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Guatemala Drama and Twin Michael B. Jordans
56 Plays2 months ago
This week Tyler fills us in on the lakes, roads, and roller coasters of Guatemala from a recent trip! Plus some New Year's goals and our review of the 2025 Oscar nominated film Sinners which is rumored to be an HHN house this upcoming season. Let us know your thoughts on the movie in the comments!
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Transcript
Weather Chat: Cold in the East and South
00:00:11
Speaker
welcome to thrills chills and spills where we spilled the tea on all themes theme parks special events and especially spooky season i'm joey i'm tyler i'm rafa and i'm kelly and it's cold so cold we've uh we've been hit well at least the east coast and part of the south have all been hit with this lovely storm and it's cold and that's great except for rafa lucky Yeah, we're at 55 right now. That's probably the lowest. Yeah, so I hope everybody is staying. wearing winter jacket, aren't you? What was that?
00:00:44
Speaker
You're probably wearing a winter jacket, aren't you? Hell yeah, me and my little Yorkie, we both got our little jackets on. We're like ready to go. Oh my gosh, that is so Florida. was
Travel Anxieties and Guatemala Experience
00:00:53
Speaker
like 65 degrees to med school lectures with like my flip-flops on in january and the floridians would be like in their scarves like oh gosh
00:01:06
Speaker
so florida yeah well let's head straight into our favorite section it's the spills ah Mine this week is about anxiety.
00:01:17
Speaker
I have it. It's not fun. um We'll talk about this later, but i was supposed to go on this Guatemala trip that Tyler went on, and i was feeling very anxious and very out of it leading up to the trip, and then One thing um happened after the other where like I was running out of seats ah to get there with my standby stuff. And then i there was definitely no way I was going to get out. And then I was trying to figure out how to get out. And then this crazy weather forecast started coming out for the the weekend that I was going to return. And I was anticipating like
00:01:55
Speaker
all of these cancellations because Atlanta doesn't usually deal well with ice. Um, we can kind of handle snow, but ice isn't great. So yeah. And then just like things in the world have been lovely too. So, and then I got sick.
00:02:11
Speaker
It's been great. So here we are anyway. oh here we are anyway ah Tyler, yours is kind of related, sort of.
00:02:24
Speaker
Yeah, just this weather and this storm. um I just got back from Guatemala yesterday. um so it's kind of the tail end of the storm, but still very much the effects are present.
00:02:36
Speaker
um Got back to the park and go to my car and just a solid like two inches of ice on my windshield. And i go to get my ice scraper and I forgot that I broke it. So it's all I have is like the snow brush thing and no ice scraper.
00:02:53
Speaker
So I just turned the defrost on high and sat there for like 30 minutes and then just like grabbed blocks of ice to get them off of my car. And then I could not get out of my spot. And I had to call the people at the office to come and help me like dig me out a little bit.
00:03:11
Speaker
So it took me like 45 minutes to even get out of the parking lot once I got back to the airport. And this was at 1 a.m., m by the way. so And then I get back to my um my complex, and they never plowed or treated the roads in any way, despite our exorbitant HOA fees that we pay. So I sent them an email today about that. I have not heard back, but like, yeah.
00:03:38
Speaker
You should get a $20 refund like Verizon gave us all for the... Yeah. For their breakdown. Literally, i don't even know where that HOA fee goes, honestly. You should just withhold the next payment. yeah Maybe. It really just stinks to be an adult when there's weather.
00:03:57
Speaker
Because like... You know, I lived my whole life not really having to deal with the snow. I would like help shovel and I would really just be playing. But now like we're responsible, I'll sit within 16 hours of a storm to have our driveway and sidewalks clear. And we live on a corner, as you guys know. And so I have the front sidewalk and the side sidewalk. And it's just so miserable. Like,
00:04:22
Speaker
We were out there multiple times and then you come in and it's like you didn't do even do anything. It was just like so frustrating. The amount of time we've thought about getting a snowblower multiple times. We're always like, ah, it never really gets that bad. And then it it does. And then I'm like, why don't we have a snowblower? I hate this so much. But I had to work in the storm. I was on.
00:04:43
Speaker
um hospital shift this weekend. And they sent out these emails saying, you can stay over in the hospital if you want, like they're going to have air mattresses, like in giant rooms is basically what they offer. Like when I was in training, you could have like a call room, but like that wasn't the, it was like, you can reserve an air mattress at the hospital. And I said, over my dead body while sleep in the hospital. but i'm not getting on that air mattress. We're not doing that. So I went into the hospital at three zero in the morning to do my shift, like most of it before the snow started. So I was very tired shoveling snow, but we're here. We made it
00:05:23
Speaker
We're here. Air mattress in the hospital on the floor. no Meanwhile, Rafa's like, Snow, what? um like When they sent that email, I literally texted my manager. I said, I will sled to work before I sleep on an air mattress.
00:05:42
Speaker
oh That tracks. Well, Rafa, do you have any spills this week? um Not so much. I mean, i do want to bring up, I did show this to you guys a couple of weeks ago, but you know to let everybody know, um That awful Krampus event I went to back in December is actually hosting a Valentine's Day um event, which I will not be attending. So I'm so sorry not be covering it. wish it were good. i was good because then I would have gone. i mean, I would have loved to have done some spooky Valentine's Day stuff, but I'm not doing that. But
00:06:19
Speaker
In case anybody cares to know, the event is called Love Kills, and it's Miami's scariest valentine Valentine's Day. And it runs February 12th to the 15th in the same location in Jungle Island, Miami, which... Miami's only Valentine's Day. The only one. That's the funniest part. They're like, oh, the scariest thing. It's the only one, okay. Right.
00:06:41
Speaker
right I won't be going, but if you want to look into it, they it's It's a thing. So, you know, have fun. It exists. I won't be there. Yeah.
00:06:51
Speaker
I think our general recommendation is no yeah not to go And that wasn't my spill, by the way, complaining about the weather. I just quickly have to give a hot chocolate recommendation as my spill. So I have a variety of hot chocolates right now. I love hot chocolate. I have a couple a week usually. um But I have to give a shout out to the Target brand hot chocolate, the Good & Gather um double chocolate.
00:07:16
Speaker
It is elite. You should all try it It's really good. Interesting. ah definitely need some of that in my life. um Right about now. Good and Gather has some good stuff though. Lots of and Gather. yeah They have like these like, um is it cashews or walnuts? or um I think it's almonds actually. And they're they're flavored.
00:07:38
Speaker
The flavor is like glazed donut or something like that. and it's like really bizarre, but it tastes really good. They have like the craziest flavor. Yeah. It's like a glazed. They have a glazed donut one. They have a lavender flavor, which I thought was going to be weird, but it was actually pretty good.
00:07:54
Speaker
So look out for those too. They have some interesting flavors. All hail Tarjay. I know. My favorite place in the world. I power ranked my town's targets and I got a lot of feedback on that from the other moms of the Lehigh Valley. So by the way, they did sponsor us for this episode. Thank you target for your support of. Yeah.
00:08:17
Speaker
i like eyes one at almonds please All right, well, that's it for our spills. Moving on to thrills.
00:08:29
Speaker
um Basically, none of us have gone on ah adventures except Tyler. um And since I was going to go on that trip, I am curious how it went. I've seen some pictures, um but I kind of know what the itinerary was. And so we're kind of going to quiz him about what happened. um I know that you arrived on a Wednesday, kind of ah midday to Guatemala City, and then ah traveled out to Lake Atitlan. So how did that go? How was the lake?
00:08:59
Speaker
Yeah, it was Thursday, actually. Hutch and Javi arrived on Wednesday, so that was a day later, but... um So before I start, I want to say Guatemala is an absolutely gorgeous country. It's so beautiful, the landscapes there.
00:09:14
Speaker
And there's really only one con of the whole trip as a visitor that I found. And I'm just going to knock that out because that's like the only con, but it was the driving. Oh my gosh. The driving in this country, Joey, you've been to Mexico city, you know, the driving there.
00:09:31
Speaker
was also driving in Costa Rica. I can imagine as. Oh Yeah. yeah yeah here in costa rica too So think, think Mexico city, I guess, Costa Rica. haven't been, but think Mexico city, but on winding mountain roads the entire time.
00:09:49
Speaker
So when we got there, I asked Javi like, Oh, are we getting on the interstate? And he just laughed at me. He's like, there isn't one. It's so funny. Like, no, there are no interstates or highways or anything. If you look on the map, it looks like an interstate, but really the roads are just like winding mountain roads, like two lanes. Maybe some of them are four lanes, two lanes each direction, but there's like,
00:10:14
Speaker
no rules of the road whatsoever people just crossing over the double yellow line um all the businesses are just directly on the side of the road without any parking to them so people will just throw their hazards on in the lane of travel and it just creates a traffic backup they have the most random speed bumps and the speed bumps are like two feet tall The back of the van, I know, it was not fun for going over those speed bumps because we had like a 12 passenger van or something.
00:10:49
Speaker
um So the first time we went to Panahachel, I looked it up. It is 70 miles from the airport, 7-0, and it took us over four hours to get there.
00:11:01
Speaker
Yeah, that's absolutely crazy. Oh, gosh. In the US, that would be like 90 minutes at most. Yeah, absolutely. And then they have these chicken buses is what they call them. And what those are, most if not all of them are just school buses that have come from the US that they refurbished because some of them actually say like so-and-so county on the side of the bus still, but they just refurbish them a little bit and like throw a bunch of crazy lights on them.
