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#140. The Substandard on Christopher Robin, Hook, and the Kenmore of Cars
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Dudes Chatting — Consumer philosophy, Hook, and MI: Fallout revisited: JVL announces a new car purchase — a Kia Forte — and explains his "Kenmore of cars" philosophy: appliances should be reliable and anonymous, not status symbols. Sonny recounts a viral Twitter moment where he posted a picture of a pothole, accumulated half a million views, and had the city fill it within days. Vic visited Georgetown and had lunch with Father Fields. The group returns to Mission: Impossible – Fallout after JVL's second viewing, which upgraded his opinion; he now ranks it #4 in the MI series, and the group debates the full franchise order. JVL also rewatched the original Mission: Impossible with his son. A lively Hook discussion follows: the film is enjoyable but Sonny and JVL object to the Rufio character as Spielberg's equivalent of his own Short Round. Can't Hardly Wait comes up as a sidebar on late-'90s ensemble comedies.
Reviews: Christopher Robin — Sonny reviewed it and found it fascinatingly strange: a film that works simultaneously as a legitimate children's movie and as a psychological portrait of a man having a breakdown. Positive verdict.
Box Office: Mission: Impossible – Fallout held at #1 with $35 million. Christopher Robin opened at #2 with $25 million. The Spy Who Dumped Me placed third with $12 million.
Full transcript
JVL00:00:00Do it live! I'll write it, and we'll do it live!
Vic00:00:10Hello, and welcome to another edition of The Substandard, sponsored by Casper Mattress and ExpressVPN. I'm Victor Matus, along with Sonny Bunch and Jonathan V. Last. I'd like to remind you TheSubstandard is available on iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher. Just look at a podcast and search for TheSubstandard. You'll easily find us. Please subscribe, tell your friends, leave a review. Gentlemen, how are we? JVL. Hey, boys. Hi, JVL. How are you? What's going on?
JVL00:00:39Couple pieces of big life news. Yes. Ooh. Life news. Piece number one. For the first time in my life, I am driving a new car. A brand new car. A brand new car. I have never, ever purchased a brand new car.
Vic00:00:56Right, right. This is not a... Certified, pre-owned... This is, I've always gone used before. I didn't want to take the depreciation hit.
JVL00:01:03Right, sure. My market analysis, after my Mercury Milan died last week, suggested that the depreciation thing, at least at the lower economy level of the auto sphere, doesn't really exist anymore. The CarMax has sort of flattened out, so your depreciation really is a straight line. And once the depreciation is a straight line... A flat line. There's no incentive. It's a flat line. It's not a flat line.
Sonny00:01:27The depreciation is zero over the life of the car. Your car's resale value is 100%. You mean like a 45% or a 30%? What I'm saying is the slope is steady, as opposed to a big discontinuity. You drive it off the lot, and you lose like 15%, and then it straightens out.
JVL00:01:48So the sweet spot was always like a two- to three-year-old car with about 19,000, 20,000 miles on it. That's what I bought. No longer true. So now, at least the sector of the market I was looking at, the price depreciation you get for going three years and 20,000 miles is really just the cost of those miles.
Sonny00:02:04So you can buy.
JVL00:02:06So we did a little bit of research. So this is—who was it who said how important it is to know thyself?
Sonny00:02:17I'm going to say Emerson, but probably not—oh, no, no, no, no, Shakespeare. No, no, it was definitely Lake and Palmer.
Vic00:02:22To know thyself be true. I believe that was Polonius. No, I don't get that at all.
Sonny00:02:26Polonius and Hamlet. Hamlet said it. He said Emerson. I said—no, it was Lake and Palmer. Palmer!
Vic00:02:30Lake!
Sonny00:02:31Thank you. You guys are— I still don't get it. Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. Jesus.
Vic00:02:35To know thyself be true. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's Polonius.
JVL00:02:39So I have this thing about myself which I observe and know to be true, but I do not understand. Perhaps you guys could help me.
Sonny00:02:49Oh, we're going to do some psychoanalysis.
JVL00:02:52There are things, like physical objects, which are incredibly important. They're really important to me. Example. Watches. Sure, sure. Example.
Sonny00:03:04My dishwasher. Like, it really is important to me.
JVL00:03:07I like these things. I'm interested in these things. Your Teen Titans comic book clock. For instance. For instance.
Sonny00:03:14Cars are not like that.
JVL00:03:15And it isn't because I'm not a car guy. I'm not a car guy. I am a car guy. I find the entire auto industry fascinating. I stay on top of it. I find the technology of cars. Like, I stay on top of almost all this stuff. Really cool cars. I am totally impressed with. But for me, for my personal use, I actually don't need any of that. For me, the car that I own is a 100% utilitarian. Just give me the Kenmore. I do not need the Bosch car. I can have the Kenmore car that's 67 decibels. Other people would be the exact opposite. I don't care about it at all.
Vic00:03:48Other people would be the exact opposite.
JVL00:03:50And I don't understand why this is. Why can I be so utilitarian about this? Just give me a Timex Iron. Iron Man. Theory.
Sonny00:03:58Version of the car that's strapped to my wrist.
JVL00:04:00Theory. Yes. I'm an insane person. Well, no. Besides that.
Sonny00:04:06My theory, I think, is going to be instantly proven wrong with the watch example. But my theory would be the nicer end cars are so out of reach financially that you're happier to settle for the lower end cars. I don't even want that. Do you think that's it? Honestly, I don't even want that. The car that is a half class ahead of...
JVL00:04:29Like, I really... For the car we wanted, I wanted the Kenmore of cars. The car that is the best intersection of price-value reliability. I did not need... In other words, I wanted a Honda Civic, not a Honda Accord. Like, even the small step up, you know... And I don't understand why this is about money.
Vic00:04:47It's also interesting because you spend a lot of time in the car.
JVL00:04:51So you would think... Again, none of this makes sense.
Sonny00:04:54Does it have to do with growing up? Growing up, you saw people driving nice cars and you thought they were a**holes?
JVL00:05:00I don't think so. And what I have... I have one nice car, which was given to me by my uncle. And I love driving it. It's amazing. But I don't need... What I love about that car is not just the drive experience and all that, but all the memories of driving it with my uncle and stuff.
Sonny00:05:15I don't need a nice car. I don't even need, like, a better...
JVL00:05:19I just need the cheapest car. Maybe it's because I'm afraid of losing it. And I don't want to be too attached to a car. Because cars are things... I'm like watches. Like, you know, I plan on giving my watches to my sons when I die. Sure. This car, it will at some point have 150,000 miles on it and the wheels will fall off. And I will literally just leave it by the side of the road and get a new one. I remember... Totally disposable. I remember as...
