[Music]
Welcome to the Pop Culture Junkie podcast. I'm Olivia and I'm here with
Shauna and we are both extra ready for the holidays. What are your 4th of July plans? Shauna?
Not a damn thing. I'm not feeling particularly patriotic
lately. I would agree with that. I think my 4th of July plans are going to be probably go swimming.
Okay. Needed in Arizona. Right. Oh my god dude it's like 117 tomorrow already. It's not even
summer yet. It's not even summer yet until what the 21st of June. That's absolutely disgusting.
Yeah I'm probably just going to go swimming and gobble down a few glizzies.
Okay. One hot dog, Ray Bans. I don't know what it is lately about my Jennifer Coolidge
like accent. Impersonation. Impersonation. There we go. There we go. We know where it's
it's coming out as Owen Wilson so much lately and all the last few weeks I kept going wow
and it just sounds like it's gone so far because he always goes wait wait Jennifer Coolidge is
oh wow. Oh jeez but then Owen Wilson is like wow so that's sort of the sort. They're they're real close
but I'm only hitting Owen at this moment in time but I would agree with that. I am feeling
quite patriotic for Kesha which is July 3rd here in San Francisco. You're gonna go. Yeah me and my
friend Dagger are gonna go. I wish we were going together because I'm going July 6th literally like
that is all I'm looking forward to that weekend is swimming eating hot dogs and going to Kesha.
Like God bless Kesha. God bless Kesha. That's my president. Yeah I've recently I've decided that my goal
for the summer is to see as much live music as possible. I love that. It's it's been going well
been going shows. I went to a friend's DJ thing on Saturday. I went to a cyber punk EDM show at the
metal bar by me which was I'm so jealous that looks so cool. It was cool but then I I had two
ciders and I was like yeah I'm having fun I was like making friends and then I hit my pen and I went
nonverbal and was like everybody thinks you're weird you need to leave immediately. Isn't it the same
strain that you usually smoke though? No I don't know I don't know it just hit it hit wrong I took a big
one and I keep I keep forgetting that like I hadn't been smoking for so long so now when I do it I'm
like a newborn baby again and so like I'm like smoking like I used to but I don't have the tolerance
that I used to do and I was so freaked out I was like the all everybody knows you're here alone
and thinks you're weird and then I like was walking home and I was like do I remember how to walk?
See that is why I can't smoke every time I try to smoke I'm like everyone knows I'm high
and no one else is I'm higher than everyone in the entire world and they all think I'm terrible
and then I fart and I'm like I shit I shit myself like I just pooped my pants okay and I didn't I didn't
poop my pants I just put like a regular person in my head just poop everywhere. So your your
butt hole gets high too? Yeah it doesn't know what's going on in there? Like the feeling from my like
belly button down is just it's just sad. You're stupid you forgot out of walk and I forgot how to fart.
So different different parts of the lower half I think it's like pelvic floor things. Yes.
Yes so you know maybe we we don't hit the pen when we're by ourselves. I think I would have been fine
had I not been at a concert by myself but all of a sudden it just went like bad and concerts
like I was at a bar with live music like it was very much I always say that this bar reminds me of
being like 15 and an emo kid and back in like the days where you were I was dating a guy in a metal
band who was like a drummer and so it gives me great nostalgia vibes. I love that. Yeah it was
unfortunate I got so big because I was flirting with a cute boy and then do you remember his name?
No. No. No. No. No. I am going to Tucson this weekend or with this episode airs I will have gone to
Tucson just for one night. One night and Tucson. One night and Tucson. It's like the world's worst porn.
