July 19, 2024 • 53 mins
Join us on Movie RX as I, Dr. Benjamin, sit down with the renowned Chef from the x86ed YouTube channel to unpack the enchanting world of Disney and Pixar's "Ratatouille." Are culinary trends just pretentious or a true mark of skill? Chef and I dissect the fine line between genuine culinary craftsmanship and superficial cooking fads. Our discussion also pivots to the challenges faced by women in professional kitchens, focusing on Colette's powerful monologue and gender inequality in the culinary industry. Critics—are they friends or foes of the restaurant world? We scrutinize the role of critics and the impact of their reviews on the industry.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Hello and welcome to MovieRx, where I prescribe
entertainment to one movie at atime.
I am your host, dr Benjamin, adoctor in the same way as Dr
Feelgood.
I help make you feel alright,how's that?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Sounds great.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
That works.
Yeah, okay, I can go along withthat then.
As you hear, today I have myfirst guest on.
Movierx is returning.
He is the man behind the 86videos on YouTube and TikTok and
everywhere else.
Today I have Chef.
Welcome, chef.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Hey, how's it going?
Great Good to be back on.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I am really happy to have you back on.
It feels like it's been forever.
It's only been a few months,but uh.
But yeah, I've been like I haveto have chef back on, so oh
yeah, I'm really excited to talkabout Ratatouille also.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Oh dude, it's going to be great.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
So, honestly, I caught this movie accidentally
the first time I watched it.
It was, I think it was like onin the background or something,
when I was at my dad's house anduh, and, and the little bit I
caught, I was like, okay, I haveto watch this movie, Um, mostly
(01:36):
because my dad called it ratpatootie.
How long ago was this?
Oh, I don't know it's.
It's probably been like 10years.
I would say, um, maybe 12.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
I just recently rewatched it.
Um I the first time I saw, sawit.
It was only a couple years oldat the time, so there was a lot
of stuff in there that I totallyforgot about um right as as it
happens, you know when you'veseen a movie and then you wait
like 15 years yeah, I loved it.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
This is around around where I like to talk about kind
of the my general, thetechnical aspects of it, and and
I mean of course it's Disneyand Pixar the animation is
immaculate, as they do, as theydo, the way that they do their
music and stuff like that is is,I mean, it's always just
perfect.
Uh, but really what drives thisone?
I think it really is the story,um, and a little bit the humor,
(02:22):
but humor.
But basic movie info on thisone is that it's a Disney and
Pixar production released in2007.
It was directed by Brad Birdand Jan Pinkava I don't know how
to pronounce her last name.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
I don't either.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yeah, but it stars Brad Garrett, lou Romano, patton
, oswalt, which.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
I didn't know he was in that.
Yeah Well, he's Remy, Like Idon't know why he's the last
name on the poster names becauseit's like no, this is a huge
story about Remy.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Now, the IMDb description usually is not great
.
This one I don't feel like istoo bad.
I mean it's it's a very basicdescription.
It's not really something thatgrabs you too much.
But a rat who can cook makes anunusual alliance with a young
kitchen worker at a famous parisrestaurant that sounds about
(03:19):
right it is, it is just I feellike there's a little more to it
than that, but that's a goodgeneral overview.
So tell me, tell me what it isthat that?
How did you feel about themovie the first time you watched
it?
Like, about the time that thiscame out, you would have already
been into your career as as acook, uh, and I think you
(03:40):
probably would have been on yourway to uh onto being a chef.
Yeah, so the the first time Iway to uh onto being a chef.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Yeah, so the the first time I watched it, the
movie came out in 2007.
And, like I said, it was acouple of years after that, so
I'd only been cooking at thetime, cause I started around
early 2008.
And then I saw the movie in2010.
I was a line cook at the time,working, uh, working at a family
restaurant and you know that's.
(04:07):
There's a lot of microwavestuff and and it's not, it's not
the most prestigious, it's likeshort order stuff.
But watching that and seeing the, you know the way that they
were able to capture kind of thebustling of the kitchen and the
fact that they didn't reallyshow a lot of the actual um
cooking, like there.
(04:27):
There were scenes when it wasrelevant but there was no like
overt, like showing a rush oranything like that.
Right, and it was more aboutthe stories of the characters
and I thought it was a reallyawesome concept with with you
know, the whole concept ofanyone can cook and then having
having a rat in there.
And then you know some of thescenes where, like, linguine
(04:48):
wanted to say something but heknows that it's nuts, he knows
that he's crazy, that they won'taccept it, and I I don't know.
My general impression of it wasit is a really good, feel-good
movie and there it had some.
It had some elements in therethat that are kind of I don't
want to say dark, but reallydeep, really heavy, that they
were willing to put in there,and that's something you don't
(05:10):
really see in a lot of uh kidsmovies right, well, and I mean
there were, there were somepretty heavy things in there,
like, uh, almost like I feltlike they were putting in some
statements, uh, that I know thatwe have on our points of
interest.
Um, and I'm really kind ofexcited and I'm not.
I'm not going to go into detailabout it, but one that's not on
(05:31):
there that really caught me wasthe scene of remy's dad showing
him the rats in the window.
And you know, I I saw that andwhen I, when I watched that, you
know he was making a statementto his kid, but that was like,
that was pretty like, if youthink about it, pretty graphic,
(05:53):
considering the main characteris, like you know, a rat that
you're supposed to develop theselike emotional feelings for and
then seeing that.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yeah, let's just go ahead and expand on that.
Tell me about that.
Yeah, let's just go ahead andexpand on that, tell me about
that.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Yeah, so it's.
It's really interesting becausethe reason why, like his dad is
actually coming from a goodplace Um, you know, he was
raised a certain way and learnedthings a certain way and it's
kind of almost a statement onthe status quo Like this is
where this is why we don't trusthumans.
That was essentially themessage in seeing that and all
(06:28):
the the rat poison and all ofthat kind of stuff, and he was
very he was looking out for hiskid.
He didn't want his kid to endup in that window.
So, even though it seems youknow you want to root for Remy,
there's also like it kind of itkind of explores this risk that
(06:48):
he's taking.
Right, if he does this justbecause he likes to cook, he's
literally risking his life and Idon't know.
I just found that kind of deep.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Right, it's almost like he's giving up a part of of
who he is, you know, because,cause, I mean, a normal part of
a rat is to his selfpreservation, safety, uh, uh,
secrecy, you know that kind ofstuff staying, staying where
you're where you're at the leastrisk.
But he, he has this dream.
It's almost like it's atestament to him wanting to move
(07:20):
outside of himself in pursuitof a dream that he doesn't even
know what that dream is.
You know, like he knows there'ssomething that he wants to do,
that's more.
He just doesn't know what thatmore is, and so he pursues that,
that feeling, not even knowingwhat it's supposed to be.
Uh, and, and I don't know, Ithink, I think that that's
(07:41):
pretty powerful, is that?
I mean, despite where he comesfrom, you know?
And?
And he's risking a lot, notjust safety wise, but also his
family, his friends.
Their judgment says a lot about, you know, I mean they're every
time he comes across them.
They're like, you know, come on, man, like we're rats Like this
is ridiculous.
Yeah, but he, he risks thoserelationships to pursue
(08:05):
something that he loves, eventhough he doesn't know what it
is.
So, and that can be prettypowerful too.
It also shows a little bitabout how sometimes we can be
held back by those that arearound us, that we keep around
us.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Good intentions are not.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Are not always positive.
Now I have I have a whole listof characters here, on our, on
our prompt here, so there's aton of characters that I had a
hard time leaving any of themoff.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
I mean, they're all very well developed.
I really do like that.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah, they, they, they put a lot of work into a
lot of these characters Gusteau,remy Linguini, colette, anton,
ego Skinner.
I mean, I even had a hard timenot putting the front of house
guy on there, the maitre d'.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Oh really.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yeah, because he has his own personality in there too
, and it's pretty incredible.
I mean really is, as far asthese go, the first one we meet
with any sort of gusto is gustowe learn.
We learn about his, uh, hisphilosophy, the way that he does
things in the kitchen, uh, andand, and the way he, he develops
his food.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
There's actually there's a fan theory about gusto
as well.
I don't know if you've ifyou've heard that, uh, my wife's
actually the one thatoriginally told me and I
explored it and I and I was likeyou know, there there's one
scene where it's it's kind ofhard to see it, but his concept
of saying everyone can, anyonecan, cook.
(09:40):
Essentially there it wasimplied that it's possible that,
um, he was implied that it'spossible that, um, he had a rat
under his head too, is the waythe fan theory goes.
And so how gusto?
That's why gusto developed thewhole, like anybody can be a
cook, you know, I don't know howtrue it is, but it is really
interesting that it's uh it kindof gives you another.
Take on it, you know it's funlike the hair that he pulled out
(10:00):
of, uh, gusto's hat, you know,was that gusto's or was that?
Or was that one of the rat'shairs, or was that a Gusto rat?
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
That's interesting.
Okay, that one I can accept alot more than I was preparing
myself.
Anytime there's fan theoriesbrought up, I'm always like
bracing myself for that.
Jar Jar Binks is a Sith Lordthing and I'm like screw you
Like.
I'm not going to listen to that, but I like that one.
That one's not so bad.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
I will say um, on an on another note, just talking
about the gusto characterhimself, Like one of the things
that I noticed is that heactually represents a, a type of
he's could tell, like the waythat they they show him and demo
(10:48):
him, even though even thoughwhen they show him it's a
figment of remy's imaginationright every time they see him
he's, you know, he's about beinga good person and making sure
everything's the best qualityand having like a love for the
food and wanting to bring peoplejoy and all of that, whereas
like Skinner is like the exactopposite of that.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Yes, uh, the commercial chef, you know kind
of thing.
No, I, I, I can get along withthat.
I always feel like that Gusteauis is kind of you, that there's
honor given to the food.
You know that that there'srespect for, for the craft,
honor given to the food.
You know that that there'srespect for, for the craft, what
you're doing in front of you,um, that's one of the things
(11:28):
that I always really admiredabout the way that you do your
work is is that, is that there'sthat respect there.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
I think that's the difference between somebody
because I'm actually working ona video about, uh, pretentious
like cooks that are pretentiousand I'm not talking about them
being pretentious people butdoing pretentious things and
there's a couple of like reallygood celebrity chefs who, even
if I have respect for them,sometimes they get into a little
bit of pretentiousness.
And one of the things that Ithink is important with that is
(12:01):
there's a fine line or there isa line drawn when I think
pretentiousness is kind ofcreating the food without that
respect but still trying to makeit fluffy and frilly and, you
know, wanting to be the bestfood but not not really feeling
that passion towards it.
When you do it like basicallykind of um, doing it for well,
(12:25):
essentially doing it for thewrong reason, doing it because
you want it.
Like basically kind of um doingit for well, essentially doing
it for the wrong reason, doingit because you want to impress
somebody right more so than youknow.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
I just want to make something amazing almost, almost
like um uh well, goldschlager,it's an alcohol with gold flakes
in it.
There's no reason for goldflakes to be in it.
It doesn't add anything to theflavor of the food or of the
drink.
