[MUSIC]
>> Hello everyone and
welcome to a very special bonus episode of Meem book club,
where we talk about, what are we talking about, Jay?
>> I hope we actually have not discussed it except via one quick text.
I hope that we are talking about Hillbilly,
"Elegity the Movie."
>> Yes, okay.
>> [LAUGH]
>> You're right, sorry I made it as though I didn't know and scared you so much.
As always, we are your hosts.
I'm Sarah Burton.
>> And I'm Johnna and the reason this is very special is number one, it's just for you.
And number two, it's just us.
It's just the two that are real.
>> That's the last one.
>> The real brand.
>> Wow, Johnna, you really messed up my whole bit.
I was going to introduce myself as Sabrina and I was going to attempt a clairvoyce
and I was going to see how long I could keep going pretending to be myself, Sabrina and Clara.
So, no, I can't experience that.
>> Yeah.
>> Okay, I've not opposed to just hearing what you think, Sabrina and Clara sound like.
>> [LAUGH]
>> My God, no, I don't.
I absolutely could not have done that.
>> Sabrina just would be me.
>> Yeah.
>> What if we went through the names real quick?
Could you just do it with the names the way we do it?
>> Okay.
I'm Clara Morris, it's not good.
Hers is so hard, I think, I mean, it shouldn't be hard because it's unique, but-
>> It's the only one that's unique.
>> I need to practice.
>> Yeah.
>> Sabrina really is just me.
I'm Sabrina, you know, okay.
>> That works.
>> Okay, I think I'm Sabrina.
>> No.
>> Okay. >> I think it goes.
And I'm Sabrina B. Jordan.
>> No, that was really bad.
>> [LAUGH]
>> I'm familiar with our-
>> Look, we do where writers, we're comedians, we're not impressionists and that's something you need to know about us.
But we are host of a podcast that you're listening to currently.
>> Obviously, they know me.
>> Me, book club.
>> My God.
>> We are in between seasons, so this is a special bonus episode, kind of like a teaser to this next season.
In which we will do the book version of Hilbilly Elegy, okay?
So I know you guys have been clamoring for it.
You're like, oh, future vice president, we want to hear what he has to say.
>> [LAUGH]
>> I personally think we need to get it done now, just in case.
This is the only time that this man is relevant again for the rest of his life.
>> Of course, I- >> And I also hope-
>> There's not a guarantee and I hope that's the case.
But I also, this is giving me flashbacks when I worked at BuzzFeed.
And I thought it'd be really funny to do some content around Trump's book.
And then he got elected and so- >> [LAUGH]
>> And then the things I did were a lot less funny.
But we can still talk, you know what?
This JD Vance, he was an author first, and a New York Times Vasseling one.
So he's ready for our podcast, he's ready for us to come out.
>> Yeah.
>> I'm excited to do the book version, we're, I'm sure we're going to have a lot to say about it.
It's also such an interesting, it had such a big rise in fall as a book.
Like everyone was talking about the book and how good it was and
like meaningful and then one person was like, hey, are we a little worried that it's like kind of a
pornographic version of poor culture?
And then everyone was like, yeah, I thought so too.
I thought so the whole time.
>> I didn't want to say it.
>> I'm so proud of him.
>> So fast.
>> I, well, okay, I did read this, I did read it when it came out.
I did read it.
>> Oh.
>> Did you read it when it came out?
>> No.
>> But I, I, I, I, I remember.
>> I was swept up in the.
>> I think I did have a positive view of the book when it first came out.
And I remember it was like, the reading was like trying to figure out what Trump's America was thinking.
So it wasn't that like to me it was like, oh, this is giving me,
this is what their perspective is.
And in some ways, but at the time, I thought you thought, think of it more as like someone
you know giving you the perspective as opposed to what it, I think it, it really was,
which is somebody with that horrible perspective giving you the perspective.
Does that make sense?
>> Nope.
>> Like, oh, I thought he was just like, right, I thought he was just like showing us the world where
these people think horrible things, but like he actually thinks the horrible things about poor people.
>> Exactly. >> I see that does make sense.
Yes.
>> I, it is giving us a glimpse as to like, hey, some people feel this way makes you think.
And it was like some people, including you think this way.
>> Yes, yeah.
Because I don't always intention, you know, it's like an, it's like when you go see a comedian and they start with like,
like they're going to say something about, I don't like, they're making like a trans joke and you're like,
your stomach clenches.
But like if there's somebody you trust or whatever or you think, oh, they're coming from
they're good people, then you're like more willing to hear the joke.
Whereas like if you're like, oh, they're bad people, I don't, please don't give me your trans
humor.
>> Yeah, yeah, like I don't trust that this is, it does, it does.
And I don't trust where this is going to go, basically.
>> Yes, yes, yes.
And it's like, I'll, I'll, I'll go with you a little bit if I think you're coming from the right
good, a good honorable place, but yeah, anyway, so this film though came out 2020.
I will also say, I have also watched the film before this was my second viewing, how about you?
>> All of, another first for me, although it is not surprising to me at all that you've read the book
and seen the movie, I don't know, maybe, something you would have gotten swept up in.
>> I did.
I will say by the time the movie came out, I watched it and was like, this fucking sucks, like this,
and I again, I'm, I'm like, was the book that much better?
Was it just, I had changed myself so much in four years?
I'm not sure, but I can, I can say definitively, I thought the book sucked into, or this movie sucked
in 2020 and it, it still sucks to this day, which is crazy because it's a Ron Howard.
>> Yeah, I mean, I'm so going to give it credit for being a Ron Howard movie, like I feel like a
Ron Howard movie can't be that bad. Here's where the movie got me, okay? And I think this is,
I'm, it makes me a very basic human being, but at the end when I started showing pictures of
the real JD Vance and his real mom and his real mama and music is playing, I definitely felt emotional.
