Trend Gary Trend Ross 3/10: Silicon Valley Bank, Jenna Ortega, The Oscars, BBC

In this edition of Trend Gary Trend Ross, Jack and super producer Justin discuss the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Jenna Ortega in 'Beetlejuice 2'?, The Oscars vs. The Last of Us, and the BBC censoring David Attenborough for being too woke?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello the Internet, and welcome to this episode of trend
Gary Trend Ross, what is it? Coffees for Closers, and
ABC Always be closing, Um, always be Trending. I am
Jack and I'm thrilled to be joined by super producer
Justin Connor. Hio. I don't know why I turned into
like a morning zooga. I guess that's the vibe. I
don't know. I've never seen Hio in my life. You

(00:22):
always say Hio, don't Yeah, Hio. That's what we all
say in Chicago in the season Hio, you say, Hio,
you got the Jay Man. That's usually how you greet people.
I don't know why you're pretending otherwise. It's Jay, It's
Jay Rock. It's it's the Jay Rock. It's the Jay Rock.

(00:42):
That's right. How are you doing doing? All right? I'm
actually enjoying this rainy la weather. It makes me feel
like we have seasons for a few hours. So that's
always nice. As you were saying before we start recording,
Jay Rock loves to get wet. Because what you were
saying as you were passing, you were passing me that, yeah,

(01:07):
I know you'd like to give wet Jay right, Um,
all right, well, these are some of the things that
are trending. Um. People do come here for our trenchant
market analysis and who do we have it for you today?
Because Silicon Valley Bank just cratered or got had to

(01:28):
be taken over by the regulators. We know that's never
good because regulators are the devil. But the FDIC took
them over because of major problems that they're having. You
know what, I would just realize, Jack, a music business
degree really prepares you to talk about this kind of thing.
You know what I mean? I am I'm fully immersed

(01:49):
in that. I'm kidding. I don't know what the fuck
is going on. I guess this is bad. And you're
gonna need to explain this to me because I don't know.
I'm not a bank. Well that makes two of us.
We're gonna need me to explain this to them. Uh
some things. I know. It's one of the biggest bank
collapses of all time. UM. I can understand that US history,

(02:13):
so that it seems not good. UM. Jim Kramer, I'm
like worried for his yes because he, like we saw
how hard he took it when Facebook was like kradering
and he had just told everybody to buy Facebook stock,
and like he started crying on air. Well, unfortunately for

(02:34):
Jim Kramer, Um, he is in an industry where he's
just like it's a pre meteorologist time and he's just
predicting the weather very confidently and at the top of
his lungs on TV, like he just there. It's complete
randomness and he goes on there and it's like, you
gotta buy this stuff. So apparently a month ago, Kramer

(02:57):
urged viewers to buy Silicon Valley Bank stock and yeah,
this is all nonsense, that's all a fiction that has
been concocted too. Didn't you go all in on crypto too?
Like he was a super against it and then he
was like really into it. Yeah, this isn't the first
l that this guy has taken. Why does he Oh no,

(03:18):
why why? Why is he revered in the financial world
or is? I don't think he is. Okay, I think
he's just like he's the stephen A. Smith of the
financial world. He just like kind of screams a lot
and takes really strong opinions. Failed comedian essentially, and he's
just out here yelling opinions at people. Observations. Okay, cool,

(03:41):
I compete with that. He actually went to Carnegie Mellen
for drama acting. Um, that's very rare. I like that. No,
that's the yeah that the financial world. Yeah, anyways, regulators
had to shut down Silicon Valley Bank in the biggest
collapse since two thousand and eight financial crisis. The tire
stock market has not completely crashed yet, so that's good news.

