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Episode 033 - Sunny Outlaws
41 Plays4 months ago
This week, we chat about things!
- Our weeks and future plans
- Work be busy
- Falling... 🍂
- Sunny Finale
- Perfect Days
- More Acolyte / Industry discussion
- Spoiler-Free Star Wars Outlaws 🔫
- Stuff we've been up to
- and MORE!
Connect with us via our website https://justshillin.com or send us an email/voicemail at feedback@justshillin.com
Rate and review us on your podcatcher and Goodpods!
Thank you to our good friend Chris Hall for the amazing cover artwork!
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Transcript
Meet the Hosts
00:00:02
Speaker
Hello and welcome to episode number 33 of Just Shillin. I am one of your hosts, Sean Hoffman. And I am your other host, Andy Bell. How are you, dude? I had a... I'm good, good, I'm good. I was gonna do a different intro this week, but I couldn't figure out how to squeeze it in. I was gonna be like, welcome to just showing with like Bert and Ernie, but I forgot that you like to introduce yourself. So I was like, I can't be like, I'm Bert and then expect you to say that you're Ernie, or no, I'm Ernie, you're Bert.
00:00:34
Speaker
get I got to get right. And so I couldn't put that on you on like on the spot. So I just gave it up. yeah I still want to talk about it. You notice to and for that to work. Okay. And then it's just not worth it. It's just not worth it. If you know about it, then it seems planned and it's a whole thing. And but yeah, we can do that. We're still young enough. We're still young enough in ah in our in our podcasting careers that we can we can change things about a little bit.
00:01:01
Speaker
And i I hope you're okay with the answer because you're tall, you're obviously taller. So you have to be perfect. And I gotta be ready. Okay. Should we start again? Hello, and welcome to episode 33 of Just Chilling. I'm Bert. And I'm Ernie. That was awesome, I love it. That's all I wanted. I'm good, I'm good, ah
Tales of Falling and Aging
00:01:25
Speaker
I'm good. um It's been a week, work has been,
00:01:30
Speaker
Even though I'm a contractor, it's like I had to open my big dumb mouth and be like, you know what, I have, I have an idea. And now work is crazy busy for me. I can't be farting around doing stuff. So it's been, it's been pretty wild there, which is cut into my star Wars outlaws time. Um, but other than that, I'm good. I did. So I had a question for you cause something happened over the weekend. Very, it's not exciting. Don't nobody get your hopes up, but like,
00:01:59
Speaker
When was the last time you like, like fell, like tripped and like fell? Like not like, oh, I tripped and I like caught myself, but like, and I'm not your doctor. I'm not asking like, have you fell on recently or anything? But it's like, man, I was carrying, I was carrying some like wood somewhere. And I have, I had like an actual like trip fall, like something you would see on like a, like a, like a TV show, like blah, and like a catastrophic fall. And I was like,
00:02:29
Speaker
And it's like laying there on the ground, I'm like, man, I don't think I've fallen, I've truly fallen in a very long time. And it was, like it took, it it affected my whole day. I'm like, my, like, it hurts, my whole body hurts. What happened? Is this what it's like is this getting old? yeah am i Am I old now? Did I just?
00:02:52
Speaker
Like they didn't hit me like, like, uh, like, I got the guardian angel to like transition dust on me and just to age God is here. yeah What did you do? What? How did I fall? I have no idea. I told him some medicine was outside too. And I told her it happened because I was, you know, I was too busy showing off like, Oh, look how much wood I can carry. I'm so cool. But I genuinely do not know what the hell happened. But some like next thing you know, it's just like,
00:03:19
Speaker
I'm like I remember falling and like I had a headphones on I was like, but ah and fall and I could do to just tore it tore up my arm. Like I think my Apple watch like protected me a little bit. Like is it smashed it into my arm it's all cut up my legs all cut up and then I just kind of like laid there. I was like,
00:03:36
Speaker
what just What just happened? like And there's woods, it's all over the place, just laying in the driveway. It's like, yeah this is is this my future? Is this is this what's gonna happen? But yeah, it just it was it affected my whole weekend.
00:03:52
Speaker
until and then then next and the next day we went and what's it the next day? No, it was after we already did the the trail, mag the trail, the trail work stuff. But yeah, it was it hurt. And I was like, man, is this normal? Is this going to be my life going forward? But yeah, that's that's the most that happened.
00:04:07
Speaker
i can tell you I can tell you the last time I remember hurting myself was about five years ago, and I was walking the dog. And um the dog, we we went through what we call, a do you know what a kissing gate is? Kissing gate is basically a a gate on a hinge, but it's restricted. It's restricted as to how far you can open it. So you have to kind of open it open it slightly, walk into a a vacuum, a gap, and then shut the gate and push it the other way. It's an old, it's an old, very, very old English type of gate. And it's really to retain cattle in a farm yard. And they have those dog parks and stuff that I keep like a two, like there's like two of them usually. So you go in and close it and open it and go through.
00:05:00
Speaker
So I opened the gate allowing the dog through into the void that you have to step into before you can then shut the gate and proceed into the next part and the dog pulled me and
00:05:13
Speaker
I don't know whether it was because I wasn't expecting it. I was off balance because you know i'm not I'm not a small guy, but I i literally fell over the gate. and i like I fell over the gate and hit hit myself really, really hard on the side, on my side. Picked myself up, for didn't think anything of it, and carried on about my business. Swore to the dog a few times, but we carried on with the walk.
00:05:37
Speaker
two or three in the morning, I'm in agony. I'm in absolute pain. It's hurting all the way down side the side of of my my side. And I'm thinking to myself, i can't it's hurting when I breathe. it's it's Every time I take a breath, it's actually hurting.
00:05:53
Speaker
and I thought I'll be fine. Take a few take a few painkillers, you know half a bottle of vodka, you'll be absolutely fine. Don't worry about it. Worry about it in the morning. But more medical advice, contact me directly.
00:06:09
Speaker
its um But Lucy being Lucy, she's like, no, no, no, cool call the out of our service. not not not Don't call emergency services, but but but but call um ah the the helpline. the helpline Anyway, they I said, look, you know i I can't, I'm finding it, every time I take a breath, I'm finding it really hard to breathe. um And then they took some particulars from me and all they heard was,
00:06:38
Speaker
if it's five years ago, so 45, 46 year old man, hard breathing, hard to breathe. um yeah Can't remember what he's done. And at the time I'd forgotten about the dog walk and I'd forgotten I'd fallen over the gate because it was two in the morning. So I'd, you know, I can't even remember 10 minutes ago, let alone five or six hours ago.
00:06:59
Speaker
So, oh, sorry, sir, you say where you are, we're going to get an ambulance. It's like, no, no, no, I really don't need an ambulance. I really, really don't need an ambulance. Well, we just want to check you out anyway, which is kind of cool because they're looking out for me. Anyway, this this ambulance turns up and we live in a very, very quiet village, a very, very quiet lane, and a very, very quiet village. So anything like an ambulance turning up at anyone's house, is it's like news of the week.
00:07:24
Speaker
It's a big, big deal. It's a really, really big deal. Neighbors are outside in their pajamas just standing on their hands going, night going on. yeah hey Yeah, what's going on? ah Told you he was a junkie. um Yeah, so they're um there they're outside. And now I'm sitting there in nothing but my underpants in the in in my in my living room while these doctors poke and prod me. And It's like, it's a little bit raspy and everything. Are you sure you haven't hurt yourself? Well, your blood pressure, little bit raised, but it's okay. I said, well, yeah, because I'm in a little bit of pain at the moment. And then it came to me, I remembered about the dog. The dog just sitting there wagging his tail, looking at you like, oh, shit. I can't admit to this. I can't admit to this.
00:08:09
Speaker
I can't admit to this because I've wasted these guys time. I mean, thank goodness for the NHS in the UK free, you know, free medication, or free healthcare, care sorry. It doesn't come with that $15,000 bill like it would here. No, no. And I said, Listen, guys, I'm ever so sorry, I've remembered I fell over a kissing gate today. And basically all the three of the paramedics took one look at me as if to say, I can kind of tell that so um on the on the phone. and As it happens,
00:08:36
Speaker
I actually broke up a rib. So it was yeah it was it was something, but you can't do anything about that anyway. So it's nothing important or anything. It's nothing you can do about it. It was a minor fracture in my in in in in a rib, ah which you you know which heals itself anyway. It's a bit like fingers and toes. You can't do anything about it.
00:08:58
Speaker
I'm just gonna have to live with it. um So yeah, that was that was, you asked the question and I went a roundabout way to, um as a bit of filler, to tell you that, yeah, that's that's the last time I remember being in absolute agony. Well, that does remind me of a little bit of the post, the after, so like coming inside later and then the panic as we're sitting on the couch and I'm like, man, um kind of like clammy got a headache my neck and hurts and then like I noticed it like yeah I fell on my left side so like my left side hurt I'm like never be too careful what's the signs and it's like well your left side hurts it's like shit you're clammy
00:09:38
Speaker
Fuck, you got a headache, something. It's like, oh God, it's all the things I got from falling. I'm having a heart attack. It just shook everything loose. So just sitting on the couch, just being like, oh, freak out. It's just because I fell and all the wood fell on top of me. It's like, not that this is the right thing to do. You should always take it very seriously. But I'm like, I did literally, my whole left side is bleeding. And so it's like, okay, I stopped being clammy when I stopped thinking, is this heart attack? Am I having a heart attack? Am I having a heart attack?
00:10:08
Speaker
And then went away. And so then it just, then I just got really stiff because on top of that and all the trail work stuff, it's like, it feels like I got hit by a dump truck. And so that's been fun. That's been my week.
Ticketmaster Trials and Tribulations
00:10:22
Speaker
Um, that, um, you you, you should talk about that a little bit. That trail work you're doing, you sent me some photographs last week and that's, um, that's some heavy duty stuff you're doing out there.
00:10:34
Speaker
So yeah, this the we had a three day weekend this past past weekend for Labor Day. um Don't ask me what that means. I don't know. I've never known. I don't know. Yeah, it's crazy. I should probably look that up.
00:10:48
Speaker
um So we had a three day weekend and Friday and Saturday we went and did two different trail volunteer things again. One of them being, well, that was brutal. That was really quick. We're up around 10,000 feet in elevation, um just kind of clearing giant lava rocks, like lava stone gravel off the trail to kind of flatten it. Cause this whole trail is supposed to be graded. It's capable.
00:11:17
Speaker
of being, it's all graded for stock, like horses and stock animals and pack animals, things like that. yeah I wouldn't personally as an individual, um, but you got to go out there and clean up. I mean, that was, that was hard. That was really hard. And then we got down, then we got into this habit of like,
00:11:33
Speaker
We had a really steep hill and then we were like rolling rocks down this hill just watching them just but but but but but but but just going and it's exploding. That was a lot of fun, but it was that was hard work. Then the next day we went up north where we actually happen to have a wildfire right now about two and a half hours north. I like going there because there's a really good coffee place on the way. And there we were doing.