I was like, aw, yeah, good for them. And it made me think like, at the, I think I could see
a movie. And then as long as they show the real people involved at the end, it doesn't matter who
they are, I will be like, I like them. But it could be a documentary on like the Manson family cult.
And I'd be like, aw, look, this is legit. It's fam. It's funny.
>> I know, I think I probably looked at it and was like, oh, I guess some of this was cast.
They did a good, make up did a good job. costume and make up did well. But I also think at the
end, I was like, that was the end. Wait, is that really the end? Oh, nope, it's definitely the end.
It's, we're seeing photos of them. That's how I felt.
>> You don't get that, they've been all the movie.
>> I love your fans. >> I think you don't.
>> Fun teaser, you're like, all right, it's wrapped up.
>> Yeah, I would like that. But I, again, a little background on this, Hillbilly,
L.A.G. again, Ron Howard, screenplay by Vanessa Taylor, based on the JD Vance's memoir,
film stars, Amy Adams and Glenn Close. Like, are you kidding?
>> Wow, powerhouses.
>> That's, has Amy Adams ever been bad in anything before this movie?
>> I don't know. This might have been the start of a downhill trajectory for her.
I can't, I can't say for sure. But yeah, I just, I, and it is, it did,
and I feel like I had heard the criticism, but in reading the book, I didn't think about it,
but in the movie, it was just funny that it's like, Hillbilly, L.A.G.
and it's like, Kentucky, and it's just like the beginning is just like,
a few summers I went there, and then there's none of, nothing else is in the Hillbilly,
Kentucky, like, area. It's just like, it's just an opening scene where he, like, people splash some
older kids splash him, for being from, really from Ohio. And then you're like, oh, wait, nobody lives
there? >> Yeah, nobody lives there. >> It's more like a,
>> Midwestern, is Ohio rust belt?
>> Yeah, it's a rust belt. It's a really rust belt, memoir.
>> It should be rust belt, L.A.G. is what it should be.
>> Which is really different.
>> As someone who is tangentially from the rust belt myself,
it's for obviously a big, because City will identify as these coasts, but there are some people
that will say wrongly that we're up against. >> Steel City, steel cities, just steel rust,
does steel rust. >> So, yeah, I know my people, and we are not Hillbilly's,
but I would love to read about a Hillbilly. I know nothing.
>> Yeah. >> And they are my neighbors, generally, but they are not my people.
>> Yeah, the rust belt, people.
>> Yeah. >> For the Hillbilly's.
>> The Hillbilly, my neighbors. >> I already got news.
>> Well, this is what he, okay, okay, yeah, well he,
>> Well, maybe a little bit of my family is actually what I said is not allowed.
>> So, I might be a little bit. >> Well, now you could write a memoir,
or just like JD Vance. >> I really could.
>> We'd be in a lot of park.
>> It seems like he really missed an opportunity, like,
because the whole thing is like, a lot of it is like, oh, his mother has a drug addiction,
and was using pills, and it was like, I feel like he could have called out like,
opiates and like, I don't like, there was, there was something he could have actually had a critique of
a timely critique of, you know, all that happening, the way they're giving out these pills,
but like, that wasn't, there's none of that was in it in the movie.
>> Yeah. >> It's just like, vaguely, she's a drug addict.
It was everyone was, there wasn't much pity for the characters.
It wasn't like, it was just like, briefly, oh, the mom's a drug addict,
well, she got beat a little bit when she was a kid.
>> Like, that's like a flashback. >> Like, nothing.
>> Like, she got beat, but it was a little bit.
>> And, and really her issue is just,
then nobody wants to pull themselves up by the bootstraps, because that's what this is.
This movie is a pull them up by their bootstraps, fantasy, JD star and JD Vance.
>> Yeah, for sure. It's a very sort of simple story, I guess.
It's like, she was wrong to do the drugs and it's her fault, which I was just talking to someone
about this that like, in other countries, addiction, drug addiction, alcoholism, are treated as diseases.
And here it's treated as like a character flaw.
>> A moral failing, yeah.
>> Yeah.
>> And it definitely felt like this was on the side of moral failing, which I get,
you would have resentment for your parent if you were raised in such an unstable household, for sure.
And you would be like, why can't she just fix this and change and do better?
Like, why am I not enough to like make her not want to do drugs?
But that is also like such a childish perspective.
And I feel like for a lot of us, when you get to adulthood,
like you see that there were so many more factors than just like, why didn't she just not?
And yet this still feels like written from that perspective.
>> Yeah.
>> Especially because the character of young JD and old JD in the movie is such a heroic figure.
Like, he always makes the right choice.
The one time he steals with his friends, it's to steal a graphic calculator that he needed.
>> It's so funny, the calculator, what an error.
>> [LAUGH] >> It's all a great thing, calculator, my god.
Like they always found a way to make him like, yeah, maybe he got into a little trouble,
but he didn't want to, it was just because those older boys made him.
Like, there's a scene where they go and trash a store.
And they're about to go in and they're like, JD, come on.
And he's like, I don't think I should.
And they're like, come on, JD, you have to.
And he's like, okay, it's like the reality of that being actually how it happened.
I do not believe at all.
>> Right, certainly there is some truth to like, you can get in with the wrong kids as a high schooler,
whatever, and you're so open to peer pressure.
I know that can be bad, but like, just really funny that then the grandma steps in and
is just like, you're hanging out with the wrong kids, I'm taking you in and that was that.
>> That was that he was fixed, but not just grandma, mama was her name.
>> Mama, right, mama.
She always had a cigarette hanging out of her mouth and, I don't know, she said some,
she had some lines that were quite, they were rated R, I would say.
>> Wait, I don't know, it's out of couple.
>> I didn't think it was, didn't feel R.
>> No, it didn't feel R, but she's like nasty thing, she said.
>> I'm taking, oh, this is when mama steps in,
taking him to live with me, and if you have a problem with that, you can talk to the barrel, my
gun. >> Yeah, yeah, mama.
