Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hey, hey, hey, hey. Bing Bong. How we doing? This is the Double J.J. show. Is J.J. smalls is here. I'm alive and well.
[00:00:09] It is very, very humid out here in Missouri. This is coming from someone who's a Florida man. It is horrible. It feels like I'm walking through a curtain of moisture, and not in a good way that you would think it would be. It's warm and hot.
[00:00:27] I literally walked out of my apartment and I gasped. I literally gasped. It was like this.
[00:00:35] My God.
[00:00:37] Because it was so bloody hot that I thought I was on Mars for a second.
[00:00:44] Isn't Mars colder than Earth? Well, I'm stupid.
[00:00:48] Speaking of Mars, I've watched the Martian the other day. I remember the first time I watched it. I was like, wow, this good movie. Second time I watched it the other day, I was.
[00:01:00] I was like, good movie. And the reason why I watched the Martian was because of Project Hail Mary.
[00:01:06] I'm in love with the story. I am.
[00:01:09] I watched the movie, and I loved it so much. I bought the book and read the book.
[00:01:13] Then I watched the movie again, and I was delighted to see, you know, I had this conversation with a pal the other day about adaptations and should they be plot point by plot point, beat by beat?
[00:01:28] Does an adaption need to be 100% copied from the source material? And I argued that it should, you know, but then I'm thinking, maybe there's a middle ground.
[00:01:42] Because the big one, what we're talking about, was the Last Airbender and how I was upset that they made a lot of deviations, especially with character choices that made them basically a different character than from the. The source material. And I was like, I don't. Because when I would watch the show, the big thing that was in my mind was, why'd they do that?
[00:02:08] Not. Because what if when you watch something that's an adaptation, you should be at. You should be thinking. When you see a deviation, you should be thinking, well, that was cool.
[00:02:18] That's different from the movie or whatever. It was the book.
[00:02:22] But it was better than. It was cool. I liked it, elevated the story.
[00:02:28] But some of these adaptions, like Airbender, I'm left thinking, why would they do that?
[00:02:35] That's not good.
[00:02:39] They made a worse choice. I don't like that.
[00:02:43] I got the ick. I'm dripping with ick now.
[00:02:47] Going back to Project Hail Mary, I read. Reading the book and watching the movie, the choices were like, okay, I could see that. I like that. For example, they added a new character named Carl. Carl's not in the book.
[00:03:03] He's the black guy. And I felt like those, if you look at the. Those scenes in the book, how they were strung along with all the science. Carl became kind of for the movie was like a placeholder for us as an audience. Carl was an audience POV character. And that way he could. Ryan Gosling's character could give exposition and information to us. They omitted a lot of the science stuff. Now I might have to reread. I'm telling you, when I was reading that book, I was like, oh my gosh, do I hear my AC in the background? Now, all the science stuff in the book was very detailed and realistic. And let's just say I failed science class. So a lot of this stuff, I'm like, this is a foreign language.
[00:03:48] Some of it. Towards the end, as the story was picking up, I felt confident enough to start skimming a bit of it.
[00:03:55] I don't. I didn't lose any of the story. It was fine.
[00:04:00] I might give it another read just to maybe see if I can like, okay, what is he doing?
[00:04:06] And a lot of that's in the Martian. Now, I. I ordered the Martian because I want to read the book. And I mean, that was his freshman book. Well, now I think he wrote some stuff beforehand anywhere we're talking about. And so I'm looking to see how those. The Martian versus the book, how if there's any deviations and changes and stuff. He also has another book. I haven't. I didn't order that. Artemis, I think it's called Artemis. Reviews say that's one of his weakest of his trilogy.
[00:04:35] But I might read it anyway. But anyway, it's more of like, the question is, do adaptions need to be beat by beat, plot element by plot element translated to the screen? Now here's another example that would, I guess would be a counter argument that were. That kind of failed because they did just that. It was frame by frame and that was a live action Moana.
[00:05:00] I haven't seen it, but I've watched a lot of reviews on it and their biggest criticism was it didn't add anything new. It was shot for shot, beat by beat, and there wasn't anything fresh about it.
[00:05:14] And then I was like, that's so interesting because there's those conversations about people are saying this the opposite for Airbender at the same time, because Moana's out, Airbender's out. So it's like, what are we, what do we want as an audience? Do we want first shot for shot.
[00:05:32] Or do you want. Are we allowed to give these writers and stuff the freedom to make changes? But my. Here is mine.
[00:05:40] Here's my little two cents. I guess I agree. I think they should have the freedom to breathe and make changes. But. But sometimes when you're watching some of these, it's more of, like, where I question it is where I question it. What was the purpose of making that change?
[00:05:57] That's where I want to ask what was happening in the writer's room, where you decide to fundamentally change a character from his or whatever from the source material. Like, why would you make him do the opposite than what he did in the adaption? I'm talking about air venom, of course.
[00:06:16] You know, it's like I'm perplexed by it. I was like, why would you do that?
[00:06:21] Why would you do that? He.
[00:06:24] You pretty much just. It's your.
[00:06:27] Are you subverting expectations? Oh, we know he's going to do this here. Oh, let me have him do entirely the opposite. But for what reason?
[00:06:35] What. What does that add?
[00:06:38] What does that change?
[00:06:40] That's where I'm like, I don't know. But at the same time, I'm just. Sometimes I just feel like they're just doing it just to do it, just to subvert expectations. And then you see what happens with Game of Thrones.
[00:06:53] All we're just gonna do towards the end, we're just gonna serve subvert expectations all the time. And then it's like, you can't do that just for the sake of doing it. It has to have a purpose in the story. Because if you're doing it just to do it, then you're destroying the story and you're undermining it. And then it's just the audience is like. And they get. Audience knows when you're doing it.