Vic00:05:39Will you toss a flare in it? Maybe. And walk... And don't look back. Just walk away slow motion. Just walk away. Are you going to tell us on air what the car is or no?
JVL00:05:50I could, if you're interested. I got a Kia Forte. Because, as we were talking...
Vic00:05:54So this is not a van. This is a car? No. This is the community car. This is the commuting car for me.
Sonny00:05:57My wife.
JVL00:05:58My wife said, I think you don't deserve a Kenmore. You deserve a Whirlpool Plus. And so we got the Kia Forte with the technology package.
Sonny00:06:07Ooh. What technology package does it have? All the technology. What technologies? There are a lot of technologies.
JVL00:06:13There's so many technologies. It tells you if there's a car crossing behind you when you're in a back up. Ooh. That's nice. It stops you so you can't rear end somebody. So automatic braking, lane assist, Apple CarPlay.
Sonny00:06:26Does it have the cameras that show you the sides of the car when you're parallel parking?
JVL00:06:34No, I don't think. If you put it in reverse. I have not read that. Do you have the screen? You have the screen, yeah. Oh, yeah.
Sonny00:06:39And you put it in reverse. It doesn't show the whole car on the sides. Not the whole car. It's just the back.
JVL00:06:46But it does tell me if I'm going to change lanes and there's somebody in my blind spot. It's like, uh-uh. Uh-uh. Don't do that.
Sonny00:06:52Does the wheel vibrate? Does it go brr?
JVL00:06:54It might be in the settings. I have not read the manual. Again, I rush out to read the manual of my Bosch, but the manual for my new car, I'm like, oh, I'll get to it.
Sonny00:07:01Yeah. This is very weird. This is a very strange thing. But everybody has their different quirks. Does it have the head-up display?
JVL00:07:10No, but the headlights turn. Oh. Oh, that's kind of nice.
Vic00:07:14So, like, if you're turning the car, the headlights sort of angle the way you're turning. Is your GPS map on the windshield itself like in Mission Impossible? No. And you can just slide things across? No. Oh, okay.
JVL00:07:24Do you know what it has? It has a curfew feature. So, the whole car is wired through your... The whole car is always talking to the smartphone. And so, you can set a curfew. I don't know about that. Creepy. I don't like it. No, no. This is what's so great. Because this car, I realized as we were buying it, is going to be my son's car. Like, this is six years from now. This is Flash's first car. And so, you set the curfew. Right, because you bought. And it is... You can still operate it when it is within the curfew hours. However, if somebody starts the car up, my phone pings and it then shows me where the car is and where it's going. So, Flash isn't going to be able to sneak out in this thing. It's going to tell me exactly what was going on.
Sonny00:08:05I'm sure kids won't be able to figure out a workaround for that. I don't know that there is.
JVL00:08:08By then, yes. But anyway, this leads me to my second piece of exciting news. Please. I had a meeting with my company's board of directors and we have done some restructuring after the last round of technology acquisition at the company that I work at back in Woodbridge.
Vic00:08:24Yes, yes. And I... Last ink.
JVL00:08:27I have accepted, I'm very excited to announce, a new role in the company as the director of experiences slash thought leadership. I am stepping away from my job as the chief technology officer. That's huge. I'm excited to have this new opportunity and also the new challenges and the ability to spend more time with my family.
Sonny00:08:47Did the CEO offer her vote of confidence in you as you were making this transition?
JVL00:08:54The board expressed... The board expressed that the CEO had some concerns about my recent performance. And in my new role, I was allowed to research the Kia Forte, but I was not allowed to acquire the Kia Forte. The CEO decided to take that job onto herself. And so she's the one who went to the dealership. And we ran like this slow play game where she was like the damsel in distress. It was like, my husband made me come and buy the car. Like, I don't want to do this. And then they would like give her an offer. And she would text it to me. And then she'd be like, no, he says we can't do this. And so she's like, by the end, they thought you were an abusive husband and they just wanted me out of the dealership. And we got a really good deal because of it. That's healthy. Yeah, no. And I was wondering, when I showed up at the dealership to sign, they were all looking at me like I was a monster. I didn't quite understand why.
Vic00:09:48I remember as a kid and we'd, you know, go to a dealership to buy a car. Mercedes? Probably. And, you know, in cash with a suitcase. With a suitcase of cash from the last surgical procedure.
Sonny00:10:01While your dad came wearing his stethoscope. Stethoscope. And his like white coat. Yeah, yeah.
Vic00:10:05So when we would go as a family, the whole family would go, you know, looking at cars, the four of us. And I remember it would last for hours. These things go on for hours. And my father wouldn't say a word and my mother would wear them down. So, I mean, because she's so tough about haggling. And they'd be like, please, man. They'd be so frustrated. They'd be like, I'm barely. I'm barely making any commission on this. No, no, just a little bit lower. Okay, fine. So we agree to this. And then she'd go, no, a little bit lower than that. And then just wear them down. But they still got, they still want the sale, even if it's just barely above. And she was always very good about that. You know, everybody's, every family is.
JVL00:10:40My wife has been at the Mattis school of car haggling.
Sonny00:10:45Grind them down.
JVL00:10:46Okay, I'm very, very happy in my new Whirlpool Plus.
Sonny00:10:50How are you, Sonny?
JVL00:10:52You seem so chipper today. You seem so happy and full of life.
Sonny00:10:55I have to say, it's been an experience this week. I used Twitter for good. Can I just tell you guys? You can do that? I guess you did. You did. I know where you're going with this. Twitter for good.
JVL00:11:10Big story, guys. Big story.
Sonny00:11:12Do tell. So, speaking of cars and wives, mine happened to hit a pothole that is. Your car or your wife? Both. Both. Wife was in the car, driving the car. Right. She was driving and hit a pothole at the corner of Wilson and North Lynn Street. There was a big pothole in the middle of the sidewalk. And it's one of those sidewalks that has the cobblestones, you know? So, a bunch of the cobblestones were missing. From the crosswalk.
JVL00:11:41And there's a solid five-inch drop.
Sonny00:11:43And the cobbles that are still there are cornered, you know? So, anyway, she hit it at speed and gets home and she says, you know, the tire pressure light came on. I was like, oh, great. So, I went out to look at it. I'm like, okay, rear tires are fine. Front tires are okay. Well, this is weird. I'm not sure what's going on. Let me go take it to the tire, you know, to one of those pumps at the gas station that has, like, the automatic setting. And when I got to the gas station, I looked at the tire and I noticed the right front tire had a literal gash in it. I don't know how I missed this the first time around. When I poked it, it hissed a little bit at me. It was like, oh, okay, well, that's busted. So, anyway, I got the tire changed, all that, et cetera.