00:11:30
Speaker
And the drivers just drive them like maniacs throughout the country. Like they're on these back mountain roads, just like accelerating through curves. And then I'm unsure if they even fully stop to let passengers off. It kind of looks like they just kind of kick you off at about two miles an hour and they keep going. It's crazy. Get your bag because they throw your bags on top. There's a little rack on top of the bus.
00:11:57
Speaker
And there's actually a second guy on the bus, like working for the bus. And he goes around while the bus is going like 30, 40 miles an hour on the road and climbs up the ladder to get the bag and then climbs bike back through while the bus is moving. It's crazy. Like I've seen some crazy driving before, but this is next level. And then especially driving through, um, it was like these sugar cane fields, um,
00:12:26
Speaker
And I remember we were coming up on one and there's like these people just waving green wands in the road and red wands. And we're like, what is happening?
00:12:38
Speaker
And Javi stops. He's like, oh, it's the sugarcane truck. So we come to like an abrupt stop while they're waving their little like wand at us. And then this giant sugar cane truck comes blasting perpendicular through the intersection. It's like 70 feet long. It looks like a train almost.
00:12:57
Speaker
I don't think it stopped. I think they just stopped traffic and that thing just blows through the intersection. But yeah, just the driving is absolutely crazy. That is the worst part. I definitely got car sick a couple of times um driving some of these places, but.
00:13:14
Speaker
Yeah, that's really the only bad part that I saw in my few days as a visitor to the country. Yeah, like you appreciate all of the views that you're getting during the driving because, ah you know, a lot of these countries are beautiful. But yeah you come to the U.S. interstate system. You're like, isn't it nice that we have interstates because I can't even imagine how long it would take if we had roads like that to get anywhere. Like everybody would just be flying in the U.S. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
00:13:42
Speaker
um So as you said before, the first day we went over to Lake Atitlan and we stayed in San Marcos. um So Lake Atitlan, it's like um a big like volcanic crater lake formed by the volcanoes and there are little towns around the whole perimeter. I think there's 12 of them.
00:14:01
Speaker
um So you go to Panahachel, which is the easternmost town, and that's sort of where the lanchas, basically water taxis, um that's where they go from, and then they just diverge in all the different directions. So we got there a little late. We had to take a private lancha, which was more expensive than the public one. But really, when you're comparing Guatemala prices, U.S. prices, it was still very cheap for what we got. So Took us straight to San Marcos.
00:14:31
Speaker
um Just kind of chilled. We had a great Airbnb right on the lake. um I posted some pictures. i don't know if you guys saw them or not. But view of the volcanoes in the background with the lakes in the foreground. It was like a huge, I must call it like a villa. It was so big and nice.
00:14:49
Speaker
But yeah, just kind of chilled that night. The next day we went to check out some of the other towns. We went to San Juan. in San Pedro. So we, um, hiked up to this viewpoint.
00:15:03
Speaker
Um, I also posted pictures that, but it's just a big viewpoint of the volcanoes over the lake, which was gorgeous. Um, got lunch over there and just explored a little bit.
00:15:14
Speaker
That was just kind of a chill day. Uh, went, went back to San Marcos and went to like this, like, I want to call it a club, but it was just like a cafe where they had a DJ set up playing electronic music.
00:15:32
Speaker
And San Marcos is known as like the hippie town of the lake. So it's like a whole bunch of just like white expat hippies that sort of took it over it wasn't my favorite town it was quieter than the other ones which was nice but some of the vibes i was getting weren't the greatest i think i preferred the other towns we visited more um okay didn't you like drive off a crazy platform that day was that that day
00:16:03
Speaker
Oh, yeah. that I think that was that day. I didn't dive off of it. Okay. Yeah, but Erica, Hutch, and Lucas all dove off of it. It was like a 30, I think they said like 35 feet.
00:16:16
Speaker
It was pretty tall. It looked like a lot. Yeah. Yeah. It's just off off the end of the lake. Yeah, just off the side of the cliff, jumping into the lake, and then you swim over to the rocks and climb up. It was actually really cool vibes out there. It was a lot cooler.
00:16:30
Speaker
more crowded than I thought it was. Um, it's probably like hundred people just jumping and hanging out and swimming a little bit. It was really cool vibes, but I wasn't really feeling swimming that day. So yeah, people were very, very chilly, but they enjoyed it. Um, Erica thinks she bruised her tailbone when she jumped. So yeah, I mean, it's a really big jump. When I saw it, I was like, okay, that looks like it kind of hurts, but yeah. Yeah. be you
00:17:02
Speaker
If you go into the water at the wrong angle. Yeah. Right. They kind of tell you to like to sort of like pencil dive and point your toes a little bit. So you have a smooth entry into the water, but right.
00:17:12
Speaker
Easier said than done. think. Yeah. So what ended up being your, your favorite town around the lake? Um, either San Juan or San Pedro. I honestly forget which one is which, but the one we went to first, I think I liked a little more where we went to the viewpoint.
00:17:31
Speaker
Oh yeah. Viewpoint was really cool. They had a little like traditional Guatemalan band up there. It was just like three, old Guatemalan men playing music and they had little shops set up, you know, selling beer, Gatorade. They had shots like halfway up and this was not an easy hike. It was short, but it was not easy. It was very steep. And they would just be like tequila shots, tequila shots, like halfway up. Oh my gosh. Love that. Yeah. Yeah.
00:18:04
Speaker
yeah But it was good. um Yeah. So one of those, they just were a little bit more lively or a little bit more colorful and they felt more authentically Guatemalan than San Marcos did.
00:18:16
Speaker
Yeah. What is the food like there? I mean, obviously Central America has some commonalities, but I wasn't sure if Guatemala specifically had ah a certain food that they are serving a lot. Yeah, they have everything. ah The first night, we just went to some pizza place because it seemed easy and it was very close. And owner and his, I guess his sons who were working, they were incredibly nice, but the pizza was not good at all.
00:18:43
Speaker
The bottom was like so flowery and the back of the crust was burnt, but the bottom just didn't even seem done. it was just very bland, but and we did go to um I don't remember the name of it, but more traditional Guatemalan food. They normally call it like tipico is what they would say, but we got like some, some stew and I added chicken to it over rice and a, um, pupusa also. I know those aren't Guatemalan, but, um, I think they are central American and that was the best pupusa. Very good.
00:19:20
Speaker
Yeah. And then, i um, um, Got some gallos a couple nights, which is like the Guatemalan beer that you can find everywhere. Just like a lager thing. It's fine.
00:19:32
Speaker
And um yeah, i I think the food is typically just sort of your meat and rice type of staples, potatoes. Yeah. But yeah, the the one place we went, we were very happy with that. It was just some, basically some abuelas cooking in the kitchen and Nobody spoke any English. Oh, yeah. We didn't know exactly what we were getting, but it was great. It was delicious. That's always the best on those types of trips. Yeah.
00:19:59
Speaker
But there's everything. You know, if you want to go to a little bit ah more modern place, you know, you can get a burger, chicken sandwich, like that oh sure yeah whatever you can want. Yeah. And then San Marcos with the the hippie vibe vibe, they have lots of um like vegan, vegetarian restaurants as well.
00:20:17
Speaker
Nice. Nice. Yeah. Well, then you started getting to the thrills, right?
Traffic and Theme Park Troubles
00:20:23
Speaker
Because you were supposed to go to Zetolul. Is that you pronounce that? Yeah, it was what happened was thrilling. All right. um a to I think is how you say it. It's X-U-T-U-L-U-L. I think that's set. The X-U-T-U-L. Okay. Yeah, I'm not 100% sure. but And there actually was a park right next to it, too.
00:20:44
Speaker
Yes, we did not get to do that one, unfortunately. Spoiler alert of the eight creds that I was hoping to get. I only got three. o fell oh no.
00:20:55
Speaker
But that's fine. I knew I wasn't going to get four of them going into it just because of the way my flight was. I was hoping to get four, but ended up getting three. Almost got zero. So let's talk about that. So we woke up and we met Nate in Panahatchel, which was that main town around the lake. So we took the Lancha over to him and his Uber showed up like five minutes before we showed up, which was awesome. He took an Uber three hours all the way from the airport.
00:21:24
Speaker
and met us. So that was perfect timing. Yeah. And we got in the Javi van, which shout out to Javi. Javi is an absolute angel. If it was not for him on this trip, we would be currently lost in the middle of rural Guatemalan jungles.
00:21:41
Speaker
Yeah. Just his driving and his knowledge and his translation was so helpful. We would have been completely lost without him. So Javi, we love you. Thank you so much.
00:21:52
Speaker
But we got in the hobby van and we had what we thought was about a three and a half hour drive to the park. And it's basically you're going west around the lake and then you cut south.
00:22:04
Speaker
And it's pretty rural out there. You know, you pass through a couple towns, but for the most part, it's rural. um I think it was it was either Lucas or Hutch brought up like, oh, my mom sent me a article the other day about this like mass shooting or something in one of these towns. He's like, Oh yeah, I think it was close to here. We're like, Oh, okay, cool.
00:22:28
Speaker
um But yeah, it's on those mountain roads and you go through like police checkpoints. Police stopped us at one point. um They're all carrying like rifles and one of them was like anti-narcóticos. So, you know, anti-drug police and they just have checkpoints set up on the road.