[00:07:15] We're not dumb.
[00:07:16] It has to be better. The changes needs to be better than it shouldn't be taking away. That's what it feels like. Some of these stories, these adaptations or adaptations that they say in France, it's like, it always feels like it's less than it's taking away.
[00:07:35] It's not adding. In my opinion. Obviously, it's my opinion, and I'm allowed to speak my opinion.
[00:07:41] I don't know what you guys think about that. Okay, now, speaking of, have you guys. Now, I want to also want to talk about nostalgia bait. There's a new movie coming out called Dugout Dads. I had no idea this movie was even in production. I just saw a trailer. Now, if you don't know. Dugout Dads is if you know the sandlot.
[00:08:01] All those kids are in Dugout Dads, the parents. Apparently it's a new show and even has the chick from Boys Meets World.
[00:08:09] What's her name? Danielle Fischer. I never got into Boys Meets World as a kid. I didn't watch it. I was watching Roseanne. What else was I watching as a kid? Roseanne.
[00:08:20] We watched a lot of Sci Fi Channel. We were watching Farscape, Dark Shadows reruns. Guys, remember Dark Shadows? But I don't know why. I wasn't really. We weren't really.
[00:08:31] We didn't really watch that. We were pretty much just watching Sci Fi. Whatever my mom was watching, we were watching.
[00:08:36] Let me not go down that road. Anyway, and I was starting to think, like, you know, I'm glad to see these guys working, but what? The story sucks. Then I'm left. I'm gonna watch it. I'm like, that story sucked. I want them to succeed.
[00:08:52] You know, I want this. I want the story to be good. I'm just scared. It's all being carried by nostalgia.
[00:08:59] You guys, remember us?
[00:09:01] Everyone, you remember us from 1992.
[00:09:04] Val Bar, you're killing me. Smile Forever.
[00:09:13] You know, I guarantee they're gonna do the forever thing. I already saw the foul ball on the trailer. Now I. I'm gonna watch it.
[00:09:21] I want it to be good because the story sucks. And it's like, you know what I was thinking about as well? Because that kind of made me go down a whole, like, road of, like, childhood movies. What? What do you, like, could. They could do a Goonies too? Like, say, this sandlot. See this sandlot show? Or the dugout. Say Dugout dad succeeds. It's a great show. Story's phenomenal. Everyone gets a Grammy, right?
[00:09:49] That could open up doors to new things.
[00:09:54] Like the Goonies, too. Or a Goon. Oh, my God. A Goonies show.
[00:09:58] Limited series. HBO.
[00:10:01] The Goonies 2 return. Astoria. Organ One Eye Willie returns.
[00:10:08] That'll be cool. At first, I was gonna start this off with, like, that would suck.
[00:10:14] But as long as they do this because there's a show.
[00:10:18] I'm not going to say the name of it.
[00:10:20] And it pisses me off because they don't respect the legacy characters.
[00:10:25] The legacy characters are in the show. And then you have all these. All the kids, the new gen. Oh, you're such a boomer dad. You're so unrelatable, dad. So dumb dad.
[00:10:36] And it's just like, my God.
[00:10:40] Kidding. Jesus.
[00:10:42] See, this is what I would do if I was doing a Goonies too.
[00:10:45] You know how in the Goonies you see the parents in the beginning and they see the parents at the end? Right.
[00:10:53] They're not a part of the story. The kids are.
[00:10:56] So this is what I would do.
[00:10:58] So you can avoid this whole passing the torch to kids who hate the people that came before.
[00:11:05] I will not tolerate legacy characters, especially in the Goonies, being shit on by these AI kids.
[00:11:12] This is what I would do. I'll do this.
[00:11:15] So like in the original movie, you have the parents beginning the end. So you do the same thing with the Goonies. You see the kid in the beginning and then you see the kids at the end, right? And what's threatening Astoria?
[00:11:29] What's threatening it? What was it before? A golf course. He was going to buy all the land and make it to a golf course.
[00:11:36] This is what you do now.
[00:11:39] Data centers. AI data centers. They're going to build one south of Astoria and it's going to suck up all the water and the power.
[00:11:47] And then the old gang has to get back together to get enough money to buy the land that the data center is being bought on.
[00:11:55] See there? There you have it. But then you got to think about, what would the adventure be? These old boomer fucks?
[00:12:04] It would have to be something extraordinary.
[00:12:07] It can't be pirates again. Or could it? It can't be pirates again, but it has to be a similar adventure.
[00:12:13] You know, they have. It has to be. Maybe they hear a story about hidden treasure somewhere. I don't know. I don't know. Whatever. You guys get the point.
[00:12:23] It's doable.
[00:12:24] But you have to focus on the main. The original kids that are grown up now and their kids, they're not even a part of the story. Not dealing with that.
[00:12:35] That could work.
[00:12:37] What else was I watching as a kid?
[00:12:41] Avengers and babysitting. We watched a lot. You guys ever see Adventures in Babysitting with Elizabeth Shoe?
[00:12:46] That was a great movie. Don't.
[00:12:49] With the babysitter. Don't.
[00:12:52] With the Knights of Hell.
[00:12:55] Can't you read?
[00:12:57] Take him to the hospital.
[00:12:59] That was a great movie, man. I might have to watch that when I go to bed tonight. That was a great. Especially Elizabeth Shoe. Or Little Kid Jason. Oh, Little Kid Jason was a low.
[00:13:11] So nostalgia bait, is that art?
[00:13:17] Is movies based around hooking us with nostalgia? Is that an art form? And should it be treated as cinema?
[00:13:27] As long, I think if the story is at the forefront and then the nostalgia via the legacy characters of whatever IP we're Talking about is just a happy accent to the story. Then I think it's perfectly fine, you know, and it's a great story. It's phenomenal. And it brings.