It's not.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
I mean, you can buy gold leaf and add it to anything
.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
You're doing it simply for the prestige of
saying that you did itEssentially.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Looking at you, Salt Bae.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Yeah, like putting what is that?
Truffle oil comes in a bottlethat big and it's like 15 bucks
or something like that, puttingthat in everything.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
And it's cut with olive oil.
Anyway, it's not even the realthing.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Right, yeah, that kind of thing, yeah, see, and
and your respect for that food,uh, and and not just the, not
just the food itself, but alsothe craft.
And that was one of the problemsthat I had with one of the
characters, linguini.
Remove the fact that this is aDisney movie and that we have
talking animals and things likethat.
There's a few moments wherehe's not talking, where Remy's
(13:35):
not talking, but Linguini istalking to Remy and he's he's
talking to an animal thatdoesn't talk like he, like it's
a person, and then he discoversthat this animal understands him
a little bit crazy in the realworld, right, and he's
acknowledging that it's crazy,like they, like he would in the
(13:56):
real world, but yet he stillopts for taking an animal and
putting it on his head, topuppeteer him, to cook over the
idea of why don't I just learnhow to cook, learn your craft?
That that was another thingthat had me connect you with
(14:16):
Gusteau was the was that youjust know your craft, you know
your food, you know the, youknow the flavor profiles, you
know how to put things togetherand and when you didn't know,
you learned.
And linguine doesn't do that.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
I actually had a weird takeaway watching the
movie the second time, and thetakeaway was that linguine
actually represents a type ofentitlement that comes with uh,
one of one of the things that Ihad wanted to touch on, which
was the entitlement of somebodythat is being born into
something like, you know, afamous actor having a kid and
(14:53):
that kid just having access tothose things, even if that kid
can't act might be a great chef,you know, but can't act, but
keeps getting these rolesbecause of his namesake and
where he came from.
And you know there's the.
I feel like linguini kind ofembodies a lot of that because
he is gusto's son or related tohim, I'm not, was it son?
(15:17):
I can't remember oh, yeah, Iremember there being a blood
relation.
But you know, and outside ofthat association he's, he's just
some rando you know, and he, helikes the idea of cooking, but
then he kind of gets all of thetrappings of being an awesome
chef without actually being ableto do it himself right, and you
would think, being puppeteeredfor that long a period of time,
(15:40):
you would develop those skillsby watching yourself do it right
you, but I mean, that's neitherhere nor there, but it's just
something I noticed.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
No, it's good stuff Now.
Now, like going more, moreformally I suppose, into our uh
points of interest here.
The the very first one, andwe've kind of talked a little
bit about it the exploring thatnot everyone can be great but
greatness can come from anywhere.
I, I like how, how that evolvedinto that over time, because in
(16:12):
the very beginning of the movieit's just anyone can cook and
yeah, well, that's great andwonderful and everything.
I suppose I think that withenough training anybody really
could cook.
Now, having them to have goodtaste, that's the challenge.
I think that's where the mightmight need to be a thing.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
but it actually goes into um what?
Just sorry, I didn't knowyou're good just super briefly,
the version of that saying thatI have is that all chefs are
cooks but not all cooks arechefs, and it's kind of that
same concept like anybody cancook, but not everybody can be
at that level.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Right.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
You know, like there's a level that I'm I will
be lucky if I ever see it,because of what I need to do to
get to that level I don't havethe ability or resources for,
like, I can't go to France andcook under the greatest chefs
and learn, you know.
So there's a skillset that I'mnever going to have, or I'm not
going to get as close as I wouldbe.
(17:12):
You know, it would take methree, four times as long to do
it.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
No, I like that, like it is the same concept.
You know, not everyone can begreat, but they but greatness
can come from everywhere,anywhere.
You know every chef is a cook,but not every cook is a chef.
I think normally something thatkind of goes on in your line of
creation and everything likeyour videos usually tend to
(17:38):
focus on how the differencebetween a chef and a cook is
that leadership aspect.
A lot of the time I don't thinkthat's something you can teach
is how to be a leader.
I mean mean, I suppose you can,you can learn some tricks and
things like that, but but Ithink even then, leaders who
aren't born to lead, I think youcan really kind of tell.
But yeah, no, I really likedthat.
(18:00):
I like how, how you correlatedthat with something that I've
heard you say, uh, numeroustimes before.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
It almost reminds me of, like, what you were saying.
It almost reminds me of, uh, ofthe way that people talk about
genetics and bodybuilding, wherethey say that, you know,
anybody can look really good,but if you don't have that like
top tier, one percent genetics,even you could.
You could take all the roids inthe world and you're still not
going to look like, you know, uh, johnny shreve or ronnie
(18:27):
coleman, you know, becausethey're just that good they're,
they're genetically gifted andthey had all of these other
things.
So I think that you can teachleadership skills to anybody,
but how much they absorb, howthey execute that, their
personality and a lot of thingsthat they they naturally have,
may not, uh, may not may notcome as naturally.
(18:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah, I agree with that.
This is one of the ones that Iwas really looking forward to
getting into Women's role in akitchen.
You have marked down Colette'smonologue about having to fight
for everything in a systemdesigned to keep her kind of in
her place, sort of thing.
(19:10):
I've actually got a soundbitefor that.
I'm going to go ahead and playthat.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
No, you listen.
I just want you to know exactlywho you are dealing with.
How many women do you see inthis kitchen?
Well I, only me.
Why do you think that is?
Well I, because Hout Wazine hasan antiquated hierarchy built
upon rules written by stupid oldmen, rules designed to make it
impossible for women to enterthis world.
But still I'm here.
How did this?
Speaker 3 (19:33):
happen.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Because?
Well, because you, Because I'mthe toughest cook in this
kitchen.
I worked too hard for too longto get here and I am not going
to jeopardize it for somegarbage.
Boy who got lucky Got it, Gohome.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
I love that scene.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
That was really good.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Yeah, the way that, uh, I mean she's stabbing those
knives through his sleeve, uh,his his coat sleeve, and and, uh
, it was slowly pinning him tothe table, Um, and he just
doesn't know what to say, Causehe, he starts off that
conversation trying to be likesuper cool and and suave.
He's all like you know, I justwant you to know.
(20:12):
And she's like boom, no this isnot happening.
So, uh, first off, I I kind ofwant to, I kind of want to ask
you, uh, what's your opinion onColette kind of representing
women, uh, in a kitchen as as acharacter?
Um, because I I haven't workedin a lot of kitchens, but I feel
(20:34):
like there's a lot of Colette'sin kitchens.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Yeah, I'll get, um, I'll get more specifically into
like female chefs, um, butColette actually represents
something.
I really wish my, my wife, wasactually here for this part,
like that she could weigh in,because having that perspective
is really, I think, importantand it's missing in not just
this industry but overall.
And the thing is, is that the,the way that my wife puts it is
(21:02):
that the problem, the problemwith females in any industry is
they have to be two or threetimes as hard as any man that's
there and they, you know, aren'talways allowed to show emotions
.
They can't admit that they'reoverwhelmed, they can't have
normal breakdowns Like a guy can, can have a breakdown in the
(21:24):
walk-in or whatever and and talkabout it and like brush it off
and whatever.
But but women are really treatedon this other level where if
they do anything there, you knowthey can be seen as emotional
or you know they they aren'tgiven the same opportunities or
they're given less pay and Ithink that overall that is
(21:44):
absolutely not cool.
And there's there's a lot oftimes in the kitchen where uh
front of house doesn't treat.
They'll look right past the uhfemale chefs and try to find a
male chef and talk to them.
You know, even though somebodymight be standing right next to
me, that's a woman that iscompletely more qualified than
me to answer that question.
(22:05):
And a lot of times when you seethese successful women, you
will notice that there is this,this, uh, obviously in Colette
it's, you know, slightlyexaggerated for for what the
message is, but you will noticethere's a lot of women that have
that kind of hardness aboutthem because, you know, so many
industries are male dominated.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Because they have to.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Um, you know they, it's, and that is very true.
Uh, I mean, in a lot ofindustries even, it's a lot of
the time, it's ignored.
Uh, but even even in industriesthat are female dominated, you
look at a lot of thoseindustries, but you look at the
(22:49):
leadership, and it's theleadership is all men, um, and
so you have, uh, you have, youknow, an industry that is
primarily women workers allvying for these upper positions,
that it's like you know they're, they're fighting so hard to
(23:10):
get there, um, just to run intothis block, that a lot of the
time men are are picked forthose, those positions.
Um, so I mean, and it happensall the way from you know, your,
uh, your your saucier, to yoursous chef, to your, you know, to
(23:31):
your chef, but, but I mean it,it happens in the whole
restaurant, like I mean, how amI, I really, I really do, like
how they really punch it intoyour face with Colette's
attitude.
I love it, it is so.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Oh, absolutely.
I thought that was a reallygreat scene and, um, yeah, also.
Um, you know, I want to addsomething.
Something that I always saywhen any kinds of things like
this come up is inevitablyyou're going to get a comment
somewhere, whether it's on youruh channel or in your uh
comments on podcasts, like, well, I'm a female chef owner or
whatever.
And the way that I say, the waythat I see this is you know,
(24:09):
there are literally billions ofpeople on earth, right.
Way that I say, the way that Isee this is you know, there are
literally billions of people onearth, right.
Anything that we say, there'salways going to be going to be
exceptions there's always goingto be female business owners or
female managers, sous chefs, allof that.
Who's the sous chef on hell'skitchen?
I forgot her name.
I like her.
Oh, I know her name.
Until I go to say it, it's notyeah what is it?
(24:29):
I don't remember.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Find it really quick, tough as nails, though actually
she was always one of myfavorite parts of uh hell's
kitchen when I'd be watching.
Uh, I'd always love it when hewould go get all the different
orders and stuff like that, takethem into the kitchen, start
shouting them out and everythingand then, like you can see her
running from station to stationand making sure, christina, I
(24:52):
knew it was Christina, yeah.
She's, she's, kick ass.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
man Like yeah, and she's not just the sous chef
there, but she's like in chargeof his whole brand.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Right, you know like it's pretty awesome position.
Yeah, but again, I mean, isthat an exception?
I mean you, you definitely, youdefinitely see successful women
in.
You know the kitchen industry,but again, it is the amount of
work that is applied I think isa lot of the time not equal.
I really liked how, how they,they muscled that in a little
(25:22):
bit.
I don't, I don't know that itwas subtle at all.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
Definitely not.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
But I do love.
I mean, if you're a kid, youjust think oh man, she's mad.
And you know, yeah, Again,that's another one of those
things where it's like that'scontent that is made for
grownups that is put into akid's movie so that grownups can
still get something out of themovie, which is why I'm not
afraid to have kids movies on mypodcast, even though I'm 40.
So, um, but yeah, I, I reallydid love that part of the movie.
(25:51):
It was something else in herethat.
Is this a fan theory or is thissomething that is, um, is, is
this something that there'sevidence for?
You had a ego's?
Mom is the old lady from thebeginning.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
I think it's still a fan theory.
I don't think it's likeofficially stated anywhere in
there but it's still a fantheory.
I don't think it's likeofficially stated anywhere in
there, but it's um.