00:11:57
Speaker
like it's called a logout where you take a big crosscut saw. It's like a big looney toons, five and a half, six foot saw. And you go to areas where there's been a lot of wildfires or hasn't been cleaned up in a long time. And there's just logs like like these big trees laying over the the trail. And you just get you get them out of the way you cut them, you cut them up, clear it out, um learn, learn how to get used to big crosscut saw, which is that's a whole that's a whole different thing of like,
00:12:26
Speaker
Like every, you can rabbit hole with like any hobby, like, oh, I can get really into RC cars or, you know, power tools or paints or God, no, Star Wars. There's a whole like rabbit hole with like these big vintage crosscut saws and like how you sharpen them and like how you, uh, how to know when it's really good or sharpened really well. And like the, apparently there's like a world renowned sharpener lady who's like up around that area who does classes and,
00:12:55
Speaker
And so Madison and I are looking at each other like, should we, should we get, should we get into this? Should we like, ah look at, look at like garage sales and try to find a six foot, two person soft or like, and it's like, what are we doing? What is like, what learn how to sharpen them? And, but no, it was fun. Like the the second day with the cross cut, it was just the three of us. It was like the trip, the leader and then Madison and I, so we couldn't really like take breaks or like hide. That's always like, all right, who wants to be on the other side of this? And dude, that is.
00:13:23
Speaker
You think, you think like, I feel good. I'm like in reasonable shape. But then you're just like, yank, yank, yank, yank, yank, yank, yank. Oh, just over and over and over cutting through these like massive trees. It's like, hey, hold on a second. I'm gonna go like, I'm gonna go pass out behind this tree real quick. You guys just carry on. And it's also- They're massive trees as well. I mean, they looked about what, two, three, three meter diameter? Some of them were, yeah.
00:13:52
Speaker
There were some big ones out there, but there's some. Yeah, this area is also so old since I kind of mixed with burn scar. So like some parts of the trail would just be absolutely decimated. It looks like a post-apocalyptic film or it's got like a bulldozer line had come through to kind of stop a wildfire. So it's just it's just horrible. um Yeah, some and it's all what's really cool is that some of them are really big, but it's not just about cutting it, but it's about like the technical problem solving because you have to be safe. that Like it's.
00:14:22
Speaker
funded by funding by funding by funding through government agencies. And it's like, all right, you walk up to it's like, all right, how can we? What's the plan? All right, it's, it's, it's like, it's, it's leaning this way. So you get the bind here, you got this, you this, it' go hold this way, you got multiple on top of each other. And so it's kind of fun. But then it gets to the cutting part. It's like, and yo, guys, people are probably wondering, why can't you just use a chainsaw? Because ah to use chainsaws in this area, we are under massive red flag warnings, you'd have to have like special approval through agencies and certain time windows. um Because otherwise you could burn the whole state of California down because it could create a fire. Yeah, got it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:15:02
Speaker
But yeah, it was fine. Mate, it's cool stuff. It's really, really cool stuff. I mean, again, I'm in awe just to how active you are and for the fact that the fact that you're doing it for other people, to benefit other people as well, I think is pretty commendable. You get a minor heart attack scare from falling down in the driveway and you're like, I should probably do more. I should go out and be a little more active. Let's go for a walk. Yeah. How's your week?
00:15:28
Speaker
Yeah, yeah it's it's been it's been it's been it's been relatively, it's got it's gone really quick. I mean, last week felt like we hadn't spoken for ages and now it feels like it hasn't been that long. But yeah, it's been really quick. um Spent the weekend trying to get Lucy tickets to go and see Oasis, which was Oasis is one of one of her bands. And I thought, well, it's a big year for us next year. I think I told you that it's our 30th next year. and Why not? Let's try and get some tickets. Good God, I wish I hadn't bothered. um We must have been at it well over 12 hours, if not.
00:16:04
Speaker
15 hours. um But yeah, we started first thing in the morning, we knew there was going to be a rush. I'm on one website, Lucy's on the other website.
00:16:15
Speaker
um ah We got multiple multiple um screens open. ah In fact, we had we had about four. So including laptops, we had about five devices all working ah on on these sites. And it was just it was just chaos. It was just absolute chaos. ah you know You get through. We queued very for a very long long, long time, like an awful lot of other people. You get through. You get accused of being a bot. You get thrown off. You have to start again. You get through again. You get the the the the system.
00:16:51
Speaker
um Thinks you're a bot. You get thrown off again, which is ironic because The anecdotally, or allegedly, sorry, um the amount of um bulk buying that happened on Saturday was just disgusting,
00:17:10
Speaker
absolutely disgusting. And the the you know the secondary market at the moment is rife and way, way overpriced. get through a third time. So you you know you you you're 199,000. We started off 199,000 in the queue. We then get through to the landing page. So you queue to get onto the landing page. You then on the landing page, you then choose the venue and the date that you want to go.
00:17:32
Speaker
um And then you queue again for another four or five hours to to to get the option to get to ah ah place a point where you can actually choose your seats or your standing place um on the date that you've chosen. Only to find out by the time you get there that it's all grayed out and it's actually it's actually um there are no seats available. but there's no There's no tickets left for that for that particular day. So you then think, well, we'll try a different day or we'll try a different venue. But of course, you've got to go all the way back to the beginning again. So bearing in mind that i mean i mean that the main the main
00:18:11
Speaker
The main players here are obviously Ticketmaster. Bearing in mind, they've got one job, one purpose as a business. You'd think that their IT was a heck of a lot. Well, A, you think their cloud, or at least there's you know that their their servers or their cloud facilities would be a heck of a lot more robust and resilient than that than than what would they were. because between in every time in between us either getting kicked off or or find that we couldn't get tickets, the whole the the whole the whole platform was was was crashing. um So you'd think that that's one thing that as a ticket business that they would actually invest in was their infrastructure. But not only that, not only that you think that the architects of their of their
00:18:57
Speaker
service would also consider the experience of might actually be enriched. and It also would take less load. It would be less load on their on their platform if they had the wherewithal to actually tell you which dates are available before you select them um that had free spaces still or free tickets still for those dates rather than actually yeah have to go through or even some sort of logic that if you didn't get through to your, you didn't have the opportunity to get the date you wanted, that you go into a an interim, um I don't know, atrium or something to actually reselect again, rather than have to go back to the very beginning again. All in all, an extremely frustrating experience. um I know of people that got tickets, but there was a lottery the day before. Excuse me.
00:19:59
Speaker
which enabled those people to be able to um join the ah some sort of pre-order, the pre-sale stuff the the the day before. And that seemed to work okay. But from this experience, and it made me think of um a little bit about the panels at over at Celebration, from this experience,
00:20:28
Speaker
There were so many people like us that were waiting so long. Actually, a lottery would be better would be a better... That's that's exactly what I was going to say. A better option whereby you you register your interest, and if you're lucky, you get a ticket. If you're not lucky, you don't get a ticket. Yeah, i've you would think that... As opposed to this chaos.
00:20:49
Speaker
You'd think that with all of the scrutiny and eyes that Ticketmaster has on them for all of the shit they've been doing for as long as we've been around, that they would have somebody in any kind of position go, what if we rethink the problem? Like, but this is something I talk to Madison about all the time, like,
00:21:09
Speaker
every time I'm like in between jobs, I'm like, what if I just, I think I think I could go work at Ticketmaster and really make a difference and just be that person who's like, the martyr who's like, what if we just didn't do it this way? What if we didn't do and everybody coming through the gate at the same time, just do a lottery, say you're interested. And if you get picked, come give us your money.
00:21:30
Speaker
And if you don't tell us the dates, location that you're interested in, you can get a ticket or you don't. And if you don't get one, we just send you an email saying, better luck next time and save everybody a ton of time. The only problem, the only problem, the only problem is that big business doesn't win with that because what you can't do is you can't implement dynamic pricing, which is essentially what happened on Saturday as well.
00:21:53
Speaker
And let's see how that goes with EU and US regulators very, very soon. As about to say, UK, UK are also looking to implement something against that as well. So you got someone like you got someone like, um yeah you know, you eventually get into the lobby and you choose your you choose your tickets, sorry, you choose your day, you choose your venue, and you get to see there and then the price of the tickets. Let's let's say a standard ticket is 150 quid, let's say 200 bucks. You then go through, in our case, to nothing, because or there there are no tickets available. But by that time, it's already 500 quid, four hours later. And what was a standard ticket?
00:22:34
Speaker
has been to has been changed by definition to in-demand tickets. It's like, well, yeah, therere there there are two or three million people trying to access tickets, so all tickets are in demand. So there's no difference to the tickets that you were selling four hours ago than the tickets you're selling now, because the demand is still there.
00:22:54
Speaker
They hide behind the shield of supply and demand, but when it's a monopoly, it is price-fixing. That's all it is. yeah but how but how can you do it with him how how how can i mean i mean How can they legitimately say the situation has changed within five hours? The the the situation has been consistent for the last five hours, for example. It's it's crazy. it's not like Well, they they hide behind the surge pricing model of like Uber and stuff. They're like, oh, you know there's more demand supply and demand, but when there's only one provider,
00:23:21
Speaker
That's just price gouging. It's price fixing. yeah it is Yeah, but we don't all order a taxi at the same time. We don't order a cab at the same time. That's the difference between that mo between that and what happened with Ticketmaster. Everyone was online at eight in the morning for the for the for the doors to open at nine. Everyone was there waiting. So the demand is already there. It hasn't fluctuated throughout the day. It hasn't got greater. It's been there since since the off. So, you know,
00:23:51
Speaker
If they somehow feel that they're justified to do it because Uber does it, or airlines do it, or other businesses do it, then that's bullshit. Absolute bullshit. Yeah. You want to know what keeps me up at night. One of those things that lives in my head rent free is that There's so it's one thing if a business wants to do something. People want to do stuff all the time, like the number of requests that I've heard as an engineer that have come across like, what if we did this and everybody kind of goes like, ah yeah, we're not doing that. That's insane.
00:24:26
Speaker
um But there's always there's, there's people who are out there who hear this, they come, it's described what they want to do. And then they implement it. It's like, that's what keeps me awake at night. It's like, there's engineers or people at Ticketmaster who's like, Yeah, let's crank the prices up. Let's Yeah, that's right. Let's do it. And then they're like, they ship it and everybody goes, Good job, we did it. Now we're really sucking the life out of people that blows my mind.
00:24:57
Speaker
yeah
00:25:00
Speaker
it's like what I even add more words to it because i just go I just spiral down this rabbit hole of like, if somebody handed me a thing like, hey, we're gonna we need you to like ah implement this thing that like if there's a lot of people waiting to get something, just forex the price so we can really get them. and i so like so last So last year, I'll give you an example. So last year,
00:25:23
Speaker
um I took Lucy to go and see Muse, because Muse is a band that I like, is is is is is one of my favourite bands. and um So I took Lucy to go and see Muse and I paid 250 quid, let's say, 280 bucks or 300 bucks, actually probably like more like 280 if not 270 bucks, which aren't cheap tickets.
00:25:50
Speaker
But i I bought them way after, way, way after they that they'd gone live. And so there were a limited number of seats available. And I wanted really good seats, really, really good seats. um and we got And I got what what i what I paid for. But I paid for it with open eyes.