JVL00:12:28Did you change it yourself?
Sonny00:12:30I put the spare on myself. Yeah, look at that. You're so butch. Oh, I put the spare on myself. This is, this is, this is, I'm leading up to this. I put the spare on myself, took it to the dealership, and, you know, we're waiting for the new tire to get put on. While I'm waiting for the new tire to get put on, I sit there and I tweet, because this is what I do when I have free time is I tweet. I was trying to find a way to bring attention to the fact that this pothole exists. But do it in a way that was Twitter friendly, that would create lots of engagement. Ooh, engagements are so good. Retweets. Good word. So I, I crafted a tweet that was something, I could pull it up right now, I don't really want to, but it was something like, in five words or less, what's the most traditionally masculine thing you can do? Me? Change a spare tire. Space, you know, return, whatever. Then at the bottom, by the way, at Rosalind VA, if you could get the pothole fixed at Northland and Wilson, that would be great. Something, something along those lines. Now, I did this for two reasons. One, if I just complained to Rosalind VA, 20 people would see it. Not much engagement there. People complaining on Twitter all the time. They do that on Twitter? If you make it a game, people play along. And if you make it a game that half of Twitter's going to unironically love, and half of Twitter's going to loathe with the fire of a thousand suns, you get a lot of engagement. So, needless to say, my tweet was much loved by the right half of the Twittersphere, and much hated by the left half of the Twittersphere. I don't know if you know this, masculinity is toxic now. That's a bad thing.
JVL00:14:06We don't want that. We noticed it wasn't the man driving the car to hit the pothole. Whoa. We didn't mention that either.
Sonny00:14:12In fairness, I have destroyed more than one or two tires in my day in D.C. in potholes. Anyway, long story short, midway through Saturday. Saturday afternoon, at Roslyn VA, waves the red flag. They say, we've submitted a request to get this pothole filled. By Tuesday night, they were filling it. Wednesday night, this morning, it's filled.
Vic00:14:38Is it really? I didn't even notice, and I crossed over that.
Sonny00:14:41It is filled today. It was filled this morning.
Vic00:14:44When I cross over there, I'm always looking at it. I don't want to fall in it. You don't want to hit it? You don't want to hit it? Because it's a bad, it's an ugly pothole. You would break an ankle.
Sonny00:14:51It's an ugly pothole. Anyway, Twitter. Used for, I used the evil half of Twitter, the angry, the angry rage half of Twitter, for good, to improve my community.
JVL00:15:06I've got to say, that's one of the most genius level uses of the internet ever.
Sonny00:15:14Thank you. Thank you.
JVL00:15:15I was going to make a joke about how long did it take you to craft that tweet, but it's really, that's very, very clever. No. If you just directly tweet it at them, hey. I said, hey, Rodler. Fix this pothole.
Sonny00:15:25Your streets are broken. Nobody cares.
JVL00:15:27Mute that.
Sonny00:15:28A thousand views on that tweet. Nobody would see that tweet. This tweet? Levels. Half a million. That's it. Half a million views. Easy. So much engagement.
JVL00:15:37Levels of genius.
Vic00:15:39Thank you. Anyway.
Sonny00:15:40Very well. I just wanted to pass this along. Twitter can be used for good, but you have to use the evil part of Twitter to get to the good part of Twitter.
Vic00:15:50Very good. Victorino, how are you? I'm doing fine. It's a nice weekend. On Sunday, we did our annual family trip to Georgetown to spend all day with Father Fields. Did you see his magic show? I did not see. He's teaching, I think, history, Christianity and history, I think, is his course coming up. But he does send his regards to you, JVL. How is he? Is he well? He's fine. He's fine. So we visited Father Fields at Georgetown in the Jesuit residence. Got off to a little rocky start because instead of pressing that AI phone button, Michael pressed emergency. And, okay, ignore that. And then, but the Jesuit residence is so quiet, you know, and then we, I mean, it's quiet, you know, and it's the summertime, so there's not a lot of people there. They enjoyed a buffet, even though- The dog there? No, no, did not see Jack the bulldog, which he's usually there. But we did have, the kids loved the Jesuit residence buffet, which is very basic. You know, I mean, it's the same catered food as college. I mean, it's like when you're in college.
JVL00:16:57They weren't spoiled by the Disney buffet? They weren't like, oh.
Vic00:17:00They just liked the idea of going up. Plus, there's like the dessert area, which is like ice creams in the box. You know, you could pick up little Dixie cups.
JVL00:17:07Yeah, no, it's like the good and plenty Dixie cups.
Vic00:17:09That's the highlight for them, right? Yes, exactly. That's the highlight. And there's a waffle maker, so they can do that. So that was loving. Then you get on a golf court, golf cart, rather, and then Father Fields drives all around campus with everybody, including on Reservoir Road, which is like, people have to get on a golf cart, people have to get out of the way, people are staring, and it says, you know, Jesuit community on it. And I'm always surprised that we don't get in trouble for driving onto Reservoir.
Sonny00:17:32I'm sorry. I don't quite understand what this, actually, what event this is that you're at. It's just like a weekend trip to-
JVL00:17:39Once a year. This isn't an event. This is their friend, who's a priest. Georgetown's a Catholic college.
Sonny00:17:44I know most people don't understand that.
JVL00:17:46No, no, they don't.
Vic00:17:47Most don't. Because it's barely Catholic. Barely, yes.
JVL00:17:50But, see, Vic went to Georgetown. Right. Unlike some of us. And so, he's close with Father Fields, who married he and his wife.
Vic00:17:58Oh, it was actually Ribeiro, Alvaro Ribeiro. But he was friends with Fields, so we continued our friendship after Ribeiro died. And so, they just go over- You're just hanging out with the priest. You're just hanging out with the priest.
JVL00:18:07A whole day hanging out with the priest. See, people do that, who are Catholic, because they're friends with their priests. They're friends.
Vic00:18:13We're friends with priests. And so, they- He was there at, you know, our daughter's communion. This is very strange. They don't just see them at church. No, no, no.
JVL00:18:19Because the Catholic thing sort of encompasses their whole life.
Sonny00:18:23Yeah, it's not just an hour every Sunday.
