February 22, 2024 • 36 mins
Ever sprint down Main Street with a frying pan in hand? Welcome to my solo venture this week on Weird World Variety, where I whisk you away to Olney, England, to uncover the quirky charm of pancake racing. It’s a tale of tradition, aprons, and some seriously skilled pancake flipping, all set against the backdrop of Lenten preparations. While Jesse's off, I'm stirring up nostalgia with a dash of my own family’s cinnamon roll ritual on holidays, and inviting you to consider if your town's customs could stack up to these festive, floury dashes.
Then, we set sail in the digital seas with a look at Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Skull and Bones, two games charting courses through uncharted waters of nostalgia and next-gen graphics. The remake of a classic RPG offers a world brimming with freedom and familiar faces, while the latest pirate saga has us yearning for the thrill of naval combat, despite leaving us land-locked on previous-gen consoles. Grab your gamepad and your sense of adventure as we navigate these groundbreaking titles and weigh anchor on the possibilities they bring to the horizons of gaming.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome back to Weird World Variety with Matt and
Jesse.
Okay, cool, what's up everybody?
(00:36):
How you doing?
How you doing?
How's everybody doing tonight?
Alright, alright, enough ofthat.
Welcome back to Weird WorldVariety with Matt and Jesse.
Unfortunately, jesse is nothere today.
(01:01):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, Iknow, I know he.
You know life scheduling ithappens, but he will be back
next week, so don't worry, hewill be back, so don't have to
worry about that.
Today.
We've got a lot of weirdnessready for you today.
(01:22):
So if you're all ready, let'sget this thing started with our
first story of the day.
Now, we've got a lot of weirdthings in the news, but I
thought a few of these would bepretty funny.
(01:43):
First off, if you've never hadpancakes, you're missing out on
life.
So I feel like, I feel like ifyou haven't had pancakes, you're
probably one of the few peoplein the world that haven't had
pancakes.
I know for one, I lovebreakfast and, yeah, I wouldn't
(02:07):
pass it up for anything.
So that brings us to our firststory.
Yeah, so here we go.
Our first story of the day isabout an old tradition.
Now, I don't know if you haveany traditions in your family.
(02:27):
I only have a few.
As far as, like the breakfastthing goes, the only thing I can
think of is off the top of myhead is during certain holidays
our family likes to makecinnamon rolls.
So cinnamon rolls are kind of athing in our family.
Otherwise we just knew thenormal breakfast thing.
(02:50):
But that's one of ourtraditions is anytime we have a
certain holiday and we wantsomething very special, a little
bit too sugary, we might makecinnamon rolls for breakfast.
So that's one of our traditions.
This tradition involves abreakfast item and a very
interesting and unique way tohandle said breakfast item.
(03:14):
That is a pancake race.
Yes, that's right, a pancakerace.
You heard me right.
The tradition, or the title, Iwould say the title of this is
in this centuries old Englishpancake race.
(03:35):
You just have to go flat outNow.
This is being held in onlyEngland and, yeah, we're going
to dive into this right now.
Let's see what this is about.
Women in matching checkeredaprons, headscarves and a
rainbow of running shoeslimbered up Tuesday as they
(03:56):
prepared for the centuries oldpancake race in this English
country town.
They rolled their shoulders inunison, raised up their toes and
did squats before stepping tothe starting line, fried pans in
hand at the word go.
They sprinted through thestreets trying not to drop their
pancakes as they roughly tracethe path taken by a hurried
(04:22):
housewife in 1445.
So this started.
So this started in 1445.
Is that what I'm getting here?
Whose legend has it heard thechurch bells singing Not singing
, I'm sorry signaling the ShroveTuesday service and raced off
with their skillet.
(04:42):
It's a horrible distance, saidKaiser Larkas, 44, a mother of
four, who legged it past EloiseCramer to capture the only title
with a winning time of 63.37seconds.
You just have to go flat outand then hope you're not going
(05:02):
to fall over, but it's all agood fun.
This tradition has beenrepeated over the centuries, not
only in only, but acrossEngland, even in the United
States, where the Kansas town ofliberal copied the idea and has
been trying to outrun thefriendly British rivals for 75
years.
This article is from AP newscomslash oddities.
(05:26):
You can look it up.
It is the Britain pancake race,so this is pretty interesting.
So they have a wonder Do theyhave the distance here?
Did I just say the distance?
She did in 63.37 seconds.
They were racing across.
(05:47):
It doesn't say the distance.
Let's see here.
The race is held the day beforethe start of Lent, the Christian
period of repentance andsacrifice before Easter,
celebrated as Mardi Gras or FatTuesday in other parts of the
world.
The name Shrove Tuesday derivesfrom the English word meaning
(06:10):
seek forgiveness or to begranted absolution.
If a secret recipe behind thewinning race exists, it would
probably call for a pinch ofskill, a dash of athleticism and
an extra scoop of whimsy.
The competition falls somewherebetween the Great British Bake
(06:30):
Off and zany local pursuits suchas rough and tumble cheese
wheel chase down Cooper's Hill.
The runners must flip thepancake.
So here's the rules the runnersmust flip the pancake at the
start and the finish.
The four hundred and fifteenyard.
There it is three hundred andeighty meter sprint itself may
(06:52):
be a form of penance ahead ofLent.
To Kansas sit or sisters sittersto Kansas.
Sisters who competed in liberalsince they were children
traveled to only this year tosee where it all began.
We've been talking about it fora long time, said Amy Thompson,
who painted her nails withBritish and American flags and,
(07:12):
of course, pancakes.
We like those festival oddthings and we decided to quit
talking about it.
It's the seventy fifthanniversary and this would be a
perfect time to come Only.
And Buckinghamshire is aboutsixty miles northwest of London
and liberal is in southwestKansas, just north of the
(07:37):
Oklahoma State line and abouttwo hundred miles west of
Wichita.
I don't know why my accent justwent south there.
Oh my goodness.
