Vacation Weight Gain, Barcode Tattoos, and 80s Nostalgia: Stories You Won't Hear Elsewhere

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Welcome back! After a brief hiatus for a Tunica getaway (where I may have strayed from my diet and gained three pounds—but who's counting?), I'm diving into three bizarre stories that mainstream media won't cover. Take a break from the usual news cycle with these fascinating tales that highlight the strange and wonderful world we live in.

First up: a Swiss woman so devoted to Red Bull that she spent $600 on a functional barcode tattoo that actually works at self-checkout registers! Complete with a worm design chomping on the code, this permanent scanner has gone viral with millions of views. Is this the ultimate brand loyalty or a concerning glimpse into our consumer-driven future?

Then we'll explore wedding party drama featuring a bride who shocked her bridesmaid with an extensive spreadsheet detailing nearly $1,000 in required expenses. From $500 dresses to $300 hair and makeup sessions, this bride's transparency about costs raises interesting questions about modern wedding expectations and friendship boundaries.

Finally, meet Violet Skye, a 24-year-old entrepreneur who's built an entire career around 1980s nostalgia despite never experiencing the decade herself. With her teased perm, vintage wardrobe, teal Camaro, and partnerships with iconic 80s brands like Def Leppard and Esprit, she's turned her passion into a thriving business. Her story reminds us how powerful nostalgia can be, even for eras we never personally experienced.

What was your favorite band from the 80s? MTV opened up a whole new world for my teenage self in rural Southern Ohio. Share your thoughts, and don't forget to check out my blog at Americanist.com and sign up for my newsletter for weekly content updates!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, good morning, we are back.
Yes, the gent and I had alittle getaway.
We went to Tunica LeftWednesday night, actually Stayed
Thursday, friday, saturday,came back home Sunday.
That's why there were noepisodes last week on Wednesday,
thursday or actually Thursdayand Friday.
But I'm sure you fared justfine without my remarks.

(00:24):
You fared just fine without myremarks.
But we're back Back to schedule, back to routine.
Yes, I went hog wild off of mydiet, started off okay during
the weekend, but eventually itwas horrible.
I gained back three pounds.
But that's okay, that's allright and you know what.
We're going to move on.
We're back to it now, back tothe routine, back to the

(00:51):
schedule, back to the diet andeverything's going to be fine.
You are not here to hear aboutme, bitch about that we have.
I'm bringing you three stories,because that are you're not
going to hear anywhere elseexcept for New York Post,
because that's where I got them.
But they're so different andunusual.
Some of them are uh, they'renot about Iran.
Okay, I don't bring you stufflike that here on the podcast on

(01:12):
a regular basis.
Sometimes I'll talk about stufflike that, but you're going to
hear that on mainstream mediaall day long.
You don't need to hear it fromme too, because, uh, yeah, we're
going to talk about other stuff.
We're going to talk about thisgirl.
The swiss woman is such a fanof red bull that she reportedly
got the energy drink cansbarcode tattooed on her skin and

(01:36):
it amazingly works at the selfcheckout.
Here we are sign of the beast,okay, uh, so this woman is such
a fan and she shows a video ofher utilizing this functional
body art has racked up over 7.9million views on tiktok.
I was thinking about gettingabarcode tattoo for some time.

(01:59):
The woman named do oh god,you're kidding me told Jam Press
of her drink-inspired ink job.
Coincidentally, the contentcreator, who goes by MyCringes-t
yeah, that sounds about righton social media was initially

(02:20):
thinking of getting a tat ofbroccoli or something silly, but
then decided on Red Bull afterthinking energy, oh dear Dew
reportedly dropped theequivalent of over $600 on the
tattoo which features thebarcode being chomped by a worm.
Okay, I then added the wormwhich is chomping it up, based

(02:46):
on a little drawing my sisterdid do explained of the body art
which evokes the barcode themedskull tattoo from the hitman
games.
All right, this is way over outof my life.
She shows pictures of her usingthe scanner, scanning it, and
it works okay, whatever,whatever, wow.
The Swiss woman couldn't believethat the barcode was functional

(03:08):
, as even her ink guy had hisreservations.
I knew it possibly couldn'twork, as my artist was very open
about it.
The content creator exclaimed Itried to the next day at work
and it did.
I was so excited about it workand it did.
I was so excited about it.

(03:28):
Oh my gosh, she was excitedabout the scanner working on her
skin, on her tattoo, y'all.
We have failed our young people.
But that's over in switzerland,so maybe we don't have to worry
about it over here.
I don't know right.
We're moving on to the next one.
A penny-pinching bride shocksbridesmaids with outrageous

(03:48):
spreadsheet of expenses Feelswrong to me Now.
Look, it's been a while since Iwas, since I've gotten married
and, yes, I had a church weddingwith the gent, but I don't
remember doing all this becauseI wanted it to be super casual.
I think I told my I didn't evenwant to have bridesmaids
actually, but I did I had and Itold them look, just go get a

(04:11):
champagne color dress of yourchoice from wherever you want to
get it from.
Nobody has to match, except forthe color.
I want you to get a dress thatyou'll wear again.
Okay, so it was, you know,pretty laid back, I think, a
bride.
But here we go, we're going totalk about this.
Uh, let's see, a bridesmaid wasgobsmacked after her friend.
The bride asked her to pay ahefty fee to be a part of the