To me it's one that makes awhole ton of sense.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Just in the simple fact of like, if you think about
the dish that Remy made, thathe made Ratatouille and
everybody was like why are youlike out of it, came out of
nowhere, like, why would youmake that dish, that specific
dish, and you know all of thetimes that he, you know he would
go in and she would be watching, you know Gasto's cooking shows
(26:36):
and he had her books and thingslike that it seemed to me it's
not a far leap to see that hefound that recipe in her house.
Oh yeah, it's not verifiablebut it's I.
I think, if you cause it'sreally a lot of the fan theory
comes from when that picture,when he takes a bite of the
ratatouille and there's thatlike warping and he's a kid
(26:57):
again.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
That a lot of the structures in the house look the
same in that scene as when, uh,you're looking around the house
at the opening scenes of Remy.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Doing stuff.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Yeah, you're looking around the house at the opening
scenes of remy, okay, doingstuff.
Yeah, I'm.
You know what I think might be.
Might be what seals the deal onthat what's up.
If I'm and I'm gonna I'm gonnare-watch the movie now again
just because of this.
I'm gonna look, I'm gonna lookaround uh, that old lady's house
for a bike that looks like hisbike, because that was the whole
premise of that scene.
He fell off his bike and skidand skinned his knees.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Right, so if that bike is there, that bike is
there, then you know that thatPixar planned that like and
anybody listening and watching.
If you know more about this,it'd be awesome to get those in
the comments as well.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Yeah, that'd be.
That'd be pretty badass.
So we talked about thefollowing your dreams, despite
those around you not reallysupporting you.
Now, what about the idea ofusing your gift to help other
people?
Initially, my thought on thesetwo was they state very plainly
(28:04):
I am a human that doesn't knowhow to cook.
You're a rat that knows how tocook, but doesn't know how to be
human.
Initially, it comes off as likethe symbiotic relationship of
of what they do.
Um that was exactly right, butafter he gets schnockered with
Skinner, he's passed out on thefloor in the in the kitchen.
Colette comes in and what doesRemy do?
(28:27):
I'm sitting here going.
Well, you just leave him on thefloor Like I mean, there's no
reason to, you know, have himhave to get up or whatever.
But he's trying to, he's tryingto help him out and so he gets
him up, you know, pulls up hishair and gets him.
So he's standing and all ofthat.
And Colette comes in and he'strying to trying to play, play
(28:47):
it cool.
Well, while trying to play,play it cool, while while trying
to help, you know Linguinifurther his, his relationship
with Colette, right, how do you,how do you view the ability to
use your your gifts to helpothers, uh, as it pertains to a
(29:08):
kitchen.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Well, unfortunately, um, and it's.
It's been a lot less sonowadays, but I was for a long
time really jaded in helpinganybody after getting burned.
You know, you get to be almost40 now when you see something
like see somebody on the street.
There's so many times where youknow you've seen people faking
it.
You know there was actually afamily that got caught here
where I live that were basicallygrifting and then they go out
there with their kids help me, Ineed money and they had, you
(29:31):
know, nice cars and everythinglike that and it was, and they
got busted for it.
And that kind of thing happensso often.
You know, on smaller scales orindividual scales, that I kind
of got to where, like, I'm goingto stay, I'm just going to do
my thing.
You know, I'm sorry, you needhelp, but everybody needs help,
you know, and it was kind of anegative attitude that I had for
(29:51):
a really long time.
And then, you know, I startedto realize that it's it's less
about you know what it comesfrom being burned, and so then,
if there's people that genuinelyneed help, you know, there's no
reason why they should have tosuffer because of somebody else
being an asshole five years ago,you know.
So today I'm more, I'm a lotless likely to be a jerk about
(30:16):
it, and I think what it's reallyabout because one of the things
that I want to do I don't knowif it's going to happen anytime
in the future is I actuallywanted to use what I know
between marketing soft skillsand cooking ability, to
basically start a program tohelp felons develop a skill, and
(30:40):
whether that counts forjuveniles or actual felons,
people that spend 15, 20 yearsin prison and they just need
some help yeah, spend 15, 20years in prison and they just
need.
They just need some help.
Yeah, you know, especially afterwitnessing, um, what happened
with a close family member theyspent a year in prison and it
was only a year and it was on anassault charge and they the way
(31:03):
the system is set up is almostto bait you into doing something
to get you back in there, right, because there's like the
halfway house and I think thenthere's another step down from
that before you're.
You're kind of like let off,but having that felony on your
record, like there's so manyjobs, so many doors shut, oh
yeah, and I think it's reallynot and I I truly believe that
(31:25):
there is a lot of people outthere that had they just had
that one more chance after.
You know like there's a reallyclose friend of ours that is now
a business owner.
That was looking down, you know, possible 10 years, you know
assault, a police officer and aDUI charge and all that Right,
and now they're a business owner.
They're very successful,they're doing pretty good and
(31:48):
they just needed that one.
You know just that nudge andthat bump in that right
direction, that right direction,and I think that using your
skills to help others can be nothanding out.
You know things that you have,but giving them tools to develop
those skills and do things ontheir own and it also will show
like how badly they want it.
(32:09):
That's pretty where, prettymuch where I am on that.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
That's awesome.
Well, and I mean even youyourself you've grown in your
content creation and stuff likethat in a way that I relish.
You do a really great job, andthe whole premise of what you do
is utilizing your knowledge,your skills you know, the skills
that you just had and the onesyou developed and turning around
(32:34):
and helping those that don'thave the knowledge but have the
curiosity.
That, I think, is reallysomething that you shine at is
using your gift to help others,so good job.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
I applaud you for that.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
I will say that I probably had a good 50, 60
videos up that didn't have anymore than 10 views, right
Sitting at 50 subs for a yearand a half until it finally
started getting traction.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
So yeah, you well you can, you can get it too.
Yeah Well, I'm, I'm, I'mworking at it.
So, um, now the the last pointof interest here that I really
wanted to talk about.
This one was yours, Ego theCritic came from humble
beginnings, possibly poverty, tobeing an authority on the best
(33:21):
restaurants in France,misunderstood and portrayed as
an antagonist, and it would alsobe nice to touch on the role of
critics.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
So tell me about that .
Speaker 3 (33:31):
Well, I mean the idea that he came from, like lower
income, is the way that theyhave the emphasis on Ratatouille
being a quote unquote peasant'sdish.
Yeah, that it was something thatthat the poor eats and him like
having that knowledge andunderstanding, looking back on
that and seeing you know thenhim eating that and that was
(33:52):
something that brought him morewarmth and comfort.
It's not not a hard leap to saylike, well, he, he didn't come
from an affluent um family,right, you know, simple house,
simple dishes, simple life, thatkind of thing.
And the the part about him nowbeing an authority, it it's
almost like he developed thissense of being jaded at the
(34:17):
bastard today bastardization offood and the pretentiousness
that I touched on earlier.
And his antagonism comes fromhim wanting to really find that
joy again and find somethingthat he could really say is the
best he wants from from what Isaw, he wants to like the food,
(34:39):
he wants to say good things, butafter so many times of you know
, crappy chefs making crappyfood, you start to kind of
develop the sense of like, well,this is never going to happen,
I'm never going to find, youknow that right that, that
awesome gem almost, like youknow, comes, almost like he
becomes hostile about it justbecause he knows like he's gone
(35:02):
through it so many times thathe's like yeah, it's, this is
just another.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
This is just another pretentious chef with a
pretentious dish and trying toimpress me, and it's going to be
just like everything else.
Like you said, he's looking fora good meal, but after doing it
so many times, he just expectsthat everybody's going to be
just like everything else.
Like you said, he's looking fora good meal, but after doing it
so many times, he just expectsthat everybody's going to
disappoint him, and thatessentially turns him into a
(35:27):
pessimistic, nasty critic.
Speaker 3 (35:30):
I don't know if you have a clip of this specifically
, but one of the ones thatreally stood out, which got me
thinking of this concept withego, was when he ordered
perspective oh, dude I don'tknow if you have that or not I
know he's like you provide thefood and I'll provide the
perspective.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
I love that little, that little exchange.
There was perfect, because Ilove how the maitre d was like.
So what would you like to eatLike?
Speaker 3 (36:01):
I don't get it.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Yeah, that's a that was really good.
And Peter O'Toole's voice forego I, that's intimidating, even
even as a cartoon does a reallygreat job.
The critics thing Um, yourcommentary on critics is kind of
what uh is more aligned withwith uh, my active ingredient in
this and I don't know, I guessI don't really want to, I don't
(36:26):
really want to mess with thattoo much before uh, before we
get into it with yours, but uh,what?
What was it that you wanted totalk about?
Speaker 3 (36:33):
as far as the role of critics, Well, as far as the
role of critics go there,there's some things that are
exaggerated in the movie, andit's not to knock the movie
specifically, but there's acouple of things like, for
instance, one bad review isn'tgoing to take a Michelin star
away.
You know he's not a Michelininspector, right, and most of
the time it is a rolling out offood reviews and customer
(36:58):
reviews and kind of a mixture ofthose over a long period of
time that start to bring arestaurant down.
You know, if, if everybodyloves the food and a critic
comes out with a bad review, itdoesn't kill the restaurant at
all, right, people, people arejust like well, that guy
probably just had an ax to grindor something like that.
It's when it happens multipleover multiple times, uh, mainly
the impact that they have.
(37:19):
Now I could see well-knownmagazines, um, that have like
food sections making a goodreview.
Uh, the one of the restaurants Iworked at actually did get a
good bump in business becausethey ended up in one of the top
restaurants in the country forlike pizza and burgers and stuff
.
I mean, granted, it was likethey were like ranked like 25
(37:42):
out of 100 or something likethat, but still just how even
having their name on there waswas a big bump.
People don't go out of theirway to go to other, to a
restaurant like that, but theysee that name and it's like in
marketing, right, they see thename, it sticks in their head.
Then one day they're making atrip from California to you know
(38:03):
wherever, to Iowa or whereverthey're going, and they're like
hey, we're in Nebraska.
There was that one place thatwe went to, that, uh, that we
saw like why don't we go thereand check it out?
You know, and that's that's howyou end up getting that
increase through tourism.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
Although I do think that there is.
I've met people that it'salmost like their family
vacations are destinations to gofind places that are
restaurants that people havebeen on, like TV and stuff.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
So Franklin's is like that in Austin.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
Yeah, like I mean, there are people that that's how
they do their family vacations,is that they go to famous
restaurants that are famousbecause of being on a show, I
mean there's, there's been acouple of times where I've been
like God, I kind of want to makea trip, just so that I can try
it out, you know.
But I mean, did you even knowthat was a thing that there's,
(38:51):
that there's like a culture ofpeople that they just do
destination.
I don't know what you call thatdestination dining.
Speaker 3 (38:58):
Yeah, I mean a lot of it, a lot of the people that
would come in that that had thatattitude.
There wasn't as many families,but there was definitely a lot
of couples and people that Imean I can kind of count
anniversaries depending on howfar out they're coming, but
there's definitely people thatthey go out of their way to come
and see the place.
Uh, a lot of it, a good chunkof it, I'll say, comes from
(39:23):
people that had a restaurant,say, since okay, so I live in
texas, so a restaurant thatopened in houston and then that
restaurant.
