May 6, 2025 • 25 mins
In this edition of Lerts Turtch Basch Trender, Jack and Miles discuss how unprepared we are for AGI, Trump's "Movie Tariff" (feat. Jon Voight), Newark Airport not working anymore, Marvel changing the name of 'Thunderbolts*' and much more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello the Internet, and welcome to this episode of Merche
Church Stage Bushler Sturgs trender uh that one courtesy of
uh you and the editor and AI and some exciting
new advances in AI. Yeah, because superproducer Catherine Law also
(00:24):
brought this clip to our attention.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yep, I think it's good to juxtapose it with one
headline where the head of Google's Deep mind AI said
society isn't prepared for artificial general intelligence. True. Oh, AI's
pop hu and.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
The n official general intelligence is going to be wild
if they ever get to make it.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Also, we're not prepared for whatever this bullshit is you
unleashed on.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
So what do we have right now? Let's take a
look at what what is operational at the moment. So, yeah, super.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Producer Catherine the stick talk video of a guy the
closing interview. Yeah on zoom it said when they interview
you using AI, and it's clearly some avatar trying to say, okay, great,
let's touch base and it gets caught in some demonic
AI loop to touch it gets worse.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Best touch.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Anyway. Yeah, we're not it isn't even prepared to say
let's touch base later. Yeah, I feel like it was,
let's touch base later, but every time they got to
the l they would start over, let's touch base again.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Yeah. Anyways, shout out to AI. We are not prepared
for you or not.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
You're right prepared.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yeah, I mean when when it comes, if it comes,
you know, if we just allow Google to keep burning
down the entire planet's rainforest for six decades, we'll get
to see them there. Well, it's gonna be. It's gonna
blow your mind how easy it is for them to
replace you. How easy their AI bots say, let's touch
(02:10):
space later, as they're.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
These like AI preachy people, or they're like, it's like
and it will help solve climate change when it gets
to that level of like intelligence. But it wrote that
logic reminds me of like the Boogie Night scene where
Mark Wahlberg and John c Riley are trying to get
a record deal but not pay for the demo that
they recorded, Like you got to pay. It's like, no,
but we need the tape to get the deal to
(02:34):
pay you. Brandon, It's like, yeah, no, that's not how
it works.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
I can do more quick, so I could do more work,
so I could buy more coke, so I could do
more work so I could buy more.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
No, is gonna more carbon and then eventually we'll get there. No, no, no, no,
we won't.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
We will not. Let's see so big news out here
in Hollywood. The Hollywood Reporter, La Times, all these places
are covering Trump's planned movie tariff, where he just like
over the weekend, was like, I'm going to do a
one hundred percent which seems very scientifically arrived at one
(03:13):
hundred percent tariff on all Hollywood movies being made out
of anywhere else. And he claimed to have done very
strong research on how Hollywood is being destroyed. But despite
the Office of the US Trade Representative said that those
(03:34):
services that he's planning to subject to tariffs are not
subject to tariffs, and that in nineteen eighty eight, Congress
passed a law quote explicitly barring the president from regulating
in any way the import or export of things like movies, books,
and music. But everyone's just treating this like, oh no,
(03:54):
what are What's Hollywood going to do? Now? It's like
he can't. He just said he's going to a thing
that you can't do.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
I'm putting a one tariff on foreign ghosts across the board.
And then rather than being like what the fuck is
this guy talking about? Like a La Times headline would
I'll be like, oh boy, foreign ghosts are in for
a bit of economic trouble with their new tariffs, Like.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
How are the foreign ghost manufacturers going to react to
Trump's new gambit?
Speaker 2 (04:23):
And small business owners who import for foreign ghosts for
their livelihoods?
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Like what? The statute couldn't be more plain? According to
a global regulations law expert, Congress in nineteen eighty eight,
specifically said the president does not have the power to
regulate this.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Even like their legal opinion.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Yeah, exactly what the fuck do Zach? I know? Even
if something like a tariff could be enacted, the film
industry is actually one of the country's strongest exports.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Yeah, like that does a lot of heavy lifting for
this empire.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Yeah, it's like the one thing that we still do
better than other countries in some case, and that like
still is influential in other countries. And so trying to
suddenly be like and now nobody can do stuff anywhere
else is like risking starting a trade war at a
(05:14):
thing that like is America, Like America still more like a.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Trade war people like countries just be like, all right then,
like we just won't show the fucking movie, and Hollywood
has been frothing at the mouth for the Chinese audiences.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Yeah, that's all they care about. How's it going to
do overseas?
Speaker 3 (05:30):
You do?
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Yeah exactly. I don't know, y'all. Y'all gave this man money,
so why don't you figure it out?
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Much like today's Alcatraz story, we wanted to kind of
get a sense of where did this come from? This
idea that he so strongly researched, like he did a research. Dude,
just might word, don't look into it. It turns out
that this idea is probably thanks to uh, the movie
star whose most recent project was being the second build
(05:58):
lead of the Charge Weber vehicle high ground A John Voight.
