291: Scammed in Mexico

In this episode, Professor Mouse, the Cosmologist, and Teddy debrief about Professor Mouse's trip to Mexico City. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Time. It's like a clown.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
No, no, this little page he's bagging boarding Batman and
the gut or like a maze story tellers me some fellas,
we some felons. Isn't amazing, It's like appella bearver sell
it because this shit is so contagious.

Speaker 3 (00:09):
Mouths on the.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Summer Reason Pilot got the show while the cycle spinning
knowledge on the Getty like appro beat the babo, be
the rabbit, don't step to the squad, we get activic
and hate.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
It's like a sepul of parts. You don't like fish talk?
Do you hate? It's a batl with.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
The cuttle fish killers tender pools on the taping The
Greatest Spider Stars. If you cherish your life, Bucky barn
hit Squad, spraying leg and your pipe.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Hey, everybody, welcome to another edition of this. It's just bad.
It's it's just bad. The best podcast you never heard of.
Your host, Professor Monstrat is always by because myologists isn't Teddy.

Speaker 4 (00:43):
The Three Amigos are back. How are you doing? Mustard
Justice League International?

Speaker 1 (00:50):
I got scammed in a Mexican hospital. That's the headline.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
You get an amazing CIA headline?

Speaker 4 (00:58):
Ye, Ony figure out how many kidneys he still has.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
Sarah, it ain't clickbait. This happened. So I went to Mexico.
We wrent on a trip to Mexico City. We'll get
out of the way. Food is better than the food
in London. The weather fucking sucks. You think the altitude
is a lot until you get there, and then you

(01:22):
realize it's way more than you could ever imagined at
seventeen thousand feet in the fucking sky. For context, Denver,
the mile high city is five thousand feet in the sky,
so this is three Denvers. You get there, your nose
dries out. You can't think if you have allergies. It's

(01:44):
troubles that you have, trouble like swallowing, like it's a
very massive hit to your system, and that you have
to it takes a while to get used to it. Honestly,
we weren't there long enough to get used to it.
So five days still was dealing with the altitude. Remember
when I landed back in the US at sea level,

(02:04):
I was like, I can breathe again. The Mexico city
is is this bizarre place, especially to travel around as
an American because Mexico for a very good reason, has
a lot of reasons to hate the United States. There
are definitely people there who are aggressive towards American tourists,

(02:29):
and it's like one of those things you go down
there and if you have any sort of like self awareness,
you kind of just accept that. And so like Uber
drivers were fucking extremely mean in some scenarios, and like,
you don't just take that kind of shit. Like we

(02:49):
had one Uber driver who was was being shitty because
it took us a while to strap our daughter into
a seat belt. And it's like, all right, man, like
I unders stamp, but shut the fuck up because if
we don't strap her and then, uh, she could die.
Is that a thing that you want? So like it was,
it was like towing that line of like you're in

(03:11):
a place, you're a tourist. Uh, a lot of people
don't like here. You here because of what you represent.
There's something you're critique in there too, of like being
upset with people when you're actually upset with a government
that in this case, none of the people support. And
I think that that that's that weirdness that you know

(03:34):
a lot of people navigate when there's like these sort
of like global conflicts and you're like, well, I'm not
upset with the people of Russia who despise Vladimir Putin
as much as as as we do. But like it
is this weird interpersonal thing when the politics filters down
and it's like, don't be a fucking asshole to me,
Like I didn't do anything to you. But yeah, so

(03:58):
you know, those those are kind of the highlights. But
the big thing that happened to me was there was
a night it was raining a ton. It rains a
lot in Mexico City, and it does it in this
way that it does in the mid Atlantic, where it
rains a lot for very concentrated periods of time, but
like it's not like raining constantly, so it like rained

(04:21):
every day, but it was like thirty forty five minutes
of like extreme rain. So one night we were going
to go eat and we were gonna go fifteen minutes away,
and so we were gonna walk. Starts raining, so we go, oh,
We're gonna take a car. Driving around in Mexico City

(04:42):
is like the roads are narrower, the traffic patterns are different,
and the culture of driving is different. So I mean
you think people drive, you know nuts, where you're from,
like in Mexico City, it is like the culture to
drive a little bit nuts, to to try to make

(05:04):
the light, to be uncomfortably close to the person next
to you, because like, if you miss this light, you're
gonna be waiting for a fucking four minutes here or
some shit like that. And so I was, since I
was one of the two people who knew Spanish, was
often driving in the front seat just in case to
drive out any questions. And you know, we were just
like like just fucking scared. I think it's the word.

(05:32):
And also like I didn't like driving with Munchy in
the car because it seemed dangerous every time we got
in it. It is similar to them, not as extreme
at Teddy. I don't know if you've ever like taken
a taxi like in India or thereabouts, it's like it's

(05:53):
very touch and go. It's very touch and go. And
but the thing is that the drivers know exactly what
they're doing because they're from there, like they're used to it.
But when you're not used to it and you're in
the passengers that you're like, this is wild. I'm feeling
not good.

Speaker 4 (06:09):
Yeah, this reminds me very much of Rome. We always
joked about like traffic signs and signals being suggestions for
Roman drivers, like, oh they got they got traffic circles
there too, and they're just like going around like America,
around as fast as possible. And we avoided being in
cars as much as possible, like enough of a bus
system walk everywhere. I'm not kidding anyone else.

Speaker 1 (06:29):
Yeah, Well, in Mexico City, the primary form of transit
is car. They had some buses and they had this like.

Speaker 3 (06:41):
Kind of like gencs at the or the motor.

Speaker 1 (06:46):
Kind of but the but the the everything is also
very small too, so the cars are small. And so
one of the consistent arguments we got with with Uber
drivers is we were ordering ubrac Sel because we had
a baby, right, and so we would need like she
would take up in an Excel or what a driver

(07:09):
was passing off as an Xcel several seats in the back,
and it's just different because you know, they designed the
car smaller because the roads are narrower and shit like that.
So we would we would we would get we would
get a car thinking this is gonna fit six people
and it actually only fits four. You can't even really

(07:31):
squeeze in there. So yeah, we never got like an
suv or anything like that. If you ever order an
Uber Xcel, usually you get like some some type of
suv with several rows. We never got that. We were
always like, it was always like, all right, get ready
to order a second Uber because I don't think this
this this group is going in one car. So it

(07:52):
was one of those nights where it was like raining
super hard, and so we were like, we're gonna take
a car, and then we looked. I looked outside and
it was like blooded our street and we were on
an alley street that didn't typically get flooded. So I
was like, fuck this, Like, let's go somewhere closer. Do
we go to this place which I won't name because
they're like in the Michelin Guide for like great whatever.

(08:14):
We go to this place tie restaurant near where we're staying,
sit down, tell the the server that I have a
shellfish allergy, and there are two people at the table
have shelfish salergies. The server, in and typical Micheline fashion,

(08:35):
is attentive to the point of overbearing, to the point
of annoying, and it's not it's not his fault, like,
this is something we were talking about where we went
to in in Washington, d C. We went to a
three Michelin Star restaurant for my father in law's birthday

(08:59):
and it was one of the I would say worst
dining experiences, but it was one of the more bizarre,
off putting dining experiences because it is like you are
and it's not like you are, you are being watched.
You have everyone has like dedicated servers who are watching

(09:24):
you constantly. So if you accidentally drop like your napkin,
they're there to replace it with a different napkin in
an instant. If you drop some food on the ground,
they're there to clean it up immediately. If you have
to go to the bathroom, if you shuffle it at all,
they're in your ear, going what do you need And

(09:45):
you're like I have to piss and they're like I'll
go with you, and you're like no. But it's like
that level and it's a very eurocentric thing where they're
like we were looking up how many in the entire
continent of Africa, how many Michelin Star restaurants there are,
and they're like zero, They're virtually none. It's just very

(10:07):
sort of like European in doting style of service.

Speaker 4 (10:12):
It's also become like a pay to play. I was
reading about recently certain states and their tourism boards, like
having to pay for Michelin to come and take a
look at their restaurants and be like, that's not worth
it does to do that anymore. So there is I mean,
they go to very specific kinds of places, and there

(10:33):
is a cost associated with, let with having Micheline deign
to evaluate you, I believe.

Speaker 1 (10:39):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it is expensive. And so this place
had was like on the Michelin Guide didn't have a star,
it had like a different designation, and they were trying
to get up there. So it's very it's a very
doting kind of service. But you also feel some kind
of comfort in that, particularly if you have allergies food allergies,

(11:01):
because you're like they're gonna take it, they're gonna take
care of it, they're gonna not to cross contamination, Like
there's a high there's a high ceiling here, so I
was feeling pretty comfortable about it. We order a bunch
of food. I order like a pork belly entree and
stuff like that, and he's sitting there telling me. He's like, no,
this was this one you can't eat. You can't eat
that one. You can't eat that. When you can't eat
that one, this one you can eat. There's not even

(11:22):
a trace of anything. And then he also is doing
a thing of like as the appetizers are coming out,
pointing to things that he's like, you can't eat this,
you can't eat this, you can eat this, you can
eat this. And so I'm following all his directions. I
eat something at one point immediately throw closes up. I can't.

