June 13, 2025 • 51 mins
Taylor Swift makes a powerful move by buying back the rights to her first six albums for $360 million, ending a long-running battle over ownership of her music with former manager Scooter Braun. We explore what this means for artists' ownership of their work and why this is such a significant moment in the music industry.
• Taylor Swift announced the purchase through a letter on her website expressing her joy
• The saga began in 2019 when Scooter Braun bought her former label Big Machine
• Swift paid approximately $360 million to regain control of her first six albums
• Artist ownership of masters has been a struggle for many famous musicians including Prince and Michael Jackson
• This purchase represents a major power move that changes the landscape for artist rights
President Trump pardoned Todd and Julie Chrisley from "Chrisley Knows Best" after a family member reportedly attended a high-priced fundraiser
• The pardon (not commutation) completely wiped their record clean
• Concerns raised about wealthy donors potentially buying pardons
• Questions about how this undermines the jury system and court process
A Maryland woman faces child abuse charges after allegedly slamming a child's head into an airplane window when called "Miss Piggy"
• Incident occurred on a flight returning from Disney World
• Child reportedly called her fat and "Miss Piggy" during an argument
• Woman took the child's phone away before the physical altercation
• FAA noted they fined passengers $7.5 million for unruly behavior in 2023 alone
A father tragically died teaching his 15-year-old daughter to drive when she mistook the gas for the brake
• Vehicle went off a 40-foot cliff during the driving lesson
• Daughter survived with minor injuries but faces lifelong trauma
• Discussion about the importance of starting driving lessons in safe locations
Hailey Bieber sold her makeup brand Rhode to Elf Beauty in a deal worth up to $1 billion
• The skincare line was founded in 2022 and rapidly expanded to $200 million in net sales
• Bieber's strategic silence amid public criticism paid off with this major business win
• Comparison to other successful celebrity beauty brands like Rihanna's Fenty
AI-generated content caused major newspapers to publish fake book recommendations
• Only 5 of 15 book titles in the summer reading list were real books
• Discussion about AI hallucinations and the importance of fact-checking AI output
• Growing concern about AI reliability in professional contexts
The NBA Finals features an unexpected matchup between Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder
• Both teams considered underdogs despite being statistically strong
• Prediction that hunger from these teams will create an exciting championship series
Great conversations and a place where independent filmmakers can be highlighted.
Hello, and thank you for listening to Thirsty Topics podcast! I'm Lawrence Elrod, and every week Meryl Klemow and I dive deep into the stories that matter, the conversations that shape our world."
Please help support our show by following us and telling others about our show. New podcasts weekly.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Everyone welcome to this week's episode of Thirsty
Topics.
I'm Lawrence Elrod.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
And I'm Meryl Clemo.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Hey Meryl, how are you today?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
I'm so good, very, very, veryrill.
How are you today?
I'm so good, Very, very, verygood.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:27):
I am doing fantastic.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yay, is that a?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
good weekend, it's only going to get better, I
think.
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
It's only going to get better, I think.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Oh, absolutely Absolutely.
Did you have a great weekend?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I really did.
A sign of it is I forgotcompletely what I did, but it
was very, very fun.
Oh yeah, that's right.
I had a fun show in La Jolla,San Diego, A really fun show.
It was all women and like thebest time ever Very nice, yep.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Well, we're going to start off the fun.
I'm going to let you startfirst.
This is a fun one.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I know.
One that was very exciting andvery unexpected to at least most
of us, I think was that TaylorSwift announced that she bought
back the rights to her first sixalbums and this ended a long
running battle over ownership ofher music.
So she made the announcement.
She put up, kind of like aletter you know a pretend
written letter on her websitesaying that she's been bursting
(01:22):
into tears of joy ever sincethat she found out that this was
really happening.
I'm sure many of us know atthis point what was happening,
but the saga began in June 2019when the music manager, Scooter
Braun, who we've heard of manytimes, bought her former record
label, Big Machine, and with allof that it was all the songs
from all six of her albums.
(01:43):
Taylor was not shy aboutletting everyone know how she
felt about that, and then thatled for her to record some of
her other songs to now have likethose music you know that music
.
So it's so funny becauseeveryone was thinking that she
was about to announce Reputation, that she was about to do her
version of it, and people wereobsessed with it, thinking that
(02:03):
she was going to announce it onlike the AMAs.
And then, you know, as wetalked about last week.
The AMAs were kind of a flop,so they were like, why would
Taylor announce it?
So I thought this was she didsuch a good job by like fooling
her fans and just surprising us.
I feel like one thing aboutTaylor is she like constantly
keeps Swifties on their toes.
I feel like I'm not a Swifty,but I'm like a Swifty ally, like
(02:25):
where I really love TaylorSwift, but I'm not.
I haven't fully jumped into theSwifty pool yet, but I'm
dipping my toes in.
So, yeah, I think this is soawesome.
I think she bought it for $360million, which I heard is crazy,
but that's just, I think, adrop in the bucket for what she
made on the Heiress.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Tour?
Oh, absolutely, and I thinkthat it's so important for
artists to own their masters,especially when you look at long
term, and a lot of independentartists right now really don't
want to be signed to labels justbecause of all the poops they
have to go through wondering arethey getting screwed?
And then again, a lot of themwhen they do sign up.
(03:07):
Major record labels don't owntheir masters, so famous artists
like Prince had to fight forhis master.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Michael Jackson had an issue with his.
So it's not just the unknownartists, it's even the famous
artists as well too.
So I commend her.
I think that's a great thingthat she did.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Me too.
I can't.
I can't even understand how itwould feel to be an artist that
wrote these things when you'relike 14 and 15 and put your
heart and soul into them, andthen to have like weird slimy
music executives and to havethat like the business hands
exchange and you'll be left outof it.
You know, that's crazy.
So I think that's like that'sjust so badass.
And the fact that like a womanwas just able to pay 360 million
(03:53):
just to be like yep, you know,it's like she shouldn't have to
in the first place.
She should have just owned itoutright.
But I thought this was such acool showing of it, um, so, yeah
, that's really exciting.
And I think that's like.
I mean, those are all.
All six of those albums arelike amazing and so good.
So it just people werecommenting like it feels like
the timeline shifted now thatshe owns all of her stuff.
So that's one thing abouttaylor is she is able to like
(04:18):
reach mentally like millions ofbillions of people, you know.
So I think like, even though wedon't know her, we all kind of
have like somewhat of a you know.
So I think like, even though wedon't know her, we all kind of
have like somewhat of a you knowpersonal relationship with her.
So I think that's cool to havethat.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Yeah, and you know, because she's such a popular pop
star and you know all aroundthe world and stuff, you know it
would only make sense that sheshould own her Masters anyway.
So I thought that was a greatthing and you know she's
probably working on a long timebehind the scenes.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
We just didn't know about until it was completed I
know I wonder if travis kelseywas just like cool babe, like
something, something tells me.
I mean I think he hopefully Iwas thinking about that, because
some ends of things I'm like Ifeel like they're really good
partnership, but on other ends Ifeel like they just kind of
like may not get each other likeat their core.
So I would love to see how thatconversation went Like you know
(05:08):
how much of it he like fully,fully understands and you know
vice versa.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Absolutely.
Hopefully, other independentartists are looking at this, and
you know, realize theimportance of owning your
masters as well too.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
I know, I know and hopefully we'll see some type of
like I don't know just changein the contracts.
I don't think it's.
I don't know if it's going tobe worse, just the way that,
like ai and we're going, andit's just going to get more and
more, you know, soon they'retrying to own people's like
consciousness, basically.
So who knows, like now, if,like a 14 year old version of
taylor, swift signed somethingthey may try to like, sign away
(05:42):
her ai likeness and everythingyou know, which is the whole, a
lot of the strikes andeverything.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
So we'll see oh yeah, and because I've always said
this before is, no matter howtalented you are, it's so
important to know the businessside of music you have to know
the business and and any type ofentertainment.
To be honest with you, you haveto know the business side yeah,
yep, so I don't know.
It's very cool All right Talkabout something interesting.
(06:12):
Well, as you're probably awareof, president Trump has pardoned
Todd and Julie Kriesley fromthe reality show Kriesley Knows
Best.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Oh my gosh knows best .
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Now, from what I have seen from several sources, that
a member of their family Idon't know if it was the
daughter or if it was agrandmother, but a member from
their family went to, I guess,this invitation-only type dinner
where it was a million dollars,I believe a person and
magically, out of nowhere, theGrizzlies are pardoned Yep, you
know, not commuted.
And magically, out of nowhere,the Grizzlies are pardoned Yep,
(06:49):
not commuted, pardoned.
Not only do they get out ofprison, but their record is
wiped clean, right?
What do you think about that,meryl?
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Didn't she somewhere include in a note like, by the
way, we're big fans of you, orsomething?
I think there was something thatsomeone said like yeah.
So she pretty much put like Ithink she like in the invitation
or in something very easy, like, by the way, we're huge trump
supporters, and I think that waslike a big you know part of
this piece of this thing andpeople were worried like now,
(07:20):
are people going to commitcrimes knowing that if they just
say like hey, I'm a fan of thepresident, like is that going to
be enough to get you pardoned?
Yeah, I mean, I've listened tosome really good, no matter like
what side people are on.
I just on the podcast Pod SavesAmerica, I just heard from like
one of our former attorneywomen and she was saying like
(07:41):
she had such an interesting takebecause she's like I'm not from
a political background, but sheused to work for Trump and got
fired and she was kind ofexplaining like why everyone
should be concerned about justthe like willy nilly nature of
all these pardons and stuff.
You know, and it didn't have todo from like a liberal
perspective, it was just likethe courts and yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Oh, absolutely.
I think it undermines the courtsystem because you know, people
are talking about how he wasprosecuted and all this.
No one wants to say the factthat they were found guilty by a
jury of their peers.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
It wasn't the Democratic Party, it wasn't this
wild wing conspiracy.
These were average Americansthat convicted them.
Yeah, and if you just sayyou're like a fan, like hey, big
fan of Donald Trump, you can'tjust like get off for any single
crime.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Yeah, and you know, the other thing too that's bad
is that it's kind of setting adangerous precedence that well,
if you have money, yeah, you cancommit crimes.
You know you'll be able to buyyour way out of it.
Yeah, which is not the way oursystem is set up to work,
exactly.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
It's like if you're a donor of some things, I mean,
that's a lot how pharmaceuticalbills are passed and the
lobbying and that's how thispays for this dinner and this
person to go here and this, andthen what you get gets passed.
So it's yeah, it's a crazything.
So, yeah, I don't love it atall.
I think it's all.
I think it's like scary and Ithink it's just like it doesn't
(09:05):
surprise me that it's happening,but it's just weird.
I'm surprised even that, likeas much information about that
situation got out to the publicas possible, cause I would think
that's the kind of story thatthey want to cover up or just
not have it like leaked oranything.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Well, one thing that I've noticed that generally
people that are pardoned,they're going to go in one of
two directions.
Either A they're going to cleanthemselves up as far as they're
acting what they do and they'regoing to go on a straight arrow
path, or they're going to thinkthey're invincible and then,
down the line, they're going todo something stupid again.
Yeah, and end up right backwhere they started.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Yep, so I don't know it's kind of interesting to see
which direction.