00:26:14
Speaker
um with my sorry with my eyes wide open, because of course, I'd left it so late. And so naturally, like an airline flight, like you know what once space has become limited, i'm I'm more than happy to take it. I'll be honest with you, if it wasn't for Lucy Liking, at Oasis, I wouldn't give two tosses about it, because i mean that that you know they're they're they're they're a good band. They're not my but not my favorite band. that there's um um
00:26:45
Speaker
But I just can't believe the ill-prepared, greedy,
00:26:56
Speaker
greedy, sorry, ill-prepared, how ill-prepared these companies were and just how greedy they also demonstrated to be in the in in in in the course of a 12 hour period. It was pretty disgusting. Anyway, ill prepared isn't is giving them too much credit. Because everybody's like, Oh, I can't believe these systems don't work. It's like, they don't need them to work because all the tickets will sell anyways. Yeah. And so they have no incentive to fix them. And I hope the regulators just really like Ticketmaster those ones where I just hope, like, the US and EU just take that hammer and
00:27:36
Speaker
really knock them over the head with it. like i can't I really want that to happen. and i I hope it happens while I'm alive before my private heart attack. And it's the last thing i I'll say about it. Ironically, the the the day before, a few of the tickets or some of the tickets from the pre-sale ended up on eBay or they ended up on um What's it called? um StubHub, all those other... Yeah, although all those kind of guys. And they were stupid and expensive. We're talking about tickets that were four grand um for for it for a ticket um to go and see a couple of argumentative guys from Manchester sing at each other. Anyway, the... um
00:28:24
Speaker
Super prices. and Meanwhile, the band Oasis. Well, don't forget, you know we're we're not going to allow anyone resale their tickets. It's like, well, you don't ticket master don' don't insist on ID. So how are you going to police it? I've got no idea. But also, you know you might come be coming down on these on the secondary market, but you're doing exactly the same thing with your primary source.
00:28:48
Speaker
I mean, like I said, i mean what ended up being but ended up being standard tickets tickets ended up being 400 quid when we were there, ended up being 500, 600, 700 quid for people that that bothered to actually get through in the end and buy them. It was, some yeah it's it's yeah, it's all of it's all a farce. Anyway, that was that. And the other thing that happened this weekend was um i um Outlaws came in the post, and I was telling you last week that despite ordering it well before the pre-order window, I didn't get my three three days advance um access, which was fine, because I had so much work last week to do. But it arrived in the post, as did the steel book, and the steel book is amazing. And I know I sent you a photograph, but it doesn't do itself justice. It's a very, very solid piece of artwork, um which I, i
00:29:39
Speaker
yeah it's it's It's very, very nice. So that's gonna take part of place on my shelf. And I'm guessing we'll leave, if it's all right with you, I'll leave my thoughts on the game when we talk about what we've been what we've been doing, we know what we've been reading, listening, watching and playing. But yeah, know glad that came. um um few years and I'm sure there's a few other things as well that's happened. ah But I just can't, I would say that the two most the two most momentful momentous things that have happened this week for me. nice So what about news? Have you heard any news of any any gossip going on out there in the last week? I mean, there's lots of gossip, but yeah. Oh, you're right. yeah i'm good admit Anything in the and hear the news? in the news i I don't have any news, and but and it can kind of go into the it's news related, but it's something that I listened to that I want to briefly mention for our
The Streaming Saga: Industry Shifts
00:30:35
Speaker
friends out there. And that was,
00:30:37
Speaker
I don't know if it's the latest episode because they put out a ton of episodes, but it's an episode by force center has that has the title has something to do with like Keanu Reeves and Star Wars or whatever. Like that's not the full episode, but there is a, it was a really good episode that I think.
00:30:53
Speaker
gave me a lot of additional perspective on the acolyte cancellation that I thought was really interesting. So I think a lot of a lot of us and a lot of our friends have talked about the acolyte cancellation from like, if you think about it in like layers, like altitude layers, like acolyte, the show canceled really sucks.
00:31:11
Speaker
And, like, then you bump it up to, like, Star Wars and, like, what's going on with Star Wars. I thought this episode did a really good job of, like, kind of zooming all the way out. And they talked about, like, their feelings about the Acolyte, talked about their feelings and predictions and what they're seeing with Star Wars. Then in, like, zooming out more to, like, streaming, and then zooming even out, even zooming out even further to, like, Hollywood as a whole and some of the trends that people are seeing. And I think,
00:31:38
Speaker
It was really nice to kind of get that big that big picture too because it really but really gave a so a lot of additional perspectives on like maybe some of the change in strategy with Star Wars, Lucasfilm, Disney streaming, and then just Hollywood in general and some of the stuff that's been going on. And it's like, oh, maybe it's not it's it's It makes me feel like it's not great. I'm not saying like, oh, I feel better now, but it does help with the feeling of like, God, I hope they didn't cancel it because of the chuds on the internet. and It's like, oh no, there are some of these other trends which still suck, but it's like a shift in the bri and the way things are happening and like probably the change in things to come. I don't know, it was just really interesting, especially for people who are in that industry, ah who live down like in LA and stuff. And I don't know, I just thought it was,
00:32:32
Speaker
It's easy to drill down and focus on the specific problem and stuff, but I thought it was really cool. The guys from the, um, the guys from thank the maker, you know, Nick from Bayside and all those and and his chums, they, um, they mentioned something quite similar and it, to your point, it's quite interesting. While we, you know, understandably,
00:33:01
Speaker
are focusing on Star Wars because that's what brings us together initially. um yeah We focus on that and see it within the rather selfish confines of our fandom. um But it is interesting to your point as to what's going beyond going on beyond that within Hollywood. And I think they either quoted I don't want to misquote them. And I think they were talking about a particular interview with Matt Damon. Is it Matt Damon? Recently where it was a case of where he was commenting about streaming and how it's getting quite ruthless and how it's got to be an automatic hit. And I don't know whether it was a commentary against someone like Netflix. It was a notorious for you know having one hit wonders and not giving it a chance to to mature.
00:33:55
Speaker
um and and to and to grow you know and to and to thrive. um i don't I don't know i don't know ah anything about this interview. I think, I hope I'm not misrepresenting what the boys were saying, but it was basically very much focused, as I said, on or an interview that I think was Matt Damon. But yeah, to your point, there is something afoot. There is something else going on out there that is
00:34:23
Speaker
industry-wide as opposed to being specific on ah on on this particular franchise that we know and love. And I i hope, I hope it's not a, um
00:34:37
Speaker
you I'm a great believer in change, I'm a great believer, you know but I believe that change is a good thing, it keeps things fresh, it keeps things moving. I love the idea of sustaining momentum, but I hope that it's not going the the Hollywood or entertainment um or media in general isn't going down a line where we're it's it's it's it's
00:35:05
Speaker
everything is consolidated and everything is, all focus is on is on, is about less, about less content going forward because I'm not sure if anyone wins. I very infrequently go to the theater these days. I tell, you know, you know, we've been going now nearly, we're know we're approaching our first, sorry, we're approaching the end of our first year, episode 33, we've been going every week. You know, we're two thirds of the way through our first year.
00:35:32
Speaker
and um I think I've spoken to you about me personally going to the cinema three, maybe four times in in in the in the tooth in in in the time that we've been we've been talking. There was a time I'd be going to the cinema every month without a doubt, maybe twice a month.
00:35:51
Speaker
And then i hope you kind of talk they kind of talk about both sides. thats I think it's it's easy to kind of get stuck in this. Like, I hope there's not less content, but then on the same, yeah they kind of talk about the negatives of like less content and like cutting back and not as many streaming shows. But then they also talk about the positives of like, which is eye-opening too, of like, you know, there does seem to be a push, an idea or conversations about pushing it towards more of a going back to more of the communal aspect of like Mando and Grogu going to the movies because there's conversations around like, okay, they want to kind of not starve people a little bit, but like, bring it back to
00:36:30
Speaker
like absence makes the heart grow fonder a little bit, but then make the events bigger. So instead of doing yeah five years in between streaming shows, do three, like, not that far, but like switch them to movies, put a little bit of space in between it, let people breathe, let the creators, the graphics, ah like graphics, artists and things like that have more time and stop trying to switch, like the the streaming experiment This is some of the the conjecture that kind of goes in there a little bit of like there's people who believe that the streaming experiment as the streaming wars, that experiment failed. We can't just keep creating more and more content very quickly, rapidly, yada, yada, and like not burn people out. So how can they gift?
00:37:15
Speaker
two more communal based viewing to have people talking around the water cooler, have people get excited again, because the current model of just more, more, more. And if it doesn't work, immediately kill it. More, more, more, more, more. ah isn't working. Like we as Star Wars fans obviously want more Star Wars. But at the same time, I know we've all felt a little burnout here and there of like, but but the the the challenge there. it's It's funny, actually, because if I feel like we're coming, we're coming full circle. I picked up on Josh, our buddy Josh and um over at Star Wars spell out today. And what you've just said reminded me of of a conversation he was having today.
00:37:56
Speaker
On his pub with with Brittany and it was like that's you know, I understand it's ah It's a really hard balancing out you've got yeah, you've got this, you know More more more more more is not a good thing. It saturates everyone's you know everyone's um
00:38:23
Speaker
library and quite frankly makes us somewhat numb or you we end up with fatigue. But at the same time, how do you sustain someone's subscription? Because if you do do less and you do have more of a a respite between productions,
00:38:43
Speaker
Can you rely on people to sustain their subscription with you? Or like Lucy and I at the moment, there are two or three services that we always pay for, Netflix, Prime, and um and Disney+. plus um They're consistent because there's so much on there that I've got to catch up on quite frankly that Even if there was nothing new for a good couple of years, I'd find something there But certainly Apple TV and certainly sky in the yeah UK. I'm trying to think of the nearest HBO for you guys HBO the majority of HBO programs now are ah broadcast by sky in the UK and um
00:39:28
Speaker
They are streaming services that we switch on and off when we need them. Does that make sense? So for example, we've got Skyback for House of the Dragon and and only House of the Dragon.
00:39:42
Speaker
um We've now switched it off again because and I'll probably switch it on again when I feel like when i feel like catching up on the on the on the Rick Grimes show. um But but when it when there's nothing on there, we'll switch it off. And that's the risk that these these companies have in that you know you're absolutely right. I'm sorry for repeating myself. you know There's so much stuff coming out that people get numb to it or they're bloated by the whole thing that they can't They can't possibly take any more, but at the same time, how do you keep them invested in your service so that you don't you don't lose them? Well, I hope the model shift from winner takes all, because because the biggest cost of streaming services, the numbers are out there, is the content creation. And this winner take all streaming more mentality has, i I believe, is what's driven the majority of this. It's like, well, we have to keep creating content because we have to beat the other services. It's like,
00:40:39
Speaker
If you stop creating all this freaking content and lean on your back catalogs or the things that you have in creating quality content, I'm okay with letting a streaming service even I'm guilty of it. I've I've paid for a streaming service that I didn't even use that month. But where it's getting particular is that the price of Netflix is now 30 freaking dollars a month. And I'm like, no, I'm not willing to let that just slide because I'm not paying for your content that you're canceling and killing. If you ratchet it back to reasonable prices, slow down the creation of content. I'm willing to have multiple services because the architecture for these services is already there. It's already paid for. Like, yeah that's not the huge cause. It's the content creation. So hopefully this winner take all model shifts
00:41:27
Speaker
focus on creating quality content that you're investing in. Because, like, I, you know, I've talked about this a million times. And this is the fundamental thing of Madison's belief of like, Oh, I don't watch a show till it's over. Because how many times have we been burned? It's like you watch a show and then it's, it's canceled. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it wasn't doing the numbers like acolyte all these others. It's like, well, I'm just not gonna watch. it It's really weird. It's really weird. Because the the industry is cannibalizing itself. ah You've got someone like, um you know, you got you got folks like Apple that essentially offer their streaming service as a complement to their phones, to their to their to to their devices. you know you can you can Depending on your carrier and the reoccurring to on exactly depending on your character character character excuse me depending on your
00:42:18
Speaker
cell phone, your carrier, your network in the UK. Typically, most of them all, if you sign up to a particular talk plan or a data plan, you can get Apple TV bundled into that, which of course, then you can extend to all the other devices in your house, regardless of of who makes them. But essentially, it's ah it's ah it's a value added service that's been designed to supplement their core business.