A night and Tucson on shaved bush on watch the bean sounds like a Seth Big Farhulinskitt. A night and Tucson
but it's called emo versus anime so it's gonna be like a dance party and then going to the sweet tomatoes
finally I'm so excited I feel like I've said it on this podcast before but oh you know this podcast
says opposed to all my other podcasts. I wouldn't be surprised. Oh god I know seriously the only
sweet tomatoes in the entire United States of America isn't Tucson, Arizona and I'm gonna eat
everything inside of it. I'm very excited for you. Thank you. Thank you baby. Yeah absolutely. I think
that's that's gonna be amazing and then ultimately you know we're gonna go see Keshia so
I wish we were doing it together but at least we're going close. Yeah yeah yeah I don't wish I was
in Arizona but I wish you were in San Francisco. Yeah agreed agreed. Well maybe I could still book
those tickets and come and set timber. Yeah I just want to biggest for work and I do have to tell
you that the second I stepped off that plane I was like oh thank god I left Arizona it is so grossly hot
like I I lost it in like two seconds I was like wait I'm so spoiled now like I can't deal for anybody
not from the West Coast Vegas is hot Phoenix is hotter. Yeah Phoenix is hotter. You would
say that little taste of it. It was like 107 in Vegas and that's still pretty gross. I know I
felt bad for Ziggy because his little paws were like burning when we were walking and he's like I got
him little sparkly shoes for the Vegas. You didn't really think about it we didn't go walking on
the strip they had like a dog park but even then it was hot and I was like oh you're so spoiled now
you have like a little San Francisco paws it's like 55 degrees here right now. He should have gotten
them little like slutty Vegas shoes like rhinestone. I wanted to get him a fedora. I mean I was
buying Ziggy hat era. Oh my god okay we need to get him. Here he has a cowboy hat. He's a Christmas
hat. He needs like a leather kink daddy hat for private months. He does. Like that. Mr. Slav wears
in a South Park instead of Ziggy needs. And a little leather vest. And some little leather
straps. Yes. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. A little leather daddy. Leather daddy Ziggs in the
Castro. That sounds like a man named daddy Ziggs in the Castro. Are you kidding me? Yeah.
Daddy Ziggs. Daddy Ziggs in the Zastro. Yeah. Literation. Oh my god. Okay we should actually like talk
about what this episode is about because you and I could jump probably just yeah for like two hours.
We should have an episode someday where all we do is just yeah that's it. But yeah all we do is just
yeah we could there's no there's no like aim there's no topic yeah and we just shut up and we feel
like it. Yeah there you go. I mean I feel like anyone listening is like babe let's already what you
do but you know is there ever a topic to any episodes? It's different okay. So Shana and I decided
that we would talk about an iconic film scene where the White House explodes. That's an honor.
An honor of you know the horrors. How we're feeling about Independence Day. We wanted to talk about
the 1996 movie Independence Day where times were better we had American pride we felt good about
the country. We liked Will Smith. I was gonna say we felt good about Will Smith too. So we're gonna take
a quick break and we're gonna dive into Independence Day. As we talked about right before the break
we're here to talk about Independence Day but before we start the fireworks now's a good time to
remind you about our Patreon. It's a tiny little investment in our podcast and we'll see if a
lovely shout out a first look at our PCJ pop episodes so you know exactly what to watch and for a
little bit more you can even get a sneak peek at our uncensored regular episodes. You can go to
patreon.com/popculturejunkiepodcast and subscribe right there and we'll be sure to remind you about
that later. So I want to talk a little bit about the first time you saw Independence Day where were you
set the scene. Oh god. I don't remember where I was. I was seven years old when it came out so I
don't think I saw it when it first came out and honestly I re-watched it for this episode and
there was so much in it that I totally had forgotten. So I think I've only seen it maybe like
twice over the course of my life all the way through. What? Yeah dude. I mean I've seen like clips
here and there and it was on TV back in the day and like TVS so you'd be like scrolling through TV.
You're like oh, depending on the day. Is it your dad really into aliens? Well now he is. Oh okay.
But no I think I've only seen it like twice. You've seen like maybe you've seen it a lot?
Yeah I've seen this movie a lot. So my dad first of all was let me watch it. He should not have
let me watch. I saw the poltergeist when I was five. That was a little crap out of me. Oh my god.
Same movie scarring. I was five and the main character and it is also five and we had a house that
looked like it and it had a basement and it had an upstairs. My mom's. And your house was haunted.
It wasn't. No that's my aunt my uncle's house. Okay your aunt's house was haunted. Yeah.
But it wasn't Chicago at the time and most of Chicago is haunted so you know because they had a big
big fire there. Yes I also had a TV in my room so it was it wasn't good but that's not the point of
this. So I think that I probably watched Independence Day when it like around when it came out my dad
loves the movie. It is a great movie just how old were you in 1996 like four years? Three. Okay.
