Odds and Ends #30: Farewell Fudge-a-Mania

Molly and Jody say adios to Fudge and friends by reading some favorite one-star reviews, musings from Judy on sibling rivalry, and a truly enlightening Oil of Olay Special Report. There's also vintage commercials, hilarious listener letters, and Molly's recommendations for Fudge-a-Mania adjacent content! The gals wrap it all up with their recap of the Netflix "Forever" pilot (what acually happened in that movie theater?!) and a big reveal of OUR NEXT BOOK! It's a Judy Blume book club. Join us every other week! 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Jody and I'm Mollie.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
And you're listening to the Bloom Saloon.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
It's a Judy Bloom book club.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
This one, you guys, is an odds and ends episode,
which means that we have finished fudge Manium.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
We finished our first book together.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
You and me, our first book, You and Me. It
sounds like a song, but it means that even though
we finished it, we want to keep talking about it.
So that's what we're going to do here, and we're
going to announce our next book. But you have to
listen to the whole episode before we tell you. This
is how we get.

Speaker 3 (00:50):
You gotcha tricked? Ya did it?

Speaker 2 (00:53):
And in a couple of weeks we're gonna start talking
about that one. So this is our last hurrah with
fudget Mania.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
So fun.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
What should we start with, Wali.

Speaker 3 (01:07):
Well, I think we should call we should start with
the Judy Minudie, which is where we take sixty seconds
or less to talk about the most Judy Bloom thing
that happened to us this week. Jody, what was your
Judy minudie for this week?

Speaker 2 (01:24):
I'm gonna try it. How am I I haven't planned
out how I'm going to say it, but okay. So
I was in New Orleans last week visiting some friends.
And I know I've talked about this a lot on
the Pod, but I lived in New Orleans the first
time when I was in fourth through seventh grade, So
those were very Judy years. I think I started reading

(01:47):
Judy right around fourth grade, and then I was getting
into Forever in seventh grade. And Jamie's my friend who
lived in the apartment next to me when I first
was like fresh off the boat from Holland. And that's
the apartment building where Sparky and Spencer lived in the
penthouse who we babysat, remember, yes.

Speaker 3 (02:08):
Of the style incident.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
Oh that was a different a client, but close enough.
So yeah, So Jamie and I, you know, we've kept
in touch over all these years. We had a moment
where we like kind of stopped being pen pals when
we were in high school and college, and then I
moved back to New Orleans after college, and then we
reconnected and became besties all over again. It's very Summer

(02:35):
Sisters without the meanness and without the like psychopathy, and
it's just like the most vanilla Summer Sisters story you
could get. So yeah, whenever I go back to New Orleans,
Jamie and I have a really fun time reminiscing. And
this time we decided to go back and visit the

(02:57):
old apartment building we lived in. It's this it's called
the Federal Fiber Mills. It's an old like warehouse that
was turned into condos in the eighties. And she is
a realtor, so she was able to pull her realtor
cred and find a couple units in the building that
were vacant WHOA to go look at with me her client,

(03:23):
And so we just like basically snug into our old
old haunt and just wandered around for a while. Wow,
and we like found all our old, fun secret passages.
WHOA the exercise room where we used to film music videos.
It was just such a like cool blast from the past.

(03:46):
And we decided that next time we get together, I'll
back up. She kept all the letters I wrote her
over all these years, and I kept her letters. So
next time we get together, we're going to compile all
our letter correspondences and maybe make an art piece out
of them. Oh hollage, like an installation. Who knows?

Speaker 1 (04:07):
So cool?

Speaker 2 (04:08):
Very excited about this, And that's my judy longer than Minuti.

Speaker 3 (04:15):
I don't think so. I think that was perfect. That's amazing,
that's so cool. Wow, oh I love that.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
What about you, Mollie, Oh.

Speaker 3 (04:26):
Mine's very basic. I was struggling because it's summer, and
I really like don't want to wear a lot of
makeup in the summertime because I just like, I feel
so natural free. But I was looking at the makeup
I did have and kind of assessing it and watching

(04:46):
tutorials to see how like people were doing summer lukes,
and I noticed that, like nobody was wearing eyeshadow, and
it's like, hang on, am I the only person still
wearing eyeshadow? And I pulled my Instagram friends and yes,
basically I was the last person who was wearing eye shadow.

(05:07):
I don't know where I personally got the zapp that
in order to wear mascara or eyeliner you have to
legally by law. Where eyeshadow I guess, But the consensus
seem to be from asking my friends that everybody is
just wearing liner and mascara and that's it.

Speaker 2 (05:26):
No, Okay, this is why we need to talk. Okay,
what I see you and I are the last eyeshadow bastion.
I'm definitely wearing eyeshadows. Oh my god, I wanted to
ask you, Yeah, so how are you applying? What's your technique?
Or have you decided no more?

Speaker 3 (05:44):
So I think I'm gonna try no more because I
can't really find something I like that much. When I
was in my like late teens early twenties, I started
using this pixel see eyeshadow cram that was like a
like shimmery beige, like shimmery pink color, and I would

(06:07):
just use that, or I would use kind of more
often the Steela glitter and glow eye shadow, and that
is just like straight glitter. But I was like, maybe
my thing is I wear glitter all the time, and
I do kind of like that and I do want
to keep that. But the eye shadow cran I was

(06:27):
using was just looking weird and like over the top.
And then I couldn't find a like brown. I didn't
know it was I if I have brown eyes, am
I supposed to be wearing brown shadow? So I was
just like fucked up about it. And I think maybe
now I just want to not wear it unless it's
for a specialcassion.

Speaker 2 (06:48):
You've thought too hard. I think you really.

Speaker 3 (06:52):
Wouldn't be the first time. Truly wouldn't be the first time.
Why what do you use?

Speaker 2 (06:58):
Well, so I used to be an eyeliner person then,
so I've kind of gone the opposite way. Then I
decided fuck eyeliner, and I kind of have the same
crayon you do. It's not the same brand, but it's
Thrive Cosmetics and it's like a peachy, glittery crayon. So

(07:18):
I do that sometimes. But then I also have this
really thin angled brush, So I take the darkest brown
in my palette and then I kind of dab it
on like it's an eyeliner. So I was gonna tell
you maybe if you're looking to transition.

Speaker 3 (07:38):
Yeah, maybe that's the way.

Speaker 2 (07:42):
Okay, I'll send you the brush I have. You probably
already have it. It's kind of like a staple in
those you know, brush kits, but it's like, yeah, so
rather than wiping it on, you just like dab it
like almost like a stamp, just like all the way along,
I'm like, I'm doing it on my eye now, like
you can see me.

Speaker 3 (07:58):
I honestly want you to make me a teacher because
I watched those anyway, I might as well watch one
from my friend, and I do think I will. Somebody
was like, yeah, you should see these teens. They're wearing
so much glitter. I'm like, okay, well I am also
a team then, because I love glitter and I will
never stop wearing glitter eyeshadows, so right, that'll always be there.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
Yeah, Bloomheads, we'd love to hear if you're doing eyeshadows
or not, because I think we still haven't really figured
it out. We figured we've like decided for ourselves personally,
but we need to know what what what, what's cool?

Speaker 3 (08:29):
What if the girlies doing?

Speaker 2 (08:31):
Yeah, we got a Judy Minudi from a Bloomhead.

Speaker 3 (08:46):
Yes, okay, this is from Michelle and this is a
long one, so strap in. Hi Jody and Mollie. First off, Mollie,
I'm excited that you're the new co host. Really couldn't
have been anyone else.