00:42:40
Speaker
In the meantime, you've got someone like Prime, and it's very, very similar, albeit it's supplementing as opposed to it'ss it's it's it's supplementing it's an ancillary service that supplements there.
00:42:55
Speaker
a device. It's supplementing their core service, which is to sell shit to you and make a profit from that. And then you've got someone like Netflix, you've got someone like Disney that don't have, it's not an add-on for anything else. It's not for another one of their, for their core product. Their core product is the subscription service, even if it, you know, even if we're talking about the movies that end up on the subscription service, ultimately, their core product is the entertainment. um And it's weird, it's it's really weird. And so they therefore try and compete with each other on price. And it's like, well, whereas, you know where whereas one one one provider is
00:43:40
Speaker
Their content is is is is subsidized it subsidised by a core business like Apple, like like like Prime, whereas others, there is no subsidy there. And and so they're finding themselves driving their value to the ground bit into the ground because because there is nothing supplementing or, so like I said, subsidizing what they're called content. it's it's it's it's It's crazy. It's really, really mad. and All the lines can't go up. And sometimes there has to be a business yeah for a purpose. But it's not um and always in the green or always in the black thing. it's it But it's it needs to be there because it's foundational to the ecosystem or the the brand. But sometimes it's just it just has to suck. you know But yeah yeah but but but rather than rather than rethink their model, they they they look at means as they look for means to
00:44:33
Speaker
reduce their ah operation expense, they're at their OpEx. They strip out operational expense in order to compete at that price level because they can't supplement it, which is the reason why you've seen so much so many cutbacks in Disney, for example. I mean, certainly Disney Plus themselves.
00:44:52
Speaker
yeah yeah Yeah, but even the people like on disney plus yeah even the people are working on Disney there are a lot less people than they're working for Disney Plus now than they were at launch. And you could say, well, that's because they were going through the day the the launch cycle. um And they you know they're now a little bit further on in their services lifecycle and it needs less people to maintain. That could be the case, but the point being is that they're looking to sustain their position because people complain when they add two or three quid on the on the monthly on the monthly yeah um subscription cost. and' And so they're trying to also strip out costs from there from their OPEX.
00:45:35
Speaker
you can only just very short term thinking really, really short term thinking. um It's actually this actually reminds me of something i it gets like it suddenly clicked for me. Madison used to work for a company called movie, which is a a streaming platform of strictly curated content of like really, really quality movies are really quality content. They have a very limited library. Oh, cool. Charges. They charge a subscription for it. I never got it. I'm always like, like, why would somebody pay for like something that like the window of content is always shifting and moving and like it doesn't have an expansive library. But now many, many years later, now I'm sitting here going. It's genius. it's It's genius. Yeah. The the content library like I go on and I canceled Netflix because it just got to be too much. But it's like, yeah.
00:46:25
Speaker
that the quality content wasn't there, or at least it was so lost in the ether of we of the weeds of just garbage content. That's being churned out. turned out that i get I get the movie model now. like yeah Maybe those arthouse films aren't always there, but it's like this this curated quality content, not just everything we have a license for. It's like I finally finally see it. It makes sense. And it just it just hit me like a ton of bricks. Because I was always like, what? This is weird. Why would you only pay for a streaming service that only gives you 15 movies? And they sometimes they leave. And sometimes new ones. But there's 15 movies typically would be the types of movies that you would buy in physical media form because you want to Yeah, or they're just hard. Yeah, I like that. Yeah, I'm with you, man. I'm with you. That's cool. Very, very cool.
00:47:21
Speaker
So, um any other, God, that was not news. Sorry, any any other news that was, but did you pick up on? I got a couple of things. ah What do you got?
00:47:35
Speaker
Sigourney Weaver confirmed for the Mando movie. I think I knew that before we spoke last week, but we didn't talk about it. Anyway, point being is that she was in an interview recently and she confirmed verbally during an interview of some sort. Again, I don't know what it was because I don't do my research. um She's confirmed for the Mando movie. I think um Pedro Pascal was getting quite excited about it on on his social networks. Any predictions? Any predictions on who who she plays?
00:48:01
Speaker
Well, I'm not I'm not one for trolling and not I'm not one for placating um ah any any kind of trolling whatsoever. um But they wondered if it was if that Sigourney was coming in as a Hollywood version of um who was the mechanic in Tatooine? Pelemodo, I was going to say Pelemodo's sister is my like just my gut.
00:48:27
Speaker
Yeah, that i I read that and I i shamedly laughed and but i because i because i because I'm evil and I need to go to hell, but I did. Yeah, now I don't know, mate. I don't know. i hope it's something I hope it's something not predictable. I hope it's not a bloody imperial. I hope it's not a bloody rebel. um I hope it's something a little bit different. um I don't know, maybe as maybe ah maybe a smuggler, maybe a map maybe a Mandalorian.
00:48:55
Speaker
um come to claim the Darksaber. I don't know. Who knows? that I must admit. cave Is it K from Outlaws? i My timeline's all messed up, but could it be K? had I don't know, mate.
00:49:08
Speaker
um i am um I must admit, i am it's a disappointment of of Acolyte, which was new and tried to be different.
00:49:22
Speaker
um i'm um a little bit um um'm I'm behaving a little bit wait and see about Star Wars at the moment. i i still I will always love Star Wars. I'll never be switched off from Star Wars. But you know especially when I felt that the end of season two was maybe a really good really good ending for the Mando's story, certainly for a while anyway, and I was a little bit disappointed with season three. um What we saw in the Acolyte
00:49:53
Speaker
was new. And I think I've said from day one, what I really respected about it is what it was trying to, you know, I, I respected what it was trying to be. Um, and it seems like certainly, you know, certainly for the immediate future, if we go by any rumors or, or, or they're here, so that's going on for the immediate future, we're back to where, you know, the timeline that we know, um, that the, the limited 60 to 80 year period that, that, um,
00:50:22
Speaker
feel safe for the franchise. And so I'm perhaps not as excited about it. I'm excited that Sigourney Weaver is getting involved. I mean, her involved in anything like Star Wars, I think is a great thing. ah they ma my like eighty eighty in I I hope they... With Ripley.
00:50:42
Speaker
Hey, you never know.
00:50:45
Speaker
That'll get everyone's but blood boiling, wouldn't it, like if they did a crossover with Alien? Talk about Alien. Hey, good segue. um There was an Alien Earth teaser. So if you remember Alien Earth being the the TV series that is in production and looking to come out in 2025, very, very quick teaser, ended up being a ah a glimpse of ah of a xenomorph, nothing more than that. But um that got me a little bit excited that um just some, some confirmation that that's on its way next year, something to look forward to. And then Elle Fanning is confirmed for the Predator Badlands movie. So Elle Fanning is an actor that I i i really, really like. um I think she's really, really talented. And she's confirmed for the Predator Badlands movie, which I believe is going to be set in slightly in the future, which I thought is somewhat not an odd choice, but
00:51:40
Speaker
The guy that um directed Prey, which I love, I absolutely adore Prey. I thought that we were gonna see a lot more of predator stories in the past throughout the history to kind of really cement that notion that they've been hunting us on earth as Prey for quite a few years. And there was there was there was talk of a,
00:52:09
Speaker
a film being set in feudal Japan, which would have been flipping amazing. There was talk of a um a film being set during one of the World Wars, World War I, World War II, which again would have been great. I love that, you know, that twisted take on on history. I love that stuff. um But it seems to be in the future. All I know is it's called Predator Badlands and that Hal Fanning has been confirmed and signed up for a role in that. And that's really the only news I picked up on, mate. I would not mind if they just kept regurgitating. It's not regurgitating because it sounds like it's a clone, but like.
00:52:47
Speaker
If like, who cares about canon or anything like that? Just keep making prey like movies where it's a predator and like a couple in just different scenarios, different time frames. I would watch that every single time. If it's like if it's like prey, like here's a future one. Here's one on a space station. Here's one in World War Two. Here's one in a yeah potato chip factory. Yeah, just make them and I'll watch it every single time.
00:53:14
Speaker
Love it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love that stuff. And I love like I said, I like. Sorry, I'm repeating myself because it's it's like I just love the I love that perverse take on history. um Yeah. Love that. Love that. So what about what have you been watching listening or reading anything this week? Anything that has tickled your fancy? Well, I can't read. So there's that. But I did watch something. um Madison.
00:53:44
Speaker
Randomly, i don't mean I have no idea what the context was. She's like, hey, you want to watch this movie? it's called And we did. It was called Perfect Days. I don't know if you've heard of this. um and It's from 2023. I don't know the names of any of the actors. It's done with Japanese actors and stuff. it is a I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. um I won't like ruin ruin it for anybody, but it's it's it's kind of more of an on the artsy artsy side, not like a pretty things or whatever that was or one that movie you didn't like. um I didn't say that. I thought it was. that's a magic thing That's what she says. I know you haven't helped me there, have you? Hey, I'm not I'm not going to get in the middle of this.
00:54:34
Speaker
and I just make things worse. But it's it's like, it's it's a really good movie that kind of makes you think about like what it means to be present.
00:54:45
Speaker
and uh in your life and like accepting the life as like as it comes um basically the the main the main actor uh he works for uh the tokyo toilet company where like he goes around cleans like the public toilets and uh it's not a documentary it's a it's a movie movie it's just i don't know it was really it was really good um Yeah, it's just, it forces you to kind of think about things. I like those movies every once in a while where it's like, how does this make me feel? How does this, what is it trying to, and what are these feelings trying to like tell me or teach me? And that was cool. And we really enjoyed it. And then I looked up on the internet what other people took from it. And man, there's some smart people on the internet. And they were like, they made that movie even better with their
00:55:38
Speaker
well put together what was that there's a film there's a film that came out a few years ago and i don't know whether it won on oscar but it was certainly nominated and it was about a retired woman that decided to retire the van life money yeah yeah yeah what's it what's the film called that one we watched that one um that one it's called But that was a really good film. Really, really good film. And and and that's the kind of film... No Badlands. Thank you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. that That was a really good film that I started watching and I thought, oh God, I'm gonna...
00:56:18
Speaker
I'm going to suffer through this. And I really, really enjoyed it. It's one of the, like, to your point, it was one of those films that, you know, a little bit of self reflection. um If you like, if you like Nomadland, I came from it really liked Perfect Days. I think it's okay. Okay, that's cool. Cool, cool. Anything else, bud? Apart from the obvious that we'll talk about in a sec. I played Star Wars Outlaws and I also watched the finale of Sunny, but Okay, fine. Good night, everyone. I've just mentioned those those are the one thing to think other only have things on my list. So i start but i start I started watching Rings of Power. So I started watching Rings of Power, which you were looking forward to. I am. um And I've watched the first three episodes that released last week, thinking that because you were looking for it, I really, really
00:57:15
Speaker
really enjoyed it really enjoyed it the tempo is significantly more um it's significantly quicker than than season one it's really really good have you seen it yet no no Okay, no, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine. So you already like it. So you already enjoy it. So all I would say is that, from my perspective, last year, when the there was there was the battle between not a battle, but that the the rivalry at the time during COVID between Rings of Power and um House of Dragon and House of Dragon, tip that tip those scales for me. I have to say Rings of Power, Good God season two is is really good.