(11:45):
I can't breathe, throw closes up, can't breathe. I freak out.
I tell the staff I'm having an allergic reaction. I'm
sitting there sort of wheezing, hunched over. They sit me down, wheezing,
hunched over in a chair. One of the other servers
comes over and the other server goes, what did you eat?

(12:05):
And I pointed to a sauce that I ate with
a chicken wing, and I said this? Does this have
shellfish in it? And immediately, without missing a beat, he
goes yes, And I go, what the fuck? And that
guy's probably fired now, and I'll tell you why. After
this whole fucking incident has been narrated, so the the

(12:32):
people call an ambulance. Ambulance comes. Ambulance people come in
and it's this younger dude, this younger woman and this
older woman and they're in scrubs and they go, we
can evaluate you on the truck and I go, okay, great,

(12:52):
and the go in the truck and they put these
like little the little monitors that check your your heart
rate and check your SPO two. You're the saturation of
oxygen in your blood. And the saturation in my blood

(13:15):
was sixty two. The oxygen whoa it should be It
should be ninety ninety and above. Sixty two is very low.
And he puts it on his finger and he goes
look and his is like ninety seven, puts back on mine.
Mine as a sixty two. And so I'm like, well,

(13:37):
I ain't good. I know that for sure. And so
I'm like, okay, take me to the hospital. And we
get in the car. My friend who knows Spanish comes
with me, wife and kiddo stay behind, and we drive
about twenty five minutes to a hospital. Get to the

(13:59):
hospital and there are are several bizarre things that are happening.
One they fix an oxygen tank on me. Now, what
is bizarre is that when they put the oxygen tank
on me, they don't put the tubes in my nose.

(14:21):
And I ask about that and the woman says, you
don't need that much oxygen. It's fine the way that
it is, and I go, okay, um. They also take
my blood pressure. My blood pressure is like one sixty
eight over one point twenty, which is like second level hypertension.

(14:42):
And I'm freaking out because I've had a legitimate allergic
reaction and so that seems high as fuck. And I'm like,
Jesus Christ, I'm dying.

Speaker 4 (14:51):
Of course your blood pressure's sie. You are also freaking out.
I'm like, can't get oxygen to your blood? So like
all these things are gonna snowball.

Speaker 1 (14:57):
Yes, So they get me to the hospital, they take
me off. I'm still, by the way, like in my
right mind, like I don't need I don't like all
of it is is. And they do this in the
US two and they do it as a way of
like limiting liability and and for indemnification purposes. But they're

(15:22):
not letting me do anything, and they're not letting me
like go from this stretcher in the ambulance to the
stretcher on the bed. They're not letting me do that,
even though it's as easy as just kind of just
plopping over like I'm having an allergy attack. I'm not.
Maybe I'm dying, but I'm not, like out of commission.
I can still use my my faculties and shiit like that.

(15:45):
So they bring two guys over to like pull me
over onto the bed, onto the onto the stretcher. Ambulance
people leave, they take me in and they start, uh
it's sending doctors after doctor after doctor. And all the
doctors are coming in. They're asking me what happened. I'm
telling them what happened, and I'm like, this is a
fucking taking a long time, taking about half an hour

(16:07):
for me to get any kind of treatment, and I
feel like absolute shit, Like do something. And I even
tell them last time this happened, they administered a steroid
and it was gone within a couple of minutes. Like
I don't need to be here for that long. I know,
I know what.

Speaker 4 (16:21):
You're gonna need a steroid. Yeah, I just.

Speaker 1 (16:23):
Need the steroid. And they're like no, no, no, there's a
whole protocol and stuff like that. At one point, I'm like,
I gotta take a shit. Look straight up, I gotta
take a shit. A guy comes in and he's like, okay,
i'll get you a bedpan. I go, dude, I see
the bathroom. Let me go to the bathroom. He's like,
can't let you go to the bathroom. You're gonna have

(16:43):
to take a shit in a bedpan. And I go, bro,
I'm not taking a shit in a bedpan. I can walk.
I'm fine. And then he goes and he goes. Let
me be straight with you. In Mexico, we have a
protocol if for some reason you fall in the way
to the bathroom, the hospital gets sued. When the hospital
gets sued, that's very bad. I lose my job. So

(17:06):
you either shit in a bedpan or you don't shit.
And I go, guess what, buddy, I'm not shitting. Its
fucking crazy. And I'm also like, isn't there a waiver
I can sign for you to be not liable if
I slipped going to take a goddamn dump. They have
all these fucking rules. I'm not allowed to move. I

(17:27):
am not allowed to move. That is the one thing
that they continue to stress upon me. I am not
allowed to move. They hooked me up to an iv
they put the saline, the ivy bag, they put the
hydro quarter zone, they put the steroid. Now I've been
at the hospital for about an hour. I'm fine. I leave.

(17:48):
Three hours later, I'm sitting there for a long time.
Finally they let me leave and we get an uber
bat it's this whole dog and Pony show. They bring
a wheelchair and they like wheel me out of the
hospital where then I realized that it is designed in

(18:10):
a way like a prison where the person can't You
cannot leave unless you have your biometric data in a database.
And the it's like fucking Star Trek, Like the woman
scanned her face. The doors open and allowed us out,
and so I couldn't have left of my own accord

(18:31):
if I wanted to. Also, she wouldn't let me leave
until she saw me order the uber on my phone
and confirm it, and she went out and she did
all this stuff. So I'm like, damn, this is such
a bizarre experience. Go home, feeling fine, go to sleep.

(18:51):
I'm asleep from maybe thirty minutes. It's about twelve thirty
one am at this point. Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock
on the door of the AIRBA be realize that the
ambulance drivers are there and they are asking for more money.
They want more money, and they are sitting there arguing

(19:14):
with my friend who is helping me in Spanish, is
arguing back and forth over why they need more money.
They've already charged me eight hundred dollars for the ambulance rime.
They're saying, your car didn't go through. They're saying all
this stuff. I have the charge. They're saying, no, that's

(19:39):
not that. That's not the that's not what the charge
should be. That's a different charge. Like you should dispute
that charge. That's not the right charge. There is a
man sitting there with what I would describe as a
party city police officers outfit, and the guy who is
driving the ambulance keeps referring to the cop and being like,

(20:01):
this is a police officer, he'll protect you. All we
needed to do is go around the corner. And I
already know this man sense of time. He said that
the hospital was closed and it took twenty five minutes
to get there, so he's like, it's right around the
corner of the ATM we know there's no ATM around
the corner because we've been trying to find one forever
to get some goddamn pesos because they only accept cash
at all these places, and so we're like, the closest

(20:23):
ATM is eleven minutes away. Like, this guy doesn't know
what the fuck he's talking about, or he's trying to
scam us, and it's the latter. So this police officer
sitting there and he keeps arguing, keeps arguing, and keeps arguing.
Munchi's in the bed, so at any given time, only
myself or my wife can be down there talking to
him because the other one has to be watching Manchi.

(20:44):
So we're trading off and it's taking forever. They're down
there arguing for like two and a half hours, until
it becomes there's no other conclusion that you can draw
from this moment. Then this was a whole scale. And
so they close the door in this dude's face, and

(21:04):
the dude knows it's coming and tries to hold open
the door to prevent them from doing that, and so
I'm like, so they close the door and then very shaken,
and we're debriefing about this, and we're like going back
over the details of the night and realizing this entire

(21:25):
thing is a scam. From the ambulance to the hospital,
everything about this was a scam, and so we start
googling and we realized that this is a very classic
scam in Mexico. In Mexico City, the government supplies ambulances

(21:47):
for free. What ambulance drivers do they're called pirate ambulances,
is they stay on police scanners waiting for these emergencies
to be called and try to get to the place
and get the person out as quickly as possible before
the real ambulance shows up. And the really ambulance did

(22:09):
show up at the restaurant, and everybody was confused as
to why there was a second ambulance. And weirdly enough,
the ambulance drivers never did never mention this scam, which
would have been very helpful had they done so. So

(22:30):
what happens is they have no legal right to money,
so they get stiffed a ton by people that they
take to the hospital, which is for them just the
cost of doing business. However, with American tourists unfamiliar with
the entire sort of apparatus, and also American insurance companies

(22:56):
oftentimes do cover it, and so Americans or from other countries,
not just Americans, but even more so than Americans because
then the United States healthcare is all fucked up. So
like Canadians, English people, like Europeans and stuff will be like,
you know whatever, I'll just charge it to the game
and then the insurance will take care of it. So whenever,
that's like getting a whale, So you just for as

