you just came across a small YouTuber that could be big in the future, and you guys are my first fans, and they get like 10,000 likes. But when I actually put work into my videos, nothing.

SPEAKER_04 27:35

Nothing, don't worry, nothing. It'll come, don't worry. Nothing. Keep putting the work in because the reward will will be much higher. Here's the thing, Cal. I come across that too, and you know how much work we put into our videos. You know how much I have invested in it, you know how big of a baby I am. But comparing yourself to someone else is always a recipe for disaster.

SPEAKER_02 28:01

And most of those people are smokes, smoke and mirrors, anyways. They're popular at one moment and then you never see them again.

SPEAKER_04 28:07

Yeah, and a lot of people, they're not looking to build anything like you're looking to build, or you're looking to build, or we're looking to build together. They're looking to get a couple views and they have no idea why they're doing it.

SPEAKER_01 28:19

It's just a hobby or and then another thing I hate is when they show their views. Like they will show their analytics or like, oh yeah, use this sound and I'll comment on your video. I don't want you to comment on my video. Get the hell away from me. I don't even know who you are.

SPEAKER_04 28:37

And you know, a lot of those analytics, that's Photoshop.

SPEAKER_01 28:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:40

Well, and because if you want to make one, I can help you. What do you got?

SPEAKER_00 28:45

How about you?

SPEAKER_04 28:46

Oh, I mean, the rage-based algorithms and the way that they're just trying to, you know, again, it's it's agendas right now, and it's, you know, you're seeing just everyone just fighting, and like, I would rather just see funny content, interesting content, educational content.

SPEAKER_00 29:08

And my thing is, is I hate how much I have to work just to see the content that I want to see. If I follow somebody, that should be the content that I automatically see when I log into Instagram. Stop showing me all of this other nonsense. And I've seen other people make the same complaint. So we've got two more here. We'll go through quickly. Two more. Two more. Maybe we'll skip the I don't know if we want to get influencer culture, which kind of goes along with Does that go with like kindness content?

SPEAKER_04 29:40

It could.

SPEAKER_00 29:41

I mean influencers who specialize in kindness content.

Influencer Culture And Kindness Content

SPEAKER_01 29:44

Oh, you're looking so sad. Do you need a cheeseburger? Yeah, here you go. You just got me 10 million views. Thank you so much, sir. Yeah, that is gross. I hate those videos. And what makes it even worse is that they play that sad music that don't, don't, don't, don't, and they and I'm like, bro, if you want to help people, don't film it. Yeah, actually be generous.

SPEAKER_02 30:08

Yes, that is a great word. If you want to be generous to people, don't film it. That's why I can't stand Mr. Beast. Because that's how he got famous. He went around, oh, I'm giving$10,000 to this homeless guy. And that's how he got how he got views. It's it's what what was what's it called? Kindness kind of kindness porn. Yeah, kindness porn.

SPEAKER_05 30:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:30

You're watching it, Kate. So it gets you, so it gets you feeling good all inside.

SPEAKER_05 30:35

Yeah, and they're patients.

SPEAKER_04 30:37

And what they will say then, too, is well, we need to watch it so then they can do more of this. And it's like, no, no.

SPEAKER_02 30:45

Well, how do you know if they're even doing what they're saying that they're doing?

SPEAKER_04 30:48

100%. Because that's yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:50

It's all just set up.

SPEAKER_04 30:51

It's all set up.

SPEAKER_00 30:52

No, it's like reality TV. This is scripted, this ain't real.

SPEAKER_02 30:56

And nobody can tell me that Mr. Beast has a philanthropy channel. He just has it so that he doesn't come off across as a rich douchebag.

SPEAKER_01 31:07

And then I hate the challenges that they do, like spending 100 days locked in a room. No, you ain't. You are walking out of that room to get food, to get your proper sleep. And then when you need to film, you're going back in there. There's no way you're spending 100 days in a room. And then it's like, okay, if it if they really did spend 100 days, you're telling me you only got 40 minutes of content out of 100 days? Come on, bro. You would have a five-hour video, bro. Yeah. Five hours. There's no way it's only 40 minutes. Come on. Bullcrap.

SPEAKER_04 31:44

Because it would be smart to have a five-hour video because you'd make a lot more money from it. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 31:48

And I hate the promotion of greed on social media. Another reason I can't stand Mr. Beast because that half of his videos when he was first getting popular, giving my friends each$100,000 and they're going and spending it everywhere. Who cares?