Vic00:18:26That's weird. It is. And so, we just drive all over campus. And it's funny, you can really see where the money goes when they spend it on all these fancy- I mean, it was not that pretty of a campus in parts when we were there in school. And now, it's like- You lie, sir. It was beautiful. Parts of it were. Parts of it were. Certainly, where we got married at Dahlgren Chapel and Healy and White Gravener. Copy. That's very nice. But there were so many ugly buildings, like there was the Rice Science Building in New South. But now, you have donors, right? I mean, that's the big thing now. I mean, like lately, in the last 20 years, you just have billionaire donors. Two in particular, McDonough, who built the business school, and it's all made of stone to model, to look like the old buildings. Nobody does that anymore. They're always trying to build modern buildings. And the other one is in the business school, the Rafik Hariri Business School. So, named after the late Rafik Hariri, who was the Lebanese politician who was killed. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. No, this isn't the, what's his name from, this isn't the Hafez Assad building.
Sonny00:19:30Yeah, I was going to say, it's not the, I was getting my Lebanese politicians messed up.
Vic00:19:34What's shocking is the acceptance rate at Georgetown now is about, they say, 14.6. When I was there, my year, which is a year ahead of Jonathan's, was 29%. I'm almost, I'm 100% certain I would not have gotten in now.
Sonny00:19:49Is this solely a function of, is this? It's solely a, we're.
Vic00:19:54But it went down with Jonathan's year. Jonathan's year went down.
Sonny00:19:56If only the cameras were in here. Is this solely a function of more people applying to more schools because you can apply to schools automatically?
Vic00:20:04I have no idea, but I think there are a lot more kids applying now, definitely. There are a lot more kids, and certainly a lot of Asians. There's no way I'm going to get in now, being Asian.
Sonny00:20:12Yeah. Too many Asians.
Vic00:20:13There's too many. Too many Asians. Too many Asians.
JVL00:20:15The fact that I know the names of Dahlgren and Healy and White-Gravner, which are, as John Kerry once said, seared, seared into my memory, the fact that I've been to the Jez Rez, all of this makes this the saddest thing I've ever, it cannot, their acceptance rate could not have been 29%. For my class.
Vic00:20:36It dropped, it went from like 23, 24 to 29 and dropped back to 24, 23. Sonny, what time is it?
JVL00:20:41It's the 22, 16. How the f*** did I not get in there? Any of the three times I tried. One year off.
Vic00:20:47You're one year off. You're one year off. Had you been born my year, then you would have had a. That was the goal. Gold rush year. That was the gold rush year. That was, I'm absolutely certain. Like, yeah, absolutely certain. I don't want to like, you know. I'm not even kidding. If you look at birth rate, 73 was a big dip. I was a pretty good high school student. No, no, and you did everything.
JVL00:21:06You know, like I did everything and I had fantastic grades in SATs and I was the president of all the things. I did not mean to pick the scab.
Vic00:21:12And the captain of all the teams. It's coming out now. It's oozing out. Yes, I know. And I can't tell you how many kids I would see.
JVL00:21:19They took one in three.
Vic00:21:22I'm waving, I'm fatting myself. A little less than that. More like three in ten. A little less than that. Yeah. Yeah, thank you, Sonny. That makes it much better.
Sonny00:21:29I mean, it's a difference of 10%.
Vic00:21:31I'll move on. That's math, JBL. Beginning tomorrow. I did some math.
Sonny00:21:37I actually, when I applied to Georgetown and got in, I was just like, yeah, UVA is so much better. I'd rather go there. That's not true.
Vic00:21:48Well, we're not certainly, I mean, with the cost of tuition, there's no way. Not anymore. It's insane to go there.
JVL00:21:54You guys have three generations of legacy. You have to send your children there. At least one. That'd be insane. Which one do you love more? You have to send both of them there.
Vic00:22:0360,000, 70,000 a year.
JVL00:22:04I don't care. I will kickstart the money for them.
Vic00:22:09But I personally would be so incensed at having to send a child four miles away for room and board. Because, you know, because of course they're not going to want to stay. They're not going to be a part. Because there were those students. Like, oh, I actually don't live on campus. I live in Houston. They don't count.
JVL00:22:22They don't count as boys. Oh, listen to me, Victorino. One of them has to go. You send those kids to Georgetown. Don't deny that.
Vic00:22:29I bet you there are very few kids from, like, Arlington, VA, who go to Georgetown. That's my theory. Because I don't know why you would. Everyone wants to get out. They want to go away. They want to go out west. Okay. Moving on. Oh, they want to go up north. Speaking of going up north, tomorrow I'm heading out to Cape May. Hey! For a few days. Cape May. I am hours away from a pork roll sandwich. That's how exciting this is. Oh, disgusting. Another vacation. Sonny, why would you? Tell me. What's it like at the Free Beacon, guys?
Sonny00:22:57Well, we're actually working on a plan for Vic so he can become a part-time employee. Because he goes on all these junkets, he goes on so many vacations, he's just taking time off here and there. I'm only taking one full day off.
Vic00:23:13I'm only taking one full day off.
Sonny00:23:14It's funny what you get used to when you have four dark weeks a year and nobody actually cares when you come into the office or don't come into the office.
JVL00:23:21You don't get dark weeks on the internet. The internet, it turns out, doesn't go dark.
Sonny00:23:27Weird.
Vic00:23:27Magazines do. You know what? Can't do that. What are you going to do in Cayman? I'm only taking Friday off. Don't get nervous. What are you going to do? Well, let's see here. And half of Monday.
Sonny00:23:39Yeah, you know.
Vic00:23:40My writers don't file until 4 o'clock anyway. Relax on the beach. And who's going to be there? What's the cast? My family. My in-laws. And the children of Captain Bildweier. But not Captain Bildweier or his wife, so it's really a vacation for them.
JVL00:23:58Are you bringing their kids?
Vic00:24:01My in-laws are bringing their kids. And we're bringing our kids. And then there'll be us there. I think we're going to go to the Union House restaurant on Friday night. And otherwise, there's a lot of great little, very casual places up and down Beach Ave. And get some real pizza. And that's as far as I know. On Sunday, go up the parkway to drop the kids off at my parents'. Because my parents, who have lived near a beach since 1975, never go to the beach. And I'm always like, you've got to go to Cape May. Oh, we went to Cape May. They went to Cape May once in the last few years.
JVL00:24:36Your parents could be on the beach in 15 minutes.
Vic00:24:37Yes. And they never go. And I'm like, why don't you come down? Oh, we've been to Cape May. Smart. So we went to Cape May. Sonny's like, why would they?
Sonny00:24:46They don't want to get sand everywhere. Yeah, no.