(23:16):
much money as humanly possible. And it's this weird thing.
So my blood oxygen oxygen oxygen level was never sixty two,
was never sixty two. It was that was a scam
whatever machine. It was a rigged machine because if it
was sixty two, I would be dead. That would be
a dead person. And even on like the official documentation

(23:39):
that he gave me, my blood oxygen was eighty nine
and so I was like, look what it was, just
like that that meme of just like equations and you're
just realizing like the levels of the scam. They never
put the oxygen on me because I didn't need it. Also,
it didn't work. The oxygen tank was fake. The ambulance

(24:02):
itself was retrofitted van that was you know, poorly painted
and it kind of looked us, but I was like,
I don't know, maybe they just fucking do whatever the
fuck they can here with whatever they have. Honestly, not
a bad idea. Just get a bunch of retrofitted impounded vans,
make an ambulance. It's just a car. It just needs
to take you places then the hospital itself. So this

(24:26):
was like, not necessary, It's not necessarily a scam because
they're not it's not like they're harvesting organs or in
the business of like giving you fake shit. They're just
in the business of overcharging you, right, And so the
steroid they gave me was real and it got rid
of my allergy. The four hours that they kept to
me was so that they could meet a so that

(24:49):
they could charge me hourly, and on my discharge paperwork
it shows an hourly rate of of of care essentially
all So what was probably a scam was that I
had stage two hypertension because that carried over into the
hospital and for me, it was like, I mean, if

(25:09):
my blood pressure is that high, I can't leave, Like
that's fucking that's death, that's like really bad. And they
kept being like, your blood pressure is like one fifty
eight over one twenty, Like that's really high, Like you
gotta stay here until it goes down. And in my
discharge paperwork it said my blood pressure was one twenty
over eighty, which is normal and which is probably what

(25:30):
my blood pressure was the whole time. And so it's
just like a massive mind fuck when you're going through
these Google reviews and you're seeing all the people who
have gotten treatment here, and they were like, I got
off lucky. I ended up getting out paying. I actually
paid more for the fucking ambulance than I did for
the medical treatment. So I paid like seven hundred dollars,

(25:53):
and with my health insurance, they're not they're gonna cover
like maybe like my pocket for emergency services is like
one hundred dollars, so they'll give me a couple hundred back,
but the ambulance is going to be a whole different story.
The But like, there are people who have been and
it's not like mostly tourists, it's mostly Mexican citizens who

(26:16):
are getting scammed out of like three hundred thousand dollars
three hundred thousand pesos for receiving medical treatment that they
didn't need. One of the things. And this was another
reason why they were being like so insistent about the bathroom.
A very expensive thing that people are forced to get
is a catheter, and so you are sort of they

(26:41):
try to convince you that you cannot use the bathroom,
that you're too sick, or that you can't move, and
they give you a similar spiel about like falling and
the dangers of falling and stuff like that, and so
it's much safer for your health if you stay in
hospital bed and receive a catheter instead of being able

(27:05):
to do it of your own accord. I think that
game didn't go far with me, probably because they knew
that my vitals were okay, that they were lying about
my vitals, and that what I had come in for
was very easily treatable, and that I knew what the
treatment was because it happened before. Oftentimes, when people end

(27:25):
up in that emergency room, they're like, I don't know
what's going on with me, or like the other thing
they kept asking me was if I had diabetes, because
a lot of the other reviews were like about people
who needed insulin and they charge out the ass for insulin,
and it was almost like, are you sure you don't
have diabetes.

Speaker 4 (27:45):
I really want to give you that one, And.

Speaker 1 (27:47):
I'm like, yeah, I'm sure I don't have diabetes. And
then I start questioning do I have diabetes? Like, I
don't know, man, And so it ended up being this
like massive like scam. I basically paid, you know whatever,

(28:07):
sixteen hundred dollars for a steroid that maybe cost one
hundred bucks and getting into like a very heated argument
with a fake police officer and fake ambulance driver. And
it was weird too, because the when you start looking
into it, this is like a known problem and they've

(28:30):
made they made a documentary about it that I watched
on Pluto, and it does present interesting sort of like
ethical questions because at the same time that the ambulances
are scams and are fake, they have saved people's lives
because there are only at the time that they made

(28:53):
that documentary, it could be more. Now they're only forty
five ambulances in Mexico City and there are nine million people,
and so there is a definite need that these people
are fulfilling and they have saved lives, and they've done
so altruistically ultimately, because then when people realize that it's

(29:16):
going to cost nine hundred dollars. They end up just
not paying anything, and so they get a free ride
to an emergency room, they get the medical care that
they need, and then they stiff on accident the ambulance
drivers because for them, they know that it's supposed to
be free, and so they have to They have they

(29:36):
don't have to do this, but I mean, there is
a financial incentive to continue going until you get somebody
who doesn't know anything and have them pay you whatever
the amount of money is. There are different situations that
we were reading about where it's like there's those conversations.
There's three hour long conversations where they're trying to explain

(29:57):
things to people and they're trying to scan people and
they realized they can't do it, and so and the
other person realizes it's a scam where it just breaks
down to a physical fight and they just start like
beating the shit out of each other. Luckily didn't get
to that, but it was in hindsight kind of like
veering in that direction where the guy was like, clearly

(30:20):
we were charged, this money went somewhere, and he was
trying to skim something off the top for himself and
he kept being like, none of it. He kept swiping,
swiping cards, he kept asking for new credit cards. He
was like, oh this this car didn't work, and your
card didn't work earlier. Sorry, even though the chargers on

(30:41):
the card. He was like, that's not the right. I
don't know what that is. Take it up with your bank.
So does anybody else have a card here? So wipe
a card didn't work and he's like, I mean, none
of these cards are working. I guess we're just gonna
have to go to an ATM and you're just gonna
have to get the cash out that way. And they
were like, no, we use a card. The atm is
far away. It's like we have a cop Like, no,
another card doesn't work, Another card doesn't work. He's not

(31:01):
swiping the cards. Yeah, he's just trying to get us
to give him cash because, you know whatever, the consortium
of these people who got the fucking money don't split
it in a way that's proper. Or maybe it's because
he found tourists, but it was this crazy thing. He
leaves and the next morning.

Speaker 4 (31:23):
He texts, why does he have your phone?

Speaker 1 (31:27):
Oh? Because they have very efficient Oh right, yeah, they
have their address, they have the phone number, they have everything,
and so it just blocked the phone and never saw
him again. That and it was the one of the
weirdest nights ever where it the mindset that you're in

(31:49):
when you're having a medical crisis, like a medical emergency,
and then the subsequent realization that what you've experienced was
not only traumatic, it was also fictitious. Is crazy, it's
like scary. It's it's like scary. And so for the

(32:14):
rest of the trip, I was like, I'm not eating
at a restaurant, like fuck that, I'm not eating at
any restaurant that has shrimp on the menu, like if
there's shrimp in the vicinity and the premises. I'm setting
up like an allergy appointment. Last time I tried to
get EpiPens in the US, like shocker, it wasn't able
to get it because of insurance or whatever. So this time,

(32:35):
hopefully it'll be like a thing where of like do
you want this to happen again because you have to
pay for this shit, like just let me get some
EpiPens and doing analergy panel and stuff like that. But
it was it was like one of those things too
where we you know, we had we went to the restaurants.
We had the Moleet, we had the the Mexican coffee.

(32:57):
We went to the museums and stuff like that. But
this was like one of the vacations where I did
a like a genuine, authentic Mexico City thing.

Speaker 4 (33:09):
You got the full experience, for sure. I'm glad you
got the real medicine and really recovered. And that's brutal.
It's a fascinating thing. Oh please go.

Speaker 3 (33:20):
Question going back to the server who gave you the
wrong thing? And this might sound like a wild question.
Was he like in on it?

Speaker 1 (33:31):
Like was he like, oh, a Mark, Like.

Speaker 3 (33:34):
Well, a, oh, we can call this ambulance I get
the guy in there earlier before the actual one. Or
was he just monumentally just screwed up. They actually I
don't know their tender.

Speaker 1 (33:45):
But it was a he. So this we we we
also talked about that possibility. I don't think so. So
I think he fucked up. He could This doesn't explain it.
He could also have been a Mark, But I think
he fucked up catastrophically in a way that the restaurant

(34:07):
after we left started running like damage because they were like,
we're gonna We're gonna kill an American tourists at a
restaurant that it's trying to get a Michelin star.

Speaker 4 (34:19):
Never getting our star that way, never.

Speaker 1 (34:21):
Getting our star this way. This motherfucker's gonna sue us.
And that, believe me, of all the things that were
in my head, never crossed my mind. Couldn't give a fuck.