>> Classic mama.
>> But the one she said that I really didn't understand, and I don't know if you have an
explanation for this, at one point, she tells J.D., like it's their family motto, she's like,
you can be a good terminator, a bad terminator, or neutral.
>> I would have watched, that was right over me, but I totally believe it.
>> What does it mean, though?
>> I don't know, there were, let's, okay, let's talk, because I have another one,
kind of like that, that is, let's look at good, so I guess because this was around,
because she knew all the words to the terminator movie.
Maybe it's because in the terminator movie, there is a good terminator,
and then there's a good terminator, the future governor of California, or an old
Switzerlandger, and there's like a bad terminator and they're like fighting.
>> But is there a neutral terminator?
>> We don't know who the neutral terminator is.
Maybe in the war between the terminators, the neutral, they all died because they didn't
pick a side. I need to see terminator, I think, I need to watch terminator understand what
she's talking about. >> It sounds like a folksy saying, like, you could be
oil or you could be water, which one will you be?
>> And you like, but when you think about it, you're like, I don't, is one of them bad?
I don't, I don't, so, I mean, I know bad terminator is bad, but about neutral terminator,
sometimes it's good to be neutral in a situation.
>> Yeah, I, I mean, I agree. I'm sure being a bad, this is never good. Why do we have to be
terminator at all? Can we take it out of the equation? Why, why?
>> The terminator. >> Right, right.
>> At the beginning when they're showing them and he's talking, he's biking to his swim hole,
there's like his narration, he's saying something like, don't, my papa said it or Mama said,
don't ever start, start a fight, but if you get in one, you damn well, finish it.
And then he was like, but also, your people will always have your back. And it was like really
confusing, it was like a bunch of things shoved together. And I was like, what is that?
What are not good things that were handed down to you, so.
>> Yeah, but also reach behind you when you're up on that ladder and pull the next person up,
but don't get in the way of their bootstraps because they'll need those to hang onto it.
You're never alone.
>> But do it by yourself.
>> I want to latch onto something and it sounds good, but I'm not sure really what any of it means.
Also, if you're going to start a fight, you might as well be prepared to finish it is just like,
I don't know, most of the time you don't start fights, you just like have to respond to a fight.
And in those situations, I'm not really prepared to start or finish.
>> Walk away, I don't know. Why are we always fighting and
terminating? The escalating. >> I guess that's the culture of Kentucky.
>> Hellbilly, when it made its way to Ohio, it's mother and he lived and pretty much
his grandmother, they all pretty much only lived in Ohio anyway.
>> But that's not where his soul was or the whole was there as well.
>> The swim hole was in Kentucky, that was like the very beginning.
>> So it seems like he told them that they patient to Kentucky to a point.
>> It is essentially like, where's somewhere you like to vacation? I like to vacation.
Where's somewhere I've been once? New Orleans. So I went on New, I went to vacation New Orleans and
I was like, let me write about this as though it's my culture because I went there.
>> One too twice. It's a weird, it's like, do you really get that culture? I don't think you do.
But also his sense of the culture is so defensive. It's almost like he hated it.
But then, you'd think he'd be about him being proud of it because he's going to yell and all that.
But he still seemed like ashamed of it. It didn't feel like there was, you would expect some sort of
character development where he like, realizes to find pride in his background. But it didn't seem
like that was it. It was more just like, I have to go deal with my mother on drugs.
>> I have to go back to my school. >> But I really want to get my fancy law internship.
>> Yeah, well, I mean, I do think it's hard to find cultural pride in a place that you've only
taken a short vacation, such as your trip to New Orleans. >> Sure, sure, sure.
>> Like, I overcame this. Now here I am. >> But he also didn't have any Ohio pride,
which I thought was funny because he had to keep talking about how he went to Ohio State with a
lot of shame and asked someone who went to arrive in public school Penn State. That made me happy,
but he had the shame. >> Yeah, I, he should feel ashamed for sure. He'll shame for that, yes.
>> Yeah, certainly. But, >> But yeah, you didn't hear a lot of OHIO. I believe that's their little
chance of the state. >> Yeah, yeah. >> I mean, I know he's the senator now,
but did they read, did anybody from Ohio read this? Because I feel like, or watch this? Because I
feel like I would think, oh, this guy fucking hates us watching a reading. >> I wouldn't be like,
let me, let him represent us. I don't know. >> If any of you listening are from Ohio,
please let us know your feelings about whether you feel your state was accurately reflected.
And if you think JD Vance might hate you. >> Yeah, and we won't include this in our,
we won't include this in our episode for the book. >> Oh, good idea. We'll ask this question.
>> And you can email us. >> Oh, yes, yes. >> Voice note us. I don't know, whatever. Get
excited to mention me, book club@gmail.com. >> Yeah, yeah. And since you know the book is coming up,
and I mean, I, it does feel like this is one of a lot of people have read, and now we've done this.
I think if you have any responses, if you want to, if you want to fight back, too. >> Fight back,
anything we miss? >> And he glaring errors, they really can't believe you guys in fucking talking about those.
>> We'll include that for sure.
>> Yeah, yeah, it was, it was definitely a fun watch. It was a long one hour and 56 minutes,
which is generally a good sign for a movie when you're like, how much is left?
>> Wow. >> That's what I'm going to say. But then again, like I said, the ending happened.
I was like, oh, what just happened? What's over? What was the development? What was the,
there was not, there was not, and I do think some of it was different from the book.
I don't think the whole, like, oh, I might miss this interview happened in the book.
But then it made me think, well, I don't think that was in the book, but then I'm like, well,
what was in the book? Was it just more like rambling? Because, and they had to like, for the movie,
they had to like make some sort of arc, and that's why that kind of stuff was added in.