Vic00:24:49You know what? This is a reasonable thing. There's too many people. It's too crowded. I'm like, this is crazy. So anyway, we have to go up there.
JVL00:24:54I'm sorry, so you're going to drive north on the parkway on Sunday?
Vic00:24:56It's just going from zero to 81.
JVL00:24:58Good luck.
Vic00:24:59It can't be that bad.
JVL00:25:01Garden State Parkway, hold on.
Vic00:25:03I'm going to say Garden State Parkway. You're high. Up to exit 81 can't be that far. You're high. Really, you think? Hour and a half. That's my theory. You're high.
JVL00:25:14Really?
Vic00:25:14No, no, no, no, no, no, no, absolutely not. Absolutely. Depends when we get out of church.
JVL00:25:18Two hours minimum?
Vic00:25:19Oh. To get up to 81.
JVL00:25:21Mm-hmm. On a Sunday? As everybody's leaving the beach to head back to New York City?
Vic00:25:25They usually go around the time we go, no! Okay. So anyway, then the rest of the week, the kids are up with my parents, and it's just me and the wife. Just skip church. Again? I don't understand. No, no, no, no, no. This is, I was home alone.
JVL00:25:40Right, so you're without your children again.
Vic00:25:42I am without my children again, but with my wife. Take me to your secular world. And yeah, so it's a whole week with the missus, and you know what that means, don't you?
JVL00:25:52Civilization naked.
Vic00:25:53Hours. One of those things is true. Hours and hours of civilization, and by the way- Sonny, that is an interesting face.
Sonny00:26:02Can you, question, question. I'm fanning myself. Can you do competitive Civ? Can you play against someone, or can you only play against the computer? That's a great question. That is a good question.
Vic00:26:12I don't know, I mean- How can you not know that? You've played every iteration of this game for 200 years. I've never thought about multiplayer at all.
JVL00:26:20Because think about how long- How long the lag time would be while you're waiting for them to do all of their moves.
Vic00:26:24Yeah, and the way she moves, I mean, she's thinking everything is very carefully thought out. Do we want to do the grains first here? No, how long does each turn take? Well, it depends on how much you're doing. What you're doing. You could micromanage every city if you want to.
JVL00:26:37Ooh, ooh, ooh. This guy over here, we're going to turn him into an inventor.
Vic00:26:41And then-
Sonny00:26:42Right, right.
JVL00:26:43Then, I think we might want to switch production from Temple to Granary so we can grow faster.
Vic00:26:48What about this? What about this space with a hill? Mining? Trade post? Lumber? Lumbermill? Lumbermill. You know, I don't know. Let me think about this for a second. Where am I going to explore? So, that takes a long time. I won again last night, by the way. A little sip update for you. I won again as-
JVL00:27:03Domination?
Vic00:27:04Korea. Sonny, you're going to fall out of your chair again. I wanted to do Korea. I mean, sorry. I wanted to do Domination and instead won inadvertently diplomatic victory because they did a whole vote. These goddamn sieve segments are going to make me put a gun in my mouth. I'm suddenly world leader. And I'm just going to go into a dark room. And then I went for a few more rounds. I clicked the button that said, wait just a minute. And you people are going to feel terrible about it. And then I just took another turn and I kept going another turn. All right, peace, Sonny. Then I'm just going down Rome. I'm just all the way across the empire. I'll tell you one thing I have not yet done, though, is the go nuclear on the sieve complete. I haven't done that. You haven't tried it? I haven't. Not on this version, but you know what? It's a little bit- it's a pain because if you're taking over a city, why nuke it? Because then you have to take over and then you have to clean up all that. Fallout. But speaking of Fallout, over the weekend-
JVL00:27:53Look at that.
Vic00:27:54Mission Impossible Fallout maintained control of the box office with $35 million, followed by Disney's Christopher Robin with $25 million. And in third place, the spy who dumped me with $12 million. So, question. Did we all see Mission Impossible Fallout? Can I- Hold on.
JVL00:28:13Oh, no, wait.
Vic00:28:13What? Can I interject here? Please. Because I saw it again. Please interject because we've got nothing to talk about.
JVL00:28:18I saw it again.
Vic00:28:19Oh, yeah. That's right.
JVL00:28:20And on second viewing, I liked it a lot. What did you not like the first time that you liked the second time? So, it isn't stuff that I didn't like. The stuff that I thought was weak was still weak. But there was a whole bunch of stuff that I did like. Now, it's possible that it's just because I was on a date with my wife and I was just happy to be out with her. That's possible. But also, I don't want to discount that possibility. Also possible that I saw it on a very small screen the first time. And I saw it on the Alamo's biggest possible screen. Their big show screen. And I got to say, this movie on a very large screen really, really rewarded the experience. Like, the halo jump barely registered to me on the small screen. I mean, really, it just felt like, hey, it's another set piece. But on this, I was like, holy crap, how did they do this? They literally jumped out of an airplane. There is one place where you can see a cut. And even there, it's pretty artfully disguised. And the rest of it, like, my God, were they actually falling? Falling out of an airplane? Yes.
Vic00:29:22It's great.
JVL00:29:22He does that. I sat there thinking to myself, how did the insurance company allow this?
Vic00:29:27Every time.
JVL00:29:27And the most that happened is he broke an ankle, I think.
Sonny00:29:29Didn't Cruise fire the insurance company for one of the movies? Like, maybe the Dubai one? Because they, like, wouldn't insure him running around the side of the building or something? That's amazing. Yeah, I know. It's amazing. Like, it is a movie that very much rewards seeing it in the biggest possible screen. I mean, I saw it at the Air and Space IMAX. Yeah. Here in town. And it was, I mean, it's. Impressive. Yeah. It's really impressive.
JVL00:29:52Yeah. So, I really, I did not expect to like it more on second viewing, and I liked it a lot more.
Vic00:29:59Well, Pod loved it. Yeah.
Sonny00:30:01Does that change your ranking?
JVL00:30:04Definitely. I would definitely move it up to the four spot. Okay.
Vic00:30:07Over Ghost. No.
JVL00:30:09Over three. Yeah.
Sonny00:30:11Okay.
JVL00:30:11Yeah. Yeah. Over Mission Impossible 3.
Sonny00:30:14So, you still put it at the bottom of this new trilogy?
JVL00:30:17Yes. Bottom of the new trilogy. And also below one. And below three, and below one. Yeah, I don't think it's, but still, I mean, that middle, I still now, I used to draw the line at like three, like Mission Impossible 3 and up were good movies, and the other, you know, now I would say I would draw the line. Really including this. Here, I would include this in the good.
