This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Nik Walker: Hey Alex.

[0:03] Alex Smolowe: Hey Nick.

[0:04] Nik Walker: So weird.

[0:05] Alex Smolowe: So weird.

[0:06] Nik Walker: We've even done this.

[0:07] Alex Smolowe: It's been a minute.

[0:09] Nik Walker: Guys, if you're watching this, uh, you're already dead.

[0:12] Alex Smolowe: Uh no.

[0:13] Nik Walker: Welcome to You've been dead the whole time.

[0:15] Alex Smolowe: You've been dead the whole time.

[0:16] Nik Walker: Well, this is a spoiler alert, Bruce Willis, he killed you. Welcome to Little Justice Season DOS.

[0:24] Alex Smolowe: Season two.

[0:25] Nik Walker: Our first season was just audio. Now we are audio.

[0:28] Alex Smolowe: We're like the A V Club at your local high school.

[0:30] Nik Walker: We're like the A V Club.

[0:32] Alex Smolowe: Third season VR.

[0:34] Nik Walker: We're moving into the Oculus dimension.

[0:36] Alex Smolowe: Third Oculus Rift dimension.

[0:39] Nik Walker: I am Nik Walker. If you if you're just joining us for the first time, I'm Nik Walker. I'm a I'm a Broadway guy. I'm a writer and uh and uh and an asshole. Who are you? What's your what do you do?

[0:48] Alex Smolowe: Uh my name's Alex. Nice and I don't know. I I just hang out here.

[0:55] Nik Walker: He hangs out. He really is just kind of do you remember how in the opening of Ghostbusters there's that ghost lady in the bottom of the library, and she's like, shh. That's how I picture you.

[1:05] Alex Smolowe: Right.

[1:06] Nik Walker: In the library. If I was gonna haunt, if I was gonna like die and be a ghost, I would like be the most boring ghost ever. Like just kind of mad at everybody, you know, not doing anything about it, but just like judging. I'd be like the one of those judgmental ghosts that just watches you.

[1:22] Alex Smolowe: You'd be scary the first time just because you're a ghost, but after that, yeah, it would just be like, oh hey, Alex.

[1:27] Nik Walker: Hey. Well, I'd be scary because I I look like a seven-year-old Victorian boy.

[1:32] Alex Smolowe: You do.

[1:33] Nik Walker: You know, naturally. That's my vibe. We used to have a picture. Alex used to have a profile picture that was him as uh Jeffrey uh Jeffrey uh Targaryen.

[1:42] Alex Smolowe: Jeffrey Joffrey Joffrey Targaryen.

[1:44] Nik Walker: No, Lannister.

[1:46] Alex Smolowe: Lannister. I just said Target. Joffrey Lannister.

[1:48] Nik Walker: Joffrey Lannister. Good lord. Yeah, we took the the photo. They had that like campaign of photos with like half in light, half in dark. And so I just put half my face against against Joffrey, and you can't you literally tell the difference. I'm gonna find it. I'm gonna put it on it.

[1:59] Alex Smolowe: You gotta put it up because it's really it's really creepy.

[2:01] Nik Walker: Yeah. But uh Alex, now that we're on YouTube, uh, what can they do? What's the what's your favorite thing to say? What can they do?

[2:07] Alex Smolowe: If you like what you see and you wanna see more, go ahead, smash that subscribe.

[2:14] Nik Walker: Smash it.

[2:14] Alex Smolowe: Okay, like and follow. Links in the description.

[2:17] Nik Walker: Yeah. I hate all the things. I don't know what links are in the description, but something's in the description.

[2:21] Alex Smolowe: I think it's the Pornhub or something. It's gonna be great. Uh we're gonna find some nice links. Sauce's links, link patties.

[2:28] Nik Walker: Um we're also gonna Okay. We know we also we also, if you uh if you want to listen to this just as a the audio version, feel free to uh listen more in wherever podcasts are available.

[2:38] Alex Smolowe: Um and we will be there. Like literally, we're on Audible. Are we on the I'll call an Audible on being on Audible?

[2:45] Nik Walker: That's insane. Good lord. Pretty cool. Pretty great. You know, you can be listening to to Harry Potter, which I will say the best series of audio books ever recorded.

[2:54] Alex Smolowe: But Jim Dale.

[2:55] Nik Walker: I forget the guy's name, but Jim Dale.

[2:57] Alex Smolowe: Jim Dale, that's him. So go from Harry Potter 3, the book, uh audiobook to Little Justice, the podcast, and then get on YouTube. Smash that subscribe.