I have an idea which directionthey're going in but I don't
know.
What do you think, Remy?
Speaker 2 (09:54):
I sadly think I know oh my gosh, have you ever
watched the show?
No, I've heard of it, I've seenit too many times, but I didn't
see it.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Yeah, I know about the show, but yeah, I tried to
watch it one time.
I probably couldn't get throughfive minutes of it.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
It's one of those shows that you just think
producers sit around and be likewhat could be the most lowest
denominator.
Shows that people would like,Even some of the TLC shows about
people eating coupons andeverything.
Everything that's just tooweird.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Well, the crazy thing about merrill is that there
literally is an audience foranything you put out there.
Yeah, the right audience, youknow yep, there really is.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
That's why we should make a show about that in
general, we should just likeinterview all the people that
were just part in and call itpodcast or something.
There you go.
It's a new business idea.
Well, my next story.
Actually, this is the perfectperson to.
Uh, I bet she's maybe going toget part and she'll slip in a
(10:57):
note that she loves ourpresident or something to get
parted.
Now I'm we're going to talkabout this.
But when I first picked thisarticle or this my topic, I
thought it was like very cuteand like light and funny.
And then I read more about itand I was like, oh my god, this
is crazy.
So it goes down real fast.
Uh, so basically, marylandwoman it was a maryland woman
charged after hitting a child ona plane who called her miss
(11:20):
piggy.
So you know, differentheadlines said different things.
This article got me in the waythat I love Miss Piggy and like
at first I thought this was justlike a woman was mad that a
child called her Miss Piggy andI was sending it to all my
friends, being like this is sosilly.
And then they're like silly, awoman bashed a kid's head on a
plane.
I'm like, oops.
So basically, a woman a woman isfacing charges after police in
(11:42):
Florida said she hit a child whomade fun of her weight on a
flight from Orlando.
They got some documents and itsaid that she slammed the
child's head into the window ofthe plane, which is like
absolutely crazy.
So she's 46 and now she has togo to court, or she went to
court for child abuse charges.
For child abuse charges, um,they did not detail the
(12:08):
relationship to the child, so wedon't know if it's just like a
random, random person or it'slike someone that she knows.
Um, it said that of course theybecame the kid, became
disrespectful during their tripto disney world, as if this
can't get any more convolutedand they got.
When they got into the plane,they got into an argument and
the kid began calling her fatand miss piggy.
She decided to take the phoneaway from him and he got angry.
(12:28):
He pushed her arm off of thearmrest twice and then she
started smacking him.
I mean, this is just nuts andso like.
I think to me this sounds likeshe knows him at first.
The article reads as thoughsomeone's just walking down an
aisle and, you know, getsaccosted by a kid.
They haven't said point blank,but I have a feeling this either
was her kid or someone else'skid or something.
(12:50):
And yeah, the FAA responded andjust said they have zero
tolerance for this type of stuffand in 2023 alone, they fined
passengers $7.5 million forunruly behavior.
Wow, yeah, I mean it seems likethere's a few things wrong.
Like the least bad is I don'tthink it's not nice, obviously,
(13:12):
for a kid to be like yelling atsomeone calling them miss, piggy
or fat, like that's not that.
That should have some type oflike reprimanding, but getting
bashed in the head definitely isnot it.
That's not right.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
So like the first thing wasn't great, but then the
reaction was 20 times worseyeah, I mean it would be kind of
interesting to know what therelationship is, because it
seems like they, based on whatyou just said, it looks like
they know each other.
They're either relatives, ormaybe she's a guardian I don't
know what the situation is butfor the kid to be that
(13:46):
comfortable saying somethingthat disrespectful means that
they've done this before.
And they're doing it.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Exactly, and the fact that she tried to take his
phone away and the fact thatthey were done with Disneyland
or Disney world.
So it's like I also wonder.
I mean, it's so many times likewe've all probably said things
to our parents that we regret,or you go over the line, I don't
think you know, like I feellike people haven't said stuff
since the dawn of time to theirfamily.
That's like whoops, you know.
But calling someone on a plane,especially if it's like your
(14:16):
guardian, like calling them Fatand Miss Piggy, is bad.
But yeah, you don't want tobash a kid in the head, yeah,
and bash a kid in the head.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Yeah, and it sounded like she was just trying to make
a point.
She wasn't really trying tohurt him, but just make a point.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
But you have to be aware too that where you're at,
I know Now this is way different, but I do have to admit to all
of us that sometimes I do likenot children getting in trouble,
but children getting like ifthey're having a tantrum on
TikTok.
Sometimes I like to watchvideos of them like getting
punished in a good way Neverhurt, not this, but like I do
(14:50):
like to see you knowconsequences.
Sometimes and I'm also not aparent, but I don't know
sometimes on TikTok I findmyself liking to watch that, but
like never, ever hurting a kid.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Oh yeah, and you know what?
Were they going to Disneyland,or from Disneyland, I think they
were coming home from it.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
I bet everyone had a big long day.
Who knows, maybe the kid wasmad that he couldn't pick out
Disney ears, or they didn't getto eat a snow cone, or something
.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
I was going to say if it was going to Disneyland,
that's an easy fix.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Oh, yeah, never.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
You want to clown?
We're not going there an easyfix.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Oh, yeah, never.
Yeah, be like okay, you want aclown, we're not going there
exactly.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Yeah, we're going right back on the plane, yeah
there you go, yeah, but uh yeahlike I said I don't think she,
from way it sounds, it doesn'tsound like she meant harm.
It was just kind of like shegot fed up.
But again, you have to be awareof your surroundings.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Yeah, and no matter what, taking a child's head and
hitting it against the planewindow, I think that you should
be charged for child abuse.
I think that is very serious.
If it is what the witnessessaid, she took his head and
bashed it in.
That's pretty crazy.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
I don't know, I don't know If she had took him and
maybe smacked his hand real hard, I don't think people would
have really reacted the same way.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
That's just a discipline.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
You might not want to smash your kids head into a
window in public.
That's not a good look.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Yes, so ridiculous.
The other passengers said thatthey were like trying to tell
everyone in this take a breath,everyone take a breath.
But also my biggest takeaway isthat it's not bad Like he's
using Miss Piggy as an insult.
Miss Piggy's a wonderfulcharacter and so in that moment
I would have like been like youknow, if I have Miss Piggy then
(16:43):
you're going to.
Like if you, in that moment Iwould have been like if I have
Miss Piggy then you're going to,if you embrace Miss Piggy, she
would never even touch a child.
She would have her gloves onand not even deal with it.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
That's true.
That would be a nice comebacktoo.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Yeah, exactly, you're not even Kermit level, you ugly
child, but also reason number800 why I don't have a kid.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
So yeah, Talk about, but also my reason number 800
why I don't have a kid.
So, yeah, yeah, talk about kids.
This is actually a pretty sadstory.
Um, a father his name is jamesjames uh polotovsky, died trying
to teach his 15 year olddaughter how to drive.
No, what authorities are sayingis that, um, you know, as with
(17:24):
every parent, because, because Itaught my son how to drive, you
know, this is the season,especially in summertime, where
parents are teaching their kidshow to drive.
And I guess she mistaked thegas pedal for the brake pedal.
Yeah, shot a vehicle right offa 40-foot cliff.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Oh my.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
God, her leg was on the roof.
Unfortunately, her father didnot survive.
She had, like you know, minorbruises and cuts.
But wow, there's a whole lot ofthings come to mind with that.
It's like, first of all, it'sjust sad.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
That daughter is going to be traumatized for a
long time and you know she'sdefinitely going to need to talk
to someone on the middle mentalside because in her mind she's
thinking oh my god, I, I causedmy father to die exactly and
like I would never want to driveagain, like the guilt that you
feel, and it's probably like now, she will probably associate
(18:24):
driving and learning to drivewith just the worst thing that
is ever imaginable.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
And it's so scary because I do feel like there is
a big gap of learning how todrive and like being behind this
huge machine.
That's so scary.
And then you're just on theroad with everyone else, Like I
always see, like student driverson big freeways, and I'm like
that is terrifying for everyoneinvolved.
You know, like that's it's justa lot.
I wish there was someintermediate way that people
(18:51):
could get a lot more experiencethan having to be like in the,
you know, in the pack with allof us.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Yeah, I mean um, um, as far as, uh, how long he's
been teaching her, I don't know.
You know, I guess, in hindsight, you know, you have to wonder
yeah, should they have been onthat, on that road that has that
cliff?
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
But don't you think like, even when I see like new
drivers, even if it's not acliff, I still see them merging
on to really like fast freewaysor you know, curvy lanes or even
driving at night, sometimeslike I.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
But yeah, I agree, the cliff part is like that's so
scary and weird oh yeah, andyou know, the thing is, is that,
um, you know, when I wasteaching my son how to drive, I
have to admit I was prettyterrified when I first started
yeah you feel like you have nocontrol.
Yeah, and you, you know you'rehoping that he listens to you or
she listens to you, and youknow, don't do anything crazy,
(19:47):
you know.
But I know when we started off Istarted them off in parking
lots first, before I put them onthe road, and then when I put
them in the street I put them inour neighborhood streets
because you know there's not awhole lot you can do in the
neighborhood versus on me.
So I kind of gradually got himinto that.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Exactly, and I think we have the luxury too.
Yeah, like I learned to drivein northeast Pennsylvania so we
had plenty of like little townsand little roads and stuff, you
know.
But like here in Burbank, likeI'm just thinking there's not
really that much of anopportunity for like a teen to
do that.
You know, because it's like yougo three, three blocks and then
(20:31):
all of a sudden you're likemerging into a major highway and
um, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
So I think that's so scary and I think it's just like
that's.
That's so sad, yeah, I guess.
So we'll pray for her and herfamily, because I know she's
definitely going to need supportum, okay, an upbeat one Another
.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
It's so funny.
Mine is a theme today.
Besides, miss Piggy.
Woman is like women, powerfulwomen taking back their power.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Very beautiful.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Yeah, so I love it.
So Hailey Bieber announced thatshe sold her makeup brand Road
to Elf Beauty in a deal worth upto $1 billion.
So the 28-year-old model,obviously married to Justin
Bieber, co-founded the line ofskincare products in 2022.
And it's expanded rapidly,reporting more than 200 million
(21:14):
in net sales over the 12 monthsto March.
And so you know it was.
There was talk about like people, really like road.
I think I think Haley has donea good job of growing her brand
and, once again, the same way, Iapplaud taylor for kind of
surprising her fans.
I have to, you know, give it tohayley, whether or not you like
her, whether or not like yourteam, whatever team be birthing
(21:35):
not.
Uh, I think she did such a goodjob of just staying quiet,
especially when there's so muchhate around her and just like so
much chatter about her andJustin.
I thought that was like such agood clap back to be quiet and
then, all of a sudden, be likelike to let the news hit and
then her just be like oh, yeah,okay, I sold my company for a
billion dollars.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Oh, definitely, and you know I took my hat off to
her.
I mean, right now I don't knowif it's a fad or it's a
permanent thing, but there'sbeen a lot of different artists
that's been selling their makeuplines and becoming billionaires
.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Yeah, yeah, you think about Rihanna.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
She's like what?