00:58:02
Speaker
really, really good. I'm, I'm so, I'm so happy for them. I'm so, so happy for them, especially against all the, the frigging trolling there we got, they got for season one around the most ridiculous things like, um, you know, having a, having an elf of color. It's like, for fuck's sake, really? Are we going there? Are we really, really going there? But anyway, I would say it's, it's really, really good. It's It's straight out of the gate. It really is. it's it's it's it's Watch it and we'll talk about it. We'll talk about it next week because um I'm very excited about where it's going, especially the the the big reveal at the end of season one really has played dividends a paid in episodes one, two, and three. Really has.
00:58:56
Speaker
quickly though really quickly anyway yeah very very good um finished watching i finished watching welcome to rexum that little that little um Tangent that we took last week when we took some time out with the family um We got addicted to that. Yeah, I mean it's yeah you know, the premise it's it's um Ryan and Rob buyer buyer little known um football um Club in North Wales ah Turn it around um They're doing really really well um Huge injection of money, but it's it's had a massive positive and the main points had a massive
00:59:37
Speaker
the positive impact on the community of Rexxon, which is a very, as I said, it was a very, very depressed part of the UK. Better than going towards cars or an infinity pool. so Yeah, exactly, exactly. And it's it's had a really, really good effect. I mean, it's it's like a, it's like a real, it's it's a real life Ted Lasso story, really. um That's been good. Finished watching Sunny. We're going to talk about that in a second. Enjoyed the finale.
01:00:05
Speaker
left me wanting more. um Haven't progressed any further with Cobra Cry, the ones who lived Scrub Time Bandits Rebel Moon, but do. um But I already am starting to build a new list after um Listening to more and more of our friends, especially the guys that are safely talking about it, I've got to get around to seeing the bear. and That's on our new list. Once um Rings of Power is done, as like as ah as as in terms of me and Lucy, our list, the bear... Andy goes and he goes to the horse track and bets on all of the horses. he Got them all. you just got You got money on all of them. Out of range? Out of range how arrange with Josh Bro... did you Have you seen this?
01:00:51
Speaker
How to Range. it's um it's It's meant to be a... I'm trying to think of the guy's name. Who plays Thanos? Josh Brolin. Yeah, yeah, Josh Brolin. So he he he he's basically a farmer and there's some weird shit going on his farm. um Sounds like something very, very typical of, I think it's Apple TV. um But that's a good friend of mine ah reported back recently and said, hey,
01:01:19
Speaker
if you're looking for new stuff to look at and you're approaching the end of Sunday, check out Arranger, I think you'll like it. And then looking forward to Terminator Zero. So Terminator Zero released last week on Netflix, which is the the anime cartoon or cartoon or animated, sorry, Terminator show that came out and I haven't seen any yet. I've seen some snippets and it's one of those things where I'll just take it on for 10 minutes and then life gets in the way. And so I want to I want to pay it justice and make sure that I've um I spent some time watching it properly. um Listen to the sack off show with um with our buddy Katie sack off. And I'm still listening to it religiously every every week. um She she a new episode lands every Tuesday.
01:02:12
Speaker
I particularly liked her last one because it was with dual state. Dual state um famous for Firefly. She played Kaylee in Firefly, which is um one of my favorite shows of all time ever. um And I like her as an actress and I like her as a person. And um she's a very, very strong minded, independent,
01:02:39
Speaker
woman that could teach Katie, actually, a few things about about, you know, how to how to live your life and stand by your convictions. And I I I've really enjoyed it. I really, really enjoyed it. And um I think dual is a is is a is a fucking legend. um I strive to be at least half as confident or a self-assured girl with my being as as she came across in that episode, I was like,
01:03:08
Speaker
Oh, you've heard it as well. Brilliant. um Yeah, I listened to it. like Yeah, that's usually I listened to him pretty religiously. And some of them said before, and some of them aren't the best. But then like, yeah, it's a quality of the guest. And sometimes it's like, knocking out of the park with some of these Yeah, yeah. And I know we and know we've talked it about it before that a week is episodes are typically when the whole interview reverts to Katie talking about herself as opposed to the the person she's interviewing. And yet, every once in a while, there's a um an absolute gem of ah of a switcheroo whereby the you do end, Katie does end up talking about herself, but the questioning and the questioning from the person that she should be interviewing is so intense.
01:04:02
Speaker
like the Kevin Smith interview, for example, that lands with me really, really quite well. And it and and and I learned from it, and I hope that ah ah Katie takes takes an awful lot away from it as well. And I thought Jule was freaking awesome. so And then lastly, playing. um So we're going to expand our repertoire of watching, listening, reading to watching, listening, reading, and playing.
01:04:25
Speaker
and I've been playing outlaws. So um that's a reasonably good segue to ask to say.
Gaming Adventures in 'Star Wars Outlaws'
01:04:35
Speaker
um i i It turned up, I'll send it last week, so we spoke on Thursday, it arrived Thursday, Steelbook arrived Friday, loaded it, spent the day loading it up while I was working on Friday. And um I am really, really enjoying it, mate. And I know that there's an awful lot of, I wouldn't say hate, but there's there's it there there is some hate actually out there for it. And I'm really surprised about that. um there's some There's some unwarranted stuff that I i don't see in the game, um but there's also some of our friends even that that have played it. And they're not getting out, they're not getting out it's the same old adage it's different strokes with different folks it's not their thing and so therefore they're not getting as much enjoyment out of it as they did for example um um jedi survivor or jedi ford and order for me i love it this is this is exactly what i wanted this is exactly my pace this is exactly what i wanted this is um i'm really really enjoying it and i reckon i've done between
01:05:47
Speaker
eight and twelve hours now so i'm not i' i'm not particularly far into it um but that was eight to ten no it's got to be more than that so if i nine nine ten about 15 hours because i was i was i was i was grinding through till about
01:06:06
Speaker
two or three most mornings over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Felt like shit for work on Monday, of course, but I reckon I did about five hours a day over those three days. I haven't played since. Do you sleep ever? like I try to, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And in fairness, I haven't played a game since forever. That's fair. I haven't played a game forever, so so so I knew that I wanted to hammer the work last week so I could i could go into this. and um and Lucy bless her let she let me as well because she knows she knows it's been a while Don't get me wrong if I did this every single night and this was a you know 365 Thing that was happening. She'd have some concerns, but she knows that
01:06:48
Speaker
Come a school night, I'll be off i'll be off the console. there's There's no way on this planet i can I can sustain that and still function. There's no way on this planet. ah But I did go a little bit ballistic over the weekend, and I'm um'm really enjoying it. I'm sure that there are some, I mean, there are a few it bits and pieces that I would change. I find some of that I find frustrating, but all in all, I feel as if I'm living in Star Wars without the pressure of
01:07:19
Speaker
being particularly good at it, if that makes sense. I don't yeah have to be an expert. It's like story mode, but not as like a spoon fed is maybe the story mode of the actual story mode of some of the other games. It's like I don't have to be. It's not hyper intense, and I do like that about it. Like I can if I if I can only play for 30 minutes, like I can go.
01:07:41
Speaker
do something yeah exactly exactly exactly if i want to like if i have more time i can invest and like move it reminds me a lot of starfield in a lot of ways um like at least in the early game i haven't played 20 34 yeah but in the the like there's it seems like there's a kind of a main thread and there's also some kind of like side crap you can do here and there like it just feels very like it's yeah i've got to stop experience i've got to i've got to stop myself because i'm i'm I'm like a um'm like a deer in the head. I'm like, oh, look squirrel. i'm um When it comes down to the side quests, because I'll... you look at the If you look at the um i mean the controls, since the controls in the UI is very, very simple. um um And it's it's it's kind of like, I'll see a question mark on the map but all it might in my HUD. And it's like, oh, what what what's that? And then I realize, oh, shit, I've just kicked off another another another mission. Oh, it's only it's it's only a quick one, isn't it? And you find out it's not a quick one after all. I think that you know some people are are finding the,
01:08:47
Speaker
um the quest to go here, come back, receive your award. I think some ah some folk are finding that a little bit um monotonous, in which case I would suggest just crack on with the story, guys. um it's not It's not like it's hidden. You don't know where where you need to go for certain things. No. like i I felt it was like um
01:09:14
Speaker
And I'm sure Hawes in particular will shoot me down for this. But for me it's the kind of lazy gameplay that I that i found so endearing with Mass Effect 2. There's less of a... Okay, so you've got less of a decision.
01:09:32
Speaker
um Your decisions don't impact the game as much as Mass Effect 2, particularly the your partners and your your your direct ancillary characters in the story. Obviously changing how much of pain in the ass it's going to be to do certain other things yeah your decisions do impact your factional standing, so it does impact how whether you get on well with the huts the the the and the other cartels.
01:10:00
Speaker
um but it doesn't impact your immediate immediate surroundings like Mass Effect did, but I get a real mass, i I get a really, really big Mass Effect 2 vibe from it. um And it's so, so different in many, many ways, but how I feel about the game is is very, very similar to Mass Effect 2. What about yourself, mate?
01:10:25
Speaker
I'm really enjoying it. I want more time. It's just been like I said, it's been busy this week. And so it's always been like, I don't want to go get invested in it. I'll get this other stuff done so that way I can like have a big window of time. And I think I'm hoping I can get there in the next day or two, like really like I played a couple of nights ago and got got a big chunk done. I'm liking it. I will steal our buddy Hawes is kind of like sentiment in some parts. There is definitely a little bit of a At times there can be a little bit of jank.
01:10:56
Speaker
like a little bit of lack of polish on certain things. um Like I've ran it a couple of times where like I'm trying to talk to somebody, but I'm not exactly in the right spot to trigger yeah something. And it's like, come on. Hello. Hello. Like my favorite is when I managed to get the speeder beyond like I'm i'm trying to stay spoiler free. So I'm not going to say anything like to. Yeah. But I love when I can get the speeder beyond the the restricted areas.
01:11:24
Speaker
where it's like, no speeders here. And next thing you know, I have a speeder in there and it's like, you're not you're not supposed to be in here. like and so It gets all like like, I'm a dog that ran through an electric fence and it's like, well, shit, now what do I do? um There's, I also got like a side quest that like, it went on way too long until I realized that like, oh,
01:11:48
Speaker
Like I'm not in close enough proximity to something else to get it to like stop sending waves of enemies. Like I think after I had like 80 bodies out there, I'm like, something's wrong. Something's wrong. Sorry, without giving spoilers away. That's not when you steal the ship for the first time, is it?
01:12:10
Speaker
No, it's it has to do with a bunch of civilians. And I don't know. I have a lot of questions around this specific thing because there's I was in the middle of it. I killed like a billion people. And then I finally went up to the porch where some people were. And then I started having a different conversation while the battle still ongoing. and Like I was presented with an option like ah like a decision tree and I picked one and it's like and I don't know what the decision tree did. I don't think it did anything different at all. Yeah.