[3:05] Nik Walker: Smash that subscribe. Uh smash be filled. That subscribe. You know, it's so funny because we're going into this is our uh our seasonal pro you know we wanted to set up our first episode as well.

[3:17] Alex Smolowe: Uh, you know. Guys, you know, if you're just joining us, you're getting to know me, I'm getting to know you. I don't know if you've ever had those moments in your life when um You just uh you know, there's just a build, there's a build.

[3:34] Nik Walker: I, you know, my therapist says I have anger issues. And uh and I I do, and I did. And I did at that moment. I'm not angry now, but the I want to say the the call the the first episode that you're about to see uh if you're watching this uh vlog cast, um I went dark.

[3:54] Alex Smolowe: I went real dark. It's special. So we've we've already recorded a good portion of the season. We've had the time, we've brought in some nice guests. We have an amazing, amazing stuff coming for you guys over the course of this upcoming season.

[4:08] Nik Walker: We did the first episode a while ago. I'm not even in this apartment. It's my last apartment I was there. Uh we forced Nick to get a nice camera, which you can see.

[4:19] Alex Smolowe: Yeah, to get a nice microphone, which you can see. Uh, and and we came and invaded his space, which you can see.

[4:26] Nik Walker: Yep. And he he's fine now, right? You feel good now.

[4:30] Alex Smolowe: Now I'm comfortable with old. You're on board with the whole situation.

[4:36] Nik Walker: Uh but this first episode, you know, it's really like a pilot, right? It's like a test.

[4:41] Alex Smolowe: It's and you did not. It's as though you know that you know that scene uh in uh in in in Independence Day where Randy K Randy Quaid makes that decision to drive his drive his his uh jet into the spaceship, and he's like, tell my children I love them very much, and then he just goes balls to the wall.

[5:03] Nik Walker: I is this you in this metaphor?

[5:06] Alex Smolowe: I'm the spaceship.

[5:07] Nik Walker: I I went, I just blew up. You're the spaceship. Who who is Randy Quaid?

[5:12] Alex Smolowe: The tech the the Beyoncé Britt. You know who it is? It's Beyoncé Britt.

[5:15] Nik Walker: RPC Beyonce Britt is on a suicide mission ramming a her plane into you.

[5:23] Alex Smolowe: I was like, I think it's still still broken.

[5:27] Nik Walker: Alex and I.

[5:28] Alex Smolowe: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[5:29] Nik Walker: Oh, we're in the okay. So one of those dual cockpit planes. And it's me and Beyoncé Britt in the plane of technology flying at you, this monster in the sky on a murderous war pad.

[5:45] Alex Smolowe: Like I do every Thursday.

[5:47] Nik Walker: Okay. You know what I mean? Uh with torpedoes made of nice cameras.

[5:52] Alex Smolowe: My mouth.

[5:52] Nik Walker: And microphone. And I I hey guys, it's it's on video now. You want to see Magic Trick?

[5:57] Alex Smolowe: Oh my god, where'd it go?

[5:58] Nik Walker: Do you know what I mean? Look at that. Crazy. Have you been sitting at home teaching yourself how to do that?

[6:03] Alex Smolowe: I I I already knew how to do that. I didn't teach anything.

[6:07] Nik Walker: But I will say. Anyway, this is a movie podcast you're about to see.

[6:14] Alex Smolowe: It's a magic, it's a magic podcast.

[6:16] Nik Walker: Peter's not panning out.

[6:18] Alex Smolowe: Oh what? P.S. I have I just want to say maybe we can see the cold open. I have several like limited edition hook playing cards.

[6:27] Nik Walker: Do you know what I mean? Like, let's get into that.

[6:31] Alex Smolowe: Let's get into that. So you subscribe for a chance to win one of Nick's hook playing cards.

[6:37] Nik Walker: Yeah. Please join our jo uh, we're gonna we're gonna set up a Patreon. Uh we actually we'll set up a Patreon, and if you contribute, there's a chance you could win something Nick owns because he's got more toys than a six-year-old Victorian boy.

[6:56] Alex Smolowe: Jesus fucking Christ.

[6:58] Nik Walker: Yeah, yeah, I do have more toys than a six-year old Victorian boy, because that six-year old Victorian boy is dead. So I think anybody has more toys than him.

[7:06] Alex Smolowe: Uh but guys, and you took his toys.

[7:09] Nik Walker: Can't can't take it with you, Victorian boy. You can die. The conjuring, great movie.

