In this episode, the hosts catch up on their personal lives, discussing topics such as homeownership, moving, and stadium tours. They also talk about recent TV shows and movies they have watched. The conversation then shifts to baseball season and team predictions. The hosts share their thoughts on the upcoming Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul fight. Finally, they discuss the scandal involving Shohei Otani’s interpreter and allegations of theft and gambling. In this part of the conversation, the hosts discuss the MLB gambling scandal and the potential involvement of interpreters in baseball. They also talk about a controversial clothing line started by the original Red Ranger from Power Rangers. The conversation then shifts to the ban on TikTok and the need for regulations on social media platforms. They review the trailer for the Crow reboot and the upcoming film The World to Come. The conversation covers the movie ‘The Power of the Dog’ and the TV show ‘Shogun’. They discuss the concerns about the third act of the movie and the comparison of ‘Shogun’ to ‘Game of Thrones’. They also talk about the difficulty in distinguishing characters in ‘Shogun’ and the challenge of watching it with subtitles. 00:00 Introduction and Catching Up 05:56 What we’ve been watching 16:49 Shohei Otani Scandal 26:58 Power Rangers and Controversial Clothing Line 30:32 Congress Votes to Ban TikTok 38:00 The Crow Reboot Trailer 48:58 Civil War Trailer 53:21 Introduction to the TV show ‘Shogun’
Ryan (00:30)
Welcome to the portable hole podcast. I’m Ryan George and I’m here with my good friends, Cynic and Justin. How are you guys doing?
[email protected] (00:37)
Not bad. Long day. It’s been a long day.
Ryan (00:38)
Yeah, long day here. How about you, Sene, is it a day off?
cinik (00:42)
You do look very road worn, Justin, as if you’re at the end of your rope.
Ryan (00:45)
Yeah.
[email protected] (00:46)
I am road-worn today. I am. I am, yep. Working on the house.
Ryan (00:49)
Are you still Nashville, right?
Okay. All right. Cool. What, what, working on the house is that what’s caused it to be
[email protected] (00:57)
doing lots of renovations and stuff. I had to go to Home Depot three times today, picking them up, lots of rocks and stones. We’re doing landscaping and tiles. It’s just a… It makes me think of the movie Old School. It’s like, we have a really busy day. We’re going to Home Depot and before it becomes Frank the Tank.
Ryan (01:03)
Okay.
Yeah. Oh, it’s a nice segue. Like I was going to say that the perils of being a homeowner of which, uh, cynic, uh, you’ve got some, some news, right?
cinik (01:27)
Yeah, I’m back on the market. We landed something, couldn’t be happier. We’re closing soon, probably moving soon. So any able-bodied people out there that wanna lift furniture for beer and pizza, I’m absolutely down to pay one slice in beer per person.
[email protected] (01:32)
Awesome.
Ryan (01:37)
Hehehehe
Yeah, that’s nice. And so you’re moving now, is your commute going to be worse or better?
cinik (01:48)
slightly better, but different. I’ll be bussin’ rather than ridin’ on the train.
Ryan (01:50)
Okay.
Okay. You know, it’s interesting. Are you a bus person or a train person?
cinik (01:58)
Well, I’ve always been a train person because the bus has never been an option, but I’ll learn to love it because it’s right outside the door.
Ryan (02:01)
Yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, that’s great. I’ve always liked, I’ve always liked buses, but I find that a lot of people can’t stand them. And it’s not as consistent, especially in New York. You know, you can get on a bus across town and it’ll take you like several hours, not several hours, but it could take you an hour to get three blocks. So I can understand that. Yeah.
[email protected] (02:16)
Hmm
cinik (02:22)
Oh, we did it in San Francisco. Yeah, we went out to see, the name of the street escapes me, but it’s the windy one in all the pictures and yeah, we decided to take the bus and it took literally hours to get across San Francisco if we would have took an Uber and spent a little bit of extra money, 20 minutes.
Ryan (02:32)
Okay, yeah.
Yeah. Okay.
Yeah, I mean, you could walk that too, I feel like. Um, it’s, it’s a, I feel like San Francisco is a pretty, it’s a pretty walkable city outside of the fact that it’s so, it’s so hilly.
cinik (02:50)
Well, we decided to stay over by the stadium, so we’re a little away from everything. We were about two and a half miles away from Fisherman’s Wharf.
Ryan (02:53)
Okay got it okay.
Okay, got it. Okay. And that’s a bit of a trick. I love that area though. Yeah. So you’re not, and that brings us to another thing. Um, it wasn’t even expected. So you’re, where are you in your stadium tour? Cause I know you’re, you have a goal of visiting every baseball stadium, right?
cinik (03:01)
Oh, I do too.
Well, I’m down to seven and I had at least three of that. I was going to mark off the share, but it sounds like that’s going to be on hold due to the purchase of the house. So we’re probably going to take a year off from travel and maybe do a couple weekend trips. I was actually going to bring that up to you. We’re thinking of maybe doing Boston, maybe Baltimore. So, you know, I’m sorry, Pittsburgh and Boston. So definitely could be fun.
Ryan (03:16)
Yeah.
Ah, okay.
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Yeah. Oh, that’d be cool. Yeah. No, it’s like, I’d like to convince, um, Anna, um, uh, to, to maybe let’s not, I mean, I, as much as I love travel, like to take a year and like, let’s maybe not do so much so we can save a little bit and, and maybe, you know, not throw all my money away in rent as, as we currently are. But, um, but it seems as if, uh, travel takes the priority.
cinik (03:46)
Yeah.
[email protected] (03:55)
So Ryan, I heard you made a movie.
Ryan (03:58)
Okay. So, yes. So, um, Zinic, you were, you were not around the last couple of weeks. So there was the, uh, the smod castle challenge, um, which was like, Kevin Smith did a, uh, a challenge, uh, which is basically you have to create a movie in four minutes and 30 or create a movie over the course of a weekend. And it would be four minutes and 30 seconds. And basically that Saturday, they would give you a line, a prop and a character. And so the character is Rick Darius from, from clerks.
The prop was a hockey stick and there was a line from, I think it was Chasing Amy. And shockingly, like Anna, my brother and I, and then Justin wrote music. We somehow were able to put something together in a weekend. That was actually pretty cool. We didn’t make the finals. I was really hoping to make the finals just to see it on a big screen, but we still came up with something pretty cool. And I just want to make a couple of small edits to the, like the, the sound, which is probably part of why we didn’t make it. Although who knows? Cause it was batshit crazy.
[email protected] (04:49)
Yeah. You know what, it’s funny. I sent it to my friend who does a lot of production and he said that was actually the weakest element was the audio, the quality, which I mean, given the time, it’s like, look, if we had time, first off, the recording of it was, you know, you probably didn’t have the facilities to record proper audio and then we didn’t mix it at all. It was just, we had no time. It was just, it is what it is. So you have to throw it together.
Ryan (04:55)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly. So yeah, but Justin wrote some awesome music for it. And so we’re going to post it on the YouTube at some point soon, just cause it was a fun little like four minute and it was just one of those. Like it’s kind of did it. You know, the fact that I actually did that in such a short time was pretty cool. Um, and put it together and that like everybody came through and yeah, it was like the one thing the knock was like the audio, um, I wish I could have read down in the beginning, cause I feel like that’s what really ding does. Cause otherwise the story was really good. It was shot well.
[email protected] (05:24)
It was good. The story was really good. The story was really good.
story was great. Yeah, it’s funny.
Ryan (05:40)
There’s some good visuals, even all things considered. But yeah, it was funny. So yeah, definitely gonna, I’m excited for you to see it, Cinec. It’s actually really fun. Anyway, so let’s see. So onto, I guess, what we’ve been watching. So Cinec, what have you been watching recently?
cinik (05:48)
Good.
Was that to me? I’m sorry. Oh, okay. Actually, we circled back around as we have been doing because of lack of options. Although we do have some great stuff coming up that I can’t wait to talk about. We went back to Deadwood HBO. It’s three seasons strong. I liked the first two a lot better than the third. And we knocked out three seasons in the movie and a little under two weeks. And still one of the strongest products that HBO has ever put out.
Ryan (05:59)
Yeah, oh yeah, sorry, Cindy, yeah, what are you even watching?
Really? Yeah, like, one of those…
[email protected] (06:28)
Yeah, I loved the first season. I thought the first season was tremendous, very tightly scripted, you had to pay attention. Second season was good up until halfway. Unless I’m confusing my seasons, like, cause it’s been so long, but I remember it got to a point where it was hard to watch and I just, I couldn’t keep up with it anymore.
cinik (06:45)
What? The-
Well, they introduced the character of George Hirsch, who became the big bad for the seasons and kind of brought the rest of the town together. And yeah, it did change the tone of the show. As much as I enjoyed seeing them all work together, you know, having an overlord and having them, you know, elsewhere and you have to bow down to somebody, kind of hurt the overall quality of the show. In the third season left off at a really, really weird buildup and nothing happened.