01:12:40
Speaker
And then I go back to this battle and I keep doing and then finally I'm like, this is like, you know, when like there's just like assets start to pile up and you're like, this is wrong. Something's wrong here. And then finally I move and it's like, oh, then I.
01:12:54
Speaker
killed some more than it finally ended. And it's just like a wasteland. I'm like, I don't think that was right at all. But it's fun. I got a lot of practice. um But no, I'm really enjoying the game. I did the whole thing about the question marks. I, I got burned by that pretty bad at one point. So I was like, Oh, I'm gonna go do this thing. Not realizing that I was going way deeper into an area that I had any business being in. ah Which. ah Proved problematic. um Yeah, getting getting out of. yeah And so it's like, yeah, maybe I don't do that again, but it's fun. I am. I am having fun.
01:13:38
Speaker
I am the things that bug me, which I think, again, high potions, high potion and blue harvest this last week have been really, really good and and and relatively comprehensive.
01:13:51
Speaker
overview of of what's going on um so I'm kind of my position is really much on how I feel about it if you want to know more about the game itself listen to those guys because they they know what they're doing and Eric as well over at the Sith List he gave a very quick rundown last week on the Sith List which I thought was good um but yeah for me I mean the biggest frustration for me is when you um are in the a huge, huge mechanic within the, or part of the gameplay mechanic is stealth mode. It's a huge, huge part of of of of of your main character's um purpose. um And their ability is stealth and um breaking into stuff, slicing. I love that shit, I love that stuff. None of this Jedi lightsaber
01:14:44
Speaker
whoosh whoosh. I think she'll respond to you. I keep forgetting to ask you that. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's pretty good. Mine was a little bit laggy. I think it might be. I'll check and see what's going on. Yeah, it's it's because I think it's because, um ironically, I couldn't get I couldn't work out that I had to get into the rhythm. The Friday that I booted it up and I start slicing stuff and I'm like, this is insane.
01:15:07
Speaker
This is absolutely saying what's going on here. And then I realized that let it run a couple of cycles and work out what the rhythm is. And once you work out what the rhythm is, but most importantly, the timing in that rhythm, you pretty much get it okay. And touch wood, I've been okay up until now, but Because a lot of it is slicing in, breaking in stuff, sneaky, sneaky. um Because you you you are mortal. You are mortal. ah You're not you're not you're not um a Jedi or ah some sort of supertrooper covered in armor. You have to sneak. And um so an awful lot of the game time is you sneaking about. And typically, that might well be in environments where the downfall of you being caught is that you
01:15:52
Speaker
you fail the mission or you fail the objective. You go all the way back. And then you go all the way back to the beginning. And that's the one thing that I'm like, Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. And it doesn't even save it doesn't even save some of things like some of the collectibles and stuff. You know, you've got to remember the stuff that you picked up along the way because unlike other gaming dynamics or gaming models is that it typically, you know, you go back, but it also it would already pick up if you like the collectibles that you've already found like in um in in in Survivor. So you don't have any of that. So you've got to start again. It's like, no way, man. Whereas I would have thought that there would have been
01:16:33
Speaker
safe points, I guess. yeah Especially with how unforgiving it can be. and Yeah, yeah, no, exactly, exactly, exactly. um So that's the one thing that's annoying, but that just means, you know, stop complaining and you just get better at the game, really, if I'm perfectly blunt with myself.
01:16:51
Speaker
But that's that's that's the only thing that the anything that that's wound me up. Things like the cutscenes, the in-engine cutscenes, I haven't experienced the problems that a lot of other people have. And I don't know whether it's because i'm I'm blind. I don't know whether it's because I have no idea what it is. But I haven't experienced certainly the mouth sink problems that people have been talking about. I haven't, certainly haven't.
01:17:17
Speaker
um the only The only bug I came across was a guy that was um in one of the cantinas, whether it was on on the on the first planet being counted by, or whether it was on the planet I'm on now, in one of the cantinas, he was floating in the middle of the floor. But it was one person, it was one it was one um one NPC, and he was just literally floating in the middle of the floor. and I couldn't interact with him. um But that was it. That's the only thing I found. And I certainly, I mean, some of the stuff online, and you know, about the way that the the looks of our hero, I mean, that she's not pretty enough. It's like, for real, for real.
01:18:06
Speaker
I filed that under your opinion is just, you're just, you you're just talking to fill the space when people are saying stuff like that. It's like, you're just looking for something to, it's like, what's your opinion? yeah I'm going to go digging, digging for stuff. It's like, I think it's a video game.
01:18:23
Speaker
like Well, it's a video game. it's It's a video game about someone that's down on their luck and is is is living a rough life. I mean, I doubt they have i mean ah doubt they have time for four four cosmetics and hair styling.
01:18:41
Speaker
what what what he And I'm sure they'll be the first people. I think K is a bombshell. like yeah mes me too Yeah. Me too. Me too. Me too. Me too. Oh, one thing I do really like as well. One thing I really do like, and I don't know how you... So, sorry, going back, and um I hope we're not spoiling anything, but because it's been in all of the... all of it's not It's not the story, and I really don't want us to give away the story, and and i'm and I really don't want us to give it... But I think most people know,
01:19:12
Speaker
And forgive me if you don't, but most people know is that you you in you do jobs. you The title of the, the clue of the, of what the game's about is in the title. You're an outdoor, you're working for the underground and who you work for in the underground is no secret because it was in the opening, it is in the trailer that everyone's been talking about for the last year or so in that you work for the huts, you work for um Crimson Dawn or you work for The Pikes. goes The Pikes, who I've managed to really annoy. and Yeah, they're my they're the one I've picked. I'm like, I'm going to piss you off. Oh, they they hate me. they They absolutely hate me. And you do jobs for each of them. and you minute And basically, you win favor. And when you win favor with one syndicate, you drop favor with another. It's ah kind of a balancing act. And when I first started playing on day one, I thought, well, if I couldt keep them all reasonably happy,
01:20:09
Speaker
Because ah you know I'm a nice guy, I want to get along with everyone. I hate it if people don't like me. I'm quite self-conscious when it comes down to that kind of thing. I really will try and balance this out. And then I saw the sick kit that you get that if you go 100% allegiance towards one, I don't know if you've noticed this, but yeah if you if you go 100% get a hundred percent approval rating or whatever it's called you get a hundred percent credibility with one with one particular um syndicate over another you get all these bonuses and part of that is is is are outfits and and skins and um
01:20:48
Speaker
So I'm now heavily biased towards the um um now heavily biased towards Crimson Dawn because the kit that our hero can get is basically a a a very sleek black Crimson Dawn set of pajamas and kit that I really, really want to get because I think she'd look amazing in it. um So yeah, I'm hopefully got enough play time play time in this game where I can where I can kind of go up with one cartel and then up with another and down with the other and then up with another and because that because the kit the the yeah
01:21:30
Speaker
the booty that you get as your as rewards, I think, is is pretty sick. Because I'm that shallow. going on that it's It's that kind of stuff that that the I really like. That's the point. That's the point. I mean, I was going to try to keep it balanced in the beginning, but then on my previously mentioned ah trespassing adventure deep into the bowels of somewhere I should have been. ah That hurts your reputation if when they see you. So me just getting there and trying to get out like really put me in a pretty deep hole with ah the pikes specifically. So it's like, all right, they're they're the one that I'm just gonna
01:22:06
Speaker
Yeah, ah not redeem myself ever with. Yeah, so yeah, the other two are kind of up on the fence to your point a minute ago about the the stealth. I feel like you were hinting at a very specific mission um that I was going to mention. It's like there there's one where it's like kind of the first one that's really kind of like ah extreme consequences of like going on back to the beginning. And that was one of the ones that I was like,
01:22:36
Speaker
i I redid it like, I'm not somebody who's like, I'm not a I'm not a a Souls like player where I'm like, I'm going to grind the same boss for. I'm not going to. I'm not going to be our buddy, Eric, and fighting those two monsters in that pit. Oh, God, for for like for four days, like I'll just be like, I'm not playing the game or I'm like, I don't I I just don't I don't don't care um that pushed. I was getting close to pushing my limit on one of those early missions. I'm like,
01:23:02
Speaker
Mainly because I couldn't figure out where to go because like I didn't I don't feel like I got enough introduction into like what certain things look like. It's not Jedi survivor. It's like, oh, it's a vine wall or this and you can do these things. Yeah, yeah I was farting around all over the place. Getting caught, not getting caught. I'm going the wrong way for like a mile and a half, just way deep in the weeds. And then finally, it's like,
01:23:32
Speaker
It finally like hit me. like I spent a lot. I think the first um half of my hours were spent on this one stupid mission. Then finally I got by it and it's like that came dangerously close to being like this is this is frustrating, like to the point of like frustrating. Like and I didn't want to drop the lot like my difficulty down like because then it just becomes a cakewalk. And where's that? Where's the true fun in that? Like I'm but I don't know. It is.
01:23:59
Speaker
I got to share with you a mistake I made or something that I found out a little bit too late was that on one of those missions, and I think it was when you first are able to fly, not when you first able to fly, when you've repaired your ship and you're allowed to take off and go somewhere, you're not allowed, you can't do inter, inter,
01:24:24
Speaker
into system or into system jumps. You can't go to high space yet, but you can go. Yeah, within your I've only done one flying mission so far. OK. And did you end up somewhere? is it Was that to do it to do a missing mission or was that to land on the second planet? Oh, no. So ah the but I was going and getting something.
01:24:47
Speaker
Yes. Right. Okay. Same mission. Same mission. Same mission I'm talking about. So it was one of those ones where you end up getting off your ship and you have to sneak about and don't get caught. And I kept getting caught. And because I was bored with the whole thing, I wanted to accelerate the me starting again, rather than just have to put up with 10 seconds of being shot at until you're caught. Anyway, I kept ah kept jumping jumping into a pit. And if you know what I'm talking about, it it's it's it's one of those, it's like the pit you have in the desk star, in in the hangar of the desk star, I kept jumping in there um to get over and done with quickly. I didn't realize that when you die, they take money off you. Did you know that? Oh, I didn't know that. No, I didn't know that either.
01:25:33
Speaker
No, no, no. So I found out the hard way because I'm starting out and I'm like, yeah, I'm tidy. Yeah, I'm looking pretty good at the moment. I've got 6,000 credits in the bank. I'm now down to 2,800. What the hell is that about? What the hell is that about? I've just lost i've just lost half.
01:25:49
Speaker
so That mission is very fun because you can, you learn a lot that mission. You learn a lot about, well, what if I just, what'll happen if I just do this and The I love this game because it is not afraid of consequences. Like it's not like Survivor where it's like, oh, you know, you you you go and guns blazing and it's like, oh, here's here's 10 guys. Good luck. No, this game, it's like you you mess around. Here's an army. Good. Yeah. Frickin luck. Like it it is not afraid to just pummel you into the dirt. And I love that. It's like because there I am. But forget this. I don't know. Running in Ghana.