(04:05):
But I do think we're just generally seeing the US
economy and the myth that like the market fixes everything,
and the market like possesses some wisdom and it's all
just a fiction to distract us from the reality that
it is randomness and also like predatory and just is

(04:26):
trying to make money off of people in any way possible.
There's no real logic to it. But if you're if
you turn it into this kind of weather system that
you you think you can predict, like a meteorologist, then
people feel at least safer. But nobody knows anything, especially

(04:47):
in this world. Um. Yeah, so it seems like yeah, uh,
Jenu Ortega might star and beetle just beetle just is
that how it's pronounced. You got it? Beetle juice too,
which is still happening. Apparently, um okay, they so. Last
year it was reported that Brad Pitt's production company was

(05:08):
working on a Beetle Juice too, And now there are
rumors that Jenna Ortega will start in the movie as
Oneona Ryder's daughter, which would make sense since she starred
in Wednesday, which was partly directed by Tim Burton but
apparently wasn't good. I don't know. I didn't watch it,
but I think there's aspects of it I didn't, you know,
I wasn't I didn't consume the full thing, but they

(05:30):
were like aspects of it that went viral that people
were really into. I think the school dance was one
of them. Um, you know. And I'm all for letting
things breathe a little bit sometimes, you know, the first
season of a thing might be a little bit rocky.
I need some time for things to flesh out a

(05:52):
little bit. So I'm here for this. This seems to
be a lane Jenna wants to occupy. I say, go
for it. I want to see what this looks like.
And I'm I don't know. I know there's a lot
of people out there who are like, oh, there's too
many sequels, and there's you know, all this original you know,
or there's no more original ip. They're just you know,
going back in the past and redoing stuff. It can

(06:14):
be done. Well, I'm not a full hater of it,
and that's it's bad. I haven't seen it yet though,
so we'll see. Yeah. She has said, particularly that she
had consistent dreams about Beetlejuice growing up. Okay, so, uh
sounds like a real Burton head. Um. My main concern
would be that it doesn't like it doesn't seem like

(06:36):
Burton movies have been that good of late. Yeah, but
especially not once he produces like from before, because he
doesn't have really like a as He's not writing or
directing or anything with this. It's just uh yeah, I'm
not sure, but okay. Also, there are rumors that Johnny
Depp will be involved too. Well, then I'm not. One

(07:00):
of the great things about the original Beetlejuice was that
it was made before Timberton met Johnny Depp and put
him in everything. They ruined each other. That is the
perfect example of a toxic relationship right there. Like, Yeah,
the Oscars are this weekend. This year's show. They were
apparently really like thrown off by last year's show and

(07:23):
the slap. So this year's show has been in the
work since last June. Usually they would start planning in November,
but this time they were like, let's spend even more
time over determining this weird industry awards event. They need
time to build all the false walls and ship they
can hide the SWAT teams. In my god, they're gonna

(07:45):
they're gonna overreact so hard. If anyone twitches, like God forbid,
they be black. Oh my god. Right, we'll see what happens.
So the things that they're changing, in addition to presumably
like hoping that nobody slaps anybody on camera this year,
is they are no longer giving out those awards during

(08:07):
the commercial breaks that they did last year. They've scrapped that,
and now they've added QR codes to direct people to
behind the scenes videos, which feels like something nobody is
going to do. Where are you making me do extra work?
What the fuck? Yeah? But I don't know. I like.
One of the things I like about the oscars is
when they like these are the behind the scenes videos

(08:30):
that like tell you more about the art of costume
design or you know, like actually are like many documentaries
about like how they did the work that is being nominated,
and those are my favorite things about the Academy Awards.
But I think I'm weird. Like a lot of people
seem to really enjoy the speeches, which I don't care about.
Yeah that's me. I always said, like, I'm just I'm

(08:53):
not one for ceremony though either like I did not
you know, I had the option to walk at my
college aduation, I chose not to. I don't know, I'm
just not really big into like ceremony and the idea
of a bunch of millionaires handing each other golden statues.
And then the first thing they say is I'm so
humbled by this experience. It's like the least humbling thing.