Sonny00:30:36But you would still, I mean, it would still be, Mission Impossible 3 would still be the line of good movies. Yes. I mean, you consider it, well.
Vic00:30:43Mission Impossible 3, a good movie. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I watched with my son the first Mission Impossible again. Yeah. Which I hadn't seen in a long time. It's funny how, I mean, it has a very different feel under De Palma than it did under the McQuarrie movies.
JVL00:30:56Did he like it? Because I've been debating whether or not watching that with Flash.
Vic00:30:59He liked it a lot, particularly the computer, the Langley scene. He thought it was just crazy. I mean, he really, and he's laughing when he sees the rat coming down, and John Renaud is there, you know, holding the cable, but the rat is coming. So he gets what's happening in the tension. He really, really appreciated that. And then, of course, the helicopter, that's just wacky.
JVL00:31:18Did Emanuel Barrett make him feel funny? Did he have questions for you? Man. Daddy, I don't understand why it feels this way. She's astonishing.
Vic00:31:25She was something. I'm not even going to get into details, because it would be inappropriate. It would be inappropriate. I don't think I've ever seen her in any other movie.
JVL00:31:32At that moment, at that precise moment in time, I believe Emanuel Barrett may have been the number one, number one. The world's number one.
Vic00:31:43Ridiculous. Ridiculous. I mean, I don't know if she did, what do they put on there? No, she didn't. She just pouted. That was just pouting. Oh, my gosh. She just astonished me. But you know what's crazy? Okay, even then, I still get confused with movies, because I can't follow movies. So, Ethan meets with Jim Phelps, right, when he comes back from the dead, and they have a little coffee, a little go-to cafe in London, and then he's telling him what happened, right? But isn't he showing how he killed all the other people in his mind?
JVL00:32:15I mean, it seems clear that- The description. While he's playing along. So, he's playing along, and Cruise, at that moment, already knows that it's Phelps. Oh, okay, good, good, good, good, good.
Vic00:32:28He's trying to come up with alternate explanations, an alibi, Claire. I'm listening to Phelps-
JVL00:32:354 o'clock, Ethan, 0400, 4 o'clock, 4 a.m.
Sonny00:32:38I'm listening to Phelps give the story, and I'm confused.
Vic00:32:41I'm like, well, I'm looking at this thing, though, and I think we all know. So, at that moment in the theater, we all know Phelps is the bad guy, right? And I forget this- No, we don't. We don't know that.
JVL00:32:49Ethan does. That's the point. The point of this is that at the end of the movie, you realize that Ethan- You've already seen all these things happen. In the movie.
Sonny00:32:56I know, that's why. What, are you- No, no, no, no, no. This is the reveal.
JVL00:33:00The reveal is that you, the audience, didn't figure it out before the lead character did, that the lead character is ahead of you. Normally, they are flipping the expectations, or normally, the lead character is stupid, and you, the audience, are going, why can't you figure it out?
Vic00:33:14But this was the reverse, is what you're saying. I can't remember, because I already knew, obviously, that Jim Phelps- George, no?
JVL00:33:21I can't believe I didn't get in.
Vic00:33:24So anyway, how is it that he survived? Okay, so that is Mission Impossible, but we're- What happened? We're not here. What? I don't think so. We're here, actually, to talk about, there's some other issues in- We're doing- 34, 33, 33 minutes. Sonny, we can do this. We're getting to Christopher Robin. Okay, did we just go into Christopher Robin? Do you want to do an ad first? Can we do an ad read? No, no, no. Well, the ad will come after Christopher Robin.
Sonny00:33:50Okay, so I should do the review. Yeah, tell us. Give us the review first, then. Since I'm the only one in the room who saw Christopher Robin. Christopher Robin is, it is basically kind of like a hook type movie, where you have a character from a childhood, beloved childhood series, in this case, the titular Christopher Robin, who has grown up and must revisit the fairy tales of his childhood in order to get back in touch with his inner- Your whimsy. And rediscover that life is worth living. The movie starts with kind of, I would say the movie starts with a montage that rivals the montage from Up, that kind of like sets the, it kind of moves you through Christopher Robin's life in a very straightforward and touching way, to get him from the childhood where he is putting away his toys, and he is leaving the hundred acre wood, and he tells Pooh and Eeyore and the rest, I'll never forget you. You know, you will be my, you will be my friends forever. And then, of course, he grows up, he goes to boarding school, his parents die, he goes off to war, gets married, has a kid, all that, and in the interim has forgotten his childhood friends. It is not until he has a crisis at work in which he is forced to come up with a way to lay off 20, or cut costs by 20%, or have to shut down the business forever. That he is reunited with Pooh, who must get back to the Hundred Acre Wood, and who wants to help Christopher Robin remember what it's like to be a child again. This movie is, it is fascinatingly weird, in that it is, it is a movie that takes place very much in the real world, with all the trappings of the real world, yet also has like all of the elements of fantasy, of talking stuffed animals, and you know, magical trees that you go through to get to. Another world, and it plays it all kind of straight, and in the same, in the same, in the same tone. And as such, my preferred reading of this film is that it's about a man who has a psychotic break, and has to, and envisions himself playing with his childhood toys in ways that he did as a child, in order to mask the fact that he has gone totally round the bend. Like a coping mechanism. Totally round the bend. I mean, to the point where, you know, there's a, there's a scene in the, in the film where he's, he's wandering through the hundred acre wood, and there's a horrible fog that comes up, and it, he, he looks at his, his, at his compass that he got in the war, and the compass is trying to, he gives it to Pooh, and he says, Pooh, use this compass to help us go north, we need to get out of this fog, and, and Pooh, of course, is, is, is, because that's what Pooh is, and he takes them around in a circle, and it's not until, uh, Chris for Robin trades the, the, the compass, the compass of war that he has, he has used in his fog of war, uh, for a child's, a child's balloon that he can exit the hundred acre wood. It's, it's very, it's a very strange film, but it's also, it's like, it, this is, you, you really only see this sort of thing if you're looking for it, it is also very much a child's movie, you can go see this with your kids, I think they'll enjoy it. It is a, uh, it is, it is filled with whimsy. So you see it as...
JVL00:37:18You see it as split. It's basically Fight Club.
Sonny00:37:21But, but, yeah, or split. Okay. Okay.
Vic00:37:25Um, what, did, uh, Pooh, uh, Winnie the Pooh, and that, all those books, did they figure into, like, with your kids, did you read those books? We never got to the, no, you're shaking your head, J-Pel.
JVL00:37:35We don't.