[email protected] (07:15)
It got weird, I remember, yeah.
cinik (07:18)
And they revisited it with a movie, I believe, 10 years later. And it was nice and they did a good job. It wasn’t too on the nose with the flashbacks and callbacks and such. But it was the same thing. Like we really didn’t get a conclusion, but it was a nice goodbye to the show.
Ryan (07:35)
You know, I mean, it’s got a, it seems like it has a fantastic cast. I remember at the time, um, wanting to move forward with it, but I just never got around to watching it. So I’m excited. I think it’s one of those that it’s like on my list of like, there’s like, you know, I have this, the list of shows that I, you know, I need to get catch up with at some point and, uh, it’s definitely high on that list. And now that you’ve brought it up again, hopefully, you know, it’s something I’ll get, I’ll get to soon. Um, any, have you watched anything else or has that been taken up most of your time outside of what we’ll be talking about today?
cinik (08:04)
Well, I mean, there’s been a couple things here and there, but not anything as religiously as we’ve been watching Deadwood. With baseball season kicking in full gear, that takes a good portion of my time up. So I’ve been checking out spring training games and trying to see who’s gonna do what this year. So sports have come to the forefront and it seems like every Saturday night, there’s an UFC event, which is something to look forward to.
Ryan (08:31)
Yeah. So speaking of UFC, we didn’t, we didn’t, um, UFC adjacent, at least, uh, you weren’t here when we talked about it last week. What are your thoughts on the, the Mike Tyson, Jake Paul fight?
cinik (08:42)
I really hope he has enough gas in the tank to put a serious hurt on that kid, because I’m just over him fighting smaller, older, retired fighters, or fighting boxers that come from MMA, where we all know that they don’t have great stand up. I’m just over it. I don’t know who’s paying to see this. I don’t know where all this money is coming from, but I kind of wish and hope for just a stunning knockout, like an old school. Tyson has one more punch left in him knockout.
Ryan (08:45)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
cinik (09:12)
and maybe Jake Paul relieves himself all over the mat.
Ryan (09:16)
That would be great. There’ve been some cool videos of Tyson like, you know, doing pads. But again, it’s like anybody can look, I mean, not, you know, who knows what it, what he’ll look like in the fight. Yeah. Oh, absolutely.
cinik (09:24)
Yeah, but he looks better than most. I’ll give him that. But Chael Sonnen, who I absolutely love, pointed out that in all of those videos, Tyson’s not sweating. So that means that you’re seeing the first 30 to 45 seconds of that workout.
Ryan (09:36)
Exactly. Yeah. And which is what I was, I talked about when we were talking about before is I think, you know, obviously he’s Tyson, he’s got a, you know, he’s powerful, he’s got skill, even at his age, he can obviously move. But the question is, does he have the gas tank and the power to take him out early? Cause if he doesn’t, I think that’s where it’s going to be a problem. It’s like, he’s a 57 year old man.
cinik (09:53)
I don’t think anybody has hit as hard as Tyson can. I don’t think Jake Paul has fought anybody with the boxing acumen that Tyson has. So that’s one of the few instances where I’ll watch it. Not saying I’m gonna pay for it, but I’ll figure out a way to watch it.
Ryan (09:58)
Probably not.
Yeah.
Yeah. Well, it’s Netflix. So we don’t have, I mean, that’s the beauty of it. Like we’ve already paid for it, right? Like that’s the, I think that’s the brilliant part on Netflix’s part as like we’ve talked about with them, you know, buying raw is, you know, they’re getting into live sports and you know, what better way to, to do that than to, you know, put on a fight like this. It’s a complete circus, but you know, who’s not going to watch it if you have Netflix, right? Who’s not going to watch it live.
cinik (10:31)
Exactly.
Ryan (10:33)
Yeah. So yeah, it’s one of those things that I think we will all, you know, tune into and I think we’ll all talk about it one way or another. So Justin, have you, have you been watching anything or you’ve been too busy building your house? Yeah. All right.
[email protected] (10:38)
Oh yeah, we’re all tuning in.
Not too much, just what we’re going to talk about today.
I am, I’m getting pseudo hyped for a baseball season as a Mets fan. It’s, it’s, it’s a mid year where they’re like, not going to be, they’re going to be a decent team. They’re not going to be a great team. They don’t have the pitching for it. I don’t believe they do at least, I guess you never know, but they’ve got a lot of good young players and that’s the, and, um, you know, moneybags is taking the approach of let’s try to have a, uh, you know, build some longevity here. It’s like maybe the, the massive spending spree, which is also adjacent
what you’re about to mention will occur next year. Because you know, for Cohen, it’s all basically monopoly money. He can throw it around with what he has. It’s nothing that’s going to dent him too much. And it’s like it.
cinik (11:30)
Well, they went all in last year and spent a lot of money on two pitchers. That didn’t work out. And they even told one of the pitchers on the way out the door, listen, we’re not going to be competitive for next year. Um, because they need, they ate most of those contracts to get rid of them, but they did get some good pieces back. Uh, you guys just added JD Martinez, which is another quality of bat. So it’s quite possible that you can make some noise. The problem they’re going to have Justin, to be honest with you, is that division is just so damn tough.
[email protected] (11:35)
Yeah, and it wasn’t wise.
Yeah.
Yeah. Oh, sure. Sure did.
Yeah, it’ll be a decent, it’ll be a decent year.
It’s tough. Yeah, the Braves are tough and you know, but you know, it’s, things are weird. Like anything can happen. Like we’re not expecting, and it’s nice going into a season, being able to say, you know what, I’m just gonna enjoy watching this. I’m not, there’s, you know, we’re not pressured. We’re not expecting to win. So let’s just see some of the young players. What’s his name? What’s really heartbreaking that. What’s his name? Torres ACL, cause that he was so good.
I keep forgetting his name, you know, the Mets stud, you know, their major prospect. But yeah, so that’s upsetting, but they got other good players. Yeah, yeah, he was so good. He was great as a rookie. And then they just, of course, he tears his ACL. But
cinik (12:29)
Oh, McCurio or something like that. Yeah.
[email protected] (12:38)
It’ll be fun. You know, it’s, uh, I’ve kind of got into watching games, uh, like everything on, you know, uh, flipping through them. Cause I, I couldn’t get the, um, the games when I was in Nashville. So I got the MLB subscription to watch the Mets and I would just like flip through it and, you know, basically watch a, a 40 minute game, cause it’s hard to sit through a three hour baseball game. I know they’ve, they w I think actually what they’ve done to shorten the games has really helped though. So it’s much more, much more tolerable than having to sit through these.
cinik (13:04)
Oh, it’s…
I’ll tell you to watch it live is a lot better, but to see it or to watch it on TV is great. It’s made it a lot better because I gotta get up in the morning. So a seven o’clock game is getting over at 10, which never happened before. But if you go live, like you’ve really got to plan your trips to the bathroom or the concession stand, or you’re gonna miss two innings easy. The game moves that quick in person.
[email protected] (13:08)
tedious games. Yeah, I bet.
I know it’s just much better.
Ryan (13:27)
Mm-hmm. Really? Wow. So now, I guess quickly, who are your picks for this season? Let’s say, who are your picks to make it to the World Series?
[email protected] (13:29)
It’s good. About time.
cinik (13:37)
Well, that’s leading into another new story you have, but the Dodgers look amazing, the Braves look amazing. Over in the American League, it still looks like it’s the Astros.
Ryan (13:40)
Yeah.
Okay. Justin?
[email protected] (13:47)
You think the Astros, not the Rangers, you don’t think they’ll be back.
cinik (13:51)
Um, I think so. I just, uh, I’ll never count Houston out. I think the Rangers were more of a, a Cinderella team. They’re a quality team, but I just don’t think they’ve got the, the consistent horses that the, the Astros do.
[email protected] (13:56)
Yeah, you never count each channel, bud.
Ryan (14:01)
Mm-hmm.
[email protected] (14:03)
If.
Maybe not, but if DeGrom comes back healthy and if he comes back good to form, he, you know, that’s a big, big if. If, it’s always an if, it’s always an if, right? Yeah, it’s like you go for, you can be either the best pitcher or just go a whole, you know, not throw a single pitch in a season. Like it’s just, you know, upset. It’s how we go. When, yeah, that’s it.
cinik (14:11)
See, your inner Mets fan is showing their if to gram, if to gram, if to gram. Now always, well, with the gram, it’s a big if, it’s a capital if.