Okay so you know don't don't think I was remembering it but I do just remember being in Chicago
and watching this movie in my Chicago house with my dad and I do think that this movie is just
a great action. It does. It's a good iconic piece of like yeah America TV and and movie. I ain't film.
It's a film. It's a film. It's a good film. But I really do love this movie. I think that it's great. You have
the aliens. You have the presidential look. You have the soldier look and then you also have
you know Kuku bananas. Conspiracy. You're like. Exactly. And they all come together to save the world.
Yes. And the president was hot. I kept saying that as I was watching. I was like. Oh God. Remember when we
had hot president. Remember when you could want to sleep with the president. Yeah. Yeah. Patrick
Farmer remembers and everybody in this movie remembers and Wilson was so handsome in this movie. Oh my
God. So handsome. So I was thinking about like attractive politician. Yeah. This is going to be a
hard love turn from Independence Day. But that's fine. This is what we do. Have you seen Gavin Newsom's
Instagram like Reels or TikToks lately? No. Oh my God. They they are so funny. I mean Gavin Newsom
is is kind of like American Psycho hot where like he's an attractive man. But it's it's a little it's
Paul. He's a politician. So he looks he definitely looks like a politician. But like I wouldn't
kick him out of bed, freaking crackers. Yes. Exactly. And so but he's he's obviously fighting with
you know the orange band quite a bit. And he's making the funniest TikToks in the world.
Obviously I can download them and send them to you. But Gavin Newsom's TikTok and it's like his
official California TikTok. I need to post posting some of the funniest things. But I keep now that
I've been like engaging with Gavin Newsom's like shit talking TikToks. Getting therst traps for
Gavin Newsom. And that just like those those Reels that they what do they called where they make
them for like Petra Pascal and it's just like yeah. Yeah. And basically this is that with Gavin Newsom.
Oh my God. I am here for it. I'm here for it. He's handsome. And he hates Donald Trump. I am also
handsome and hate Donald Trump. It works. I also feel like Gavin Newsom kind of looks like Bill
Pullman in this. But like the I agree. I absolutely agree. He just like Bill Pullman. Yeah. I guess
I mean Gavin Newsom should be president. He I mean he's definitely going to try for it. But he is.
Gavin Newsom is like one of those people where right now California's like him because he's like
fighting Trump. But he's also but they don't always like him. He's yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's definitely like
a moderate. Yeah. That makes sense. And he's any swing back is good. Which I guess. Yeah. Not really.
Not really. This is a patriotic episode. Damn it. Yep. Will Smith is sexy. He's got great abs.
Daddy. Daddy in this movie. Uh, Jets. Boom. Thank you. Yes. Yeah. What do you mean? Okay.
Daddy. Jets. Gold bloom in this movie is an ungodly level of hot. Like he is so fine in this movie.
Which can Jeff Goldblum are you taking? You're taking Jurassic Park Gold Bloom or God. That's hard.
That is really hard. I think I'm going Independence Day. He's a super smart and he's so smart.
But then he's got that like lounging shirtless scene in Jurassic Park and he's like women
hair of the earth. That's it. Both of them are the same time. Fines away. I want to have a
three. Somebody's just both me and then both versions of him from both of these movies. I need
Jeff Goldblum Jurassic Park. Jeff Goldblum Independence Day. We're meeting in Paris. We're meeting.
But in you know what? Let's throw in Jeff Goldblum wicked. Screw it. Let's do it. Throw it all in.
Yeah. You know you would do it. Yeah. But it doesn't hit the same way. We'll do it. It doesn't
hit the same way. But he is so fine for an older man. He's so fine. One thing. This one thing that is so
stupid. It has nothing to do with the plot of this movie. But I kept saying out loud. I can't wait
to talk to Olivia about this. Will Smith buys Vivica A. Fox's character, a ring. That is the
ugliest engagement ring I've ever seen in my entire life. He's like she likes dolphins. So I got to
ring with a dolphin on it. It's giving like Pimp my ride. Remember when they're like we know you like
bubbles. So we may bubble shoot out of the back of your car. We gave you a bubble bath. Like she likes
dolphins. I'm going to give her an engagement ring with like a gold plated dolphin on it. She's like
I don't think you know she's like the second that we come back from this alien attack. You're getting
me a rock. You're getting me a rock and not a cool. I had a ring with a dolphin on it when I was like
the third grade because I like dolphins in the 92. Everyone did. We talked about it. We were all
trying to be marine biologists. Yeah. It was quite quite interesting how how that one happened.