Speaker 4 (34:31):
A restaurant to pay for your ambulance bill.

Speaker 1 (34:34):
I mean, it's it's not it's not their fault. This
is my fault ultimately. The so the I don't think
a lot of people know about this, the scam who
maybe come from certain socioeconomic backgrounds in Mexico City, and

(34:59):
so I don't know if he was working with them.
What I can say is the kid I think is
the one who's gonna get fucked up. The one server
who went with Immediacy that that sauce has shrimpen.

Speaker 4 (35:16):
Out because he identified that they're liable.

Speaker 1 (35:19):
He identified that they're liable, and that I wasn't fucking crazy.
And after I left, everybody in the restaurant, including the server,
including the chef who came over, the chef who just
happens to know perfect English, that's that was fishy to me.
I was like so the chef who happened to know

(35:39):
perfect English, the two Spanish speakers are gone, came to
the to the table with the four people who only
speak English, and is is pr Is suring Yeah. I'm like,
this is just this is their lawyer, who's wearing a
fucking chef's aprin, who's coming out here to say that.
And the other weird thing that they that they admitted

(36:00):
was that they didn't make the sauce. And they were like,
we have the bottle of sauce here and there's no
shrimp in it. I was like, first of all, you're
going for a Michelin start. You're using bottled sauce. That's insane.

Speaker 4 (36:14):
The worst episode of the Bear I've ever heard.

Speaker 1 (36:17):
You're not gonna get a Michelin star if you're using
bottled sauce, Like, you gotta make that shit yourself, which
I think they do. I think they bought a bottle
of fish sauce and we're like, see no shrimp. It
was this like whole debacle afterwards where they were trying
to run interference. But I mean, could have been a stooge.
I don't think that. The other thing, I don't think

(36:37):
that this is enough of a money making endeavor that
it would have been that most of the things that
they really really try to get this is like small
potatoes are like people who have been in serious accidents,
like people who need like long term care, so they

(37:00):
they're more liable to be working with, like drivers who
get people in accidents and shit like that, or like
granny's who have like diabetic attacks, Like that's what I
was reading more so, but it could be. I mean,
in the movie version of this, that guy's in on
it for sure. And there have been not just documentaries,

(37:23):
there's an entire like a Apple Plus series about these
types of sort of pirate ambulance drivers and it's just
like a very bizarre element of healthcare in Mexico. And
it does have that hook of like is what they're
doing really that bad because they're definitely running a scam,

(37:45):
but they're doing something that saves lives.

Speaker 4 (37:47):
Yeah, this is fascinating. I'm glad you're okay, and I'm
so sorry that you got like personally victimized by bullshit.
The I'm thinking about. I've had a couple of urgent
care visits recently, and the difference between you're talking about
the time that it took and the time that it
takes it. You know, US healthcare, it's about the same

(38:09):
amount of time, like way too long, But the level
of where the scam happens, where it's happening to you specifically,
guy is at your door versus US Healthcare where they
are like scamming each other above your head in book
peeping offices somewhere, and it still takes you just as long.

(38:31):
But it's a complete disregard for your health. You're just
sitting there, bleeding out in a waiting room, like, yeah,
we'll get to you in like four hours if we
can maybe, And then we're going to charge thousands of
dollars to a healthcare service and the insurance is not
going to allow us to get paid that much money,
which we already know, but we're doing it anyway, and
everything's jacked up massively. I got some testing done recently,

(38:55):
and insurance is, you know, jerking around with it, and
the in the testing companies like, yeah, that costs four
thousand dollars Jesus okay, And then I call them again
and they're like, oh, yeah, uh that's the list price
for insurance companies. Uh, we've got a financial assistance program.
You already qualify, what do you mean already qualified? Don't

(39:16):
worry about it. Everybody qualifies.

Speaker 5 (39:18):
It costs three hundred dollars if insurance isn't going to
pay for it, but the list price for insurance, and
so like that level of it's all absolutely a scam.

Speaker 4 (39:28):
And the ambulance has already cost money for everyone all
the time in the US. But it's this like middle management,
white collar bullshit, as opposed to there was a man
at your door willing to fight you for money right now,
not I have to be on the phone with the
church companies for the next six months fighting for and

(39:49):
I would rather I would rather get to a physical
fight at this point. God, that's all.

Speaker 1 (39:53):
That's all I'm gonna I'm gonna be facing both sides
of that scam too.

Speaker 4 (39:57):
Right now. You have to do the American designe.

Speaker 1 (39:59):
Yeah, yeah, So it's yeah, I got scammed in Mexico
to get scammed in the United States, and it is
this it is this thing where it's like they're gonna
find some bullshit loophole to not cover it. And it's like, bro,
I look at my check every two weeks and there's
so much money that goes to you. When we talked
about this like a couple months ago, it's like, just

(40:21):
fucking cover this shit, please please, I give you so
much of my money. Why do I do it? It's
because it's illegal not to have it, but it doesn't
cover anything. It's just it. It's so frustrating, And that
was like the true bummer of it all, where I
was like, do I even file acclaim? Like fifteen hundred

(40:44):
dollars is a lot of money, but what's the opportunity
costs here? Because I'm gonna be arguing with my insurance
probably for months to get this money back and.

Speaker 4 (40:54):
Time that it's gonna take you. You know, what is
your what is your hourly wage? Were talking to these
people and at what point did break even?

Speaker 1 (41:04):
That's my new job is full time health insurance claimant.

Speaker 4 (41:09):
Yeah, gross, so gross, And to your point, like they're
getting people to healthcare faster so that they can then
sit in the waiting room for hours, the same way
they would if the real ambulance got on there.

Speaker 1 (41:24):
But that was the other thing about the fucking hospitals.
They did very quickly. They got me into the room
and then it was weight so it was even this
kind of like thing of like the in hindsight, he
has to be using the facilities.

Speaker 4 (41:38):
Yeap, so we can start the meter running.

Speaker 1 (41:40):
Yeah, So as soon as I got in there, my
time started. And then it was like what the fuck
am I doing in here? And then the most nefarious
thing is so I had or one of the most
nefarious things is I had company. I had my friend
there and we were talking and then the doctor comes
in and she's like, uh, in hindsight, this was also

(42:05):
part of part of the scamp. So she's like, okay,
let's let's get a blood let's get a blood pressure reading.
And the nurse looks at the machine and goes, it's
a it's one forty eight over seventy or something. At
this point it head lowered. And the doctor looks at

(42:27):
her and she's like, did you did you run the test?
And she goes, yeah, he's right there, and she's like, oh, no,
you have to you have to run the test. That's
that's from last time he had his blood pressure taken.
I'm not deaf, am I I didn't hear the machine go.

(42:50):
And then she realized like, oh no, I have to
do it. I have to I have to take his
blood pressure, and it's like it's like it was like
in hindsight, it was like two scene partners and it's like, oh,
you have forgotten your line and guess what that has
fucked up the whole play.

Speaker 4 (43:14):
Oh man.

Speaker 1 (43:16):
So she took my blood pressure and it was a
little lower than it was the last time they took it.
But then the doctor was like, okay, fine, you're good
to go. You know, just don't need any shrimp. If
you do, here's a prescription for some fucking benadryl, go
fuck yourself. And I'm like, great, well, let's get the
fuck out of here. And then they shepherd my companion

(43:40):
away and then I'm sitting in there for another hour
and I'm like, what the fuck is going on here?
So then I asked, I asked the doctor. I'm like, hey,
get me out of here. Nurse comes in and it's like, okay,
we just have a couple more things to do before
we can let you out. Leaves and closes the door

(44:00):
so I couldn't see anybody. Also, they they never gave
me a little button to call the nurse because they
didn't want to get argued too. Because they must have
recognized that I was a patient that didn't need to
be there that long, and that I might fucking just leave,
but they had an IV in me, so I couldn't

(44:23):
get it out and leave, although god damn it, I
was tempted to.

Speaker 4 (44:28):
You're in zombie movie main character and she's just ripping
the thing out of your flesh and moving on.

Speaker 1 (44:34):
Yeah, because I knew exactly what was wrong, and I
knew they had already fixed it three hours ago. It
was so fucked up and boring. It was really, it was, really,
that was what it was. I was so bored. I
was like, I'm in Mexico City, I'm on vacation. You've
already taken care of it. Thank you, so grateful. I'm leaving,
Get me the fuck out of here. But yeah, that

(44:56):
was so funny. She's like, she said, I'm not death am.

Speaker 4 (45:00):
I did your Spanish effect how people treated you before
and after you started speaking Spanish to them?

Speaker 1 (45:16):
I think that, well, not really, I think that there
was less of a there was there was. I think
it was not necessarily the language. It was the confidence
of I know what this is is what was really

(45:36):
I think orienting their game plan.

Speaker 4 (45:39):
And yeah, in the hospital for sure.