00:22:47
Speaker
And they just sort of randomly stop whoever they want to, which was interesting. But yeah, some some interesting vibes going through there. We get maybe, I want to say an hour from the park and we start hitting some traffic and then it just keeps going up and up and up the GPS time.
00:23:08
Speaker
And we're starting to get a little nervous and We some people are turning around. Some people are turning up side roads. We don't really know what's going on.
00:23:19
Speaker
And we just like crawl through traffic for, I want to say, like two and a half, three hours. We're just crawling, moving. Maybe in that time we moved like two miles.
00:23:30
Speaker
And then we're starting to get nervous about the park. We're really not that far from it, maybe half an hour at this point. And eventually we just stop and we don't move for 30 minutes. We just sat completely still.
00:23:44
Speaker
And Javi looks at his GPS. He's like, it looks like it's right up here. And I can't sit in the van anymore. I just wanted to get out of the van. So I'm like, I'm going to go for a walk, maybe see what's happening or see like the sites because I can't sit in this van anymore.
00:24:02
Speaker
So me, Hutch and Nate all just start walking up the road in rural Guatemala. no clue about anything about where we are or what's going on. So um let me back up one second.
00:24:16
Speaker
So that morning Hutch gets a DM from Mark from Orlando. Do you guys know him? Yeah. In the theme park community. Yeah. So he gets a DM and he's like, Hey, are you going to Zatulu? Like I know a guy there. You should hit him up.
00:24:34
Speaker
And Hutch shares it with us and we're like, yeah, I mean, that's cool. Like, what what are we going to say if we hit him up, though? And we're just like, OK, I mean, like, whatever. We don't really need to message him. We're just going to be kind of in and out getting the creds.
00:24:48
Speaker
don't know what help that's going to do. But it was good to have that contact. He was like a um some sort of manager over maintenance of the park. So anyway, back to us walking up. We're getting nervous that we're not going to make it to the park.
00:25:03
Speaker
And Hutch messages ah the guy. Mao is his name. And he's like, hey, what time? do the creds close? Like what time, how does this work? And he's like, well, park closes at six. That's when all the coasters close.
00:25:21
Speaker
But last admission is at five. And it's like three something at this point. So we're like, okay, we haven't moved. We don't know what's going on with the road. Let's go check it out.
00:25:31
Speaker
So we walk like half a mile up and there's a detour taking you left through this like, it's like a temporary detour, but it's down like a dirt road and a temporary bridge. And there's a tractor trailer that is completely off of the roadway, but mostly sideways and blocking the entire bridge.
00:25:52
Speaker
So we did not even realize there is not a single car that can make it through there. There's like a dozen guys just standing around staring at the truck. There's a bunch of other trucks that are there that are completely stuck, cannot turn around, cannot move anywhere.
00:26:07
Speaker
No police, no traffic control in sight. And this is the main road through this area. Not a single car can get through there. So we're...
00:26:20
Speaker
inadvertently sitting in this traffic for like three hours, no idea what's going on. So we start to go back and we're like panicking a little bit, thinking that we're going to miss this park. And stopped to talk to some guys at a gas station.
00:26:34
Speaker
And our Spanish is pretty terrible overall. We managed to get a few words out. And then we're just like, wait, why don't we just call Javi and he can translate because he's back in the van. So we're just trying to ask the gas station worker, like, what's another way we can go? How can we get to the park?
00:26:51
Speaker
And the gas station worker is talking to Javi and, and ah They talk for a little bit. We get back and we ask Javi, what did he say? He's like, oh, he said you guys looked very lost and scared. And he was trying to help you.
00:27:05
Speaker
He was trying to be your guide. He wanted to hop in the car and show us where to go, which was nice. I mean, assuming that he was genuine about that, but we really didn't need it. But Yeah, I thought that was really funny. And I think just the sight of the three of us walking through this like rural Guatemalan road, like I'm sure very few white people ever come down there.
00:27:29
Speaker
It's truly the middle of nowhere. um We were getting so many stairs and just people trying to talk to us in Spanish. And we're just like, oh, la and keep walking.
00:27:42
Speaker
But anyways, we get back to the van. Javi had found another way around. And by this time, it's probably four, a little after four. So we're struggling to get there on time.
00:27:57
Speaker
But we go up this side road that allegedly detours around. um the blockage. And it's like through a dirt road, through a cemetery, like these tight corners, we're in this like big ass van through this bumpy cemetery.
00:28:16
Speaker
We almost bottomed out at one point, but Sure enough, after like 20 minutes on that road, we finally make it out to the main road. And we're looking at the GPS and ETA is like 445, 450-ish at this point.
00:28:31
Speaker
So we're like, okay, we're good. We got it. So we finally pull up to the park. We're ready to like hustle in and get the creds. And we pull up to the gate where you go into the parking lot, completely shut.
00:28:46
Speaker
Only people are coming out. Yeah. So there's security just standing around not doing anything. So Javi gets out and talks to him in Spanish like, hey, what's what's going on? The park's supposed to be open until 6. Security's like, no, the park closed at 4.30. Javi's like, no, it's it says online it's open until 6. And then security's like, yeah, but everybody's leaving right now. Yeah.
00:29:10
Speaker
heres like What? And he, I'm like, tell him you have a bunch of white people from the United States and we want to spend money here to ride roller coasters. I don't know if he ended up saying that, but um he basically like came back defeated, like,
00:29:26
Speaker
No, we can't get in. Sorry. And we just all kind of like sit there in silence because it had been over seven hours at this point, our driving. This added three and a half hours to our time. Gosh.
00:29:37
Speaker
Yeah, it was crazy. So we all just kind of sat there. And then eventually we're like, we got to do something else. And then Hutch is like, I'm going to start messaging this, this now guy that I was talking to.
00:29:48
Speaker
And see if he can do anything. And, um oh, he did say if they give you a hard time, like, just let me know and I'll see what I can do. So he's like, hey, security won't let us in. I thought the park closed at six. He's like, yeah, it closes at six. Let me make a call.
00:30:03
Speaker
10 minutes later, security comes over. He's like, what's your name? He's like Hutch and Javi. He's like, okay, you guys come through the exit over here. This is 515 at this point. Oh my God.
00:30:16
Speaker
Security gets us through the exit. Not the one security. it was a different security. um Screw the one security guy, honestly, lying about the time that your park closes because don't want to deal with it. But Anyways, gets us through the exit, doesn't charge us for parking.
00:30:32
Speaker
And Javi just like guns it all the way to the entrance. We slam it in park. I'm not even sure we were in a parking spot. We just like pull up right outside the entrance of the park. um We had another manager because the now guy, he wasn't working that day, but he called his other manager. The other manager met us at the front gate.
00:30:52
Speaker
We paid the admission. um They didn't even charge us the ride passes. And he ended up just walking us to all the rides the entire time. Yeah.
00:31:04
Speaker
Such a pretty park. Honestly, I knew nothing about it except for it had that like Intamin multi-inversion like... um like sort of like Colossus. It's not a clone, but it's, it's very similar to the one at Thorpe Park.
00:31:18
Speaker
um Took us to that, took us to the other rides, asked us if there's anything else we want to do in the park. Just incredible customer service. They did not have to do that at all.
00:31:30
Speaker
And the fact that they did that for us was just so amazing. Shout out to Mal and his hospitality to people, to foreigners just trying to visit his country.
00:31:42
Speaker
Cause he wasn't even working that day. He was doing this for us from home, I'm assuming. That's awesome. got all the creds. Yeah. We got all the creds and left that park and got to Pollo Campero for dinner.
00:31:57
Speaker
You guys ever been there? No, it's ah got a. paint Yeah, we have a bunch in the US, but they're from Guatemala. It's sort of just like a chicken fried chicken place, but it was pretty good. I liked it. The name sounds familiar.
00:32:12
Speaker
Yeah, i think they're out west mostly. um Anyways, we after that, we were heading to Antigua. for the night and we were expecting to get there like five or six and then having a chill night. We ended up getting there after 10 PM. That's what I was worried about. Cause I knew that you guys had an early morning hike and i was thinking to myself, Oh, they are so behind schedule. This is terrible.
00:32:35
Speaker
Yeah, it was, it was not great. Um, but yeah, we got there like 10 checked into the hostel. i think Hutch and Nate went to have a beer somewhere. They found some like club,
00:32:48
Speaker
I went straight to sleep because I did a different hike than them. So the next day, of the hike was Acatenango, which is a volcano um about 45 minutes outside of Antigua.
Volcano Hike Challenges
00:33:02
Speaker
And you hike up Acatenango and then you see Fuego from the summit. it's They're right beside each other. And Fuego is an active volcano that is constantly erupt erupting. They say like 15 to 20 minutes, but it's actually more than that.
00:33:17
Speaker
So anyways, my alarm was set for 4.15 a.m. m the next morning for my hike because I was doing the day hike. Right. And then the others they were going later, and then they were doing the overnight hike where they camp at base camp, and then they do the summit the next day.
00:33:34
Speaker
Got to the expedition place. You have a little, like, meeting type thing, and then it's about an hour um to the little town where you start the hike. This was...
00:33:46
Speaker
the hardest hike I've ever done in my life, for sure. And I'm not like an expert hiker, but I feel like I'm pretty pretty experienced with hiking. This was rough.
00:33:57
Speaker
So there was only eight of us, and we were going all the way up and down in one day. And the first part, it kind of starts you in like farmland. And then you get into like the pine forest. They really tell you about that because they want you to know it's like four different climates, basically, that you're going through, four different ecosystems, I guess.