[7:15] Alex Smolowe: Anyway, um, yeah, so guys, enjoy. I'm so sorry about this about this first episode, but enjoy it.

[7:22] Nik Walker: We're so sorry about that. But we'll see you on the other side. This is gonna hurt.

[7:26] Alex Smolowe: But enjoy it. See you on the other side. The technology movie.

[7:29] Nik Walker: Have fun. Bye.

[7:38] Alex Smolowe: Look at you.

[7:39] Nik Walker: Look at you.

[7:42] Alex Smolowe: Soaking this in right now. I've had this day marked on my calendar for quite some time.

[7:48] Nik Walker: And I realize, you know, we have these expensive cameras now, and so I can really use this as an opportunity to act, you know.

[7:56] Alex Smolowe: And to give you moments and beats and thought. You know, that that's a lot of what film acting is, Alex.

[8:01] Nik Walker: You know, when I what I tell my students, because I don't know if you know I'm a professor at NYU.

[8:05] Alex Smolowe: In theater acting, yeah.

[8:06] Nik Walker: No, no, no, no, no. I teach at Stone Street, and I teach at uh, which is the film and television studio. I also teach at uh Steinhart and Tisch.

[8:15] Alex Smolowe: So I'm kind of with your extensive one episode of CSI cred film credit.

[8:20] Nik Walker: Well, it was it was now it's three lines on Lawn Order's VU, but uh who's counting?

[8:26] Alex Smolowe: You are what I what I teach my students, Alex, is that it's all about the thoughts behind the eyes, right?

[8:34] Nik Walker: I just want to ask you, Alex, now that we're in this medium, that you know, your brain child, your idea. What what thoughts are behind my eyes right now?

[8:44] Alex Smolowe: What are you getting? Because there's the words coming out of your mouth.

[8:48] Nik Walker: There's the words coming out of my mouth. Very polite. There's there's the information being delivered. It's concise, it's polite.

[8:56] Alex Smolowe: So polite.

[8:57] Nik Walker: It's it's level.

[8:59] Alex Smolowe: Yeah, yeah.

[9:00] Nik Walker: Yeah, super level. When I look into your you know, data streamed, blurry eyeballs.

[9:07] Alex Smolowe: Yeah.

[9:08] Nik Walker: That are like this big on the screen because I have to shrink you down to put you where I need you for this remote recording.

[9:17] Alex Smolowe: Yeah.

[9:18] Nik Walker: What are you seeing?

[9:25] Alex Smolowe: The end.

[9:26] Nik Walker: Little just.

[9:30] Alex Smolowe: Little just it.

[9:33] Nik Walker: Little just.

[9:36] Alex Smolowe: Fuck yeah.

[9:37] Nik Walker: Yep, yep, yep, yep. Great. I'm so fucking glad that you fucking broached this subject. Welcome back to Swearing Nick, by the way.

[9:44] Alex Smolowe: Swearing Nick is back.

[9:46] Nik Walker: Swearing. He held back for the first season, but he's fucking back. Listen to me very, very carefully. Okay? Don't make me start bleeping in.

[9:55] Alex Smolowe: I please bleep.

[9:58] Nik Walker: We're in season two. We're in the relaunch. It's not just little Justin. Little Justin's movie in Mayhem. Come on.

[10:04] Alex Smolowe: I want you to. This is gonna be like a James Eichelhart level fucking reckoning.

[10:08] Nik Walker: Okay. Here's the deal. I cannot. Now, when I signed up for this, when I you are not okay. When I signed up for this shit, it was with the understanding that I could talk with my boy about movies.

[10:19] Alex Smolowe: Okay, that's what I want to do. I just want to talk to my boy about movies.

[10:21] Nik Walker: Now, you have a very decent face. I have a very pretty face. It stands to reason at some point we would add a visual element to our to our podcast. Great. Excellent. People can see us now.

[10:30] Alex Smolowe: But here's the fucking thing. This area is my safe zone.

[10:37] Nik Walker: This is my space. Not like the app from 20,000 years ago. The actual space that feels safe to me.

[10:44] Alex Smolowe: This is where I write my shit. This is where I meditate.

[10:45] Nik Walker: This is I have this exactly like I want it. Exactly like I want it. Now the amount of fucking robotic arms that are strewn about my safe space right now makes me feel like I'm in some episode of Black Mirror.

[10:51] Alex Smolowe: Makes me feel like Haley Atwell has bought me as a robot replica of her husband. And it's like I feel fake. I feel strange.