>> But I remember. >> Like if they had taken one of our self-help books,
sort of, and been like, uh-oh, this needs to be a movie with a plot, and a beginning that I'll have to
wear, and mostly it is rambles. >> Yeah, they did. And they mostly was just like, here's the plot
with flashbacks. But yeah, it did seem like he was just a good guy and did nothing wrong. I can't think of,
I really can't think of him. He's just observing. He's just observing, observing, observing.
And damn, he's got, he's got thoughts. His, his, uh, I guess now wife, his girlfriend is in the movie.
>> Oh, yes. >> Beautiful. Who is she played by?
Can't remember her name, but who is she played by?
>> Is her name-- >> Rita Pinto? Yeah, it is, and it's played by
Rita Pinto. Also, then made me look at the photos of it. I was, oh, yeah, oh, yeah. And I was like,
oh, she's a, she's a beautiful lady. And then I'm like, why did she end up with him?
>> There must be something to him. >> There's something, there's something to him
worth to her that we don't know, because she's not like she was a very--
>> We didn't get to know her. >> There was a lot of movie. No.
>> We didn't really get to know her, then she played by the rules maybe and gave him
at good advice. And they were playful sometimes. But it was like when she was like, he was nervous
for his, to talk for his dinner. I guess which was like an internship, internship type of
interview, but it was a dinner. He was just telling him to what take deep breath or something.
>> Yeah, just good. >> Gold like that. Yeah. Very cute.
>> Very cute. >> When you did a very-- >> I mean, to help someone prepare.
>> And then they started to make fun of, why did they make fun? There was like one guy who was
like being like, oh, those red necks. And he was like, and really, then he got really insulted
about it at that dinner. And I don't know, didn't, didn't, you know what, it's fun.
I guess I'm just recounting this and I'm like, I had no feeling either way.
>> Yeah. >> It was very like, okay.
>> He looks sad for a movie. >> He didn't seem like heroic.
>> He didn't seem heroic. >> Yeah.
>> Didn't make me particularly hate the other guy. I was just like, whatever.
>> You chose to be a neutral terminator in that scene.
>> Sure. Yeah, in that scene.
>> I did feel like their intention was to make J.D. Vance seem heroic. And I also thought the movie
treated us like they were, we are very stupid because for the first eight scenes of the movie,
they kept saying his name. We meet him as a young child. And someone in the movie was like,
J.D. J.D. Vance. And then you see him as an adult. It's obviously the same person. And someone's like,
why that's J.D. Vance? And then it's like, yeah, actually the child. And someone is like,
there's J.D. Vance. And I'm like, I get it. I can follow a story where his child becomes an adult.
I don't need you to say a character name before every scene.
It was like over. It was so simple, but like not in a good way. I guess that's Ron Howard.
I guess I'm like, oh, just Ron Howard doesn't do like, complicate. I don't know. But it was just like
so dumbfounded and simplified. Yeah, I don't know. I just feel like Ron Howard would simplify things.
So like make those most effective in the movie world. But like it was already so,
all the so dumb down that it just felt like, like, I felt like a cloud. I don't know. Didn't feel like anything.
I just tell you something about Ron Howard, which is that for most of my life, I thought that the
TV series Happy Days was actually filmed in like the 1950s. And you know, he plays a rich,
cutting-ham, which is like the star of the show. And so my entire life, I've been so confused at like
how are they still working and making movies that I look so young. That's like, by my accounting,
this may it should be like, nearing 100 years old.
I don't think that's, I think I also, for most of my life, also believe Happy Days to be a filmed,
like, not like a, like, oh, we're filming the past. I don't think I,
I mean, I didn't think about it. It didn't bother me. So I must have eventually realized it was
filmed the past. But I definitely know for a period. I definitely not did believe that for a period of time.
Yeah. Because it's confusing when things are old, but they're supposed to be older.
Like, yeah, because I just knew I knew it was old. It seemed old enough to be from the 50s. Sure.
I don't really know. I don't know the old and the good working. Yeah, yeah.
I can't tell you. I thought he was, you know, it was really amazing to me that he was like, still
making movies and he was the 80s and the 90s. You know, I still look so good.
And he still looked so young. He looked like a man in his seven years.
But now I know. Now I know. I did write down one line that I thought was kind of funny.
Okay. Mama said at one point, she was really racist towards, um, oh, Native Americans, right?
I think JD says Native Americans and she's like, we call them Indians. And he's like Native American.
And she says that, but then she says, they're not magic just because they don't have microwaves.
And I did. That was kind of funny.
Because that feels like even though she's the villain in that moment, it is kind of a putting down of like
a general like, uh, you're not understanding someone else's culture and you like think that
they're like magical or something. And it's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, like, yeah, it's, yeah,
almost like it's untouchable because you don't understand it.
All right. Yeah.
Now that that is a funny, that's a very funny line. They gave her some stuff. I mean, I think
Amy Adams did the best that she could with this role. I don't, I don't know. I don't, it was me.
She, it was pretty over the top, I guess, but I don't know what else he would have played it.
To be honest, I did a pretty good job. That's, to be honest, I didn't actually really
dislike their performances. Like I thought everyone in the movie was good. It's just the dialogue
was like actually making the lap out loud. There's one scene. Yeah. Yeah. And he's teaching JD and math
that he goes, you might think that algebra is jail. It's not. It's freedom. It's like, what the
fuck are you talking about? I, I don't know in a lot world. I think algebra is jail and I certainly
don't understand how it's freedom. Because you know what? No, I don't. How much algebra I've used
in my life after I took algebra, none ever. Well, that really affected JD Vance in the movie because
he got the best grade on some algebra. On one algebra test. He got the best, which I don't even know
how he knew. He got a paperback and then he ran home. He was like, Mama, God, the best work grade in
class. It's like, did that never found out what the grade was? Didn't find out what it was, but also
did the teacher like right on the test like, you, by the way, you have the highest grade in the
class, the guy next to you, got a fucking D. He's an idiot. I don't think teacher like knowing JD
Vance now, I would assume he either like went and like looked, asked everyone their grade.