SPEAKER_00 32:04

Yeah. Who? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:06

That just makes people angry that I don't have that money.

SPEAKER_00 32:10

So again, it kind of goes back to what we were saying, like about the the real housewives and the Kardashians and all that. People are watching it because it's actually fostering uh discontent.

SPEAKER_04 32:21

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 32:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:22

What do you got for influencer?

Fame, Money, And Brand Choices

SPEAKER_04 32:25

Well, we need to be way more careful about who we let influence us in our lives. And on social media, that couldn't be more true. Because you have to remember you're seeing what they want you to see. They're seeing what they want you to believe. You're not seeing the other half of it. A lot of times, the only time we're seeing the other half of it is when the scandal happens or something comes out about this person. And human beings are not meant to be famous. I mean, it's just true, and we've got to be careful when we do get the fame. Even someone like us, like I'm worried, I, you know, the more we grow and the more money we get, I just pray a lot that I will be ready for that moment and I'll do right with that money and do right by my family. But there's so many people that prove time and time again our nature doesn't allow for that. And that's when we shows we really don't understand our nature and where we came from and who we are supposed to be glorifying, which is God. And we glorify ourselves, and then the money comes, and then we we leave our families, we leave our kids, and we screw everyone over, but we made a quick buck and now we're famous.

SPEAKER_00 33:44

Think about even before there was social media. Remember when they used to put out on, I don't know, it was like TLC or something, they would put the lottery ruined my life. And it would be story after story about people who won who won the lottery and they were millionaires in like six months, eight months, maybe eight years, didn't matter. It's it it just they ran through the money. It destroyed all of their relationships.

SPEAKER_01 34:08

I'm saving that money.

SPEAKER_00 34:09

Well, and the other problem is when you win the lottery, you usually end up on TV. So guess what? Your phone is constantly ringing, there's constantly people at the door. Will you donate to my cause? Will you do this? Will you do that? They get harassed to no end.

SPEAKER_05 34:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:25

It's like when you hear those stories of celebrities that when they first start making a lot of money, they go broke because they just think it's a fountain that's never gonna shut off.

SPEAKER_04 34:33

Athletes. Right.

SPEAKER_00 34:34

So many broke athletes are. You know, even outside of fame, just even before so now you take people who give, you know, they're essentially kind of winning some form of lottery and they're famous. Yep. And we're calling them influencers, and and we're we're just seeing how devastating that is.

SPEAKER_04 34:52

Yeah, I think you need I think we need to, as a society, um revert, go backwards, and like make sure the people that are in your close circle are the ones influencing you. Be careful with that too, obviously, because that can lead to some bad things. But you know, make sure you have people around you that you that you trust, that tell you the truth, that give you good counsel, that love you. And loving you does not mean they just disagreeing with your service and agree with everything you do. They can tell you when you're doing something wrong, they can tell you when they don't agree with something in your life. And that doesn't mean you have to take their advice, but at least gives you something to think about. And I think with social media and like Jackson said earlier, with parasocial relationships, we don't want to have truth in our life. We want to do whatever the hell we want. So a parasocial relationship is the best way to get that done.

SPEAKER_00 35:49

Well, on the internet, while it is oftentimes it can be a positive to be able to find other people like yourself, also that can be harmful because if you only surround yourself with people who think like you, talk like you, have the same interests as you, then you're never challenged.

SPEAKER_05 36:06

Yeah.

Comedy: Too Safe Or Still Sharp

SPEAKER_00 36:06

So if you're into something, you know, it doesn't matter what kind of weird fetish you have, you can find somebody online who's gonna be into the same thing. And that is not always a good thing. No. Um, my influencer culture one is I think that brands, companies, organizations need to start putting more thought into who they're partnering with to advertise.

SPEAKER_02 36:32

Could not be more true.

SPEAKER_00 36:34

There's just so much garbage out there, and again, we know a lot of this is paid advertising, and that's fine. I think in a lot of ways it's just like watching a commercial. Cool. But I think I'm just getting more and more annoyed, and again, I'm always gonna go back to books because that's mostly what I'm looking at. But I'm so tired of publishers sending boxes of books to people who can't turn the camera around. Like you can't even show the title correctly. And this is where publishers are sending their, you know, and and there's other brands and things that are that are doing similar things where it's, you know, maybe you really need to think about who, but but also part of I think the influencer culture is I think you're getting a whole bunch of people who are willing to do stuff for free.