Mellor reported from London,heather Hollingsworth reported
from Mission, kansas.
So there you go.
I don't know if you let's seewhat any of our listeners
(07:58):
participate in the pancake race.
I would try it at least once.
It reminds me of like the oldegg on the spoon race where you
had to like balance it.
One kind of idea, but a littlebit bigger with the pan and the
pancake thing.
So there you have it, pancakeracing across England.
But yeah, this is definitelysomething fun to go see.
(08:22):
I wonder if they have like awhole festival for it.
That would be cool.
And then everybody like makespancakes and stuff.
Dude, you could totally have apancake festival for this, yeah,
and then, like the race wouldsound a little something like
this and now they're starting atthe starting line.
(08:43):
They're ready with theirskillets and their pancakes.
As they're ready to go, theprize is within sight 400, some
meters, no, 400 yards, my bad,300, some meters.
As they get ready with theirhot skillets.
I also wonder if the skilletswere hot too.
(09:04):
They have hot or cold pancakes,I wonder.
So they race off, and then we,and then you know, here they go.
Oh, there they go, as they racedown the track and we've gotten
runners in first and secondthey're tripping.
Oh, there's a stumble in thebackfield as three ladies
tripped over each other.
We'll have to watch out.
Those pancakes are flying.
(09:25):
Here comes Caitlin up the set,out the center, and she won the
big Jake race.
So yeah, it would soundsomething like that.
I don't know, but yeah, that tome sounds like a lot of fun.
Let me know in the comments ifyou guys have a tradition or you
have something you would racein.
(09:47):
It could be breakfast, could belunch, could be dinner, I don't
know.
Something involving food thatwould be pretty interesting.
Let's go right on over to oursecond story.
All right, so here is our.
(10:16):
Huh, who's there?
I'm not answering that.
Anyway, here is our next story.
I thought it would beinteresting to try to blend in a
little bit of variety here.
We have been talking aboutanimals the last few weeks and I
(10:37):
thought this would beinteresting because last week,
if you remember, we talked abouta guy who got caught with some
monkey business in his backpackand it was pretty funny.
So this time it gets even worseand involves New York.
Yes, I said it right, the oneplace everybody wants to go to.
(11:02):
Not really, but it involves NewYork.
And somebody was naughty at theborder, looks like.
Here's the title caught at theborder with pythons in his pants
.
New York City man fine andsentenced to probate.
Yes, you heard that right.
This man had pythons he wastrying to sneak, not in his
(11:30):
shirt, not in his backpack, yes,in his pants.
Now I know how funny that seems, but it gets even worse, I
promise.
Here we go.
A New York City man whoadmitted to smuggling three
Burmese pythons in his pantsthrough a US-Canadian border
(11:52):
crossing was sent in Wednesdayto a year of probation and fined
$5,000.
Federal prosecutor said CalvinBatista, 38, crossed into
Northern New York with hiddensnakes on a bus from Montreal to
New York City.
First of all, here's the thingyou would think it would be
(12:20):
rather difficult to keep snakeshidden Because, I don't know,
maybe our reptile experts in ourlisteners' audience can attest
to this, but snakes are verymobile creatures.
Sometimes they'll sleep, yes,and then they don't move, but
(12:40):
when they're awake they're oftenmoving around and looking for
things to eat.
You know things to climb, thatkind of thing.
So at least that has been myexperience of what I've seen
from snakes.
If you know something, like ifyou are an expert on snakes, you
could kindly fill us in.
But wouldn't this be ratherdifficult to keep snakes hidden?
(13:03):
I would think so, even if youtucked them away in a backpack
or something because I feel likethey wouldn't want to get out.
I feel like a backpack wouldhave been a better option.
But yeah, this was thisperson's approach.
The young adult snakes werehidden in the inner thigh of his
pants and snake bags tied tothe pants drawstring.
(13:27):
This was the elaborate,probably very uncomfortable for
the snakes.
This is kind of snake abuse.
They were discovered by USCustoms and Border Protection
officers.
According to court documentsand a release of the Office of
the US Attorney, the Queen'sResonant purchased the snakes,
which were more than $2,500.
(13:49):
Wow, at a reptile store inCanada, according to court
documents.
First of all, you liked snakesthat much that you went to
Canada to purchase these snakes,and not only that, but at
$2,500?
I don't know, it seems like alot.
(14:11):
I get it, but still.
I know you want a rare and wildanimal.
I get it, but still seems likea little bit much.
Importation of Burmese pythonsis regulated by an international
treaty, by US Federalregulations listing them as
Injuries to Human Beans.
(14:33):
I wonder why the Burmese python, one of the world's largest
snakes, considered a vulnerablespecies in its native Asia and
is invasive in Florida where itthreatens native animals.
Batista's attorney had nocomment.
Of course he didn't.
(14:53):
I wouldn't want to be thisperson's attorney.
He clearly got busted doingsomething very illegal, all for
because he wanted a wild animalthat I guess wasn't available in
the US.
I don't know what to tell you.
(15:14):
Maybe moved to Canada, I don'tknow.
I think the better option wouldhave been to move to Canada,
but instead you tried to hidethe snakes, tried to come back
over.
Anybody seen snakes on a plane?
Yeah, this was snakes on a busand didn't work out so well.
So there's that.
(15:37):
I don't know what people thinkabout this.
Y'all are going to have to letme know in the comments.
Like seriously, what in theworld is going on with people
trying to smuggle these weirdthings?
Last week we had monkeys thatwere dead and mummified they
weren't even alive or preservedin any way which had to smell
(16:02):
awful, like absolutely awful.
And then this week we've gotsomeone trying to literally
smuggle snakes in their vets.
Just ugh, I know, I know, Iknow it's just, it's crazy.
It's crazy to me that this isthe world that we're coming to
(16:25):
and I feel like it's going toget even worse.
What's next?
Man?
Here's my thing.
If you're going to have anyanimals, please read the laws,
because there are a lot ofanimals that you are allowed to
have.