Vic00:37:36No. We don't do the Pooh stuff. No, we're not, we're not against it. No, it seems quite charming.
Sonny00:37:40I, I grew up, like, watching the Pooh cartoons, and reading, reading the Pooh, so there was depth, there was a lot of, like, right in the heart of it. There was a lot of heart strings, you know. Wow, for you. Was it dusty in the theater? Oh, very dusty. That first ten minutes. The air is very dry. The air is very dry. That first ten minutes was, was brutal. Did you have an allergy problem while you were watching it? It wasn't until I realized that he was brutally insane, uh, that, that I was able to overcome the tears, and just watch the movie for what it was, as a, as a narrative feature.
JVL00:38:07Do you, do you read it, do you read, do you read it to your, uh, child, uh, the Pooh?
Sonny00:38:09No, we, we don't have any of the Pooh books.
Vic00:38:11I, neither do we, and I always imagine it's the perfect thing to read to your child as they fall fast asleep. Speaking of sleep, JVL.
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Vic00:39:50Thank you, JVL. What a wonderful read. When we're talking about, how many other kind of movies come to mind with this kind of movie? I'm looking at Sonny because we had this discussion.
Sonny00:40:00We had this discussion, and the discussion was prompted by a tweet from Zach Stentz, who's a screenwriter in Hollywood, and he said that basically, I don't have the tweet in front of me, but he said, you know, watching Christopher Robin reminds him of, or is a another data point in the rule that any time you try to revisit a childhood figure as that figure grown up, you're basically just going to get Hook.
JVL00:40:26You're going to get the movie Hook.
Sonny00:40:28Which feels about right, except we can't actually think of another example of this. I don't know if there are projects that have stalled in development that he has read that like, oh, this is just Hook, but for, I don't know.
Vic00:40:39I started thinking about actors who have to pretend to be sort of kid-like again, and I came up with Big, but Sonny says that doesn't count. That doesn't count.
Sonny00:40:46That doesn't count. It's nothing like Hook. It's nothing like Hook or Christopher Robin, because Big is just a man who becomes, a child who becomes a man, not a man who has to revisit his childhood character that we know.
Vic00:41:01Tom Cruise has, Tom Cruise, sorry. Tom Hanks has to act like a child. But that's not the same thing. That's not the same thing. And then in the end, yeah. Not the same thing. By the way, I don't think Big would work anymore because you couldn't pull off a scene of, can I rent a room and I'm with this young boy?
Sonny00:41:18There's a lot of things about Big that I'm not sure work.
Vic00:41:23Okay, so if we go back to Hook, what do you like better? I actually like Hook. Is this a thing we can discuss? Yeah, sure. Can we discuss it? Well, we've got nothing else to talk about, please.
Sonny00:41:34Because I am willing to acknowledge that Hook is not like Steven Spielberg's best movie or anything like that, but I saw it when I was like 10 or 11. Perfect age for you. And it was like, oh, this is great. This is Peter Pan, but he's great. He's grown up. This is what Peter Pan would be like as an adult. This is fun. And I've always liked Dustin Hoffman. And is it Bob Hoskins who plays me? Yes. The great Bob Hoskins. The late, great Bob Hoskins. That whole thing is so good. I've always liked, and Rufio, he was the skateboarding lost boy with the mohawk and the sword.
Vic00:42:13One of the early great Filipino actors of our time, Dante Bosco. But I found Robin Williams to be a bit too much. It was too much Robin Williams. I like Robin Williams. Robin Williams is just Robin Williams. And you know who's great in that also? Julia Roberts. Oh, yeah.
Sonny00:42:33That's not who you were thinking of?
Vic00:42:34No, no, no. I was going to play it straight. Charlie Korsmo. He plays the kid. And he was a great child actor. He was also in What About Bob? Yeah. So he's playing opposite Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss. He's playing opposite Dustin. Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams. And he's being directed by Steven Spielberg. I mean, that's impressive. And then, you know, but he stopped becoming an actor. He ended up working in Capitol Hill.
JVL00:43:02Went to MIT.
Vic00:43:03Is that where he went? Yeah.
JVL00:43:05Went to MIT as an undergrad. Shot, what's the Jennifer Love Hewitt? Can't Hardly Wait. Like in the middle of MIT. And then, I think he's an engineer. Like he became an environmental engineer. And was working at the EPA, I think.
Vic00:43:19I remember. Didn't he live next to you? No, yeah, he lived nearby in Cleveland Park because I would see him at the bar. He lived in the Kennedy Warren, I think, didn't he?
JVL00:43:27You know what? I think he lived in the Kennedy Warren.
Vic00:43:29I should have hung out with him. And I would see him at Nanny O'Brien's, sitting alone at the bar. I don't know. I mean, I should have bought him a beer, you know? And then he ended up showing up at a party at Kate's house when she lived, at that time she lived with Molly Hemingway in their house. And Charlie Corismo was there. And I think I chatted with him there. Did he say, I can't feel my legs? There was a guy who made a joke about it, but not to him, about that line. Do you have any other thoughts, JVL, on this? Because otherwise. Do you have any Hook thoughts?
JVL00:44:01Hook is a thoroughly enjoyable movie, except for Rufio, who is short round.
Vic00:44:08Yes! Yeah, no, actually.
JVL00:44:10This is a Spielbergian, Steven Spielberg. This is his thing? It was. He'd broken himself of it. I mean, this is his thing. I give Spielberg enormous credit for growing past the need to have some kid figure like that. Although, frankly, it amazes me that a director as sophisticated as a guy who made Jaws could have gone through a stretch in his career where he thought he needed cute 10-year-old kids doing outrageous, wacky things in his movies. I find it inconceivable.
Sonny00:44:46I think the kids just grew up. Like Indiana Jones' kid in Crystal Skull. Who is that but just a 20-year-old Rufio?
Vic00:44:58Other directors have done that, right? Francis Ford Coppola was doing Godfather, and the next year he's doing Jack. Did he do Jack with Robin Williams? You know, those kind of movies, yeah. Well, that was during Coppola's wilderness years. He also made The Rainmaker. I need to pay for The Vineyard. I mean, The Vineyard makes more money than any of his movies ever. That's good. That's good wine. You mentioned Can't Hardly Wait. That is a great movie. It is a great movie. And Charlie Corismo is great in that. Ethan Embry, of course. What's the redhead girl?
JVL00:45:31Seth Green's in it. Seth Green, Lauren. Yes, Lauren. I'm forgetting her last name.
Vic00:45:35Very good actor.