SPEAKER_04 37:21

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:22

And so they're just getting content, they're getting the the product, and they're putting out shitty content because they don't really know what they're doing, and then all of a sudden they're calling themselves an influencer. And so that's a little bit uh dangerous as well.

SPEAKER_02 37:37

It's funny that it's funny you said this one because I remember we were we were trying to work with I won't say the company name, we were trying to work with this company. We did some stuff for them. That was pretty much it. They couldn't work with us because apparently we weren't family friendly. Okay, fine. We're not your cup of tea, we're not a lot of people's cup of tea. That's whatever. They hired Glorilla.

SPEAKER_00 38:01

Yeah. Yeah. So why?

SPEAKER_04 38:05

I don't think you need to say anymore. Yeah, because that's that's the point right there.

SPEAKER_00 38:10

Yep. Last one is comedy. So you wanna you wanna kick this one off?

SPEAKER_04 38:17

I think comedy has recently become super weak and too safe. Too safe, but but it hasn't. People want you to think that you can't joke about anything anymore because the clips that they're showing online is just some random club where they had one idiot get mad about a joke, and it's like, well, they don't really like comedy, anyways, or the comedy culture, or they don't understand comedy. Why would they even waste their money on going to be a good idea?

SPEAKER_00 38:45

Yeah, why would you buy a ticket and go to someone?

SPEAKER_04 38:47

I mean, go watch Dave Chappelle's latest special. Comedy's still okay. You can still, I mean, he said some crazy stuff, and that's packed out an entire stadium.

SPEAKER_02 38:58

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 38:58

Yeah, comedians, especially the best ones, and some of them are bad at it, but they joke about everything. They can make make you laugh about anything. Um I just want to make sure it's not like some people that are too crass, it's just gross for be for being gross. That's stupid, but there's some clever comedians out there that can get you to laugh about just about anything because they're pointing out truths about it.

SPEAKER_02 39:25

Yes. When comics use their comedy as a way to get political. Oh, I can't stand that. Now it's one thing if you're gonna make fun of everyone, then you make fun of everyone. That's that's funny. Don Rickles did that with everyone, no matter who you were, he made fun of you. And it was a it was a source of endearment.

SPEAKER_00 39:45

Oh, you wanted to be made fun of him.

SPEAKER_02 39:48

Now people use their comedy as a way to make a statement to make you.

SPEAKER_00 39:52

It's a weapon as opposed to yeah.

Sequels And The State Of Funny

SPEAKER_02 39:55

When I watch comedy, I'm doing it to relax. I'm I wanna I wanna laugh. I don't want to hear your political views. If I want to hear political views, I'll turn on the news. I'll watch social media. I'm not when I go to a stand-up show or watch it on Netflix, I don't want to, I don't care about your political views or your but if you want to joke about all the different you know inconsistencies amongst the parties and the you know, yeah, I'm with you.

SPEAKER_04 40:21

But that's how comedy's change though, because there used to be political comedians.

SPEAKER_05 40:27

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 40:27

That you knew if you're going to the show, they talk politics and that's it. Now everyone thinks they can do it, and it's just not true. Yeah, no. I don't care. If you're a political comedian, that's one thing. That's one thing, and I'm probably not gonna go to your show, but I want to know that you're a political comedian, but I don't want to hear like these guys getting up there because let's let's be honest, most stand-up comics are super clever and smart. Yeah, but I don't care about your political opinion.

SPEAKER_00 40:55

Again, it goes back to what we were saying before about agendas being pushed. And I think, yeah, there are certain comedians where you're only joking about this one side, whichever side it is, and the way you're going about it, you are pushing your own agenda on me, and that's not what I'm here for.

SPEAKER_01 41:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:13

Calvin. Uh I guess coming out with sequels to old comedy movies and calling it a comedy movie. Uh, like what's the one with Adam Sandler? Happy Gilmore. Happy Gilmore 2. It's it has a comedian in it with a bunch of big stars. It's not a comedy movie. Like there was not like the first one. No. Yeah, no. It had like this second one had Eminem, Travis Kelsey or Kelsey or whatever. Bad bunny. Bad bunny. Uh and it's just, no, that is not a comedy movie. It has a comedian in it with a bunch of big stars, but it's not a comedy movie. No, and it wasn't very good. No.