[11:11] Nik Walker: I feel like it is. What the fuck is this? Why do you need to see me? Why you need to see? What is so fucking different though?

[11:24] Alex Smolowe: What makes it so good?

[11:26] Nik Walker: Oh, yeah, I'm like, my computer is buzzing with the power of a thousand songs like a process.

[11:34] Alex Smolowe: Are you done?

[11:34] Nik Walker: Um no, well, it's done for now. Have you gotten that out of your system?

[11:39] Alex Smolowe: Do you know? Do you know what I've the one the one thing there the one thing that I gathered from that entire tirade.

[11:49] Nik Walker: That's what it was. It was a tyrant. I'm gonna I'm gonna give you that. I'm gonna let you exhaust it. Cause welcome, here you are.

[11:55] Alex Smolowe: You know?

[11:56] Nik Walker: You agreed to this.

[11:57] Alex Smolowe: Yeah.

[11:58] Nik Walker: You said, let's do it. And here you are. Let's fucking do it. Why not? Let's invest.

[12:03] Alex Smolowe: If if the space where you meditate for peace is behind a bookshelf in a chair at a desk in your bedroom, then this is the reaction.

[12:16] Nik Walker: This is this is the emotion that comes out. I think you need a new meditation zone, sir.

[12:18] Alex Smolowe: I think you need a beanbag chair or like an ottoman, like a fluffy ottoman, maybe, or a wall, you know, somewhere where you can be at peace.

[12:32] Nik Walker: Everything that you're saying, everything. Everything that you're saying, everything that you're saying assumes that I have the prowess to help design an apartment.

[12:34] Alex Smolowe: Everything that you're saying assumes that.

[12:44] Nik Walker: I don't. I don't. I have this space. This is this is what I know to do. It's like it's a fucking cluttered mess, but it's mine.

[12:51] Alex Smolowe: Well, see, but now I have now I have that space. Now I have that space.

[12:54] Nik Walker: So this is like our space.

[12:56] Alex Smolowe: That's what I'm saying. You know, now I it's like I've moved in.

[12:58] Nik Walker: It's like I've moved into my life in a way that I don't, I never asked for.

[13:04] Alex Smolowe: I didn't fucking want. Do you know what I mean? And this is 2021 where we're arresting people for shit like this.

[13:09] Nik Walker: We don't let people get away with this shit. But now you're in my that's actually that's exactly what it fucking is. You're in my fucking space.

[13:16] Alex Smolowe: I'm like a super villain.

[13:18] Nik Walker: Where can I go? I'm not. It's remote. You know, tech technology has allowed me to move into your space without being across the country.

[13:26] Alex Smolowe: I could be on the other side of the country and still invade your space.

[13:29] Nik Walker: And I love it. Thank thank God. Thank God that that you are on the other side of the country.

[13:37] Alex Smolowe: Thank God that you are not physically here.

[13:40] Nik Walker: That it's only in this capacity that I have to deal with your Aryan nonsense.

[13:45] Alex Smolowe: Do you know what I mean? Thank the Lord. Because my goodness, I feel I I just guys, it is so nice to see all of you.

[13:55] Nik Walker: Welcome to season two. I feel so I feel unclean.

[13:58] Alex Smolowe: And that's mostly because I haven't seen it. We are on video. Some of us are happy to be here.

[14:04] Nik Walker: I'm I'm happy. I'm somewhat I got some nice new lights. You know?

[14:09] Alex Smolowe: How do you how do you think that's a good one? I'm hanging out with my best friend, talking movies, apparently.

[14:13] Nik Walker: Our producer Brittany's happy to be here.

[14:15] Alex Smolowe: We have a producer.

[14:17] Nik Walker: Brittany's not on the camera right now.

[14:18] Alex Smolowe: Brittany just have to deal with your shit.

[14:19] Nik Walker: We do have a producer, Brittany.

[14:20] Alex Smolowe: Brittany's great.

[14:21] Nik Walker: I I love I fucking love Brittany.

[14:22] Alex Smolowe: Do you know what I mean?

[14:23] Nik Walker: And I fucking love you, man.

[14:25] Alex Smolowe: That's not the problem.

[14:27] Nik Walker: Problem is the boundaries.

[14:29] Alex Smolowe: And the boundaries have been crossed.

[14:31] Nik Walker: Boundaries.

[14:31] Alex Smolowe: One too many times.

[14:33] Nik Walker: Just to get here, guys, just to get to this space.