JVL00:45:36My favorite bit, if you listen to the commentary, the DVD commentary. You were a Can't Hardly Wait expert. Huge. Yeah, well, it hit me at the right time. It's your hook if you... The best gag in the movie. ...didn't make the final cut. Which was? So there is... One of the recurring jokes was there was a character called Crying Drunk Girl, who was a girl who does nothing but cry, but whenever she shows up, she speaks in subtitles, and she has the answer to everybody's problems, and can solve them for them, but nobody understands her. And the director, I forget the director, explains this in the course of the commentary. That would have been great. It sounds like a great, great bit, and it just didn't. He's like, we had to lose. It's three minutes of time, and so we took the crying drunk girl.
Vic00:46:21I'm glad they didn't remove any of the screen time of my favorite, Jennifer Love Hewitt, who is in her prime. I love... I still love her. You know what? I don't even know. The funny thing is, she never had to, you know, she's never done that kind of a R-rated movie. Whoop, whoop, whoop. Follow me. Follow... Just bear with me. Careful. Bear with me. I'm a big fan of hers, but you know what? And I don't know. I don't think she's ever done a nude scene, right? But I wouldn't know, because I'm too scared to check. I wouldn't check on the internet, unless there was a way to find out. Look what I'm willing to do for that transition. What could one possibly do, JVL?
?00:46:56Wow.
JVL00:46:58With all the recent news about online security breaches, it's hard not to worry about where your data goes, especially if your name is Jennifer Love Hewitt. You should protect yourself, love. Run. Run. Hurry, Jennifer. Protect yourself. This is the ExpressVPN spot, and I hate the ExpressVPN script, so I'm just going to riff as I always do. I always do, because it's a fantastic product. I'm using it right now.
Sonny00:47:21To look up Jennifer Love Hewitt?
JVL00:47:22No, just sitting in the office to keep my corporate overlords from putting stuff into my computer. Look, so it is, everybody should use a VPN. If you are ever, the ExpressVPN shtick is to protect your privacy from your own provider, and I suppose that's a real thing if you are somebody who's creepily trying to stalk Jennifer
Sonny00:47:41Love Hewitt.
JVL00:47:42However, for everybody else, what you want to do is protect yourself, especially when you're on a public network. So when you're at the library, when you're at the coffee shop, when you are visiting somebody else's office, or on the Accella, you're on a public network and you are totally vulnerable. Whenever you're on a public network, you are vulnerable. It is important to realize this. So if there is a malicious actor sitting there on the same public Wi-Fi network as you, they can go in and they can get you. So if you are putting in passwords, like for instance, you are doing some online banking while you're sitting at Starbucks, you are vulnerable unless you have a VPN. VPNs, anybody can set them up, but they are... They are sort of a pain in the neck and they cost a little bit of money and startup costs. ExpressVPN is incredibly cheap. It's less than seven bucks a month. Setting it up is literally a 15-second affair. Like it's three clicks of your mouse. And then it's just always working. It sets itself up automatically. It's truly great. It is a great product and everybody should use it. It's one of these little, little things where you think about the cost to benefit ratio and the potential downside of getting hacked and the hassle of having to call all of your credit. Your credit cards and your banks and cancel that stuff. ExpressVPN just takes care of all that for you. It's great. So you should protect your online activity today and get three months free. They will give you three free months at expressvpn.com slash substandard. That's E-X-P-R-E-S-S-V-P-N dot com slash substandard. You get three months free with a one-year package. It is, you're crazy if you don't do it. So everybody should go. You should go to subscribe to ExpressVPN. And learn more. And I believe terms and conditions may apply.
Vic00:49:22Thank you, JVL. Corrections. This is a new category. I have corrections, additions, and box office thoughts. And a movie pass. That's the new addition to the show.
JVL00:49:34Well, you know, we're running out of time.
Vic00:49:36We actually filled up. We were so.
Sonny00:49:37Yeah, we'll save that for next week when we have nothing to talk about.
Vic00:49:40We were certain that we wouldn't be able to fill in the time with just dudes chatting. But it's amazing.
Sonny00:49:45Take that. Take that, our doubts. Yeah, let's save movie pass for next week.
Vic00:49:51Okay, good. Well, if it's around. I hope it's still around. JVL, anything from you? You're good?
JVL00:49:57I have an outtake or two. Oh, good. So am I. We'll get to that.
Vic00:50:01No, I'm done. Okay, wonderful. That's summer. That's all the time we're giving to this episode. I don't even remember what we talked about today. Whirlpool Plus. Okay, good. Questions, comments, complaints, compliments, tweet us at Victorino Matus at Sonny Bunch. At JV Last. Again, be sure to subscribe. To us on iTunes, Google Play. Just type in Substandard at a podcast. We are there. Leave a review. Tell your friends. Until next time.
Sonny00:50:37JVL.
JVL00:50:38JVL. I was thinking about you last night, Vic. Oh, me? I was on a website where there was a lot of discussion of tip. To tip.
Sonny00:50:48Is this still ExpressVPN? Are we still doing that? What's happening here?
Vic00:50:52What's happening here? Okay.
JVL00:50:54Well, this is a phrase that people use all the time. Tip to tip.
Vic00:50:57Which means what? What's going on here?
JVL00:50:59It just means tip to tip, Victorino.
Sonny00:51:01Trying to put some cables together?
JVL00:51:02I was on a watch website, and they were talking about the measurements from the tip of one lug to another. And I thought, boy, if only Vic was here to learn about measuring tip to tip.
Sonny00:51:16That's all. That's lovely. Victorino?
Vic00:51:18I'm doing fine. But, you know, you said you were on the computer yesterday. And we have a colleague who tells us this really, really scary story about a guy he knows. This is a true story. Who received an email, like a blackmail email, saying, we know you were on this particular website. And when you were on that website, this is this other person I don't know, we downloaded spyware onto your phone. And then have video of you while on this website. And you think it's a hoax. And you look like you're on a roller coaster.
JVL00:51:53And it looks... Come on. The bone goes there. A little something for the ass. I give that to you. Come on, Sonny.
Vic00:52:03Don't just shake your head.
Sonny00:52:04He just shakes his head. My face tells the story. It's too bad no one will ever see it.
Vic00:52:08And so you think, oh, maybe it's a hoax. And whoever sent it has the video there of him, as well as whatever site he might be on. He might have been on the video of him doing whatever he's doing and saying, if you don't pay X thousands of dollars, we're going to send this to all of your contacts. That scared me. I was so terrified. So what now I do is I just cover, you know, with my free hand, I cover the camera. Oh, I'm sure that's fine.
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