[00:13:53] It doesn't take away from the legacy characters. It brings them freshness like we're talking about before. It adds to them is what I feel like a lot of the times with some of these movies, they just are hell bent on destroying the legacy characters.
[00:14:08] We had to deconstruct the hero, you know, oh, the villain.
[00:14:13] They weren't really the villain. They were just a victim of society.
[00:14:20] And it's like, ugh, God, why can't villains be villains and heroes be hero? Not the hero.
[00:14:27] The hero was the villain the entire time.
[00:14:31] Don't you get it? Are heroes of the villains and the villains are the heroes.
[00:14:35] We're in a topsy turvy land, a topsy turfy dime.
[00:14:41] And I just don't care for it. It hurts me. It hurts me thinking of, let's keep going down this road.
[00:14:49] The Craft too.
[00:14:51] As a kid, I loved the craft. I even have a tattoo idea I want to do on my arm that has like a picture of Nancy. And over it is in text and says, nancy did nothing wrong. I love Nancy. My God, did she awaken things to me I didn't even know were there.
[00:15:08] The Craft was one of my favorite movies.
[00:15:12] And then they made the Craft too. And then when I heard they were making the Craft too, I was like, yes, finally.
[00:15:18] Right? See, I was being pulled in by nostalgia. You see, I was being pulled in.
[00:15:24] And then what they do.
[00:15:26] Oh, let's just say they didn't make that movie for me.
[00:15:31] Let's just say that movie was not made for me.
[00:15:36] Even though the first movie was made for everyone.
[00:15:38] No, everyone watched the first movie.
[00:15:40] It was great.
[00:15:43] And I was severely disappointed to talk about Hocus Pocus 2.
[00:15:47] When I heard they were making a Hocus Pocus 2, I was like, finally. Fuck.
[00:15:53] Great.
[00:15:54] We can watch. We get to have a marathon around Halloween time. We can watch the first Hocus Pocus. They watch the whole second. Everyone's coming back. Great.
[00:16:03] And let's just say they did not make Hocus Pocus 2 for me.
[00:16:08] It wasn't made for me.
[00:16:10] They had these girls out here with different colored auras like they were the goddamn Power Rangers. Why do they have glowing auras?
[00:16:18] Why do they have glowing auras? Hello.
[00:16:21] That's dumb.
[00:16:24] Not interested. Not watching that on Halloween time. I will only watch Hocus Pocus 1.
[00:16:31] Sorry. Not sorry. See, they hook you with nostalgia. And then they slap you in the face. This isn't for you. And if you don't like it, you don't watch. Jesus. What else is there?
[00:16:41] I'm sure they're gonna nostalgia with Power Rangers.
[00:16:44] Yeah. No Power Rangers. They try to take it too. Power Rangers. You don't. You don't take Power Rangers seriously like that.
[00:16:51] You don't make it dark and gritty like that. Now I get it.
[00:16:55] The Snyderverse was making millions of dollars, right? It was in that era. Snyderverse. I think the Snyderverse was still ongoing. It was still dark and gritty, right? Everyone's like, let's make everything dark and gritty. So those two Power Rangers, dark and gray.
[00:17:12] Didn't do that well. Did was too dark and too gray.
[00:17:16] The Power Rangers is camp and fun in childhood. Laughs and joy. Where are the colors?
[00:17:23] Why are the Power Rangers desaturated?
[00:17:26] Question.
[00:17:28] I mean bright, vibrant colors, not darkness.
[00:17:33] Nostalgia bait. They can work.
[00:17:36] It could work if they do it right now. I'm gonna keep my eyes on dugout dads and pray to the Lord that it's good because I would love to see all this. I follow the main dude, the ginger, the porky Ginger. I follow him on Instagram and he's hilarious. I love his social media content. Hashtag love.
[00:17:56] So I would love to see these guys on the big screen again. I really would.
[00:18:01] You pray for success, for people.
[00:18:04] I just hope someone wrote a good damn script or scripts. As it's a series, right?
[00:18:12] And it seems like looking at everything all together and especially all this. I don't want to keep talking about the same things every episode. Last episode, I talked about the Odyssey. Now he.
[00:18:23] Christopher Nolan just said, I use Emily Watson's translation as a basis for my film.
[00:18:31] And everyone was like, yes. Fuck Homer. Fuck Homer. He did it all wrong.
[00:18:38] He didn't know what he was doing. Yes. Emily watching.
[00:18:41] She's the it girl, right? It's her. Yes.
[00:18:46] The feature is. It's her story, right?
[00:18:51] What do I think?
[00:18:53] You know what I mean? It's like, yes, right?
[00:18:56] And then he made the movie, and Emily's here. Watson came out with a skating, skating review.
[00:19:03] And I was like, what's wrong, Emily?
[00:19:07] He did no good movie. No good for you.
[00:19:12] It's just interesting that going back on adaptions and do filmmakers have the room to breathe? And then you have a woman who is critically acclaimed for her translation of the original Odyssey, and people now use her translation as a basis to talk and, you know, dissect the Odyssey.
[00:19:33] But she pretty much has fucking bent Christopher Nolan over and drilled him a gibbing butthole.
[00:19:40] Because she just. I guess she. See, just to paraphrase something I didn't read, she basically said, let me know. I don't know. She just. She didn't. Just didn't care for it. And I found that kind of interesting because he was prancing around like, I'm adopting, not Homer. I'm adapting Emily Watson in translation.
[00:20:04] Give me a cop on the back, everyone.
[00:20:07] And then Emily Watson and herself was like, this movie sucked, bro.
[00:20:10] This movie was awful.
[00:20:12] I would be embarrassed to even have my name attached to the script is what she said. I paraphrased there.