Speaker 2 (22:12):
1.3 billion, I think it was yeah, exactly, yep, and I
believe, like Rihanna andHailey, I really do think those
women are in the businessmeetings and part of the
creative.
I think it goes well becauseyou could tell they're part of
the creative strategy and like Ifeel like we've seen some like
some Ariana Grande perfumes andstuff.
(22:32):
You could tell that she doesn'teven know that she has a
perfume, or like there's somesituations where I feel like
people don't even know they havesomething.
But I think these examples,they they do.
And like Selena Gomez with herrare beauty, I think when
someone like that is really intoit, it translates and women and
girls and whoever get excitedabout it.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Oh, absolutely, and I look at it as it's a great
thing because they're makingmoney.
Not only are they artists, butalso they're businesswomen, and
that's the big keys, a lot ofsuccessful artists.
Now, the thing we all have incommon they're businessmen and
businesswomen.
Now, they're not just so narrowon their particular art but
(23:18):
they're doing other things tosupplement as well and kind of
build off of it.
So I think it's a great thingyep, and it's so funny too.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
I definitely saw a switch up online about hayley
because people just pile on herand like I'm sure in some
instances she is spoiled and notnice and maybe she was like a
big fan of justin and you knowkind of stalked her way in, but
I'm sure she also has a niceside, like it's kind of you know
I'm sure there's many sides toher, but like people were hating
on her and then she got thecover of vogue and now this, and
(23:47):
now I've seen in the commentspeople are like it's hayley
baldwin with like the wind, youknow, and everyone's like now
people are like divorce him,divorce justin, you're better at
it than it.
So it's so funny to like watchthe tides change and just I
think, like for her.
This is almost the best casescenario where people are kind
of like you know, wanting,wanting good for her and even
(24:08):
saying that she's too good forjustin and you know all the
stuff.
So I thought that was just likewhether or not you like hayley,
I think the way that shehandled it I'm just like never
responding to people that muchand then all of a sudden just
popping off with like sellingher company for a billion
dollars was so cool oh yeah, theway you handle it is you let
your success do the talking foryou.
Exactly, and you surprise people.
(24:29):
I think that's the thing too,when they underestimate you and
then you do something huge.
I think it's fun to watchpeople recalibrate.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Yes, it is, and talk about recalibrating Miley Cyrus.
She faces her past and what shedoes by facing trauma that
she's dealt with in the past.
It has changed her relationshipwith her family.
One of the things that I'velearned, which I did not know,
(25:03):
was that she was estranged fromher father for some time.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Yeah, Billy Ray, yep.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
And I guess now that she's gotten help for her and
things that she's been dealing,with her relationships are
better, she's better, she feels.
You know, it's like she's beenreborn again.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Yes, yep, I think that's great.
It seems like Miley, especiallyas someone that had to grow up
like very quickly and probablylearn a lot of adult lessons and
even probably like I wouldguess that she's probably a
little bit more, even more likeemotionally mature than most of
her family and probably had tobe the one to like, come
together and maybe setboundaries and you know, oh yeah
(25:43):
, and I think it's an example ofyou know, when you've dealt
with with with trauma, uh,growing up or in your past, you
know you're not weak by askingfor help or going to get help.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
For that you're a strong person.
Because, because, becauseeveryone needs help at some
point or another.
Absolutely, and there's nothingto be ashamed or nothing to be
embarrassed about it.
There's all kinds of differentways that either a therapist can
help you, a friend can help you, there's all kinds of avenues,
just as long as you get thathelp that you need.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Absolutely, and I think, especially when it comes
to family issues, I feel likesometimes people it's the best
thing that they need to cut offtheir family for a little bit or
, you know, after you've giventhem fair warning, but then you
could be open to how she didlike to come back again and kind
of be like, ok, we're, we aregoing to work on it.
So, yeah, it sounds cool.
(26:37):
Miley definitely is like a,like a, like a big spirit.
You know she has to work on alot of stuff.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
It seems like she's been through a lot, but she's
also like she's a tough, toughcookie, I think yeah, when I saw
her being interviewed um, it'sjust and maybe it's me, but it
seems like she's a lot happierthan she's been in a very long
time yeah, yeah, I think I thinkshe's probably like.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
She's probably gone through so many phases of just
being a kid star and then herwhole like wrecking ball thing
when she had the short hair andshe was kind of like you know,
finding drugs for the first timeor whatever.
So I think this miley seemsvery balanced and like and she's
already married and divorcedand it's just like.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
She's like uh, she's had to teach herself emotional
maturity oh yeah, and I thinkshe had to learn how to how to
love her parents in a differentway, because one of the issues
she had in the past is you knowher parents divorced.
You know she disclosed that.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
That was a big issue that she had to get over as well
, which unfortunately is kind ofcommon in in households where
the parents divorce yeah, andI've heard things too I mean,
who knows how true these are,but I've definitely heard things
that, like her, like her momeither like married or hooked up
or something with like one ofthe other siblings,
ex-boyfriends, or like I feellike there's yeah, there's been
(27:50):
like, I think, ways that herparents have, either in a big
way or in a micro way, likebetrayed her and I think she
probably had to deal with likethat too.
You know, like who to trust andwho to who to, like you know,
have in her life close by.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
So, yeah, Well, like I said I I'm glad she's happy
and she's doing better andlooking forward to seeing what
she has coming out very soon.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Me too.
Me too I'm like I, I think I.
I think Miley's one of thosethings where I like her way
better than I like her music,Like you know, like I like the
idea of Miley, but I'm hopingthat I don't know.
I think she needs a good popalbum soon.
We'll see.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Someone that maybe Miley can talk with and give
some insight to our boy, elonMusk, so you might have some
Elon stuff to talk about too.
I just wanted to bring up thefact that Elon left DC with a
literal and reputational blackeye.
So you know, we just saw avideo of elon uh, a send-off
(28:51):
from trump and everything and sohe was like in the oval office,
dressed all in black, in hisdoge's hat on and his t-shirt
and blazer, and he had a blackeye given to him by his young
son.
So my question for you is doyou think he was from the sun or
what do you think?
Speaker 1 (29:10):
um well, I can see them wanting to blame the sun.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
I mean, tell you, that the sun did it.
But it's also the most elonthing.
Like why wouldn't his last daybe with a black eye with trump?
And like, and even someone Iheard some interview and trump's
like why wouldn't his last daybe with a black eye with trump?
And like, and even someone Iheard some interview and trump's
like I didn't even notice it,like I'm like, so someone's
standing afoot from you and youdon't know this, that their eye
is like black and blue we knowhow that goes when, uh, when uh,
(29:37):
the president falls out withsomeone, oh, I don't really know
this person, even though theyknow each other.
Yeah, person who't even knowthis person, who he is.
If it ends up that Elon is ableto step away and they still
speak highly of each other, Iwill be very impressed because
that will seem like the oneTrump former aide or employee or
(29:57):
whatever that has still a goodstanding.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
Well, the thing is, he came in like a wrecking ball.
Yeah, Miley Cyrus, I think someof the things that contributed
to his downfall is one, hiscompany that you know we're
going to talk about pretty soon.
And then also, the other thing,too, is when you start firing a
bunch of people, not knowingwhat they do, and then have to
(30:22):
go oh crap, I need to find them,I need yep and like, oops,
maybe the national parks do needemployees and you know like,
maybe people might need medicare, and this said so.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
It said, uh, basically he elon said that he
told his son go ahead and punchme in the face, which would
explain his black eye.
Musk has 14 children.
So my other thought, too, islike you're a dad, Is it normal
or I mean nothing's normal Is itlike it seems a little weird
for a dad to like tell a kid topunch them in the face?
(30:56):
That seems like a behavior youwouldn't really want to foster,
right?
Speaker 1 (31:00):
That is incredibly weird, right?
Yeah, I don't think I wouldever tell my son hey, hey, son,
go ahead, hit me in the face.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
you know, I don't think I'd ever say yeah, I can
see if you're like playing,horsing around or something, but
not punching.
But I could see likeroughhousing and wrestling, but
but directly asking your kids topunch you in the face, like
then they're going to go repeatthat behavior with their friends
or with someone else, it seemsvery weird to want to stir that
up.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
I've known friends that want to toughen up their
kid whatever.
They'll roughhouse them alittle bit, but they've never
told their child to punch themin the face though.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
If only they had little kid prints like the
little tiny five-year-old.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
But before he left the White House it started
getting very, very weird.
They showed him at a dinner.
He was sitting with thepresident and other people, with
one of the mothers of hischildren, and he was taking his
finger, balancing like a forkand a spoon.
It was like really kind ofweird, you know.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
Yes, Well, there's definitely a lot of alleged like
we don't know for sure, butdefinitely a lot of people say
that he takes like ketamine alot and a lot of other drugs.
Yeah, which I wouldn't besurprised, because I just think
these type of men, they're likedopamine is fried and you know
they're just trying to get likethe next fix and they probably
(32:30):
have everything they want inlife and it's not enough, and so
it's just like you know, it'slike the next thing, next thing,
oh, yeah, because in that tapeand I'm quite sure they're not
they didn't mean to catch it.
But you can hear the presidentsayon what the hell are you
doing really?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and it's likeI don't know.
(32:50):
You would just think I meanlike I can understand doing like
recreational party drugs ifyou're elon and you have all the
money in the world and you'reso powerful, but it's just like
that seems like a sad life tohave is what you're constantly
have to be on drugs and you'relike not living very
authentically.
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
But you know, one of the things that, um, that I
believe is true and people sayit all the time is money does
not buy happiness.
Right Takes away all thedistract, distractions.
But at the end of the day, ifyou're not happy with who you
are as a person, it doesn'tmatter how much money you have,
because you know we've both seenover the years people with
(33:28):
money fame, everything that aperson could dream of, and
they're still very miserableyeah, definitely.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
And just think like when you just think, okay, this
man has 14 kids and he's askingone of them to punch him in his
face, it's just like, like.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Yeah, the other one's going okay, I'm next, and I'm
just kidding.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Yeah, exactly To line up and be like okay, next up.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
But yeah, it was really weird because when I
looked at him I'm like, is thisa real video?
He was looking kind of out of it.
I'll be honest with you.
And then, of course, when hedid the um, the hand gesture, I
mean there was a lot of weirdthings that was going on that
people were like you know, hemight have been high I mean it's
(34:13):
allegations because, again, wedon't know right but I do agree
that they were very incrediblyweird, you know definitely, and
I do think too a lot of peoplehave said that he is.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
I don't know if it's confirmed or not, but like
people say that he isneurodivergent, maybe he has
like autism, asperger's.
You know, I don't knowsomething and like I would,
totally would believe that, butI don't, I still don't think
that really lends itself to likereally explaining why you would
want my kids to punch you inthe face or you know, there's
some behaviors I'm like okay,maybe this could be like
(34:43):
neurodivergent, but then thereare just some like oddities.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Yeah, that's true.
I still don't get what thebalancing of the fork and the
spoon was about, but you know.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Yeah, I know, and the combo of like Elon and Trump is
just like what did we do in theplanets to like have this
happen in history?
Speaker 1 (35:07):
Speaking of Elon and weird.
I don't know how you feel aboutthis, but now you know we
talked about in a previous showabout how much Tesla has lost.
They've lost customers allaround the world.