00:34:18
Speaker
um So you have the farmland, the pine forest. I don't remember what the third and fourth one are called, but sort of like above the tree line and then the summit.
00:34:30
Speaker
The hardest part of this hike for me was the elevation. Once you get above the tree line, I just could not even catch my breath. I would walk like 25 feet and then I would have to stop for 20 seconds to even catch my breath because the oxygen level is so little. The summit's over 13,000 feet, which I've never been that high before in my life.
00:34:54
Speaker
And we got kind of got to like, right before the summit area and the guide talked to these two other guys. He was like, I don't really think you guys should go up to the summit. Cause they were struggling a little bit.
00:35:09
Speaker
um Just getting up and the summit is apparently the steepest and hardest part, but they were like, no, we're going to do it. So all eight of us made it up to the summit, ah any part above the tree line. And especially the summit is just like,
00:35:25
Speaker
walking through sand but at like a 45 degree angle it is absolutely insane your shoes are just filled with black dirt black like volcanic dirt you take one step and then you slide back down half of that step so you're basically taking double the amount of steps it was just absolutely crazy but finally made it up to the top to the summit Absolutely incredible view of Fuego. I'm sure you guys saw pictures. They look insane.
00:36:00
Speaker
Yeah. It was erupting every like five minutes, I would say, or maybe even less. So we sat up there for 30 minutes, ate our lunch. Coming back down, I thought was going to be a lot easier.
00:36:14
Speaker
it was actually not because you're slipping and sliding the entire time. I actually sort of like surfed down an entire section of it. and It was just so steep and slippery.
00:36:27
Speaker
People were falling, usually on their butt. There were like a couple head first falls, people just losing their balance. Everybody was, yeah, it was absolutely crazy, but hardest part hardest hike of my life, no doubt.
00:36:42
Speaker
um yeah that's wild for hobby too I see his Instagram posts were cracking me up he was hilarious yes I was dying he was like oh my god it was awful that's the second time hobby has done that hike Oh, I didn't know he's done it before. yeah He's done it before.
00:37:02
Speaker
wow Because he was telling me about it and he was telling me about the sand too and how terrible the sand was because, you know, your your feet are all messed up and you're not moving as much as you would like. And yeah. Yeah. I was dead watching him. He never does like camera facing stuff on his Instagram and he's just like,
00:37:19
Speaker
F my life. he's all going through it I love it. Literally steam coming off his body. Cause it gets colder. You get, and he's just sitting there steaming. it's like, Oh my gosh.
00:37:34
Speaker
Yeah. It was, a and the weather was perfect, I think, for both of us. Just completely clear. They say at the summit you need a jacket and, you know, layers and stuff. I brought them but never put them on. I wore shorts in and a t-shirt the entire time, and it was just perfect temperature.
00:37:52
Speaker
um but yeah, their hike, so they go up to base camp, and then they sleep at base camp overnight, but base camp still has a ah view of Fuego. And then the next morning, I think they leave at, like,
00:38:05
Speaker
430. And then that's when they do the summit and then they come all the way down. Yeah. I think their starting point is further away too, if I remember correctly, than where you did maybe. It is. Yeah. Yeah.
00:38:17
Speaker
From what I could tell. So ours, we actually went up a private way. it said private entrance do not enter something. so I don't, I'm not exactly sure what the differences are, but I know we didn't go the main public way.
00:38:33
Speaker
Yeah. From what another guy was saying in the group who had done the other way before, he said we were about a mile up the trail, basically, from where they start. Got it. Yeah. So maybe one mile less.
00:38:45
Speaker
Or yeah I guess two miles less if you're going if you're counting the round trip. Yeah, it definitely looks like the highlight of the the overnight hike is being able to see Fuego at night because the lava just running down the sides of the volcano and some of those pictures is super cool.
00:39:01
Speaker
It is. Yeah, that's definitely the main highlight. I am a little upset that I missed that, but um I would have rather done the day hike than not do anything at all. Yeah, and it's just because my flight was early the next day because I had to get all the way from Antigua to the airport, which is about an hour and a half drive.
00:39:19
Speaker
um So if I did that, I don't know if I would have made my flight in time. So yeah, that's the hike. Came down absolutely exhausted. Got back to Antigua.
00:39:30
Speaker
Dude's driving like a maniac. Like I'm trying not to throw up in the very back of the van. That was kind of a common theme of multiple multiple travel times there.
00:39:44
Speaker
I pretty much just got food and chilled in the hostel that night. I think I fell asleep like... 8.30 or 9.00, I was exhausted. And ah three days later, i can barely walk down the steps. So I can imagine. Yeah, that's yeah. I don't think I would have fared very well on that hike. Like I probably i could have done it, but it would have been a lot.
00:40:08
Speaker
Yeah, it was it's the altitude that gets you just the lack of oxygen. I've never experienced that before. And that was really getting to me because I think I'm I'm not in incredible shape, but I think I'm in decent shape.
00:40:23
Speaker
So it wasn't necessarily just the hike. It was not being able to breathe. Right, right. Yeah, that's definitely a. hard aspect of that with the altitude.
00:40:34
Speaker
I've done it a hike like that in Denver before and it was similar. Like once you start getting up there, you're like, oh yeah, it's getting harder to breathe. Yep, exactly. And then ah next day just kind of explored Antigua, which is just a beautiful historic city.
00:40:51
Speaker
Only had maybe two hours, just kind of walked around and looked at the architecture, excuse me, and got breakfast and stuff. So, and then took my shuttle to the airport.
00:41:02
Speaker
Nice. So that was my trip. So I guess
Reflections on Guatemala
00:41:05
Speaker
the question is, would you go back? To Guatemala? Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. i would 100% go back.
00:41:13
Speaker
But if Javi wasn't there, you'd have to hire up a driver. I think I would just take shuttles everywhere because there are so many tour companies that do shuttles from the airport or Antigua to the lake or vice versa. There's lots of different...
00:41:28
Speaker
Right, right. People to hire. But yeah, Javi, again, was absolutely incredible and so necessary on this. Yeah, i saw some of the posts of the roads and I was like, there's no way I could drive in that. no way.
00:41:42
Speaker
Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention this. On the way to the park, I didn't see it, but Nate and Erica said they saw a dead body on the side of the road. yeah There was just like one officer there, and then they saw him like covered in a white sheet, but his legs were like sticking out.
00:42:01
Speaker
I thought they were joking, but they were like, no, that seriously just happened. That was in the middle of the traffic. so Yike. I have no idea what happened there. but yeah A lot of people talk about how unsafe Guatemala is.
00:42:17
Speaker
The only unsafe part was when people that were not Javi were driving me around. but I felt safe every other time. um They do say don't stay in Guatemala City.
00:42:32
Speaker
Sort of just land and then get on your shuttle to wherever else you're going. Because Guatemala City is not really a place to hang out. I don't know how true that is. I didn't spend hardly any time there, but...
00:42:45
Speaker
That is sort of the general advice that people give to travelers. A lot of the the businesses driving through, they did have security guards with shotguns just at random places. Like gas stations would have two security guards just b with shotguns slung it over their shoulders, which is kind of crazy. But we didn't see anything crazy going on except for the dead body, I guess.
00:43:08
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Cool. All right. Sorry, that was only in the 10 minutes.
New Year's Resolutions
00:43:20
Speaker
Moving on, um a touch of the seasonal aspect of the podcast. Has anybody made a New Year's resolution or goal for this year? Kelly?
00:43:32
Speaker
um i don't really love like resolutions because I feel like that makes it like... I don't know. I feel like I want to be healthy all the time. Like January 1st is just like not the time to decide like it's a new year. I'm going to do this. Like I feel like I can never commit to something like that. Like a couple years ago, I tried to like journal more or like I'm going to do this more. And like that just never sticks for me. I just like don't like the feeling of then like letting myself down if I don't accomplish it. But I do have a goal for this year running related.
00:44:09
Speaker
I'm attempting to run a half marathon every month. The most challenging part so far is making it fit into my schedule. So we'll see if I complete it. But I did my first one January 1st and my next one is February 15th. So we will see. And you already have one scheduled for April.
00:44:30
Speaker
I have March scheduled as well in and April and i just got my May schedule from work. So I'm trying to figure out where to put that. The summer is going to be more challenging for sure because I have a lot of other things going on. So it'll be a little Tetris-y, but yeah, I'll figure it out already. So that's good.
00:44:48
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I'm good for a couple months. Yeah. I don't really have any, like I don't really do like, Do that. I mean, all I can say is like, I want to try to eat healthier. That's always my goal every year. I'm like, I need to eat healthier. i eat like shit all the time.
00:45:02
Speaker
um But yeah, I guess just try to watch what I eat a little bit more. But besides that, I don't really do the whole resolutions and goals thing. But I guess if anything, there's that.
00:45:13
Speaker
I'm pretty much the same. I don't have a revolution resolution, not resolution. um Again, just trying to be a little bit more healthy, just trying to eat a little healthier, try to work out a little bit more. I am running my first half marathon in April at Dollywood for our Buzzbars event, running Dolly's Hills.
00:45:32
Speaker
Look out for that. Sign up coming, I don't know, in the not so distant future. So training for that, just trying to be healthier. We'll see. I might give up after that and be unhealthy again for the rest of the year.