Speaker 1 (45:42):
Yeah, and so instead there because I was reading a
lot of stories where there was like a lot of
kind of like the same energy of like being outside
of your door, just like spinning like bullshit at you,
just like that of people having that experience. My experience
was like, we're not going to confuse him because he
doesn't know Spanish. And also we're not going to confuse

(46:06):
him because this he's he's already told us, since this
has happened before. And also he's not like debilitated and
he can like move around. So our game plan has
to be a little different with him. Our game plan
has to be like quarantine. Yeah, he just delay, just delay,

(46:26):
just and don't give him a fucking reason. Just leave
him in there and leave him strapped into the ivy
and hopefully he doesn't rip it out and leave. Like
I think that was their game plan with me, because
it was very much a lot of attention at the
beginning that that immediately just went away and then it
was just me being ignored for a really long time.

Speaker 4 (46:48):
Did you're like the aggressive uber drivers and other folks
that you're Spanish changed their behavior, I know, like it's
not Mexican Spanish.

Speaker 3 (46:58):
So.

Speaker 1 (47:00):
No, I mean no, I mean they just kind of
like talk to you instead of everybody else at the table.

Speaker 4 (47:06):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (47:08):
Yeah, and so it was kind of like that. Yeah, No,
it's not, it's not it's not the very effective I
suspect uber drivers may have been a little ruder. Uh
if I didn't know Spanish, or you know, if I
if I hadn't indicated that I didn't know Spanish. But

(47:33):
I don't know, that's an assumption. The style of talking
is also very different. Also, I don't talk that much
like in social situations, and so you know, I'm not
out here talking a bunch of Spanish either, So like
because I'm not out here talking a bunch of English,
and in social settings it's just like at a restaurant,

(47:54):
I want this by Sorry, I have too much social
anxiety to chum it up with you.

Speaker 4 (48:02):
The perfect podcaster, it's the internal ball.

Speaker 1 (48:05):
Well I could talk, I could talk to my friends.
I can't. I don't want to talk to the fucking random.

Speaker 4 (48:11):
No, it's a very different skill set.

Speaker 1 (48:14):
But yeah, that was That was Mexico City.

Speaker 4 (48:16):
Wow, best museum, like any particularly interesting art that you saw?

Speaker 1 (48:23):
We went to, Well, we were gonna go to the
Diego Rivera Museum, and then we had one of those
big like monsoon rains, which was you know, you you
just have to pivot because like when it's raining to
that degree. It would have been different if much she

(48:46):
wasn't with us. But it's like the driving is already
so like touch and go here, I don't want to
test it with And we did see I did see accidents,
Like we walked past plenty of accidents, so it's not
like there weren't collisions in the road. We were fortunate
not to not to encounter any of those. But like

(49:08):
so the day we're gonna see Diego Rivera Museum and
the Frieda Callo stuff like got ripped out. But we
went to a this like cool like anthropology museum where
anthropology roughly just translates to archaeology, and it was this

(49:29):
like very cool collection that tracks sort of like the
different cultures that inhabited Mexico, and so I mean it
went truly from like the beginning of man through the
Aztecs and stuff. And they had like cool like what's
the Quota exhibits and other sort of gods from the

(49:50):
Aztec pantheon. They had some stuff about the Mayans, and
then they had it sort of concluded with colonization by
the Spanish, and it was this really cool museum where
it was like very interactive. It was obviously like like
when you're a kid, your favorite field trip that you
went on, you know whatever, middle school or whatever. They

(50:12):
have down there, so that was really fun. And leading
up to that, you have to go through a park
that has like all of these like different vendors and
ship and the vendors are very cool because they it's
it's it's all very professional the way that they sell knockoffs.
Like I bought these, I can show you I bought well,

(50:37):
I wanted to buy Munchie some Bluey socks, but they
didn't have them for kids. They only had them for adults.
It's like this is one of a kind because this
is not official merchandise, and it kind of looks like
a bizarro Bluey and bingo.

Speaker 4 (50:53):
Yeah, and they're already kind of square, the way old
Aztec designs are kind of.

Speaker 3 (50:58):
Like square, and they're kind of sixteen bits, so it
looks like the knockoff video games.

Speaker 1 (51:04):
Yeah, this was like sixty four Bluey and I was like,
this is awesome, and so I bought him for like
five bucks, and they were like in this like packaging
that was that they had just gotten from another pair
of socks, and so you're reading about it, and so
I was like, oh cool, there there's like a blurb

(51:26):
about the socks and it was like a collab between
jay Z and Santa Gold, like limited edition sock.

Speaker 4 (51:37):
That's the jay Z Santa Gold Bluey collab. Awesome. Yeah,
the Grand Tradition absolutely is that.

Speaker 1 (51:45):
And that was funny too. And also like this was
the opposite of London in terms of like exchange rate.
The dollar is as much more powerful than the peso,
so everything was like I think vendors also more willing
to deal with us because none of us haggled for anything.

(52:07):
Like they're like, you want three pairs of bluey socks,
it's five dollars. I'm like five dollars. What That's insane.
If I got three pairs of socks in the States,
it'd be twenty bucks. So that yeah, so that was fun.
The street food was fun. The uh we had good tacos,

(52:33):
good molay. I never had molay before and we went
to this spot. It was like a new kind of spot.
The restaurant culture in Mexico City is really interesting because
like they're all trying to do like kind of upscale
like fine dinings things like all. But like where we
were living, there were clusters of places that were doing

(52:56):
or or on the road to trying to get like
Michelin Stars. And it makes sense because Mexican Mexico City
is such a global city. It was very similar to
London in that regard. You're walking around, you're hearing every
language possible. And yeah, and we we went to one

(53:16):
Michelin Star restaurant on purpose, and then we happened to
walk into another one on an accident that almost killed me.
But but the one that we went to was a
Mexican Indian fusion restaurant and it was very good. And
this was the first meal after my episode, and I

(53:42):
told the lady I am allergic to shrimp, and at
this point I said definitely allergic to shrimp, as she
was like, I got you, and I was like, I
hope this star makes a fucking difference. But everything they
brought out and she told me I could eat was perfect.

(54:02):
And it was that it is like after a traumatic
thing like that, you are so tep it, like the
first bite of food I had was then I hadn't
eaten in like twenty four hours, and I was like,
I gel fucking fast for the rest of this trip.
That's how scared I am to eat, like or I'm
gonna be fucking living off of gotten sitos and like shit,

(54:24):
you get like takies like don't bring me anything. But
when we go out and the first bite I take,
it takes me a long time to do it swallow it,
and then I wait, yeah, and.

Speaker 4 (54:41):
I'm like, am even poison taster?

Speaker 1 (54:43):
Am I gonna die right now? And then slowly but surely,
I had a couple of like kind of like mini attacks,
like panic attacks where I was just like, you gotta
keep it cool, and I was just a holding munchie too,
so I couldn't really have a legit good panic attack,
like just keep it together, everything's fine, your your throat

(55:05):
is scratch it because that was spicy, not because you're
dying and so, but that that was the perfect meal
to have after that attack, because it was like, these
people know what the fuck they're doing and it was
good as shit too. Like that that fusion makes sense
to me because there's like a lot of stewed things

(55:27):
but they didn't really lean on that. They were they
were they were doing a lot of interesting things with flavors,
with like spice combinations that was like really interesting. Like
an Indian cooking. They have something called like a bonnie bourri,
which is like this little sort of like a baldy

(55:48):
cracking you put stuff into it, and they did that
with like tortillas and so it was just like it
was a different consistency and it was filled with like
like Mexican seasoned meat and stuff like that, but also
with like a chutney, which was really good. They did somemosas,

(56:09):
and they did somemosas in a way where like the
outside of the samos so was uh like traditional, but
the inside they made it taste like a samosa taco basically,
which is really good. And then they uh yeah, like
the their sauce game, none of that sauce was coming

(56:30):
out of a bottle, is all I'm says in it.
The sauce game was good. There was like we we
had just like accumulated sauces because they were trying to
take the sauce where the dish it came from. It
was like no, leave leave all the sauces in the
in the center because we have to have all the

(56:51):
sauces and try everything with these.

Speaker 4 (56:53):
Sauces, doing a hot wings. Yeah, challenge. Nice, I'm glad
I do. Your food experience was redeemed by excellent fusion
and that that museums sounds sweet. Yeah, sucker for for
astec culture and that art and architect is really interesting.
So nice.

Speaker 1 (57:13):
Yeah, I I talked the entire episode for fuck's sake,
that it's it's almost time to get wrecked.

Speaker 4 (57:21):
Yeah, let's thank you for you know, especially when you
do your interstellar travels. We want to hear about it
and see if.