Yeah, their stocks have dippeddramatically.
Well, now Tesla investors havedemanded not asked demanded that
(35:28):
Elon Musk work a 40-hour week.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Oh my gosh and this is from someone like you would
think that he would be leadingthe charge of teaching people
how to work harder or smarter,not harder kind of thing.
Elon seems obsessed because Ifeel like he put in so many
hours when he was starting Teslathat I think he seems obsessed
with having his people match itand work just as hard.
(35:54):
Um, and I just think that's soweird, like I mean, I also
understand that you don't wantengineers and people working
four hours and slacking off likeI do get that, but but why?
I feel like we would do so muchbetter if you're just like,
just do the job that you'resupposed to do, and whether that
takes you six hours a day oreight hours a day, you know we
trust you as adults.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
I agree, I agree and I think, and I don't know, but I
think part of the reason whythe investors demanded Elon Musk
work 40 hours is because youknow they're losing real money.
People look at Tesla as asymbol of Donald Trump and Elon
Musk.
You know it's not the electriccar anymore.
(36:37):
It's a symbol of in people'smind is, what's wrong with
politics is looking at thatvehicle.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
Exactly.
You're in the Oval Office too,sitting with like a black eye
and it's like who's running thecompany.
You know, so I could see Iguess.
I guess my people are like getback to work.
Uh, I really wonder whattesla's gonna come out with next
after the cyber truck.
It'll be interesting to seelike what direction it goes,
because I feel like the cybertruck was such a weird and tesla
(37:06):
may even have something new out, I don't know, but like it just
seems so weird to have it belike the normal tesla and then
like the weird ass you know,cyber truck.
It's like I wonder, like whereit will, what it will do next.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
I don't know, but for me the cyber truck to me is I
got money and look what I have.
Because yeah, I don't know,everybody's got their own taste,
but I know, I would buy.
You know, everyone has theirown taste, or whatever.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
People love it.
I would never be mean tosomeone, but I'm like if that's
what a 40 hour work weekproduces, then like maybe we
should take some days off orsomething.
But yeah, and it seems like alot of countries are going with
a four day work week or arerealizing more of like the work
life balance or, you know,trying to do a six-hour work day
or whatever.
(37:56):
So, um, I don't know, I guess Idon't need any of my like the
companies that I buy from.
I don't need to know thatthey're doing 40 hour work weeks
.
I just want to know thatthey're like having integrity
and that that they're working,you know, like make, especially
with tes, like safety first andall that stuff.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
That's true, and I would have to imagine it would
be a little embarrassing beingtold by your investors that you
need to start working more.
Yeah, I think that's a bad sign.
I don't know.
What do you think?
Speaker 2 (38:28):
I think so too.
I think that's alarming and Ifeel like that definitely.
They probably see him allaround town balancing forks and
spoons in the Oval Office.
He's anywhere but his company.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
That's true.
That's true.
So we'll see if Elon calms downand focuses on his business or
if he's still trying to get intothe White House.
We'll see.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
Exactly, and, at the end of the day, those people are
concerned about their moneythat they've invested, and you
don't even like their their.
What they want is money and notto like let things slip, and so
I feel like they're probablyaccustomed to Tesla being like
up a certain amount in the past.
The plunge it's taken the pastyear has probably not been very
good for them absolutely,absolutely.
Speaker 1 (39:12):
It'll be interesting to see something tells me we're
going to hear more from elon,whether we like it or not yeah,
and also, how would someone likehim?
Speaker 2 (39:19):
how will we ever know if he works a 40 hour work week
?
Because, like, I don't thinkhe's like punching a clock or
like like writing out a timecard.
I don't know how you, howsomeone like him, would track
his time.
That's.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
That's true, but I'm quite sure they have a way of
knowing whether he's working onthat.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
That's true, yeah Well, oh my gosh.
Okay, this one I am obsessedwith.
I love this so much I thinkthis goes into like one of my
top one favorite stories thatwe've ever talked about.
So the title of it is on NPRprand it was how an ai generated
(39:54):
summer reading list gotpublished in major newspapers.
So recently, some newspapersaround the country, including
the chicago sun times and atleast one edition of the
philadelphia inquirer, havepublished a syndicated summer
book list that includes made-upbooks by famous authors, and so
only five of the 15 titles onthe list are real.
This happened because, uh, thewriter, bless, bless his heart,
(40:17):
you know, very sad.
The the list was partlygenerated by art of ai and then
it was a huge mistake on hispart.
Um, now one of the you knowsubscribers were livid anything.
The reason why I personally lovethis so much I think I shared
with all of us a few months agois that I embarrassingly had
something like that at one of myjobs at one of the clients,
(40:38):
where I didn't look and I hadChatGBT completely write out
stuff that I usually proofread,but I was moving quickly and I
just copied and pasted and, sureenough, it made up fake bills
and fake laws and it was like abig deal and I got in really big
trouble at one of my freelanceclients and then, because of
that, I've heard of thishappening more and more, and so
(40:59):
now to learn that like ChatGBTruns so wild that it's making up
book titles, it's just A I feelthis guy's pain.
B this is like a larger issuein general.
And C I don't understand how,like AI can be so good yet so it
can go so rogue.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
Yeah, I think it's one of those situations.
You know, unfortunately, thateven when you use AI, you have
to check behind it.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
You know, they only use truthful things.
Speaker 1 (41:31):
Yeah, because, um, yeah, I can see how that would
be a problem.
You know, out of the 15 books,only five are real.
Yeah, that that would be aproblem.
And you know, the thing is isthat that happens probably more
than people realize.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
It's just that a lot of people probably are checking
it before they put theinformation out, just so they
don't have any surprises, youknow definitely, definitely like
luckily, the type of writingthat I do, it will never be like
, yeah, I'll just say like,don't make any inferences, don't
summarize things, don't youknow?
Don't think about things onyour own, just organize things.
But I hope, like I hope thisdoesn't leak into you know,
(42:08):
medical usage and things that,that when they say the robots
are taking over, I'm likeclearly it's not up to par yet
because there's so many mistakesand it just goes so far off the
script.
I don't know, I have a softspot for this writer.
I'm not as mad as I think otherpeople are, because this is just
someone guilty of maybe movingtoo fast and not checking his
(42:30):
work.
We've all been there, so I hopehe's not fired, but yet I do
understand that what a big dealthis is too, because a lot of
like independent authors andpeople like really want to be on
the list because that helpssell their book sales.
So when it's kind of makinglike a mockery and it's a fake
summer reading list, you knowthat's like that's not.
So it's one of those thingsthat it's not that serious, but
(42:52):
I hope obviously the personprobably feels terrible.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
Yeah, I think.
I think when you use an AI, youjust have to realize it's a
tool.
It's not, it cannot replace thehuman being.
Right, it's a tool and as longas you think of it in that way,
most of the time it should befine.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
Exactly.
But you know, I say sometimes,you know shit happens, you know
yeah totally Like similar tothis writer, like something that
I'll write about, like a lot oflike local LA places, and if
I'm writing about the top 10hair salons, I don't trust
Chachi, we need to make up thehair salons, but like I pick the
ten I want to talk about andthen I put a bunch of notes in
(43:33):
them and then I'll have it, helpme organize it or write a
little bit more of helping me dothat.
But it would never if I justsaid make up hair salons.
It would be like ClippyWhippies.
But I could see a youngerversion of me just publishing
that and being like we loveClippy Whippies, you know so.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
Well, man, I tell you , this time has flew by, but we
have my last one.
It's actually a really big funone.
Meryl, do you watch basketball?
Speaker 2 (44:08):
Only Syracuse, only Syracuse basketball.
But I like to hear tea about it, okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (44:16):
Well, the NBA finals are set and the Indiana Pacers
and the Oklahoma Thunder areboth going to the NBA finals.
No one picked these two teamsto go, so it was a big surprise.
Finals no one picked these twoteams to go to the finals, so it
was a big surprise.
But me personally, I loveseeing the underdog go out there
(44:39):
.
I think it's going to be areally, I mean on paper,
statistically wise, these werethe two best teams in the NBA.
But a lot of people look forthe bigger known brands to make
it.
But I think this is awesome.
I think it's going to be agreat, great show.
Speaker 2 (44:55):
Now, who do you think has more cachet?
Is it both equal traction ofboth of them and momentum?
Speaker 1 (45:05):
I think the momentum is really high on both of them.
A lot of people are saying and Iagree with them that this is
going to be a great series,probably one of the greatest
ones we've seen, just because ofthe hunger.
When you get someone who hasn'tbeen in that spotlight very
long or not at all, you knowthey're hungry, they want to win
, they want to play real bad andthat's when you get your best
(45:25):
game.
Because whether it's thefootball, whether it's baseball
basketball, whether it's whetherit's the football, whether it's
baseball basketball, when youstart getting to the playoffs or
finals or anything like that,even the refs aren't really
ticky-tack with the callsbecause they don't want to be
the reason why someone wins orloses.
Obviously they are going tomake calls that are legit, but
(45:46):
you know, kind of like theborderline stuff, they tend to
kind of let slide and just letthem play it out, which is
actually nice too.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
Yeah, now, if you had to pick a team, which one would
you be rooting for?
Speaker 1 (45:58):
I don't know.
I mean, I kind of like both ofthem.
I don't know I may lean towardsOklahoma, you know, just
because of you know, them notbeing in the spotlight.
You know, yeah, because of themnot being in the spotlight,
yeah, whatever, but I don't know, I'm kind of leaning towards
Oklahoma and again, it's becauseI like the underdogs.
Speaker 2 (46:17):
What about you?
I think that's nice too,especially like football same
thing.
But when it's not the Patriotsor the Chiefs or something
that's very obvious, or likebaseball, like the Dodgers, the
Yankees and stuff I like, whenit's that I don't know who I
would cheer for, maybe Oklahoma,because that's who you'll be
cheering for, I jump on thebandwagon here.
Speaker 1 (46:41):
There you go.
Like I said, it's going to bekind of fun and I can't wait to
see.
And then, plus too, there's alot of great things Jimmy Kimmel
does.
I wonder if he's doing it thisyear or not, where he does the
NBA specials or whatever, wherehe'll have someone from the NBA
or highlights from the game andstuff like that.
(47:03):
So that also adds to it as welltoo.
So I wonder if he does it thisyear as well.
Speaker 2 (47:08):
Could you imagine if they which I'm sure people are
doing now, but if they have likeAI, help write some of the
statistics and they're just likeOklahoma got 300 baskets.
Speaker 1 (47:19):
I'm quite sure people are using AI, but the thing is
is that even when you're doingyour brackets for March, may and
this for college, it'sliterally a guess.
People are like, oh, I got thissystem, it's still a guess.
People are like, oh, I got thissystem, it's still a guess,
really.
Speaker 2 (47:32):
But what if you say to AI act like you're a
professional sports better orsomething?
It's still a guess.
Speaker 1 (47:42):
It's still going to be a guess because there's so
many variables.
For example, one of your keyplayers gets hurt.
Speaker 2 (47:47):
True, that's very true.
Speaker 1 (47:50):
There's a lot of variables that you can control.
Yeah, when the ball's down to,it is really just a guess, you
know.