00:45:45
Speaker
But you did it for a few months. Yeah. Did it for four months. Yeah. There you go. Yeah. I mean, mine is the same more or less. I'm on a weight loss journey. It's great fun. This happens every year though. Like after the holidays, I'm always like, Oh God, I just ate too much crap. So now I have to eat clean again. um i just trying to eat more protein and whole vegetables and stuff.
00:46:13
Speaker
um And it's not, it's not bad. I like my little spaghetti squash meals.
00:46:21
Speaker
I'll just mix some things up with it. So yeah, it's a new year. All right. All right. We've got some chills this week.
00:46:32
Speaker
um First of all, we're going to put this out there on social media, but we'd like to see everybody's spec map predictions. So we have the single map has been released so far from Horror Night Nightmares.
00:46:45
Speaker
um And I believe Kelly has put together a nice little graphic that we can share for you guys to be able to put your predictions out there. um We don't have even images for all of the houses yet, but um I think the ones that we do, there's definitely some predictions worth making so far.
00:47:03
Speaker
um Yeah. And I looked back, ah we did the, we did our, for our predictions last year, like right at the beginning of February. So around the same time before we got anything really confirmed. So I think it'll be fun to see if any of you listeners um have any predictions that, that we don't have. So we'll, we'll share yours as well. And we'll discuss ours maybe a little bit next episode.
00:47:28
Speaker
Yeah. So send it it in and we'll ah we'll talk about it next episode with you guys. That said, we also have some more chills. um ah One of the potential ah rumored houses based on the symbol that we got is Sinners, um which is a horror film that was released in 2025.
00:47:50
Speaker
twenty twenty five And recently acquired, I think it was, ah yeah, it was historical, the most Oscar nominations 16 of any film in history, um which that's pretty impressive. Wow. I love that.
00:48:05
Speaker
Yeah. I love that it's a horror movie too that set that record. i love it. This is true because horror, like, it doesn't usually do well. Doesn't do well there. Yeah. So I'll be really curious to see, you know, if the actual awards, if it gets anything or if it just gets a whole bunch of noms and doesn't get any actual awards. I think it could. I think so. But yeah, horror has traditionally just not won awards. um So but it's it's cool to see a whole bunch of them for this film.
00:48:32
Speaker
um So let's see some just basic stuff written, directed, produced by ryan Coogler, um whose other films. Oh, gosh. ah Black Panther was one. Right. What else? Yeah. I'm trying to think of his other films. Yeah.
00:48:47
Speaker
But he's ah and he's a well-known director at this point. um Basic plot summary without spoils. ah This film is set in the Mississippi Delta area in 1932. And we have Michael B. Jordan as the main character who is actually playing twin brothers.
00:49:06
Speaker
um So he plays both characters. um They are in the frame at the same time together. So filming that must have been very interesting. um And they come back from Chicago to the south. And they had clearly been participating illegal things up north. And they come back and they purchase a sawmill from a local landowner.
00:49:31
Speaker
And they transform it into a juke, um which is basically ah a venue for music and a bar and a kind of social venue. um And they're later confronted by a supernatural evil. Ooh, yeah. So that's the spoiler free version. um There's a good amount of characters in this film um outside of Michael B. Jordan. um I guess the other main character is Sammy, who's the son of a preacher.
00:49:59
Speaker
um and then there's various characters outside of that. um I guess before we really dive too far into it it, just kind of what your general impression was, maybe, because we've all watched it.
00:50:11
Speaker
Yes. I've watched this movie like four or five times already. Wow. I i love it. Well, first, like, obviously, this a spooky podcast, but I'm a huge film guy and I love horror movies. So it's it's exciting to hear that, like, it got all of these nods, you know, with the Oscars and all these other award shows. um But no, i love it. I think that the movie starts off with one tone and you don't really know where it's going. And then when it you when it takes off, it's a completely different movie. And it's just, it's just so cool.
00:50:46
Speaker
I really enjoyed it. I have been trying to watch more movies in general. I always like watching movies and like talking about them after I just like don't have a lot of time to do it. So I feel and I get tired at night. So it's like rare that I'll sit and watch a whole movie. But I love this movie. I think it was a couple of months ago that I watched it the first time I don't even remember. um And I didn't know anything about it other than that, like who was in it and what the general gist of it was like basically the non-spoiler plot line that Joey just read is kind of what I knew. um and I ended up like really liking it was probably my favorite movie that I've seen this this past year, like maybe probably more than Wicked, which is saying a lot.
00:51:31
Speaker
oh yeah I knew nothing about it before watching except that people thought it was good, um which was probably good for me going into it, that there were no spoilers at all.
00:51:42
Speaker
But it kind of starts off sort of as a just a period movie, and it was great just as that until about half an hour in when it turns to the horror. And I didn't even know it was a horror movie, I don't think. like I didn't know what to expect. So that part kind of blew me away because I was not expecting that at all.
00:52:00
Speaker
um I also don't know actors in it or anything. i didn't even know who Michael B. Jordan was. Like, I did not know that he played both characters, and I think, until the movie finished. So I think that speaks to his acting ability. Like, that was crazy that he played both yeah with characters so well.
00:52:19
Speaker
Yeah, um I watched it last night. ah One of my problems with a lot of horror films is, I guess, sort of lack of interesting plot. It feels
Film Analysis: 'Sinners' - Themes and Performances
00:52:31
Speaker
like the same plot lines just repeat over and over again. So I really appreciate films like this where you have...
00:52:38
Speaker
more thematic elements to it, more um ah kind of thematic, like symbolism, i guess. And also a very defined setting. I, you know, a lot of horror films just kind of get generically set in the present of whatever time it is. And so the fact that this being set in the 1930s gave it such a, um,
00:53:02
Speaker
specific point of view um and definitely kind of builds interest just at the beginning because I love ah seeing production design and kind of the way that, you know, they create a world when it's not the current time period. And so that was really interesting to watch and see all the old cars and the the costumes and the set design and everything. That's always just fun to see.
00:53:26
Speaker
um I ended up really enjoying it. um I don't know if it's like one of my favorites of all time, but I can acknowledge that like yeah that was really well done. It's it's a top-tier horror film for sure.
00:53:38
Speaker
And I can understand why it got as as many nominations as it did. yeah i feel like i feel like a lot of horror movies get a bad rep because they all focus on just the jump scares. And it's just everything else is so cheap.
00:53:51
Speaker
was just going to say Yeah, so many stories are just... so pointless or they're just not interesting at all. But, you know, just because they have to scare. Like you're in a house and something jumps out. Like typically it's like the same formula, but this is just so unique. Yeah. You said that too, Joey, but I think it makes me realize that I prefer psychological horror when it comes to movies.
00:54:15
Speaker
Yeah. Rather than like jump scares. Oh yeah, definitely. Cool. There's there's always going to be a deeper plot for me. I really enjoy it. Like one movie that comes to mind that sort of reminds me just the deeper plot part is Hereditary. Love that movie.
00:54:31
Speaker
Yeah, that's a really... Gotta have some sort of deeper symbolism to it for me to really think that it's top tier. Yeah, yeah. I think some of the Jordan Peele films have done that as well, which is why I like that. Oh, love those, yeah. Right. This feels like it's similar in some ways, but Kugler has a different directing style, so you definitely notice that.
00:54:49
Speaker
um But it has the same depth to it, I guess, is the way to put it. Yeah. Yeah. And like I feel like what I really like about this movie is that um and I feel like this might hurt it, at least when it comes to like the main Oscar categories, when it comes to like leading actor and supporting actress, because I know that um Michael B. Jordan was nominated and then Wumi Masaku.
00:55:11
Speaker
Yeah, Masaku, the one who plays Annie. They both got nominated, one for main role, the other one for supporting role. But what I love about this movie, which, like I said, I think it may hurt it in those nominations, is that I love that every character feels significant to the story. Like, I feel like there's nobody is like, it doesn't feel like anybody is like, I mean, yeah, sure, you have the obvious, like, side characters. Like, you have your main, main characters. But feel like everybody plays a significant role in the story.
00:55:40
Speaker
And, like, everybody's interesting. Like, I never thought, like, any character was pointless in the story at all. yeah But, you know, I feel like that's where it hurts them is that I feel like when you have Michael B. Jordan against, you know, all these other actors as well, considering that the movie was very heavy on, you know, showcasing all of these personalities,
00:56:01
Speaker
it may have taken a little bit of time away from Michael B. Jordan or from, you know, when me Masako, I feel like ah that might be the only thing, but i think that's what I loved about the movie, just that we get to really get to know everybody that's in this movie.
00:56:15
Speaker
So it just made it like more interesting. It's definitely very much an ensemble cast. um And unfortunately they don't have an award for that. They really should. They should. There's a lot of examples out there where, you know, it wasn't one person that made it work. It was everybody.
00:56:27
Speaker
um And that would be cool to have. So while we're speaking about that, um I guess, let's delve into the acting a little bit. Are there any particular performances or um interactions between characters or characters themselves that you thought were really developed or well performed?
00:56:43
Speaker
I just can't imagine. I'm sure there's like various ways of playing a twin, like a single actor playing a twin. The only other thing that I could think of is a parent trap, Lindsay Lohan at like age 10 or whatever. um I'm sure, you know, they have different techniques, but it would be so interesting to see how they did that. Like some of the behind the scenes, I'm sure it exists out there. i haven't really looked for it, but um I feel like that's just impressive.
00:57:09
Speaker
on its own, you know, that makes his, his job exponentially harder and he pulled it off. Well, like, I think if you didn't know that he was one single person, you might not know.