Oh oh, one of Trump's special ambassadors to Hollywood, in
addition to Sylvester Stallona mel Gibson. All three guys who
are at the top of Hollywood. So it made sense
to the top. Yeah, at the top peak performance.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Oh yeah, and let's try just mumbling on. He's like,
exactly exactly, sy That's why I have you here as
my special ambassador. But so Voight said that he met
with Trump at mar A Lago over the weekend to
pitch his plan for how to save the movie industry.
It also involved Voight's manager's firm, SP Media Group, who
(06:46):
issued a press release clarifying that their proposal also included
federal tax incentives, significant changes to several tax codes, the
establishment of co production treaties with foreign countries, and infrastructure
subsidies for theater owners, film and television production companies, and
post production companies. Wait, so they're like basically like, Okay,
I know you heard we talked to Trump, but that's
(07:08):
not what we were.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Not what we said. We did suggest tariffs in certain
limited circumstances, but Trump just zoned out during their pitch,
woke up when you heard the word tariff and was like, yeah, tariffs,
that's what's happening. Just no understanding of what's possible. The
president of SP Media Group was also at the meeting
(07:31):
with Trump and told Bloomberg that they suggested that tariffs
could be used to punish bad actors who take their
entire production overseas. Speaking of bad actors, High Ground, John
Voy's latest movie, produced by SP Media Group and filmed in.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
It looks like a Western, so like Montana, Bulgaria.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Hey, uh huh Bulgaria. But that's obviously just one movie
John Voice project before that, also by SP Media Group,
Man with No Past, which has like a young man
on a motorcycle with.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Like Chicago, it looks like New York.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
That's New York, right, Yeah, there's New York in the background,
so obviously that was shot in Bulgaria. Oh and strangers
that that one even has John Voyd on the fucking poster. Broye,
another Void SP Media Group joint made in Bulgaria. You're
gonna guess.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
I thought, maybe maybe I know the rule of threes
and everything, and it's really well and that's a place
so many people are talking about how Eastern Europe is
where a lot of productions are landing because it's much cheaper.
Like that's the problem. It's that the fucking tariffs. It's
that that people can't afford to live and everything. The
(08:48):
cost of everything is being driven up. So if the
labor is going up, it's because the fucking rents people
have are going up and their bills are going up.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Everything to do with the cost of living in America
has been going going up and up and up for
decades and the only thing that hasn't been going up
is the average wage. So yeah, this is what you're
going to have if you don't address that, which is
the root cause of it and also the one thing
that they will absolutely refuse to address. What a fucking
(09:18):
weekend this dude had, Like do you think.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
That then opened him up to the idea of being
inspired by film? And then he's later that weekend see
on AMC. Let's catch a flick. Yeah, he's like a
bridge over river. Kuhi, we need we need one of those.
What I just need a.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
One of the most iconic rivers.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
I was just talking to the Crown Prince as I
call him Lawrence of Arabia, some of you call him
something else, but.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
I mean his sons were talking to the Crown Prince.
His sons were on a Did you see that story
that they were just on a two week heater across
them Trump boys just did like a grift tour where
they're just like adding billions and billions of dollars or
like millions and millions of dollars of investment into Trump
comp like just funneling money to the sitting president.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Yeah, exactly, Trump Dubai then like people are using crypto
to buy shit. It's all it's so transparent and it's
so honest. But again, like, yeah, these people truly are
like Daddy's thed Like it's truly the energy feels like
Daddy's the president. We fuck it all, Like what's gonna happen?
Speaker 1 (10:27):
First term, we were like, but the emolument's clause And
now it's just everybody's fucking Henry Hill narrating Goodfellas, just
being like right, and nobody, nobody gives a fuck. Everybody's
fucking somebody over what do you?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Yeah, man, this is a note to people running to
oppose this shit. Maybe also say these people will be
held to account and actually, ah.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
M, yeah, I mean now that they have made it
so that you can just arrest whoever the fuck you want,
maybe you should. Maybe that would be a smart message
for uh whoever run a lot of them. But yeah,
we're already falling, We're already sliding. It's like a keys.
You can't be in the middle of the water slide
and be like never mind, right right, right, Yeah, let's
(11:14):
take a quick break. We'll come right back and we're back.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Yeah, we're back.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
And uh so Newark Airport doesn't work anymore. This is
the first major that they've just had to come out
and be like, yeah, I don't know, man, I wouldn't
fly here if I were you, Like, I know people
who had to fly to New York and have had
(11:48):
to like rush to change their flights, which costs a
shitload of money. But like it's just they So the
first thing that happened is air traffic controllers at Newark
Liberty International Airport briefly lost communication with planes under their control.