Those people move somewherelike new York or Arizona or
something like that.
There are some really diehardfans of that restaurant that
(39:44):
will now make a trek and driveseveral States away, whether
it's once a year or whateverjust to eat at that place again
and to see everybody.
So I think a chunk of it comesfrom that.
And then there is some peoplethat they're just like.
You know, I want to visit therestaurant I saw and, uh, you
know, diners, drive-ins anddives, you know, and stuff like
that.
That's like um hell's kitchenwould be another example.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
Yeah, I've actually talked about you know how I
would drive all that way just togo to hell's kitchen If I felt
like I could if I felt like Icould justify it like I want to
do that, but I also want to findsome other things, so that I
I'm not telling people, yeah,I'm driving all the way to cause
it's in California, isn't it?
Speaker 3 (40:27):
Uh, there's one in California and then I believe
they have one in Vegas, the.
I think the California one isthe one that's actually just
open all the time to the public,right, the other location in la
and the one in vegas, I think,are more like sound stages and a
lot of the people that end upthere the reason why they're
celebrities is because, like, Iknow a guy that knows the guy
(40:48):
and then they kind of come inand eat for free right as part
of the show.
But yeah, la has the, I believehas the, the restaurant one.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
That's like mimicking .
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I see, and Ieven that one I'd kill, I'd kill
to go to, but I I feel like I'dhave to find another reason to
go to LA.
So I don't know, maybe one ofthese days I'll I'll head out
that way for, like, a YouTubeconvention or something like
that.
Speaker 3 (41:14):
But next time we head out to GDC I'll give you a ring
.
Speaker 2 (41:17):
Oh, there you go.
Speaker 3 (41:18):
I mean like a do a whole thing.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
It's awesome.
This, this part of the, thislittle segment of the show, uh,
now that we're starting to getdown towards the end of it, um,
this, this is what I call theactive ingredient, and it's it's
it's where we talk about, uh,the overall meaning behind the
movie that affected you, uh, the, the individual thing that that
really stuck out to you, thatmade a difference in your life,
(41:43):
that maybe changed yourperspective a little bit, that
was healing for you.
Um, do you have, do you have,an active ingredient in this
movie?
Speaker 3 (41:50):
Yeah, I would say that the I touched on it in the
beginning, but but the conceptof you know, greatness can come
from anywhere, and the wholeconcept of Remy as the rat
having this skill and just needsa way to express it.
You know there's a lot ofrelation there with, like, how I
(42:11):
feel, and you know the drive isall about, you know, finding
the mixtures, and the wholething could be summed up with
the scene of when he ate thepiece of cheese and then he ate
the what I think it was like astrawberry and then he tried
them together and like theemotions and passion that he had
(42:32):
just for enjoying that andbeing in the moment and kind of
like enjoying the little thingsis something that I think is
missing from a lot of people'slives.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
Yeah, and it's funny because that that, because of
that scene, I have tried doingthat.
I find two things thateverybody says are things that
go really great together.
I still don't understand thethe nuts and cheese thing.
Like I still don't get the nutsand cheese thing.
I still don't get that.
But I have tried doing thatwith some of the things, like
(43:02):
some cheeses and fruits andthings like that.
I mean I don't get thesparklies and I don't get the
colorful wavies and stuff likethat in the darkness of my eyes
or whatever, while I'm doingthat with my eyes closed.
I would love it if'm doing thatwith my eyes closed.
Speaker 3 (43:17):
Um, but I would love it if I got that.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
It'd make?
It'd make cooking a whole lotsimpler, wouldn't it?
But instead, what it?
What doing things like that, uh, kind of reminded me was to
just take a take a moment toappreciate the things that you
are doing.
Like you know when, when you'veworked a job that you only get
like 10 to 15 minutes for lunch,you learn how to work food down
and, and you, there is nosubstance to it.
(43:43):
You are simply filling a holeso that you can get back to work
.
Speaker 3 (43:46):
I know about that.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
And because of that, like it's almost like you lose
that ability to reallyappreciate the things that
you're eating.
And that can kind of be appliedto everything, especially in
this day and age whereeverything is is instant, you
know, everything is fast,everything is is uh faster.
I think it's real easy to tonot appreciate the things that
(44:09):
that are around us in in the waythat they need to be
appreciated, and and I thinkthat a lack of being able to
stop long enough to do that hasharmed the way that we are as
people in general.
So I I completely agree thatbeing able to being able to take
a moment just to just to savoryou to use a uh, a food term
(44:30):
just to savor the things aroundyou a little bit, I think is is
uh really important.
Speaker 3 (44:36):
Hey, you know you taught.
You just touched on something Ididn't think about till just
now.
I think that that couldactually be a small part of what
causes that adds to chefs andcooks being burnt out, because
there are so many times whereyou're on the line, it's busy,
you're not getting a break, soyou just slap some kind of
random sandwich together, go eatit over a trash can.
(44:58):
Meanwhile you're making all ofthese like gorgeous meals and
stuff for people and you startto like lose the the feelings
that you might get or the thingsthat you might experience that
somebody else would experience,where they got to sit down and
take the time to really enjoytheir meal, have good company,
you know good conversation andstuff like that.
(45:20):
And since we were talking aboutflavors, I did one.
This is an.
This is a really good book it'scalled the flavor bible this has
pretty much every single flavorcombination and it goes into
detail about all of that kind ofstuff.
So if anybody is listening, youdon't have to be a cook or a
chef to appreciate this becauseit'll just, it'll definitely up
(45:42):
your game and when I'm notgetting sponsored or paid from
by them or anything, it's just areally good book that I love
and I just wanted to share that.
Speaker 2 (45:49):
That's awesome.
Yeah, now I'm going to have togo get a copy because I'm I'm
still looking for those sparksand colorful waves.
My active ingredient in thisone actually had more to do with
Anton Ego.
So one of the one of the thingsthat that listeners on my
podcast will notice is that Idon't I don't ever give any sort
(46:09):
of a rating for the movies thatI do.
Um, I I consider myself a moviecritic, but I'm not a modern
movie critic, because everythingnow has to be quantified where
it's, you know, eight out of 10or four out of five stars or you
know whatever.
There has to be some quantitythat is put with every kind of a
(46:32):
review or anything, uh,involving movies, and I don't
think that that's a good thing.
I don't like it and I thinkthat that by doing that because
everything has to be quantified,now that that is, that is what
has been so damaging to to themovie industry in general.
In past episodes I've beensuper critical of a big critic
(46:55):
website, rotten Tomatoes.
They literally give apercentage value to every movie
and in our very first episodeabout Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles, the very first moviehas so much meaning to so many
people.
But you ask Rotten Tomatoes andit is certified rotten.
(47:16):
But how can that be whenthere's a whole generation of
people whose heart ached to havethat movie and remember it so
fondly?
And it's because everything hasto have a number or a value
attached to it?
Now I mean, think about the oldmovie reviews, how it would be.
(47:36):
You know, this person says thatit's a great movie and you
should go watch it with yourfamily.
You know, siskel and Ebert gaveit two thumbs up and all of
that.
I mean that was the mostquantity that you had was two.
Speaker 3 (47:48):
And some of those movies were terrible.
Speaker 2 (47:50):
Yeah, and some of them were really awful, but
there wasn't really anything asfar as.
As far as quantity goes, no, nonumber attached, nothing like
that, and I think I think that'sbeen a big part of the reason
why everybody is sohypercritical of movies.
Now you know, there's all theseplot holes.
Speaker 3 (48:09):
Well, there were holes to begin with, you know.
Somebody else actually pointedout that they cannot name a
single movie that is a big boxoffice movie, that wasn't a
remake, or right a spin-off ofsomething that already existed
or a recreation of yeah and Itried like I couldn't find it um
(48:30):
remakes and sequels I mean,there are still some people out
there that are making someoriginal content, and a lot of
some of those are even doingthings that are based off of
their own work.
Speaker 2 (48:41):
But no, you're right, like there's so many reboots
now it's, it's ridiculous.
I think that critics need to be, need to be a little bit more
careful about how they, abouthow they push things into other
people's minds.
You know, we have aresponsibility as critics to
make sure that we are not givingpeople their opinions, that we
are giving them our opinions.
(49:03):
You know, keeping that freemind thing, that's what it was
for me, and it was all becauseof Anton Ego, and actually I
have a couple of sound bitesthat kind of brought that up for
me.
I'm going to play those quick.
Speaker 1 (49:20):
In many ways, the work of a critic is easy.
Speaker 3 (49:25):
We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those
who offer up their work andtheir selves to our judgment.
Speaker 2 (49:34):
That's very humbling.
You're put into this placewhere you can damage somebody or
something with your words.
Look at how that can affect thefood industry.
I mean, have you had anystruggles with critics and how
they work?
Speaker 3 (49:50):
Mostly the biggest problem I've had isn't with
direct critics, but the way thatsome these critic the way that
some of these critical apps andwebsites work.
The problem is that so manypeople are so willing to give a
bad review, like on Yelp but notas willing to give a good one.
(50:10):
Yeah, it's like for every 15 or20 bad reviews there's like one
positive one Right, and you knowit's usually somebody that
really took the time to make it.
But most, mostly, it's justpeople that are they get mad
because this was wrong or thattook too long or whatever, and
then they just blast.
You know they just blast therestaurant.
Speaker 2 (50:32):
And that's the only time they want to say anything.
So I'm going to I'm going toend this and this episode a
little bit different.
I'm going to end this episode alittle bit different.
I'm going to end this episodeby saying that I am going to
give every listener that islistening right now a
prescription, and thatprescription is to go out and
find somebody that is doing agood job and make sure to tell
them hey, you do a good job.
(50:54):
Now, this can be anybody at thegas station where you pick up
your coffee on your way to work.
Uh, this can be, you know, theguy that sits in the in the
cubicle next to you.
This can be wherever, like, Idon't care who it is.
Somebody who you see is doingsomething right and doing
something.
Well, tell them hey, you'redoing a good job.
(51:14):
Just do that and don't tellanybody that they're doing a bad
job that day.
Speaker 3 (51:20):
That day.
You can tell them tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (51:23):
Maybe wait a day, but take a day just to tell people
that they're doing a good job.
Thank you, jason.
This was awesome.
It was really good to have youback on again.
Speaker 3 (51:33):
Yeah, that was awesome, can't tell you enough,
I enjoyed it on again.
Speaker 2 (51:40):
uh, I can't.
That was awesome.
Can't tell you I enjoyed it?
No, uh, I do.
I do need you to plug yourstuff because I I don't even
know how to start.
Speaker 3 (51:44):
Go ahead well, you can find me everywhere, uh,
lowercase x, 86 and um.
Not as active as I'd like to beon x.
I'm trying to fix that.
There's actually some thingsI'm planning on with that, but
but mostly it's YouTube, just atlowercase 86ED, and you can
find all my content on there forYouTube.
Speaker 2 (52:01):
That's awesome.
Now, if you've got a moviethat's been medicine for you and
you'd like to be on the show,you can email me at contact at
movie-rxcom, or you can leave avoicemail or text me at
402-519-5790.
A voicemail or text me at402-519-5790.