Or just like, or just like, or he got like a B and he was like, I, and I, all my classmates are idiots,
so I have to assume that this is the best grade. I did the, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, or just the
unbridled confidence. I guess, I guess, he got one hundred percent and then he can assume that at,
at worst, he was tied for the best grade. But I, I think you would just go home and be like, Mama,
I got a hundred percent or an algebra and Mama would be like, smoking her cigarette, she'd be like,
puffed, yeah, well done. Well done. Well, then he went to the army.
Cool. And then that was like, these were all like two seconds. I was like, I'm in the army. I
went to Ohio State. That was a second. They didn't really. Yeah.
No, because he hates Ohio. He's very nothing.
That was mostly when he had to leave that chapter. Yeah. But I guess they moved back there. So
interesting. I guess to become the senator. Yeah. Maybe you kind of have to be a senator from a place
you have a connection. He knew he could do it in Kentucky. He knew he had no chance. They would
out him. They'd be like, wait a second. It would have been really funny if he became a senator for
Kentucky because of a book in the summer. Book where he talks about spending one like summer there.
Oh my god. If I wrote one little subway story to the New York Times that got included in their like,
like overhered on the street this week. And then I was like, I could go more about my time living in
New York. And now I'm going to be a senator. You know, it did make me think maybe I could be a senator
someday. Is it? Yeah. Is it too late? Like, is this not definitely not? He's not that much older than us.
Isn't that wild? You're like, we see, he's he's like 39 or something. Yeah. No, he seems
young and he just became senator like two years ago. So it's funny. I don't think he had done
ship before that other than be famous from this book. The funny thing is when I was watching this,
I was thinking like, wow, his upbringing and life really prepared him for everything that he's about
to go through. Just like the chaos and craziness of what I can only imagine his life is right now,
which like, regardless of where you stand, I know we have people that listen from all across the
political spectrum, but it does make me laugh that there's a job opening because Trump's other VP.
Like Trump tried to kill his other worker. So now there's a job opening. If JD was like, I'll do it.
Yeah. You are prepared for this kind of an environment.
Killing just does have that kind of like bootstrap pull your up, but really like boot liquor mentality,
or just felt like he was going to go, he was going to get up anyway, he could kind of thing.
And yeah, maybe you're like, maybe that's a good thing. Maybe look at where you came from and you
were just like, I, what I learned from my background is that you, you get out and you keep going up
anyway, you can. And so that makes sense. But I also feel like giving how his relationship was with
Mama, Mama was just like, you better do this. And it's like, oh, and then he was like, okay, okay,
I love it. And then he went into the army like he likes to be told what to do, I think in some ways.
And so in that way, I think he is a good running mate for Trump, because I do think that that was
what something Trump was looking for with someone who would just kind of like do what he says.
Yeah, do you think Trump has hit JD?
You know what? Honestly, I will be quite, I'll be honest. If I find out that in their
relationship, like behind closed doors, Trump like quotes the book and like pretends to be Mama or
Papa and then like hits him. I will actually be like, oh, wait, maybe, maybe, maybe I have this wrong,
maybe Trump is cool. Maybe he's kind of a genius.
There's a genius. I'm coming back around. Okay.
Coming back around. Yeah, yeah. I like this, I like this version of things a lot.
We'll see how it plays out for JD for sure, but yeah, I think he's in the right kind of
environment for him. I bet, by the way, I bet Oshah is one of those women that just like
kicks his butt basically, like she is his effectively non-sexual dominatrix in every aspect of his
life and perhaps actually as well. But I feel like she must keep his public persona away because like,
the other thing that's interesting to me is that I'm pretty sure she was like registered as a
Democrat right up into he ran his Republican, which tells me like either you're maybe you're
apolitical. Yeah, right. Do that. Like you, that's not really give a shit, but you're just like,
I don't know. Yeah, my mom was a registered Democrat until I was like in college and I was like,
you are and my dad was staunchly very Republican. I knew my parents were a Republican. She didn't
care really. I guess like, yeah, I mean, maybe she would say differently, like I don't want to speak
for her, but it did feel like she was like, oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, my first, I think I've said this
before, by when I was 18, I registered as a Republican. Same, sir. I'm a regular JD, we're both JD
Vance, anyway. We really understand him more than we're saying from our backgrounds. I know what?
And I'm coming back around. You know what? This book, it is funny. It also is funny that Trump picks
someone like, he was like, I got to pick someone who has like a movie made about him. I know. I know.
He was like, it worked for me with TV. And now I'm stepping it up. We're doing a movie, baby.
He has a TV show who is a movie about him where the, yeah, I found my, of course, has a movie as well.
Home Alone lost in New York home. Again, the second, the, the sequel. Yes. Home Alone the second classic.
And it was a better than the original one of the rare, better than the original sequels.
A great one. And my, and my son's a big fan of Home Alone. Oh, is he? That's so cool.
I haven't done the thing where I said that pointed out that's, that was the guy became the president,
but I don't think he's quite there yet to understand all that. Probably more.
Just started explaining Kevin Ryzen and, yeah, and the toys for the second. Yeah, it's sure.
And, um, yeah, certainly he really the thing, the first one, it's the furnace really stuck.
He talks about the furnace and the basement. We don't have a furnace in our basement. I'm like, no, we don't.
No, we live in California.