Unable to see here or talk to them. Oh my god,
(12:10):
like just everything gone. The first line of defense went
down and the backup also went down, and then all
of those people were like traumatized by that, and so
a handful of them are out on leave. And because
air traffic controllers are not in any way protected and
(12:32):
you know, just a very weakly organized industry, they just
don't have enough of them to replace them, and their
page poorly so they can't attract new people there. It's
just one of those things. It's like, you know, the
is just a new level of falling apart.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Well, and it's so delicate too that like if there
is a quote traumatic event, those traffic controllers can take
time off to go see like mental health people you like,
work through that, and like a lot of people are like, bro,
that's the worst thing that could happen, right because you're
in charge of, you know, pushing tin as they say,
I saw that movie and then suddenly you go completely
(13:17):
can't see hear nothing. They're saying, like when outage was
thirty seconds, another one was like sixty to ninety seconds. Jesus,
what a fucking scary story to have to And again
it just all goes back to like our crumbling infrastructure.
Like they even admit they're like their control not the best.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Yeah, And they were in the process of doing a
big replace, repair and replace on the infrastructure for all
this stuff, and Elon Musk came in and was like, no,
fuck fuck that, we're gonna replace it. We're gonna do Starlink.
So they like this multi year project that was coming
to its end was torn out basically, yeah, and now
(13:59):
starting starting it's.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Still I know Elon's left quote unquote, but he's still
responsible for everything. Yeah, so don't don't let him get
away with this ship. But yeah, like what a fucking nightmare.
Like And also hearing one of the people who was
working on the systems. I think it was actually the
Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, who said, like, quote, we
use floppy discs, we use copper wires. The system that
(14:22):
we're using is not effective to control the traffic that
we have in the airspace today. Okay, yeah, so what
the fuck are you doing about it? The fucking World
Cup is next year in the United States. Yeah, I
mean maybe.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
People will be by a bunch of scared on and
what's your problem? Who cares?
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Yeah, man, we're gonna do a bunch of math and
we're gonna steal a bunch of copper wire this thing
back on track.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
That's where we're at. Honestly, like to pay you know,
air traffic controllers a living wage or just like get
them to do math, and like just really fucking.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
I have no idea. This is yeah air traffic Like
were you it's we truly we hang by a thread.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
It's like, yeah, all those invisible things that people, you know,
behind the scene, we've been counting on for a long
time and behind the scenes are being like privatized. And
then you know the answer to privatization or the result
of privatization is always just like working people longer, harder
and taking care of people worse until you can't find
(15:24):
people who want to do your fucking shitty job. And
yeah yeah, And then also cut to the solution is
the Trump administration coming in and being like a top
us place, like what we do things a little differently
around here, and just like tearing all the fucking Yeah no,
we don't really fuck with safety.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Oh you mean being a fucking scaredy cat asshole.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Yeah no. There's also a story that ninety percent of
people in America use weather forecasts, job market reports, and
food safety warnings and other information that's based on federal science,
but only ten percent of respondents are concerned that cuts
to federal support for science are going to impact that
(16:13):
all that stuff. So it's just again, it's like all
these things that are happening in the background have been
happening in the background for a while getting worse because
of neoliberalism, and the answer has been an administration that
comes in it is just like, well, we just like
don't do that anymore, We just like don't it like
doesn't matter, you don't have to worry about that at all.
(16:36):
And there were just like I'm trying to figure out
what is that going to look like, Like there's no
there's not going to be people inspecting food safe, like
just food poisoning is going.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
To go up. You know, what's a good way to
actually familiarize yourself. Adam Conover did a show on Netflix
called The G Word a few years ago where the
whole thing was like about like talking about the things
that government does well and doesn't do well, but like
going to like a USDA facility, going to speak with
these people. And if you watch the show in the
context of these people probably won't be doing this work anymore,
(17:13):
it will fucking terrify you. Yeah, like truly, truly, truly
like that for me, I think a lot of this
stuff when I'm like, I was able to sort of
like really wrap my mind around, and it's from like seeing
a few episodes of that show. I'm like, oh, right,
the weather or like how we fucking keep our food
safe or money or diseases. Yeah, So I don't know,
(17:35):
like starmers rely on that ship, like the satellite, it's
in all that.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Shit that's in the sky there.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Yeah, And isn't tuberculosis Coming back to.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
There's a medium bargo on that, because that's going to
be like a Beyonce drop where they like just tell
us all it wants nobody, but.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Yeah, yeah, surprise album on you.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Yeah, don't be surprised if a little old friend something
that used to be so hot of the is suddenly
the war all right and finally exciting news. I don't
know if this was the plan all along or if
this is a panic move, but Marvel has renamed Thunderbolts
(18:16):
What After after the movie came out after its opening weekend.
Now it's called New Avengers. No it is not. Yeah,
it just like changes the title on movie posters and
like billboards and ship around the city and around around
the world. What there's apparently like a twist in the
(18:36):
post credit scene that this.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Is oh spoiler alert from.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Well, they've now spoiled it with a with the title.