Speaker 4 (09:01):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (09:01):
That's very nice. I've been meaning to write a letter
for so long, but I just had to do it
today to tell you about my Judy Minudi that happened
last night. The backstory is that in the fall of
twenty twenty three, I was diagnosed with stage four breast
cancer and had a double mess dectory. I chose to
stay flat because pros are the worst and I didn't

(09:22):
want another surgery. It's been amazing not to wear a
bra for a year and a half. There are fake
breast forms I could buy, but I haven't bothered yet.
This will become important. My local Guilda's Club, an amazing
resource for people affected by cancer in any way, asked
me if they could make a short film about me

(09:42):
for their annual gala. Because the gala theme this year
was SNL's fiftieth anniversary, they wanted to showcase a member
who was involved in comedy, and I've been in the
Detroit improv scene for seventeen years. So we made the
film and my husband and I were invited to the gala,
which was last night.

Speaker 5 (10:00):
The judy.

Speaker 3 (10:01):
The Nudi started when I realized my dress was baggy
in the bust, which normally I wouldn't care about, but
I would be standing up in front of a lot
of people. So I pulled a margaret and decided to
stuff my bra. I put it in a brawlet and
shoved the removable cups from a bathing suit inside. I
stuffed those with cotton balls. They wouldn't cull that as I.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
Need to roll cotton balls.

Speaker 3 (10:26):
Ah. I have filled out the dress just enough so
that it didn't bag, and I thought it was looking
great even though my dress was in velvet. Everything was
fine until we were at the gala and I realized
the boobs were shifting every time I sat down or
shook hands. How vigorously are you shaking hands? And then

(10:49):
I had to go in the bathroom and fix them.

Speaker 6 (10:51):
I thought they were staying put until right before the video,
when I realized one.

Speaker 3 (10:56):
Had migrated to my arm and now they're near my.

Speaker 6 (11:02):
I looked like Kitty from Arrested developed.

Speaker 3 (11:07):
So I had to bend over and pretend to fix
my shop, surreptitiously, shove cotton balls back in, and generally
tried to get them somewhere.

Speaker 6 (11:19):
Near where they should beat. It sort of worked, but
this will forever be a night. I had to stand
up in front of everyone.

Speaker 3 (11:28):
With wonky booth and wave like there was nothing going on.
So I'm like.

Speaker 6 (11:35):
It was quite possibly the most Judy moment I've ever had.

Speaker 3 (11:39):
Oh my god, I want to die. I love that.
The letter goes on to say, coincidentally, I have to
email Judy's agent today to ask if she do anything
for the conference. I'm planning for the Betsy Tasty books
that I and Jude love, which feels like corrystals. I
really want to tell her about the Brad, but I'm

(12:00):
going to keep it professional, unfortunately, Jody. I wanted to
thank you and Allison for keeping me distracted during the
diagnosis and surgery with the Harriet episodes. They were a
really nice way to keep my mind off this horrible experience.
I'm happy to say that I'm doing well on my
cancer meds and I feel really good. I'll never be

(12:21):
in remission, but I'm as close as I can get
with stage four. I also wanted to tell the letter
writer from last episode who wanted to go to a
grown up summer camp. It exists. I go to an
improv camp called Camp improv Utopia every year, and it's
so much fun to do camp stuff as an adult
while also doing improv. It's where I met the mutual
friends I share with Mollie.

Speaker 6 (12:42):
I thought that was sick because somebody told me they
met someone who liked Rent all over at improv camp.

Speaker 3 (12:48):
That's funny, wohwi. I know they exist for other hobbies
and I can't recommend it enough. I want everyone to
do all the fun things. Thanks again for all you
do with this podcast. Refuge is one of my favorites,
and I've loved revisiting it. I can't wait to see
what comes next. Love another indoor sports Michelle. Oh, Michelle,
what a sweet letter shell. Oh my, Jonas Michelle, cotton

(13:14):
balls are such a funny shape for this. I don't
know why you didn't use socks or like something else. Also,
they make chicken cutlets. Yeah, yeah, Oh my goodness.

Speaker 2 (13:31):
I mean, it couldn't be more perfect. I'm picturing because
I feel like Margaret took exactly three cotton balls. Aeah right,
I'm picturing a little triangle of cotton ball like a
little pyramid.

Speaker 3 (13:44):
Oh no, no, no, that's so funny.

Speaker 2 (13:48):
Michelle. Well, thank you for sharing, and tell us how
your correspondence with Judes went, because you wrote this a
while back, and hope you by now you've been chatting.

Speaker 3 (14:00):
Oh my gosh, I hope so sending good vibes for that. Also,
I wasn't the co host of this podcast when you
guys were doing Margaret, so I'll just say it quickly now.
I also have a bra stuffing story, but actually it
was pre bra. It was when I was in like, uh,

(14:23):
fourth grade, I think, and I wanted boobs really badly,
and one day I had an extra pair of socks
in my desk and I thought, actually, let me try
to take these for a spin.

Speaker 2 (14:39):
Wait at school.

Speaker 3 (14:43):
I don't remember how I put them in my shirt,
if I like excused myself, or if I was just
like sitting in the back of the classroom like what
I do remember. It's like sitting up straighter and like

(15:04):
really proud and excited and happy. And I remember the
teacher saying, Mollie, is there something wrong? And I was like, no, nothing,
And then I felt him and then I felt like,
all right, well that's been enough. I took them out
of my shirt, and this girl from my class was like,
how did you do that? And I fully lied and

(15:27):
I was like, oh, it's like this thing where you
like fold your shirt over, you know, no big neil,
But just imagine you're an adult teacher and all of
a sudden you see in the back this girl with
little sack.

Speaker 7 (15:41):
Booms and then oh, they're gone, Oh well, I think
that's really mean of her to call you out like
she You know, I.

Speaker 3 (15:56):
Don't think she was like, hey, chesty McGee, what do
you do. I think she was just like, buddy, you're
clearly not paying attention. Let me get your focus back
really quick.

Speaker 2 (16:06):
And now up here, do what you do.

Speaker 3 (16:09):
Yeah. But yeah, Michelle, you and I are sisters in
that regard.

Speaker 2 (16:14):
I do have a pair of We're getting off track,
but who cares. This is an odds and ends.

Speaker 3 (16:19):
This is our podcast.

Speaker 2 (16:20):
My friend got a boob job, and in preparation for
the boob job, she bought herself like very very real,
authentic like prosthetic boobs.

Speaker 3 (16:33):
Oh, like the kind like drag queens wear.

Speaker 2 (16:35):
They've got like the full on like nipple and like
texture and one was like more tear drop shape and
one was you know, a little more round. So she
got her boobs properly done, and you know, was getting
rid of these things. And I was like, I'll take them.
I wore them once for Halloween when I was sexy chucky.

(16:57):
I make great use of them then, but they've just
been sitting in my basement for years.

Speaker 3 (17:03):
We'll see if Michelle wants them.

Speaker 2 (17:05):
Yeah, Michelle, I've got the goods. Well, I was good.
I had them in a pile of stuff to get
rid of. I was like, maybe goodwill, I don't know.
And then Tyler walked by the box and plucked them out,
and he's like, why are you getting rid of these?
What do you want me to do with them? He's like,
I don't know, we'll find a use.

Speaker 3 (17:25):
For That's a good husband.

Speaker 2 (17:27):
But he's not thinking like in terms of like sexy stuff.
He's thinking like an art project.

Speaker 8 (17:33):
You know.

Speaker 3 (17:33):
I could tell.

Speaker 2 (17:36):
So I've got some fake boobs too.

Speaker 3 (17:39):
You always should have some around you never know, you.