SPEAKER_00 41:57

And I'm with you. That's what I had kind of put down was comedy movies, I think, are just really lacking. And it's a little bit like stand-up, where it's where it seems to be they're either very raunchy or they're just playing it safe, and there's just there's nothing really funny here. Yeah. You know, I don't need everything to be, I don't know. I again, kind of talking about like our nostalgia episode. I'm kind of longing for give me another like Orange County, give me another Step Brothers, give me role models, get like, give me something. I'm not asking for quote unquote clean comedy, and I'm not saying I don't want clean comedy, but I'm saying like, but I don't need a movie where it it's just disgusting either. I'm looking for something in the middle here where we can be funny, but not also be guarded to where we're not we don't want to joke about anything.

What Was Not Terrible This Week

SPEAKER_04 42:57

I just want to say this who decided all of a sudden that comedy is offending them.

unknown 43:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:07

Who decided that? Because it's like, again, you're assuming that if somebody's making a joke, now they could be racist, sure, but you're just like, you heard a racist joke, or they really they just said black people, yeah, and you're losing your shit over it. I don't know who made this decision in the world that comedy is a thing we're gonna pick on. Comedy's the place where we go to tickle our brain.

SPEAKER_00 43:31

And I get it, it's just like music and in all forms of art where may not be to your taste. There are certain comedians out there where maybe objectively I can appreciate their craft. That's just not my sense of humanity.

SPEAKER_04 43:46

It's not all created equal.

SPEAKER_00 43:47

I, you know, it's not my cup of tea. If you approach other people believing the best out of them until they prove you wrong, if you go into it believing they're comedians, again, Don Rick. Keep all the stories about Don Rickles. Everything I heard about Don Rickles was that he was the warmest, most loving man. And yet he just, like you said, he made fun of everybody, like ruthless. And people wanted it and they loved it. I mean, he made fun of Mr. T right in front of his face. And I know it was a different time, but again, people knew he wasn't racist. They knew it was coming from a place of love and that he wanted to connect with people, and that was how he did it. And so you felt things for him, even if maybe you didn't love his comedy, you didn't hate the man because you knew it was just comedy.

SPEAKER_02 44:39

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 44:40

And that's what we're missing today is we just assume the worst out of people. And oh, you're not making a joke, you're just racist. What? I why is that the thing?

SPEAKER_04 44:50

Yeah. Well, they also they want to get on the video too.

SPEAKER_00 44:53

And right, and it's rage bait, and it's a way to I'm gonna stand out and say that this isn't funny. I'm gonna try to make myself different. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 45:03

Now what?

SPEAKER_01 45:04

What was not terrible this week? The new gorillas album. Okay. The mountain. I got it on vinyl. What a peak. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 45:14

What was good this week for you, Jax? I'm into anthrax now. They're pretty they're they're a good band. I uh put them down for too long. I've they're very good uh thrash metal artists. I actually uh gave Pantera a listen to today as well. I listened to her Cowboys from Hell album. Very very well done. I have a lot more respect for them now. I love uh changes his opinion. Well yeah, I guess. I've never, you know, I've never been like, oh Pantera, ugh. I've just never given them I love being wrong about things, especially when it comes to music, because then that means I win. Right. I win. I get to listen to more great music. Either way, I win. That either means my opinion was right in the first place, or I get more music to listen to. Either way, I win.

SPEAKER_04 45:59

I just finished Project Hail Mary listening to it fourth time. I think it was the fourth or fifth time. It was so good again. Um I'm just I I'm really happy that we're going to see an early screening of that in IMAX. For everyone spoils it. Yeah, and I just wonder, can they can they make it happen? Can they make it happen? Can Ryan Gosling make me cry as much as Ray Porter?

unknown 46:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 46:27

Like Ray Porter reading the the story. Can Ryan Gosling live up to Ryland Grace, which is the main character, and Rocky? And there's some quirks that Rocky has. Will they keep them in the movie? It should be funny, it should be heartbreaking.

SPEAKER_00 46:46

Um type of project on the hair.

SPEAKER_04 46:51

Damn, you cannot be trying to get it. Wow, okay. I'm just kidding. I was the one that said we need to truncate some of this stuff, and we did not do that this episode.

SPEAKER_02 47:01

And that was relatively terrible.