00:57:21
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. Like Tyler said. Yeah. I mean, they did a good job writing the characters as well to make them distinct. Yeah. That's what I was going to I feel like there were many times where didn't even think about them being played by the same person.
00:57:33
Speaker
Yeah. They had definitely different personalities. Yeah. yeah Yeah, definitely. And I think I agree that um that Annie's character was really well acted. It kind of took me some time to like warm up to her, but i because our introduction introductory scene, I was just confused. I was like, who is this? And like, what is going on? And then then I like got it. And I think her part in the rest of the movie was really well acted. I also thought Remick.
00:58:01
Speaker
Yes, was really well acted. i was like, he is giving some real creepy vibes like. The whole song outside was. Yes, that was so good. Incredible scene.
00:58:14
Speaker
spoiler alert it's happening now there are vampires right and remick is the lead vampire he's the lead vampire i think my favorite scene in the whole movie and it was so well acted was when he was like dunking sammy into the water and they were like both saying the lord's prayer but like obviously interpreting it differently i was like this is so good yeah that scene is so good Yeah. um I think Delta Slim was also a character that stood out to me. That was Delroy Lindo. um He just felt so lived in and real. Like you can't even imagine that like he was acting it. It was just, yeah.
00:58:53
Speaker
Yeah. Sidebar about Delroy um Lindo. So he was also nominated for an award as well um for supporting actor. And i don't know if you guys I mean, you guys, I don't think you guys are on TikTok as much as I am, which is pretty sad of me, but, but there was a video of this influencer interviewing him.
00:59:14
Speaker
And he was like, how does it feel to be like an emerging artist, like in these times or something like that? And he was like, he answered the question. And he's like, also, I'm not emerging. He's like I've been here for quite some time. It was just so uncomfortable to watch. i was like, why did do you even post this on your own profile? Like, that is so bad that you're gonna tell this like, look at you, like doing your thing at this age. Like, what? Like, yeah what are you talking about?
00:59:40
Speaker
he's been yeah He's been acting for a long time. I'm looking at his IMDb right now. Yeah, and he's 73. That's kind of wild, too. like he was this is a pre That is wild.
00:59:52
Speaker
And he was great. He was great in the in the movie. Also, the guy who played Sammy, don't know if I have his name written on here. Yes, Miles Keaton. Yeah, Miles Keaton. That was his first ever acting role ever. And he was cast because of his singing ability, like his musical ability. And he like taught himself to like play the instruments used in the movie. Like he didn't even, he just like learned that.
01:00:18
Speaker
They like cast him off of his, yeah, it's it's wild to me. He he was really, that's impressive if you if you know that. Yeah. He kind of had that vibe to him. it was that like And that was what the character was supposed to be, too. So kind of a little more naive. and yeah But his his voice is really interesting. like for I don't actually know how old he is in real life, but he's pretty young in the young film. yeah yeah um And his voice is very like deep and it feels smoky. And um I thought that was really interesting and such a specific choice.
01:00:50
Speaker
h Which does like tie into kind of what happens in the film, too. Yes. Yeah. We didn't talk at all about Haley Steinfeld. Some of her lines were wild. i also just like don't really like her So i I liked her. i I liked her. I just feel like I feel like this character could have been played by anybody.
01:01:14
Speaker
I agree. Like, yeah, and that's how I feel. But she didn't do a bad job. I think she did great. But I think that she is. Although her character is interesting, I don't think she really did much with the character. that like I don't think it's something that like somebody else couldn't have done. You can imagine other people doing it. 100%. are plenty of other actors or actresses that I think could have taken that role. But I mean, she she did great, though. I mean, it made, like I said, I mean, there wasn't a bad character, in my opinion, in the story. Like, they did really good. You know, the cast, the ensemble.
01:01:43
Speaker
incredible like i you know i can't complain about that but she's just i just feel like it's a character that wasn't meant to have all that much to her character i guess like i guess her story isn't as interesting as the rest so yeah but she she did well i think she she performed pretty well cool yeah Well, um we can also talk about, think I'm going to put these together because they kind of they kind of go hand in hand, the directing and the cinematography.
01:02:14
Speaker
There were definitely some um interesting scenes in here and the way that they were filmed. um Something I noticed just while watching it is that the aspect ratio changed during certain parts of the film. yeah um I Googled that just to see what was going on, and it's because certain scenes were filmed in IMAX and others were filmed in IMAX. This kind of traditional film format. But it was interesting to see where they chose.
01:02:37
Speaker
Can you ah can you explain what aspect ratio is for our viewers? I definitely know what it is. But for the people that don't. explain Aspect ratio is like the the height of the screen, like the width and height of the screen of the Yeah. So like for a lot of the film um on ah on a typical screen, there would be like black bars on the top and the bottom.
01:03:00
Speaker
And then when IMAX scenes hit, it filled the entire screen. So it has a different sigh i size and shape to it. Yeah. And that was interesting. This would have great to see in IMAX. I wish I saw it in IMAX. Totally cool.
01:03:15
Speaker
Yeah. ah Clearly it was a very purposeful decision. And like you you so you see the scenes that they use it in. um And it makes sense, you know, um because all of the sort of grander scenes that had a lot of tracking motion with the camera and a lot of action were were filmed with that um but that larger sense of scale aspect ratio, which was really interesting.
01:03:38
Speaker
Couldn't have said it better myself. yeah Yeah, I wish I saw it in IMAX. I know that they they were playing it, I think, during ah the Vegas wobble. So that's why i couldn't go. But I was like, no, it was like, why are you guys playing it only on that weekend? Like, I wanted to catch it for, you know, one of their showings. But I'm sure with the award season, they're going to bring them back. And especially, you know, all the movies that were filmed for IMAX, I'm sure they're all gonna be in IMAX for a limited time again.
01:04:08
Speaker
I would definitely go see it in IMAX, especially if we're need to we're going to see it at HHN for sure. i need to rewatch Yeah, that would be cool. Nice. um And then we haven't even necessarily addressed this yet, but the sound in the form of music is very present um in this film.
Music and Cultural Themes in 'Sinners'
01:04:27
Speaker
I wouldn't necessarily call it a musical, but it is full of music. Yeah.
01:04:33
Speaker
There are multiple moments where you see the main character, Sammy, singing, and then moments at the Duke where um Delta Slim is is singing. And then um I forgot the side character's name.
01:04:45
Speaker
um What was her name? But she she was singing as well. It starts with a P. Who plays Pearl. Oh, yeah, that's it. Or Perlene.
01:04:56
Speaker
Perlene, there we go. Perlene, there we go, yeah. Some singing in there as well. And then once the vampires arrive, there is their own music and they have a completely different... love that music. Set of music.
01:05:08
Speaker
And then i have the soundtrack, like the score of the the film itself. um And all of those things kind of tie together. um I thought it was really well done and and interesting the the way that they did that.
01:05:20
Speaker
Was there any specific Sonic moment that like stood out to you? and There was that scene. ah well yeah, that there was the Remick scene um you know when they're all dancing outside.
01:05:32
Speaker
That was a great scene. There was also that scene inside of the juke. what wasn't he find What was like I need to rewatch. I was planning to do it last night and like, you know and i've but I got tired. i't think about it and all it definitely means I couldn't tell you the exact song, but Sammy starts out singing it and it kind of turns into this kind of fantasy element. Again, this, the screen goes into the IMAX and you see the historic context of all of these characters, like,
01:06:02
Speaker
dancing with the people at the juke. You see like even the Asian characters, you see a representation of their culture and history. oh yeah, yeah, yeah. You see like modern black culture represented as well, which is really interesting. And and the music starts to overlap and you hear elements of like rap um going all the way back to like the the blues and the songs of the time. So it all interlaces. It was really interesting.
01:06:26
Speaker
I need to rewatch. I don't remember the music. Super well. I think it's been like almost a year since I've seen it. Was it that long ago? No. Maybe not quite that long, but maybe like last spring.
01:06:39
Speaker
Yeah, maybe. Yeah, they they did the the blues aspects and the jazz aspects really well. um It felt like kind of the soul of the film, um which was pretty cool.
01:06:52
Speaker
um So speaking about that, it kind of relates to the screenplay and the the themes that the movie um discusses. It's not...
01:07:04
Speaker
um super overt in the way that the characters speak it out loud, but it's pretty clear that, um, there's some symbolism going on, um, in terms of kind of, you know, you have this outside force, which is the vampires, and then you have the black community, which has come together at this juke, um, to build community.
01:07:25
Speaker
um And, you know, ah there's some different takes out there about kind of what exactly is going on in terms of, you know, cultural appropriately appropriation or assimilation and um how kind of the music is representing that aspect as well. I've read some pretty interesting things. I'm curious to hear what you guys thought about that part.
01:07:49
Speaker
With that song, like that scene you're talking about? The whole film, really. Oh, the whole film. Yeah. I mean, I feel like, I mean, specifically with that one scene, I feel like they did a lot of, you know, like you said, the whole representation thing.
01:08:02
Speaker
Um, I don't know. They just, don't know how to put it into words. Like I said, I think have to rewatch it, but it's just like, I think that they did a very good job. Like, like I said, with the characters again, like they did a good job of the representation throughout the film for all of them.
01:08:18
Speaker
Um, I think one of my favorite themes was just the assimilation part. um And I think vampires were perfect monsters to represent that. Sorry, this is spoilery again, but I guess we're past that. but Yeah. um You know, the vampires have to be invited inside before they can attack inside the juke.