I mean it'd be nice if ChicagoBulls were there, but you know
we'll have to wait for that Well, talk about waiting, Meryl.
What do you have coming up?
Speaker 2 (48:10):
Um, I go to Minneapolis, my big Minneapolis
trip.
I feel like I've been talkingabout it for for months here.
Uh, I'm very excited.
So I will be at a festivalcalled Moons on the Lake on
Saturday night.
Yeah, friday and Saturday night.
Speaker 1 (48:25):
Nice, nice.
Well, I wanna thank everyonefor watching the show and
supporting us, whether you'rewatching it on LROTVnetworkcom
or listening to our podcast thatwe have, which is Thirsty
Topics Podcast.
Please continue to support us,help us grow, help us have more
(48:46):
items and more things on thechannel.
Us have more items and morethings on the channel.
We'll be bringing on somemovies that I'm currently in the
works of with filmmakers about.
We're going to have some newitems on LRTVnetworkcom.
That's coming very, very soon.
Once I finalize those things,I'll be able to share a little
bit more information.
(49:07):
Obviously, the more support weget, the better we can do Also,
the better we can do and alsothe more we can grow and and, uh
, sharpen up the pencils on whatwe're already doing.
So, thank you everyone forsupporting us.
I'm laurence, all right I'mmeryl pimo have a great day
everyone.
Bye.
Everyone welcome to this week's episode of Thirsty
Topics.
I'm Lawrence Elrod.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
And I'm Meryl Clemo.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Hey Meryl, how are you today?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
I'm so good, very, very, veryrill.
How are you today?
I'm so good, Very, very, verygood.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:27):
I am doing fantastic.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yay, is that a?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
good weekend, it's only going to get better, I
think.
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
It's only going to get better, I think.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Oh, absolutely Absolutely.
Did you have a great weekend?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I really did.
A sign of it is I forgotcompletely what I did, but it
was very, very fun.
Oh yeah, that's right.
I had a fun show in La Jolla,San Diego, A really fun show.
It was all women and like thebest time ever Very nice, yep.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Well, we're going to start off the fun.
I'm going to let you startfirst.
This is a fun one.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I know.
One that was very exciting andvery unexpected to at least most
of us, I think was that TaylorSwift announced that she bought
back the rights to her first sixalbums and this ended a long
running battle over ownership ofher music.
So she made the announcement.
She put up, kind of like aletter you know a pretend
written letter on her websitesaying that she's been bursting
(01:22):
into tears of joy ever sincethat she found out that this was
really happening.
I'm sure many of us know atthis point what was happening,
but the saga began in June 2019when the music manager, Scooter
Braun, who we've heard of manytimes, bought her former record
label, Big Machine, and with allof that it was all the songs
from all six of her albums.
(01:43):
Taylor was not shy aboutletting everyone know how she
felt about that, and then thatled for her to record some of
her other songs to now have likethose music you know that music
.
So it's so funny becauseeveryone was thinking that she
was about to announce Reputation, that she was about to do her
version of it, and people wereobsessed with it, thinking that
(02:03):
she was going to announce it onlike the AMAs.
And then, you know, as wetalked about last week.
The AMAs were kind of a flop,so they were like, why would
Taylor announce it?
So I thought this was she didsuch a good job by like fooling
her fans and just surprising us.
I feel like one thing aboutTaylor is she like constantly
keeps Swifties on their toes.
I feel like I'm not a Swifty,but I'm like a Swifty ally, like
(02:25):
where I really love TaylorSwift, but I'm not.
I haven't fully jumped into theSwifty pool yet, but I'm
dipping my toes in.
So, yeah, I think this is soawesome.
I think she bought it for $360million, which I heard is crazy,
but that's just, I think, adrop in the bucket for what she
made on the Heiress.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Tour?
Oh, absolutely, and I thinkthat it's so important for
artists to own their masters,especially when you look at long
term, and a lot of independentartists right now really don't
want to be signed to labels justbecause of all the poops they
have to go through wondering arethey getting screwed?
And then again, a lot of themwhen they do sign up.
(03:07):
Major record labels don't owntheir masters, so famous artists
like Prince had to fight forhis master.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Michael Jackson had an issue with his.
So it's not just the unknownartists, it's even the famous
artists as well too.
So I commend her.
I think that's a great thingthat she did.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Me too.
I can't.
I can't even understand how itwould feel to be an artist that
wrote these things when you'relike 14 and 15 and put your
heart and soul into them, andthen to have like weird slimy
music executives and to havethat like the business hands
exchange and you'll be left outof it.
You know, that's crazy.
So I think that's like that'sjust so badass.
And the fact that like a womanwas just able to pay 360 million
(03:53):
just to be like yep, you know,it's like she shouldn't have to
in the first place.
She should have just owned itoutright.
But I thought this was such acool showing of it, um, so, yeah
, that's really exciting.
And I think that's like.
I mean, those are all.
All six of those albums arelike amazing and so good.
So it just people werecommenting like it feels like
the timeline shifted now thatshe owns all of her stuff.
So that's one thing abouttaylor is she is able to like
(04:18):
reach mentally like millions ofbillions of people, you know.
So I think like, even though wedon't know her, we all kind of
have like somewhat of a you know.
So I think like, even though wedon't know her, we all kind of
have like somewhat of a you knowpersonal relationship with her.
So I think that's cool to havethat.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
Yeah, and you know, because she's such a popular pop
star and you know all aroundthe world and stuff, you know it
would only make sense that sheshould own her Masters anyway.
So I thought that was a greatthing and you know she's
probably working on a long timebehind the scenes.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
We just didn't know about until it was completed I
know I wonder if travis kelseywas just like cool babe, like
something, something tells me.
I mean I think he hopefully Iwas thinking about that, because
some ends of things I'm like Ifeel like they're really good
partnership, but on other ends Ifeel like they just kind of
like may not get each other likeat their core.
So I would love to see how thatconversation went Like you know
(05:08):
how much of it he like fully,fully understands and you know
vice versa.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Absolutely.
Hopefully, other independentartists are looking at this, and
you know, realize theimportance of owning your
masters as well too.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
I know, I know and hopefully we'll see some type of
like I don't know just changein the contracts.
I don't think it's.
I don't know if it's going tobe worse, just the way that,
like ai and we're going, andit's just going to get more and
more, you know, soon they'retrying to own people's like
consciousness, basically.
So who knows, like now, if,like a 14 year old version of
taylor, swift signed somethingthey may try to like, sign away
(05:42):
her ai likeness and everythingyou know, which is the whole, a
lot of the strikes andeverything.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
So we'll see oh yeah, and because I've always said
this before is, no matter howtalented you are, it's so
important to know the businessside of music you have to know
the business and and any type ofentertainment.
To be honest with you, you haveto know the business side yeah,
yep, so I don't know.
It's very cool All right Talkabout something interesting.
(06:12):
Well, as you're probably awareof, president Trump has pardoned
Todd and Julie Kriesley fromthe reality show Kriesley Knows
Best.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Oh my gosh knows best .
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Now, from what I have seen from several sources, that
a member of their family Idon't know if it was the
daughter or if it was agrandmother, but a member from
their family went to, I guess,this invitation-only type dinner
where it was a million dollars,I believe a person and
magically, out of nowhere, theGrizzlies are pardoned Yep, you
know, not commuted.
And magically, out of nowhere,the Grizzlies are pardoned Yep,
(06:49):
not commuted, pardoned.
Not only do they get out ofprison, but their record is
wiped clean, right?
What do you think about that,meryl?
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Didn't she somewhere include in a note like, by the
way, we're big fans of you, orsomething?
I think there was something thatsomeone said like yeah.
So she pretty much put like Ithink she like in the invitation
or in something very easy, like, by the way, we're huge trump
supporters, and I think that waslike a big you know part of
this piece of this thing andpeople were worried like now,
(07:20):
are people going to commitcrimes knowing that if they just
say like hey, I'm a fan of thepresident, like is that going to
be enough to get you pardoned?
Yeah, I mean, I've listened tosome really good, no matter like
what side people are on.
I just on the podcast Pod SavesAmerica, I just heard from like
one of our former attorneywomen and she was saying like
(07:41):
she had such an interesting takebecause she's like I'm not from
a political background, but sheused to work for Trump and got
fired and she was kind ofexplaining like why everyone
should be concerned about justthe like willy nilly nature of
all these pardons and stuff.
You know, and it didn't have todo from like a liberal
perspective, it was just likethe courts and yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Oh, absolutely.
I think it undermines the courtsystem because you know, people
are talking about how he wasprosecuted and all this.
No one wants to say the factthat they were found guilty by a
jury of their peers.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
It wasn't the Democratic Party, it wasn't this
wild wing conspiracy.
These were average Americansthat convicted them.
Yeah, and if you just sayyou're like a fan, like hey, big
fan of Donald Trump, you can'tjust like get off for any single
crime.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Yeah, and you know, the other thing too that's bad
is that it's kind of setting adangerous precedence that well,
if you have money, yeah, you cancommit crimes.
You know you'll be able to buyyour way out of it.
Yeah, which is not the way oursystem is set up to work,
exactly.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
It's like if you're a donor of some things, I mean,
that's a lot how pharmaceuticalbills are passed and the
lobbying and that's how thispays for this dinner and this
person to go here and this, andthen what you get gets passed.
So it's yeah, it's a crazything.
So, yeah, I don't love it atall.
I think it's all.
I think it's like scary and Ithink it's just like it doesn't
(09:05):
surprise me that it's happening,but it's just weird.
I'm surprised even that, likeas much information about that
situation got out to the publicas possible, cause I would think
that's the kind of story thatthey want to cover up or just
not have it like leaked oranything.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Well, one thing that I've noticed that generally
people that are pardoned,they're going to go in one of
two directions.
Either A they're going to cleanthemselves up as far as they're
acting what they do and they'regoing to go on a straight arrow
path, or they're going to thinkthey're invincible and then,
down the line, they're going todo something stupid again.
Yeah, and end up right backwhere they started.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Yep, so I don't know it's kind of interesting to see
which direction.
I have an idea which directionthey're going in but I don't
know.
What do you think, Remy?
Speaker 2 (09:54):
I sadly think I know oh my gosh, have you ever
watched the show?
No, I've heard of it, I've seenit too many times, but I didn't
see it.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Yeah, I know about the show, but yeah, I tried to
watch it one time.
I probably couldn't get throughfive minutes of it.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
It's one of those shows that you just think
producers sit around and be likewhat could be the most lowest
denominator.
Shows that people would like,Even some of the TLC shows about
people eating coupons andeverything.
Everything that's just tooweird.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Well, the crazy thing about merrill is that there
literally is an audience foranything you put out there.
Yeah, the right audience, youknow yep, there really is.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
That's why we should make a show about that in
general, we should just likeinterview all the people that
were just part in and call itpodcast or something.
There you go.
It's a new business idea.
Well, my next story.
Actually, this is the perfectperson to.
Uh, I bet she's maybe going toget part and she'll slip in a
(10:57):
note that she loves ourpresident or something to get
parted.
Now I'm we're going to talkabout this.
But when I first picked thisarticle or this my topic, I
thought it was like very cuteand like light and funny.
And then I read more about itand I was like, oh my god, this
is crazy.
So it goes down real fast.