Yeah, when he’s on the mound, he’s the best there is. But he’s not on the mound a lot.
Ryan (14:33)
Yeah. All right. Well, you guys have alluded to our first new story. So let me just get through what I’ve watched recently and then we can talk about. We’ll talk about one of the big news story for the day. So I guess with the Oscars, I got into trying to catch up on some of the Oscar movies. So I watched Poor Things and American Fiction. Have you guys seen either of those movies?
cinik (14:52)
Nah, I have not.
Ryan (14:53)
Okay, so both are good. So Poor Things, it’s a weird movie. Emma Stone’s in it. It’s like a Frankenstein-ish type of monster, basically, where like, a child’s brain has been put into an adult’s body. And it is kind of weird, because it is very hypersexualized. Like, it’s like she’s naked and having sex throughout the entire movie. And
you keep going back to well, you know, how old is she? Like how old is the brain in her? It’s like what a few years? It’s just kind of just weird. It’s a beautifully shot movie. Like it’s just so weird visuals. Really good cast and very strange. She won an Oscar for it. And I largely think she deserved the Oscar. She was really good in it. But definitely a strange movie if you’re up for something like that.
And then I watched American fiction, which was very good. It’s Jeffrey Wright. He’s a writer. He’s a black author who is struggling and does not wanna kind of put out books that are focused on like the black struggle. He almost sees himself as like, in several times he says he’s colorblind and doesn’t want to, he kind of wants to just be a writer, not a black author. And then ends up kind of.
doing it as a joke and becoming very successful because of it and hijinks ensued. It’s a really, really well done movie. And I think Jeffrey Wright was also nominated for an Oscar and he didn’t win, but was an excellent performance and definitely worth watching if you guys have the chance.
cinik (16:26)
He’s just one of those actors, Ryan, that makes everything he’s in better. Like the season that he was on Boardwalk Empire was probably the best season for a game player. You know, that had something to do with Bobby Cavalli as well. But, you know, Jeffrey Wright really brought it that season.
Ryan (16:35)
Yeah.
He’s great. When he, you know, he’s great in Westworld. He’s even great when they, I remember them announcing him as commissioner Gordon is like perfect. He was great. Like you get it. Even in that role, I love Miss Gordon. He’s like, he’s such an awesome actor. So I’m glad that he’s getting, you know, very well-deserved recognition as he’s just, he’s awesome. So anyway, let’s get to it. So the big news story is over the last couple of days, this just.
cinik (16:49)
Yeah.
Ryan (17:10)
crazy story with Shohei Otani, the greatest baseball player we have ever seen. He signs with the Dodgers for a massive contract. I think it’s like in the 700 million dollar range. We find out that his interpreter, Ipe Mizura, probably butchering the name, but basically the interpreter is being accused of what they term massive theft. And his lawyer said that he basically used Otani’s money.
to place bets within legal bookie in California. And he claims that Otani paid off his 4.5 million in debt. However, the Otani camp denies it and are accusing him of theft. And this is an ever-changing story. So I may not have the facts right anymore, but it’s just insane. Cynic, what are your thoughts on it?
cinik (17:58)
Well, I mean, it would really suck if he’s tied into this whole thing and they find out. First off, who’s still using an illegal bookie? You can’t walk three feet without seeing a fucking advertisement for online gambling everywhere.
Ryan (18:03)
Yeah.
[email protected] (18:07)
I know, that’s… I know, I was just…
Ryan (18:11)
Yeah.
cinik (18:13)
But he’s the golden boy of baseball right now. He’s the face of baseball without a doubt, despite what some of the naysayers say that, oh, he speaks very little English, he can’t be the face of baseball. He is, he’s the modern day Babe Ruth, and it would be terrible that if he gets caught up in something, and even worse for the Dodgers, because they’re on the hook for 700 million. So I hope, I really hope for the sport and for him as a player, as a person, that he’s, you know, just…
Ryan (18:16)
Yeah.
Yeah.
cinik (18:43)
in with the wrong people and that he did maybe try to help out, which seems like a cover-up because Pete Rose did some similar things where he placed bets through other people and then tried to accuse them of making those bets. So right away, everybody’s grouping them up with Pete Rose before there’s a shred of evidence.
Ryan (18:45)
Yeah.
Yeah.
[email protected] (19:02)
So, well, maybe you guys know, what were the bets on?
cinik (19:08)
Well, they’re saying everything but baseball. It was like all the NBA, NFL, everything but baseball, but we don’t know. You know, they’re illegal bookies, so how are we supposed to know where the bets went? My big thing is liable on the internet, on things like Facebook and Instagram. If you come out and say something like that without proper, you know, due diligence or without knowing the facts, there really should be, if I was famous, I would hire people.
Ryan (19:10)
Okay
[email protected] (19:13)
everything else. That’s what I thought.
Ryan (19:16)
Yeah.
Yeah.
cinik (19:35)
to sue people that say stuff. You can keep the money, whatever you get from them, you know, hire a law firm and just sue random fucking nobodies on the internet that run their mouth like that. Because they say the worst things about people. This guy’s addicted to gambling, this guy’s addicted to sex, this guy’s been on Epstein Island. People need to get sued for that. You can’t just make statements like that.
[email protected] (19:56)
Yeah, no, it’s, there’s a difference between freedom of speech and freedom from consequence.
Ryan (19:57)
Yeah, sorry about that. Yeah.
cinik (19:58)
I think Ryan’s twerking.
Exactly.
[email protected] (20:04)
right? So, what gave me pause is the thought of, all right, so there’s two schools. There’s like, why would Otani need to be placing bets, right? Like, is what first comes to mind, right? This guy is super wealthy. Like, he could, you know, he could go, if he likes gambling, if gambling is his thing, then he could go to a casino anywhere in the world
to his heart’s content, he could charter a private jet, take him, give him, you know, every, you know, the top treatment for any casino person and he could gamble to his, you know, his heart’s content. So why would he be involved in that? And then there comes the second thought of people do dumb things. It’s like, why did, you know, and I saw an interesting documentary on it. Like, why did Michael Vick, for instance, do dogfighting?
Like a guy who was the top player, one of the top players in the NFL making a ton of money and super good looking, like was on his way to Hollywood. Like, why would you do that? Like, just like what’s the thought process behind it? And people do, and they’re not, and there’s many examples. People do dumb things. So that was how much of it. And then of course there’s the thought, all right, maybe he was just helping a friend out. He was just like, look, you’re in trouble. I’m just going to bail you out. I have the money. I can just.
spend it and let’s just be done with it. So that was what came to my mind. Why would he gamble when he could have the best gambling treatment? But then people do dumb things, with that defy logic. So that’s my thought on it.
Ryan (21:40)
Yeah.
Yeah.
cinik (21:44)
Well, and I think that’s the most likely of scenarios. I think you hit the nail right on the head with that I think it’s gonna be he tried to clean up somebody else’s mess and he’ll be one of the Long line of famous people that have just gotten bed with the wrong person
[email protected] (21:51)
Well that’s it.
Ryan (21:58)
Yeah. You’ve got to think, I mean, you know, somebody, a generational talent, um, somebody who’s got to have, I would imagine as the right people around him would not be making like that, those poor choices. Now we’ve seen that in the past, but you just do have to think that he was trying to help a friend and that he’s not like got this massive gambling problem. Um, my question though is, let’s say it is really his problem. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but I feel like the MLB.
might do everything they in their power to cover this cover it up with the amount of money that is invested in him. It’s like I there aren’t many situations where I really believe that they would go to that extent. But like with somebody like this, you almost feel like they would do whatever they had to do to cover it up, toss the guy under the bus, whatever they got to do, because he’s the golden child. And again, is it like, you know, a talent, you know, in baseball that we’ve never seen before, or, you know, at least haven’t seen since Babe Ruth. So it’s like
they’re gonna do what they can to make sure that he’s okay.
cinik (23:00)
I would agree with that. It may already be in process.
[email protected] (23:00)
Yeah, it just keeps going back to, yeah, I’m sure. There’s definitely some damage control, right? That’s, you know, they’re on it. So the question is, all right, so we’ve seen, there’s been plenty of other athletes that have had gambling problems. Cecil Fielder comes to mind, right? He actually, very tragic story. He basically lost all his money gambling, right? But he went and he gambled legally in a casino.