[14:36] Alex Smolowe: Do you real do you understand how much readjusting?

[14:39] Nik Walker: Well, where's the eye line? Are we looking left? Are we looking right? Are we looking above? Are we looking down? Are we in are we in fucking Hooville? Do you mean like, what the hell?

[14:46] Alex Smolowe: What the hell, man?

[14:48] Nik Walker: Just t just let me speak. Just let me speak about fucking films. So I want to fucking have a lot of people. Do you guys not have like tech tech just do you not have like technical rehearsals in theater?

[14:56] Alex Smolowe: We absolutely have like a lot of things. You gotta set things up. Things are just magically.

[15:01] Nik Walker: Absolutely. These things don't just magically you don't show up on YouTube without a light and a camera and eye lines.

[15:09] Alex Smolowe: I think what's gonna happen very quickly is that people are gonna realize that I shouldn't be on YouTube.

[15:14] Nik Walker: I think that's what's gonna Now you I think are made for it.

[15:14] Alex Smolowe: You I think are you?

[15:18] Nik Walker: I'm already worried. I'm already in my head, I'm like, do they have do they have do they have explicit filters on YouTube? Are they gonna like tag you just cursing your head off and shut us down?

[15:31] Alex Smolowe: I hope so. I really hope so. I really want them to. I really, I really think they should. I really think that they should flag us.

[15:38] Nik Walker: I yeah, I'm gonna hope for it real hard. I'm gonna wish and wish and pray, you know, that that these people will understand my pain.

[15:46] Alex Smolowe: Yeah.

[15:47] Nik Walker: I'm I might send some strongly worded emails.

[15:50] Alex Smolowe: I might do that. You know, I might I might do that. Well, this is what is let's make the best of it. Here we are. Let's make the best of it while we're here. Shall we? Here we are.

[15:58] Alex Smolowe: Sure. Great. So for all the people joining us, we've talked time out in YouTube land. Tell tell people what we talk about here on Little Justice, besides besides anger and exhaustion and desperation.

[16:13] Nik Walker: Well, we used to talk about movies.

[16:15] Alex Smolowe: We used to, we we would be a podcast.

[16:28] Nik Walker: We'd pick the two movies that re best represented that theme in our mind, and we'd bring them in to discuss them. And it would be a nice, like it wouldn't even be a competition. Right? We're not even arguing. We're not even making the best case for wire movies better. It's just like appreciating movies. You know, that's the space.

[16:42] Alex Smolowe: It used to be a very positive podcast.

[16:45] Nik Walker: It was. You know, you know what I'm gonna have to do? So these beads are from my honeymoon, okay?

[16:50] Alex Smolowe: What's that?

[16:51] Nik Walker: These are these beads are from these are from these are from Hawaii.

[16:53] Alex Smolowe: Got it.

[16:54] Nik Walker: Okay. And that is, these are gonna have to keep me safe. I'm gonna have to use these like a fucking rosary. So when you hear the click click, right? That's just know that that's me rubbing my rosary.

[17:04] Alex Smolowe: Then I'll know. So now I can see the click click. You can just hold them up.

[17:10] Nik Walker: You get a little visual cue, you know.

[17:14] Alex Smolowe: That's so great. That's so great. I fucking love it. How have you been, Alex? How's your week? How you doing?

[17:21] Alex Smolowe: Good. Speaking of Hawaii, uh, yeah, I'm good. So my wife and I, uh, it's been a long time since we've had a vacation, gone anywhere. So we spent yesterday. Her 30th birthday is coming up. Uh, so I've decided to plan us a whole trip. Obviously, I I fucked it up immediately.

[17:39] Nik Walker: I I booked us things, you know, on on the island of Kauai, I booked us hotels and planes and horseback riding and sunset cruises and all out. Uh and then we're sitting there watching TV last night, and she pulls up her phone, she's like so actually the quarantine's still in place there.

[17:59] Alex Smolowe: And it doesn't lift until the fifth. When were you trying to get there on the second?

[18:00] Nik Walker: On the second.

[18:06] Alex Smolowe: That's no good.

[18:07] Nik Walker: So now I gotta go back. Where were you gonna stay?

[18:10] Alex Smolowe: Uh where are you planning to stay?

[18:12] Nik Walker: So Kawaii, there's like the main section down below, and then if you drive all the way to the north, the north shore, and all the way out, there's a place called the Honole Colony Resort out there.

[18:23] Alex Smolowe: It's like there's no TVs, there's no phones, it's a beachfront villa, it's like very suited to complete disconnection, which is just what we need.