So I don't know, am I allowed to? Am I
allowed to spoil the thing that they've spoiled by changing
the title? Wow?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Okay, So okay, I get it. So they're they're called
the New Avengers at the end.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
So they're called Okay, Brian the editor watched it, they're
called the New Avengers at the end, but like, why
not call it that in the first place, or why
not just leave that as a twist at the end?
Why change the title after the opening weekend? Other than like,
(19:16):
I guess it's probably makes sense to marketers.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
I think, I maybe it must be.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
They've been promoting the change by posting videos of the
posters being swapped out, including one by Sebastian Stan.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Sick sick sick. That's so foolish, makes no sense. It
feels like such a weird move, Like why it's not
gonna I mean, I guess maybe the thought and then
we call it New Avengers. That's going to create a
new wave of interest in the movie. So people will
go and they're like, oh, it's the New Avengers. But
then when they don't see any the actual Avengers in it,
it'll be too late. We already have their money.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
And then right in your face, loser, it's not those Avengers,
fucking idiots, or like.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Is this like a bad bob By, like a C
suite idea. I think it's probably Avengers. It's doing well,
let's call it New Avengers. Well then we have to
switch out the then change the posters.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
So apparently the name Thunderbolts is a dumb joke in
the movie. But however, like I got so tired just
trying to like even like look into why why this
is happening?
Speaker 2 (20:18):
It's yeah, it's confounding, and then even when you find out,
you're like, oh, okay, yeah fine.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
The some other renaming things that the history of renaming.
First of all, the new Mission Impossible movie, so the
first Mission Impossible the first of the Final Mission Impossible.
Because the last Mission Impossible movie was two parts, so
Mission Impossible, uh, was Dead Reckoning part one, and then
(20:45):
it didn't do well at the box office, and so
they've changed that movie's title to just Mission Impossible, Dead Reckoning,
and now Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part two is now
Mission Impossible, Final Reckoning.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Yeah, that's that's it. It's the titles, guys. I think
that's going to do it. It's not that we've seen
nine thousand times, Like I confuse all the Mission Impossible
movies now, like I can't keep any of them straight
except for the one with Homeboy that Died?
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Which one?
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Uh? Why am I like so bad at names today?
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Homeboy who Died?
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Who is Scotty McDonald no, the redheaded guy.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Oh yeah, yeah, sorry, anyway.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
That's where I'm at. That's where I'm at with this. Okay,
so that's now The Final Reckoning, Great.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Mission Impossible, The Final Reckoning. Another Tom Cruise movie, Edge
of Tomorrow. It's name changed to Live Die Repeat for
home video. I just feel like, yeah, yeah, yeah, that
movie was called Edge of Tomorrow, and then when it
came out on home video, they were like, what if
we just give it a new name and everyone's confused
(21:56):
because this name makes it sound like a straight to
DV John Boyd movie.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
I would love some analysis on what data they looked
at that were like okay, yeah, we're doing this, we're
having that.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
I mean, agra Tomorrow does suck as a title, I
will say, and thunderbolts. Okay. So this does explain because
every time I saw the title, there was an asterisks
and I was like, this is probably some lower shit
that like I don't want to look into. But I
guess the asterisks was previewing, yeah, being like haha, this
(22:30):
fake title alert. But Brian, you watched the movie and
it's you said, Brian, the editor said, is the best
movie I've ever seen, So.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
Honestly, I don't give a shit about Marvel movies, but
it was enjoyable, especially at someone who doesn't keep up
with the Marvel movies anymore. Like, I don't know where
any of these characters came from, but the movie was
enjoyable and the villain was better than usual.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Is Elaine the villain?
Speaker 3 (22:58):
She is a she's like a big bad but it's
she's more of like a bureaucratic villain. She hasn't big
bad bureaucratic, but he's not throwing punches or anything.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Yeah, she's just like and.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
The actual villain is you know that better than your
usual third string marble villain.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Sicker than your average Some would even say he doesn't.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Heard the ship out of me twist cabbage off instinct. Yeah, man,
was what were we saying earlier on tomorrow's episode that
who should have been a batman villa? Oh? Anton Sugar
batman villain. Yeah, that would have worked. Anton Sugar as
(23:43):
just like a Nolan batman villain, you know.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Just and like as just a regular dude who's looking
for Bruce Wayne all the time.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
He's got two faces. Like a lot of people are
mad at Cormack McCarthy for you know, being a fucking pervert.
But not enough people are mad that he ripped off
Two Faces gimmick with Anton Sugar with the coin flip thing.
You know, damn, they're probably just watch Dark Night. I
was like, oh, damn, dog, that's so sick.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
That's sick, dude. If you fit the coin bro. I
don't know if chronologically they one does the other, but hey, anyway.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
There's that Two Faces flipping coins before.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Oh yeah in the comics.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Yeah yeah, yeah, I'm a part of his whole ship
flipping coins. All right. Those are some of the things
that are trending on this Tuesday, May sixth. We are
back tomorrow with a whole ass episode of the show.