There are a ton, especiallyhere in America.
So please read the laws.
If you're going to go ownsomething that's maybe okay in
(16:47):
another country, that's not okayin this country, why not move
to the country?
I mean, if that's what you wantto do with your life, I have
nothing against it.
So why not move to the countrythat you want to go to and own
the animals that you want to own?
No, no, nothing against it.
That's why they called AmericanDream, because we have no
(17:07):
reason to like hold thatoverview.
You know, like America don'tcare.
You can go anywhere, you canleave, you can stay, and right
now it's pretty easy to come inand go out.
So I don't know.
I don't know, just my opinion.
All right, so that's our dailydose of weird news.
(17:31):
We've got a special sectioncoming up for you.
Next, we are going to dive intovideo game news for 2024.
Yes, that's right, I said itright after we come back, right
after this, alright, alright,we're back, we're back, alright.
(18:42):
So we've got some awesome videogame news for you.
First off, some simple reviews.
So when I saw this let me makesure I pull up the actual
reviews here when I saw this,yes, I've got three piece of
news for you and it involvesthree different games We've got
on the menu.
We've got Final Fantasy 7Rebirth.
(19:04):
I've got an article for youthere.
We've got Hell Divers 2, which,if you don't know what Hell
Divers 2 is, you will very soon.
It is quickly becoming the rageof the century and, okay, rage
isn't the right word, but it'sdefinitely becoming high news
(19:26):
now and known across the gamingcommunity.
And then we've got a rating forSkull in Bones.
So this is from Game Informer.
If you want to follow alongGame Informercom, they are very
good when it comes to news andthey've got some news for us.
So, first off on the list,final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has
(19:49):
received a review of an 8.5.
Now, I believe that's out of 10.
I'm not sure, don't quote me,but I believe that's an 8.5.
The next one on the review isSkull in Bones, a 7.5, which
honestly, I thought Skull inBones would be a little bit
higher than that, because thejust the outlandish marketing
(20:14):
and crazy talk about this gamehas been insane since last year.
They've been talking about thisgame since last year and people
have just been going crazy, soI thought that review would be a
little bit higher.
We'll get into that in a littlebit.
And then, finally, hell Divers2, which everybody's been
talking about lately on thegaming news, receives a 9.
(20:36):
I you know, I wish I could tellyou I didn't see that coming,
saw it coming, bro.
Like I've seen maybe four orfive gameplay videos and this
game is phenomenal.
We're going to dive right inright now.
So let's open this up and seewhat we got.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's coverstore a new found freedom.
(20:57):
So here's, here's the big news.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirthpresents players with a new
adventure in a massive worldbrimming with endless
possibilities.
What are they talking abouthere?
Looks like the making it divesinto a bunch of stuff.
(21:20):
You guys can like read this ifyou want to.
There is so much going on.
They talk about theintroduction, the remaking of
Final Fantasy 7, what goes on,what went into it.
Here we go.
Let's look into some of thechanges going on in Final
Fantasy 7.
Following the events of FinalFantasy 7, remake, cloud, tifa,
(21:44):
aerith Barrett and Red 13 haveescaped from the restrictive
confines of Midgard.
This accurately reflectsreflects the progression of the
story and format in the originalFinal Fantasy 7 as the party
emerges from Midgard's closequarters in linearity into an
(22:04):
open and explorable world map.
Now I did play Final Fantasy 7.
I think it was the first oneavailable on PS4.
I think the new games they'renot available on PS4.
Unfortunately for me, because Idon't just buy every single
console as soon as it comes out.
(22:25):
It is available on PS5, the newadventures.
So we'll see what happens withthat and what they do with that.
Here we go.
The long time Final Fantasydevelopers have had this in mind
ever since Final Fantasy 10changed how adventures in the
world progress.
We started off expressing thisworld that you can venture
(22:46):
through with a world map.
That was how it was startingwith Final Fantasy 1.
Kid, I want to say Kase, youguys are going to butcher me
with that.
I have no idea how to pronouncethis.
Who serves as a producer onRebirth says.
But starting with Final Fantasy10, when we entered into real
(23:08):
time 3D world, this is when theworld map development ceased or
halted to some degree with X or10.
It was the style where a playerchose a point or an area they
would like to go and travelthere.
In that sense, the feeling wasthat since it's real time 3D,
(23:28):
it's not quite possible tocreate this world map anymore
like the full world map.
So the story of Final Fantasy10.
Final Fantasy VII exploresthemes of corporate greed,
environmentalism and mentalhealth all topics more relevant
than ever in more than 25 yearssince the release of the classic
(23:52):
RPG.
If you play the new FinalFantasy VII, the graphics are
amazing.
The story is really cool, theplay style is actually really
cool and everything just feelsvery fluid for me in the game.
So for it to get the reviewthat it did, we're looking at
(24:13):
what was it?
8.5?
Yes, very worth it.
I mean it looks like there wasso much work that went into this
game.
If you guys have not triedFinal Fantasy VII, yet rebirth.
Where have you been?
You need to try it out.
It's definitely something tolook into and they're just gonna
, with more and more episodesand them wanting to make it an
(24:36):
open world, it's just gonna getbetter and better and, like I
said, the only one that I playedwas the very first episode that
came out with in PS4.
And so from there it looks likeit's gonna be awesome.
From the screenshots that I'veseen here, we get to see all of
our favorite characters andtheir RPG attacks and their
(24:57):
greatness.
It looks fantastic.
If you've played any FinalFantasy games, you know kind of
the play style of the RPG format.
Also, there's a screenshot hereof Cloud on our.
What is it Really?
You guys gotta check this out.
Gameinformercom there's Cloudswriting a people mover.
(25:19):
I can't.
Oh, this is too good.
We're in a Hawaiian shirt andthe people mover is even
Hawaiian.
That's hilarious.
Looks like he's a tourist.
Anyway, there is a lot goinginto this.
I feel like this is gonna bepretty epic.