[00:20:18] Basically. I was like, Jesus.
[00:20:21] So it's like going back to what I was talking about, like Airbender and stuff. It's like, is there a middle ground to where we allow filmmakers and writers?
[00:20:34] Is there room for them to breathe when they're making these adaptations?
[00:20:39] And when do we say, okay, you cross the line? This is not what the original thing was about.
[00:20:45] You fundamentally change the entirety of the story, the themes, the characters is an entire. It's such an entirely different story. It's probably rename it and it'll be something else entirely.
[00:20:56] How much do we accept, you know, from these adaptions? And when do we say, no? Emily Watson clearly said, you fucking crossed the line.
[00:21:08] I haven't seen it. Like, I want to see this weekend. I say, yeah, I'll give him room to breathe. And then we judge it and then we should say, we should be allowed to say this sucked.
[00:21:19] Like, I. I will vocally say I think the Airbender show, it's horrible.
[00:21:24] Changes they made were. There's no reason why they. A lot of the stuff, I'm just like, there's no reason for this. You didn't have to change this character like this. No, no, but fine. How fun. I mean, it looks amazing, visually.
[00:21:41] The ball out the park, I think, which angers me because I remember I. The first.
[00:21:49] The first season came out and I watched. I was like, oh, not watching this. But then I saw the trailer for the second season and I was like, let me just try to watch the show again because it looks amazing except for the earth bending.
[00:22:00] I was like, ew.
[00:22:02] All right. Doesn't look as earthbenders are, like, stumping their food in the ground in the cartoon. And it's like pure magic.
[00:22:13] And you can see them just like their muscles picking up the boulders of.
[00:22:19] But in the. In the. In the. In the. They look like they're Almost water bending, almost the earthbenders. And I'm like, I don't know if that kind of looks good.
[00:22:29] I want to be like. I feel like filmmakers should explain the choices that they make.
[00:22:34] And they. Instead. Because a lot of times these filmmakers and these showrunners and these writers are hostile to our criticism when we say we don't like that.
[00:22:45] You. There's nothing for you. If you don't like it, don't watch it. We didn't make it for you.
[00:22:50] We made it for a modern audience. Snuffy, you, Boomer, you and your heroes, you. And it's like, why.
[00:22:59] Why be like this?
[00:23:01] You have it. You. You could print money. You have an already inbuilt audience. Why is it always seem like the energy is like the.
[00:23:10] The existing audience? Fuck them.
[00:23:13] We don't want them. We don't want these people wanting. This is for a new audience.
[00:23:18] You know, like, why do you have to be like that? Why can't you appease us and do cool things to where you bring in the new audience? Because you want the new audience. I'm not saying don't. I'm not saying just make it for us.
[00:23:31] Bring people in. I want more people to know about the show. Like, my brother had no idea what the Last Airbender was.
[00:23:37] And it's like, I literally tell them, don't watch it. That's what I literally said. Like, don't watch that show.
[00:23:42] Because you were missing out on the core of the show. They took all that they could. They took all the good stuff out. Don't. Don't watch.
[00:23:49] I literally told him that, because it's like, it's not. It doesn't seem like that show is being made in good faith to the original ip. Especially when the original creators leave. They left.
[00:24:02] So now when I.
[00:24:04] From now on, when I'm seeing something being adapted and I see the original creators were signed on to, you know, help shepherd in the story coherently, right?
[00:24:18] And if I see them leaving due to creative differences, I'm out.
[00:24:23] I'm like, well, I'm not watching that.
[00:24:26] Because now, because I see a pattern, something will be made, the original creators will leave, and then the show sucks, right? Pattern recognition, you see? Now, me personally, you can do whatever you want. Me personally, when I see a show and they leave, I am not watching it at all.
[00:24:49] Sorry.
[00:24:51] Not gonna. That's why Project Hail Mary, I think, was so great, because it was adapted, but it was what you were supposed to do. Make it coherent for them. Make it coherent for a two Hour movie. They didn't change anything. Fundamentally, the characters still have the same arcs. You know, it's not rocket science. It's not rocket science, right? Appease the original audience and then bring in a new audience. That's your job.
[00:25:17] Your job is not to put your own fucking personal experience into the. I gotta put my, My narrative into the. Into the. Into the story. I have to put my. My lived in experience into the story. I don't like that character in this flash. Flaws. It's outdated. I'm gonna take those flaws out because a modern audience can't handle it.
[00:25:40] Even though those flaws. Even though these characters go through arcs and those flaws are dealt with and they grow from those flaws. Oh, no, we can't have those flaws. It's through a different tone.
[00:25:55] Fuck off.
[00:25:56] Don't do that.
[00:25:58] I hate it. Or I'm getting spicy. I'm getting so spicy right now. I need to calm down.
[00:26:04] I put too much salt in my Dr. Pepper.
[00:26:08] Looking at cinema as a whole, all we have is nostalgia bait, superheroes and horror.
[00:26:16] Where are the sweet movies in between, huh?
[00:26:22] Is it all on streaming services?
[00:26:24] Where the sweet, low budget, grounded, beautiful human stories, where are they? Because I need to watch some.
[00:26:34] I need to watch some.
[00:26:36] Oh, that's where.
[00:26:38] That's where I get like my.
[00:26:40] That's where I get stimulated.
[00:26:43] Like, I rewatched the place beyond the pines again for the thousandth time.
[00:26:49] Oh, God. I want to know how that type of movie, like, oh, it's just.
[00:26:56] Just the way it's filmed and so grounded and acting, so raw and it's so beautiful and has an amazing soundtrack.
[00:27:06] Where are those movies at?
[00:27:08] I'm tired of the superhero movies, you know? Where are those movies at? Wow. Wait, can someone show me?