Speaker 2 (17:42):
Never know, never know. Well, thank you, Michelle. We've got
a couple other letters. Let me get the next one,
all right. This one's from Bloomhead Helen, longtime listener. She says,
I'm so glad the bloom Saloon is back. She says,
I miss Allison, but Molly is the perfect fit for
the podcasts. She's so wonderfully funny. I've been recovering from

(18:04):
pneumonia oh no, and the first couple weeks were pretty rough.
I was gasping for breath, but listening to your podcast
was the highlight of my day. Although I tried not
to laugh too much because I'd start having a coughing fit.
I had to put my artwork in singing on pause.
But I've been learning to play the piano. I had
my third lesson yesterday and my teacher says that I'm

(18:25):
progressing very well. It's never too late to learn something new. Yes,
I listened to chapters nine and ten, and it reminded
me of a few things. I had the chicken pox
when I was nineteen. I had caught it from my
younger cousins. I had spots all over my body, but
not my face. I was in college and went out
on a date with a guy who was my boyfriend

(18:46):
at the time. I know I shouldn't have gone, but
could not missed opportunities. I hadn't seen him for a while.
I don't think he caught my chicken box. Plus, we
only went to a movie and I went home afterwards.
Did I mention it was a matinee and I cut
class to go out with him. Speaking of sleeping in

(19:06):
the same room as a grandparent, my grandmother was visiting
from Greece and had slept on a mattress in my room.
I told her she could sleep on my bed, but
she insisted the mattress was fine. She said it was
the most comfortable mattress she ever slept on, and she
wished she could take it home with her. That's so
very Grandma Muriel, it is. And then, lastly, on the

(19:27):
topic of family vacations, we would visit my aunts and
uncles in Long Island, New York. Every summer. We would
take the Amtrak train from Toronto to New York and
one year I think I was fifteen, my dad would
buy the train tickets, but that year he didn't realize
that the tickets only went as far as Rochester. Unfortunately,
I had to use my spending money for tickets that

(19:48):
would go to New York City. But I still had
a fun time with my cousins. I have the best
memories of my trips to New York. My aunt taught
me how to make fetcini alfredo. Then not so good
memory was that my younger cousins had lice and we
all have to wash our share with the special Lie shampoo.
Oh hello, Sally day, he says, Well, that's all for now.

(20:11):
I eagerly look forward to the next episode and love
from Bloomhead Helen. Thank you, Helen. We love to hear
from you.

Speaker 3 (20:19):
Oh there You're so right. That's such a Grandma murial
thing to say. And I hope your pneumonia is better.

Speaker 2 (20:27):
Oh my god.

Speaker 3 (20:27):
Yeah, all of our bloomheads, the divas are down, everybody.

Speaker 2 (20:32):
I hope you feel this needs to rally around our fam.

Speaker 3 (20:38):
There is sickness in the community. Oh my gosh, Well
feel better everyone, Yeah, just say that.

Speaker 4 (20:48):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (20:48):
This next, This next letter comes from Alison Darling and
it says, Hi, Jdy and Molly. I was just catching
up on the podcast and was reminded of my Creskins
Crystal story. The last time you guys mentioned it was
a year was years ago when covering Superfudge. I had
never heard of Creskin's crystal until then and was immediately

(21:10):
intrigued and wanted one. I went on eBay and found
one in a decent price. Now I've been using eBay
for twenty years now, and I started using it in
high school. What happened next has never happened to me
before or since. I purchased the crystal, and a few
days later it still had not shipped. I finally got

(21:34):
a message from the seller profusely apologizing, but she could
not find the crystal.

Speaker 6 (21:40):
Ah she looked everywhere she couldn't find it and had
to refund my money.

Speaker 3 (21:50):
I was going to buy another one off eBay, but
I took it as a sign that it was not
meant to be anyway, Crystal with the thousand, Oh, you
guys are a hoot and a holler, such a good story.

Speaker 2 (22:07):
I have a theory. So she said, this was a
couple of years ago. Well, the amazing Crescin himself died
a couple of years ago, so maybe he took it back.

Speaker 3 (22:18):
He called it back to the realm with him.

Speaker 9 (22:21):
That is so.

Speaker 2 (22:23):
Funny, bloomheads, you guys are funny. We love it.

Speaker 3 (22:28):
You really are.

Speaker 2 (22:29):
You're doing our work for us. May have to be
funny now, Thank god.

Speaker 4 (22:38):
This is Crescin, an expert on e SP e SP
extrasensory perception, mind over matter No. Crescin and Milton Bradley
have devised a game about e SB.

Speaker 10 (22:57):
Crescin's e s B with Kreskins ESP. You may reveal
your feelings on love, unfinance, on career, on travel, and
other fascinating subjects.

Speaker 4 (23:13):
What results would you find?

Speaker 10 (23:15):
With Crescins EESB. You can spell out names and words,
guess ages, play lie detector, and more play crescins ESB.

Speaker 2 (23:31):
What do we have next?

Speaker 3 (23:33):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (23:34):
I wanted to pull out the tone that is, oh shit,
it's downstairs.

Speaker 3 (23:42):
Well i'll wait. I can wait.

Speaker 2 (23:45):
The tome that is letters to Judy. Hold on, it's downstairs.
I'm not gonna stop recording. So, okay, you can sing
a song or something.

Speaker 3 (23:53):
Okay, this song is for Jody when she edits later. Oh,
good job, you're doing a good job listening to editing things. Oh,
look at that. That was a cool thing to cut out.
You're right, that sounded bad. Good job, buddy, and you're

(24:18):
special and good and.

Speaker 11 (24:23):
Yeah yeah, hello, Hi, okay, sorry about that.

Speaker 2 (24:35):
Let me get that.

Speaker 3 (24:36):
That was so quick.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
I know I'm out of breath. Oh my gosh. So
we haven't busted open this beautiful blue book in a while,
and I thought now it was a good opportunity to
see what Judes has to say about sibling rivalry. Ooh,
chapter two, my brother and sister get all the pension.

(25:02):
Dear Judy, I have a problem that I cannot tell
my mom about or she'll get mad. My sister is
two years younger than me, and she gets all the attention.
For example, when I don't let her play with one
of my barbies. She goes and tells, of course, she
gets to play with everything of mine, But if I
wanted to play with something of hers, Mom will say,

(25:23):
give that back to Gina. It doesn't seem fair. That's
from Rebecca age nine.

Speaker 3 (25:31):
Justice for Rebecca. I already am on her side.

Speaker 2 (25:35):
Totally, And Judy says, I often ride about sibling rivalry
because it is such an important part of family life.
My aunt used to tell me stories about being the
youngest in a family of three. My mother was the oldest,
my uncle was three years younger, and Francis, my aunt,
was three years younger than he was. Francis said that

(25:56):
my mother was pampered and got everything she wanted because
she was the first child and my grandparents were ecstatically
happy to have her. She said that my mother was
given milk baths so that she'd had a beautiful.

Speaker 3 (26:09):
Skin like in Charlotte's Web.

Speaker 2 (26:14):
Oh wait, does that happen in Charlotte's Web?

Speaker 3 (26:16):
Charlotte's Web, they give the pig a milk and milk bath.
I don't know that I've ever heard of about a human.

Speaker 2 (26:22):
Her hair was curled each night, and she had the
best clothes. My uncle got of a lot of attention too,
because he was the only son. Francis said that by
the time she was born, no one was very interested
in her. That's how she saw it. Anyway. My mother
and uncle were taken on exciting trips, but Frances the baby,

(26:42):
was always left at home. She felt less important than
her older brother and sister. So I thought this was
interesting that Jude's is telling the story from the youngest
point of view to kind of counteract this older siblings letter,
you know, because gotta put yourself in someone else's shoes.
And I wonder if we ever had a story from

(27:09):
the actual viewpoint of Fudge, he'd be resentful of Peter.

Speaker 6 (27:14):
He'd better not, because I have all that to say,
He'd better not be.

Speaker 3 (27:20):
That's interesting. Well, I feel like where we see this
come to bear really is like here's to you, Rachel Robinson,
because I feel like she's a younger sister, the youngest
sister with these two very different older siblings, and she
feels kind of put upon because of that, or with

(27:43):
like Deanie didn't Deani have like oh wait, no, Deanie
was the hot one and her older sister is different. Yeah,
I think we have Judy books from the youngest siblings perspectives.