01:08:38
Speaker
um They have to, you know, like at the the end, the the very end, when Sammy's old, it kind of shows that it's okay to not assimilate.
01:08:52
Speaker
And they were still even trying to get him at his old age of 90 or however old he was still getting him to become a vampire. And he said no, and was just able to resist that assimilation. But vampires were really just very good symbolic choice, I think for that.
01:09:09
Speaker
And there's much deeper, um i think like racial and societal things there as well. Yeah, I think I like how it's how the script is written to symbolize all of these different groups.
01:09:26
Speaker
um But it's never I think there's a lot left up for interpretation to like, I think they're trying to to represent obviously multiple groups of minorities. So like you have all of the black community, but you also have like the religious community. You have the Irish community, which kind of went through their own, you know, oppression historically. And they are represent there. that The vampires are, well, Remick is Irish. So he represents kind of that group of people.
01:10:00
Speaker
And I think, it's interesting because each group of people you're kind of presented with, you know, both sides of the coin, like the, the religious group is, is kind of portrayed in a negative light from Sammy's perspective or point of view, because they're kind of, you know, telling him or his dad, the pastor is kind of telling him like, you, you can't be a musician. Like music doesn't fit in with kind of our, our culture or and our beliefs. Um, But then religion is kind of also this sense of community, which is what everybody the whole movie is kind of longing for. And what the the vampires are promising is like this new sense of community. So every group kind of has its like poles in either direction, which I think is just like really well written.
01:10:48
Speaker
Especially when ah they're using the the same like religious text in two completely different ways. Yes. The in the... The good guys, so to say. So yeah, that's, I love that part.
01:11:03
Speaker
Right. I thought it was kind of funny how like, i mean, I feel like if i were, if any of us were in that situation, if we heard Annie start telling us like they're vampires and like, she just like immediately knew what to do. I'd be like, I wouldn't know what to do in that situation. I'd be like, what are you talking about? Yeah. True.
01:11:18
Speaker
True. Yeah. That was definitely convenient that that character was around. Yeah. um But there's definitely like a history behind that. um They didn't just make it up. um Like the, the and even the phrasing that they were using, like hoodoo and when she first called them haints, which is like an old Southern term for ghosts before she figured out they were vampires. So like that is all actually rooted in history, which was also cool to see that they, you know, tied it in well.
01:11:48
Speaker
um But yeah, there's definitely some interesting things to think about. Like Kelly mentioned, you know, they they clearly picked an Irish vampire for a reason, like a group that historically has been oppressed. And then, you know, it now is oppressing the Black community.
01:12:03
Speaker
But then you also look at it from like this cultural appropriation slash assimilation aspect and you see, you know, the... the white vampires approach and they like play some music to try to get invited in and what they play compared to like the actual blues that's going on inside the juke is like very yeah sanitized version you know it's like not even close um and i think that is kind of representing some of the assimilation aspect of it where like in some ways, Black culture would have adapted to be more accepted to like a larger white audience, um which is interesting.
01:12:41
Speaker
And then you see the contrast between like the various members of the community in the juke singing and playing music, and it's it's very communal and different people are getting to do it. And then you go outside to the vampires and it's like,
01:12:56
Speaker
this lead vampire Remick is leading this entire crew in an Irish jig. And he's like the only Irish one there. um So you see like how that's,
01:13:06
Speaker
kind of representative of that oppression and being like, this is how we're doing things out here. You know, it's, it's forced. It's not a community, a real one, even though that's what they were trying to say it was. And I think that has something to say about like the assimilation aspect too.
01:13:21
Speaker
i was also wondering, like, it probably was a purposeful choice that like, um, Haley Steinfeld's character who like, how does, ah was it her like father was half black or something of that nature? Yeah. um So she had a tie to the black community, but was white presenting. um And she was one of the first people in the juke who the vampires attack. And then,
01:13:45
Speaker
gets invited back in and bam, like next thing you know, she starts attacking people. And so she was kind of the source of all of that happening in the first place, which seems like an intentional choice to say like, hey, you know, like maybe it's easiest for certain people to assimilate first and then you see how things go from there.
01:14:03
Speaker
What did you guys think of the like extra scene, the scene at the end where Sammy's like super old and We see, you know, modern day. um What's her name?
01:14:18
Speaker
um Mary. Mary. Yeah. Mary and Stack kind of in their youth promised by them being, you know, vampires. I initially was like, I don't need that scene. Like I would have liked it to end the way it did, like with some ambiguity and questions. And that, yeah that was kind of unnecessary, but i I also like appreciate it thinking back now, like, you know, it showed it showed that they kept their promise of, you know, sparing Sammy and he got to live out his life the way he wanted to. And it was nice, like tying it together. At first, I didn't think it was needed,
Character Analysis and Vampire Lore
01:14:59
Speaker
though. I was kind of like, eh.
01:15:01
Speaker
I wonder if that's why they kind of made it a, it wasn't entirely in the middle. Yeah. Like we acknowledge that this doesn't necessarily need to be here, but it's kind of like a nice little, little ending for, for that character.
01:15:15
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I feel like after watching it a few times, I was like thinking like, you know what, like maybe that was a necessary scene to add on there. Cause I mean, yeah, the mystery of it all would have been fun, but it also would have been kind of like,
01:15:29
Speaker
Like, I feel like everybody would have been wondering, like, where the hell did they go? Like, they did they they did show them run off. So, and they're the only two that you see escape. um So, it was nice to get that closure, I guess, like, later on. But I feel like they could have left it a mystery, but it was a nice, it wasn't a bad addition to, you know, the end of the movie.
01:15:48
Speaker
I liked it a lot. I liked that it showed that Stack still had that little bit of humanity left in him, despite him being the monster. um you know He could have just walked in and been like, I've been looking for you for 70 years, Sammy, and just killed him. But you know he still had that that sliver of humanity left in him, and it you know sort of ended on a happy ending, which I appreciate.
01:16:14
Speaker
Yeah, I saw something about, because I mentioned the film, like, even if you kill the lead vampire, the others can still live. So it's like he got out of, from under the control of the Irish one and was able to have his own free will. Because before that, they were all attacking everyone. And you're like, how how did this change? Like, what has changed that he's able to kind of have his own, you know, thinking and not go and attack Sammy when before that's what they were doing?
01:16:39
Speaker
Yeah, that whole part kind of reminds me of Stranger Things and the Hive Mind, which actually, let's talk about Conformity Gate. No, I'm just kidding. Oh, no. I'm just kidding. Oh, my gosh.
01:16:55
Speaker
So, all that said... I'm curious what we thought about it from like a a spooky aspect because it's it's a horror film. It's a version of a horror film. um And, you know, vampires being the kind of lead ah part of that.
01:17:11
Speaker
um They kind of hint at it in the first scene, actually, of the whole film because you see these flashbacks. to Sammy's experiences the night before. And I did happen to catch Fangs at the beginning of the film. So I was like, okay, I think I kind of know where this is headed. But those were actually some of the only... Yeah, I need to rewatch. Somebody in my first screening, first time I went to go watch it, they...
01:17:36
Speaker
like The moment that the flashbacks started showing, like they just got up and left. I thought they thought it was going to be like a totally different movie, and that's why they left. Oh, no. They were like, nope. they like We
Horror and Thriller Elements
01:17:45
Speaker
don't do horror movies. they're like, we're out. What's the run time on this? Because I'm about to watch it when we're done.
01:17:50
Speaker
ah i think it's a little over two hours, like maybe two times. think so. Okay. But yeah, yeah. The first scene of the film actually does like do a bunch of flashbacks and there's some of the only jump scares in the film. yeah Once the vampires themselves show up, you you might be kind of expecting it, but there aren't ah a lot of jump scares there. It's kind of the the first couple scenes with those flashbacks are very abrupt because he's just like walking and then all of a sudden it's bam flashback and it's loud. um And then there was one later with a snake.
01:18:18
Speaker
That one kind of got me. Yeah. It was a snake in the back of the the truck that he picks up. Like suddenly there and you're like, oh, um but I don't remember too many during the like the vampires attack part that was played pretty straight, which I think kind of worked. um It was pretty gory. Definitely gory. Yeah.
01:18:37
Speaker
I think I just like I just it was so unique, like unlike any other horror film or like, quote unquote, horror film that I've ever seen. i don't think it was necessarily like the scariest thing in the world, but the ideas are scary.
01:18:53
Speaker
Right, right. Like the visuals themselves weren't super scary unless you don't like love gore. But yeah, i agree with that. I would almost categorize it closer to a thriller than a true horror movie. It definitely has elements of both, but I think I would lean closer to thriller.
01:19:12
Speaker
Like you said, unless you really just hate Gore, then I guess it's probably super scary to you. Yeah. That doesn't bother me. Yeah. Yeah.
Haunted House Adaptation Ideas
01:19:21
Speaker
So again, all that said, um this is rumored to be an HHN house. So how do we see this film fitting into a house? How could it be adapted? What elements should be present? um That kind of thing.
01:19:37
Speaker
And I know like part of the reason I can see Kelly being hyped for this house is because it has a Darkest Steel vibe. It really does. It fully does. And i that's what I was going to say. They've done similar vibes before. So it's like I think that they could utilize a lot of things that they've probably had, you know, like set piece wise and costume wise even. um Yeah. I hate I think it might be not even a vibe. It's like the darkest deal was a musician from the Mississippi Delta. Like that's almost the same. Yeah.