Speaker 1 (57:32):
If that hadn't happened, there wouldn't have been much to
talk about. Just like it was. It was very It
was very different from London, and there was like London
was a whole debacle of like a world historic heat
wave and ship like it was a very weird. Uh,
that was a very weird trip. This was outside of
like a very strange thing, one of the most normal

(57:55):
vacations I've ever I've ever had, uh, and so kind
of sucked that it was.

Speaker 4 (58:03):
It just ruined punctuated by the trauma, the brutal well,
I'll get wrecked by way of another segment that we
occasionally cover on this show, which is thinking about actors
and their comps. So just gonna spend a minute. We've
talked about the various Chris's, the various square jawed, rectangular

(58:28):
Brits of certain kinds, so we've got another one for you,
and I have rediscovered Kyle Galner. So Kyle Galliner I
didn't even know. I already knew from Smallville, played Impulse.
He's also from Veronica Mars, but I realized I was
recognizing him from a bit part in Jennifer's Body. He

(58:51):
is the goth kid who tries to get Jennifer to
go to a rocky horror picture so screening and then
like meets here in abandoned house and gets eaten and
he's delightful and that's his like baby face, So yeah,
exactly right me. But like me, he decided to grow

(59:11):
a mustache and a beard and start getting weird. And
my comps for him, I think are Aaron Taylor Johnson,
Evan Peters, the Quicksilvers, Ty Sheridan from Ready Player one
and the Erstwhile slack Clops, and to a lesser extent,
the guy who played Havoc in those X Men movies too,

(59:31):
which is to say, like a bunch of white dudes
with kind of odd faces and like chins that aren't
like are they strong chins? Are they weak chins? I'm
not sure, but that kind of face of like slightly asymmetrical.
Who are we getting pushed as babyface leading man and

(59:51):
often take a turn one way or the other, and
they're basically interchangeable. And what changed for Kyle Gollner is
scream king status in a bunch of horror and then
started getting into extremely strange, kind of offbeat films horror
and horror adjacent and so you know, he just like

(01:00:12):
every other actor I just mentioned, he had his superhero turn.
It was a little earlier in Smallville, but he has
gone on this. I watched two movies basically back to back,
called Dinner in America from twenty twenty and The Passenger
from twenty twenty three, where he plays a pretty similar
kind of character on the at the outset, there's big differences.

(01:00:37):
These two movies speak to me really personally. A Dinner
in America he plays a punk musician leader e lead
singer of a band who and it's like set up
kind of like a rom com where he's accidentally meets

(01:00:57):
a woman who has been his biggest fan, but he
performs in a mask and she's been sending him letters
and so that she doesn't know that she's who she
says she is. And it's very like suburban Wasteland reminds
me a lot of the kids I went to high
school with really odd coming of age kind of story.

(01:01:21):
Highly recommend it, very much American rot sort of. And
then The Passenger similar about a very specific kind of
trauma Kyle Gollner, and this is joined by Johnny Burketold
who does a busy reacher I guess, I'm not sure,

(01:01:43):
but he does a perfect performance as a sort of
very specific kind of deer in the headlights, complex postematic
stress disorder, and it's a very affecting performance. And basically
Kyle Golliner also drives this guy around essentially kidnaps him.

(01:02:03):
It's a bloomhouse production, so there's like some extreme hyper violence,
but it's not. It might be a horror movie if
you're not familiar with just like us Wasteland culture of
people just having guns and being sad and fast food
joints and killing people. So it feels I also highly

(01:02:23):
recommend that one. So Gallner has is completely unhinged in
a very quiet sort of simmering way throughout these two films.
Looks pretty similar in both films. Smokes a cigarette with
what's this like weird reverse hand thing that is consistent
across both characters. So it's this the Kyle Gallner extended

(01:02:46):
universe of dudes with terrible little mustaches freaking down and
they're both wonderful. I think both movies are big recommends
from me. So seek this man out if you're into
a bunch of horror, and he's definitely leapfrogged beyond his
comps for me of that specific kind of of.

Speaker 1 (01:03:09):
Dude, beyond Aaron Taylor Johnson himself.

Speaker 4 (01:03:12):
Beyond Craven Oh.

Speaker 1 (01:03:15):
Yeah, which swinging a miss the Yeah that list that
you said, like Aaron Taylor Johnson, Kyle Gallner, Ty Sheridan,
did you put Miles Teller in that group?

Speaker 4 (01:03:29):
Yeah, that was the other one. Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (01:03:32):
The Adam Driver a little bit.

Speaker 4 (01:03:34):
I think he's a little older and his face is
a little longer, and he's better.

Speaker 1 (01:03:43):
There's something about like the ceiling of these guys that
is like they keep trying to do because Adam Driver
successfully crossed over to leading man, they keep trying to
get Miles Teller and Aaron Taylor Johnson to be leading
men and every time it's just like you're giving big
supporting actor energy.

Speaker 4 (01:04:02):
Yeah, and they didn't. There's this brief period of trying
to do with ty Sheridan too, and ty Shridan just
like pissed me off, I guess personally because I thought
really didn't like already Player one.

Speaker 1 (01:04:12):
Yeah, oh well, I mean he's in one of the
more divisive movies to come out in the last twenty years.

Speaker 4 (01:04:18):
Of like, uh, but it's that same kind of like
we're trying to position these guys as leading men and
they just very much supporting care. So Kyle Gollner those projects,
both Dinner in America and The Passenger, he's kind of
straddling a line between main character and like kooky supporting
character energy because there's kind of small pictures, but it

(01:04:40):
really allows him to shine and really crush that ceiling
of that kind of guy.

Speaker 1 (01:04:45):
I wonder if he'll if he'll if he'll make it
into the gun verse. There's something cool about the James
gun like Superman thing where they're like they're cast, they're not.
They haven't yet started doing like stunt casting, where like

(01:05:06):
David corn Sweat's a pretty unknown, I mean, which is
classic with Superman Superman you get an unknown. But like
like Rachel Brosnahan who had been sort of relegated to
television when her acting career when Masel ended, she tried
to do movies. She did features and she wasn't the
movies weren't that good. She's great, but this is kind

(01:05:27):
of like, all right, let's let's try to make a
star year.

Speaker 4 (01:05:33):
Yeah, so far with the stunt casting is just like
James Gunn's Friends.

Speaker 1 (01:05:37):
Yeah, yeah, And that's the stunt casting that only we
care about, where it's like what's Sean Gunn playing? Who
is Nathan Fillion playing? Like is Michael Rooker gonna be
in it? Like that type of shit is the stunt casting,
But they haven't really gone into there, so I can
see people like Kyle Gallner pop in, like like actors
who you know, you kind of know about, or actors

(01:05:59):
who you're like, oh, it's that person, But then they
get to be the leader of a movie, like the
Eddie Gathegi mister Terrific, where it's like they're gonna spin
that off and like this dude who got fucked by
that by Marvel, well by Sony in the X Men movies,
is gonna be like the leader of a team in
this and he's gonna have his own series. He's in
the biggest movie of the year. It's cool to to

(01:06:22):
to be like, it's it's what Zack Snyder tried to
do with Uh Homeboy. What's that guy's name? Uh, Cyborg?
What the fuck is his name? Oh?

Speaker 4 (01:06:32):
Ray Fisher.

Speaker 1 (01:06:33):
Yeah, it's like what he tried to do with Ray Fisher.
But hopefully this has a little bit more staying power
and then giving like, uh, somebody small like Jason Momoa
a shot to be Lobo.

Speaker 4 (01:06:47):
Yeah, really up and comer unknown Jason Momoa. That's the
stunt castings, but it's also like a dream come prove
for everybody involved if he gets that. Were all so like,
I'm not mad at that.

Speaker 1 (01:07:00):
Wait wait, teddy, are there are there stunt casts without
spoiling uh that are in Superman?

Speaker 4 (01:07:09):
Okay, wait before you star, because the one other stunt
cast that only we care about, James Gun's Friends is
James Gun's dog. Yes, did the motion capture for Crypto.
So so far it's just James Gunn employee. I wonder
did he get like a second paycheck in his house
for the dog. I don't know, but with the way.

Speaker 3 (01:07:35):
Imaging works, he would be whoever the dog's agent and
a state would be, would probably be getting that check. Yeah.
In terms, there are a couple of moments where they
a couple of Easter egg folks where you go, oh, snap,
you're in this. Okay again, not quite no spoiler, but

(01:08:01):
there are a couple ways that they are with exactly
with what Mouse is saying. They're I would take it
a step further to say James Gunn reevaluated and went, well,
why don't we do exactly what Marvel did on phase one?
So they took I mean, yes, it's Superman, so one

(01:08:23):
of the most famous American characters on the planet in
the last hundred years. However, they have relatively unknowns, a
non tie in story, so they didn't just rip from
a comic book. They did a largely original plotline. But
it's felt very silver. It felt very much like, Okay,

(01:08:47):
this isn't we're taking ourselves super seriously, this is a
this feels like a very pulp but still fun and
kind of elevate story. And overall, I would say the
most interesting choice that they decided to make was they

(01:09:12):
didn't just do another Jack Quaid in My Adventure with Superman.
They actually did have something to do with the performance
of Superman versus Clark versus in some ways emerging cala
like the union between those two. You see some very

(01:09:36):
interesting polls between them. And also, yeah, overall, in terms
of the wokeness and that kind of discourse, I would say,
don't go see that with this in mind, because it's

(01:09:58):
so much of a because we are unfamiliar enough with
the source material where we're like, what do you mean?
This is woke? This is just a thing Superman has
been doing since the thirties, like it has been.