What I was actually reading about this movie is it was originally not going to be Will Smith.
I was the original cast. So the studio originally wanted Ethan Hawk or Matthew Broderick or the lead.
Matthew Broderick. I couldn't say that. Yeah. Matthew Broderick. Weird. That's Inspector Gadget.
Yeah. Not Inspector Gadget. There's too many like white men in this movie. No. We need
switched up. Get Will Smith in there. Well it was 1996 and they were afraid of a black actor or
a global market which shortly after Will Smith became one of the biggest action stars of all time.
I was going to say he's like in the prime of his career right now. He's got Min and Black and it
didn't occur to me until my rewatch of this of Independence Day. But I was like oh my god Will Smith
and the aliens in the 1990s like that was his stick. So he had Min and Black. He had Wild Wild West
come out. He had just finished up on fresh prints. Yeah. He was he was racking up the dough. Yeah.
Vivica A. Fox is gorgeous in this movie. Oh she's so beautiful. She's gorgeous. I forgot if the
dog lived or died in this movie and right when like the bomb is like the laser is destroying everything
in Los Angeles and the dog leaps into safety. It's like good. I can keep watching the movie now.
She also did her own stunt with that. The dog or Vivica A. Fox. The Vivica A. Fox.
I almost said the fox. Not the dog. The fox. The dog. Everyone. Everyone did it.
Yes. So she gave Fox a great this movie. I love her.
Yes. There is so much like good stuff. I think this movie is still like it's it's old like when
you watch it you're like okay I can tell this was made in the 90s but it is a movie that had a lot
of practical effects to it. So they didn't use what would have been like incredibly early CGI
at the time. And so like the White House blowing up our manifestation scene that we're watching. I'm
just kidding. I'm just kidding. What is she doing? What? Oh my god. Only if one person is in there at that time.
But maybe too. Yeah. Maybe. Maybe. So that is actually like a a mature but they yeah,
a miniature that they do. Yeah. They all of the effects. I really think stood up pretty well
in this movie. I was really impressed with all like the fire sims that they had going on. All
the explosions. Like you said, like they have the miniatures going on for a lot of stuff. But
really when like the cars are flying over and hitting each other and even the scenes in space with
the like spaceships all flying and shooting, I thought looked better than episode one of Star Wars,
which came out a couple of years later, you know, but I thought it's it looked really good for 96.
Yeah. They had over 80 miniature sets that were built so they did New York City Skyline full size
aircraft models and they used fire crackers gasoline and compressed air. That's amazing. I love
practical effects in movies. I think that's just such a good quality to it. It makes it feel more
realistic. Like don't get me wrong. I love me some good CG too. But there's just something more
tangible about a well done, you know, practical. I think a lot of the aliens for practical effects too.
They all look like puppets, honestly. Yes. So I was actually reading about the aliens for this and it
was it was supposed to be a different alien design in the beginning and then they tested it with
audiences and people laughed at them. So the team redesigned them to be taller, scarier and put the
real alien inside of like a biomechanical exosuit. These aliens were scary. They freaked me out. Like
me too when they're in the scene where they have them in like the containment center and the alien.
They're doing the surgery on him and he comes to life and murderers everyone. That's terrifying,
especially when you're a child. Like that's gonna stick with you. Yeah. And of course,
there are like funny things in this like the computer virus that they put onto the alien ship that
like makes them be able to do these things. There's some goofy shit in here and we kept commenting that
Jeff Goldblum's character. He makes all these computer programs and then he makes little logos for it.
Andrew kept saying he took the time to make that logo. Oh, you see the little spinny graphics with the
doomsday clock. He took the time to make that. He's like graphic design is my passion.