01:26:27
Speaker
I found out the hard way because this idiot is jumping off, jumping into a pit like a lemming to try and, because I'm getting frustrated because I need to start from the scratch again and I want to get, I want to start from scratch as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, my, my goddamn bank balance is going down. Like I said, I lost half my cash. I was like, is it every time you die or is it because you jumped into the pit? No, no, no, no, no, no. No, every time you die, if you die, you get shot and stuff. You, you, you, um,
01:26:56
Speaker
you were lose some cash, which really pissed me off because back back on the planet that we're you know that you and I are currently residing at the moment, there's some sweet stock in in the yeah know There's a sweet jacket and with one of the smuggler vendors. There's a sweet pair of pants with one of the hot vendors. It's like, oh, God, i could have i could have I could have been suited and booted by now, but now I've i've wasted all my money by jumping into a pit. You got all the bonuses, right, for the pre-order? You have the Lando, the Jimin, and the Han. Well, I didn't. I didn't. I didn't. because i got the
01:27:38
Speaker
because I got the f i got got the physical copy. I got the the highest the highest end of the physical copy, which was the one down from the premium premium digital copy. So I only got one skin, which was the um Which ironically, you can't get. I don't think you can get in the premium or no, no, no, no, no, no, sorry. Yes, I only got one skin, which was the smugglers, which is the Han Solo type of type of kit, which you can't get in the in the uber digital one. ah The uber digital one, I believe, is Lando and Jin Erso's Jin Erso's. I have three. I have Han Lando and Jin. OK. And just a bunch of other just junk.
01:28:22
Speaker
um I'm wearing the gin one. I like the gin one the most. Okay. Another reason, the reason why, not and then they written but what I then did was I like a sucker because it's me. I then thought to myself, do you know what? I haven't spent enough on this, on this game already. So then went on to Xbox marketplace where you can buy basically whatever the difference is between the game you're on at the moment and the premium. And for me, the only thing I was missing were those two extra two extra costumes. And of course I bought them, didn't I? Which was important because
01:28:59
Speaker
You get the you get the little you get the little guy um dice for the foot for your speeder and you get the little dinner. So, um, uh, kind of a crystal for your speeder for your speeder. Oh, and you get digitizing. You got all the little next the next trinkets, too, where it's like the the the or the the helmet that hangs from the side of the speeder, like the yeah. Got all that. Got all that. Like the gotto that thermal detonator thing and.
01:29:29
Speaker
Got all that. I'm a sucker. I'm a sucker for all that shit, man. Of course, Nix is wearing Chewy's bandolier. Of course he is. What else would he be wearing? My Disney Plus wrap, tail wraps. that's where That's where mine is. Oh, look at you. yeah you can't You can't see it because Nix doesn't stand still long enough. It's in his ass.
01:29:53
Speaker
Yeah, he's he's got to trust that it's there. But I will say one thing that does piss me off about this game, like it's the only thing that's ever rightfully gone. Got me like you fucking kidding me. ah The speeder in hitting the the obstacles that they just randomly decide is like, no, you can't go through that one like a. book Yeah. had had Yeah. I dreamed a bush and just like on flying. It's like, oh, that one, that one I can't go through. Yeah. Yeah, that's annoying.
01:30:23
Speaker
There's a few things that I haven't mastered. Yeah, yeah, without a doubt. Yeah, there's there's there's two or three things that I haven't mastered yet um that I need to master quite quickly.
01:30:34
Speaker
um but um Yeah, I like it. I like it. So at the moment I'm kind of out in the wilderness doing a few things so I can get a better, I can become a better um slicer for the next mission. um I heard that getting this mission, despite it being a side mission out of the way, you actually get some better kit and some better experience that you can actually do the next mission um with a little bit easier. So, but no, I'm loving that kind of stuff. I'm taking my time with it. I'm not taking my time with it. Whereas I felt with, because I was listening to
01:31:06
Speaker
Our buddies on that, like I said, last week, I was listening to our buddies on their, on their Twitch channels playing the game. I felt that, you know, I needed to accelerate. Um, there was pressure or I put in pressure on myself to accelerate my gaming of of Jedi survivor. And because again, it was Jedis and lightsabers and it, it,
01:31:30
Speaker
it It felt quite similar to other other games. I mean, it felt similar to Dragon Age. not Not so much Dragon Age. Dragon Age is ah not so much like that. But it was you could replace the lightsaber, for example, with ah with a broadsword. And it would have been a similar type of game to to to to other other things. Whereas this, I'm finding I like it. ah it's It's got this it's got this the stealth of Metal Gear and the ah the world building, I think, of of of um like I said, of mass effect. And i I like it. I'm taking my time. I want to do well in this game and it's and it's not hard. Yeah, that's interesting that you're talking about you how you don't feel the pressure because I feel an immense pressure to to make progress specifically because one, I don't i I feel it sucks because I can't watch our friends content because I don't want to be spoiled on stuff. But there's something that happens earlier and early in the game before the the title sequence that has me
01:32:30
Speaker
concerned that there's gonna be some like revelations or something later in the story that I really don't want spoiled. Like I wanna experience it myself. And I feel like as soon as people start hitting things, they're like, it's gonna be, it's just gonna be out there. Like you aren't gonna spoiler tags, people will talk about things. And it's like, I just really don't want that. And so I'm like, I need to progress the story because I wanna get to whatever Some what I just know that there's something from the very beginning ish is going to come back in like make it a bigger story. Like I want to get there before other people start talking about it. And I i just have a gut feeling that that's going to pull. I'm intrigued now. I'm not saying give it away. Maybe stick it in the chat. But I'm I'm I'm i'm intrigued what you're what what you're thinking. But no, i I really, really am enjoying it. I really, really am enjoying it it is for me, well worth every penny. um I'm really happy.
01:33:26
Speaker
um And it's a pickup and play as opposed to, yeah, I'm sorry if I'm repeating myself as opposed to the pressure of getting it done. And it doesn't need at the moment, it doesn't need as much skill, um, as a player, but also as a, as a character in the game to, to, to, to reach your objective. And there are, what I like about it is there's multiple ways of getting to your objective. Um,
01:33:57
Speaker
and reaching and concluding the mission. You don't have to take the most obvious route or do it the obvious right. Or, you know, um yeah, no, it's just good fun. This is my bleeding heart, but I do feel guilty at times where I'm like, I feel like I'm I feel like I'm making Nyx do all of the dirty work. It's like, hey, go be go over there and be a piece of shit. Like, go, go be a piece of shit for me. And it's like, man,
01:34:26
Speaker
why Why don't I do it? but like you have it's part of that It's a video game. It's not real. But if there's time where I feel bad, I'm like, man, i'm I am leading Nick's down a bad path of not being great. Yeah. I just read what you what you wrote in the in the in the chat. and i um I didn't think of that, but if I was going to think of it and people, are it's like, this is such bad podcasting, but, but just to let you know my thoughts very, very quickly. I think that you've got, I think you're onto something there. I think it's a DLC though. I think it's a.
01:35:02
Speaker
I think if Ubisoft do this correctly, they'll keep this they'll be able to keep this dragged out for a long, long, long, long time. And that may well be the full circle that we see beyond the the current story mode. I don't know. But yeah, it wouldd be it'd be good to see. I like it. I like it. And I know there's a lot of people that are hesitant on me on the on the publisher or the yeah the developer. But um I think for you know for the for week one, I think it's ah it's turned out a relatively solid sort of experience. Like it. Love it. Good, good.
Reviewing 'Sunny': Season Finale Insights
01:35:34
Speaker
So the other thing we're going to talk about was that both of us is have wrapped up Sunny. ah we've We've both seen today the the finale of this season of Sunny. So, um dude,
01:35:51
Speaker
what do you think of what did you think of today's finale and maybe with a little bit of a premise as to what happened. And ultimately, what did you think of the season as a whole? How about how about this? How about we start with each giving a out of 10 rating for the finale and then an out of 10 rating for the season and then we can dive into the details. What do you think of that? OK. Finale. I'd say nine and season, I'd say eight.
01:36:28
Speaker
Interesting. For me, the finale would be... Seven. Season, I would say, nine. Wow. I love a bit of diversity. I love it it. But it was good. I mean, I know people could be like, seven. That's like, that's a C. Like, no, I did i did enjoy it. There was... No, a C's a six. A five or a six. You know, if if you go A, B, C, D, E, F, E, F,
01:36:56
Speaker
a seize of this 50%, you know? Anyway, sorry, carry on. I don't know what grade school you guys got over there and in. Over there. her rare ah Shit. Oh, we've done a lot better in school. um I enjoyed the finale. There was something about it. That felt very, much it felt very reminiscent of like the how they wrap up Marvel TV shows.
01:37:26
Speaker
Like there's just like that that vibe and that atmosphere where it's like, don't don't show, like keep keep the focus very closed in. Everything feels very isolated and everything just kind of happens, happens, happens. um And for a show that has been so, it's a nine, I give it a nine out of 10.
01:37:44
Speaker
so thoughtful and like the characters who are there are meaningful in the situations. Like it felt like a wrap it up final episode. um Granted, the story I thought was really good. I think there's going to be a season two. I I feel like the ending like the fade to black. Oh, fuck. Yeah. I mean, God damn it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's got to be a season two.
01:38:10
Speaker
Like, telegraph yeah it felt it felt telegraphed, but at the same time, it's like. You still kind of disappointed, like, I feel like they waited long enough and then kind of revealed that it's like, damn it. They didn't have to do that. We'll see if we have season. I think season two. didn Didn't we talk about didn't we talk about last week that has already been confirmed or my. No, that's dark matter. Sorry, my apologies. Let me just do a quick bit of research while we're in in real time, folks, in real time.
01:38:38
Speaker
um There's gotta be a season two. There has to be, because we're talking about... um Unless I cancel it. Yeah, but
01:38:59
Speaker
Okay. Haven't been announced yet. Yeah, they have to. Primarily for the facts that Rashida Jones, his character, hasn't really grown as an individual. And so we need that all in Hawaii. No, no, no, no. In fairness, i thought I thought we saw that today. I thought we saw her having trust in her friends and her friends loving her when we saw, when we saw, although, you know, be I mean, that's, that's actually now thinking about it, how the, the last scene was played out. Paul Rosita Jones is actually going to get taken, get a bit of an emotional kicking from this. But anyway, we saw that she has learned in the, in the, in the
01:39:44
Speaker
During the progression of the season that she's learned to trust and befriend people and for people to befriend her back, she calls them her friends. her senses Her son says, you don't have any friends, mum. That was brutal. I mean, yeah, but in fairness, it was, it was, you know, out of the mouth, out of the mouths of babes. He was right. I mean, she actually has been a bit of a twat in the past. So no, it was, it was, I thought it was really, really good. And I'm sorry, going back to your point about there being a renewal, there has to be, mate, we've been spending the last, you know, the last couple of weeks, we've been talking about the travesty that is the, um the counselor or the the potential um of, of season two of the acolyte not being picked up.
01:40:30
Speaker
um And yet, you could say the story was complete. It left an awful lot of supposition and an awful lot of really meaty stuff that they need to take forward. This is even more raw. The last episode of Sunny is, if that is, did it feel like a finale? No, it didn't. So in that, I'll give you that. It didn't feel like ah it didn't feel like a finale, unlike we're talking about it with Turbo the Day.
01:40:59
Speaker
Three weeks in a row, Turbo. I knew it. I knew it. I was waiting for it. We almost got all the way through. I was even going to put a sound effect in, but I forgot. We with me we were we were talking about we were talking about um with Turbo about how how beautifully neat the ending of Dark Matter was. This felt felt like a mid-season.