We have things lurking in our basement. A big feature of that movie would be a boy separated from
his loving mother, but it sounds like that didn't impact him. No, did that sound one
and impacted him so much? I don't think I, but I might have told him a bunch of time that they're
coming back. I don't know. Yeah, sure, sure. I also, he's a pretty, he's a pretty independent kid. He,
it's, it's actually not surprising at all that he'd be like, yeah, I would love the amount of times he says,
the meal alone or whatever. I know what he's doing. He's shitting his pants. Anyway, this movie though,
movie, maybe I feel like I don't, we don't have obviously good reads for this, but I let's go look
at some critical response. Okay, let's go. As you might have guessed, it has like a 25 per, uh, on
Ron tomatoes. Actually, let's just go look at what it has right now. Ron tomatoes,
fill Billie Eiligee. Ron tomatoes is my go-to reviewer, by the way. They're never really. Yeah, I,
I know. You always got to check it out before I see what I'm like, is this movie worth it to go?
It's just 22%. I'm like, okay, my expectations have been tempered. Yeah, so it has a 24% tomato
meter, but it has an 81% popcorn meter. Now, I do believe this has been skewed recently,
because I went and looked and like a lot of these ratings were added after JD Vance was announced
as the VP. So I, and then you read some of the reviews and you're, there are people being like, I
will love to see in my future vice president. It's like, okay, I think that they were some sort of
swarming going on. I wouldn't trust it, but I guess let's go see. Let's go see what they would say.
Well, Gila B says, heartfelt and Raj is thinking of how proud his mama is. I don't know if mama is
still alive, but that does feel like that's related to his vice presidential candidacy. Just,
just thinking of how proud she is right now. Critics are way off on this one since Madeline M.
Never thought I would say this, but ignore them all. Make your own judgment. Never thought I would
say something in opposition to a single critical review Madeline says. Wow.
Okay, somebody says, I thought this movie was great. I grew up poor, not poverty-stricken. I don't
know what that means. In rural America, and I'm moving nailed it, flawed people making the best of
things while loving and living. They grew up middle class. Oh, God. Okay, Michael L, as usual, the
whiny, comy critics can shove it to quote the grandma. He doesn't even remember her name. She's like one of
the kids. Mama. To quote the grandma. I wouldn't piss on them if their guts were on fire. Okay, Michael L.
Yank. It's so interesting to see people be like, okay, Mike J says, seems strange that anytime there's
a movie that's even remotely related to principles of family values that critics are quick to shoot
it down. Wonder why? As someone from Hamilton, Ohio, with family from Northern Kentucky, this hits home.
I guess that is oddly, you probably do feel a certain way if you have a very similar background,
but I'm always like, what are the family values here? The family was, is it because the grandma
took him in? I don't know, because she didn't even seem like she liked him. She was all like, you don't
have to like me. Yeah, it's like she was like, I'm your caretaker, period. Yeah, I guess she maybe,
but she, it's almost like she did a bad job with her daughter, so, but then again, some on
Biles, and that's all I have to say, some on Biles. Did she have a tough upbringing?
Yes, and her grandmother adopted her. Oh, wow. So that's the American dream. Yeah, wow. Let's
work out. Let's watch the movie about her. I would. I would.
Yeah, so it's like rising above is upbringing, making him something of himself.
Yeah, it just gets boring because he's obviously like people. It just, I think you have to go back in time
for like actual reviews, but also by then I feel like stuff had already, like the, it's always been
politicized with this book. It's hard to, I cried for the entire last hour of the movie, sorry.
That's a long time to cry. That's too long. There's something going on.
Ashley W says, this is a cinematic masterpiece. Anybody who can't see this obviously needs to go
back to kindergarten and understand basic human emotions. I will agree. Actually, it's very basic.
It's very, very simplistic, and I did not miss that. A lot of like these reviews have the word
critics and quotes and like just like various words like understand and, yeah, it's poverty and
quotes. So there's a yelling energy to a lot of these. Yeah, certainly.
I am. Yeah. A lot of people saying it hits close to home, which I'm sure is true.
But what home, impossible to say, Ohio, a strange fictional version of Kentucky, people that lived
in the hole, we know not. But yeah, okay, so people liked it. Look, it's also like, it's not a hard watch.
Like I wasn't like, oh, I can't believe I wasted my time watching that. It's still a run-howard movie.
As I said, the, I think what the real photos of people did make me feel like, oh,
I'm getting all of them. Yeah, I just watched it in like, I watched it in 2020. I was like, oh,
I will never recommend this to anyone because it just was like, it was fine, but like I forgot it
immediately. Like it was a, it's a very forgettable movie because there's just nothing super interesting
that happens in it to be real. Yeah. I don't know. That's sort of up. Yeah. That, and that is
straight up. I am happy Sarah that we did this and not the full series of TV that you watched,
that that no one else watched to prepare for. Oh, yeah, I did. Right, right. What was that? It's the movie.
It was the, the Apple TV god, now I keep fucking remember what I watched. You watched it. I cannot help you.
It was a book that we read. Yeah, I'll tell you one second.
Because my, you know, I had a baby. So that's why I can't remember anything. It's not that I'm always like this.
No, no, no, your brain is not, it's not your brain is brain. It's not. Okay. Science fiction.
It was actually, I think I only watched a few episodes of it. I did think dark matter.
Dark matter. But I really enjoyed that book. Like that was like a fun, I love talking about that book.
But it is like a series. So it would have been harder to get everyone on board for watching all that. I get it.
But it was already it started out good. It started out good, but it got so bad that I couldn't even keep watching it,
even as like a joke. So that's what that series was for me.
Well, but we're back now. We, I wanted to tell everyone some news, which is we're starting recording season 18, right?
It's season 18. Yeah, Jesus Christ. Yes.
It's, but if you have not been a listener since the beginning, we're trying to see what all of you are.
You know that we have not been doing this for 18 years. We're not that old. We're not that old. We're barely over 18 ourselves.
It's only been doing it for 18 years. But, um, yeah, we have a recording of three seasons.
Yeah. We just think we do that.
It has, yeah, we have, you're right. It has been a while. Which is almost half.
And we've got a really good list of books coming up. I'm assuming we'll still drop a promo episode.
But do we want to tease John about what books we have? Why not?