Speaker 2 (27:56):
I guess it just made me realize that even though
we have so many books with Fudge is like the center,
we don't get Fudge's. I mean, he is fine, Like
what does he got to say? But yeah, it does
make me wonder if he'll have the same kind of
hang ups that the Rachel's and the Denis or who.

Speaker 3 (28:18):
Oh, Sally j is the youngest sibling yep, hmm, Yeah,
I wonder what I Fudge would be about Fudge is
that the end of the letter, she doesn't give advice.
She's just like, you know.

Speaker 2 (28:31):
Oh no, she just tells stories.

Speaker 3 (28:34):
Okay, well that's not very helpful to I feel like
my girl Rebecca is out there fighting for her life
to play with her barbies her way, and this didn't
really help any Okay. Well, next, I have a special
report about oil of Olay. Now a lot of this
information comes from the Oil of Olay Wikipedia page, but

(28:59):
basically I read it so you didn't have to Oil
of Lay was actually a product that came out in
South Africa, and I think nineteen fifty three is when
it's first unveiled and sold to Procter and Gamble. And
the name Oil of Olay is actually kind of sort

(29:25):
of halfway an anagram or at least a name inspired
by the word lanolin, which is the key ingredient.

Speaker 2 (29:34):
In oil of la like from sheep.

Speaker 3 (29:37):
Yes, oh my gosh, wow, everything comes back to sheep
on this podcast. What else, Well, we were talking about
the neats for oil, which is like, is that not
a sheep by product?

Speaker 2 (29:51):
But oh no, that's cow.

Speaker 3 (29:53):
Oh excuse me, sorry, And if you're interested, Lanolin is
a fatty substance found and naturally in sheep's wool, and
it's extracted as a yellowish, viscous mixture of esters. Don't
know what that is, don't want to know what.

Speaker 6 (30:08):
It is, and is used as a base for ointments.
So a lot of like moisturizing creams and stuff have
lanolin in it, and oil of Olay is no different.

Speaker 3 (30:21):
And that's how it got its name. Is like kind
of like mixing up the letters and lanolin.

Speaker 2 (30:25):
That is so disappointing. I always thought like olay was
some tropical island.

Speaker 3 (30:31):
Yeah, me too, but nay, it is. Honestly, the whole
conceit of this special report is aha. It was advertising
all along, because this is ripped from the Wikipedia page
and it says Olay's marketing was also unique since it
was never described as a moisturizer, nor even as a

(30:54):
beauty fluid. Nowhere on the packaging does it say what
the product actually did. And print advertisements used copies such
as share the Secret of a Younger You and talked
about the beauty secret of Oil of La. So originally
they were like, listen, just buy this. We're not going
to tell you where in your skincare routine to use it,

(31:16):
how to use it, how much of it to use
the I don't know, figure it out. Listen, it's pink.
You're a woman, You do the math, get it and
give me money. And another sort of advertising ploy they
did is they did like like kind of secret like
gorilla advertising via this advice calmnist named Margaret Merrill, who

(31:42):
was supposed to be like the fanciest, prettiest lady, except
for Margaret Merrill is a fake person invented by Procter
and Gamble. There would be ads in newspapers, like or
little sections in newspapers. They're not explicitly adds, but it's

(32:02):
marked like this and I'll read it. And this is
from a h ad in the Desert Sun from nineteen
sixty four. It says a.

Speaker 6 (32:12):
Beauty hint, Margaret Merrill advises that it is quite simple
for every woman to promote an English countryside complexion. Her
hint to gain a peaches and cream loveliness is to
damp the cloth with cold water from your refrigerator and
press it over your face for a few minutes, once.

Speaker 3 (32:35):
Or twice a day. Then to hold the good of
the complexion beautifying cold water smooth on a little tropical
oil of olay.

Speaker 12 (32:47):
This oil is rather scarce and expensive, but your drug
store should be able to get you a small supply like, oh, genius.

Speaker 2 (32:58):
They got the hook up.

Speaker 3 (33:00):
Oh my god, don't worry. It's very expensive and scarce,
but you, my dear, can find it.

Speaker 2 (33:06):
Oh it is pretty smart and pretty wiley. It reminds
me of the all those old training brads that Alison
and I dug up like years ago. And it was
the same pseudoscience, like doctor so and so says that
for your daughter to grow into a you know, for
her posture.

Speaker 3 (33:25):
Yeah, it's a lot of that stuff, But I will
say this. Margaret Merrill as an advertiser was so uh
it was such a prolific cultural figure even though it
was a fake person that uh, there ended up being
a rose named after her. Oh and so there is

(33:46):
still a kind of rose you can buy now called
a Margaret Merril rose, And from my limited research, it's
like an especially good rose to buy because it's very
full and it throws the scent very far. So yeah,
if you're interested Margaret Merrill, fake person, real rose.

Speaker 2 (34:05):
It better be pank. Is it pink?

Speaker 12 (34:07):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (34:07):
You bet your boots it is, of course, come on, course,
come on. So eventually the product began branching out internationally,
and for some reason, they changed the name of the
product and the spelling of it slightly everywhere they went

(34:27):
to quote sound pleasing and realistic to the consumers that
lived in each of those different places, which I would
love to see the research of, like how they decided
what sounds pleasing to whom. But for example, in Ireland
and the United Kingdom it was called oil of Ulea
spelled u la y.

Speaker 2 (34:46):
I remember that.

Speaker 3 (34:49):
In Australia, maybe you remember this one. In Australia it
was oil of Ulan.

Speaker 2 (34:54):
I remember that too, Yes, Wow, imagine how confused. I
was as a young girl navigating her way through the
tree aisles in three different countries.

Speaker 3 (35:03):
Oh my god.

Speaker 12 (35:04):
What?

Speaker 3 (35:06):
And then in France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands it's
oil las oh la z oh ulas la las. I
like that one, which may explain why in this ad
we're going to play, they pronounce it very funny. And
you'll notice in that ad they they are back on

(35:28):
the beauty fluid bullshit, which I think, let's not say
fluid fluid nos no, but I think maybe like serum
is yossified fluid, So maybe today that's what they would
call it. And indeed they do, because in nineteen ninety
nine they kind of stopped doing oil of ola and

(35:50):
they changed this product brand name to just Olay, and
so now there are various Olay serums and creams and
all kinds of stuff. But yeah, that's my oil of
La special report.

Speaker 2 (36:04):
That's so good, That is fascinating.

Speaker 3 (36:07):
Thank you?

Speaker 13 (36:08):
Yes what Nick thought we were sisters.

Speaker 3 (36:11):
You look so young.

Speaker 10 (36:12):
It's your skin. Hope I've inherited it.

Speaker 13 (36:15):
Well, this could help oil of lay me, yes, because
the fluids in ulay are similar to natural fluids and.

Speaker 3 (36:21):
Young skin, my skin it's sinking in, of.

Speaker 13 (36:24):
Course, because young skin, even yours, can lose natural fluids,
and Julie puts them back, so it helps keep you
looking young and beautiful.

Speaker 3 (36:32):
Yes, I can see that, and so can Nick.

Speaker 13 (36:34):
My winer uli and hyperallergenic like the fluids in young skin.

Speaker 8 (36:41):
Hey, don't I know you.

Speaker 4 (36:42):
From someone that's original?

Speaker 3 (36:44):
Hemerson High in nineteen seventy five.

Speaker 4 (36:47):
You're in my class. It was your teacher.

Speaker 5 (36:50):
What's the secret of younger looking skin? Oil of you
land twice a day. Fine lines of visibly reduced skin
becomes soft and smooth. Is for Henry bugsy brown Oil
of you lamb twice a day. Wow, the secret of
younger looking skin?