8.5, that should reflect howgood this game is actually gonna
(25:41):
be, and it is well deserved inmy opinion.
It's pretty awesome.
Next on the list let's talkabout a little game called Skull
and Bones Now I have not playedthis it got a 7.5.
Was that what I read off here?
(26:02):
I wanna make sure I'm quotingright Yep, 7.5.
But from what I've heard,everybody has been talking about
this game, been waiting aboutthis game, because the Sea
Warfare in this game has justbeen fluid as heck and
everybody's been loving it.
Yeah, so, and it also fills avoid for those of us who have
(26:28):
played Assassin's Creed.
I've also heard from several ofmy friends that have played
Assassin's Creed like I have.
I definitely loved Black Flag.
That was one of my favorite andif you know Assassin's Creed,
black Flag, it was the pirategame and it was definitely one
of my favorite out of all theAssassin's Creed.
(26:49):
But if you know that game, youknow that you were a pirate and
that you were traversing thisCaribbean area and it was just
fantastic.
But a lot of people werecomplaining about the Sea
Warfare.
Yeah, they were complainingabout the Sea Warfare and the
movement and everything and itbeing fluid, and this just feels
(27:12):
it feels like it fills a voidfor those of us who have played
Assassin's Creed, skull andbones.
I've heard really good thingsfrom this.
There's a full breakdown and afull review at GameInformercom.
Feel free to check it out.
It is on the PS5, also on XboxSeries S and X, pc and some
(27:39):
other stuff.
So, yeah, it's on.
I don't believe it's going tobe on PS4, which is also another
reason why I have not played it, but the company Ubisoft is one
of my favorite game companies,like as far as games.
(27:59):
So, yeah, I thought this,honestly, would get a little
higher score.
It's got a 7.5, but I thoughtit would be up there with Final
Fantasy and Helldivers too.
To be honest, because of howmuch talk is going on about this
game, it's just insane.
If you look at the screenshots,they're just gorgeous, gorgeous
(28:23):
and gorgeous, and if you'readdicted to the beach and the
sea, like I am, this isdefinitely one game to look out
for.
So, if you guys get a chance,go check out the review, the
trailer, everything, the articleand see for yourself how cool
this game is.
Start on the list.
And last one for today Ithought I would let you guys
(28:45):
know.
Last one for today Helldivers 2.
Again, if you have not heard ofthis game, you will soon,
because it is pretty epic.
The whole fame of the game isthat you fly in and you have to
liberate planets, and the waythat you do that is you have two
choices.
You can either face off in awar against these humongous bugs
(29:10):
or face off in a war againstrobots, and either way it can be
pretty difficult depending onhow crazy you get into it.
But from the videos that I'veseen, the trailer is pretty epic
.
It's also like the whole story,and propaganda video at the
(29:32):
beginning of this game ishilarious.
It's somewhat very, very crazy.
So you're going to have tocheck it out and, yes, you can
compete with your friends.
I would recommend it.
Definitely.
Bring your squad out for thisgame, because there are people
all across the world right nowcalling for it to be released on
(29:54):
Xbox as well, because they wantthe Xbox Halo people to join
the fight.
It's pretty cool to see whatit's doing for the gaming
community.
It's actually uniting a lot ofpeople on this front of just
let's all join in this wartogether against the bugs and
the robots.
It's pretty neat.
So if you guys get a chance,check out Helldivers too.
(30:16):
It is insane.
Now to dive a little deeper,you go in as a squad, I think,
of two to four people.
I wonder if you can have more.
I don't know if you can havemore, I want to say at least two
to four people and you getdropped in and you have to
(30:38):
fulfill these missions.
And once you fulfill thesemissions on these planets, then
they have a percentage that yoursquad has helped liberate.
Now that percentage isdedicated to everybody trying to
liberate that planet and itwill show the progress of that
planet as it's being liberated.
(31:01):
The game impeccable, crazy,flawless, beautiful.
The monsters and armies thatyou face just insane.
The only complaint that I'veseen so far is that the servers
are very restricted on how manypeople they are that can play at
(31:24):
the same time.
So every once in a while youguys might be waiting on getting
into the server or it mightcrash for some reason.
I've seen some crashes on there, but nothing that would take
away from this review.
Again, top tier game.
Everybody's having a blast onit right now.
Also, you can.
(31:46):
So it has this feature whereyou can prank your friends,
because if you kill them, youcan also call them back in.
So even if you accidentallythrow a grenade at your friends
or something and they blow up,you can call them back in right
away within a few minutes.
So there has been really funnycontent coming out of this game
(32:10):
as well, because of the Just thepranking and just the fun
that's had to be this with thisgame.
Also, there's different types ofunits with the bugs and the
robots, so you're not justfacing like the same units all
the time.
You're facing heavies, you'refacing tanks, you're facing
scouts, you're facing likelittle soldier bugs and soldier
(32:33):
robots.
It's literally one side of itLooks like Star Troopers if
you've seen those movies and theother side of it, with the
robots, looks like Terminator orStar Wars, because they have
like ATT walkers and Terminatortype units.
It just gets nuts.
It's absolutely insane.
I definitely recommend it.
(32:55):
If you have never playedHelldivers 2, check it out
because it's going to be awesome.
Again, unfortunately for me, itwill not be on the PS4.
It's only on the PS5 and PCright now.
Again, everybody who is callingfor this to be released on Xbox
I absolutely agree.
We need everybody and to alsohopefully expand the servers,
(33:24):
because everybody's going towant to play this game and I can
see like, if it was possible, Icould see millions of people
playing this game and enjoyingit.
So there you go.
There's my two cents.
Those three games again amazing.
If you haven't checked them out, please go check them out.
(33:45):
They're awesome.
The game community is great andthe fact that it's all these
new games, not only by the bigcompanies but independent
companies, are being inventedand everything's just getting
pushed as far as the boundariesof gaming and what we can do.
Let's keep it going.
I say let's keep it going.
(34:07):
What do you guys say?
There we go, there we go, allright.