This is where just with why not our close friends now? We can say anything here. This is a safe space.
I know that memoirs of a gaysia is one because I tried to cut it and start captain on.
I know for sure. I also don't know. I definitely read that one as a kid liked it. So I'm interested.
Yeah. Also, yeah.
Fourth, we're finally doing fourth-wing by Yarros because like everybody kept telling us to do it.
And we were putting it off because it's long. And I have you started it, John?
No, do you love it? I'm very excited. I'm so excited for this one, definitely.
That's going to be our season opener. So if you want to read along for anything, we'll be putting that one out.
You know, well, maybe a month from now, hopefully.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's a temper early. I tell you where we imagine.
Beginning. Obviously, he'll be the ledG by JD Vance. We know that. We hear it. We're so excited.
We got "Housemade" by Frida McFadden, which is like,
you know, one of them book talk books. So we know it's going to be bad, but probably readable.
So that's another way to do it. You just want to take a logical thriller. Candy,
Rita, I love this. I would do all psychological thrillers if we could. I would too. I do love
psychological goals. We're also doing "Lean in by Cheryl Sandberg," which I think will have a lot to
say about. But it's like, there's not, you know, they're not my cup, they're not, I'd rather
be a self-help, which I know you guys don't always love the self-help ones because you say they're
always the same, but it does feel like it's a shame that we haven't done a self-help.
It's a bodily, yeah, we need to do one. And this is a bit, yeah, we have to do it. And it's
something that no one says to. So we're going to also do Wendy, not Wendy. Oh, God,
Stacy Abrone. Well, the, fictional one. Well, the justice, well, justice, sleep so.
So I don't know why. It was the only thing she wanted to read. So we said yes to appease. I,
you know, hope it's worth your time, everybody. Also, I'm very excited. A Court of Thorns and Roses
by Sarah J. Moss. I'm really excited to everyone's meeting it. They say it's porn. I've seen
it. I read it. And it is porn. And I am. I read the sea. I think I haven't quite finished the
series, but I read most of the series. So I am, I'm also really excited for that one. It was
on my list to read anyway, just because I was like, I feel like I'm missing a cultural moment,
just like I did never once. Yeah, I just even though now some of my friends are going for a
second time in a stupid way. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, no, Sarah, no one invites me.
Just putting it out there that I am unemployed through January and
ready willing and able to attend concert events with friends.
Okay, all right. Sabrina has now been, well, twice, maybe three times. She has, yes, she went
three times. She's been three times? Yes, Sarah. What's she going to Toronto too or something?
Where'd she go? No, she did New York and New York. She do?
New York. New York. Paris. London. I was like, do you come into a financial win fall?
Like, what is happening right now? It is something, there is something very funny about I,
I believe a lot of Americans got the tickets to the European concerts because they were so expensive,
that Europeans were like, we're not going to pay that much. And Americans were like, we will.
We'll stop all. Yeah, it was, I'm pretty sure we were just we weren't used to being gouged.
We'll do it. Well, like Europeans were like, that's too much. I'm pretty sure that's what was going on
there, but yeah, sorry. No, I know that some of your listeners, you know, let me among that.
I mean, I'm right. Yeah, you have better sense. We all know that we all wish we were French and
actually anywhere in Europe would be fine. I wish I lived anywhere in New York. Yeah, I would,
it would feel a lot safer if you were guns. Um, the house and the pines by Anna raised the other
when we are doing so I think I've read that. I need to, I need to like figure it out. I think I did
it as a pleasure. Well, that's fun. You know, I don't mind that. I like it when we either some of us
really like it and then some of us hate it. I love those conversations the best anyway.
I agree. Um, and yeah, I'm actually also super excited to hear Sabrina's take on Hillbilly
L.A.G. because I feel like she has the most bootstraps story, life story. Uh, you know, yeah,
that that of someone I know. So I'm always like, well, what's your take? You know, I am excited for
her take. Yes, I agree. Um, Clara, I don't care. She has to say shit. Yeah. She's like, she'll be
mad at years that I said. I'm sorry. Claire. I'm kidding. She's not going to hear this. How should I
know? She going to hear it? Oh, the other thing I wanted to say is, I mean, you guys probably won't
really care, but we hired an editor to help us with the episode. So hopefully they'll come out. I
know last season. We had one or two that were like, maybe a week late and we're sorry. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. You know, what we had like three babies within the last year. So stuff happened. We got
by, but we're picking up now and we see thanks to you guys. Yes. Our patrons, we're putting it
towards getting an editor this year. So it's honestly all just going back to try to make the podcast
better for you. Yes. But we're we investing and we're actually going to like make good content
for you more, but do more stuff on social media. Exactly. And you know, we're back. We're back
to the wrong. Going in the babies with you guys more fuck the babies. You're our babies. You're our babies
now. Yeah. Yeah. Truly. Yeah. It's true. What a baby book are you into right now,
Jenna? Like for me to read or to read to my baby. Yeah, both. I mean, I feel like you have to
like it as well for it to be a good one. Okay. There's actually I will tell you it's really
funny for any of the parents out there. There's a book called The Best Nest, which I got as a gift
for my baby. It's the book I've read to Devon the most. We do not read to her that much. It's really
bad. I need to be better about it. I know. I know. I know. Anyway, I know all people, but it's called
the best. Basically about this like nagging wife bird that wants a better nest and her husband is
out on a treetop singing about how happy he is and how much he loves his home. And she comes up behind
him. And literally it's like in the squaky voice, we need to move. They look for a new nest and it
ruins his life and it almost kills. And he thinks she dies. He thinks she's dead, right? He thinks she
dies in the midst of all this. He thinks she gets eaten by a cat. It gets really dark. And then in the
end, they end up back at their original nest, which they love. And she's like, I always loved this
nest. And it's basically just like a book about a crazy woman who cannot just let her husband live
his life and be happy. And it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it's so like she's so
naggy and tru-ish and he's such a hero the entire book. And it makes me laugh. And it's a classic,
it's a classic. And I also, we have that one as well. There's some old books like that that you're
like, what the, what the hell is this? What is this teaching anybody? Um, uh, yeah, we have
what are you like reading right now? Well, I mean, we're all over the place. There's like a frog
in Toad series. It's like an early reader thing that Kieran likes, but uh, recently got because,
you know, Kieran's been naughty at school. I got a book that was like a dinosaur like, I can't,
I can't, I can't, something like don't, don't eat your classmates. Okay. And it's this dinosaur
that goes to school and eats all our classmates. And then she doesn't have any friends because she
keeps eating her classmates. And I think it's supposed to be like an allegory for biting or and that's
the one I'm trying to teach him to not like, but I don't know. I just don't think he's, I don't think he,
I kept, I don't think that's quite getting to him to be honest with you. Like he just thinks it's funny
that she's eating the class. He's like, I'm gonna be like the dinosaur. Yeah. And then the dinosaur
stops eating the classmates because of fish bites her. And I was like, I don't even, and I also don't
think that's a good message. I think you should just, she should stop. She wants to be a better
dinosaur. Right. Yeah. But um, or she needs to deal with her impulsivity. But yeah. So that's not really
getting through to him. But um, you know, that's usually what I do when there's something bad going on
with my parent with parenting. I just buy children's books that I hope will solve the problem. And they
never do. But I still have the presents in the home. It makes me feel like I'm doing something. If I buy
the like that book, um, this is sort of your version. Because I know in your life or in our lives when
something is going wrong, you're like, I'm going to turn to the internet and do research. So I feel like
this is sort of the child version of that is like, I'm not going to let him get loose on the internet.