I need to make a little green like angry skull.
So unnecessary but iconic. Yes. Yeah. There was some funny moments in this maybe and definitely some
iconic lines like the president's speech is still iconic. And it has been referenced by actual
politicians. So Tony Blair used it and it's been used in local US elections which is kind of crazy.
You know can't come up with anything. What's funny is the script was written in four weeks actually.
What really? So maybe that's where the weird text stuff comes from. But the idea came from
Roland Emrick asking what if there was a big ship hovering over every city on earth with Dean Deblin
and yeah I mean it's a great great movie great action film. So obviously things ramp up and people
are scared but I feel like in the beginning everyone's acting kind of chill like a little too chill.
I don't know they know these anomalies are coming and they're just kind of like well this will be
scary let's see how it goes. And the president even says later in the movie that he waited too long
to evacuate the cities. I was screaming at the TV. I'm like evacuate them. What are you doing?
What are you doing bro? Do you remember when we just have like hundreds of drones in the sky
and nobody cared and nobody could tell us what was going on and we all just went that's scary.
All right. No. We would want 100% do that. That would be so real. I guess you're right. I was just like
evacuate the cities bro. What are you doing? Like oh my god do do something besides just be like let's
wait and see you know what let's meet them first. No. I do think that I would be like that that one
stripper. That would be me. Andrew said he's like that would absolutely be you and Olivia up there.
It's like no I would be screaming and pissing myself like I am if you get a few drinks in me and like
you were going up there I'd be like oh my god fine okay. But I mean it makes sense like we did
an episode on B and they welcomed the aliens in like it's a really good thing right like I feel like
friends you would want to do that before you became hostile like if the if we just had an alien
over us and we started trying to attack it I'd be like what the fuck yeah but I don't know if I'd go
up there and be like take me home sky daddies. I don't know maybe during a Trump presidency I'd be like
yeah fuck it like and that's the worst sick in the world. I think there would be so many I feel like I
would go up there and there are just you know some some crazy things in this movie but I absolutely
love it if you haven't seen it in a while. It's a great movie to pop on on the 4th of July. It's a
big president it's you know belief that we would do the right thing in all kind of other. Like every
nation in the world is coming together to defeat the aliens the president talks in coherent
full sentences it's you know it's a great fantasy yeah right so there's just so much good about this
this movie. Oh I have a fun fact this is the 69th highest grossing movie of all time.
A nice A nice a sick breath. Why not? So we're going to pop Independence Day maybe not the holiday
but definitely the movie. We're going to pop Independence Day and we're going to take a quick break
but did you guys know there was a Independence Day 2
so apparently there was a Independence Day resurgence independence to like nine years ago yeah
the film takes place 20 years after the events of the first film during which the UN has collaborated
to form Earth Space Defense and International Military Defense and Research Organization
Space Force. Space Force. Yeah and just makes worse still exists. Is that still like an
agency? I don't know and so through reverse engineering the world has harnessed the power of
alien technology and laid the groundwork to resist a second invasion which I do think is pretty
interesting in concept because of Bob Lazar so Bob Lazar is an Area 51 scientist who has become a
whistleblower he has a few documentaries you can just like look up Bob Lazar docs and he claimed
that when he worked for Area 51 he was actually reverse engineering crashed spacecraft. So basically
what happened to Independence Day yeah exactly and so he claims that he has done it I mean he has
some really interesting like stuff watch the documentary I'm really oversimplifying it but that is
that is like something in pop culture in the zinc I guess and so I think that it's interesting that
they tried to bring it in now this movie here does not have any of the original like people in it
right well well Jeff Goldblum is in it yeah the I think the only character like main character that
doesn't come back is Will Smith he was doing I want to say suicide squad at the time so they kill off
his character I know I mean both movies but fun career decisions rumors are to be to believe you know
you'd margo robby back then so that's true but yeah this came out in 2016 it flopped it's got a 29
percent on rotten tomatoes and I don't think anybody even remembers that it exists yeah I
sure sold it no absolutely not let's see here Jeff Goldblum Lee and my hymns worth is in it and he plays
Bill Pullman's daughter's fiance yeah yeah so you know it's got it's got a little cast in here but it