Ryan (23:03)
Yeah, so we may never know the whole truth
[email protected] (23:28)
So I’m just, the only thing is gambling and you know, Sid, it’s like what you said. Why would you gamble illegally when you can gamble legally? Like if you want to lose all your money, you can do it legally. And people wouldn’t bat an eye. They would say, Oh, this doesn’t look good. Like would MLB go to that length to really hide up a legal problem? Like, I don’t think so. I think if you wanted to gamble legally, it would be no, a non-issue.
cinik (23:54)
I don’t know what the collective bargaining agreement says, but I would imagine that they’re allowed to make wagers on other sports. So the only reason you would hide it if they are allowed is that you were betting on baseball.
[email protected] (24:00)
Yeah, you can, you can, yeah.
Ryan (24:07)
Yeah, no, that’s fair. It makes sense. I mean, but it just Yeah, I mean, yeah. Yeah, I gotta believe it’s not it’s got I gotta believe it’s just friend got a gambling issue and Yeah, yeah.
[email protected] (24:08)
to those what do you think like what are you thinking if that’s if it was which just hard to believe but
cinik (24:20)
talk about blowing the gig of a lifetime. You do nothing, you interpret. That’s all you do. Like, you know a language, you know another language, and you just go back. And Otani, if we’re being fair, speaks English. He does, I’ve heard him. So he may not have all the nuances of it, but he’s probably about 60, 70% of the way there. So how much interpreting is this guy really doing? And he’s probably pulling down a couple hundred thousand dollars a year.
Ryan (24:31)
And yeah.
[email protected] (24:34)
You speak silly little English, yeah?
Ryan (24:40)
Yeah.
No, I think I read somewhere between three and five hundred thousand dollars a year. Like, why would you give that up? Or like, yeah, that doesn’t make sense. I mean, it’s just insanity.
cinik (24:48)
That’s insane! How do you blow that fucking gig?
[email protected] (24:56)
Well, that doesn’t help the argument that it was, it was that, and maybe he’s just being the fall guy. Why would someone just, people do dumb things though, but on any side of the coin, people do dumb things.
Ryan (25:00)
Hahaha
Yeah, exactly. So, I mean, I, you know, it’ll, I, I hope for the sake of like, you know, MLB and, and Otani that, that it is really the interpreter. Yeah. But I mean, like, I think like as somebody who’s not as big a baseball fan as I once was, right, like once was a massive baseball fan, I feel like he’s, he’s an incredibly important figure for the sport, for the sport.
[email protected] (25:15)
I don’t I hope for the sake of the Dodgers getting creamed that a big scandal comes out and you know, it just misses
Ryan (25:34)
It’s more than just a Dodger. Like, right, if he was playing for any, if he was playing for the Red Sox, you know, as a Yankees fan, like it’s still, he’s so important, I think, to the sport that you gotta hope that it’s not him, because that would be a crushing blow. I mean, that would do a lot of damage, not just to the Dodgers, but to MLB in general, if this scandal involves him actually betting, right? Like that would be a serious issue.
[email protected] (25:53)
do some damage here.
cinik (26:01)
And that’s why his MO is such that he’s very much Derek Jeter-esque with the way he conducts himself, both on the field and off the field. Like he just recently got married and he released a statement. Hey, I got married. I’m not saying who it is. I’m not releasing pictures. I just letting everyone know I’m not buying that he has some sort of hidden problem.
Ryan (26:07)
Yeah.
I’m not saying who it is, but I’m not saying who it is.
Yeah. So we’ll, I’m sure again, it’ll come out one way or another, but, but hopefully, hopefully it is just the interpreter who blew the gig of a lifetime.
[email protected] (26:27)
Do you think that there’s any chance that he’s gay, that he got married to a dude, and that’s, you know? And they were like, look, we don’t mind.
cinik (26:34)
Well, he did refer to her as the Japanese woman, so I don’t know. But if you’re, um, if you’re the interpreter, you know somebody’s writing that guy’s a huge check that he’s getting on the back end for being the fall guy. He’ll have tons of money to gamble away then.
Ryan (26:37)
Hahaha!
Yeah. Oh yeah. No, almost most definitely. Yeah. Seriously. Alright, so next to show was a funny story that I saw a couple last week. So that so do you guys watch the Power Rangers growing like Power Rangers at all?
[email protected] (26:47)
Yeah, yeah, of course.
Um, so, um.
Not only did I not watch the Power Rangers, but I had a visceral dislike of them for a couple reasons. One, because it was so corny, but I didn’t get at the time that it was like that on purpose, right? Or was it like that on purpose? I actually still don’t even know to this day. And I didn’t like the fact that they usurped the Ninja Turtles, which was one of my, which was my favorite show as a kid.
Ryan (27:17)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
[email protected] (27:36)
even though I would have outgrown it and I didn’t care so I just I didn’t like it. I did like the music though.
of it.
Ryan (27:43)
it did kind of take the world by storm. We were like, it’s like right in that time, like we were in high school. So like, we were maybe a little old for it, but like, I remember watching like the first season of it. Um, but anyway, the story is that the original red ranger, Austin St. John, whose career peaked at that point, um, started a clothing line. And, uh, I’ll read, I’ll read this quote. So I have some ranger oriented clothes. Uh, and then I’m building a warrior line.
where I’ll go back in history from pre-Greek days and Justin, I would, or we’ll say it again, Justin. You can start to figure out where this is going. As far back as I can, I’m gonna have famous quotes from warriors of all ilks, including the terrible ones. Hitler was, you know, a demon on steroids, but he had some pretty good one-liners. So everybody from the great ones to the infamous and terrible ones. Like how dumb is that to have a clothing line and include Hitler?
cinik (28:42)
Imagine showing up to meet your girlfriend’s family with this Hitler quote on your shirt.
[email protected] (28:42)
Goes I guess it goes back to the theme of the day
Ryan (28:48)
Sadly, there will probably be a lot of people that will end up buying this.
[email protected] (28:51)
Maybe, well, look, maybe we think it’s dumb, but maybe it’s not like maybe that’s a strategy. It’s like, look, there’s no way I can succeed just doing a regular clothing line. So I’m just going to appeal to, you know, you know, those people that would appreciate this. I mean, look, it’s Trump made a living off of it. So recently.
Ryan (29:01)
Ha ha
I guess. Yeah, but yeah. I know, right? That’s a story I thought about batting. It was like, let’s stay away from politics for the day. But yeah, that’s gonna be really, it seems like he’s gonna have a rough time, a rough couple of weeks.
cinik (29:14)
He’s having a hard time making that bond. I don’t know how much of a living he’s made is of silly.
[email protected] (29:16)
Yeah, now he is. Not that good of living, not that good of living.
Let’s stay away from that.
cinik (29:21)
Oof.
[email protected] (29:28)
I did see a good meme. It was like the name’s Bond can’t pay the Bond. So
cinik (29:37)
I’ve seen a lot of Taylor Swift like, hey, she can write a 400, 400 million dollar check.
Ryan (29:37)
Yeah.
Yeah, seriously. Oh yeah. It’s, uh, maybe we’ll talk about it next week as, because I think it’s only getting more, like we’re still at the point where like they’re starting to seize stuff and we’ll see what kind of, what, what ensues the next couple of weeks for maybe something that we kind of have to talk about, but yeah. Um.
[email protected] (29:43)
Hahaha
Yeah.
cinik (29:57)
If they start taking letters off of Trump Tower in New York, say, we gotta go. We gotta go over there.
Ryan (30:00)
Yeah. Right. That’s that’s just crazy. So, yeah, I just I thought it was like just such a weird thing. Like why would you start a quote like, oh, yeah, start a clothing level. Why would you do that? And then why would you announce that or advertise it and say it almost like you’re proud of it? Like, like I thought we’re past that point. There’s no there’s like it’s like a.
cinik (30:22)
Ryan, it’s not a question of right or wrong. It’s just a question of how much attention can I bring to myself? It’s the same, like 99% of everything on Twitter is bullshit. It’s just inflammatory, it’s fake, it’s made up. It’s, people don’t even believe what they say. They just put it out there to see if they can get a reaction.
Ryan (30:29)
Fair enough, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, that’s true. You’re absolutely right. And then another, so speaking of Twitter, we’ll move over to TikTok, where last week Congress voted to ban TikTok if they don’t sell to a, I don’t know if it’s a US-based organization or just a company not based in China, but basically TikTok is owned by ByteDance, which is a Chinese business. I know as far as who owns the company, I know part of their investors involve a variety of people.
people in groups, but the argument is that it’s spearheaded or largely controlled by the Chinese government and that there’s potentially spying on people through the app. And while TikTok has safeguards in place, which includes that I think all the data is routed through Oracle or through, or the data is gone through a firewall through Oracle, whatever. I’m sure I butchered the wording on that, but.