If anxiety has been keeping youfrom wanting to get on, you can
(52:25):
always write me a couple ofparagraphs and and uh, about a
movie that's really moved youand I can read it on air.
Uh, remember, this movie is notintended to treat or prevent
any disease and we'll see you atthe next appointment.
Thank you.
Hello and welcome to MovieRx, where I prescribe
entertainment to one movie at atime.
I am your host, dr Benjamin, adoctor in the same way as Dr
Feelgood.
I help make you feel alright,how's that?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Sounds great.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
That works.
Yeah, okay, I can go along withthat then.
As you hear, today I have myfirst guest on.
Movierx is returning.
He is the man behind the 86videos on YouTube and TikTok and
everywhere else.
Today I have Chef.
Welcome, chef.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Hey, how's it going?
Great Good to be back on.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I am really happy to have you back on.
It feels like it's been forever.
It's only been a few months,but uh.
But yeah, I've been like I haveto have chef back on, so oh
yeah, I'm really excited to talkabout Ratatouille also.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Oh dude, it's going to be great.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
So, honestly, I caught this movie accidentally
the first time I watched it.
It was, I think it was like onin the background or something,
when I was at my dad's house anduh, and, and the little bit I
caught, I was like, okay, I haveto watch this movie, Um, mostly
(01:36):
because my dad called it ratpatootie.
How long ago was this?
Oh, I don't know it's.
It's probably been like 10years.
I would say, um, maybe 12.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
I just recently rewatched it.
Um I the first time I saw, sawit.
It was only a couple years oldat the time, so there was a lot
of stuff in there that I totallyforgot about um right as as it
happens, you know when you'veseen a movie and then you wait
like 15 years yeah, I loved it.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
This is around around where I like to talk about kind
of the my general, thetechnical aspects of it, and and
I mean of course it's Disneyand Pixar the animation is
immaculate, as they do, as theydo, the way that they do their
music and stuff like that is is,I mean, it's always just
perfect.
Uh, but really what drives thisone?
I think it really is the story,um, and a little bit the humor,
(02:22):
but humor.
But basic movie info on thisone is that it's a Disney and
Pixar production released in2007.
It was directed by Brad Birdand Jan Pinkava I don't know how
to pronounce her last name.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
I don't either.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yeah, but it stars Brad Garrett, lou Romano, patton
, oswalt, which.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
I didn't know he was in that.
Yeah Well, he's Remy, Like Idon't know why he's the last
name on the poster names becauseit's like no, this is a huge
story about Remy.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Now, the IMDb description usually is not great
.
This one I don't feel like istoo bad.
I mean it's it's a very basicdescription.
It's not really something thatgrabs you too much.
But a rat who can cook makes anunusual alliance with a young
kitchen worker at a famous parisrestaurant that sounds about
(03:19):
right it is, it is just I feellike there's a little more to it
than that, but that's a goodgeneral overview.
So tell me, tell me what it isthat that?
How did you feel about themovie the first time you watched
it?
Like, about the time that thiscame out, you would have already
been into your career as as acook, uh, and I think you
(03:40):
probably would have been on yourway to uh onto being a chef.
Yeah, so the the first time Iway to uh onto being a chef.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Yeah, so the the first time I watched it, the
movie came out in 2007.
And, like I said, it was acouple of years after that, so
I'd only been cooking at thetime, cause I started around
early 2008.
And then I saw the movie in2010.
I was a line cook at the time,working, uh, working at a family
restaurant and you know that's.
(04:07):
There's a lot of microwavestuff and and it's not, it's not
the most prestigious, it's likeshort order stuff.
But watching that and seeing the, you know the way that they
were able to capture kind of thebustling of the kitchen and the
fact that they didn't reallyshow a lot of the actual um
cooking, like there.
(04:27):
There were scenes when it wasrelevant but there was no like
overt, like showing a rush oranything like that.
Right, and it was more aboutthe stories of the characters
and I thought it was a reallyawesome concept with with you
know, the whole concept ofanyone can cook and then having
having a rat in there.
And then you know some of thescenes where, like, linguine
(04:48):
wanted to say something but heknows that it's nuts, he knows
that he's crazy, that they won'taccept it, and I I don't know.
My general impression of it wasit is a really good, feel-good
movie and there it had some.
It had some elements in therethat that are kind of I don't
want to say dark, but reallydeep, really heavy, that they
were willing to put in there,and that's something you don't
(05:10):
really see in a lot of uh kidsmovies right, well, and I mean
there were, there were somepretty heavy things in there,
like, uh, almost like I feltlike they were putting in some
statements, uh, that I know thatwe have on our points of
interest.
Um, and I'm really kind ofexcited and I'm not.
I'm not going to go into detailabout it, but one that's not on
(05:31):
there that really caught me wasthe scene of remy's dad showing
him the rats in the window.
And you know, I I saw that andwhen I, when I watched that, you
know he was making a statementto his kid, but that was like,
that was pretty like, if youthink about it, pretty graphic,
(05:53):
considering the main characteris, like you know, a rat that
you're supposed to develop theselike emotional feelings for and
then seeing that.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yeah, let's just go ahead and expand on that.
Tell me about that.
Yeah, let's just go ahead andexpand on that, tell me about
that.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Yeah, so it's.
It's really interesting becausethe reason why, like his dad is
actually coming from a goodplace Um, you know, he was
raised a certain way and learnedthings a certain way and it's
kind of almost a statement onthe status quo Like this is
where this is why we don't trusthumans.
That was essentially themessage in seeing that and all
(06:28):
the the rat poison and all ofthat kind of stuff, and he was
very he was looking out for hiskid.
He didn't want his kid to endup in that window.
So, even though it seems youknow you want to root for Remy,
there's also like it kind of itkind of explores this risk that
(06:48):
he's taking.
Right, if he does this justbecause he likes to cook, he's
literally risking his life and Idon't know.
I just found that kind of deep.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Right, it's almost like he's giving up a part of of
who he is, you know, because,cause, I mean, a normal part of
a rat is to his selfpreservation, safety, uh, uh,
secrecy, you know that kind ofstuff staying, staying where
you're where you're at the leastrisk.
But he, he has this dream.
It's almost like it's atestament to him wanting to move
(07:20):
outside of himself in pursuitof a dream that he doesn't even
know what that dream is.
You know, like he knows there'ssomething that he wants to do,
that's more.
He just doesn't know what thatmore is, and so he pursues that,
that feeling, not even knowingwhat it's supposed to be.
Uh, and, and I don't know, Ithink, I think that that's
(07:41):
pretty powerful, is that?
I mean, despite where he comesfrom, you know?
And?
And he's risking a lot, notjust safety wise, but also his
family, his friends.
Their judgment says a lot about, you know, I mean they're every
time he comes across them.
They're like, you know, come on, man, like we're rats Like this
is ridiculous.
Yeah, but he, he risks thoserelationships to pursue
(08:05):
something that he loves, eventhough he doesn't know what it
is.
So, and that can be prettypowerful too.
It also shows a little bitabout how sometimes we can be
held back by those that arearound us, that we keep around
us.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Good intentions are not.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Are not always positive.
Now I have I have a whole listof characters here, on our, on
our prompt here, so there's aton of characters that I had a
hard time leaving any of themoff.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
I mean, they're all very well developed.
I really do like that.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah, they, they, they put a lot of work into a
lot of these characters Gusteau,remy Linguini, colette, anton,
ego Skinner.
I mean, I even had a hard timenot putting the front of house
guy on there, the maitre d'.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Oh really.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yeah, because he has his own personality in there too
, and it's pretty incredible.
I mean really is, as far asthese go, the first one we meet
with any sort of gusto is gustowe learn.
We learn about his, uh, hisphilosophy, the way that he does
things in the kitchen, uh, andand, and the way he, he develops
his food.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
There's actually there's a fan theory about gusto
as well.
I don't know if you've ifyou've heard that, uh, my wife's
actually the one thatoriginally told me and I
explored it and I and I was likeyou know, there there's one
scene where it's it's kind ofhard to see it, but his concept
of saying everyone can, anyonecan, cook.
(09:40):
Essentially there it wasimplied that it's possible that,
um, he was implied that it'spossible that, um, he had a rat
under his head too, is the waythe fan theory goes.
And so how gusto?
That's why gusto developed thewhole, like anybody can be a
cook, you know, I don't know howtrue it is, but it is really
interesting that it's uh it kindof gives you another.
Take on it, you know it's funlike the hair that he pulled out
(10:00):
of, uh, gusto's hat, you know,was that gusto's or was that?
Or was that one of the rat'shairs, or was that a Gusto rat?
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
That's interesting.
Okay, that one I can accept alot more than I was preparing
myself.
Anytime there's fan theoriesbrought up, I'm always like
bracing myself for that.
Jar Jar Binks is a Sith Lordthing and I'm like screw you
Like.
I'm not going to listen to that, but I like that one.
That one's not so bad.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
I will say um, on an on another note, just talking
about the gusto characterhimself, Like one of the things
that I noticed is that heactually represents a, a type of
he's could tell, like the waythat they they show him and demo
(10:48):
him, even though even thoughwhen they show him it's a
figment of remy's imaginationright every time they see him
he's, you know, he's about beinga good person and making sure
everything's the best qualityand having like a love for the
food and wanting to bring peoplejoy and all of that, whereas
like Skinner is like the exactopposite of that.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Yes, uh, the commercial chef, you know kind
of thing.
No, I, I, I can get along withthat.
I always feel like that Gusteauis is kind of you, that there's
honor given to the food.
You know that that there'srespect for, for the craft,
honor given to the food.
You know that that there'srespect for, for the craft, what
you're doing in front of you,um, that's one of the things
(11:28):
that I always really admiredabout the way that you do your
work is is that, is that there'sthat respect there.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
I think that's the difference between somebody
because I'm actually working ona video about, uh, pretentious
like cooks that are pretentiousand I'm not talking about them
being pretentious people butdoing pretentious things and
there's a couple of like reallygood celebrity chefs who, even
if I have respect for them,sometimes they get into a little
bit of pretentiousness.
And one of the things that Ithink is important with that is
(12:01):
there's a fine line or there isa line drawn when I think
pretentiousness is kind ofcreating the food without that
respect but still trying to makeit fluffy and frilly and, you
know, wanting to be the bestfood but not not really feeling
that passion towards it.
When you do it like basicallykind of um, doing it for well,
(12:25):
essentially doing it for thewrong reason, doing it because
you want it.
Like basically kind of um doingit for well, essentially doing
it for the wrong reason, doingit because you want to impress
somebody right more so than youknow.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
I just want to make something amazing almost, almost
like um uh well, goldschlager,it's an alcohol with gold flakes
in it.
There's no reason for goldflakes to be in it.
It doesn't add anything to theflavor of the food or of the
drink.
It's not.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
I mean, you can buy gold leaf and add it to anything
.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
You're doing it simply for the prestige of
saying that you did itEssentially.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Looking at you, Salt Bae.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Yeah, like putting what is that?
Truffle oil comes in a bottlethat big and it's like 15 bucks
or something like that, puttingthat in everything.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
And it's cut with olive oil.