So from the WWV, that's all wegot this week.
See you guys next week on WeirdWorld Variety.
And remember we have a Facebookpage and Instagram.
(34:28):
We have an email and we mighthave a voicemail soon.
So look us up on Facebook orInstagram at Weird World Variety
with Matt and Jesse.
Message us your funny, yourweird, your crazy stories,
anything you want to tell us,anything you want us to bring on
the show.
We would love to have it on theshow.
So until next time, stay weird,everybody, all right, all right
(35:51):
.
Welcome back to Weird World Variety with Matt and
Jesse.
Okay, cool, what's up everybody?
(00:36):
How you doing?
How you doing?
How's everybody doing tonight?
Alright, alright, enough ofthat.
Welcome back to Weird WorldVariety with Matt and Jesse.
Unfortunately, jesse is nothere today.
(01:01):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, Iknow, I know he.
You know life scheduling ithappens, but he will be back
next week, so don't worry, hewill be back, so don't have to
worry about that.
Today.
We've got a lot of weirdnessready for you today.
(01:22):
So if you're all ready, let'sget this thing started with our
first story of the day.
Now, we've got a lot of weirdthings in the news, but I
thought a few of these would bepretty funny.
(01:43):
First off, if you've never hadpancakes, you're missing out on
life.
So I feel like, I feel like ifyou haven't had pancakes, you're
probably one of the few peoplein the world that haven't had
pancakes.
I know for one, I lovebreakfast and, yeah, I wouldn't
(02:07):
pass it up for anything.
So that brings us to our firststory.
Yeah, so here we go.
Our first story of the day isabout an old tradition.
Now, I don't know if you haveany traditions in your family.
(02:27):
I only have a few.
As far as, like the breakfastthing goes, the only thing I can
think of is off the top of myhead is during certain holidays
our family likes to makecinnamon rolls.
So cinnamon rolls are kind of athing in our family.
Otherwise we just knew thenormal breakfast thing.
(02:50):
But that's one of ourtraditions is anytime we have a
certain holiday and we wantsomething very special, a little
bit too sugary, we might makecinnamon rolls for breakfast.
So that's one of our traditions.
This tradition involves abreakfast item and a very
interesting and unique way tohandle said breakfast item.
(03:14):
That is a pancake race.
Yes, that's right, a pancakerace.
You heard me right.
The tradition, or the title, Iwould say the title of this is
in this centuries old Englishpancake race.
(03:35):
You just have to go flat outNow.
This is being held in onlyEngland and, yeah, we're going
to dive into this right now.
Let's see what this is about.
Women in matching checkeredaprons, headscarves and a
rainbow of running shoeslimbered up Tuesday as they
(03:56):
prepared for the centuries oldpancake race in this English
country town.
They rolled their shoulders inunison, raised up their toes and
did squats before stepping tothe starting line, fried pans in
hand at the word go.
They sprinted through thestreets trying not to drop their
pancakes as they roughly tracethe path taken by a hurried
(04:22):
housewife in 1445.
So this started.
So this started in 1445.
Is that what I'm getting here?
Whose legend has it heard thechurch bells singing Not singing
, I'm sorry signaling the ShroveTuesday service and raced off
with their skillet.
(04:42):
It's a horrible distance, saidKaiser Larkas, 44, a mother of
four, who legged it past EloiseCramer to capture the only title
with a winning time of 63.37seconds.
You just have to go flat outand then hope you're not going
(05:02):
to fall over, but it's all agood fun.
This tradition has beenrepeated over the centuries, not
only in only, but acrossEngland, even in the United
States, where the Kansas town ofliberal copied the idea and has
been trying to outrun thefriendly British rivals for 75
years.
This article is from AP newscomslash oddities.
(05:26):
You can look it up.
It is the Britain pancake race,so this is pretty interesting.
So they have a wonder Do theyhave the distance here?
Did I just say the distance?
She did in 63.37 seconds.
They were racing across.
(05:47):
It doesn't say the distance.
Let's see here.
The race is held the day beforethe start of Lent, the Christian
period of repentance andsacrifice before Easter,
celebrated as Mardi Gras or FatTuesday in other parts of the
world.
The name Shrove Tuesday derivesfrom the English word meaning
(06:10):
seek forgiveness or to begranted absolution.
If a secret recipe behind thewinning race exists, it would
probably call for a pinch ofskill, a dash of athleticism and
an extra scoop of whimsy.
The competition falls somewherebetween the Great British Bake
(06:30):
Off and zany local pursuits suchas rough and tumble cheese
wheel chase down Cooper's Hill.
The runners must flip thepancake.
So here's the rules the runnersmust flip the pancake at the
start and the finish.
The four hundred and fifteenyard.
There it is three hundred andeighty meter sprint itself may
(06:52):
be a form of penance ahead ofLent.
To Kansas sit or sisters sittersto Kansas.
Sisters who competed in liberalsince they were children
traveled to only this year tosee where it all began.
We've been talking about it fora long time, said Amy Thompson,
who painted her nails withBritish and American flags and,
(07:12):
of course, pancakes.
We like those festival oddthings and we decided to quit
talking about it.
It's the seventy fifthanniversary and this would be a
perfect time to come Only.
And Buckinghamshire is aboutsixty miles northwest of London
and liberal is in southwestKansas, just north of the
(07:37):
Oklahoma State line and abouttwo hundred miles west of
Wichita.
I don't know why my accent justwent south there.
Oh my goodness.
Mellor reported from London,heather Hollingsworth reported
from Mission, kansas.
So there you go.
I don't know if you let's seewhat any of our listeners
(07:58):
participate in the pancake race.
I would try it at least once.
It reminds me of like the oldegg on the spoon race where you
had to like balance it.
One kind of idea, but a littlebit bigger with the pan and the
pancake thing.
So there you have it, pancakeracing across England.
But yeah, this is definitelysomething fun to go see.
(08:22):
I wonder if they have like awhole festival for it.
That would be cool.