01:20:14
Speaker
We've seen this before. It feels like, so I'm hoping it's not too repetitive really. Yeah. I think it'll be different enough being an IP. I think obviously the majority of the movie is set at the juke joint and like outside the juke joint. So it makes me wonder like how, you know, when you're going through a house, typically there's various things.
01:20:37
Speaker
kind of rooms and settings like that. I can't really think of a house where the set was the same the entire time, except for like Jason. And I didn't love that.
01:20:48
Speaker
So I hope, I hope that translates well. Yeah, like I was wondering that too. Like I was wondering like how when you walk into this house, if it becomes a house, hopefully it is. um I feel like like because, okay, you have that first scene where um where Remick goes to that first lady and her husband, that random couple that live in that tiny house. The Klansmen. Yeah. Yeah. So there was that scene.
01:21:14
Speaker
yeah so there was that small scene and then after that we just get like scenes of smoke and stack like in the town or whatever and then they you know then it's the juke the rest of the movie really so i don't know like i feel like how would we how would they do that like how would they like i guess have that story progression throughout the house like how would they start it and then how would they lead into the juke like without just starting right off the bat in the juke I would start from the beginning of the film. Like, I would love if they were to represent a lot of the set pieces that we see before we get there. Yeah. like you Oh, they need the church. You walk in and then church. yeah, didn't think about the church. And you have the church at the end, too. Mm-hmm. Yeah. getting and out
01:21:58
Speaker
And then you have um Annie's house with the the baby's grave outside. Oh, yeah, Annie's house is a good... And then you have even just like a scene like out in the fields with the the cars, um the cotton fields, like there' there's a decent number of settings. And the thing is, like in the movie, there's not necessarily scares happening in those scenes. But I could see HHN kind of recontextualizing it to add the scares in because sometimes, especially with these plot driven houses, the scare isn't.
01:22:27
Speaker
like a scar horror thing. It's just a character popping out at you and and delivering. Yeah. Like those busters. Yeah. I was going to say, I would love to see the facade be like an outdoor and really set the geographic tone, you know, through the cotton fields on the the dirt road with cars or whatever. I think that'd be cool. Yeah. That would be super cool.
01:22:48
Speaker
Unfortunately, the rumored location on the spec map, although I think it is a good location. Once you get inside, it's the back tent. Galkin area. Yeah.
01:23:01
Speaker
mean, you never They've done some interesting in those. They need build some stuff out there. It looks like a freaking white cylinder. Like, let's get something more than the sign, the artwork for, you know? I wish it were going in the Hatchet and Chains location.
01:23:16
Speaker
Yeah. mean, the locations could be wrong. Yeah. True. Yeah, sometimes they do move. right It's only Especially having seen the unleashed houses. um Like, the way that they have the setup to those houses is so well done. It's like, I wish had to that, you know?
01:23:31
Speaker
Yeah. Anything else? I mean, there would definitely be music featured. I mean, there's got to be a scene him playing that guitar at some point. And I can imagine there'll be a scene where that guitar ends up in the vampire.
01:23:41
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Because that was kind of a a key moment for sure. Oh, that could actually be a thing like the lake. That would be super cool. Yeah. I was thinking about how they can incorporate that in there.
01:23:53
Speaker
Yeah, but I can imagine that they might throw some glowing-eyed vampires in places that they weren't in the film. Yeah, I'm sure. Lurking. Lurking. You're going to have multiple Marys, multiples.
01:24:06
Speaker
i hope it's not I hope it's not done like Fallout. Oh, God. Yeah, yeah. that That didn't work. Just female character just screaming in every scene. like You don't need 10 Marys. Right. Cool.
Film Rating and Oscar Speculation
01:24:23
Speaker
Cool. All right, well, what are our final ratings for this movie? So we we're just going to split it up into thrills, chills, and spills. um So thrills is just going to be, how much did you like it? subjective rating from one to 10.
01:24:38
Speaker
I would put 10. ten Okay, Rob is 10.
01:24:44
Speaker
I'm going nine. I'm going nine. Okay, so it's like a 9.2. Okay. too Nice. Yeah. good enough Good. All right. So now we've got our chills, which is how spooky was it One to 10.
01:24:58
Speaker
m I would say six for me. Yeah, was gonna like, was gonna say six or seven. oh god yeah I would say like five.
01:25:12
Speaker
i was gonna go like 7.5.
01:25:15
Speaker
Okay, so it's probably around like a 6.5-ish for us then. definitely Yeah, like if I think about it as like 5, less than 5 is like not really a horror movie. It's definitely a horror movie, but it's not super scary is how I like conceptualize that. That definitely makes sense then.
01:25:31
Speaker
Okay, and then the spills, the drama rating, 1 to 10. i mean, it's pretty dramatic. was going to say, that's a good drama there. I think 8. 8, agree. 8 for drama. Yeah, I'll give it 8.
01:25:45
Speaker
Let's go with 8. There we go. That's our review of Sinners. you but We should do another one. Yeah, maybe we'll we'll try to review some other IPs that are rumored for HHN um in the coming weeks. If you have seen Sinners and you have anything that we missed or any specific opinions about it, drop a comment on Spotify or on Apple, just right on the podcast. We don't really get any, but it would be cool if we got some comments over there or feel free to comment um in the Discord channel as well.
01:26:18
Speaker
Cool. So we have a couple. um Oh, we have a question from Carl, which is actually a good one still about sinners. Out of all of the Oscar nods for sinners, which one would you most likely expect to win?
01:26:32
Speaker
That's a great question. I think the cinematography was beautiful. I feel like maybe that's a potential. Unfortunately, I don't see it getting any of the the huge awards.
01:26:45
Speaker
Yeah. um I can see production design potentially. Yeah. Sound maybe. Yeah. Editing probably more likely on the creative side. i mean i'll love to see some actor wins. I'm just not sure how likely that is.
01:27:01
Speaker
Just given the history of the Oscars not really recognizing the the horror performances. I can see best original screenplay. Yeah. I could see that.
01:27:12
Speaker
Yeah cinematography I could see that. i mean could I mean, it could win. It might win Best Picture, but I don't know. I don't know. I feel like that it's against... There's so many.
01:27:24
Speaker
Yeah, there's so many. like I don't know if you guys have seen One Battle After Another with Leonardo DiCaprio. That's such a good movie. And it's against that one. And I actually did like that movie more than Sinners. I don't know. I don't know, though. I mean, I would be happy with either one winning, but it's possible that Sinners can win.
01:27:42
Speaker
And that Timothee Chalamet, he's on a roll. Marty Supreme. Yeah, I have not seen that yet. Marty Supreme really good. It was really good. Not the movie I expected, but it was good.
01:27:54
Speaker
Interesting. Interesting movie, yeah. I'll just have to wait and see. It's in March, right? ah Yes. Or February. i don't remember. you know March 15th ABC.
01:28:08
Speaker
So we will wait and see and have an update then. yeah right And our last minute questions, we've got one from Caleb. I think this is mostly a question for Kelly. Last episode, you said you put the Vegas Horror Unleashed houses into your all time HHN rankings. So where?
Haunted House Rankings and Wrap-up
01:28:29
Speaker
um So I have Scarecrow at number five overall. oh wow. So above it. Above and yeah. Okay. ah Above it is Insidious, Hatchet and Chains, Dead Man's Pier, and The Darkest Deal, then Scarecrow. Okay.
01:28:45
Speaker
And then just below it is Gulkin, The Weeknd, and w WWE. Those are like my top. um And then what did I have? What else did I have? It was quite a drop off after that for me, I think. um Monsters is like halfway down the list, I would say. And then...
01:29:07
Speaker
um Exorcist is only a couple under that. And then Texas Chainsaw Massacre is like in the bottom 10. I think that makes sense.
01:29:19
Speaker
I'm assuming nobody else has the overall ranking of every HHN now. I need to actually make a spreadsheet because it's right now in just like my notes app and it's not numbered. So it's just a hot mess. I need to make a spreadsheet.
01:29:32
Speaker
i mean like all like I feel like there's been too many houses already at this point. like I can't. I mean, I feel like if I didn't. You've been to so many years. Right. I i haven't. That's yeah. Like, so that's why I'm like, I don't know if I can rank these. Like I can like, i could say that like all time favorite house is the original Scarecrow.
01:29:50
Speaker
But like, yeah, besides that, I mean, every. Oh, and then I did love Poltergeist back in 2018. And then Cabin in the Woods is really good, too. And then Hatchet and Chains was great. But like besides those that I can like name off the top of my head right now, like I can't remember anything else.
01:30:05
Speaker
Yeah. There's, I mean. It's been a lot. Names. There's so many names over all the years. Yeah. Well, speaking of Scarecrow, um Ricky asked, is the Scarecrow in Vegas the same one as from Hollywood last year with the music by Slash?
01:30:22
Speaker
No. Kelly answered this earlier. No. It's different. I think all the iterations of Scarecrow have been different. yeah yeah it was very fun tyler you did that one right you went to hollywood last year it was the previous years ago oh the previous year i know that scott reported on scar scarecrow on this pod um and it was talking about the the cornfield and stuff right yeah cool All right.
01:30:47
Speaker
Well, that's it for this episode. um We'll see you again probably in two weeks. If you're not following us, which you probably are at this point, but give us a follow. And we're on Instagram at thrillschillsandspills so you don't miss any of our new episodes.
01:31:03
Speaker
And thanks for listening and stay spooky. Bye. Bye. That's tea, actually.