Basically, they claim there is protections there and that everything in the US is routed there so that it does not go directly to China. Congress thinks otherwise. And the argument against it, obviously, is that it’s a free speech issue and that it’s not fair to target TikToks. Have you guys been following the story at all? Yeah. And what’s your position sitting?
cinik (31:55)
I have.
[email protected] (31:56)
little bit.
cinik (32:01)
My position is as such that you’re worried about TikTok, which I believe TikTok is a huge problem, and I believe that should have been banned a long time ago because it’s a Chinese app not allowed in China, so that tells you what they feel about TikTok. But we allow them to make our TVs and our phones and our security systems and our processors and tons of things that they could build kill switches in, but we’re worried about a social media app. We continue to…
[email protected] (32:21)
BINGO!
Bingo.
cinik (32:28)
We allow them to make medicine. We allow them supplies for our weapons and our aircraft. And come on, dude, this is where the hill you’re gonna die on? You know, we’ve already given the keys to our kingdom, but we’re worried that girls are shaking their ass on TikTok. It’s ridiculous. And if we’re not gonna look at the whole of the behavior, then we can’t look at the bits and pieces that we choose that are problematic. TikTok is a problem because
[email protected] (32:40)
Yeah, it’s…
Yeah, it’s.
cinik (32:58)
the as much as they want to say that, oh, we don’t give away information. If China wants information, they they’ve got to give it to them. They’ve got I watched the guy and he did a very good job. I can’t remember his name, but he sat before the Senate. And, you know, ultimately, they couldn’t nail him down on being part of the Communist Party. And he wasn’t even from China. But they’ve got to answer to the parent company and the parent company’s got to answer to the Republic of China.
[email protected] (33:20)
Oh yeah, remember that.
Ryan (33:26)
Justin, you sound like you agree.
[email protected] (33:28)
So I think, yeah, I completely agree. It’s like, yeah, I mean, how many potential data breaches could happen with anything that we do? It’s like, our information is out there. It’s just, it’s ridiculous. It’s like, yeah, that’s the hill you’re gonna die on. I do, like there, I would bet there are some backdoor ulterior motives going on with Congress
always is. It’s like, you know, the, at least on the face of it, the one thing Democrats and Republicans agree on is making backdoor deals so that they all get wealthy. Right. So
who knows what’s going on and what the ulterior motives are. I also think that if there is an honest aspect to it, which I never believe, with anything involving either powerful politicians or powerful corporations, right? Or what, you know, it’s never fair. It’s never transparent, but.
there’s an element of influence there too. Because now with just how good these algorithms are for showing you stuff that you want, there is a, and look, this could be said, and it’s a big discussion really about any social media, is how much influence can it have? How much can it…
I don’t like to use the term brainwashing because I’m of the belief that people who get brainwashed are people who want to get brainwashed for the most part, you know, given, you know, with a little leeway there, but for the most part. So how much influence can a social media app have over people, right? How much can it feed based on what you’ve watched, give you, feed you misinformation, political stuff, right?
Ryan (35:18)
I mean, a lot.
a lot.
[email protected] (35:23)
just like and get you, you know, get you crazy, you know, like we’ve seen stuff like this. There’s been people like there’s been people who have who have basically watched too much Fox News and we’ve gone crazy and killed people. Like it’s happened, right? There are, you know, there’s stories happen and social media as well.
cinik (35:38)
But it’s happened through social media as well. And in third world countries, rumors get started all the time and people get hunted down for them. I mean, before QAnon was forced into, the dark corners of the web like 4chan, it grew and thrived on Twitter and Facebook. These things are dangerous and they really need to be looked at.
Ryan (35:40)
Yeah.
[email protected] (35:45)
even more so through social media.
Ryan (35:54)
Yeah. And I think the larger thing is like, yeah, you know, there, I’m sure there is an issue with spying, but, you know, potentially, and I’m sure there’s back doors for China to get through whatever, you know, safeguards are in place, but I think, you know, AOC kind of made the best point on this is, is like, there should be a set of regulations that should apply to all social media companies. Cause at the end of the day, like you said, Justin, like they’re, they’re all problematic.
[email protected] (35:56)
So there’s an element of that too.
Ryan (36:23)
They all have issues with data and with privacy and with influence. And it’s kind of one of those, it’s like where we, I feel like we’re with AI right now where we lost the internet, you know, where we did our social media, where we didn’t regulate it enough, and then it became too powerful and too influential. And now you can’t like put the toothpaste back in the tube, you know, so to speak in that situation. And I think, you know, the issue is find a way to properly regulate all social media.
And then they all have to follow the same guidelines. And then if they don’t, then you can force them to sell. But to just target TikTok seems a little strange because, you know, it seems more, it’s more of like a, it seems more political than it does, you know, because there’s an actual, you know, threat, uh, you know, and obviously there’s these growing tensions with, you know, the U S and China and, uh, you know, that, and it is the perfect bastion of like, this is a Chinese company that it’s taking over here and so we’re going to, you know, put them in their place. And so, yeah, it’s like,
[email protected] (37:04)
It’s definitely political.
Ryan (37:21)
Create a set of regulations that everybody can follow and then force them to do it. Otherwise it just, it feels political and it feels like, okay, if you really cared about privacy and you really cared about information, not an influence peddling from other countries, I feel like there were other things you would do, but this was kind of like the easy political thing where you can kind of score some points.
All right. So, um, onto our next, we got two more things. We have two trailers we’re going to watch and then, um, we’ll get over to talking a little bit about Shogun. So, um, Justin, as you know, um, I’m a massive fan of the Crow, um, both the, the comic and I really
[email protected] (38:00)
When we used to wrestle each other, we had our pseudo pro wrestling league in junior high school. Ryan was a face and he was Raven. He chose the next best, yeah, he chose the next best thing. You should sue, you should sue. I was the original Raven.
Ryan (38:06)
Ha ha
before the actual Raven, right? Yeah. Before the Raven, yeah. But yeah, right. Yeah. No, so, but anyway, so, so the Crow is one of my favorite, favorite comic books. You know, I love the movie, you know, obviously tragic in its own way. And I just, we watched it a few weeks ago and it holds up. It’s still a fantastic movie. And you know, kind of like, you realize like how, how big of a loss, I guess, you know, Brandon Lee was. Cause I think he was somebody who was headed for superstardom. He was so good in that.
[email protected] (38:35)
interesting.
Ryan (38:42)
such a good actor and you’re good with action. So, it’s sad. And I think there have been, there were a couple of sequels over the years. And over the last 10 years, I wanna say, there’ve been several attempts to reboot it, with various actors attached to it. And they finally have one with Bill Skarsgård of It fame, attached as playing the role of Eric Draven. So when I saw that the trailer came out, I decided I’m gonna wait.
I’m going to watch it live because it’s a really, it’s a movie and, uh, property that’s dear to my heart. And, uh, we’ll, we’ll decide what it’s like. So, um, so we’re going to all watch this. Justin, have you seen the trailer? Nope. Okay. I know you have cynics, so, uh, let’s watch the trailer and then we will, uh, we’ll discuss.
[email protected] (39:19)
No, I’m looking forward to it though.
cinik (42:34)
Well, I can say that I really hope that he avenges the death of his girlfriend Harley Quinn, and he may kill the suicide squad this time.
Ryan (42:35)
Ugh.
Yeah, so like, I saw some of the memes about, about it kind of looking like the Jared Leto Joker and yay, kind of does. And oh yeah, that’s not what I wanted out of this movie if they were going to redo it. Yeah. I mean, looks not. It’s like, you know, the.
cinik (43:01)
Could we at least do the makeup? Like, I don’t know.
Ryan (43:08)
what I, and I’m not somebody like, you know, not somebody who’s like a big, oh, the books were better or whatever. I think, you know, in this case, like the movie, the original Crow movie was quite a bit different from the story in the comic and in ways that I think were good. And it was good in its own way. So when they announced that there was gonna be a movie, and I’d be interested to see if the original, the writer of the comic was involved in this at all. Cause I think when they, when I,
heard they were writing or they were rebooting the movie. My one thought was, okay, if they make a movie that, like I don’t need a new Crow movie, but if they make one that’s maybe a little bit closer to the book, that might be interesting, right? Cause I don’t need to redo the movie, but if you’re gonna redo it, let’s make it a little bit closer to the book. That might be interesting. There’s some interesting things in the book that might work. And I think that the one thing with Bill Skarsgård is he’s got a physicality to him that could be an interesting kind of…
interpretation of James O’Barr’s art. So in that way, for me it was like, okay, that might be interesting, but this is not it. Like this looks like a, you know, very, you know, like stylized kind of all in the wrong way. You know, the violence, it looks interesting, I guess, but kind of like, it’s like, it’s more like, look at this cool way we, you know, look at this cool way we killed somebody more than like, you know, something that’s just guttural and violent. Like, you know, if you ever read or hear the story of,
why he wrote this or how he came up with it. It’s like pure revenge fantasy. And it’s purely, you know, just from, came from a place of like utter pain and despair. And this movie’s not it. Exactly like you said, it feels like, you know, you decided to make it look like Jared Leto’s Joker, like a stylized, like kind of cool looking, it’s like, no, that’s not it. Like this is somebody in extreme pain and suffering. And that’s not what I got from this trailer at all. Yeah.
cinik (44:59)
It feels like they’re gonna have a villain problem too, because the villains look way too fucking normal. You know, it’s like somebody’s school teacher and somebody’s principal.