(09:15):
So I think that, uh, yeah, I don't know, I'm
not really for this. I like, I do like to
see the groundwork of the people putting on the production.
I guess I'm also a weirdo, though I can fully
admit to that. Like I like seeing how hard this
tremendous effort is and then and then, um, I like

(09:35):
the stories too, of like you know, back when I
watched the Olympics, which I don't anymore, but like seeing
the little like uh vinyest, the little like documentaries between
the stuff of like their lives, in between the sporting
events that total shit. Yeah Yeah. Instead, it feels like
there there's more of a focus on like they've hired
the some of the met Gala creative team, which I

(09:57):
mean the met Gala is a monster social media event,
and so they're trying to Met Gala eyes the Oscars
red carpet and presumably make it even more gaudily alienating. Yeah.
I think people just poke fun at the met Gala
at this point. And some people show up and show

(10:17):
out and you're like, oh, okay, wow, you're one of
the few people who understood the assignment, but most people
are just being laughed at. I think, yeah, the bit
one thing that they're talking about in this article is
that expect much more star power, specialized lighting to make
a process that happens in daylight seemed more like evening.
And better integration with the theater's entrance. I've been I've

(10:41):
been demanding better integration with the theater's entrance for my
red carpet coverage, and I'm glad they're finally listening. It
is always weird when I think it's just because in
most of the country it's nighttime by the time it starts,
but when the Red Carpet starts, it's obviously still daylight
in Los Angeles, and so it always feels weird that

(11:02):
everybody's showing up during the day. But it also doesn't
like feel like that is a material change that people
were like, this bothers me and I won't watch it anymore,
not once have I heard. I don't know. I don't
even know who watches the Oscars anymore at this point,
But I don't know. Man, it's not my thing. But hey,
if they're gonna try something, I feel like they should

(11:23):
swing for the fences and just go crazy with it.
Right now, they're doing all these boring little changes that
I don't think anyone's going to care about. Well, if
you want to get a sense of like the brain
trust behind the Oscars, So they started doing a marketing
campaign on letterboxed like, which is a you know, movie
fan website social media platform, and the people who work

(11:44):
for the Academy like openly complained. They were like, we
didn't have to do shit like this before, like we
used to Janet Young, the Academy's president said in an
interview at the organization's Beverly Hills office. We didn't have
to before. We could rest on our laurels and just
let it carry itself. Like, so they're like doing these

(12:05):
moves to update it, like very like being dragged, kicking
and screaming, which is just funny to me that they're
just like they take themselves seriously enough that they'll be
quoted at like on a marketing decision being like, uh, yeah,
now we have to stoop to this level, like this
is what you call work, Like you put on a

(12:27):
TV show once a year. Yeah, you relax. They also
are going up against the Last of Us, like the
Last of Us finale m at the same time. Yeah,
and that's oh, I like the confidence of the because
the Last of Us I think moved for the Super Bowl.
But they're like the Oscars. We we sun them, bro,

(12:47):
we don't give a fuck about it. We have we
have no respect for them, and they shouldn't because they're
one of the few shows, especially in this modern era,
that has drastically increased their their viewership from the first
episode to the eighth episode by a lot. I mean
that's impressive. I think it's just the oscars being there.

(13:08):
The Oscars were probably they were like, should we move it?
And they were like, we actually won't even take a
meeting with you, HBO. So I don't know that that's
the impression I'm getting from. We didn't used to have
to do this stuff like talk directly to film fan. Um,
all right, let's take a quick break. We'll be right back,

(13:37):
and we're back. And a couple of BBC stories, a
couple of ways the BBC is behaving like one of
the like the New York Times, a little bit like
a name brand that people associate with m at least liberalism. Yeah,
that was the first thing I thought of, was the

(13:58):
European New York Times. Yeah, so they had a hell
of a two for one. They published a very misleading
headline about pandemic related mental health crises. Mental health crisis
from COVID pandemic was minimal dash study And I don't
know they like, it's just misleading because the studies used

(14:21):
for this review, we're all from high income European and
Asian countries, didn't examine lower income countries or children and
people with existing conditions, aka the groups of people who
are most likely affected according to experts, which seems like
kind of a big oversight, and even the study said