Until then, be kind to each other, be kind to yourself,
get the vaccine, get your vaccines while you still can't
(24:45):
get your flu shot. Don't do nothing about white supremacy,
and we will talk to you all tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Well,
Hello the Internet, and welcome to this episode of Merche
Church Stage Bushler Sturgs trender uh that one courtesy of
uh you and the editor and AI and some exciting
new advances in AI. Yeah, because superproducer Catherine Law also
(00:24):
brought this clip to our attention.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yep, I think it's good to juxtapose it with one
headline where the head of Google's Deep mind AI said
society isn't prepared for artificial general intelligence. True. Oh, AI's
pop hu and.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
The n official general intelligence is going to be wild
if they ever get to make it.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Also, we're not prepared for whatever this bullshit is you
unleashed on.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
So what do we have right now? Let's take a
look at what what is operational at the moment. So, yeah, super.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Producer Catherine the stick talk video of a guy the
closing interview. Yeah on zoom it said when they interview
you using AI, and it's clearly some avatar trying to say, okay, great,
let's touch base and it gets caught in some demonic
AI loop to touch it gets worse.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Best touch.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Anyway. Yeah, we're not it isn't even prepared to say
let's touch base later. Yeah, I feel like it was,
let's touch base later, but every time they got to
the l they would start over, let's touch base again.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Yeah. Anyways, shout out to AI. We are not prepared
for you or not.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
You're right prepared.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yeah, I mean when when it comes, if it comes,
you know, if we just allow Google to keep burning
down the entire planet's rainforest for six decades, we'll get
to see them there. Well, it's gonna be. It's gonna
blow your mind how easy it is for them to
replace you. How easy their AI bots say, let's touch
(02:10):
space later, as they're.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
These like AI preachy people, or they're like, it's like
and it will help solve climate change when it gets
to that level of like intelligence. But it wrote that
logic reminds me of like the Boogie Night scene where
Mark Wahlberg and John c Riley are trying to get
a record deal but not pay for the demo that
they recorded, Like you got to pay. It's like, no,
but we need the tape to get the deal to
(02:34):
pay you. Brandon, It's like, yeah, no, that's not how
it works.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
I can do more quick, so I could do more work,
so I could buy more coke, so I could do
more work so I could buy more.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
No, is gonna more carbon and then eventually we'll get there. No, no, no, no,
we won't.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
We will not. Let's see so big news out here
in Hollywood. The Hollywood Reporter, La Times, all these places
are covering Trump's planned movie tariff, where he just like
over the weekend, was like, I'm going to do a
one hundred percent which seems very scientifically arrived at one
(03:13):
hundred percent tariff on all Hollywood movies being made out
of anywhere else. And he claimed to have done very
strong research on how Hollywood is being destroyed. But despite
the Office of the US Trade Representative said that those
(03:34):
services that he's planning to subject to tariffs are not
subject to tariffs, and that in nineteen eighty eight, Congress
passed a law quote explicitly barring the president from regulating
in any way the import or export of things like movies, books,
and music. But everyone's just treating this like, oh no,
(03:54):
what are What's Hollywood going to do? Now? It's like
he can't. He just said he's going to a thing
that you can't do.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
I'm putting a one tariff on foreign ghosts across the board.
And then rather than being like what the fuck is
this guy talking about? Like a La Times headline would
I'll be like, oh boy, foreign ghosts are in for
a bit of economic trouble with their new tariffs, Like.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
How are the foreign ghost manufacturers going to react to
Trump's new gambit?
Speaker 2 (04:23):
And small business owners who import for foreign ghosts for
their livelihoods?
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Like what? The statute couldn't be more plain? According to
a global regulations law expert, Congress in nineteen eighty eight,
specifically said the president does not have the power to
regulate this.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Even like their legal opinion.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Yeah, exactly what the fuck do Zach? I know? Even
if something like a tariff could be enacted, the film
industry is actually one of the country's strongest exports.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Yeah, like that does a lot of heavy lifting for
this empire.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Yeah, it's like the one thing that we still do
better than other countries in some case, and that like
still is influential in other countries. And so trying to
suddenly be like and now nobody can do stuff anywhere
else is like risking starting a trade war at a
(05:14):
thing that like is America, Like America still more like a.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Trade war people like countries just be like, all right then,
like we just won't show the fucking movie, and Hollywood
has been frothing at the mouth for the Chinese audiences.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Yeah, that's all they care about. How's it going to
do overseas?
Speaker 3 (05:30):
You do?
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Yeah exactly. I don't know, y'all. Y'all gave this man money,
so why don't you figure it out?
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Much like today's Alcatraz story, we wanted to kind of
get a sense of where did this come from? This
idea that he so strongly researched, like he did a research. Dude,
just might word, don't look into it. It turns out
that this idea is probably thanks to uh, the movie
star whose most recent project was being the second build
(05:58):
lead of the Charge Weber vehicle high ground A John Voight.