Ryan (45:07)
Exactly. Yeah, you’re totally right. Like it looks like, okay, you know, but yeah, no. And like the villains in, again, the original movie, they all had a unique look. They looked, I mean, they looked like people that were on the street, like every single one of them. And I’m forgetting the actor that plays the main villain, but he’s so good. And like this, yeah, this, I don’t know, I’m not excited. Like this is not, I don’t even know that I’m gonna want to go see this thing because it just does.
[email protected] (45:09)
Look like they’re going the corporate route for the villain, the corporate villain.
look, you can never tell, right? Like some, so it could wind up being, it could wind up being better than it looks. To me, I’m in the same boat. It looks like let’s do this very sexy and stylized.
Ryan (45:37)
Not what I was wanting out of it.
Yeah.
[email protected] (45:53)
right and sort of lose the pain. Now look, the original crow was sexy too, but not like let’s flaunt it. I feel this is like let’s make it, you know, let’s do everything, you know, like real stylized, real slick, right, and just, you know, was that Ozzy Osbourne? Is that an Ozzy Osbourne song? It’s like, right, yeah, it’s like
Ryan (46:03)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yes. It’s out. I’m pretty sure it was right. Yeah.
cinik (46:18)
It sounded like it.
[email protected] (46:22)
The day of hell has come when Ozzy Osbourne sounds like a cross between Imagine Dragons and Drake. So like we’ve come there but I’m sure it’s something.
Ryan (46:29)
Well, the question is, is it actually a song or was it, is he, is it like a, you know, weird remix of something? Cause that’s what I mean, a lot of these trailers, what they do is they’ll take a song, remix it to fit the, that’s the other thing is like, it just feels like a movie trailer. It’s like, it’s just too, I don’t know. Like it, it. Yeah.
[email protected] (46:36)
I gotta listen to it, but it didn’t sound bad, but…
Yeah, look, it’s okay, I’m just being funny, but you never know.
cinik (46:47)
One of the things I loved about the original was it felt like you’re watching a comic book. It was like a comic book come to life. And this does not feel like that.
[email protected] (46:52)
Yes, that was.
Ryan (46:53)
Yes. This is not it. No. So I mean, that’s the thing is like the, the hope for me was like, okay, we’re going to see something that maybe is even more like that, like, let’s give it, like, give us a story that from the book. And it’s just very much like, it’s just all just pain, right? Anguish and physicality and like, cool. I’m, I’m here for that. This, um, you know, not so much. So yeah, I mean, we’ll, we’ll see. Like.
[email protected] (46:55)
where they shot it. No, it doesn’t look like it.
look, maybe it’s good in its own way, but yeah, it looks like a very slick, very well produced sort of, you know, sexy modern take on things that may not hold true to the original idea. But
Ryan (47:27)
I’m
Let’s put it this way. I don’t need my Crow movie to be, you know, trying to be John Wick. And that’s kind of the feeling I also got watching that trailer. It’s like, is this, is this the Crow or is this trying to be John Wick? Right? Cause like that’s something stylized, you know, looks great, you know, shot awesome, which okay. Yeah, it could be shot. Well, whatever, you know, but you know, ultra violent, creative violence, like that’s not what I really need out of this, right? And then so, you know, also then mentioning, you know, you mentioned the, the music and like, again,
a movie with one of the best soundtracks in history, like ever, you know, just such an amazing soundtrack. An episode we got to do one day is like some of the, which I feel like the Crow will make all of our top five lists because it’s just such an amazing soundtrack and uses the music in the movie so well too. But yeah, okay. So yeah, we’ll see, you know, it’s one of those like, if it gets, I feel like right now watching it, like as big of a fan as I am like,
cinik (48:04)
of all time.
Ryan (48:26)
This is something where it’d have to get really good reviews for me to want to go watch it. Because otherwise I just feel like if this gets mediocre reviews, then there’s no part of me that wants to see it. Yeah, like you said, Cynic, he doesn’t even have the makeup. Why don’t I watch this thing? So, all right. All right. So we’ll watch one more thing. So Cynic, you mentioned the Civil War trailer. I have not seen this yet. So we’re going to check this out too.
Sorry.
cinik (48:59)
Thanks for watching!
Ryan (50:22)
Oh, wow. And that’s, that’s coming up soon. That. Yeah.
cinik (50:25)
Yeah, talk about the perfect movie at the perfect time. I just want to know how badly did fucking Washington mess up for California and Texas to succeed together? Like they can’t get on the same page about anything. So what did they do over there? That they’re like, fuck Nick Offerman, we’re out.
Ryan (50:34)
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. No, that’s a good trailer. Yeah.
[email protected] (50:43)
Well, just.
interesting. It’s funny. Yes, California and Texas together. So to me, that looks like they’re, they’re trying to stay away from anything. From the trailer from that looks like they’re trying to not be too political in the, for what’s going on now, make it about a different world. So that’s what it seems like they’re trying to do this without being making too much of a modern political statement. But who knows, maybe there is something in there.
Ryan (51:06)
Yeah.
smart to release it before the election. But that looks good. It’s eight, yeah, 824. So there, and you know, 824 is generally, you know, they, you know, put out good movies. Yeah, Nick Offerman is great. And anything he’s in. So yeah, that’s something I’ll definitely want to go see. And that’s coming out soon. So maybe something that we can add, we’ll add to our, add to the schedule to review.
cinik (51:15)
Yes.
[email protected] (51:16)
Yes. Yeah, interesting timing.
cinik (51:37)
I’ll tell you what too, I talk about an actress that’s really coming to her prime, Kristen Dunst, it seems like ever since she did Fargo, everything she does, everything she shows up in is fucking fantastic. And she’s in this too, which makes me excited.
[email protected] (51:37)
So here.
Ryan (51:45)
Yeah.
Yeah.
[email protected] (51:52)
So this is the sense that I’m getting. And after we watch it, we can see that I have…
Ryan (51:53)
Yeah.
[email protected] (52:00)
wondering the third, this just smells like a third act movie that just degenerates into nothingness. Like that’s the sense that I’m getting that like it starts off good, it has a good premise and the third act it falls apart. That’s would be the concern looking at it which a lot of movies like this that are trying to that try to bite off this ginormous you know idea like how is it gonna
Ryan (52:21)
like every Marvel movie.
[email protected] (52:30)
to degrade itself into just a lot of violence and just a lot of shooting and killing and bombing or whatever it is? Or is there going to be a like an intelligent resolution where it doesn’t just fall apart and you know degenerate into you know just a bloodbath? So
Ryan (52:53)
Well, we will find out in a couple of weeks then, but I’m hopeful. I think they, you know, like I said, I think, you know, I think 824 movies tend to be a step above that. And so I’m hoping that if you do get that crazy third act, which I’m sure you will get at some of that, that there it makes sense and that it’s not just like, you know, just doesn’t devolve into insanity for the sake of it. So let’s get to it. So the main thing, which I don’t think we’re going to spend a ton of time on.
talking about it, but we’ve all caught up with, we’ve all watched some level of Shoguns. I think Sinek and I both watched one episode. Justin, you’ve watched two. And so if you haven’t watched Shogun yet, it basically is kind of a, it’s hard to describe it. It’s basically like 17th century feudal Japan. It’s kind of a semi-historical drama.
There are no expenses spared, I will say, as far as like costumes and the set design and whatever effects. Like it looks amazing. But basically this kind of, at least from what we’ve gotten the first episode is you have this kind of power struggle within the council of regents. And when at the same time, a European ship kind of washes ashore. And
you know, you have these characters that are kind of like in the middle of, again, you have these people that are in the middle of a power struggle when the Europeans show up. And I’m not quite sure where the show is going to go at this point. And we’ll get into a little bit about what our thoughts are as far as where it’ll go after this first episode. But on the first question, Cynic, did you get heavy Game of Thrones vibes, like as soon as it started, basically?
cinik (54:30)
Yeah, I mean, they did move the story around like Game of Thrones where we got to see different characters in different areas. And it was a lot of getting to know you in the first episode, figuring out who’s who, because whenever you get into these martial art type shows, you have a hard time picking up who’s who.