And then everybody like makespancakes and stuff.
Dude, you could totally have apancake festival for this, yeah,
and then, like the race wouldsound a little something like
this and now they're starting atthe starting line.
(08:43):
They're ready with theirskillets and their pancakes.
As they're ready to go, theprize is within sight 400, some
meters, no, 400 yards, my bad,300, some meters.
As they get ready with theirhot skillets.
I also wonder if the skilletswere hot too.
(09:04):
They have hot or cold pancakes,I wonder.
So they race off, and then we,and then you know, here they go.
Oh, there they go, as they racedown the track and we've gotten
runners in first and secondthey're tripping.
Oh, there's a stumble in thebackfield as three ladies
tripped over each other.
We'll have to watch out.
Those pancakes are flying.
(09:25):
Here comes Caitlin up the set,out the center, and she won the
big Jake race.
So yeah, it would soundsomething like that.
I don't know, but yeah, that tome sounds like a lot of fun.
Let me know in the comments ifyou guys have a tradition or you
have something you would racein.
(09:47):
It could be breakfast, could belunch, could be dinner, I don't
know.
Something involving food thatwould be pretty interesting.
Let's go right on over to oursecond story.
All right, so here is our.
(10:16):
Huh, who's there?
I'm not answering that.
Anyway, here is our next story.
I thought it would beinteresting to try to blend in a
little bit of variety here.
We have been talking aboutanimals the last few weeks and I
(10:37):
thought this would beinteresting because last week,
if you remember, we talked abouta guy who got caught with some
monkey business in his backpackand it was pretty funny.
So this time it gets even worseand involves New York.
Yes, I said it right, the oneplace everybody wants to go to.
(11:02):
Not really, but it involves NewYork.
And somebody was naughty at theborder, looks like.
Here's the title caught at theborder with pythons in his pants
.
New York City man fine andsentenced to probate.
Yes, you heard that right.
This man had pythons he wastrying to sneak, not in his
(11:30):
shirt, not in his backpack, yes,in his pants.
Now I know how funny that seems, but it gets even worse, I
promise.
Here we go.
A New York City man whoadmitted to smuggling three
Burmese pythons in his pantsthrough a US-Canadian border
(11:52):
crossing was sent in Wednesdayto a year of probation and fined
$5,000.
Federal prosecutor said CalvinBatista, 38, crossed into
Northern New York with hiddensnakes on a bus from Montreal to
New York City.
First of all, here's the thingyou would think it would be
(12:20):
rather difficult to keep snakeshidden Because, I don't know,
maybe our reptile experts in ourlisteners' audience can attest
to this, but snakes are verymobile creatures.
Sometimes they'll sleep, yes,and then they don't move, but
(12:40):
when they're awake they're oftenmoving around and looking for
things to eat.
You know things to climb, thatkind of thing.
So at least that has been myexperience of what I've seen
from snakes.
If you know something, like ifyou are an expert on snakes, you
could kindly fill us in.
But wouldn't this be ratherdifficult to keep snakes hidden?
(13:03):
I would think so, even if youtucked them away in a backpack
or something because I feel likethey wouldn't want to get out.
I feel like a backpack wouldhave been a better option.
But yeah, this was thisperson's approach.
The young adult snakes werehidden in the inner thigh of his
pants and snake bags tied tothe pants drawstring.
(13:27):
This was the elaborate,probably very uncomfortable for
the snakes.
This is kind of snake abuse.
They were discovered by USCustoms and Border Protection
officers.
According to court documentsand a release of the Office of
the US Attorney, the Queen'sResonant purchased the snakes,
which were more than $2,500.
(13:49):
Wow, at a reptile store inCanada, according to court
documents.
First of all, you liked snakesthat much that you went to
Canada to purchase these snakes,and not only that, but at
$2,500?
I don't know, it seems like alot.
(14:11):
I get it, but still.
I know you want a rare and wildanimal.
I get it, but still seems likea little bit much.
Importation of Burmese pythonsis regulated by an international
treaty, by US Federalregulations listing them as
Injuries to Human Beans.
(14:33):
I wonder why the Burmese python, one of the world's largest
snakes, considered a vulnerablespecies in its native Asia and
is invasive in Florida where itthreatens native animals.
Batista's attorney had nocomment.
Of course he didn't.
(14:53):
I wouldn't want to be thisperson's attorney.
He clearly got busted doingsomething very illegal, all for
because he wanted a wild animalthat I guess wasn't available in
the US.
I don't know what to tell you.
(15:14):
Maybe moved to Canada, I don'tknow.
I think the better option wouldhave been to move to Canada,
but instead you tried to hidethe snakes, tried to come back
over.
Anybody seen snakes on a plane?
Yeah, this was snakes on a busand didn't work out so well.
So there's that.
(15:37):
I don't know what people thinkabout this.
Y'all are going to have to letme know in the comments.
Like seriously, what in theworld is going on with people
trying to smuggle these weirdthings?
Last week we had monkeys thatwere dead and mummified they
weren't even alive or preservedin any way which had to smell
(16:02):
awful, like absolutely awful.
And then this week we've gotsomeone trying to literally
smuggle snakes in their vets.
Just ugh, I know, I know, Iknow it's just, it's crazy.
It's crazy to me that this isthe world that we're coming to
(16:25):
and I feel like it's going toget even worse.
What's next?
Man?
Here's my thing.
If you're going to have anyanimals, please read the laws,
because there are a lot ofanimals that you are allowed to
have.
There are a ton, especiallyhere in America.
So please read the laws.
If you're going to go ownsomething that's maybe okay in
(16:47):
another country, that's not okayin this country, why not move
to the country?
I mean, if that's what you wantto do with your life, I have
nothing against it.
So why not move to the countrythat you want to go to and own
the animals that you want to own?
No, no, nothing against it.
That's why they called AmericanDream, because we have no
(17:07):
reason to like hold thatoverview.
You know, like America don'tcare.