was a financial disappointment only grossing 389 million even though it cost oh okay it cost 165 million
so it made back how much it cost to make but still no one saw this ship yes and apparently there was
also a planned series of films that would have come out Independence Day 3 and 4 they were also
talking about doing a TV show at the time which would have been like rebuilding after the original
film and you know one thing we did in the 90s where it was if if someone like the first one we were
gonna we were gonna hit that heart we were gonna do novels we were gonna do comics we were gonna do
video games and spin-offs yeah an animated version yes there was so many animated versions of live action
movies and TV shows in the 90s like there was a pilot for a animated bucket of vampires layer
they had the Beatles use cartoon uh minute black I think got a cartoon for a second anyway it wouldn't
surprise me if there was an Independence Day cartoon in the works so there actually is a comic
that came out and it was a Marvel comic it was a Marvel comic yeah yeah yeah interesting
in 1996 and then Titan comics did one in 2016 all the Independence Day dark bathroom okay and that's
was probably trying to tie to the 2016 movie there was also a flight simulator video game that came
out in 1997 and don't know how successful that was it looks like it was for PlayStation and Sega
Saturn I never played it but upon rewatching this it the first Independence Day it reminds me so much
of Star Fox 64 like so much of Star Fox 64 is I think totally ripped off of Independence Day you're
flying under this giant like circle space craft trying to shoot like into little like nodules at the
bottom trying to shoot you low into a tiny nodule nodule opening until it explodes oh it's a gift
you have a gift you know for making anything disgusting yes I do a gift and a curse
take this burden away from me yeah special gift you out there we are who we are as Kesha
what's that as our president would say yeah absolutely our president Kesha exactly do you think that
there should be another Independence day do you think we should give it a third times a charm I mean
the first time was the charm but maybe another another sequel another cash grab I think that they
should leave it but I am a very big person where like I don't like a sequel for a sequel sake I think
that's exactly what 2016 ones as well so do you need a sequel of a bad sequel probably not either I do
think that you could make it kind of interesting like up with a prequel like what did the government
know what were they hiding like you could kind of bring that in yeah or another person's story so we
focus on like the heroes of the 1996 film but what about the little people what about just regular
Joe Shmoe is going about their life like I don't know let's dive in and see what so and so up the
block was doing well the aliens were taking over that could be interesting yeah and I think you could
do that but I think you it really just have to be like in universe in a very different like
perspective of it yeah but I really think that Independence Day said what it needed to say at the time
and and we could really kind of leave it there I blow shit up eat popcorn yeah bless America yeah
hey in 96 yeah that's it yes exactly yeah maybe so really ultimately we want to just say that it is
not a great time in this state of the world and we are here to support any of our immigrant communities
we love you guys we're here for you we're protesting for you yep you know really we wanted to silly
goof and laugh over this episode and just have a fun time where we could remember like oh there used
to be a time of patriotism but until all of us are free no one is free and we look forward to
a time of American freedom again one where we can hope for at least very very well said yes I think
it's nice that we have you know you have to take breaks from the horrors and you know laugh and
you know try to give yourself a little mental downtime to giggle with your besties but at the end of
the day I you know I hope everyone's staying safe and you know we're out there fighting the good fight
along with you and PCJ stands with you absolutely absolutely and now is time for us to go make some
potato salad fire up our protest signs find our stash is I don't know why that was so funny I'm like
where is she going with this yep oh yeah that's what I'm gonna do I'm gonna eat so much potato salad
and just protest on the floor to go but carrying the tub of the potato salad yeah yeah yeah exactly
fire up our protest signs find our stashes of illegal explosives just for fun um just get
not to blow up the white house what just get out of my white house no we would never never
and hope that the next invasion comes from aliens for our little orange man maybe they can
suck them up and shana let's tell our listeners where they can find you on socials you can find me
shana trinidad on instagram and threads @shaunatrinidad S-H-A-U-N-A-T-R-I-N-I-D-A-D. And you can find me,
Olivia, on instagram @livimariez L-I-V-I-M-A-R-I-E-Z and find us online--go to our website popculturejucky.com
from there you can find our podcast on all platforms as well as our other social media links
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