Oh oh, one of Trump's special ambassadors to Hollywood, in
addition to Sylvester Stallona mel Gibson. All three guys who
are at the top of Hollywood. So it made sense
to the top. Yeah, at the top peak performance.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Oh yeah, and let's try just mumbling on. He's like,
exactly exactly, sy That's why I have you here as
my special ambassador. But so Voight said that he met
with Trump at mar A Lago over the weekend to
pitch his plan for how to save the movie industry.
It also involved Voight's manager's firm, SP Media Group, who
(06:46):
issued a press release clarifying that their proposal also included
federal tax incentives, significant changes to several tax codes, the
establishment of co production treaties with foreign countries, and infrastructure
subsidies for theater owners, film and television production companies, and
post production companies. Wait, so they're like basically like, Okay,
I know you heard we talked to Trump, but that's
(07:08):
not what we were.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Not what we said. We did suggest tariffs in certain
limited circumstances, but Trump just zoned out during their pitch,
woke up when you heard the word tariff and was like, yeah, tariffs,
that's what's happening. Just no understanding of what's possible. The
president of SP Media Group was also at the meeting
(07:31):
with Trump and told Bloomberg that they suggested that tariffs
could be used to punish bad actors who take their
entire production overseas. Speaking of bad actors, High Ground, John
Voy's latest movie, produced by SP Media Group and filmed in.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
It looks like a Western, so like Montana, Bulgaria.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Hey, uh huh Bulgaria. But that's obviously just one movie
John Voice project before that, also by SP Media Group,
Man with No Past, which has like a young man
on a motorcycle with.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Like Chicago, it looks like New York.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
That's New York, right, Yeah, there's New York in the background,
so obviously that was shot in Bulgaria. Oh and strangers
that that one even has John Voyd on the fucking poster. Broye,
another Void SP Media Group joint made in Bulgaria. You're
gonna guess.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
I thought, maybe maybe I know the rule of threes
and everything, and it's really well and that's a place
so many people are talking about how Eastern Europe is
where a lot of productions are landing because it's much cheaper.
Like that's the problem. It's that the fucking tariffs. It's
that that people can't afford to live and everything. The
(08:48):
cost of everything is being driven up. So if the
labor is going up, it's because the fucking rents people
have are going up and their bills are going up.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Everything to do with the cost of living in America
has been going going up and up and up for
decades and the only thing that hasn't been going up
is the average wage. So yeah, this is what you're
going to have if you don't address that, which is
the root cause of it and also the one thing
that they will absolutely refuse to address. What a fucking
(09:18):
weekend this dude had, Like do you think.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
That then opened him up to the idea of being
inspired by film? And then he's later that weekend see
on AMC. Let's catch a flick. Yeah, he's like a
bridge over river. Kuhi, we need we need one of those.
What I just need a.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
One of the most iconic rivers.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
I was just talking to the Crown Prince as I
call him Lawrence of Arabia, some of you call him
something else, but.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
I mean his sons were talking to the Crown Prince.
His sons were on a Did you see that story
that they were just on a two week heater across
them Trump boys just did like a grift tour where
they're just like adding billions and billions of dollars or
like millions and millions of dollars of investment into Trump
comp like just funneling money to the sitting president.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Yeah, exactly, Trump Dubai then like people are using crypto
to buy shit. It's all it's so transparent and it's
so honest. But again, like, yeah, these people truly are
like Daddy's thed Like it's truly the energy feels like
Daddy's the president. We fuck it all, Like what's gonna happen?
Speaker 1 (10:27):
First term, we were like, but the emolument's clause And
now it's just everybody's fucking Henry Hill narrating Goodfellas, just
being like right, and nobody, nobody gives a fuck. Everybody's
fucking somebody over what do you?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Yeah, man, this is a note to people running to
oppose this shit. Maybe also say these people will be
held to account and actually, ah.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
M, yeah, I mean now that they have made it
so that you can just arrest whoever the fuck you want,
maybe you should. Maybe that would be a smart message
for uh whoever run a lot of them. But yeah,
we're already falling, We're already sliding. It's like a keys.
You can't be in the middle of the water slide
and be like never mind, right right, right, Yeah, let's
(11:14):
take a quick break. We'll come right back and we're back.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Yeah, we're back.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
And uh so Newark Airport doesn't work anymore. This is
the first major that they've just had to come out
and be like, yeah, I don't know, man, I wouldn't
fly here if I were you, Like, I know people
who had to fly to New York and have had
(11:48):
to like rush to change their flights, which costs a
shitload of money. But like it's just they So the
first thing that happened is air traffic controllers at Newark
Liberty International Airport briefly lost communication with planes under their control.