You can go anywhere, you canleave, you can stay, and right
now it's pretty easy to come inand go out.
So I don't know.
I don't know, just my opinion.
All right, so that's our dailydose of weird news.
(17:31):
We've got a special sectioncoming up for you.
Next, we are going to dive intovideo game news for 2024.
Yes, that's right, I said itright after we come back, right
after this, alright, alright,we're back, we're back, alright.
(18:42):
So we've got some awesome videogame news for you.
First off, some simple reviews.
So when I saw this let me makesure I pull up the actual
reviews here when I saw this,yes, I've got three piece of
news for you and it involvesthree different games We've got
on the menu.
We've got Final Fantasy 7Rebirth.
(19:04):
I've got an article for youthere.
We've got Hell Divers 2, which,if you don't know what Hell
Divers 2 is, you will very soon.
It is quickly becoming the rageof the century and, okay, rage
isn't the right word, but it'sdefinitely becoming high news
(19:26):
now and known across the gamingcommunity.
And then we've got a rating forSkull in Bones.
So this is from Game Informer.
If you want to follow alongGame Informercom, they are very
good when it comes to news andthey've got some news for us.
So, first off on the list,final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has
(19:49):
received a review of an 8.5.
Now, I believe that's out of 10.
I'm not sure, don't quote me,but I believe that's an 8.5.
The next one on the review isSkull in Bones, a 7.5, which
honestly, I thought Skull inBones would be a little bit
higher than that, because thejust the outlandish marketing
(20:14):
and crazy talk about this gamehas been insane since last year.
They've been talking about thisgame since last year and people
have just been going crazy, soI thought that review would be a
little bit higher.
We'll get into that in a littlebit.
And then, finally, hell Divers2, which everybody's been
talking about lately on thegaming news, receives a 9.
(20:36):
I you know, I wish I could tellyou I didn't see that coming,
saw it coming, bro.
Like I've seen maybe four orfive gameplay videos and this
game is phenomenal.
We're going to dive right inright now.
So let's open this up and seewhat we got.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's coverstore a new found freedom.
(20:57):
So here's, here's the big news.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirthpresents players with a new
adventure in a massive worldbrimming with endless
possibilities.
What are they talking abouthere?
Looks like the making it divesinto a bunch of stuff.
(21:20):
You guys can like read this ifyou want to.
There is so much going on.
They talk about theintroduction, the remaking of
Final Fantasy 7, what goes on,what went into it.
Here we go.
Let's look into some of thechanges going on in Final
Fantasy 7.
Following the events of FinalFantasy 7, remake, cloud, tifa,
(21:44):
aerith Barrett and Red 13 haveescaped from the restrictive
confines of Midgard.
This accurately reflectsreflects the progression of the
story and format in the originalFinal Fantasy 7 as the party
emerges from Midgard's closequarters in linearity into an
(22:04):
open and explorable world map.
Now I did play Final Fantasy 7.
I think it was the first oneavailable on PS4.
I think the new games they'renot available on PS4.
Unfortunately for me, because Idon't just buy every single
console as soon as it comes out.
(22:25):
It is available on PS5, the newadventures.
So we'll see what happens withthat and what they do with that.
Here we go.
The long time Final Fantasydevelopers have had this in mind
ever since Final Fantasy 10changed how adventures in the
world progress.
We started off expressing thisworld that you can venture
(22:46):
through with a world map.
That was how it was startingwith Final Fantasy 1.
Kid, I want to say Kase, youguys are going to butcher me
with that.
I have no idea how to pronouncethis.
Who serves as a producer onRebirth says.
But starting with Final Fantasy10, when we entered into real
(23:08):
time 3D world, this is when theworld map development ceased or
halted to some degree with X or10.
It was the style where a playerchose a point or an area they
would like to go and travelthere.
In that sense, the feeling wasthat since it's real time 3D,
(23:28):
it's not quite possible tocreate this world map anymore
like the full world map.
So the story of Final Fantasy10.
Final Fantasy VII exploresthemes of corporate greed,
environmentalism and mentalhealth all topics more relevant
than ever in more than 25 yearssince the release of the classic
(23:52):
RPG.
If you play the new FinalFantasy VII, the graphics are
amazing.
The story is really cool, theplay style is actually really
cool and everything just feelsvery fluid for me in the game.
So for it to get the reviewthat it did, we're looking at
(24:13):
what was it?
8.5?
Yes, very worth it.
I mean it looks like there wasso much work that went into this
game.
If you guys have not triedFinal Fantasy VII, yet rebirth.
Where have you been?
You need to try it out.
It's definitely something tolook into and they're just gonna
, with more and more episodesand them wanting to make it an
(24:36):
open world, it's just gonna getbetter and better and, like I
said, the only one that I playedwas the very first episode that
came out with in PS4.
And so from there it looks likeit's gonna be awesome.
From the screenshots that I'veseen here, we get to see all of
our favorite characters andtheir RPG attacks and their
(24:57):
greatness.
It looks fantastic.
If you've played any FinalFantasy games, you know kind of
the play style of the RPG format.
Also, there's a screenshot hereof Cloud on our.
What is it Really?
You guys gotta check this out.
Gameinformercom there's Cloudswriting a people mover.
(25:19):
I can't.
Oh, this is too good.
We're in a Hawaiian shirt andthe people mover is even
Hawaiian.
That's hilarious.
Looks like he's a tourist.
Anyway, there is a lot goinginto this.
I feel like this is gonna bepretty epic.
8.5, that should reflect howgood this game is actually gonna
(25:41):
be, and it is well deserved inmy opinion.
It's pretty awesome.
Next on the list let's talkabout a little game called Skull
and Bones Now I have not playedthis it got a 7.5.
Was that what I read off here?
(26:02):
I wanna make sure I'm quotingright Yep, 7.5.
But from what I've heard,everybody has been talking about
this game, been waiting aboutthis game, because the Sea
Warfare in this game has justbeen fluid as heck and
everybody's been loving it.