Speaker 8 (37:09):
Do you look older than your husband? I thought I
did until I discover the secret of oil of olay,
the mysterious beauty fluid that howls you look your youngest.
Skin drinks in oil of olay. Pure moisture and tropical
oils soothe the way dryness, so those little lines and
wrinkles are less noticeable. Oil of olay, so you may

(37:30):
look your youngest. How nice for your husband.

Speaker 4 (37:33):
And for you, so you may look your youngest.

Speaker 10 (37:36):
Share the secret of oil of olay.

Speaker 3 (37:40):
It's my time to see what you see.

Speaker 6 (37:45):
I you'll understand these times, say.

Speaker 13 (37:51):
Oil of olay has a lot to do with how
I feel about myself. Makes my skin look so vibrant,
sheer and greaseless.

Speaker 2 (37:58):
Oil of Olay replenish to give me a younger look.

Speaker 5 (38:01):
Oil of ola it can help keep you looking younger too.

Speaker 13 (38:04):
I love oilabla and when I look this good, lookout yang.

Speaker 3 (38:10):
This is another new segment I'm introducing. But once we're
done reading a book, I want to say, I want
to do a segment called if you liked that, do this,
And what the segment is is telling you other pieces
of media to consume. If you liked budge Mania. So

(38:31):
I have two big ones here for you. Number one,
I think you should read vacation Land by John Hodgman.
John Hodgman is a comedian and an extremely funny podcast
guest and writer, and he wrote vacation Land about his
years vacationing in Maine. And honestly, it is kind of

(38:52):
like a spiritual sister to fudge Mania, I think, and
it only fuels my lust to go to May So.

Speaker 2 (39:02):
I will call You're unstoppable.

Speaker 3 (39:05):
Oh my god, I want to go so bad. So
I recommend vacation Land by John Hodgman. And then another
thing I recommend kind of broadly is the podcast Family
Trips with the Myers brothers uh And this is Seth
Myers and his brother Josh Myers, and they interview celebrities

(39:25):
about family trips that they've gone on, and it really
reminds me of some of the shenanigans that we read
about in Judy books or that you and I talk about, Jody.
It is such a cute podcast, except when the guests
don't know that that's what they're supposed to be talking about.
That makes me really mad. But otherwise it's a really

(39:46):
Sometimes they have guests on and they're like, did you
go on trips as a family, And the guests will
be like, no, oh cool, so what are we? What
are we doing? So that happens very rarely, but what
it does, I'm furious if you want to get into
this podcast. Good starter episodes are the Nick Offerman episode,

(40:09):
He has great stories. I like the Amy Poehler episode,
I like the Josh gad stories has a really great
vacation story, and it's just a charming look at how
everybody spent their lives. And sometimes it's fun because they
get people whose parents were also famous, so they tell

(40:30):
stories about traveling from different sets with those people and
it's just a really wholesome, sweet summer podcast. So I
highly recommend that as well.

Speaker 2 (40:41):
That sounds so good.

Speaker 3 (40:43):
Yes, it's really really good. And then sidebar because I
again I wasn't in this podcast when we read Summer Sisters,
but I just read a book with my book club
that reminds me a lot of Summer Sisters, and I
think if you like Summer Sisters, you should read this book.

(41:04):
And that book is Who Will Run the Frog Hospital,
which is a novel by Laurie Moore. And this book
is like a seventies coming of age novel in Canada
about these two teenage girls who work at a theme
park as princesses. And it is such a good book.
It's short, ugh, it's delicious. If you're looking for a

(41:28):
Judy adjacent coming of age book to read this summer,
I highly recommend Who Will Run the Frog Hospital by
Lorii Moore.

Speaker 2 (41:36):
I also just remembered that our podcast friends Stuck in
Stony Book they are doing a main centric episode, Wow
christin one of the mystery episodes that I never read,
but I think I guess there's one of the super
special not super special. One of the mysteries takes place

(41:57):
in a haunted house in Maine.

Speaker 3 (42:00):
Oh that's amazing, what good kismet?

Speaker 2 (42:03):
Yeah, yeah, I said we should do a joint main episode.

Speaker 3 (42:07):
I know.

Speaker 6 (42:08):
I saw that and I was like, hah yeah, but
inside I was like, yes, please please, I love stuck
in joining.

Speaker 2 (42:14):
Bard please yes, amazing and blue Heads. We always want
to hear your input too, So if you've got some
adjacent books to read, like, if you like this, then
do this. I will think of a better title. Or
maybe not.

Speaker 3 (42:26):
Yeah, maybe it can be if then, if then, even
though that is also the name of a failed a
Dina Menzel musical, but I think we can take it.

Speaker 9 (42:36):
Okay, it's fine, all right.

Speaker 2 (43:01):
And to really wrap up our Fuginania journey, we're gonna
stop on some one star reviews. This is in tried
in true bloom Salon tradition. We want to end on
a negative note. Some of these are so stupid. So

(43:21):
I got the dumbest one and two star reviews and
let's read them.

Speaker 3 (43:27):
Okay. This is from Elizabeth F. One star. I could
not finish this one. It was just about It was
just about being on vacation to Maine.

Speaker 6 (43:43):
Nothing really interesting or dramatic happens when two enemies have
to share a house, even though there's literally so much
that Bloom could have done with that.

Speaker 3 (43:53):
It's just like, I don't like you, you don't like me.

Speaker 6 (43:56):
To score our separate ways, avoid each other, and pray
we don't run into each other because we hate each
other for some reason.

Speaker 3 (44:03):
Kumbayah. Why why do Peter and Sheila loathe each other
so much? Anyway they That seems like it's never explained
in any part of the series. The only part I
actually liked in the book was when Fudge describes Uncle
Feather but forgets to mention Uncle Feather is a parrot.

Speaker 2 (44:25):
He's not a parent. He's a minor bird.

Speaker 6 (44:26):
Excuse me, chuck a privilege. He's a minor bird. Okay,
I admit it. I laughed.

Speaker 3 (44:36):
But that's that was the only part I found amusic.

Speaker 6 (44:43):
Starting that part about baseball, I was like, Okay, I'm
out of there. But good Lord almighty, why why the
hot dog in pure holy world? Does every book in
the nineteen twenties to the nineteen nineties. The male protagonists
absolutely need to have baseball in it. It could have

(45:05):
been so much better now that point, I agree that
was honestly a low point for.

Speaker 3 (45:12):
Me as well. But that's the only thing I agree with. Like,
I'm sorry, Elizabeth F. You never hated someone for no reason?
Come on?

Speaker 2 (45:22):
Point number one? Point number two? Uh did you miss
the part about when they had a boat accident. Yes,
when there was a wedding in track suits, when he
swallowed a fly. I mean, come, how much more could
you cram into a two week vacation to Maine? I
ask you.

Speaker 3 (45:43):
I'm sorry, what big action happens in any of the
other fudge books? Like she was, like, I was waiting
for there to be Alida. It's not. These are fudge books.
It's just cute little antics and fun times like what
the hell?

Speaker 2 (45:59):
And I love that this person has the writing ability
of an obvious adult, like what adult is leaving funch
of media of one start.

Speaker 3 (46:06):
I know well? Or that or it's like a very
precocious like twelve year old maybe. And if it's a
precocious twelve year old, I say, Elizabeth F. Keep it up. Hilarious.
I love Precocia's.

Speaker 2 (46:22):
Twelve year old who writes, good Lord Almighty, why the
hot dog in this pure holy world?

Speaker 3 (46:29):
Yeah, you know what I would. I used to write
journal entries that it was like I detest seventh grade,
so like, I feel like some people be precociousing that way.

Speaker 2 (46:41):
True.

Speaker 3 (46:42):
So if indeed you are a child writing this, keep
it up. You are the funniest person I've ever met.
If you are a grown up, I say, well, now
you know what it's like to hate someone you don't know,
because I fucking hate you. Just kidding, but I think
you have bad days.