[18:35] Nik Walker: Uh but now I have to re I have to go call every single place that I booked and be like, I'm an idiot. Please move me without without a change fee.

[18:46] Alex Smolowe: But you know what that's but that is the nice thing right now that right that a lot of at least right now, a lot of places are still moving people without change fees. You know, you can do that.

[18:55] Nik Walker: So so that's good at least. You it's not like these places are gonna go somewhere and walk away. You know, you can still go. But it's the fact that it's it's we'll we'll literally be there when the quarantine lives.

[19:05] Alex Smolowe: But yeah, at the end of the trip. So it's like, hey, like can I wait a couple days. Can I make a suggestion to you?

[19:13] Nik Walker: You may.

[19:13] Alex Smolowe: A new caf a new cafe. A new new cafe is on Kawaii. And I guarantee you.

[19:22] Nik Walker: On the North Shore.

[19:23] Alex Smolowe: The best.

[19:25] Nik Walker: Yeah, I think it's South.

[19:28] Alex Smolowe: Oh, is it?

[19:29] Nik Walker: Yeah.

[19:30] Alex Smolowe: I think.

[19:31] Nik Walker: Well, I don't know.

[19:33] Alex Smolowe: A new and new. I'll take it.

[19:34] Nik Walker: Yeah, Britt. I'll take it.

[19:36] Alex Smolowe: Yeah, a new new one.

[19:37] Nik Walker: Oh, yeah, we have somebody look things up.

[19:39] Alex Smolowe: Like Joe Rogan.

[19:40] Nik Walker: Like, yeah, Britt if you're around. Just look it up. What's that stat on it?

[19:45] Alex Smolowe: A new A-N-U-E-A-N-U-E cafe. We should be utilizing.

[19:51] Nik Walker: I promise you. We should be utilizing our producer to look up movie stuff.

[19:55] Alex Smolowe: Well, there's like a plethora of movie knowledge, trivia that we could be giving to our to our audience instead or cafe recommendations in Hawaii.

[20:08] Nik Walker: She has the freaking all look at the look at Brit. She already has the address. 2360.

[20:13] Alex Smolowe: She says Q exactly.

[20:17] Nik Walker: Is it is that Southern tip of the island or northern? Britt.

[20:20] Alex Smolowe: Britt doesn't know.

[20:24] Nik Walker: Okay. That's fine. Thank you, Britt.

[20:26] Alex Smolowe: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Britt.

[20:29] Nik Walker: That's Brit, everybody. Britt, Britt's gonna find out for us. But no, here's the thing. Everybody who's new to the Yeah, and well, if you're new to the podcast, you'll you'll very quickly understand this.

[20:38] Alex Smolowe: We're a movie podcast.

[20:40] Nik Walker: We actually we absolutely talk about movies uh 10% of the time.

[20:43] Alex Smolowe: What we mostly talk about is bullshit. Bull random pieces of bullshit that come up, and then eventually we'll find our way back to movies.

[20:51] Nik Walker: Eventually. And you know, usually around the 15 minute mark, which is now. So you know, we can transition to movies if we want, but like just know if this is your first time with us. If you're waiting for like, oh, when are they gonna talk about the movies?

[21:05] Alex Smolowe: You already you already watched the video. You might as well like and subscribe. You know what I mean? Click the fucking button, go about your day.

[21:12] Nik Walker: Oh, yeah. Can we do that now? You want to do that again?

[21:14] Alex Smolowe: Alright guys. Oh Jesus. If you like what you're seeing, go ahead, smash that subscribe button.

[21:19] Nik Walker: We're not saying that.

[21:20] Alex Smolowe: We're not we're not saying that.

[21:21] Nik Walker: We're not knocking the bio. Where do I point? We gotta come up with we gotta come up with some stuff.

[21:26] Alex Smolowe: It is south by the way.

[21:28] Nik Walker: Stuff's down there. Like it subscribe to it. Read it.

[21:31] Alex Smolowe: It's on the south.

[21:32] Nik Walker: Okay. So we're going down there for the the Sunset cruise. We're going down south like south like where the subscribe button's at.

[21:38] Alex Smolowe: So if you like what you're seeing, smash that subscribe is there a that's never gonna get old.

[21:45] Nik Walker: It is gonna get old.

[21:47] Alex Smolowe: It's not gonna go past this episode. This will be the only episode where I allow you it's not allowed to get old.