Speaker 4 (01:10:13):
Is Superman beating up landlords? Like is it that nineteen
thirty Superman? Because I'm here for that.

Speaker 3 (01:10:19):
It's it's very much that I saw a very interesting
take where somebody basically said, uh, Superman is a firefighter.

Speaker 1 (01:10:29):
Not a cop.

Speaker 3 (01:10:30):
Hmmm, and this movie plays into that one hundred percent.
That's really yeah, and it was very it Also, I
think would I would I would qualify this almost like
a good musical. And the way I mean that is

(01:10:52):
every everybody gets a moment to shine. Even though it's
the main focuses on Superman, you do get beats where
everybody gets their moment, and it was incredibly refreshing to
actually see, Oh, this isn't a one persons show, this

(01:11:15):
isn't a we're waiting for the next big set piece.
It was very much everybody gets their time to shine moment.
And I think that's one of the strength that James
Gunn can really lean into with these sorts of projects.
And honestly, it's interesting to compare this to me with

(01:11:38):
Creature Commandos, because with Creature Commandos it felt like, oh,
we're just oh, he's James Gunn is just going to
do Suicide Squad again. All right, We're just gonna see
the Suicide Squad again. And in this particular vehicle where
they could have done that, you actually got to see
a very character driven story.

Speaker 4 (01:11:58):
That's really cool because James, I mean, he's got a
real gift for ensemble pieces and giving everybody something interesting
to do. But the Superman material has such a different
vibe and leaning into like the sentimentality and the honesty
and the emotions there as opposed to like the quirky
equips of the anti hero team. Your point about Silver Edges,

(01:12:22):
I think a really good one, because we've been talking
for it feels like years now about is this based
on All Star Superman? Is it pulling from Grant Marson's
kind of source material, which is very much a leaning
into what makes comics goofy, but being like honest about

(01:12:43):
that and not you know, ironic about Oh this is
just here for a laugh, Like we're gonna take the
robots seriously as a it was a world that has
robots in it, but we're not going to like over
engineer the sci fi reasons for it. It's it's a
robot worldn't worry about it. Have fun butt like wink

(01:13:04):
wink nudges in this dumb like No, it's legitimately fun
and that's that's very encouraging.

Speaker 3 (01:13:09):
Well, it's uh. They also play it in a way
where they don't go in the other direction of well,
wait a minute, how are all of these people at
the newspaper don't pick up on.

Speaker 1 (01:13:22):
Any of this.

Speaker 3 (01:13:23):
I won't exactly ruin the moment, but there are specific
moments where you're like, oh right, these are functional reporters
like you, Oh okay, they can actually they have this
level of competence of like, oh right, Superman makes everything
kind of weird because there are people with superpowers, but

(01:13:43):
everyone else in this in this area, it's a renowned
and I've been really on the Watson uh and doyalist
takes on things and looking at it in terms of
a watsony and take, you're like, oh right, Like Jimmy
Olsen isn't fired from this news room for a reason,

(01:14:07):
Lois Lane isn't fired for a reason, and Perry is
not like constantly getting replaced, Like even though there are
caricatures and you get a couple of interesting cameos with
again deep Superman cuts for Daily Planet employees, but like
you get people there where you're like, oh right, they

(01:14:29):
are reporters at one of in this world's top newspapers
or top news agencies to exist. So they they're silly,
but they also are like competent in really brilliant ways.

Speaker 4 (01:14:41):
That's nice. That's a very star Trek Like, it's it's
nice watching people be good at their jobs and then
be in insane situations as opposed to their inn insane
situations because they're bad at everything like Thunderbolts.

Speaker 3 (01:14:55):
And I will say one of the and again taking
the Watsonian hat off, I think outside of James Gun's
Dog and Nicholas Like, weirdly, Nicholas Holt didn't steal the show,
which I thought. I sort of thought that was going
to be the stunt casting, but he played Lex Luthor

(01:15:16):
exactly how I was hope, like I didn't exactly the
way Lex Luthor should have been played. I was like, yes,
go for you. But Rachel Basnahan, Oh sorry I pronounced
her last name wrong, but her turn is Lois Lane.
You actually really get to see a lot of the
comedic timing she had from Marvelous Miss Maisel, and it

(01:15:40):
works supremely well. She is probably my favorite Lois Lane
live action full stop.

Speaker 4 (01:15:50):
Actually, that's awesome. I can see that crossover because like
Lois Lane is very much can be kind of a
throwback to his girl Friday how Hawk's you know, comedy
but also snappy witticisms. And then she's got that underlying,
like Ermie Bratt harsh edge to her in some portrayals,

(01:16:11):
So pulling that all together is it's a tough performance
and yeah, I'm looking forward to that sounds awesome.

Speaker 1 (01:16:18):
Yeah that it's good to hear that the he managed
the ensemble, because you know, it's it's something he's proven
that he can do in Peacemaker and Guardians of the
Galaxy and stuff like that. But I mean, it's just
DC seems so cursed, and as as DC fans who

(01:16:38):
have been like just hoping that every subsequent DC movie
is finally good, where like they were moving in a
good direction. It was like, this is the time where
he's gonna put all these characters in and we were
watching the trailer. You go, like even Man of Steel,
even Zack Snyder, whose impulse is maximals, didn't put Hawkgirl

(01:17:02):
and Mister Terrific and the Green Lanterns in the first
fucking world building movie. Like that's crazy. But if anyone
can do it, it's James Gun And so I'm happy.
I'm happy for Teddy that I trust Teddy because we
have we have we're on a similar Wayne lanth here.
I think that he pulled it off again in a

(01:17:23):
way that's like everyone gets their moment, but it doesn't
feel like it doesn't feel like we didn't make a movie.
We made a fucking encyclopedia. And I will the other interesting.

Speaker 3 (01:17:37):
Well, I was thinking about this afterwards. If I were
to see this Superman and the Batman's Robert Pattinson's Bruce
Wayne interact, that would be the most that was Honestly,
the way they've been played so far would be incredibly

(01:17:59):
and I mean incredibly not just the way this Superman
is being portrayed and the way that Robert Pattinson's Batman
is portrayed will be just on its bent, something that
we have not seen happen on screen at all in
the history of these characters, which I am well, let

(01:18:21):
me rewind it. In live action New Frontier movie, you
kind of get. You get an interesting vibe. For the
most part those two characters are going to have. It
will be an insane interaction when they eventually need.

Speaker 4 (01:18:38):
I anticipate that they will not. I think Matt Reeves
is pretty locked into his own pocket universe. But I
mean I'm prepared to be wrong, certainly. But it feels like,
you know, like a black label Batman versus a silver
age Superman, which is cool as like contrasts of styles,
but it seems like the gun has a different vibe

(01:19:01):
in mind, and I would expect his Batman to like
wear blue or something, you know, like lean into this
silver age.

Speaker 1 (01:19:08):
Well, there is there is a significant difference though from
the first Batman James gun and Peter Saffron did not
produce that. They are producing the Batman too. Now. James
Gunn has constantly talked about like else Worlds and things

(01:19:30):
like that, so he's very he's very like keenly attuned
to that as something that exists in comic books. And
I mean, I would say, if he's smart, he'll keep
the Batman in this sort of like else World's category.
But I don't know. I don't know if if he's
if he's thinking about crossing it over and having like

(01:19:51):
truly one of the most contract too contrasting tones like clash. Visually,
it could be really interesting. It could be like a
really great idea, like a fucking cinematic Marvel type thing,
or it could be what we think it would be,
which is a fucking total disaster. Uh that like exquisite

(01:20:15):
corpse that should not be type of thing. But I
don't know he's he's he's on the on this press junket.
He's talked about collaborating, giving notes to Matt Reaves and
shit like that. And I doubled back to look and
I was like, what was the Batman before or after this?
And it wasn't produced.

Speaker 4 (01:20:35):
That's the last one he inherited. After with Blue Beetle.