(04:35):
bridal party, making thebridesmaids not want to
participate in the wedding atall.
So I don't know how this worksanymore.
How does this work?
If you're asked to be in awedding, don't you?
Shouldn't you have to pay foryour own stuff?
I I'm not sure how that works.
The anonymous 24-year-old womantook to Reddit, in a
since-deleted post, to detailher predicament, saying that she

(04:56):
was beyond excited and honoredto be a part of the special date
to her friend.
Then things took a turn.
Well, what did you think it wasgoing to do If you're asked to
be a part of a wedding party?
Do you think you're just goingto do it for free?
I don't know.
Does the bride had?
Does the bride have to pay foreverything?
I'm honestly asking, I don'tknow.
Um, so a couple weeks after theproposal, megan sent me an

(05:20):
email detailing the bridesmaidpackage.
The woman wrote on reddit.
People reported she attached aspreadsheet showing what I would
need to pay for in order to inorder to participate first.
I think this, if at least she'stelling you up front how much
to expect to pay, it's not likeshe's gonna whammy it on you

(05:41):
later.
So the expense included a 500for a dress that's kind of
expensive for a dress, I thinkfor bridesmaids, but I don't
know.
$300 for hair and makeup that'sridiculous.
Can you not do your own makeup?
$150 minimum for a bridal giftand $100 deposit for the
bachelorette party for theluxury resort.

(06:03):
So I mean, you're going intosomething like this.
It's going to be expensive.
I don't think the bride shouldbear the brunt of all of it.
I mean, if you want to be apart of it, like I said, at
least she's telling her up frontwhat to expect.
All right, we're moving on to afeel-good story from the New
York Post.
Actually, and I am cheeringthis, this little girl, on I

(06:25):
think I want to go follow her onTikTok.
Trapped in the 80s, this 24year old has big hair, vintage
clothes and a Camaro and makesher living from a decade she
never lived in.
Her gig is totally rad.
Like oh my gosh, a StatenIslander is making a living from

(06:45):
her infatuation from the 1980s,despite never having lived in
the decade herself.
Content creator Violet Skye,who sports a teased up perm and
bangs and even drives a tealCamaro, always dresses as if she
were going back to the futureEvery moment of every day.

(07:06):
It's just my lifestyle at thispoint.
Skye, who is 24 years old, whohas more than 324,000 TikTok
followers, told the Post I wearat least one piece of
acid-washed denim a day and I'vebeen really into the big hair.
She's super cute too.
They have pictures of her onall this, so I say good for her

(07:33):
If she's making money off ofthis doing it, and this is good,
clean, fun.
At least she's not on only fanssince launching her instagram
and tiktok account glitter wave80s, so I am definitely going to
go follow her.
Sky, who uses her first andmiddle names for her online
persona, landed partnershipswith multiple 80s icons bands
like deaf leopard and journey tvshows like married with
children, clothing labels suchas s s you know, espri, espri,

(07:55):
espri, you know what I'm talkingabout.
And arcade classics likepac-man.
Good for her.
Everything I do to make moneyreally relates to the 80s and in
the some way she said now see,I couldn't do something like
that because I'm old.
They want somebody fresh andyoung like that to bring you
back to the 80s.
I love this idea.
Good for her.
I'm cheering her on when she isnot creating social content,

(08:17):
media media content.
Sky works at the thrift shopFlamingos Vintage Pound in
Chelsea and also does 80swardrobe consulting.
Good for her, I love it.
The former music industry majorat SUNY Anyanta also hosts a
radio show Good, she also hostsa radio show I gotta see if I

(08:38):
can find that On Staten IslandStation, maker Park Radio
spinning vinyl records only.
And it is also releasing an 80salbum this year, aptly named
the Sky's the Limit.
Oh, my gosh, you guys need togo finish reading that.
I love it.
All right, but we need to moveon because I'm running out of
time.
I need to have the question ofthe day.
Let's see.

(08:59):
Okay, since we're just going tokeep it with the 80s.
Who was your favorite band fromthe 80s?
I don't know what my favoriteband is from the 80s.
I was never into music back inmy day Madonna.
I liked Madonna, but that's notreally a band I don't know.
I loved MTV.
Mtv opened a whole new worldfor me.

(09:19):
I need to probably start somekind of blog series on MTV.
Somebody do it, do you remember?
From a little girl fromSouthern Ohio and rural Southern
Ohio.
Mtv opened a whole new world tome and I'm sure for others too,
when being a teenager in theeighties.

(09:40):
Anyway, I've run over.
Okay, I've got to go.
I hope y'all have a great day.
Go read my blog atAmericanistcom.
Sign up for the newsletterwhere I recap the whole week
that I've written, so you don'thave to go to the blog every day
and just get delivered to yourinbox.

(10:00):
Nice, easy, convenient.
I would really appreciate someparticipation over there.
Thank you, mr Sean's, forcommenting.
I would like, you know, forpeople to share my posts.
Comment on my post.
Get some engagement going onover there.
All right, I'm rambling, got togo.
Love y'all.
Thanks for listening.
Bye.