Yeah, so, and it also fills avoid for those of us who have
(26:28):
played Assassin's Creed.
I've also heard from several ofmy friends that have played
Assassin's Creed like I have.
I definitely loved Black Flag.
That was one of my favorite andif you know Assassin's Creed,
black Flag, it was the pirategame and it was definitely one
of my favorite out of all theAssassin's Creed.
(26:49):
But if you know that game, youknow that you were a pirate and
that you were traversing thisCaribbean area and it was just
fantastic.
But a lot of people werecomplaining about the Sea
Warfare.
Yeah, they were complainingabout the Sea Warfare and the
movement and everything and itbeing fluid, and this just feels
(27:12):
it feels like it fills a voidfor those of us who have played
Assassin's Creed, skull andbones.
I've heard really good thingsfrom this.
There's a full breakdown and afull review at GameInformercom.
Feel free to check it out.
It is on the PS5, also on XboxSeries S and X, pc and some
(27:39):
other stuff.
So, yeah, it's on.
I don't believe it's going tobe on PS4, which is also another
reason why I have not played it, but the company Ubisoft is one
of my favorite game companies,like as far as games.
(27:59):
So, yeah, I thought this,honestly, would get a little
higher score.
It's got a 7.5, but I thoughtit would be up there with Final
Fantasy and Helldivers too.
To be honest, because of howmuch talk is going on about this
game, it's just insane.
If you look at the screenshots,they're just gorgeous, gorgeous
(28:23):
and gorgeous, and if you'readdicted to the beach and the
sea, like I am, this isdefinitely one game to look out
for.
So, if you guys get a chance,go check out the review, the
trailer, everything, the articleand see for yourself how cool
this game is.
Start on the list.
And last one for today Ithought I would let you guys
(28:45):
know.
Last one for today Helldivers 2.
Again, if you have not heard ofthis game, you will soon,
because it is pretty epic.
The whole fame of the game isthat you fly in and you have to
liberate planets, and the waythat you do that is you have two
choices.
You can either face off in awar against these humongous bugs
(29:10):
or face off in a war againstrobots, and either way it can be
pretty difficult depending onhow crazy you get into it.
But from the videos that I'veseen, the trailer is pretty epic
.
It's also like the whole story,and propaganda video at the
(29:32):
beginning of this game ishilarious.
It's somewhat very, very crazy.
So you're going to have tocheck it out and, yes, you can
compete with your friends.
I would recommend it.
Definitely.
Bring your squad out for thisgame, because there are people
all across the world right nowcalling for it to be released on
(29:54):
Xbox as well, because they wantthe Xbox Halo people to join
the fight.
It's pretty cool to see whatit's doing for the gaming
community.
It's actually uniting a lot ofpeople on this front of just
let's all join in this wartogether against the bugs and
the robots.
It's pretty neat.
So if you guys get a chance,check out Helldivers too.
(30:16):
It is insane.
Now to dive a little deeper,you go in as a squad, I think,
of two to four people.
I wonder if you can have more.
I don't know if you can havemore, I want to say at least two
to four people and you getdropped in and you have to
(30:38):
fulfill these missions.
And once you fulfill thesemissions on these planets, then
they have a percentage that yoursquad has helped liberate.
Now that percentage isdedicated to everybody trying to
liberate that planet and itwill show the progress of that
planet as it's being liberated.
(31:01):
The game impeccable, crazy,flawless, beautiful.
The monsters and armies thatyou face just insane.
The only complaint that I'veseen so far is that the servers
are very restricted on how manypeople they are that can play at
(31:24):
the same time.
So every once in a while youguys might be waiting on getting
into the server or it mightcrash for some reason.
I've seen some crashes on there, but nothing that would take
away from this review.
Again, top tier game.
Everybody's having a blast onit right now.
Also, you can.
(31:46):
So it has this feature whereyou can prank your friends,
because if you kill them, youcan also call them back in.
So even if you accidentallythrow a grenade at your friends
or something and they blow up,you can call them back in right
away within a few minutes.
So there has been really funnycontent coming out of this game
(32:10):
as well, because of the Just thepranking and just the fun
that's had to be this with thisgame.
Also, there's different types ofunits with the bugs and the
robots, so you're not justfacing like the same units all
the time.
You're facing heavies, you'refacing tanks, you're facing
scouts, you're facing likelittle soldier bugs and soldier
(32:33):
robots.
It's literally one side of itLooks like Star Troopers if
you've seen those movies and theother side of it, with the
robots, looks like Terminator orStar Wars, because they have
like ATT walkers and Terminatortype units.
It just gets nuts.
It's absolutely insane.
I definitely recommend it.
(32:55):
If you have never playedHelldivers 2, check it out
because it's going to be awesome.
Again, unfortunately for me, itwill not be on the PS4.
It's only on the PS5 and PCright now.
Again, everybody who is callingfor this to be released on Xbox
I absolutely agree.
We need everybody and to alsohopefully expand the servers,
(33:24):
because everybody's going towant to play this game and I can
see like, if it was possible, Icould see millions of people
playing this game and enjoyingit.
So there you go.
There's my two cents.
Those three games again amazing.
If you haven't checked them out, please go check them out.
(33:45):
They're awesome.
The game community is great andthe fact that it's all these
new games, not only by the bigcompanies but independent
companies, are being inventedand everything's just getting
pushed as far as the boundariesof gaming and what we can do.
Let's keep it going.
I say let's keep it going.
(34:07):
What do you guys say?
There we go, there we go, allright.
So from the WWV, that's all wegot this week.
See you guys next week on WeirdWorld Variety.
And remember we have a Facebookpage and Instagram.
(34:28):
We have an email and we mighthave a voicemail soon.
So look us up on Facebook orInstagram at Weird World Variety
with Matt and Jesse.
Message us your funny, yourweird, your crazy stories,
anything you want to tell us,anything you want us to bring on
the show.
We would love to have it on theshow.
So until next time, stay weird,everybody, all right, all right
(35:51):
.
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