01:41:23
Speaker
close. This didn't feel at all like a finale. So in that respect, I get you, I do understand you. And if I was approaching it from your viewpoint, I probably would have had more of a ah less favorable ah view on it. But I think that was done intentionally. I think the story writing has been so brilliant, that it's intentional. It's so frigging jarring.
01:41:49
Speaker
as to leave it where it is at the moment that quite frankly there's got to be a season two and if you don't we're going to be throwing chairs because quite frankly that that's what i think that the the show creators wanted to leave with you is is that you know pick up next week of course we're going to pick up next week oh it's not on because nothing that never say nothing nothing is truly resolved except for No, one, one, one, one small thing that's big huge to her. But like, but other than that, nothing, nothing else really got resolved. It's actually kind of worse. That's actually a lot worse, given the fade to black. But it's when I say like my criticism with the ending is it is that. But I know you didn't watch the show echo. But like, there's something about the way that Marvel TV shows and where they
01:42:38
Speaker
It's all very ah intellectual, like ah in your head and mindful and like I'm thinking until like that last episode, then it's like, all right, we're going to introduce a crowd. It's very much like the season finale of Echo. We're going to introduce a crowd. It's going to be chaotic. And we're going to try to like wrap a million different things up at once. Yeah. And maybe it's a street like a 10 episode streaming thing. But it's like, I just I wish you would have done like Just a couple of things tweaked. So, so last week, so last week, um, Sunny is in her mind trying to figure out what's going on and she heads in her mind towards the, the white, the, the door that will suggest that she's going to self wipe herself. Would you think that would have been a more appropriate ending to the first season? And that's it. Do you didn know what's going on? I think that would have been it. Yeah.
01:43:39
Speaker
Yes, I think that would have been a better. OK. I as much as I hate a cliffhanger like like a next season on Lost. I think that would have been better because it feels like they tried to like kind of rush an ending. Like I say it sounds very crazy. It's not. I did enjoy it. But it's like. It the episode didn't it could have been a ah part one of season two or it could have been. Yeah, sure. Where it is like.
01:44:05
Speaker
I think I loved episode nine, the one where she's in her head and it was going around and around and like you get Susie's arc or not Susie's Sonny's arc of like realizing.
01:44:20
Speaker
but And I think the way Sonny ended in this episode kind of undid a little bit of that, too. of, like there were some humorous moments that kind of got Sunny going and Sunny did some things, but kind of kind of did, kind of didn't. And then Sunny ending it was like in a different spot than what I thought she was ending in episode nine, like could like leaving down the hallway of like, I'm gonna need to wipe myself. Similar, but it's just like the the tonality and kind of the headspace seemed. Yeah, she seemed to she kind of seemed to kind of accept Susie's
01:44:59
Speaker
Susie's friendship quickly and not Susie's friendship sorry her role in she seemed to she seemed to accept Susie's impassioned plea for her to look after to to to to to be safe to be to look after herself and stay with them as opposed to running off and and and deactivating herself or wiping herself she seemed to accept that rather quickly which um is somewhat counter to the term to turmoil that she's putting herself through the previous week. So yeah, I get what you're saying. I just i just i just kind of loved it. i kind of i i laed I'm it up. And I think it's ah such a clever, clever program. And the fact that yeah where it's set, where it's set, the fact that a good 70% of the whole thing is in is in Japanese, um
01:45:51
Speaker
um having a Western you know lead, I think, is is smart. um um And she's extraordinarily good in this in this. And it creates that kind of, how can I put this? Certainly living in the West, it having her as the as the hero as our hero you're living all of this through her eyes you know you're experiencing a lot of what's going on through her eyes which may well seem strange
01:46:25
Speaker
But it's not because of the time that it's set you know you know in the in the in in the near future. It's not because of technology that's being applied. It's because it's a very, very different culture as well. And I think that's now so fascinating. I find all of that so fascinating that that is probably more of the appeal than the actual storyline itself. Let me ask you a question. Do you think her husband's still alive? Do you think mass is still alive? I was getting ready to ask that. Before I admit to that, I want to add to your point a second ago.
01:46:53
Speaker
As much as I talk about her character not being like the most likable individual, which yeah is a is a comment about the character, not necessarily about me liking the show or liking her character. She's just not that much of a likable person. But that I think is the genius adding to your previous point of like. Rashida Jones is acting like this is God tier acting where it's like it's not an actor being unlikable. She is playing a character who is just struggling and she plays, it's like, you've now i've never really, you don't really see this kind of character being portrayed very often. It was just like, she seems real. well It's well but us but you just thank it's incredible.
01:47:35
Speaker
You just took the words out of my mouth. She seems real. I was about to say she seems normal because she's normal. She's like the rest of us. She's got her fault. She's got her issue. She's not a hero. A hero is a stereotype. A hero is not. She didn't do the right thing every time. A hero is not normal. We've all made mistakes. We have been assholes sometimes even when we don't mean to be.
01:48:03
Speaker
When we're a little bit self-indulgent, when we know where we need a little bit more self-reflection, when we're being selfish, and we've all we know we all can be selfish. um um When we've all been not the best of friends to people, I can i can certainly put my hand up and say,
01:48:20
Speaker
I've been that person as well sometimes. And that's why, for two reasons, as as ah as I've already said, is that you know she's living in she's living in in Kyoto. She's living in Japan. She's um an awful lot what of of what seems strange to her.
01:48:38
Speaker
is it is is the culture. It's nothing to do with the set. It's nothing to do with the the time period or the technology. as i said the technology And we're living we're living vicariously through through her. And the second and second point is that, to your point, is that she does have issues. She does have like the rest of us.
01:48:58
Speaker
You know, we all have issues. Everyone has a story. I believe in everyone having a story of of some kind or or or another where we haven't been up when we haven't turned up as our best. um And that's what what I love about this program is that it's not, yeah she's an asshole, but we're all assholes.
01:49:16
Speaker
You know, she can be if she acted that way in the U.S. or in like in like in like London and anywhere over there. Yeah. Get the reaction that she's looking for. She would. Yeah, exactly. Addiveness or whatever. But over there and I think that's where it's really genius is she's not getting any of the reactions with her behavior that she would get back home or wherever. No. And so that's why it's always just this awkward like we've all been on the wrong side of telling your friend to suck a dick like Like she and she's, that's where she is. For those who haven't seen the show, that's in the show. That's not just me saying that. ah yeah Like it's she's flawed and she's real and like the acting is, it's so good. yeah it's it's it's forgot you forget to You forget that she's acting. um yeah yeah Really good. No, it's good stuff. And I, sorry, go on. Yeah, master, is% think he is. Yeah.
01:50:14
Speaker
Well, I send you his shoes. I'm sorry for your loss and like all the stuff. It's like, I think he's 100% alive. What about you? What do you think?
01:50:25
Speaker
Yes, I think he's alive. I think it will be a waste. um And if he's not, I hope it's a damn good story. I hope it's a ga rather ah rather than, ah is he is he is he really? Is he really? Is he really? Oh, yeah, he is. He really is. He's actually, that that would kind of like, well, you had ah you had an opportunity there. You had ah you had an olive branch there to really entice people in and and have them asking questions only for it to be what we've been... It it Exactly. If if if it's... if it's if it's
01:51:07
Speaker
If it's what we're being told and not something more intriguing, I'd be a bit disappointed. um I'm not gonna lie. To me, it feels very video game-esque. It's like, oh, I've built my crew. I think something's happened. Oh, here's the boss. And it's like, she's not the real boss. There's actually another boss pulling the strings and Moss is actually Once you get rid of this boss, the Moss is going to be with the other boss and they it know just get bigger and bigger and bigger. Like the scope will just well, it's not just this local one. It's the the regional Yakuza and Moss is with the big boss. And then it's all it's a global thing. And did you just get more and more seasons and it just explodes into this mission impossible ask story or it's like.
01:51:55
Speaker
Next thing you know, we're in space. And it's like, and I'm fine with that. It's just like, it feels that way of like, I'm building my cast of characters. Yeah. Like we move past this one thing, we got whatever, we're now next thing you know, it's way, way bigger. But yeah, I think Moss is alive.
01:52:10
Speaker
ah i
01:52:16
Speaker
Yeah, there's just, it's funny. It's funny, there's just still, like the more I think about the more and like, there's just some threads that are like, there's so There's some goofy storylines. I say goofy just because it's so different than what you'd expect. Like Noriko-san still being in jail and like how her her arc played out. And it's like, yeah, but she's still in jail. yeah but shit Like shouldn't like- But that, you know, the but when we we we would we predicted with Turbo to Ching a couple of weeks back as to why she was in there. We still don't even know why she, why she, why she,
01:52:51
Speaker
basically put herself in jail, yeah purposely got caught shoplifting. We still don't know the reasons behind that. I'm ready to leave now, like assuming that she's there by choice. But it's like, no, she's not. She's there because she did something to put herself there. And it's like, yeah, you're still stuck there. And we don't know why. No. No. And it was and it clearly isn't because she's afraid of the Yakuza, because she actually, she clearly, very clearly, came came to the rescue.
01:53:22
Speaker
Um, and it's not like she's friends with those people either that she's in there. No, no, no, no, exactly. Exactly. So I, I don't know. Maybe, maybe, maybe we'll never ever know. Maybe we'll never ever know. It's one of those weird and wonderful things, but yeah, no, it's, it's. Oh, it's great. I've got that theme tune going. They got it on my head as well, which is, uh, which is insane. Dude, we're coming up to two hours again. I really thought it would be a slim week this week. yeah Um,
01:53:52
Speaker
Well, so the good news is, and I don't want to give anything away, but it um it's looking likely that something that we've been trying to work on for quite a while now may well be coming to fruition the next week or so. So watch this space, folks. For those of you that um ah enjoy our shtick, we hope to be having a bit of fun with with two extremely important guests in the foreseeable future.
01:54:22
Speaker
um It's just taken a while to align the stars and make sure that we can all do it at the same time. So I'm looking forward to that and hopefully I can lock that down in the next couple of hours or so, which will be super awesome. So your predictions of who you think those people will be to our email and we'll see how right or wrong you are.
01:54:43
Speaker
yeah Yeah, it's Madison and Lucy. It's gonna be a banger. Yeah, it's gonna be great. And another thing he does this and another thing he does that. um No, it's not gonna be that. ah Guys, thank you very much for listening as usual. um Really appreciate your time. I'm we try every week to try and keep this a reasonable length. But um I hope you understand our shtick, sorry. ah What it's all about is is two buddies catching up after a week or so without any kind of real agenda. um we We will get better over time, I promise you, but um thank you for sticking out with it sticking out with us. um Sean, thank you for recording again this week. It's awesome talking to you. Take us out, bud.
01:55:31
Speaker
I'm gonna i'm goingnna lean into the one from last week with minus the quote, and because I didn't create a new one this week. We really appreciate you spending your time with us. If you liked what you heard, make sure to subscribe and leave us a review. Don't forget to check out our website at justshillin.com for more awesome content and ways to connect with us. My going away tidbit this week is going, I was debating whether it should be, don't feed your guinea pigs too many carrots, but that was really meant for last week when we were talking about guinea pigs. So this week it's gonna be,
01:56:01
Speaker
Just so you know, your employer can see what you put in private messages if they want to, so just keep that in mind. With that, I'm Sean, and it's been fun. Thank you again. And don't forget, folks, that each day provides its own gifts. Good night now.
01:56:19
Speaker
by