Anyway, it's not even the realthing.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Right, yeah, that kind of thing, yeah, see, and
and your respect for that food,uh, and and not just the, not
just the food itself, but alsothe craft.
And that was one of the problemsthat I had with one of the
characters, linguini.
Remove the fact that this is aDisney movie and that we have
talking animals and things likethat.
There's a few moments wherehe's not talking, where Remy's
(13:35):
not talking, but Linguini istalking to Remy and he's he's
talking to an animal thatdoesn't talk like he, like it's
a person, and then he discoversthat this animal understands him
a little bit crazy in the realworld, right, and he's
acknowledging that it's crazy,like they, like he would in the
(13:56):
real world, but yet he stillopts for taking an animal and
putting it on his head, topuppeteer him, to cook over the
idea of why don't I just learnhow to cook, learn your craft?
That that was another thingthat had me connect you with
(14:16):
Gusteau was the was that youjust know your craft, you know
your food, you know the, youknow the flavor profiles, you
know how to put things togetherand and when you didn't know,
you learned.
And linguine doesn't do that.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
I actually had a weird takeaway watching the
movie the second time, and thetakeaway was that linguine
actually represents a type ofentitlement that comes with uh,
one of one of the things that Ihad wanted to touch on, which
was the entitlement of somebodythat is being born into
something like, you know, afamous actor having a kid and
(14:53):
that kid just having access tothose things, even if that kid
can't act might be a great chef,you know, but can't act, but
keeps getting these rolesbecause of his namesake and
where he came from.
And you know there's the.
I feel like linguini kind ofembodies a lot of that because
he is gusto's son or related tohim, I'm not, was it son?
(15:17):
I can't remember oh, yeah, Iremember there being a blood
relation.
But you know, and outside ofthat association he's, he's just
some rando you know, and he, helikes the idea of cooking, but
then he kind of gets all of thetrappings of being an awesome
chef without actually being ableto do it himself right, and you
would think, being puppeteeredfor that long a period of time,
(15:40):
you would develop those skillsby watching yourself do it right
you, but I mean, that's neitherhere nor there, but it's just
something I noticed.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
No, it's good stuff Now.
Now, like going more, moreformally I suppose, into our uh
points of interest here.
The the very first one, andwe've kind of talked a little
bit about it the exploring thatnot everyone can be great but
greatness can come from anywhere.
I, I like how, how that evolvedinto that over time, because in
(16:12):
the very beginning of the movieit's just anyone can cook and
yeah, well, that's great andwonderful and everything.
I suppose I think that withenough training anybody really
could cook.
Now, having them to have goodtaste, that's the challenge.
I think that's where the mightmight need to be a thing.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
but it actually goes into um what?
Just sorry, I didn't knowyou're good just super briefly,
the version of that saying thatI have is that all chefs are
cooks but not all cooks arechefs, and it's kind of that
same concept like anybody cancook, but not everybody can be
at that level.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Right.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
You know, like there's a level that I'm I will
be lucky if I ever see it,because of what I need to do to
get to that level I don't havethe ability or resources for,
like, I can't go to France andcook under the greatest chefs
and learn, you know.
So there's a skillset that I'mnever going to have, or I'm not
going to get as close as I wouldbe.
(17:12):
You know, it would take methree, four times as long to do
it.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
No, I like that, like it is the same concept.
You know, not everyone can begreat, but they but greatness
can come from everywhere,anywhere.
You know every chef is a cook,but not every cook is a chef.
I think normally something thatkind of goes on in your line of
creation and everything likeyour videos usually tend to
(17:38):
focus on how the differencebetween a chef and a cook is
that leadership aspect.
A lot of the time I don't thinkthat's something you can teach
is how to be a leader.
I mean mean, I suppose you can,you can learn some tricks and
things like that, but but Ithink even then, leaders who
aren't born to lead, I think youcan really kind of tell.
But yeah, no, I really likedthat.
(18:00):
I like how, how you correlatedthat with something that I've
heard you say, uh, numeroustimes before.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
It almost reminds me of, like, what you were saying.
It almost reminds me of, uh, ofthe way that people talk about
genetics and bodybuilding, wherethey say that, you know,
anybody can look really good,but if you don't have that like
top tier, one percent genetics,even you could.
You could take all the roids inthe world and you're still not
going to look like, you know, uh, johnny shreve or ronnie
(18:27):
coleman, you know, becausethey're just that good they're,
they're genetically gifted andthey had all of these other
things.
So I think that you can teachleadership skills to anybody,
but how much they absorb, howthey execute that, their
personality and a lot of thingsthat they they naturally have,
may not, uh, may not may notcome as naturally.
(18:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah, I agree with that.
This is one of the ones that Iwas really looking forward to
getting into Women's role in akitchen.
You have marked down Colette'smonologue about having to fight
for everything in a systemdesigned to keep her kind of in
her place, sort of thing.
(19:10):
I've actually got a soundbitefor that.
I'm going to go ahead and playthat.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
No, you listen.
I just want you to know exactlywho you are dealing with.
How many women do you see inthis kitchen?
Well I, only me.
Why do you think that is?
Well I, because Hout Wazine hasan antiquated hierarchy built
upon rules written by stupid oldmen, rules designed to make it
impossible for women to enterthis world.
But still I'm here.
How did this?
Speaker 3 (19:33):
happen.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Because?
Well, because you, Because I'mthe toughest cook in this
kitchen.
I worked too hard for too longto get here and I am not going
to jeopardize it for somegarbage.
Boy who got lucky Got it, Gohome.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
I love that scene.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
That was really good.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Yeah, the way that, uh, I mean she's stabbing those
knives through his sleeve, uh,his his coat sleeve, and and, uh
, it was slowly pinning him tothe table, Um, and he just
doesn't know what to say, Causehe, he starts off that
conversation trying to be likesuper cool and and suave.
He's all like you know, I justwant you to know.
(20:12):
And she's like boom, no this isnot happening.
So, uh, first off, I I kind ofwant to, I kind of want to ask
you, uh, what's your opinion onColette kind of representing
women, uh, in a kitchen as as acharacter?
Um, because I I haven't workedin a lot of kitchens, but I feel
(20:34):
like there's a lot of Colette'sin kitchens.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Yeah, I'll get, um, I'll get more specifically into
like female chefs, um, butColette actually represents
something.
I really wish my, my wife, wasactually here for this part,
like that she could weigh in,because having that perspective
is really, I think, importantand it's missing in not just
this industry but overall.
And the thing is, is that the,the way that my wife puts it is
(21:02):
that the problem, the problemwith females in any industry is
they have to be two or threetimes as hard as any man that's
there and they, you know, aren'talways allowed to show emotions
.
They can't admit that they'reoverwhelmed, they can't have
normal breakdowns Like a guy can, can have a breakdown in the
(21:24):
walk-in or whatever and and talkabout it and like brush it off
and whatever.
But but women are really treatedon this other level where if
they do anything there, you knowthey can be seen as emotional
or you know they they aren'tgiven the same opportunities or
they're given less pay and Ithink that overall that is
(21:44):
absolutely not cool.
And there's there's a lot oftimes in the kitchen where uh
front of house doesn't treat.
They'll look right past the uhfemale chefs and try to find a
male chef and talk to them.
You know, even though somebodymight be standing right next to
me, that's a woman that iscompletely more qualified than
me to answer that question.
(22:05):
And a lot of times when you seethese successful women, you
will notice that there is this,this, uh, obviously in Colette
it's, you know, slightlyexaggerated for for what the
message is, but you will noticethere's a lot of women that have
that kind of hardness aboutthem because, you know, so many
industries are male dominated.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Because they have to.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Um, you know they, it's, and that is very true.
Uh, I mean, in a lot ofindustries even, it's a lot of
the time, it's ignored.
Uh, but even even in industriesthat are female dominated, you
look at a lot of thoseindustries, but you look at the
(22:49):
leadership, and it's theleadership is all men, um, and
so you have, uh, you have, youknow, an industry that is
primarily women workers allvying for these upper positions,
that it's like you know they're, they're fighting so hard to
(23:10):
get there, um, just to run intothis block, that a lot of the
time men are are picked forthose, those positions.
Um, so I mean, and it happensall the way from you know, your,
uh, your your saucier, to yoursous chef, to your, you know, to
(23:31):
your chef, but, but I mean it,it happens in the whole
restaurant, like I mean, how amI, I really, I really do, like
how they really punch it intoyour face with Colette's
attitude.
I love it, it is so.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Oh, absolutely.
I thought that was a reallygreat scene and, um, yeah, also.
Um, you know, I want to addsomething.
Something that I always saywhen any kinds of things like
this come up is inevitablyyou're going to get a comment
somewhere, whether it's on youruh channel or in your uh
comments on podcasts, like, well, I'm a female chef owner or
whatever.
And the way that I say, the waythat I see this is you know,
(24:09):
there are literally billions ofpeople on earth, right.
Way that I say, the way that Isee this is you know, there are
literally billions of people onearth, right.
Anything that we say, there'salways going to be going to be
exceptions there's always goingto be female business owners or
female managers, sous chefs, allof that.
Who's the sous chef on hell'skitchen?
I forgot her name.
I like her.
Oh, I know her name.
Until I go to say it, it's notyeah what is it?
(24:29):
I don't remember.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Find it really quick, tough as nails, though actually
she was always one of myfavorite parts of uh hell's
kitchen when I'd be watching.
Uh, I'd always love it when hewould go get all the different
orders and stuff like that, takethem into the kitchen, start
shouting them out and everythingand then, like you can see her
running from station to stationand making sure, christina, I
(24:52):
knew it was Christina, yeah.
She's, she's, kick ass.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
man Like yeah, and she's not just the sous chef
there, but she's like in chargeof his whole brand.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Right, you know like it's pretty awesome position.
Yeah, but again, I mean, isthat an exception?
I mean you, you definitely, youdefinitely see successful women
in.
You know the kitchen industry,but again, it is the amount of
work that is applied I think isa lot of the time not equal.
I really liked how, how they,they muscled that in a little
(25:22):
bit.
I don't, I don't know that itwas subtle at all.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
Definitely not.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
But I do love.
I mean, if you're a kid, youjust think oh man, she's mad.
And you know, yeah, Again,that's another one of those
things where it's like that'scontent that is made for
grownups that is put into akid's movie so that grownups can
still get something out of themovie, which is why I'm not
afraid to have kids movies on mypodcast, even though I'm 40.
So, um, but yeah, I, I reallydid love that part of the movie.
(25:51):
It was something else in herethat.
Is this a fan theory or is thissomething that is, um, is, is
this something that there'sevidence for?
You had a ego's?
Mom is the old lady from thebeginning.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
I think it's still a fan theory.
I don't think it's likeofficially stated anywhere in
there but it's still a fantheory.
I don't think it's likeofficially stated anywhere in
there, but it's um.
To me it's one that makes awhole ton of sense.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Just in the simple fact of like, if you think about
the dish that Remy made, thathe made Ratatouille and
everybody was like why are youlike out of it, came out of
nowhere, like, why would youmake that dish, that specific
dish, and you know all of thetimes that he, you know he would
go in and she would be watching, you know Gasto's cooking shows
(26:36):
and he had her books and thingslike that it seemed to me it's
not a far leap to see that hefound that recipe in her house.