Speaker 1 (01:20:38):
I think, yeah, yeah, yeah, with Blue Beetle as well. Yeah,
And it doesn't seem like and I am a little
bit bummed by this that he's bringing back some of
these characters because I feel like Blue Beetle did get
shaft and that that that that movie is is totally fine.
It's like a it's like a solid C plus B

(01:20:58):
minus type movie that that kid got shafted because they
were like trying to bury all of these movies in
the in the intermediary period. They try to bury The Flash,
which you know, good choice, But like some of these
other people, I feel like they should get it. They
should get an opportunity, Like Millie al Kock is the

(01:21:19):
superhero and Sasha Cali is not gonna or a super
girl and Sasha Kali is not gonna get a chance
to reprise their their role, which sucks. I mean she sucks.
I mean she doesn't suck. It sucks for her.

Speaker 4 (01:21:32):
Yeah no, I think both those actresses are excellent. Yeah, yeah, excellent.

Speaker 3 (01:21:36):
Point.

Speaker 4 (01:21:37):
All right, you got a wreck?

Speaker 1 (01:21:39):
I I I don't. I well, you know what, I
do have a wreck? The uh the Plaine movie is
a delicate thing, right, you had transcendent experiences with plain
movies that you wouldn't know the rest watch. Yeah, this
is a reverse wreck. I watched uh no Ratu on

(01:22:00):
the plane.

Speaker 4 (01:22:04):
The Egger's No Saratu.

Speaker 1 (01:22:05):
Yeah, yeah, no, No, I didn't watch the nineteen twenties one.

Speaker 4 (01:22:09):
Or nineteen seventies one that they probably don't have hurt songs,
No Saratu on the airplane.

Speaker 1 (01:22:15):
No, they had now Saratu. And I was like, I
haven't seen this yet. Maybe I'll just pop it on.
So I'm watching the movie and I'm like, you know,
what's with the bad thing about this movie is that
it just shouldn't be it? Are they already made this movie?

(01:22:37):
Which you can say about any every remake, right, but
like truly like but this one. Especially when I was
watching this movie, I was like, they already made this
And I kept thinking that as I was watching, I
was like, there's why did I think there would be
anything like different about this, Like why did I think
there would be anything interesting or new about this? Like

(01:23:00):
they already made it. It was like I was watching
it the whole time, truly, like in a sissaphy in
a way of like, there's gonna be a a thing.
There's gonna be like a there's gonna be there's gonna
be a twist, it's gonna be a it's gonna twist
at a dime, and then it's gonna be a whole
different thing. And it just was. It just was the

(01:23:23):
same movie, just a little bit longer, and the fucking
is a little bit more explicit, and like Lily Rose
Depp is having an orgasm every thirty minutes, Like that
was all that they added to it. The cinematography is beautiful,
it looks great, well, who gives a fuck? Like they
shouldn't have made it, And that's and it's also it's

(01:23:45):
also like the whole like we watched a bunch of
Dracula too, like Dracula uh movie. We watched a ton
of Draculas. And it was also the same as those movies.
It was also the same as the Bella Lugosti movies.
It was like, Eggers has this thing where he's like,
I'm gonna do like period specific remakes in this way

(01:24:12):
that captures the craft of filmmaking in the best possible light.
And it's like, when there's not an original story attached
to that, you're just sitting there witnessing craft executed well.
And when the task is remake, then you're watching an

(01:24:32):
excellent remake that ought not to have been made.

Speaker 4 (01:24:39):
Yeah, every time I'm like, oh, that SHOT's really cool,
Like wait a second. The shot I like the best
in the last thirty minutes is the one that he
lifted directly from Lang. Yeah, like oh yeah, big shadow
of the hand, Like yeah, right, because I saw that
already and it was really cool in nineteen twenty also,
and then the stuff he adds is like the mall
was clowning on him for having the like up close

(01:25:01):
full face shot where it's just somebody's face staring directly
at the camera, and like there's a couple of shots
that make for great tumbler gift sets and beautiful like
wallpapers for your computer, and the movie You're so right,
it simply does not need to exist, And he can't
get out of his own way to be like I'm
adapting us Ferrautu, but I'm actually adapting Bram Stoker's Francis

(01:25:26):
Ford Coppolo's Dracula sort of and like fifties romance Draculas,
and like why why are you doing any of that?

Speaker 1 (01:25:33):
He's a profoundly frustrated filmmaker. I'm getting to the point
with him that I've gotten with Luca Guadaguino, where I'm like,
I guess this isn't for me, Like the the intense
attention to detail on in his films is I believe

(01:25:56):
more of a weakness than it is of strength, where
I'm like, man, how come this guy? Movies should be fun? Right,
Like how come this doesn't want to have Like why
don't you make documentaries instead of film like because like
with The Northman, you're like, I guess this is what

(01:26:16):
it would have been like, but I don't want to
fucking see that. This is boring as shit, Like, yeah,
I guess that if you're in a lighthouse with a dude,
you're gonna fart all the time, But like, why do
I want to watch Willem Dafoe fart for fucking two
hours like this? Yeah, I guess they talked like that
in the THEVIC Times, but I can't understand what the
fuck they're saying, Like it's it's it's just like it's

(01:26:40):
this period where I'm like, it's this experience where like
with Luca, I've seen all of his movies and I'm like, why,
why don't keep watching?

Speaker 4 (01:26:47):
How did I do that?

Speaker 1 (01:26:48):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (01:26:48):
No, We're We're on the same page absolutely, Like I
think I'm kind of done watching his movies and the
like their Wolf that's coming next, and I'm like, no,
I'm out.

Speaker 1 (01:26:59):
He's He's to be like, well, what if a real
werewolves were real? How would we do it? And I'm like, no,
it's fun because they're fake.

Speaker 4 (01:27:08):
Yeah, if you and honestly, you could just watch the
cat my Bear camps. If they were real, they'd just
be dudes in the woods. Just go watch the bears
eating Sama. Go make a documentary about them, Make a
beautifully shot documentary about the bears instead of whatever dumb bullshit.

Speaker 1 (01:27:28):
He's gonna be so caught up on the anatomy of
the werewolf where shouldn't and it's gonna be so boring.
Oh man. Naswatu also had this like weirdness where it
was like it picked up at moments where there was
a little bit of energy that it squandered immediately by
just going back to the original movie where it's like
when Willem Dafoe shows up, You're like, oh God, thank god,

(01:27:51):
a jolt in this fucking movie, like let's cook now,
and then it just like sucks again after after that
initial sort of recognition. And then I will say this
about Lily Rose's depth because I'm not a fan.

Speaker 4 (01:28:05):
She did fine, she was fine. The movie it doesn't
know what it wants to be because it's doing like
a ghost possession or like a original sin trauma story
with her, of like it's somehow her fault and she's
like linked. It's that all that weird, like victim blaming
link between the heroine and the versions of Dracula. It
always piss me off, makes me very uncomfortable. And he's

(01:28:27):
doing like some very specific visual tropes of like possession
like exorcism with her because she can like contort, Like
that's not what the Dracula movie's about, Like what are
we doing? I don't think he knows what he's doing.
He just has images he wants to put on screen,
but they don't flow in a way that he doesn't
understand what the metaphors mean. He just likes the way
they look.

Speaker 1 (01:28:48):
Yeah, and the fact that like Nooshatu busts that, like
I kind of get it. I think I don't even know,
but it.

Speaker 4 (01:28:58):
Is very much like the fifth these Romance Immortal Lover thing.
Like that's what makes Noaranto unique is that it's not
that kind of vampire story. It's like creepy, like rich
dude vampire story instead.

Speaker 1 (01:29:15):
I did My favorite part of the movie was that
they used nosfaratu in the plural to describe these monsters, yes, draculas,
because they did. They did say vampire, so they have
the word for vampire. But he but William Defoe said

(01:29:38):
there's a bunch of nosparatus out here. We gotta kill
them all.

Speaker 3 (01:29:45):
It's like, holy shit.

Speaker 4 (01:29:48):
Validated.

Speaker 6 (01:29:48):
Yeah, uh, that'll do it. This episode it was just
about what a crazy episode. You know, if you're in
Mexico City and you gotta go to the hospital, just
wait for the second ambulance.

Speaker 1 (01:30:03):
That's the biggest wreck that we can get.

Speaker 4 (01:30:05):
And the first one's driven by vampires.

Speaker 1 (01:30:07):
Yeah, the first one's driven by straight up nos For optus,
I was the on the next one by.

Speaker 4 (01:30:15):
It's just an ad. It's like, oh, pirates, boat your brain.
Robin Kneale's no joking opening your mind with the probots
as you woken hit Hydra halen Hares had for a time,
for a head of reasons, for more than with the soldiers,
with them and for all seasons. Listen closely while we
share our expert teas and catolic comics, culture, deem streetuition

(01:30:36):
to the multiversity, and it's like go teaching perfect balance.

Speaker 1 (01:30:39):
When we snap in benit gents into your ears, does
the shoulders when we speak purple men versuasive speech were
Randy Savage reads with the Immortal Technique