Unable to see here or talk to them. Oh my god,
(12:10):
like just everything gone. The first line of defense went
down and the backup also went down, and then all
of those people were like traumatized by that, and so
a handful of them are out on leave. And because
air traffic controllers are not in any way protected and
(12:32):
you know, just a very weakly organized industry, they just
don't have enough of them to replace them, and their
page poorly so they can't attract new people there. It's
just one of those things. It's like, you know, the
is just a new level of falling apart.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Well, and it's so delicate too that like if there
is a quote traumatic event, those traffic controllers can take
time off to go see like mental health people you like,
work through that, and like a lot of people are like, bro,
that's the worst thing that could happen, right because you're
in charge of, you know, pushing tin as they say,
I saw that movie and then suddenly you go completely
(13:17):
can't see hear nothing. They're saying, like when outage was
thirty seconds, another one was like sixty to ninety seconds. Jesus,
what a fucking scary story to have to And again
it just all goes back to like our crumbling infrastructure.
Like they even admit they're like their control not the best.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Yeah, And they were in the process of doing a
big replace, repair and replace on the infrastructure for all
this stuff, and Elon Musk came in and was like, no,
fuck fuck that, we're gonna replace it. We're gonna do Starlink.
So they like this multi year project that was coming
to its end was torn out basically, yeah, and now
(13:59):
starting starting it's.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Still I know Elon's left quote unquote, but he's still
responsible for everything. Yeah, so don't don't let him get
away with this ship. But yeah, like what a fucking nightmare.
Like And also hearing one of the people who was
working on the systems. I think it was actually the
Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, who said, like, quote, we
use floppy discs, we use copper wires. The system that
(14:22):
we're using is not effective to control the traffic that
we have in the airspace today. Okay, yeah, so what
the fuck are you doing about it? The fucking World
Cup is next year in the United States. Yeah, I
mean maybe.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
People will be by a bunch of scared on and
what's your problem? Who cares?
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Yeah, man, we're gonna do a bunch of math and
we're gonna steal a bunch of copper wire this thing
back on track.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
That's where we're at. Honestly, like to pay you know,
air traffic controllers a living wage or just like get
them to do math, and like just really fucking.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
I have no idea. This is yeah air traffic Like
were you it's we truly we hang by a thread.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
It's like, yeah, all those invisible things that people, you know,
behind the scene, we've been counting on for a long
time and behind the scenes are being like privatized. And
then you know the answer to privatization or the result
of privatization is always just like working people longer, harder
and taking care of people worse until you can't find
(15:24):
people who want to do your fucking shitty job. And
yeah yeah, And then also cut to the solution is
the Trump administration coming in and being like a top
us place, like what we do things a little differently
around here, and just like tearing all the fucking Yeah no,
we don't really fuck with safety.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Oh you mean being a fucking scaredy cat asshole.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Yeah no. There's also a story that ninety percent of
people in America use weather forecasts, job market reports, and
food safety warnings and other information that's based on federal science,
but only ten percent of respondents are concerned that cuts
to federal support for science are going to impact that
(16:13):
all that stuff. So it's just again, it's like all
these things that are happening in the background have been
happening in the background for a while getting worse because
of neoliberalism, and the answer has been an administration that
comes in it is just like, well, we just like
don't do that anymore, We just like don't it like
doesn't matter, you don't have to worry about that at all.
(16:36):
And there were just like I'm trying to figure out
what is that going to look like, Like there's no
there's not going to be people inspecting food safe, like
just food poisoning is going.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
To go up. You know, what's a good way to
actually familiarize yourself. Adam Conover did a show on Netflix
called The G Word a few years ago where the
whole thing was like about like talking about the things
that government does well and doesn't do well, but like
going to like a USDA facility, going to speak with
these people. And if you watch the show in the
context of these people probably won't be doing this work anymore,
(17:13):
it will fucking terrify you. Yeah, like truly, truly, truly
like that for me, I think a lot of this
stuff when I'm like, I was able to sort of
like really wrap my mind around, and it's from like seeing
a few episodes of that show. I'm like, oh, right,
the weather or like how we fucking keep our food
safe or money or diseases. Yeah, So I don't know,
(17:35):
like starmers rely on that ship, like the satellite, it's
in all that.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Shit that's in the sky there.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Yeah, And isn't tuberculosis Coming back to.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
There's a medium bargo on that, because that's going to
be like a Beyonce drop where they like just tell
us all it wants nobody, but.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Yeah, yeah, surprise album on you.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Yeah, don't be surprised if a little old friend something
that used to be so hot of the is suddenly
the war all right and finally exciting news. I don't
know if this was the plan all along or if
this is a panic move, but Marvel has renamed Thunderbolts
(18:16):
What After after the movie came out after its opening weekend.
Now it's called New Avengers. No it is not. Yeah,
it just like changes the title on movie posters and
like billboards and ship around the city and around around
the world. What there's apparently like a twist in the
(18:36):
post credit scene that this.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Is oh spoiler alert from.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Well, they've now spoiled it with a with the title.
So I don't know, am I allowed to? Am I
allowed to spoil the thing that they've spoiled by changing
the title? Wow?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Okay, So okay, I get it. So they're they're called
the New Avengers at the end.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
So they're called Okay, Brian the editor watched it, they're
called the New Avengers at the end, but like, why
not call it that in the first place, or why
not just leave that as a twist at the end?