Uh, so basically, marylandwoman it was a maryland woman
charged after hitting a child ona plane who called her miss
(11:20):
piggy.
So you know, differentheadlines said different things.
This article got me in the waythat I love Miss Piggy and like
at first I thought this was justlike a woman was mad that a
child called her Miss Piggy andI was sending it to all my
friends, being like this is sosilly.
And then they're like silly, awoman bashed a kid's head on a
plane.
I'm like, oops.
So basically, a woman a woman isfacing charges after police in
(11:42):
Florida said she hit a child whomade fun of her weight on a
flight from Orlando.
They got some documents and itsaid that she slammed the
child's head into the window ofthe plane, which is like
absolutely crazy.
So she's 46 and now she has togo to court, or she went to
court for child abuse charges.
For child abuse charges, um,they did not detail the
(12:08):
relationship to the child, so wedon't know if it's just like a
random, random person or it'slike someone that she knows.
Um, it said that of course theybecame the kid, became
disrespectful during their tripto disney world, as if this
can't get any more convolutedand they got.
When they got into the plane,they got into an argument and
the kid began calling her fatand miss piggy.
She decided to take the phoneaway from him and he got angry.
(12:28):
He pushed her arm off of thearmrest twice and then she
started smacking him.
I mean, this is just nuts andso like.
I think to me this sounds likeshe knows him at first.
The article reads as thoughsomeone's just walking down an
aisle and, you know, getsaccosted by a kid.
They haven't said point blank,but I have a feeling this either
was her kid or someone else'skid or something.
(12:50):
And yeah, the FAA responded andjust said they have zero
tolerance for this type of stuffand in 2023 alone, they fined
passengers $7.5 million forunruly behavior.
Wow, yeah, I mean it seems likethere's a few things wrong.
Like the least bad is I don'tthink it's not nice, obviously,
(13:12):
for a kid to be like yelling atsomeone calling them miss, piggy
or fat, like that's not that.
That should have some type oflike reprimanding, but getting
bashed in the head definitely isnot it.
That's not right.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
So like the first thing wasn't great, but then the
reaction was 20 times worseyeah, I mean it would be kind of
interesting to know what therelationship is, because it
seems like they, based on whatyou just said, it looks like
they know each other.
They're either relatives, ormaybe she's a guardian I don't
know what the situation is butfor the kid to be that
(13:46):
comfortable saying somethingthat disrespectful means that
they've done this before.
And they're doing it.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Exactly, and the fact that she tried to take his
phone away and the fact thatthey were done with Disneyland
or Disney world.
So it's like I also wonder.
I mean, it's so many times likewe've all probably said things
to our parents that we regret,or you go over the line, I don't
think you know, like I feellike people haven't said stuff
since the dawn of time to theirfamily.
That's like whoops, you know.
But calling someone on a plane,especially if it's like your
(14:16):
guardian, like calling them Fatand Miss Piggy, is bad.
But yeah, you don't want tobash a kid in the head, yeah,
and bash a kid in the head.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Yeah, and it sounded like she was just trying to make
a point.
She wasn't really trying tohurt him, but just make a point.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
But you have to be aware too that where you're at,
I know Now this is way different, but I do have to admit to all
of us that sometimes I do likenot children getting in trouble,
but children getting like ifthey're having a tantrum on
TikTok.
Sometimes I like to watchvideos of them like getting
punished in a good way Neverhurt, not this, but like I do
(14:50):
like to see you knowconsequences.
Sometimes and I'm also not aparent, but I don't know
sometimes on TikTok I findmyself liking to watch that, but
like never, ever hurting a kid.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Oh yeah, and you know what?
Were they going to Disneyland,or from Disneyland, I think they
were coming home from it.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
I bet everyone had a big long day.
Who knows, maybe the kid wasmad that he couldn't pick out
Disney ears, or they didn't getto eat a snow cone, or something
.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
I was going to say if it was going to Disneyland,
that's an easy fix.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Oh, yeah, never.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
You want to clown?
We're not going there an easyfix.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Oh, yeah, never.
Yeah, be like okay, you want aclown, we're not going there
exactly.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Yeah, we're going right back on the plane, yeah
there you go, yeah, but uh yeahlike I said I don't think she,
from way it sounds, it doesn'tsound like she meant harm.
It was just kind of like shegot fed up.
But again, you have to be awareof your surroundings.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Yeah, and no matter what, taking a child's head and
hitting it against the planewindow, I think that you should
be charged for child abuse.
I think that is very serious.
If it is what the witnessessaid, she took his head and
bashed it in.
That's pretty crazy.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
I don't know, I don't know If she had took him and
maybe smacked his hand real hard, I don't think people would
have really reacted the same way.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
That's just a discipline.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
You might not want to smash your kids head into a
window in public.
That's not a good look.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Yes, so ridiculous.
The other passengers said thatthey were like trying to tell
everyone in this take a breath,everyone take a breath.
But also my biggest takeaway isthat it's not bad Like he's
using Miss Piggy as an insult.
Miss Piggy's a wonderfulcharacter and so in that moment
I would have like been like youknow, if I have Miss Piggy then
(16:43):
you're going to.
Like if you, in that moment Iwould have been like if I have
Miss Piggy then you're going to,if you embrace Miss Piggy, she
would never even touch a child.
She would have her gloves onand not even deal with it.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
That's true.
That would be a nice comebacktoo.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Yeah, exactly, you're not even Kermit level, you ugly
child, but also reason number800 why I don't have a kid.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
So yeah, Talk about, but also my reason number 800
why I don't have a kid.
So, yeah, yeah, talk about kids.
This is actually a pretty sadstory.
Um, a father his name is jamesjames uh polotovsky, died trying
to teach his 15 year olddaughter how to drive.
No, what authorities are sayingis that, um, you know, as with
(17:24):
every parent, because, because Itaught my son how to drive, you
know, this is the season,especially in summertime, where
parents are teaching their kidshow to drive.
And I guess she mistaked thegas pedal for the brake pedal.
Yeah, shot a vehicle right offa 40-foot cliff.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Oh my.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
God, her leg was on the roof.
Unfortunately, her father didnot survive.
She had, like you know, minorbruises and cuts.
But wow, there's a whole lot ofthings come to mind with that.
It's like, first of all, it'sjust sad.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
That daughter is going to be traumatized for a
long time and you know she'sdefinitely going to need to talk
to someone on the middle mentalside because in her mind she's
thinking oh my god, I, I causedmy father to die exactly and
like I would never want to driveagain, like the guilt that you
feel, and it's probably like now, she will probably associate
(18:24):
driving and learning to drivewith just the worst thing that
is ever imaginable.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
And it's so scary because I do feel like there is
a big gap of learning how todrive and like being behind this
huge machine.
That's so scary.
And then you're just on theroad with everyone else, Like I
always see, like student driverson big freeways, and I'm like
that is terrifying for everyoneinvolved.
You know, like that's it's justa lot.
I wish there was someintermediate way that people
(18:51):
could get a lot more experiencethan having to be like in the,
you know, in the pack with allof us.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Yeah, I mean um, um, as far as, uh, how long he's
been teaching her, I don't know.
You know, I guess, in hindsight, you know, you have to wonder
yeah, should they have been onthat, on that road that has that
cliff?
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
But don't you think like, even when I see like new
drivers, even if it's not acliff, I still see them merging
on to really like fast freewaysor you know, curvy lanes or even
driving at night, sometimeslike I.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
But yeah, I agree, the cliff part is like that's so
scary and weird oh yeah, andyou know, the thing is, is that,
um, you know, when I wasteaching my son how to drive, I
have to admit I was prettyterrified when I first started
yeah you feel like you have nocontrol.
Yeah, and you, you know you'rehoping that he listens to you or
she listens to you, and youknow, don't do anything crazy,
(19:47):
you know.
But I know when we started off Istarted them off in parking
lots first, before I put them onthe road, and then when I put
them in the street I put them inour neighborhood streets
because you know there's not awhole lot you can do in the
neighborhood versus on me.
So I kind of gradually got himinto that.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Exactly, and I think we have the luxury too.
Yeah, like I learned to drivein northeast Pennsylvania so we
had plenty of like little townsand little roads and stuff, you
know.
But like here in Burbank, likeI'm just thinking there's not
really that much of anopportunity for like a teen to
do that.
You know, because it's like yougo three, three blocks and then
(20:31):
all of a sudden you're likemerging into a major highway and
um, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
So I think that's so scary and I think it's just like
that's.
That's so sad, yeah, I guess.
So we'll pray for her and herfamily, because I know she's
definitely going to need supportum, okay, an upbeat one Another
.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
It's so funny.
Mine is a theme today.
Besides, miss Piggy.
Woman is like women, powerfulwomen taking back their power.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Very beautiful.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Yeah, so I love it.
So Hailey Bieber announced thatshe sold her makeup brand Road
to Elf Beauty in a deal worth upto $1 billion.
So the 28-year-old model,obviously married to Justin
Bieber, co-founded the line ofskincare products in 2022.
And it's expanded rapidly,reporting more than 200 million
(21:14):
in net sales over the 12 monthsto March.
And so you know it was.
There was talk about like people, really like road.
I think I think Haley has donea good job of growing her brand
and, once again, the same way, Iapplaud taylor for kind of
surprising her fans.
I have to, you know, give it tohayley, whether or not you like
her, whether or not like yourteam, whatever team be birthing
(21:35):
not.
Uh, I think she did such a goodjob of just staying quiet,
especially when there's so muchhate around her and just like so
much chatter about her andJustin.
I thought that was like such agood clap back to be quiet and
then, all of a sudden, be likelike to let the news hit and
then her just be like oh, yeah,okay, I sold my company for a
billion dollars.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Oh, definitely, and you know I took my hat off to
her.
I mean, right now I don't knowif it's a fad or it's a
permanent thing, but there'sbeen a lot of different artists
that's been selling their makeuplines and becoming billionaires
.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Yeah, yeah, you think about Rihanna.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
She's like what?
Speaker 2 (22:12):
1.3 billion, I think it was yeah, exactly, yep, and I
believe, like Rihanna andHailey, I really do think those
women are in the businessmeetings and part of the
creative.
I think it goes well becauseyou could tell they're part of
the creative strategy and like Ifeel like we've seen some like
some Ariana Grande perfumes andstuff.
(22:32):
You could tell that she doesn'teven know that she has a
perfume, or like there's somesituations where I feel like
people don't even know they havesomething.
But I think these examples,they they do.
And like Selena Gomez with herrare beauty, I think when
someone like that is really intoit, it translates and women and
girls and whoever get excitedabout it.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Oh, absolutely, and I look at it as it's a great
thing because they're makingmoney.
Not only are they artists, butalso they're businesswomen, and
that's the big keys, a lot ofsuccessful artists.
Now, the thing we all have incommon they're businessmen and
businesswomen.
Now, they're not just so narrowon their particular art but
(23:18):
they're doing other things tosupplement as well and kind of
build off of it.
So I think it's a great thingyep, and it's so funny too.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
I definitely saw a switch up online about hayley
because people just pile on herand like I'm sure in some
instances she is spoiled and notnice and maybe she was like a
big fan of justin and you knowkind of stalked her way in, but
I'm sure she also has a niceside, like it's kind of you know
I'm sure there's many sides toher, but like people were hating
on her and then she got thecover of vogue and now this, and
(23:47):
now I've seen in the commentspeople are like it's hayley
baldwin with like the wind, youknow, and everyone's like now
people are like divorce him,divorce justin, you're better at
it than it.