Speaker 2 (47:02):
Oh man, well this is a very precocious one too.
Someone called many Books who has written three thy six
hundred reviews. Oh boy, that's a lot. That's They gave
fudge Mania two stars. As Indeed, while the episode of

(47:23):
Little Tutsie walking all over Frank Fargo's prepared art campus
and leaving colorful baby footprints all over it as a
happy and perhaps even financially lucrative conclusion if one considers
that professional art paint is, or at least can be,
extremely toxic. The lack of adequate parental supervision that I

(47:46):
do constantly and regularly see and notice within the Hatcher
parents and in particular towards both Fudge and now also
towards Tutsi. It really does make my head shake in consternation,
and also to realize that, aside from the wedding episode
and myself being very happy that Buzzy Tugman and Peter

(48:07):
Fudge and Tutsi Tutsy's grandmother have found each other and
have decided to get married no matter what their respective
families might say, and fear I cannot really say that
I have personally enjoyed any of the other presented episodes
in scenarios which Judy Bloom gives us in fudge Mania
enough to grant more than a grudging two stars maximum.

(48:31):
That was all one sentence.

Speaker 6 (48:34):
Like okay, James Joyce, that's wild, Wow, Like that's nuts.

Speaker 2 (48:41):
Ooh, that was hard, like to read.

Speaker 3 (48:43):
Too many books? Is credit points were made.

Speaker 6 (48:48):
We know the Hatchers are bad parents in a lot
of ways, but it was the seventies and or the
nineties like.

Speaker 3 (48:55):
They didn't know.

Speaker 2 (48:56):
Yeah, I do agree with you there, but I also
think you should have made five sentences out of that. Yes,
break it up, please get up okay. And then lastly,
Sarah gives it two stars. She says, I loved this
book as a kid, but reading it as an adult
just wasn't the same.

Speaker 3 (49:17):
Facts straight facts, can't. I can't even argue with these, Sarah,
book that's life.

Speaker 2 (49:24):
Yeah? Why did you come back to Goodreads to say that?

Speaker 7 (49:30):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (49:31):
That is interesting?

Speaker 4 (49:32):
Sarah?

Speaker 3 (49:32):
Wow?

Speaker 2 (49:34):
Some people huh what that's it?

Speaker 3 (49:39):
Wow? What a journey, what a variety? How many stars
would you give fudger Maniam?

Speaker 2 (49:45):
I loved it. I had five out of five, ten
out of ten love that.

Speaker 3 (49:50):
Me too, Me too? And I did enjoy reading it
this time around. You know what I'm excited about, though,
is I'm excited about us doing a new book that
I've never read but before, because I feel with this
it's like my opinions about fudge Mania have been the
same for years, and so it'll be interesting to do
a brand new book together.

Speaker 2 (50:12):
Do we want to say what that is? Now?

Speaker 3 (50:15):
You'd like that, wouldn't you? But no, we're gonna wait
till the very end of the episode. Ha you thought
you could turn this off now?

Speaker 9 (50:22):
Ah?

Speaker 3 (50:22):
Nay, I have to keep listening.

Speaker 2 (50:26):
Well, we're almost there. We're gonna talk about the Netflix
TV series Forever yay.

Speaker 3 (50:35):
So I was really interested in the background of this
story because just on first blush like it is making
some big, big choices that are not in the book.
When we first started talking about this, I said, Oh,
maybe what happened was this there was a creator who

(50:55):
was a creative color who had like an original idea
and could only sell their their original idea under an
existing IP. But that's actually not the case. This is
so interesting. So this show is actually created and written
and produced by this woman, Maya brock Akiel, and Maya

(51:18):
brack Akiel is awesome. She got some of her first
jobs writing and producing the show Moisha with Brandy, really
important show, and she even won an award for writing
an episode of Moisha where Mosha goes on birth control.
So that seems like very crystal Judy centric. She also

(51:42):
wrote on girlfriends and she was also a huge Judy
Bloom fan. I read this really good Rolling Stone interview
with her or article about mar Brockakeel, and she says,
what Judy was badass. Judy gave young girls the idea

(52:02):
that they can be honest about the emotional and physical
things happening with them and they could explore it in
a healthy way and still have a future. And so
she was talking about like, when she heard that they
were shopping around Forever adaptation, she was like, I had
to write that. I knew I had to write it
because I loved for it. I loved Forever so much.

(52:25):
But as a black woman who's a Judy Bloom fan
or a black girl who was a Judy Bloom fan,
she was like, I always had to kind of think
backwards and sort of imagine myself in those roles because
there weren't characters in Judy Bloom books that I could
relate to. So she's like, when I get to do
the adaptation, I want to make sure that there are
characters like that that people of color can relate to

(52:48):
coming from me, a Judy Bloom fan and a person
in this world. And what I thought was especially interesting
is she talks about how because she had sons who
are sort of around the age that the Michael Standing
character is in this version of Forever, she felt that

(53:09):
the way to tackle this Forever adaptation was to tell
it from a boy's perspective instead of telling it from
the Catherine character's perspective. And I thought that was really
interesting and great and she ends the article with this
thought that I thought was really interesting. She says, my
version of Forever comes from the compassion of the youth.

(53:33):
Not only was the world telling them that they didn't matter,
but we as parents were loving them from that fearful place,
and we're narrowing their gap to exist and to have
these normal rights of passage. I'm just trying to make
safe space for young people to have their humanity. We
should be so blessed to witness them make healthy choices
and continue to bloom and help nudge them and protect them,

(53:53):
and that's not happening. This generation of all ages are
as lonely as ever, and we might know how to
have sex, but we're losing intimacy. And I thought that
was just such an interesting lens to look at Forever
through in the modern sense, because I feel like when
Judy wrote it, it was novel to have a girl

(54:13):
have sex and nothing bad happens to her, and she
just kind of learns about all those feelings and has
that happen and it worked out fine. And that was
kind of a controversial take at this time. But I
feel like, now, you know, showing teens having sex like
in a post like Riverdale post Euphoria posts like all

(54:34):
of TikTok world. The taboo thing is not necessarily that
teens are having sex. It's that they're finding ways to
like really strongly communicate with each other. And I found
that to be fascinating. So it makes me so happy
that this person is doing the adaptation.

Speaker 2 (54:51):
Yes, oh, I'm so glad you found that interview. It
really does change how I view and I love the show.
I think it's great so far, but now I'm viewing
it from that approach, and that's yeah, really cool. And
the male vulnerability and like the male loneliness too, that

(55:12):
isn't talked about as much. I'm really like looking forward
to watching the rest of it. I'm gonna have to
pace myself though.

Speaker 3 (55:18):
Yeah. I really liked it too. I found it to
be cute as hell. Yeah, all of the romance is
so good and so earned that I felt myself like
blushing and squirming like it was so it was so
cute and so good. And I think it's like kind
of rare to see teen actors that either are actually

(55:40):
teens or like feel like teens, and these guys are
just babies, babies, and it's so cute, They're so good.

Speaker 2 (55:50):
So I love how it opens up with the word fuck.
That's my first note, Like, yeah, the year is twenty seventeen,
and right away we're like, oh, we're in Justin's point
of view. There's this whole angsty moment where we're not
really sure what's going on. There's some texts, there's some homework.
Two things I noticed in the beginning that did remind

(56:14):
me of the novel Forever were the fondue.

Speaker 3 (56:18):
Yes, I forgot that part in the book.

Speaker 2 (56:21):
And there was some monopoly mentioned, and I feel like
there was monopoly in Forever, so I wrote that down.
Michael's a black kid at a mostly white school and
he's at this rich white kid party with his cousin, right,
and there's this monologue of like how to act, how

(56:44):
to be what you can't do?