So I think they did a good job kind of flushing out everybody’s character to start.
[email protected] (54:57)
It’s so funny that you say that.
Ryan (55:04)
Yeah, definitely seemed like that. What are your thoughts, Justin?
[email protected] (55:07)
Well, so well, first off, I want to mention that it’s based off a novel, right, from 1975. Guy’s name is James Clavel, right. And this wasn’t the first adaptation of it. There was a series, I believe, before, right. So first it was the novel. And then I think there was a series. It’s funny, I started watching it with my girlfriend. She’s like, yeah, I know the story. I read the novel. And I saw the first take of it. So I’m watching it for the third time. And they actually are staying pretty true.
Ryan (55:19)
Yeah.
[email protected] (55:36)
But they’re staying pretty true to the story, which I think is cool. It’s nice that they’re doing that. Based on what Sinek said, are we going to do any rating? Or we’re just…
Ryan (55:43)
Yeah.
You can, we’ll talk about kind of if we’re gonna recommend it or not, but yeah.
[email protected] (55:53)
Okay, to me that, I thought they did a good job, not a great job of the characters because for an American audience.
There are a lot of Japanese characters and I don’t love to watch it dubbed, although the dubbing has gotten so much better in recent years. The quality of the voice acting. No, I’m not. I prefer not to, although for certain things I will. Like if it’s a comedy, I’m going to watch it, might watch it dubbed. But for something like this, I want to see the real acting, right?
Ryan (56:14)
Oh, you’re watching it dubbed. Okay. Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
[email protected] (56:26)
So you have, it’s beautifully shot. Definitely the way it’s shot and the way they introduce the characters and everything in the scenery, very, you could say very Game of Thrones influenced. You could do like almost from the first shot, you could say, you can tell they’re coming from that school.
But yeah, I thought they did a good job of introducing the characters, not a great job, because it’s subtitled, so you’re listening carefully. So you have a lot of Japanese characters and some European ones that look the same. It’s hard to, you know, basically audio and everything that’s going on, sometimes hard to discern the difference in how they’re speaking. It’s darkly shot at the beginning.
and it’s a lot of characters. So it is fairly easy to get confused with like, all right, who’s who, what’s going on? I’m lost, did I, and you have that, I don’t know if you guys have ever had show anxiety where you’re watching something and you constantly worry that you’ve missed something, wait, did I miss something? Who is this guy? Did I, am I seeing this for the first time? So there is a little element of that. I thought that Game of Thrones, for instance,
Ryan (57:36)
Yeah.
[email protected] (57:45)
and introducing characters, even though they did have, they were very good at differentiating characters that could potentially look alike. This not as good, but.
Ryan (57:47)
Yeah.
[email protected] (57:55)
It was solid. I think they did. It was probably a little harder, especially for an American audience that would be reading the subtitles. I thought they did a good job of introducing the characters and differentiating them. And I will say that as it gets to the second episode, that it’s much clearer. Once they got past that, it is much, much easier to understand. So if there was any concern about the first episode and being a little confused with going,
Ryan (58:17)
Yeah.
[email protected] (58:26)
Once you get past that, it becomes much clearer and any sort of show anxiety that you’ve missed something goes away and it’s much easier to follow what’s going on.
Ryan (58:36)
Yeah. And, you know, so I, I largely think, um, I thought they did a good job. So I did definitely got, I feel, so I got the game of Thrones vibe, but I also feel like some of that has to do with just like any historical fiction that is, you know, that’s going to have large set pieces and a lot of characters now is always going to be, um,
compared to Game of Thrones, right? Like you, if they, when they reboot Lord of the Rings, we’re going to compare it to Game of Thrones, even though Game of Thrones is compared to Lord of the Ring, you know, and it all becomes a cycle. So I do feel like maybe some of the comparisons are a little unwarranted because, you know, yes, it is epic and there are massive set pieces, but it shouldn’t be relegated to like, this is another game. You know, if you like Game of Thrones, you’ll like this. Cause I don’t necessarily think it’s the same. I don’t know if it’s, you know, thematically the same and, and that it moves. Yeah. So,
[email protected] (59:19)
No, it’s not the same. I think the scheming though, and the characters, and the way the characters interact, that’s to me even more so.
Ryan (59:25)
I, you, we, right. Cause it’s like, all of a sudden you’re, oh wait, there’s five regions or whatever they call them. And they’re all fight, you know, they’re vying for, you know, a throne. This sounds familiar. So there, there is that part of it. Exactly. Right. So, so yeah. Um, so, so I do get those comparisons, but I think whether or not you liked the game of Thrones, I wouldn’t let this decide your choice. I do think it does look great. I think it, you know, there’s that shot in the very beginning where the, uh, there’s a ship is kind of arriving.
[email protected] (59:31)
Yeah, yeah.
But then again, this came first.
Game of Thrones is based on this.
Ryan (59:55)
Um, it just, it was beautiful, right? It’s like, it’s, it’s really like almost overexposed. It’s kind of fog. And then you just see this giant ship come out and know it was just, it’s beautifully shot and just the costumes are great. I, you know, there are a lot of characters in it. I do think they did a good job because, you know, I think part of it is like, okay, we know there’s a lot of characters. And so when you’re setting up a lot, we, we kind of need to, it’s like, it’s kind of like, you, you have your broad view of what’s going on and we just need to very slowly like.
[email protected] (59:57)
Yeah, it was.
Yeah, it’s beautiful.
Costumes are great.
Ryan (1:00:23)
things become clear, right? It kind of starts all nebulous, we just, okay, let’s, like a little spot of like color and a little spot of clarity, and then everything becomes clear over time. So I think they did a good job of at least saying, okay, you have the one guy, the one character who is kind of against everybody right now, like as with the one Japanese guy against everybody. And then there’s our white guy that we’re gonna follow. When you learn very early on, who’s the white guy that we’re gonna be following throughout the show, right? And that gives us at least some reference, right? Like some frame of reference for
who the characters are. And then we start to know who a little bit more like who the important characters are. So I think they do, to me, they did a good job in that first episode of at least giving me a frame of reference for like, who do I need to be following and need to know who this person is? And it is a challenge, like watching anything, you know, it’s dubbed, I mean, it’s subtitles. There’s quite a bit of English in it as well. The original author is, or it was, I forget if they’re American or English, but it’s written in English. So it’s not, it’s a Westerner.
who wrote the original novel. But, and it is a bit of a challenge, because one of those, you both, you have to give the kind of attention you had to give a show like Game of Thrones because of the amount of characters and the plotting and the kind of storylines that are going on at once. And you also have to pay even more attention because you have to read everything. And so then it’s almost something that requires like a second viewing to make sure you’re catching everything because there’s just, there’s so much.
[email protected] (1:01:45)
Yep, in the second viewing.
Ryan (1:01:50)
you know, going on in it. But Justin, what did you think of the story so far? Is it something that’s holding you? Is it a storyline that you’re really excited about or is it something that like, are you more just in for it because of-
[email protected] (1:02:01)
Yeah, you know, I am, I’m enjoying it. I plan on watching it. I like everything from the broad story of what’s happening. And once you get towards the end of episode two, it becomes a much, it becomes a somewhat simpler plot line. And I have a feeling it’s gonna get a lot, it’s gonna expand, well, I know it will. And, but yeah, the story’s holding. And I like the details as well, like,
the discussion of some of the, uh, of the customs, it doesn’t hit you over the head with it, but it’s there. Like the way that, uh, people would interact based on their status, based on their gender, based on, uh, the religion, uh, certain things like that. I thought it was interesting. I had suggested to you guys that we should draw us, draw us to see who, um, commit seppuku, um, live on the podcast because we know it would go viral.
Ryan (1:02:56)
Yeah
[email protected] (1:03:00)
if that actually happened. So yeah, the details…
Ryan (1:03:02)
Okay. Well, the sepulchre was a big theme. So now what are your thoughts on, without giving away what happens, what are your thoughts on how they weaved in that idea of kind of, you know, it was like ritual, like sacrifice, you know, into the, into the show.
[email protected] (1:03:24)
Well, it makes sense, the concept of honor, right? Because if you think about it, if you’re in a fiefdom, if you’re a soldier, if you are loyal to someone, what’s to keep you from just going and doing what you wanna do, what’s best for you?
but the concept of honor and loyalty and when that is so ingrained, it forces you to stay loyal to your lord or whoever you work for. And right, so I think that’s, it’s an important theme, because there’s always the thought, well, why the hell, and they even discuss it. They even talk about, well, you know, that one point was like, well, did you, you know, you basically, did you bet on the right horse here?