So it's so funny to like watchthe tides change and just I
think, like for her.
This is almost the best casescenario where people are kind
of like you know, wanting,wanting good for her and even
(24:08):
saying that she's too good forjustin and you know all the
stuff.
So I thought that was just likewhether or not you like hayley,
I think the way that shehandled it I'm just like never
responding to people that muchand then all of a sudden just
popping off with like sellingher company for a billion
dollars was so cool oh yeah, theway you handle it is you let
your success do the talking foryou.
Exactly, and you surprise people.
(24:29):
I think that's the thing too,when they underestimate you and
then you do something huge.
I think it's fun to watchpeople recalibrate.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Yes, it is, and talk about recalibrating Miley Cyrus.
She faces her past and what shedoes by facing trauma that
she's dealt with in the past.
It has changed her relationshipwith her family.
One of the things that I'velearned, which I did not know,
(25:03):
was that she was estranged fromher father for some time.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Yeah, Billy Ray, yep.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
And I guess now that she's gotten help for her and
things that she's been dealing,with her relationships are
better, she's better, she feels.
You know, it's like she's beenreborn again.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Yes, yep, I think that's great.
It seems like Miley, especiallyas someone that had to grow up
like very quickly and probablylearn a lot of adult lessons and
even probably like I wouldguess that she's probably a
little bit more, even more likeemotionally mature than most of
her family and probably had tobe the one to like, come
together and maybe setboundaries and you know, oh yeah
(25:43):
, and I think it's an example ofyou know, when you've dealt
with with with trauma, uh,growing up or in your past, you
know you're not weak by askingfor help or going to get help.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
For that you're a strong person.
Because, because, becauseeveryone needs help at some
point or another.
Absolutely, and there's nothingto be ashamed or nothing to be
embarrassed about it.
There's all kinds of differentways that either a therapist can
help you, a friend can help you, there's all kinds of avenues,
just as long as you get thathelp that you need.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Absolutely, and I think, especially when it comes
to family issues, I feel likesometimes people it's the best
thing that they need to cut offtheir family for a little bit or
, you know, after you've giventhem fair warning, but then you
could be open to how she didlike to come back again and kind
of be like, ok, we're, we aregoing to work on it.
So, yeah, it sounds cool.
(26:37):
Miley definitely is like a,like a, like a big spirit.
You know she has to work on alot of stuff.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
It seems like she's been through a lot, but she's
also like she's a tough, toughcookie, I think yeah, when I saw
her being interviewed um, it'sjust and maybe it's me, but it
seems like she's a lot happierthan she's been in a very long
time yeah, yeah, I think I thinkshe's probably like.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
She's probably gone through so many phases of just
being a kid star and then herwhole like wrecking ball thing
when she had the short hair andshe was kind of like you know,
finding drugs for the first timeor whatever.
So I think this miley seemsvery balanced and like and she's
already married and divorcedand it's just like.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
She's like uh, she's had to teach herself emotional
maturity oh yeah, and I thinkshe had to learn how to how to
love her parents in a differentway, because one of the issues
she had in the past is you knowher parents divorced.
You know she disclosed that.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
That was a big issue that she had to get over as well
, which unfortunately is kind ofcommon in in households where
the parents divorce yeah, andI've heard things too I mean,
who knows how true these are,but I've definitely heard things
that, like her, like her momeither like married or hooked up
or something with like one ofthe other siblings,
ex-boyfriends, or like I feellike there's yeah, there's been
(27:50):
like, I think, ways that herparents have, either in a big
way or in a micro way, likebetrayed her and I think she
probably had to deal with likethat too.
You know, like who to trust andwho to who to, like you know,
have in her life close by.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
So, yeah, Well, like I said I I'm glad she's happy
and she's doing better andlooking forward to seeing what
she has coming out very soon.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Me too.
Me too I'm like I, I think I.
I think Miley's one of thosethings where I like her way
better than I like her music,Like you know, like I like the
idea of Miley, but I'm hopingthat I don't know.
I think she needs a good popalbum soon.
We'll see.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Someone that maybe Miley can talk with and give
some insight to our boy, elonMusk, so you might have some
Elon stuff to talk about too.
I just wanted to bring up thefact that Elon left DC with a
literal and reputational blackeye.
So you know, we just saw avideo of elon uh, a send-off
(28:51):
from trump and everything and sohe was like in the oval office,
dressed all in black, in hisdoge's hat on and his t-shirt
and blazer, and he had a blackeye given to him by his young
son.
So my question for you is doyou think he was from the sun or
what do you think?
Speaker 1 (29:10):
um well, I can see them wanting to blame the sun.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
I mean, tell you, that the sun did it.
But it's also the most elonthing.
Like why wouldn't his last daybe with a black eye with trump?
And like, and even someone Iheard some interview and trump's
like why wouldn't his last daybe with a black eye with trump?
And like, and even someone Iheard some interview and trump's
like I didn't even notice it,like I'm like, so someone's
standing afoot from you and youdon't know this, that their eye
is like black and blue we knowhow that goes when, uh, when uh,
(29:37):
the president falls out withsomeone, oh, I don't really know
this person, even though theyknow each other.
Yeah, person who't even knowthis person, who he is.
If it ends up that Elon is ableto step away and they still
speak highly of each other, Iwill be very impressed because
that will seem like the oneTrump former aide or employee or
(29:57):
whatever that has still a goodstanding.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
Well, the thing is, he came in like a wrecking ball.
Yeah, Miley Cyrus, I think someof the things that contributed
to his downfall is one, hiscompany that you know we're
going to talk about pretty soon.
And then also, the other thing,too, is when you start firing a
bunch of people, not knowingwhat they do, and then have to
(30:22):
go oh crap, I need to find them,I need yep and like, oops,
maybe the national parks do needemployees and you know like,
maybe people might need medicare, and this said so.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
It said, uh, basically he elon said that he
told his son go ahead and punchme in the face, which would
explain his black eye.
Musk has 14 children.
So my other thought, too, islike you're a dad, Is it normal
or I mean nothing's normal Is itlike it seems a little weird
for a dad to like tell a kid topunch them in the face?
(30:56):
That seems like a behavior youwouldn't really want to foster,
right?
Speaker 1 (31:00):
That is incredibly weird, right?
Yeah, I don't think I wouldever tell my son hey, hey, son,
go ahead, hit me in the face.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
you know, I don't think I'd ever say yeah, I can
see if you're like playing,horsing around or something, but
not punching.
But I could see likeroughhousing and wrestling, but
but directly asking your kids topunch you in the face, like
then they're going to go repeatthat behavior with their friends
or with someone else, it seemsvery weird to want to stir that
up.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
I've known friends that want to toughen up their
kid whatever.
They'll roughhouse them alittle bit, but they've never
told their child to punch themin the face though.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
If only they had little kid prints like the
little tiny five-year-old.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
But before he left the White House it started
getting very, very weird.
They showed him at a dinner.
He was sitting with thepresident and other people, with
one of the mothers of hischildren, and he was taking his
finger, balancing like a forkand a spoon.
It was like really kind ofweird, you know.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
Yes, Well, there's definitely a lot of alleged like
we don't know for sure, butdefinitely a lot of people say
that he takes like ketamine alot and a lot of other drugs.
Yeah, which I wouldn't besurprised, because I just think
these type of men, they're likedopamine is fried and you know
they're just trying to get likethe next fix and they probably
(32:30):
have everything they want inlife and it's not enough, and so
it's just like you know, it'slike the next thing, next thing,
oh, yeah, because in that tapeand I'm quite sure they're not
they didn't mean to catch it.
But you can hear the presidentsayon what the hell are you
doing really?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and it's likeI don't know.
(32:50):
You would just think I meanlike I can understand doing like
recreational party drugs ifyou're elon and you have all the
money in the world and you'reso powerful, but it's just like
that seems like a sad life tohave is what you're constantly
have to be on drugs and you'relike not living very
authentically.
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
But you know, one of the things that, um, that I
believe is true and people sayit all the time is money does
not buy happiness.
Right Takes away all thedistract, distractions.
But at the end of the day, ifyou're not happy with who you
are as a person, it doesn'tmatter how much money you have,
because you know we've both seenover the years people with
(33:28):
money fame, everything that aperson could dream of, and
they're still very miserableyeah, definitely.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
And just think like when you just think, okay, this
man has 14 kids and he's askingone of them to punch him in his
face, it's just like, like.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Yeah, the other one's going okay, I'm next, and I'm
just kidding.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Yeah, exactly To line up and be like okay, next up.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
But yeah, it was really weird because when I
looked at him I'm like, is thisa real video?
He was looking kind of out of it.
I'll be honest with you.
And then, of course, when hedid the um, the hand gesture, I
mean there was a lot of weirdthings that was going on that
people were like you know, hemight have been high I mean it's
(34:13):
allegations because, again, wedon't know right but I do agree
that they were very incrediblyweird, you know definitely, and
I do think too a lot of peoplehave said that he is.
Speaker 2 (34:22):
I don't know if it's confirmed or not, but like
people say that he isneurodivergent, maybe he has
like autism, asperger's.
You know, I don't knowsomething and like I would,
totally would believe that, butI don't, I still don't think
that really lends itself to likereally explaining why you would
want my kids to punch you inthe face or you know, there's
some behaviors I'm like okay,maybe this could be like
(34:43):
neurodivergent, but then thereare just some like oddities.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Yeah, that's true.
I still don't get what thebalancing of the fork and the
spoon was about, but you know.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Yeah, I know, and the combo of like Elon and Trump is
just like what did we do in theplanets to like have this
happen in history?
Speaker 1 (35:07):
Speaking of Elon and weird.
I don't know how you feel aboutthis, but now you know we
talked about in a previous showabout how much Tesla has lost.
They've lost customers allaround the world.
Yeah, their stocks have dippeddramatically.
Well, now Tesla investors havedemanded not asked demanded that
(35:28):
Elon Musk work a 40-hour week.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Oh my gosh and this is from someone like you would
think that he would be leadingthe charge of teaching people
how to work harder or smarter,not harder kind of thing.
Elon seems obsessed because Ifeel like he put in so many
hours when he was starting Teslathat I think he seems obsessed
with having his people match itand work just as hard.
(35:54):
Um, and I just think that's soweird, like I mean, I also
understand that you don't wantengineers and people working
four hours and slacking off likeI do get that, but but why?
I feel like we would do so muchbetter if you're just like,
just do the job that you'resupposed to do, and whether that
takes you six hours a day oreight hours a day, you know we
trust you as adults.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
I agree, I agree and I think, and I don't know, but I
think part of the reason whythe investors demanded Elon Musk
work 40 hours is because youknow they're losing real money.
People look at Tesla as asymbol of Donald Trump and Elon
Musk.
You know it's not the electriccar anymore.
(36:37):
It's a symbol of in people'smind is, what's wrong with
politics is looking at thatvehicle.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
Exactly.
You're in the Oval Office too,sitting with like a black eye
and it's like who's running thecompany.
You know, so I could see Iguess.