Speaker 3 (56:45):
You know, yes, and a lot of fear from them
about the world and those spaces. And something I thought
was really interesting because that I've never ever seen in
a show before and filts so judy to me, but
in a just great updated way, is in those opening

(57:07):
scenes when they finally relent and let Michael go to
the party. His dad has a whole talk with him
where he's like, remember what I always taught you, Like,
if someone has been drinking, they can't consent. If you've
been drinking, like, you can't consent. Even if someone says yes,
but they've been drinking, that's not a yes, okay. And

(57:28):
I thought that was so fascinating because I think so
many narratives about teenage sex are through a girl's eyes.
And I think what is understandable but problematic in the
way that we talk to women about sex is it's
so defensive. It's so, you know, don't do this because

(57:54):
that leads men on hold your drink all the time
because someone you know might try to hurt you. Say no,
do this, don't let yourself be in this situation. And
what's crappy about that framing is it doesn't put any
responsibility on the men not to behave badly. It's just

(58:17):
on women not to be behaved badly upon And that's
such bad rhetoric. And so I found this incredibly refreshing
to hear a parent say to a boy that on
a big TV show that was hugmungous totally.

Speaker 2 (58:35):
We get the sense that he's a bit of a nerd. Right,
Like he and Kisha meet. So Keisha is the cute girl.
They've known each other since I guess elementary school. She's
had a crush on him for years. They lost touch.
He kind of remembers her really. Yeah, there was some

(59:00):
sex game where you pick a number. It reminded me of,
you know, three minutes in the closet and are there.
Gott and Keisha and Justin are like, let's get out
of here. So they hide in a closet. There's the
New Year's countdown and they kiss in the closet and
it's really cute.

Speaker 3 (59:19):
It's so cute. Oh my god, it's so cute.

Speaker 2 (59:23):
Neither of them are suave. They're both awkward, which is
the best.

Speaker 3 (59:27):
Yeah, and I think it's really good, like teenage flirting writing,
because it is like innuendoy kind of and like slanty
talking kind of, but it's by people who are inexperienced
with that, and so nobody is more smooth than the

(59:47):
other person. Like they're kind of matching each other.

Speaker 2 (59:50):
We're just like throwing things out there. The sticks. Yeah,
the party ends and it looks like that same night, right,
they FaceTime again. Amazing, Like God, the days of us
having to wait like three days before we can pick
up the phone. It's just I'm glad that's over. Oh
thank god, Oh my god. And the music He's like,

(01:00:12):
listen to this song, listen to the music beyond the lyrics,
and it's daft punk and I'm like soundtrack A plus,
h what happens next?

Speaker 3 (01:00:23):
I know what happens next. So next they go basically
to my office to havevitate. Not really, it's across the
street from my office. First they go shopping on Fairfax,
which is in the way to my office. So on
their first date, what felt very like lived in and
teenagery about this is that they don't make like a

(01:00:47):
structured plan. He's like, just come, let's hang out on
Fairfax and they go shopping together and they go to
this like fancy store that Michael has a gift card too,
and it must be like a swank gift card because
he can buy a pair of sneakers. And then he
tells Keisha that he'll buy her whatever she wants. And

(01:01:09):
this made me uncomfortable right away because I was just like.

Speaker 2 (01:01:13):
Oh no, you can sense her discomfort too. She's immediately
like she gonna go for this, but she does she
wants that bag?

Speaker 3 (01:01:23):
Yeah, but I also think it is like a weird
thing to do on a first date. Like, yeah, I'm
having there are times in like my adult dating life
where I'm like, Okay, let him buy a drink. Let
him buy a drink. It's okay. Let him buy a drink.
It's okay, it's okay, it's okay, because I feel so
uncomfortable with people spending money on me, especially people I

(01:01:44):
don't know, so I can only imagine how it would
feel to be like, let him buy this like one
hundred plus dollar bag for you. But she lets it happen,
which good for her. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:01:55):
I also noticed how like they end up at the store,
but they're just like not talking. They're like, yes, oh
you found this thing you like cool?

Speaker 3 (01:02:06):
Like, well, it was such a gen z thing. I
noticed too, because like he didn't even take both of
his headphones out when she got there, and that makes
me really mad. Just but that's an old lady thing
I think for me now. But yeah, I see kids
doing that all the time, and I think it's so weird.

Speaker 2 (01:02:23):
Through security blankets, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:02:26):
In between them, they see his friend who says something
kind of snarky to them, and they like, I think,
Jason stops holding her hand.

Speaker 2 (01:02:34):
Yeah, there's like a quick like pull away.

Speaker 3 (01:02:36):
Yeah okay. But then they go to across the street
from my office and they go the Grove Farmer's Market.
Oh yea hey. The bus stop she goes to later
in the episode is literally like two steps away from
my door.

Speaker 2 (01:02:52):
Oh way, what if you saw them filming but had
no idea.

Speaker 3 (01:02:57):
I was wondering that maybe maybe maybe.

Speaker 2 (01:03:02):
Was the movie theater near was that in the grove too?

Speaker 3 (01:03:05):
I was thinking that the interior doesn't look like the
movie theater in the grove, because the movie theater in
the grove isn't two stories. That movie theater looked more
like the movie theater that used to be in the
Cinema Dome, which is on Hollywood Boulevard, I think, or Sunset. Well,
I don't know, so I wonder if that was there.

(01:03:26):
And also I don't feel like where they were shopping
was walking distance to the Grove Farmer's Market. But whatever
it Once you once you live in a place, you
see how fast and loose everyone is with the geography
of that place.

Speaker 2 (01:03:39):
Oh my god, I know.

Speaker 3 (01:03:41):
Oh the interesting thing I thought about that scene was like,
she kind of is like, I don't understand why you
would want to eat ram and I eat Ramen all
the time. And then that was I think a very
like indicative of class kind of.

Speaker 2 (01:03:52):
Thing to say, right, But then they eat ramen.

Speaker 3 (01:03:55):
Yeah, and she doesn't like it, so they go to
a different spot.

Speaker 2 (01:03:59):
And then the movie theater. Yeah, so you know this
whole time, I'm like, oh this. I love the pacing
of this. I love the vibe. It so slow and chill,
like typing my notes. And then I look up and
literally there's a blowjob.

Speaker 3 (01:04:15):
To be fair, it's a hand job.

Speaker 2 (01:04:17):
Hand job leading into blowjob, or I didn't.

Speaker 3 (01:04:21):
Get the impression that mouth stuff was gonna happen. I
think she has just.

Speaker 2 (01:04:26):
Back me watched Mollie because I think she was like
leaning over and that's when he freaked out.

Speaker 3 (01:04:33):
Oh that would make sense because I I.

Speaker 2 (01:04:38):
Just I interpreted it rewind pause. We're gonna have to
like enhance like zoom in.

Speaker 3 (01:04:43):
Oh wait, that makes much more sense because I guess
stopped paying attention. And I thought the reason that he
stopped her was because he came oh oh oh. I
think you're absolutely right, because that would make what happens
next make more sense? Okay, ducky okay, got it. So
he got scared and stopped her, which relatable.

Speaker 2 (01:05:06):
Yeah, I think it was just going too fast. And
then he asks like, hey, are you doing this because
I bought you that bad I wanted.

Speaker 3 (01:05:15):
To die off of the face of the earth.

Speaker 2 (01:05:17):
Oh no, And then she you know, freaks out as
one would.

Speaker 11 (01:05:23):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:05:24):
And then it comes out that there's a video of
her from her ax floating around.

Speaker 3 (01:05:28):
Like it's like revenge porn, basically totally.

Speaker 2 (01:05:32):
He said he would delete it. Of course he never did,
and now everyone at the school has seen this and
she's got a reputation.

Speaker 3 (01:05:39):
And his friend texted him the video while he was
in the movie theater with his phone off.

Speaker 2 (01:05:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:05:47):
Yeah, she goes home and she lives in I meant
to look it up and I can't find it, but
it's farther away. It's like way down the bus line.

Speaker 12 (01:05:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:05:56):
By the time she got home, it was.