And the guy was like, well, I thought about that as well. So I’m glad that they had mentioned that as well. But yeah, I did find that the concept of the honor and loyalty and how important it is and how big it is in that society, it plays a role. It’s a constant theme throughout in one way or another.
Ryan (1:04:41)
Cindy, did you run into any issues with the subtitles or just having to kind of keep track with that while also trying to pay attention to all the characters and story?
cinik (1:04:51)
I mean, there was a lot going on. The one thing that I did like about Game of Thrones is they went above and beyond to kind of distinguish the different houses and different groups, whether it be with their flags or their symbols or their colors. And they didn’t really do that here. Like the costumes were very, very similar. I mean, some of the haircuts were uniforms. Some of the uniforms were all slightly different. But I mean, in order for me to learn them, I think it would have probably taken a second viewing of the first episode.
[email protected] (1:04:59)
Yes.
Ryan (1:05:11)
Hehehe. Cough.
cinik (1:05:19)
and a lot more. So yeah, keeping track of the subtitles and trying to keep track of the story and all the elements moving around was a little difficult. But I mean, you know you’re gonna run into that. I was telling you before we recorded, I generally have subtitles on anyway, but I don’t like to rely on them to tell me the story. Like I prefer to, if I miss something or there’s a loud scene or a quiet scene, I’ll be able to pick up the subtleties that my hearing won’t allow. So yeah, I mean, I could have done without them.
Ryan (1:05:50)
Now, if you were to continue, which we’ll get to that question, but would you do it dubbed or would you, do you feel like you kind of need the subtitles in order to really get the performances?
cinik (1:05:59)
You know, I didn’t know until you guys said something that dubbing was even a possibility. So maybe I go back and try the first episode dubbed and kind of feel my way through and see whether I like it better one way or the other.
Ryan (1:06:11)
Yeah, it’s a tough one because I think I find, I do find that like when I watch, you know, I’m fine watching shows dubbed, like I’ve watched several shows over the last couple years that were in whatever language and dubbed. But I feel like something like this, I almost feel like I have to watch it. Like the performances I think are so important in this that I almost feel like I’d be doing a disservice to watch it dubbed.
But I can understand the wanting to just cause there’s so, it’s just a lot to keep track of with it. And it seems like they’re hitting you with it. Cause again, when we go back to the Game of Thrones comparison, the other thing that happens is early on, like for the first episode, you’ve got, it’s, you know, House Stark and House Brathian, like it’s just that. Like you’re not dealing with a lot of, you know, you’re not dealing with so many groups that you have to.
you know who’s who and who belongs, you know, who’s where, and then you’re introduced to people over time. This as kind of like a limited series based on a massive book, like you’re getting hit with a lot of stuff very quickly and so I think it makes it that much harder to keep track because they don’t have the time to do a lot of the things that they were able to do in like Game of Thrones to differentiate.
So we’re not gonna really, not necessarily do a rating because we’re only a couple episodes in and I don’t know that it’s not something that we’re gonna be doing every week. Maybe we’ll revisit it when the season’s over or when the series is over. But I guess what we’ll talk about is, maybe you give, Sinic, I’ll go to you first. Are you going to continue watching it and would you recommend it? Because those might be two different answers. So maybe give me your like broad view thoughts so far after one episode and will you continue and would you recommend it?
cinik (1:07:48)
Based off of what’s out right now, and there’s a very limited amount of contact as far as TV, yeah, I’ll probably continue on with the story. I mean, there were parts of the first episode that really grabbed me and I was really interested, and there was parts where I checked to see how much time was left. Like, okay, is this almost over? Oh no, there’s 20 minutes left. So, I mean, I believe the premier episode is 10 minutes longer than most of the other ones, but yeah, it did seem to drag a bit in the third act, so.
Ryan (1:08:06)
Yeah.
cinik (1:08:16)
Yeah, I think I’ll continue watching it, but a lot of that has to do with the, there’s very limited stuff on TV right now.
Ryan (1:08:23)
How about you, Justin?
[email protected] (1:08:25)
very limited for you guys who seem to be able to consume a lot. And I’m just like, how the hell do you have all this time? I was definitely into it. I will be continuing to watch it. And I just wanted to mention one thing as the resident musician. I think the music to the show is excellent. It doesn’t hit you over the head overly trying to be Japanese or too stylized. It’s subtle and it’s
The music is written by Atticus Ross and his brother Leopold Ross and collaborated with Nick Chuba, I guess is how we pronounce his name. And it says here that they basically worked for two years to write four hours of music. So it goes to show that there was a lot of attention to detail in all aspects of the show.
Ryan (1:08:58)
Oh.
Wow.
[email protected] (1:09:23)
I’ll be watching it. I enjoyed it. So definitely we’ll be watching it moving forward. And it’s not a, I don’t think it’s, it’s not going to be a six, you know, season series. I think it’s going to be a mini series. It’ll, it’s not going to be too much investment. So I’m not going into the saying, Oh, I have to watch, you know, you know, six years worth of, you know, TV to get through it. So I’m definitely going to be watching it moving forward.
Ryan (1:09:34)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, I tend to agree with you. I think that’s a great point. I think it’s, I like the first episode a lot. I, you know, I don’t know that I loved it. I don’t know that it grabbed me and hooked me in to, you know, you know, the way that like the first episode of Game of Thrones did, but I still think it was a very good, you know, hour and 10 minutes of TV. They did a good, there was enough intrigue to get me interested enough happened. Cause I think the other challenge was like, at first it felt like it was like,
just kind of meandering along. Like I wasn’t sure what the story was. And then it’s like, okay, there’s a story here. Oh, interesting. You know, some interesting and heavy things happened in the episode. And so enough goes on for me to think, okay, I want to give this a shot and watch it. The challenge is more finding the time, you know, the unencumbered time to sit and really give it the attention it deserves. And that might be the challenge for me watching it more than anything. Cause there are a lot of things that are easy to just put on and watch. This, you really need to be able to put everything away.
[email protected] (1:10:33)
Yeah, that’s the thing.
Ryan (1:10:44)
and watch it. So I think that would be the challenge. I would definitely recommend it. And also, like you said, it’s not a massive commitment. I think it’s, it’s a mini series and then it’s done. So it’s not like I, you know, by, by agreeing to watch this, I’m committing to a show that like, you know, they’re, they’re planning on seven seasons and, and who knows where it’s going to go. So yeah, I would definitely say, I mean, I’m going to continue to watch it and you know, as long as you’re okay with the subtitles, um, you know, I would, I would definitely recommend it. So that’s my, uh, my, my thought right now. And like I said, when the season ends, maybe we’ll revisit it.
and just give it a quick, like, what our actual reviews and ratings are for it. But.
cinik (1:11:18)
Just a quick teaser for next week, the House of Dragons trailers dropped. They have dueling black and green trailers. We gotta talk about that next week because they did a great job.
Ryan (1:11:23)
Yeah
Okay. Yeah, we got it. Yeah, we’ll do that. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I got it. I did not get I saw that it I saw that it dropped. And I was between that and taking a nap. So um, but I’m actually but yeah, but not yet.
[email protected] (1:11:38)
Hahaha. Nap always wins out.
cinik (1:11:43)
Yeah, definitely make sure you watch them both because they’re from opposite ends of the spectrum.
Ryan (1:11:48)
Oh, really? Okay. Yeah, no. So we’ll definitely check that out and add that to the list or add that to the, to what we talk about next week. I’m excited about that. That is something that we will do. Just you watched the first season of House of the Dragon, right? You didn’t? Oh, well, your homework is going to be catch up because that’s something we’re going to be talking about when it comes out. Because that was like, I loved House of the Dragon. I thought, you know, I was concerned that, you know, you could follow up Game of Thrones. But, you know, fantastic.
[email protected] (1:11:54)
and also something else which we won’t.
No, no, I have to.
Okay, I will.
Ryan (1:12:18)
So yeah, we’ll make sure that you’re caught up by the time that comes out, because that’ll be in June. June’s gonna be a big month. I think The Boys comes back in June. You know, some movies coming out. So we’ve got an exciting summer coming up. But yeah, so yeah, next week, next week will also be a packed episode. We’re gonna try to talk about some X-Men. We’ve got the Roadhouse movie, and maybe The Three-Body Problem, if I can get you guys to watch it. So some fun stuff next week.
But as always, a fun time and it always, time flies. Like we always, this episode is way longer than I anticipate, but it’s always fun talking to you guys and we always have good chat. So as usual, all of our stuff is at port and you can find all of our socials are at portable underscore whole. So Justin, until next time.
[email protected] (1:13:05)
Watch out for the hole.