[00:27:17] Point me in the right directions. Don't have to scroll through. Netflix. Tell me a movie to watch.
[00:27:23] I want those movies. That's where I am very aroused cinematically.
[00:27:30] I'm just looking to.
[00:27:34] I'm looking to rebuild myself as a moviegoer.
[00:27:37] I spent the last five years barely watching movies, which I've talked about before. I'm trying to rebuild my child, you know, and find a direction to where I'm like, yes, these are good movies. Oh, I like that director. I like that writer. I like that writer. I need to know who's. Who's hip now. I don't know who's hip. Sean Baker.
[00:27:58] Curry Baker. There's too many bakers now.
[00:28:01] Too many bakers in the kitchen. Get him out of here.
[00:28:05] You have. What's his name? Who did the Lighthouse? You have Robert Eggers.
[00:28:10] Oh, he writes with his brother. I didn't know that. Max Eggers didn't know that was his brother.
[00:28:16] You know, you have that. You have the eggers, you got the bakers, you got the eggers.
[00:28:22] Bloody hell. What we got next is sugars and the. And the syrups and the pancake mix. What else? We call.
[00:28:31] Who else? See, I don't even know. I really want to start looking internationally because when I was studying, like back in the day, all about that French cinema. Is French cinema still a thing?
[00:28:42] Are they making movies in France?
[00:28:44] Does anybody know? The last French movie I think I watched was Blue is Warmer's Color. And that was like a decade ago.
[00:28:52] It's France. Is France outputting cinema? Anybody know?
[00:28:57] What about Germany?
[00:28:59] Okay. And we all know South Korean cinemas. Popping New Zealand. I didn't know New Zealand has a lot. They have a whole production. Oh, speaking of, Lucy Lawless put a post on Instagram talking about not, I don't think rebooting Xena the Warrior Princess, but making a Xena movie. She's talked about how cool it would be. I guess they were going to make Xena a movie some years ago. And then creative differences, you see.
[00:29:30] Creative differences. I'm just glad that they were like, we don't like what you're doing. So it's not happening at all. Instead of them just leaving and. God, can you imagine the abomination of a Xena movie without Lucy Lawless and her husband Robert Tapert. Whatever. Is that his name? Yes, Robert Tapered.
[00:29:47] Imagine. Oh God, the abomination.
[00:29:50] I couldn't. I would not have been watching. I wouldn't see. I don't trust them.
[00:29:55] They wouldn't understand Xena.
[00:29:57] I just would not trust them.
[00:30:00] Why am I talking about Xeno? Oh, right. New Zealand. I was thinking about, you know, you know, Peter Jackson's over there, you got Lucy Love is over there.
[00:30:09] Trying to think of other kind of. I. I just want a Russian cinema, you know, Russian cinemas.
[00:30:16] I just need to spend some time and I guess just hop around different countries, figure out what's the new movement, who's doing what, right? Who's innovating.
[00:30:26] You know, I wanna. I need to rebuild myself and just immerse myself in this new modern era of cinema. Because it was about like 10 years since I kind of, kind of just really stopped paying attention. Really kind of Really, I guess 2016, 2017, that kind of stopped. No, that's not true.
[00:30:51] I want to say about 2018, I probably kind of checked out, not voluntarily. I just had a mental breakdown during that time. And I've been trying to pick up the pieces ever since. And I haven't really watched movies, which I talked about before.
[00:31:05] So now I'm trying to find. All right, let's get back into it. Let's see what these kids are doing, because these kids are innovating. Right? Right.
[00:31:13] So I want to talk about something else.
[00:31:15] The Fourth of July was very interesting for me.
[00:31:19] Now I went to the ozarks for the 4th of July, and now I grew up around white faces, and I had no problems. I probably can count on my one hand how many times I experienced a racist encounter.
[00:31:41] I remember one time when we were in. Basically. I want to talk about some racist elements that I. It's been a long time since I actually came face to face with some old school racism.
[00:31:53] A long time.
[00:31:55] Like old school classics, you know? But I do remember one time, and my brother was in fourth grade, or maybe he was in fifth grade. I was in fourth grade.
[00:32:05] He had a crush on a girl, and she was white, and she. He asked her to do a fifth grade dance. I'm pretty sure it was a fifth grade dance.
[00:32:14] And she told him, I don't dance with boys outside of my skin color.
[00:32:21] And my brother, my God, he got so mad, he wrote a letter to her saying he was gonna murder her. I'm gonna kill you.
[00:32:29] And I remember thinking, I've never. I think that was my first time when I actually saw, like, oh, what?
[00:32:37] That wasn't. I didn't know there really was a difference between us because I would never really had it. I've had. All my friends were white, and it was the first time a girl. I was like. I didn't understand. I think. I think I asked my dad. I was like, what did she mean by that? I didn't under.
[00:32:52] I couldn't process it growing up. I mean, a lot of kids, when they would see. Because my mom was white, because I was adopted. Of my parents, even if. Even. Or I'm still biracial, my birth mom was white. So even hypothetically, if I was with her and we were still Not. When we were in that environment, they would still ask his questions. They used to ask me this question all the time. Why is your mom white?
[00:33:14] Why are you browning your mom's wine? No, that's an innocent. I don't. That's not racism. That's an innocent question. Kids are confused.
[00:33:21] But it did bring me like a. There's a difference between me and My mom. I guess you're.
[00:33:26] I guess there is a difference.
[00:33:28] Another time, I think. In middle or in high school.
[00:33:32] Yeah, there was. I got called the N word because I was sticking up for my sister's friend. And he was black, and his tall white kid named Dean, he became a firefighter later in life, and he also crashed his car in front of McDonald's. It was a Pontiac. Good me for you, prick.