Oh yeah, it's not verifiablebut it's I.
I think, if you cause it'sreally a lot of the fan theory
comes from when that picture,when he takes a bite of the
ratatouille and there's thatlike warping and he's a kid
(26:57):
again.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
That a lot of the structures in the house look the
same in that scene as when, uh,you're looking around the house
at the opening scenes of Remy.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Doing stuff.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Yeah, you're looking around the house at the opening
scenes of remy, okay, doingstuff.
Yeah, I'm.
You know what I think might be.
Might be what seals the deal onthat what's up.
If I'm and I'm gonna I'm gonnare-watch the movie now again
just because of this.
I'm gonna look, I'm gonna lookaround uh, that old lady's house
for a bike that looks like hisbike, because that was the whole
premise of that scene.
He fell off his bike and skidand skinned his knees.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Right, so if that bike is there, that bike is
there, then you know that thatPixar planned that like and
anybody listening and watching.
If you know more about this,it'd be awesome to get those in
the comments as well.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Yeah, that'd be.
That'd be pretty badass.
So we talked about thefollowing your dreams, despite
those around you not reallysupporting you.
Now, what about the idea ofusing your gift to help other
people?
Initially, my thought on thesetwo was they state very plainly
(28:04):
I am a human that doesn't knowhow to cook.
You're a rat that knows how tocook, but doesn't know how to be
human.
Initially, it comes off as likethe symbiotic relationship of
of what they do.
Um that was exactly right, butafter he gets schnockered with
Skinner, he's passed out on thefloor in the in the kitchen.
Colette comes in and what doesRemy do?
(28:27):
I'm sitting here going.
Well, you just leave him on thefloor Like I mean, there's no
reason to, you know, have himhave to get up or whatever.
But he's trying to, he's tryingto help him out and so he gets
him up, you know, pulls up hishair and gets him.
So he's standing and all ofthat.
And Colette comes in and he'strying to trying to play, play
(28:47):
it cool.
Well, while trying to play,play it cool, while while trying
to help, you know Linguinifurther his, his relationship
with Colette, right, how do you,how do you view the ability to
use your your gifts to helpothers, uh, as it pertains to a
(29:08):
kitchen.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
Well, unfortunately, um, and it's.
It's been a lot less sonowadays, but I was for a long
time really jaded in helpinganybody after getting burned.
You know, you get to be almost40 now when you see something
like see somebody on the street.
There's so many times where youknow you've seen people faking
it.
You know there was actually afamily that got caught here
where I live that were basicallygrifting and then they go out
there with their kids help me, Ineed money and they had, you
(29:31):
know, nice cars and everythinglike that and it was, and they
got busted for it.
And that kind of thing happensso often.
You know, on smaller scales orindividual scales, that I kind
of got to where, like, I'm goingto stay, I'm just going to do
my thing.
You know, I'm sorry, you needhelp, but everybody needs help,
you know, and it was kind of anegative attitude that I had for
(29:51):
a really long time.
And then, you know, I startedto realize that it's it's less
about you know what it comesfrom being burned, and so then,
if there's people that genuinelyneed help, you know, there's no
reason why they should have tosuffer because of somebody else
being an asshole five years ago,you know.
So today I'm more, I'm a lotless likely to be a jerk about
(30:16):
it, and I think what it's reallyabout because one of the things
that I want to do I don't knowif it's going to happen anytime
in the future is I actuallywanted to use what I know
between marketing soft skillsand cooking ability, to
basically start a program tohelp felons develop a skill, and
(30:40):
whether that counts forjuveniles or actual felons,
people that spend 15, 20 yearsin prison and they just need
some help yeah, spend 15, 20years in prison and they just
need.
They just need some help.
Yeah, you know, especially afterwitnessing, um, what happened
with a close family member theyspent a year in prison and it
was only a year and it was on anassault charge and they the way
(31:03):
the system is set up is almostto bait you into doing something
to get you back in there, right, because there's like the
halfway house and I think thenthere's another step down from
that before you're.
You're kind of like let off,but having that felony on your
record, like there's so manyjobs, so many doors shut, oh
yeah, and I think it's reallynot and I I truly believe that
(31:25):
there is a lot of people outthere that had they just had
that one more chance after.
You know like there's a reallyclose friend of ours that is now
a business owner.
That was looking down, you know, possible 10 years, you know
assault, a police officer and aDUI charge and all that Right,
and now they're a business owner.
They're very successful,they're doing pretty good and
(31:48):
they just needed that one.
You know just that nudge andthat bump in that right
direction, that right direction,and I think that using your
skills to help others can be nothanding out.
You know things that you have,but giving them tools to develop
those skills and do things ontheir own and it also will show
like how badly they want it.
(32:09):
That's pretty where, prettymuch where I am on that.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
That's awesome.
Well, and I mean even youyourself you've grown in your
content creation and stuff likethat in a way that I relish.
You do a really great job, andthe whole premise of what you do
is utilizing your knowledge,your skills you know, the skills
that you just had and the onesyou developed and turning around
(32:34):
and helping those that don'thave the knowledge but have the
curiosity.
That, I think, is reallysomething that you shine at is
using your gift to help others,so good job.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
I applaud you for that.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
I will say that I probably had a good 50, 60
videos up that didn't have anymore than 10 views, right
Sitting at 50 subs for a yearand a half until it finally
started getting traction.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
So yeah, you well you can, you can get it too.
Yeah Well, I'm, I'm, I'mworking at it.
So, um, now the the last pointof interest here that I really
wanted to talk about.
This one was yours, Ego theCritic came from humble
beginnings, possibly poverty, tobeing an authority on the best
(33:21):
restaurants in France,misunderstood and portrayed as
an antagonist, and it would alsobe nice to touch on the role of
critics.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
So tell me about that .
Speaker 3 (33:31):
Well, I mean the idea that he came from, like lower
income, is the way that theyhave the emphasis on Ratatouille
being a quote unquote peasant'sdish.
Yeah, that it was something thatthat the poor eats and him like
having that knowledge andunderstanding, looking back on
that and seeing you know thenhim eating that and that was
(33:52):
something that brought him morewarmth and comfort.
It's not not a hard leap to saylike, well, he, he didn't come
from an affluent um family,right, you know, simple house,
simple dishes, simple life, thatkind of thing.
And the the part about him nowbeing an authority, it it's
almost like he developed thissense of being jaded at the
(34:17):
bastard today bastardization offood and the pretentiousness
that I touched on earlier.
And his antagonism comes fromhim wanting to really find that
joy again and find somethingthat he could really say is the
best he wants from from what Isaw, he wants to like the food,
(34:39):
he wants to say good things, butafter so many times of you know
, crappy chefs making crappyfood, you start to kind of
develop the sense of like, well,this is never going to happen,
I'm never going to find, youknow that right that, that
awesome gem almost, like youknow, comes, almost like he
becomes hostile about it justbecause he knows like he's gone
(35:02):
through it so many times thathe's like yeah, it's, this is
just another.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
This is just another pretentious chef with a
pretentious dish and trying toimpress me, and it's going to be
just like everything else.
Like you said, he's looking fora good meal, but after doing it
so many times, he just expectsthat everybody's going to be
just like everything else.
Like you said, he's looking fora good meal, but after doing it
so many times, he just expectsthat everybody's going to
disappoint him, and thatessentially turns him into a
(35:27):
pessimistic, nasty critic.
Speaker 3 (35:30):
I don't know if you have a clip of this specifically
, but one of the ones thatreally stood out, which got me
thinking of this concept withego, was when he ordered
perspective oh, dude I don'tknow if you have that or not I
know he's like you provide thefood and I'll provide the
perspective.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
I love that little, that little exchange.
There was perfect, because Ilove how the maitre d was like.
So what would you like to eatLike?
Speaker 3 (36:01):
I don't get it.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Yeah, that's a that was really good.
And Peter O'Toole's voice forego I, that's intimidating, even
even as a cartoon does a reallygreat job.
The critics thing Um, yourcommentary on critics is kind of
what uh is more aligned withwith uh, my active ingredient in
this and I don't know, I guessI don't really want to, I don't
(36:26):
really want to mess with thattoo much before uh, before we
get into it with yours, but uh,what?
What was it that you wanted totalk about?
Speaker 3 (36:33):
as far as the role of critics, Well, as far as the
role of critics go there,there's some things that are
exaggerated in the movie, andit's not to knock the movie
specifically, but there's acouple of things like, for
instance, one bad review isn'tgoing to take a Michelin star
away.
You know he's not a Michelininspector, right, and most of
the time it is a rolling out offood reviews and customer
(36:58):
reviews and kind of a mixture ofthose over a long period of
time that start to bring arestaurant down.
You know, if, if everybodyloves the food and a critic
comes out with a bad review, itdoesn't kill the restaurant at
all, right, people, people arejust like well, that guy
probably just had an ax to grindor something like that.
It's when it happens multipleover multiple times, uh, mainly
the impact that they have.
(37:19):
Now I could see well-knownmagazines, um, that have like
food sections making a goodreview.
Uh, the one of the restaurants Iworked at actually did get a
good bump in business becausethey ended up in one of the top
restaurants in the country forlike pizza and burgers and stuff
.
I mean, granted, it was likethey were like ranked like 25
(37:42):
out of 100 or something likethat, but still just how even
having their name on there waswas a big bump.
People don't go out of theirway to go to other, to a
restaurant like that, but theysee that name and it's like in
marketing, right, they see thename, it sticks in their head.
Then one day they're making atrip from California to you know
(38:03):
wherever, to Iowa or whereverthey're going, and they're like
hey, we're in Nebraska.
There was that one place thatwe went to, that, uh, that we
saw like why don't we go thereand check it out?
You know, and that's that's howyou end up getting that
increase through tourism.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
Although I do think that there is.
I've met people that it'salmost like their family
vacations are destinations to gofind places that are
restaurants that people havebeen on, like TV and stuff.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
So Franklin's is like that in Austin.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
Yeah, like I mean, there are people that that's how
they do their family vacations,is that they go to famous
restaurants that are famousbecause of being on a show, I
mean there's, there's been acouple of times where I've been
like God, I kind of want to makea trip, just so that I can try
it out, you know.
But I mean, did you even knowthat was a thing that there's,
(38:51):
that there's like a culture ofpeople that they just do
destination.
I don't know what you call thatdestination dining.
Speaker 3 (38:58):
Yeah, I mean a lot of it, a lot of the people that
would come in that that had thatattitude.
There wasn't as many families,but there was definitely a lot
of couples and people that Imean I can kind of count
anniversaries depending on howfar out they're coming, but
there's definitely people thatthey go out of their way to come
and see the place.
Uh, a lot of it, a good chunkof it, I'll say, comes from
(39:23):
people that had a restaurant,say, since okay, so I live in
texas, so a restaurant thatopened in houston and then that
restaurant.
Those people move somewherelike new York or Arizona or
something like that.
There are some really diehardfans of that restaurant that
(39:44):
will now make a trek and driveseveral States away, whether
it's once a year or whateverjust to eat at that place again
and to see everybody.
So I think a chunk of it comesfrom that.