[21:51] Nik Walker: This is YouTube culture. Every episode you have to tell people to smash the subscribe button or they don't know.

[21:56] Alex Smolowe: They forget. What what happened? Do we don't then we don't get paid.

[22:02] Nik Walker: You should want people to subscribe. You should want people liked into this content so that they get updated so they watch it every week and then we cash that shit.

[22:13] Alex Smolowe: I'll tell you what I don't want to check 10 cents 20 cents I don't want people to feel obligated to hear what I have to say.

[22:24] Nik Walker: I want I because that's just a lot of pressure for me. I want to feel like I can say whatever I want as a black man in America and and not be determined by their subscription because this is what happens.

[22:35] Alex Smolowe: If people subscribe if you guys subscribe to this, which again we we are so thankful if you choose to do it but that means that now we're in some way beholden to you.

[22:43] Nik Walker: Stop fucking saying that that means in some way we're beholden to you.

[22:50] Alex Smolowe: I think you're just you're you're being old. You're being old.

[22:54] Nik Walker: You know olden to them well we are okay we Yeah we are.

[22:58] Alex Smolowe: You just said it.

[22:59] Nik Walker: You just cool. Great. So internet, man. I can change my mind about anything I want.

[23:07] Alex Smolowe: Well, speaking of the internet, speaking of the internet, let's actually do them a favor, do them a solid, and talk about our movies today. Because, you know, that's what we're here for.

[23:17] Nik Walker: We're not here to smash subscribe buttons and shit.

[23:22] Alex Smolowe: So we're talking to movies.

[23:24] Nik Walker: But our audience is.

[23:26] Alex Smolowe: Trash.

[23:28] Nik Walker: So, guys, on this podcast, we talk about movies. And uh, we pick themes. Like I said, and we and we we pick movies that best represent those themes. What is today's theme, Alex?

[23:41] Alex Smolowe: Very fittingly.

[23:43] Nik Walker: Technology.

[23:45] Alex Smolowe: The technology movie.

[23:46] Nik Walker: The technology movie. Now, this is funny. Was this like an anger pick for you?

[23:50] Alex Smolowe: This was so averse to technology.

[23:53] Nik Walker: No, I picked, I mmm, when you hear my pick, it's gonna be so fucking perfect. It's gonna be so fucking perfect, and you're gonna understand why I picked it.

[24:01] Alex Smolowe: Here's the deal. Right, if you go back, uh and please at some point go back through uh our our old our first season. Uh, you know, it's it's uh with the Broadway Podcast Network currently, little justice to the Broadway Podcast Network, all audio, but you'll see that we have many, many, many genres that we've picked.

[24:18] Nik Walker: About 34 genres at this point that we've picked. Um we've never done a technology movie.

[24:22] Alex Smolowe: We've done movies that dabble in technology that talk about technology, but never a technology movie.

[24:28] Nik Walker: And it was not an anger pick for me when I suggested this to Alex and Britt. It was more a hmm, I feel like I can find a movie that will say exactly what I'm feeling about what we're doing at this current time.

[24:44] Alex Smolowe: That's what I was gonna ask. Did you pick this movie to tell us what it's been like for you having to put a tripod in your meditation bedroom?

[24:54] Nik Walker: Yeah. Yeah, that's been a trying to do that. Pretty much.

[24:57] Alex Smolowe: Alright. And since our common language is movies, I think that this will be very telling for me about how you feel on the inside.

[25:06] Nik Walker: About your writing desk slash bubble.

[25:11] Alex Smolowe: Yeah.

[25:13] Nik Walker: Yeah. So tell me, Nick.

[25:20] Alex Smolowe: So tell me, what what makes what makes it there it is.

[25:25] Nik Walker: That didn't take long. That didn't take long. We got props.

[25:27] Alex Smolowe: Well.

[25:30] Nik Walker: I wanted to think about it. Or Nick's just got a bunch of bat Batman paraphernalia.

[25:36] Alex Smolowe: Is this how you feel protected? You're like that. That kid in high school who like becomes the Joker as a defense mechanism.

[25:46] Nik Walker: That's pr Have you read Whiskey Land? That's exactly what I feel like right now.

[25:51] Alex Smolowe: Okay. That's very fair. That's that's what I feel like please do the rest. Please do the rest of our video podcast in a joker mask.

[25:59] Nik Walker: For all of you who are listening to this with audio, and please take the time maybe to go to YouTube and check it out if you want. But Nick has donned a joker mask.

[26:08] Alex Smolowe: I think it's Dwight from The Office being Joker.