[00:33:49] But anyway, it was. I was such a dramatic little slut. I remember we were in. I think it was summer school, and I was in class, and then he was just talking crap to this little black kid. And my sister was in the same class, and then he started talking shit about my sister. I was so dramatic.
[00:34:09] I got up in front of class, turned in a piece of paper.
[00:34:12] I remember I just slowly turned and looked at him, and the whole class was like, oh, now I was quiet in the class. I don't know why I did that. I was so dramatic. I was bluffing. I was like, oh, my God, I'm gonna get beat up.
[00:34:26] And then at the end, because he was a tall, buff dude. Well, from.
[00:34:31] Was it high school?
[00:34:32] Yeah, freshman year. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:34:36] And he basically was like. When we walked out of class, to me and the other black kid, he was like, come on, Edwards, let's fight.
[00:34:43] I was like, oh, shoot. He just called me the N word.
[00:34:46] Now. That was the first time. I never called the N word before, but the teacher broke us up, and we didn't fight, but. And then there was a few other occasions. The Kai called me N word, a steak and shake.
[00:35:00] That was about it, honestly, like, brute racism.
[00:35:05] And then Fourth July occurred. I went to the Ozarks, and like I said, I don't really. I've been around white people so much in my life. I don't really. I forget that I am A difference in color, because I just.
[00:35:19] It's just not in my brain.
[00:35:21] All right, Then we were in those arcs. We were. My family is mixed beyond. Beyond belief.
[00:35:28] You have, like, so many biracial people in my family that while we were out there with my nieces.
[00:35:35] Grandmother lives out there, but we're all there. And these two guys, I guess, were invited to the party, to the cookout, and they were just.
[00:35:47] I just knew immediately. You just. You could smell it on them.
[00:35:51] Oh, they're racist. All right. It's just.
[00:35:55] I would say, what's up? They ignored me. They wouldn't even look me in the eye. These short, white country dudes.
[00:36:02] You could just.
[00:36:05] And then we were Talking about it was funny because we were. Because we were talking about the N word. And I was saying ninja, but I was saying that instead of the N word. And this white dude was like, well, welcome. You could say that, you know, I can't.
[00:36:19] And I was like, that's when I was like, that's when I knew. I was like, oh, this is an old school racist. You just said the most cliche thing I've ever heard in my life. Do you mean like, bro, you can say ninja all you want.
[00:36:32] He didn't say anything. And it kind of bu me out for the night because I got really drunk. But the back of my brain was like, where are those racist dudes at? What are they up to?
[00:36:41] What are they up to?
[00:36:43] And I thought about them like that week because I just. It was been such a long time since I was around. Old school racist.
[00:36:52] Because there was a part of me that was like, you know, I don't think America's as racist as that. People want to. Or the media.
[00:36:58] The media wants to portray.
[00:37:02] And then these two guys came to the fort of the line. I was like, oh, wow, never mind.
[00:37:07] And then I started. I started to play back my memory. I'm drunk, running around, and you just see a whole line of just these white Ozarkians sitting there watching me. And I'm thinking, like, what? How do they view me?
[00:37:24] What are they? Because all. It's all white people out there, like middle Midwestern whites.
[00:37:31] Now this. Some of them are probably lovely. I met a lot of them.
[00:37:36] A lot of them were lovely. They were cool. They parted with us. But then there was just. I had this memory.
[00:37:41] Just. There's just. Some of them were just sitting there just watching, and you could just feel the energy.
[00:37:50] That's when I was like, I'm probably never going to go back to the old arcs.
[00:37:55] It's a lovely area. It really is.
[00:37:58] But I was like, I just can't trust it.
[00:38:06] But then I was starting to think about, you know, I did feel racism on the other side too, from. Because I'm biracial.
[00:38:14] And there was a lot of racism growing up. There was a lot of racism from the black community.
[00:38:20] And then thinking about it, you know, it's like speaking about the cookout, like, I. I've been trying to get to those legendary cookout my whole entire life. You know, when people say, oh, you're invited to the cookout. When they talk about black people, talk about white people, oh, you're invited to the cookout because they're cool, you Know, they're. They were stamped approved.
[00:38:40] Can I get invited to the cookout?
[00:38:43] Huh?
[00:38:44] Can I get invited to the cookout?
[00:38:48] I've been trying to get into the cookout my whole entire life, and it's like, hey, hey.
[00:38:54] My parents, my mom finally letting me wear baggy pants and, you know, tall cheese, and I. I even have a fitted hat. Can I come to the cookout?
[00:39:04] Shut up, white boy.
[00:39:06] Is what they would say to me.
[00:39:07] Shut up, white boy.
[00:39:11] And then it's like, look, my. My mom's letting me listen to rap. Finally, I bought dmx. Woof, woof. I have his. I have his album. Woof, woof. Shut up. What boy?
[00:39:23] Is what they would say to me.
[00:39:26] Are you sure you come in the cookout? It smells so good. I can smell the collard greens. Shut up. What boy?
[00:39:33] I remember one time in middle school, my mom was actually letting me wear the baggy pants, and I was just trying to fit in with these black kids and this black girl who I knew all three years in middle school.
[00:39:45] I remember she looking up, looking me up and down, and she's like, what are you doing?
[00:39:50] And I was like. I remember looking down. I'm like. Because I knew her. I was like, I'm trying.
[00:39:56] And then she's like, yeah, you're definitely trying to.
[00:40:00] I was like, bitch, why can't you just accept me?
[00:40:04] I just want to go to the damn cocaine.
[00:40:07] And then I met my blood family, my biological family.
[00:40:11] And then I had a. I met my black dad. I went back to Hamilton, Ohio, my ancestral homeland of Hamilton, Ohio.