But I will bring a book into the home that has that hopefully put him in the right direction. Yes. Yes.
That we're against so far. Information is power as the library likes to say, maybe they say
knowledge is power. I'm not sure. Um, but I wanted to say we want to Pittsburgh recently in my hometown.
And um, the library there, if you have a library card, you can go to like,
dozens of Pittsburgh cultural institutions for free. So getting into the zoo normally 32 bucks, you
shop, hold up your library card free free for you and three guests. So I love libraries and if you're
in Pittsburgh, wow, congratulations. Go have fun. And maybe in other cities, check out what your
privileges are if you get a library card because that's like, that's money. That's money in your
pocket from the library that who loves you. The library loves you so much. I'm pretty sure my library
card should get me access to parks, but I couldn't figure out how to check out the park pass.
And so I never did. National parks or did you or you're like state parks, state parks, which is like a lot
of beaches and stuff, but I never, or I haven't done it because I couldn't figure out exact, it was just
too complicated for me to figure out. Can I offer you a suggestion? If you talk to someone at the library,
I bet they could. Oh, that's not, that's not going to be something I'm going to want to do. Yeah.
I thought that might be a problem. I thought that might be a real stopping point. Oh, that's a real
phone call. Talk to a person. No, thank you. Can I email? Yeah, I'll do it. I mean, I even go in. I
recently had to return a book and I said, I'll do it at the desk. Didn't with a human being. She scanned
in the book. Wait a little. What was she like? What the fuck did she like? Did she like kind of,
did she kind of like her eyes kept darting to like where you can actually scan it in or return it?
You were, you don't have to scan it in. You just put it in a bin. And then I had to do that after I
interacted with her after she scanned it in. I still had to go put in the bin myself. It was a little
unnecessary, but and she did talk to her colleague for a long time before she acknowledged me. I think
she was hoping I would walk away, move away. But I wouldn't get in really lucky. Because you
have a special guest. It's not. It's not. Do you want to say your name? John is here. It's K-I-E-R-A-M. Wow.
It spells here and here. And what are you holding? I pass. Wow. What do you do? What do you do on that?
Ipad. You watch video with Emily. And Bluey. Here's a secret. This iPad is from 2012. It is an
original iPad, but he and it does not turn on. But he has been carrying it around if you're telling it does things.
Wow. I'm walking up. Good. No, Karen. All right. All right.
Here. What's your favorite? What's your favorite kind of car right now? What are you into? What's your favorite car?
Uh, Dodger. Dodger. Do you mean, do you mean a Dodger? Dodger? Dodger? Dodger? Dodger? Dodger?
I do think you mean the Dodger. Dodger. Dodger is our baseball team that we go see.
No, not helpful. Stop pressing things. Go away now.
I love lovingly lovingly. Please go away. Um, okay. Should we wrap it up? Say goodbye to these.
Yeah. Let's say goodbye. Thank you all so much for being patrons. It means the world to us and
we love your messages. We love your emails. We love your recommendations. And we love your comments
on our episodes. It's so fun to know that we put this out and people listen to it. And it's just
just so- We love emails. We love to hear what you have to say. Yeah. We do read them and we're
going to start being a lot more interactive with you because our baby is a little burned. We have
the time. Bitches. Yeah. Nothing like having a nine-month-old and a four-month-old. And you're like,
you know what? I got all the time in the world. But would you have- No, I would you do have more time.
You do. I want adult contact. I want adult contact. That's probably- That's probably- If you're giving me
that contact via your recommendations and emails. Yeah. All right. I agree. We'll see you in a few weeks.
Check out our Patreon. Check it. Become a patron. And we're going to have a new version for our
Patreon subscribers that is ad-free. Am I allowed to reveal this? I'm realizing that maybe
she'll have waited, but- It's going to be an idea. We're going to add free for you. So- That'll be
exciting for that. You deserve it. You more than deserve it. You definitely deserve it. Yeah.
So we're finally leaving it for you. Yeah. Okay. Well, to channel Clara and an extra play on
fundamental love you. Maybe she's up to us. Is she saying it's everyone or is she saying it's us?
No, I think it's everyone but us. That bitch love you. Bye.
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