And then there is some peoplethat they're just like.
You know, I want to visit therestaurant I saw and, uh, you
know, diners, drive-ins anddives, you know, and stuff like
that.
That's like um hell's kitchenwould be another example.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
Yeah, I've actually talked about you know how I
would drive all that way just togo to hell's kitchen If I felt
like I could if I felt like Icould justify it like I want to
do that, but I also want to findsome other things, so that I
I'm not telling people, yeah,I'm driving all the way to cause
it's in California, isn't it?
Speaker 3 (40:27):
Uh, there's one in California and then I believe
they have one in Vegas, the.
I think the California one isthe one that's actually just
open all the time to the public,right, the other location in la
and the one in vegas, I think,are more like sound stages and a
lot of the people that end upthere the reason why they're
celebrities is because, like, Iknow a guy that knows the guy
(40:48):
and then they kind of come inand eat for free right as part
of the show.
But yeah, la has the, I believehas the, the restaurant one.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
That's like mimicking .
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I see, and Ieven that one I'd kill, I'd kill
to go to, but I I feel like I'dhave to find another reason to
go to LA.
So I don't know, maybe one ofthese days I'll I'll head out
that way for, like, a YouTubeconvention or something like
that.
Speaker 3 (41:14):
But next time we head out to GDC I'll give you a ring
.
Speaker 2 (41:17):
Oh, there you go.
Speaker 3 (41:18):
I mean like a do a whole thing.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
It's awesome.
This, this part of the, thislittle segment of the show, uh,
now that we're starting to getdown towards the end of it, um,
this, this is what I call theactive ingredient, and it's it's
it's where we talk about, uh,the overall meaning behind the
movie that affected you, uh, the, the individual thing that that
really stuck out to you, thatmade a difference in your life,
(41:43):
that maybe changed yourperspective a little bit, that
was healing for you.
Um, do you have, do you have,an active ingredient in this
movie?
Speaker 3 (41:50):
Yeah, I would say that the I touched on it in the
beginning, but but the conceptof you know, greatness can come
from anywhere, and the wholeconcept of Remy as the rat
having this skill and just needsa way to express it.
You know there's a lot ofrelation there with, like, how I
(42:11):
feel, and you know the drive isall about, you know, finding
the mixtures, and the wholething could be summed up with
the scene of when he ate thepiece of cheese and then he ate
the what I think it was like astrawberry and then he tried
them together and like theemotions and passion that he had
(42:32):
just for enjoying that andbeing in the moment and kind of
like enjoying the little thingsis something that I think is
missing from a lot of people'slives.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
Yeah, and it's funny because that that, because of
that scene, I have tried doingthat.
I find two things thateverybody says are things that
go really great together.
I still don't understand thethe nuts and cheese thing.
Like I still don't get the nutsand cheese thing.
I still don't get that.
But I have tried doing thatwith some of the things, like
(43:02):
some cheeses and fruits andthings like that.
I mean I don't get thesparklies and I don't get the
colorful wavies and stuff likethat in the darkness of my eyes
or whatever, while I'm doingthat with my eyes closed.
I would love it if'm doing thatwith my eyes closed.
Speaker 3 (43:17):
Um, but I would love it if I got that.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
It'd make?
It'd make cooking a whole lotsimpler, wouldn't it?
But instead, what it?
What doing things like that, uh, kind of reminded me was to
just take a take a moment toappreciate the things that you
are doing.
Like you know when, when you'veworked a job that you only get
like 10 to 15 minutes for lunch,you learn how to work food down
and, and you, there is nosubstance to it.
(43:43):
You are simply filling a holeso that you can get back to work
.
Speaker 3 (43:46):
I know about that.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
And because of that, like it's almost like you lose
that ability to reallyappreciate the things that
you're eating.
And that can kind of be appliedto everything, especially in
this day and age whereeverything is is instant, you
know, everything is fast,everything is is uh faster.
I think it's real easy to tonot appreciate the things that
(44:09):
that are around us in in the waythat they need to be
appreciated, and and I thinkthat a lack of being able to
stop long enough to do that hasharmed the way that we are as
people in general.
So I I completely agree thatbeing able to being able to take
a moment just to just to savoryou to use a uh, a food term
(44:30):
just to savor the things aroundyou a little bit, I think is is
uh really important.
Speaker 3 (44:36):
Hey, you know you taught.
You just touched on something Ididn't think about till just
now.
I think that that couldactually be a small part of what
causes that adds to chefs andcooks being burnt out, because
there are so many times whereyou're on the line, it's busy,
you're not getting a break, soyou just slap some kind of
random sandwich together, go eatit over a trash can.
(44:58):
Meanwhile you're making all ofthese like gorgeous meals and
stuff for people and you startto like lose the the feelings
that you might get or the thingsthat you might experience that
somebody else would experience,where they got to sit down and
take the time to really enjoytheir meal, have good company,
you know good conversation andstuff like that.
(45:20):
And since we were talking aboutflavors, I did one.
This is an.
This is a really good book it'scalled the flavor bible this has
pretty much every single flavorcombination and it goes into
detail about all of that kind ofstuff.
So if anybody is listening, youdon't have to be a cook or a
chef to appreciate this becauseit'll just, it'll definitely up
(45:42):
your game and when I'm notgetting sponsored or paid from
by them or anything, it's just areally good book that I love
and I just wanted to share that.
Speaker 2 (45:49):
That's awesome.
Yeah, now I'm going to have togo get a copy because I'm I'm
still looking for those sparksand colorful waves.
My active ingredient in thisone actually had more to do with
Anton Ego.
So one of the one of the thingsthat that listeners on my
podcast will notice is that Idon't I don't ever give any sort
(46:09):
of a rating for the movies thatI do.
Um, I I consider myself a moviecritic, but I'm not a modern
movie critic, because everythingnow has to be quantified where
it's, you know, eight out of 10or four out of five stars or you
know whatever.
There has to be some quantitythat is put with every kind of a
(46:32):
review or anything, uh,involving movies, and I don't
think that that's a good thing.
I don't like it and I thinkthat that by doing that because
everything has to be quantified,now that that is, that is what
has been so damaging to to themovie industry in general.
In past episodes I've beensuper critical of a big critic
(46:55):
website, rotten Tomatoes.
They literally give apercentage value to every movie
and in our very first episodeabout Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles, the very first moviehas so much meaning to so many
people.
But you ask Rotten Tomatoes andit is certified rotten.
(47:16):
But how can that be whenthere's a whole generation of
people whose heart ached to havethat movie and remember it so
fondly?
And it's because everything hasto have a number or a value
attached to it?
Now I mean, think about the oldmovie reviews, how it would be.
(47:36):
You know, this person says thatit's a great movie and you
should go watch it with yourfamily.
You know, siskel and Ebert gaveit two thumbs up and all of
that.
I mean that was the mostquantity that you had was two.
Speaker 3 (47:48):
And some of those movies were terrible.
Speaker 2 (47:50):
Yeah, and some of them were really awful, but
there wasn't really anything asfar as.
As far as quantity goes, no, nonumber attached, nothing like
that, and I think I think that'sbeen a big part of the reason
why everybody is sohypercritical of movies.
Now you know, there's all theseplot holes.
Speaker 3 (48:09):
Well, there were holes to begin with, you know.
Somebody else actually pointedout that they cannot name a
single movie that is a big boxoffice movie, that wasn't a
remake, or right a spin-off ofsomething that already existed
or a recreation of yeah and Itried like I couldn't find it um
(48:30):
remakes and sequels I mean,there are still some people out
there that are making someoriginal content, and a lot of
some of those are even doingthings that are based off of
their own work.
Speaker 2 (48:41):
But no, you're right, like there's so many reboots
now it's, it's ridiculous.
I think that critics need to be, need to be a little bit more
careful about how they, abouthow they push things into other
people's minds.
You know, we have aresponsibility as critics to
make sure that we are not givingpeople their opinions, that we
are giving them our opinions.
(49:03):
You know, keeping that freemind thing, that's what it was
for me, and it was all becauseof Anton Ego, and actually I
have a couple of sound bitesthat kind of brought that up for
me.
I'm going to play those quick.
Speaker 1 (49:20):
In many ways, the work of a critic is easy.
Speaker 3 (49:25):
We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those
who offer up their work andtheir selves to our judgment.
Speaker 2 (49:34):
That's very humbling.
You're put into this placewhere you can damage somebody or
something with your words.
Look at how that can affect thefood industry.
I mean, have you had anystruggles with critics and how
they work?
Speaker 3 (49:50):
Mostly the biggest problem I've had isn't with
direct critics, but the way thatsome these critic the way that
some of these critical apps andwebsites work.
The problem is that so manypeople are so willing to give a
bad review, like on Yelp but notas willing to give a good one.
(50:10):
Yeah, it's like for every 15 or20 bad reviews there's like one
positive one Right, and you knowit's usually somebody that
really took the time to make it.
But most, mostly, it's justpeople that are they get mad
because this was wrong or thattook too long or whatever, and
then they just blast.
You know they just blast therestaurant.
Speaker 2 (50:32):
And that's the only time they want to say anything.
So I'm going to I'm going toend this and this episode a
little bit different.
I'm going to end this episode alittle bit different.
I'm going to end this episodeby saying that I am going to
give every listener that islistening right now a
prescription, and thatprescription is to go out and
find somebody that is doing agood job and make sure to tell
them hey, you do a good job.
(50:54):
Now, this can be anybody at thegas station where you pick up
your coffee on your way to work.
Uh, this can be, you know, theguy that sits in the in the
cubicle next to you.
This can be wherever, like, Idon't care who it is.
Somebody who you see is doingsomething right and doing
something.
Well, tell them hey, you'redoing a good job.
(51:14):
Just do that and don't tellanybody that they're doing a bad
job that day.
Speaker 3 (51:20):
That day.
You can tell them tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (51:23):
Maybe wait a day, but take a day just to tell people
that they're doing a good job.
Thank you, jason.
This was awesome.
It was really good to have youback on again.
Speaker 3 (51:33):
Yeah, that was awesome, can't tell you enough,
I enjoyed it on again.
Speaker 2 (51:40):
uh, I can't.
That was awesome.
Can't tell you I enjoyed it?
No, uh, I do.
I do need you to plug yourstuff because I I don't even
know how to start.
Speaker 3 (51:44):
Go ahead well, you can find me everywhere, uh,
lowercase x, 86 and um.
Not as active as I'd like to beon x.
I'm trying to fix that.
There's actually some thingsI'm planning on with that, but
but mostly it's YouTube, just atlowercase 86ED, and you can
find all my content on there forYouTube.
Speaker 2 (52:01):
That's awesome.
Now, if you've got a moviethat's been medicine for you and
you'd like to be on the show,you can email me at contact at
movie-rxcom, or you can leave avoicemail or text me at
402-519-5790.
A voicemail or text me at402-519-5790.
If anxiety has been keeping youfrom wanting to get on, you can
(52:25):
always write me a couple ofparagraphs and and uh, about a
movie that's really moved youand I can read it on air.
Uh, remember, this movie is notintended to treat or prevent
any disease and we'll see you atthe next appointment.
Thank you.
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Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.