[00:40:19] I met my white family.
[00:40:22] They were on one side of the bridge. And then I met my black family, who on the other side of the bridge. Bridge.
[00:40:27] And I remember my stepdad, my mom's stepdad. She was one. He's like. He was biracial himself. Because I'm gonna take you. I'm gonna take you to see your daddy. You gonna take me to see my daddy? I'm scared. Don't you fret. Don't. Because my dad was in prison for 10 years from killing somebody.
[00:40:45] I'm gonna take you. I'm gonna take you to see your daddy. Like, all right. I got into his. His green Civic, took me across the bridge through downtown Hamilton, into the new homes.
[00:40:54] The new homes were the projects.
[00:40:57] I've never been to the projects before. Let me tell you something else. I was quite frightened.
[00:41:02] I was.
[00:41:03] But I was hopeful. I met my black daddy. He was a big old black man, gave me $50, and I was ecstatic.
[00:41:12] I had $50 from my daddy and then I got to know him and I was like, wow, I have a sponsor. I can go to the cookout. And then he was like, I'm gonna take you see, I'm gonna take you to meet your sister. Because he had a kid with another lady, you know, outside of my mom, and she was full black. I was like, wow, I have a full black sister. I have a full black daddy. I am going to the cookout.
[00:41:37] So he drives me, driving through the new home to her apartment. And I'm getting my plate ready. I'm waiting for them collard greens finish cooking. I'm like, I'm gonna get me some of that corn bread. I'm going to give me some ribs, hog feet, I'm going to get all that. Cuz I'm here to cook out. Cuz I got sponsors now. I got black family members. No one could deny me a cookout. No one's denying me a plate at the legendary cookout, right? So we pull up to the apartment, knock, knock, knock. Come meet your brother.
[00:42:08] Let me tell you, my mouth is watering. I'm looking for that sweet tea. Where that sweet tea at? I'm here for the cookout. She opens the door, you want to know what she says to me?
[00:42:20] You want to know what she said to me? And this is serious. She said this to me. She said, oh, you're a white boy.
[00:42:33] It was like I was stabbed in the gut.
[00:42:37] I can't win.
[00:42:39] Even my own black sister says, you're a white boy.
[00:42:44] No cookout for me at this point.
[00:42:47] I don't want the cookout.
[00:42:50] You want to know what I did? I went into front of a furnace. I stood in front of a furnace, took off my fitted cap, took off the do rag, took off the tall fitted white shirt, took off my baggy ass pants, tuck up my white reed box. And I threw it in the furnace. And I stood there with the flames licking my brown skin. And I said to myself, I don't want to cook up.
[00:43:17] I'll just have a barbecue. A barbecue consisting of burgers and hot dogs. And that's all I care about, your collard greens.
[00:43:26] And then I want the PacSun bomb. If I'm gonna be a white boy, I'm gonna be the old.
[00:43:35] And I bought me some clothes at Pacs on Pacific Sun. Then I went to Zumies, got me some skater clothes, because guess what? I'm about to kick flip all over town. I bought me a skateboard, I did. And a long board.
[00:43:49] And then I went to. Then I went to Hot Topic, bought some band shirts, and I started going to rock concerts. Because if I'm gonna be a white boy, I'mma play the part. Let me tell you that. I don't give a about your cookout.
[00:44:02] Not me. I don't care about your back beach cow greens.
[00:44:07] But, you know, I'm older now. I moved on from it. Nobody dares call me while I borrowed my photo dad. That is kind of racism, isn't it? They, I. They also used to say, why do you talk white? Why do you dress white? Because before I was allowed to wear baggies, baggy clothes and stuff. They used to say that to me all the time, why do you. Why do you talk white? And I didn't know the fuck they meant. I was like, huh, I'm speaking. I'm just speaking, all right?
[00:44:37] They just would not accept. Accept me. And it was weird.
[00:44:42] And I just, you know, I just went the extreme opposite. And now I'm just me. I'm my own style, who I am.
[00:44:49] I am a proud biracial king, and I like that. My family is. A lot of them were basically just biracial people. And I love that about my family. I think about that strongest asset of my family.
[00:45:01] We are an American biracial family. Biracial kings, biracial queens, some more than the others. My nephew is basically full black.
[00:45:11] I now have a niece that's basically white.
[00:45:14] She has blue eyes and blonde hair.
[00:45:16] We're very, very mixed family, and I love that.
[00:45:20] But it's so funny, when I. When I met my mom, my biological mom, because she had seven kids, three of us, my older brother and my sister underneath me, we all three of us have the same dad. But then she had four other kids, and they all had their own different black dad.
[00:45:36] And I used to say, wouldn't it cool if you had, like, an Asian? You couldn't affect an Asian. I would have an Asian brother right now.
[00:45:44] That'd be cool, right? Or you had. You have white. And I could have a full white brother or sister. Like, that'd be so cool. Like, like, look like a white dude. And I, oh, this is my brother, huh? Yeah, this is my brother. That'd be wild.
[00:46:01] But she, you know, she loved him. Black man, Black man loved her.
[00:46:07] Tell you that right now. Rest in peace. She's dead.
[00:46:11] She. She died in 20. 2018.
[00:46:13] You know, I've come to the conclusion I'm kind of. I just didn't know who I wanted to be in my 20s when I was in high school, my 20s. I didn't know who I was because I spent so many years trying to fit into the black community and then them just denying me. And then I was like, who am I?
[00:46:32] How did I get to this conversation? How did I end up here? We weren't really talking about nostalgia movies.
[00:46:38] Oh, I want to talk about racism. How I kind of experience racism on both sides. You have the old school whites, but then you have the other.
[00:46:47] Well, I feel like it's not. It's not the same type of racism. It's just more of.