I guess my people are like getback to work.
Uh, I really wonder whattesla's gonna come out with next
after the cyber truck.
It'll be interesting to seelike what direction it goes,
because I feel like the cybertruck was such a weird and tesla
(37:06):
may even have something new out, I don't know, but like it just
seems so weird to have it belike the normal tesla and then
like the weird ass you know,cyber truck.
It's like I wonder, like whereit will, what it will do next.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
I don't know, but for me the cyber truck to me is I
got money and look what I have.
Because yeah, I don't know,everybody's got their own taste,
but I know, I would buy.
You know, everyone has theirown taste, or whatever.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
People love it.
I would never be mean tosomeone, but I'm like if that's
what a 40 hour work weekproduces, then like maybe we
should take some days off orsomething.
But yeah, and it seems like alot of countries are going with
a four day work week or arerealizing more of like the work
life balance or, you know,trying to do a six-hour work day
or whatever.
(37:56):
So, um, I don't know, I guess Idon't need any of my like the
companies that I buy from.
I don't need to know thatthey're doing 40 hour work weeks
.
I just want to know thatthey're like having integrity
and that that they're working,you know, like make, especially
with tes, like safety first andall that stuff.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
That's true, and I would have to imagine it would
be a little embarrassing beingtold by your investors that you
need to start working more.
Yeah, I think that's a bad sign.
I don't know.
What do you think?
Speaker 2 (38:28):
I think so too.
I think that's alarming and Ifeel like that definitely.
They probably see him allaround town balancing forks and
spoons in the Oval Office.
He's anywhere but his company.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
That's true.
That's true.
So we'll see if Elon calms downand focuses on his business or
if he's still trying to get intothe White House.
We'll see.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
Exactly, and, at the end of the day, those people are
concerned about their moneythat they've invested, and you
don't even like their their.
What they want is money and notto like let things slip, and so
I feel like they're probablyaccustomed to Tesla being like
up a certain amount in the past.
The plunge it's taken the pastyear has probably not been very
good for them absolutely,absolutely.
Speaker 1 (39:12):
It'll be interesting to see something tells me we're
going to hear more from elon,whether we like it or not yeah,
and also, how would someone likehim?
Speaker 2 (39:19):
how will we ever know if he works a 40 hour work week
?
Because, like, I don't thinkhe's like punching a clock or
like like writing out a timecard.
I don't know how you, howsomeone like him, would track
his time.
That's.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
That's true, but I'm quite sure they have a way of
knowing whether he's working onthat.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
That's true, yeah Well, oh my gosh.
Okay, this one I am obsessedwith.
I love this so much I thinkthis goes into like one of my
top one favorite stories thatwe've ever talked about.
So the title of it is on NPRprand it was how an ai generated
(39:54):
summer reading list gotpublished in major newspapers.
So recently, some newspapersaround the country, including
the chicago sun times and atleast one edition of the
philadelphia inquirer, havepublished a syndicated summer
book list that includes made-upbooks by famous authors, and so
only five of the 15 titles onthe list are real.
This happened because, uh, thewriter, bless, bless his heart,
(40:17):
you know, very sad.
The the list was partlygenerated by art of ai and then
it was a huge mistake on hispart.
Um, now one of the you knowsubscribers were livid anything.
The reason why I personally lovethis so much I think I shared
with all of us a few months agois that I embarrassingly had
something like that at one of myjobs at one of the clients,
(40:38):
where I didn't look and I hadChatGBT completely write out
stuff that I usually proofread,but I was moving quickly and I
just copied and pasted and, sureenough, it made up fake bills
and fake laws and it was like abig deal and I got in really big
trouble at one of my freelanceclients and then, because of
that, I've heard of thishappening more and more, and so
(40:59):
now to learn that like ChatGBTruns so wild that it's making up
book titles, it's just A I feelthis guy's pain.
B this is like a larger issuein general.
And C I don't understand how,like AI can be so good yet so it
can go so rogue.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
Yeah, I think it's one of those situations.
You know, unfortunately, thateven when you use AI, you have
to check behind it.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
You know, they only use truthful things.
Speaker 1 (41:31):
Yeah, because, um, yeah, I can see how that would
be a problem.
You know, out of the 15 books,only five are real.
Yeah, that that would be aproblem.
And you know, the thing is isthat that happens probably more
than people realize.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
It's just that a lot of people probably are checking
it before they put theinformation out, just so they
don't have any surprises, youknow definitely, definitely like
luckily, the type of writingthat I do, it will never be like
, yeah, I'll just say like,don't make any inferences, don't
summarize things, don't youknow?
Don't think about things onyour own, just organize things.
But I hope, like I hope thisdoesn't leak into you know,
(42:08):
medical usage and things that,that when they say the robots
are taking over, I'm likeclearly it's not up to par yet
because there's so many mistakesand it just goes so far off the
script.
I don't know, I have a softspot for this writer.
I'm not as mad as I think otherpeople are, because this is just
someone guilty of maybe movingtoo fast and not checking his
(42:30):
work.
We've all been there, so I hopehe's not fired, but yet I do
understand that what a big dealthis is too, because a lot of
like independent authors andpeople like really want to be on
the list because that helpssell their book sales.
So when it's kind of makinglike a mockery and it's a fake
summer reading list, you knowthat's like that's not.
So it's one of those thingsthat it's not that serious, but
(42:52):
I hope obviously the personprobably feels terrible.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
Yeah, I think.
I think when you use an AI, youjust have to realize it's a
tool.
It's not, it cannot replace thehuman being.
Right, it's a tool and as longas you think of it in that way,
most of the time it should befine.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
Exactly.
But you know, I say sometimes,you know shit happens, you know
yeah totally Like similar tothis writer, like something that
I'll write about, like a lot oflike local LA places, and if
I'm writing about the top 10hair salons, I don't trust
Chachi, we need to make up thehair salons, but like I pick the
ten I want to talk about andthen I put a bunch of notes in
(43:33):
them and then I'll have it, helpme organize it or write a
little bit more of helping me dothat.
But it would never if I justsaid make up hair salons.
It would be like ClippyWhippies.
But I could see a youngerversion of me just publishing
that and being like we loveClippy Whippies, you know so.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
Well, man, I tell you , this time has flew by, but we
have my last one.
It's actually a really big funone.
Meryl, do you watch basketball?
Speaker 2 (44:08):
Only Syracuse, only Syracuse basketball.
But I like to hear tea about it, okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (44:16):
Well, the NBA finals are set and the Indiana Pacers
and the Oklahoma Thunder areboth going to the NBA finals.
No one picked these two teamsto go, so it was a big surprise.
Finals no one picked these twoteams to go to the finals, so it
was a big surprise.
But me personally, I loveseeing the underdog go out there
(44:39):
.
I think it's going to be areally, I mean on paper,
statistically wise, these werethe two best teams in the NBA.
But a lot of people look forthe bigger known brands to make
it.
But I think this is awesome.
I think it's going to be agreat, great show.
Speaker 2 (44:55):
Now, who do you think has more cachet?
Is it both equal traction ofboth of them and momentum?
Speaker 1 (45:05):
I think the momentum is really high on both of them.
A lot of people are saying and Iagree with them that this is
going to be a great series,probably one of the greatest
ones we've seen, just because ofthe hunger.
When you get someone who hasn'tbeen in that spotlight very
long or not at all, you knowthey're hungry, they want to win
, they want to play real bad andthat's when you get your best
(45:25):
game.
Because whether it's thefootball, whether it's baseball
basketball, whether it's whetherit's the football, whether it's
baseball basketball, when youstart getting to the playoffs or
finals or anything like that,even the refs aren't really
ticky-tack with the callsbecause they don't want to be
the reason why someone wins orloses.
Obviously they are going tomake calls that are legit, but
(45:46):
you know, kind of like theborderline stuff, they tend to
kind of let slide and just letthem play it out, which is
actually nice too.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
Yeah, now, if you had to pick a team, which one would
you be rooting for?
Speaker 1 (45:58):
I don't know.
I mean, I kind of like both ofthem.
I don't know I may lean towardsOklahoma, you know, just
because of you know, them notbeing in the spotlight.
You know, yeah, because of themnot being in the spotlight,
yeah, whatever, but I don't know, I'm kind of leaning towards
Oklahoma and again, it's becauseI like the underdogs.
Speaker 2 (46:17):
What about you?
I think that's nice too,especially like football same
thing.
But when it's not the Patriotsor the Chiefs or something
that's very obvious, or likebaseball, like the Dodgers, the
Yankees and stuff I like, whenit's that I don't know who I
would cheer for, maybe Oklahoma,because that's who you'll be
cheering for, I jump on thebandwagon here.
Speaker 1 (46:41):
There you go.
Like I said, it's going to bekind of fun and I can't wait to
see.
And then, plus too, there's alot of great things Jimmy Kimmel
does.
I wonder if he's doing it thisyear or not, where he does the
NBA specials or whatever, wherehe'll have someone from the NBA
or highlights from the game andstuff like that.
(47:03):
So that also adds to it as welltoo.
So I wonder if he does it thisyear as well.
Speaker 2 (47:08):
Could you imagine if they which I'm sure people are
doing now, but if they have likeAI, help write some of the
statistics and they're just likeOklahoma got 300 baskets.
Speaker 1 (47:19):
I'm quite sure people are using AI, but the thing is
is that even when you're doingyour brackets for March, may and
this for college, it'sliterally a guess.
People are like, oh, I got thissystem, it's still a guess.
People are like, oh, I got thissystem, it's still a guess,
really.
Speaker 2 (47:32):
But what if you say to AI act like you're a
professional sports better orsomething?
It's still a guess.
Speaker 1 (47:42):
It's still going to be a guess because there's so
many variables.
For example, one of your keyplayers gets hurt.
Speaker 2 (47:47):
True, that's very true.
Speaker 1 (47:50):
There's a lot of variables that you can control.
Yeah, when the ball's down to,it is really just a guess, you
know.
I mean it'd be nice if ChicagoBulls were there, but you know
we'll have to wait for that Well, talk about waiting, Meryl.
What do you have coming up?
Speaker 2 (48:10):
Um, I go to Minneapolis, my big Minneapolis
trip.
I feel like I've been talkingabout it for for months here.
Uh, I'm very excited.
So I will be at a festivalcalled Moons on the Lake on
Saturday night.
Yeah, friday and Saturday night.
Speaker 1 (48:25):
Nice, nice.
Well, I wanna thank everyonefor watching the show and
supporting us, whether you'rewatching it on LROTVnetworkcom
or listening to our podcast thatwe have, which is Thirsty
Topics Podcast.
Please continue to support us,help us grow, help us have more
(48:46):
items and more things on thechannel.
Us have more items and morethings on the channel.
We'll be bringing on somemovies that I'm currently in the
works of with filmmakers about.
We're going to have some newitems on LRTVnetworkcom.
That's coming very, very soon.
Once I finalize those things,I'll be able to share a little
bit more information.
(49:07):
Obviously, the more support weget, the better we can do Also,
the better we can do and alsothe more we can grow and and, uh
, sharpen up the pencils on whatwe're already doing.
So, thank you everyone forsupporting us.
I'm laurence, all right I'mmeryl pimo have a great day
everyone.
Bye.
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