Why change the title after the opening weekend? Other than like,
(19:16):
I guess it's probably makes sense to marketers.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
I think, I maybe it must be.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
They've been promoting the change by posting videos of the
posters being swapped out, including one by Sebastian Stan.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Sick sick sick. That's so foolish, makes no sense. It
feels like such a weird move, Like why it's not
gonna I mean, I guess maybe the thought and then
we call it New Avengers. That's going to create a
new wave of interest in the movie. So people will
go and they're like, oh, it's the New Avengers. But
then when they don't see any the actual Avengers in it,
it'll be too late. We already have their money.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
And then right in your face, loser, it's not those Avengers,
fucking idiots, or like.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Is this like a bad bob By, like a C
suite idea. I think it's probably Avengers. It's doing well,
let's call it New Avengers. Well then we have to
switch out the then change the posters.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
So apparently the name Thunderbolts is a dumb joke in
the movie. But however, like I got so tired just
trying to like even like look into why why this
is happening?
Speaker 2 (20:18):
It's yeah, it's confounding, and then even when you find out,
you're like, oh, okay, yeah fine.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
The some other renaming things that the history of renaming.
First of all, the new Mission Impossible movie, so the
first Mission Impossible the first of the Final Mission Impossible.
Because the last Mission Impossible movie was two parts, so
Mission Impossible, uh, was Dead Reckoning part one, and then
(20:45):
it didn't do well at the box office, and so
they've changed that movie's title to just Mission Impossible, Dead Reckoning,
and now Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part two is now
Mission Impossible, Final Reckoning.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Yeah, that's that's it. It's the titles, guys. I think
that's going to do it. It's not that we've seen
nine thousand times, Like I confuse all the Mission Impossible
movies now, like I can't keep any of them straight
except for the one with Homeboy that Died?
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Which one?
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Uh? Why am I like so bad at names today?
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Homeboy who Died?
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Who is Scotty McDonald no, the redheaded guy.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Oh yeah, yeah, sorry, anyway.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
That's where I'm at. That's where I'm at with this. Okay,
so that's now The Final Reckoning, Great.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Mission Impossible, The Final Reckoning. Another Tom Cruise movie, Edge
of Tomorrow. It's name changed to Live Die Repeat for
home video. I just feel like, yeah, yeah, yeah, that
movie was called Edge of Tomorrow, and then when it
came out on home video, they were like, what if
we just give it a new name and everyone's confused
(21:56):
because this name makes it sound like a straight to
DV John Boyd movie.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
I would love some analysis on what data they looked
at that were like okay, yeah, we're doing this, we're
having that.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
I mean, agra Tomorrow does suck as a title, I
will say, and thunderbolts. Okay. So this does explain because
every time I saw the title, there was an asterisks
and I was like, this is probably some lower shit
that like I don't want to look into. But I
guess the asterisks was previewing, yeah, being like haha, this
(22:30):
fake title alert. But Brian, you watched the movie and
it's you said, Brian, the editor said, is the best
movie I've ever seen, So.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
Honestly, I don't give a shit about Marvel movies, but
it was enjoyable, especially at someone who doesn't keep up
with the Marvel movies anymore. Like, I don't know where
any of these characters came from, but the movie was
enjoyable and the villain was better than usual.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Is Elaine the villain?
Speaker 3 (22:58):
She is a she's like a big bad but it's
she's more of like a bureaucratic villain. She hasn't big
bad bureaucratic, but he's not throwing punches or anything.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Yeah, she's just like and.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
The actual villain is you know that better than your
usual third string marble villain.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Sicker than your average Some would even say he doesn't.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
Heard the ship out of me twist cabbage off instinct. Yeah, man,
was what were we saying earlier on tomorrow's episode that
who should have been a batman villa? Oh? Anton Sugar
batman villain. Yeah, that would have worked. Anton Sugar as
(23:43):
just like a Nolan batman villain, you know.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Just and like as just a regular dude who's looking
for Bruce Wayne all the time.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
He's got two faces. Like a lot of people are
mad at Cormack McCarthy for you know, being a fucking pervert.
But not enough people are mad that he ripped off
Two Faces gimmick with Anton Sugar with the coin flip thing.
You know, damn, they're probably just watch Dark Night. I
was like, oh, damn, dog, that's so sick.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
That's sick, dude. If you fit the coin bro. I
don't know if chronologically they one does the other, but hey, anyway.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
There's that Two Faces flipping coins before.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Oh yeah in the comics.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Yeah yeah, yeah, I'm a part of his whole ship
flipping coins. All right. Those are some of the things
that are trending on this Tuesday, May sixth. We are
back tomorrow with a whole ass episode of the show.
Until then, be kind to each other, be kind to yourself,
get the vaccine, get your vaccines while you still can't
(24:45):
get your flu shot. Don't do nothing about white supremacy,
and we will talk to you all tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Well,
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