[00:46:54] I guess it is racism, but it's just different.
[00:46:56] They're not hating. They're not hating me. They're just not accepting me because I. I am exhibiting white characteristics, which it is racism, but it's just a different type.
[00:47:10] I feel like we should actually have different. There should be different types, like actual definitions, like subcategories of racism, because there is passive racism. Like my mom who raised me, I think she was a passive racist. I mean, she adopted three black kids, so she couldn't be foreign races. But at the same time, she said some weird racist. Because I remember what we were stealing. We were stealing, like, candy.
[00:47:32] I heard her in. In night time, and we were in bed yelling at my dad, it's in their jeans, Matthew. It's in their jeans to steal. And I didn't know what the hell she was talking about. I thought she was like. I was like, yeah, put them candy in my jeans. That's where I put them. When we walked out the store, they were in my jeans.
[00:47:50] I didn't understand. I didn't get that she was talking about genetics until years later when I was analyzing her, her bitchiness. And I was like, oh, she's talking about genetics. Oh, she was a racist. She used to call Spanish. She just called it chicken talk.
[00:48:04] I don't want to hear that chicken talk.
[00:48:07] And my dad, she. My dad is his. His parents were Jewish, but they raised him as a Catholic. So my dad had. He's Polish, Russian, Polish, Russian, Jew, but raised as a Catholic. And she used to always say, I used to hear all the time. My dad would just start complaining about stuff.
[00:48:23] She used to go, I don't want to hear that Jewish wine.
[00:48:26] I don't want to hear that Jewy wine.
[00:48:29] Like, damn.
[00:48:31] So she was kind of like she was a racist. But at the same time, how can you be a racist and adopt three mixed kids? You can't be that much of a racist. I mean, she loved us. At one point, I do have early memories of her loving us. So it's like, there should be different.
[00:48:46] I pretty much just pegged it as passive racism. What I used to call her, she was a passive racist. She wasn't overtly racist, but she had racist tendencies.
[00:48:57] But. So, yeah, I guess racism is still alive in America, especially when you see Trump stuff.
[00:49:02] It's kind of disappointing because, like I said, I grew up surrounded by white faces, and I really didn't experience that much racism. So I kind of had this utopian view, like, oh, America's not that racist. I barely experienced it growing up. But that. My experience. It's my experience doesn't mean that that's the rest of America. It's what I'm kind of coming to terms with. Like, okay, yeah, because I used to argue, like, I don't think racism war is not that racist or America's not that racist. But now you're starting to see it's like, yeah, I don't think that's true.
[00:49:38] And, yeah, I guess what I'm trying to say is, can I please have an invitation to the cookout? Black people.
[00:49:48] I've come to terms with my blackness.
[00:49:52] I would like a plate at the cookout, please. I'm 38 years old.
[00:49:56] Can I please have some peach sweet tea, please? And a plate of greens and some fried chicken, please?
[00:50:05] All right, that's enough. I'm starving.
[00:50:08] I need to eat. I don't know how long this episode is. It might be short, but to come back to what we were talking about, I swear I'm gonna get more.
[00:50:17] I want each episode to be about one thing, you know, Because I feel like I kind of jump around. Like, I talked about movies, then I talked about racism. Those things aren't really related unless there's a racist movie I can talk about. Let's think about a racist movie I can talk about.
[00:50:34] Racist movie I can talk about.
[00:50:38] I don't really watch racist movies.
[00:50:42] But, yeah, I'll figure it out. Like, this is my third episode. I'm still trying to find my voice.
[00:50:49] I kind of just wrote down some notes, and I'm like, what am I talking about?
[00:50:52] Then I'll get it. We'll talk. It'll be vibe. I'm getting it.
[00:50:58] So, yeah, I. Obviously, if you watched this in my last episode, which you probably didn't, I thought I. I was trying to do Monday and Fridays. I didn't do last Fridays. This one's actually late. I'm actually recording this on a Tuesday.
[00:51:10] I won't tell you why. Yesterday was no brainer for me.
[00:51:13] But right now I'll do Monday no matter what. And if I do a Friday, then it's a bonus, but I won't commit to the Friday because I'll be embarrassing. Say I'm gonna do Monday and Friday. I don't do a Friday.
[00:51:24] That shows that I'm not consistent, and I won't do that. I'm gonna do money, as always. If I pop out of Friday app Bonus to me.
[00:51:31] Hallelujah.
[00:51:33] By the way, I can't believe the July is almost over.
[00:51:35] Maybe I'll talk about time next episode and how time is just not.
[00:51:42] It's just going too fast. It doesn't make sense to me, and it's scary.
[00:51:47] It just turned 2026, and now the year is halfway over.
[00:51:53] It feels like mentally it should be March, minimum. March.
[00:51:58] But it's. It's August. Oh, my God. The kids are going back to school.
[00:52:03] It's August.
[00:52:06] And then next, I'm gonna be 39 in, like, five months.
[00:52:10] Oh, my God.
[00:52:11] It's the five month. August, September, October, November, December, January. Six months. I have six more months left. And then I'm 39. Guys, I'm already getting a bit of gray hair on my beard. I'm gonna shave it because I don't want to see any gray hair. You know what's funny?
[00:52:28] My first gray hair was on my ball sack.
[00:52:32] I. I saw it, like, last year, and I saw and I got depressed and I was like, I have a gray hair in my ball sack. I'm not ready for old age.
[00:52:43] I'm just not.
[00:52:45] I have a friend who went gray, like, a decade ago, and it makes me sad because I don't want to grow old.
[00:52:54] So anyway, I won't try to do a Friday app. Like I said, it's a bonus. Maybe not. I'm probably going to my brother's Friday, so I probably won't, but. All right, I'll see you next Monday. Bye.