(14:42):
there were data biases in this study, but like that
fact was buried in the BBC's article and yeah, just
experts really ripped it apart. And then same day there's
a new story about how they're censoring David Attenborough for
being two woke, and but it's not even this was

(15:03):
his whole thing before woke was even in the zeitgeist,
Like this is this is maddening to me because BBC
also wants to gaslight everybody and say that this like
they're not censoring dude, when this is the sixth episode
and they're calling it a five part series. So it's

(15:23):
what I actually didn't know this story before. So basically,
you know David Attenborough's thing as he does docuseries about
the beauty of things and then on the flip side
will show you how that beauty might be in jeopardy.
And then he tries to end it on a positive
note of like, but here's how all hope is not
lost and how we can help save this little creatures

(15:46):
environment that you saw or whatever, and that's his whole
general vibe for the many, many years he's been doing this,
and for whatever reason, the BBC when other people in
the press of asked them about this peculiar setup they
have where there's this docu series that's coming out that
he's doing, just like all the other ones he's been doing,

(16:08):
but there's one that has I guess, some rumors, some
speculation that BBC has put on their like obscure streaming
platform called i Player instead of airing it on their
their network is because it leans too heavily into environmentalism.
And even though that aspect is in the other five episodes,

(16:31):
they are relegating this to a place, yeah, to streaming,
and and they're like, pretty much their excuse is that
this was funded. This particular part is like a separate
movie and it was funded by you know, wildlife organizations
and whatnot. And as if that's a satisfactory excuse, It's like,

(16:54):
why does that make it different? Why does that make
it in a place where no one should be able
to see it, you know, And it just doesn't make
sense to me. And it's this kind of I guess
the censorship aspect right now. And there's a difference between
like liberals being like, oh, this thing is being censored
because the right has co opted canceled and things being canceled,

(17:15):
and there's this culture war happening about censorship and things
that are being canceled. That's very interesting to talk about,
but it doesn't seem like anyone has the right tools
to really have an intellectual conversation about it. They're just
either doing the thing where they're like cow towing to
a certain group, or they are just outright accusing or

(17:37):
blaming or whitewashing or whatever, and it's just it's maddening.
So the BBC statement came out, I was like, this
is totally inaccurate. There is no sixth episode. Wild Aisles
is and always was a five part series and does
not shy away from environmental content. We've acquired a separate
film for eye Player. Anyways, it feels like there, you know,

(18:01):
just being like, we don't know what you're talking about.
But like The Guardian has an exclusive where they're like,
they specifically made this decision because they were worried about
getting right wing backlash. And forgive me if I'm wrong.
Don't you order a certain number of because there's a
certain amount of resources allocated per episode to a thing

(18:22):
and so why would they order six parts and then
air five. It just seems like there this is not
a you know, the satisfactory answer. But they're like, yep,
that's it, dumb Fox. There you go, That's why we
did it right. And we are just seeing a lot
of quote unquote centrist adjusting of their position or what

(18:44):
they do in response to like right wing outrage and
just the idea has been planted in their brain like
inception style that they can't get rid of. That is
like you have to be in between the right and left,
and they will not let go of that, even as
the right becomes like outright Nazis. But the right it's

(19:07):
not watching you. They're not your friend. You think people
on the right are turning on the BBC like are
you serious? Like it just does you want to appeal
to everyone, so so you appeal to no one. I
don't know how that strategy is supposed to work for you,
but I guess do what you want? All right. Well,
those are some of the things that are trending on
this Friday, March tenth. We are back on Monday with

(19:30):
the whole last episode of the show justin where can
people Will find You? Follow you all that stuff. You
can find me on Instagram at j con The Smith
J C O N t H E. S. M I
T H. And yeah, all right, we'll talk to you
guys on Monday. Until then, be kind to each other,
be kind to yourself, get the vaccine, don't do nothing

(19:51):
about white supremacy, and we will talk to y'all on Monday.
Bye bye