Speaker 3 (01:05:58):
Dark and it's you can tell right away looking at
the house that m that sorry that Jason lives in.
It's way different from this. And she's like a latchkey
kid and her grandpa lives in the neighborhood, and her
mom works really late. Oh and also we see as

(01:06:19):
she takes the bus from the bus stop that's by
my work, she's like blocking Jason on everything, or I'm sorry,
his name is Justin. We've been saying Jason, his name
is Justin. I'm sorry, oh Justin. Here, let's record us
saying Justin.

Speaker 2 (01:06:34):
Yeah, put justin, Justin, Justin.

Speaker 3 (01:06:38):
We can't do that, Justin Justin.

Speaker 10 (01:06:43):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (01:06:43):
Well, so she blocked him on everything, and then what
happens next is we get to see her neighborhood.

Speaker 2 (01:06:54):
Her neighborhood, her mom, who she cuddles in bed with.

Speaker 3 (01:06:58):
Oh, I thought that was so cute, her mom.

Speaker 2 (01:07:01):
I mean, it is such a real teenage thing, going
from like attempted movie theater blowjobs to being like mom,
wou's cuddle.

Speaker 3 (01:07:09):
Oh that's such a good observation. That's so so real.
Oh god.

Speaker 2 (01:07:17):
But overall she seems to have, you know, great grandpa,
great friends, great mom. But there's a bitch on her
track team.

Speaker 3 (01:07:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:07:26):
This girl is apparently now involved with Keisha's ex, the
one who sex revenged her, and she's like taunting her
and then there's a fight.

Speaker 3 (01:07:37):
Yeah, Keisha gets in trouble for the fight and not
this other girl, it seems.

Speaker 2 (01:07:42):
Oh, of course.

Speaker 3 (01:07:43):
Somehow along the way we find out that Keisha's main
ambition is to go to Howard for college, and so
her mom is like doing all this extra effort to
get her into this private school and she wants to
work really hard and really focus, but everybody at that
school is mean, and she gets in trouble for fighting.

Speaker 2 (01:08:01):
Yeah, and you.

Speaker 3 (01:08:03):
Really get this sense that like she feels the sense
that she has to hold it down for her family
because her mom is on such a like razor's edge emotionally.
She doesn't want to tell her anything that's going to
bother her. She wants to do really good jobs. She
wants to like just kind of keep her head down,
and so she is kind of keeping the secret of

(01:08:25):
like people are bullying her and she's being revenge porned
and all this other stuff is happening in her life.
Poor Kisha.

Speaker 2 (01:08:33):
And then the scene where Justin finds her outside her school.
She's like in her little, you know, Catholic school uniform.
He rolls up in a driver's EDG car.

Speaker 3 (01:08:44):
Oh that's funny. I miss that. That's hilarious.

Speaker 2 (01:08:50):
And then like the instructors like ten minutes.

Speaker 3 (01:08:53):
Oh, that's funny.

Speaker 2 (01:08:55):
He gets out and has this moment where he really
lays it down. He's like, please unblock me. I am
not your axe. He apologizes for how he acted in
a movie theater. It was a very nice little speech,
and she's like, okay, maybe I'm into it. Yeah, and
then she unblocks him.

Speaker 3 (01:09:17):
Yeah. And then she sends a text being like, you know,
I did always have a crush on you, like a
risky text to send, yeah, And he's about to respond
when his mom, Karen Pittman from and just like that,
finds him and was like, did you cut class to

(01:09:37):
go to somebody else's school in the middle of the
day and then lie about it? Did you forge my signature?
And like, I did do that? So she takes his
phone so he can't respond. He's just been sending dot
back to her.

Speaker 2 (01:09:49):
Talk about tie into the book forever dot dot dot.

Speaker 3 (01:09:54):
Whoa, whoa, that's great, Jody good Hi, Oh my god.
So I just think this mar brack Akiel is nailing
the nuances of modern teendom and the ways that like
it actually hasn't really gotten better, It's gotten weirder than anything.

Speaker 2 (01:10:14):
Oh so weird.

Speaker 3 (01:10:16):
So I can't wait to watch more of this.

Speaker 2 (01:10:19):
Yeah, it's so good. I'm not looking for it to
be the book, none of us are, but when we
do see those little nods to the book, it's very exciting.

Speaker 3 (01:10:29):
Totally, And I think that makes sense for this adaptation
because really, I think the only reason Forever is revolutionary
or even like stands out among other like teen novels,
is because it was so radical at the time for
sex to happen and nothing bad to happen. So it

(01:10:51):
just like it doesn't call for an adaptation unless you're
doing it this way, where you're updating it for the
modern tea and you're making it relevant to even a
whole new audience. I think this is like so smart
and so canny.

Speaker 2 (01:11:07):
Yeah. And what if so I saw you had written
that they got a season two?

Speaker 6 (01:11:13):
Right?

Speaker 4 (01:11:13):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (01:11:13):
Oh sorry, yes, it got a season two.

Speaker 2 (01:11:16):
What if it's a different love story every season?

Speaker 3 (01:11:21):
That would be wild because I don't know where this
season ends, But that would be so interesting if it's
like an anthology show kind of Oh.

Speaker 2 (01:11:31):
That's right, And then you know Judy's Forever was the
first and now we're getting a second, a third, a
fourth fifth. That would be so cool.

Speaker 3 (01:11:39):
Oh I would be so into that. That's amazing. Oh
my gosh, well terrific.

Speaker 2 (01:11:44):
It's not that it's still cool, but well, and then.

Speaker 3 (01:11:47):
The other thing I was thinking about with setting it
in twenty eighteen, like I remember reading that mar Brockakheel
said it in twenty eighteen because of sort of all
of the black Lives Matter stuff that was happening specifically
during that time. But the other thing I thought was,
if these kids are juniors in twenty eighteen, like all

(01:12:11):
of their dreams are hinging on college and potentially they're
like first semester in college COVID hits. Ah, So it's like,
was it for anything? I wonder if the show will
talk about that? But oh god, that is like kind
of a like a time bomb in a lot of

(01:12:33):
stories that are taking place in contemporary times, Like it
can only go well for so long because COVID h
either happens in the world or it doesn't of the show.
So I find that interesting.

Speaker 2 (01:12:44):
Yeah, oh, good point.

Speaker 3 (01:12:47):
We'll see.

Speaker 2 (01:12:48):
We'll see.

Speaker 3 (01:12:50):
Well, Jody, do you think they've waited long enough?

Speaker 2 (01:12:53):
I think so. I think it's time. Okay, I'm doing
a drum rolla should we say it at the same time?

Speaker 3 (01:13:01):
Yes, okay, two, two, three. Beginners Love by Normal Clent. Yay,
that's our next book. And we promised. When we were

(01:13:21):
looking at the polls both on Instagram and Facebook, this
was still the lead, so we didn't fudge any numbers.
This is what it is. Beginner's Love by Norma Klein.
This is a good book to pick because of its
tie in to fudge Mania, because Izzy is reading it,
so we can be the Izzy in this scenario. Perfect

(01:13:42):
always wanted to be Ah. Beginner's Love is a contemporary
novel about young people experiencing love and a sexual awakening
for the first time. With candor and grace, Beginner's Love
explores the excitement and joy of a new relationship, as
well as the prom problems that can arise when two
people are old enough of passion but too young to

(01:14:04):
deal with its complications.

Speaker 2 (01:14:07):
I'm excited, so maybe they have sex and something bad
does happen.

Speaker 3 (01:14:12):
No, but I bet you're right. I bet you all right.

Speaker 2 (01:14:16):
My gosh, blumheads, get your books. Get ready. We're going
to come back in a couple of weeks.

Speaker 3 (01:14:24):
Yeah, we'll see.

Speaker 2 (01:14:24):
Yeah, let's do this.

Speaker 1 (01:14:26):
Yay, Thank you for listening, Thank you everybody, Bye bye,