[26:12] Nik Walker: Right? No, it's not. It's like not actually Joker.

[26:16] Alex Smolowe: It is joking.

[26:17] Nik Walker: Well, then the plastic's may be a little just too wide or yeah. Nope. Yeah. Nope.

[26:22] Alex Smolowe: Yeah. It looks great.

[26:25] Nik Walker: It looks great. Thank you.

[26:28] Alex Smolowe: Thank you. Thank you. It hides my anger. I was talking to Chris Jackson last night, and he was he was talking to me about how I have anger issues.

[26:35] Nik Walker: And I hadn't really thought about it before, but I do.

[26:38] Alex Smolowe: And this mask perpetuates them.

[26:40] Nik Walker: Makes me feel like how long have we known each other?

[26:44] Alex Smolowe: We've known each other for 12 years.

[26:48] Nik Walker: No, longer.

[26:49] Alex Smolowe: 15 years.

[26:50] Nik Walker: 15.

[26:51] Alex Smolowe: Yeah, it's been 15.

[26:52] Nik Walker: 15 years?

[26:53] Alex Smolowe: 15 years.

[26:56] Nik Walker: Uh I've I've I've never known you.

[26:59] Alex Smolowe: Well, maybe once or twice, but I can't even remember the scenario, but I've never known you to be as consistently angry as you've been while tech shooting the video transition.

[27:10] Nik Walker: This is the angriest thing.

[27:11] Alex Smolowe: What does that tell you?

[27:12] Nik Walker: Are you okay?

[27:14] Alex Smolowe: That technology is something that you cannot relate to.

[27:17] Nik Walker: So I want to hear why.

[27:19] Alex Smolowe: Boom.

[27:20] Nik Walker: Boom. Or what? It's technology.

[27:25] Alex Smolowe: So this goes to my core. This is like this is something that I realize I actually have I actually do have a very genuine, like not even joking, a very genuine problem with technology.

[27:36] Nik Walker: And it's very interesting to me. Because I I read one of the things that I realized as I was preparing for this movie is in even in my scripts, I purposely do not include technology. I don't include cell phones.

[27:47] Alex Smolowe: I don't like I just don't like anything that that that lowers the state it lowers the stakes of something or like sets it in a period.

[27:57] Nik Walker: And that's just like an aesthetic choice in every anything I write. I just don't like that. I don't like if if I if if I put in that, you know, I'm using a Sony, you know, whatever Z7, whatever camera this is, you know what I mean? Great.

[28:11] Alex Smolowe: Then you know that it's uh that it's set in 2020 at least. Do you know what I mean?

[28:15] Nik Walker: I don't like that. I don't like that. I like I like things that can be feel timeless. And uh so technology already is pissing me off because it doesn't.

[28:24] Nik Walker: That's interesting. Cause I feel like that. Yeah, well, it's something we've talked about before, I think, but the effect that all this new technology has on storytelling, where before people had to take the time to, even with just like land lines, right? You had to take the time and the effort to make a call. You had to write a letter to go see somebody. It's like everything's become so convenient because of technology that dramatically things have become the stakes have dropped for us as people.

[28:58] Alex Smolowe: Well, and the stakes have absolutely the state, well, and here's here's what I would even say to that further. My opinion on that is that not I wouldn't even say the stakes have dropped. I'd say the stakes have switched because all of a sudden now, as with Frankenstein, as with every thing about any sort of human-made creation, right? You are now getting into territory of was it worth it? Was it worth it for all this? Because, and this is a perfect example. We're in, you know, we're recording this at the what we hope is the tail end of this fucking pandemic. Good lord. We hope that your lives have been okay. We hope that you've stayed safe and sane and healthy during this crazy, crazy time, fingers crossed. But technology to me is something that inherently um so many movies about this, so many stories, in the wrong hands, goes horribly awry. And we have proven time and again that we are the wrong hands for anything like this.

[29:59] Nik Walker: We have these immense platforms that bring us together YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, uh, Twitter, uh, some would say TikTok. I don't subscribe to it. Um, but these things that are supposed to bring us together, but really what they do is distract us from the fact that people are dying. People are dying. And like we can go on and watch a little funny, you know, WandaVision meme. I just finished WandaVision, uh, so that's where my mind is at, by the way. It's a lot of WandaVision references today. But that's my thing is like I feel like. Yeah. I feel like technology is often just misused. It's often, it's it more often than not that convenience breeds a degradation of ingenuity and of mindfulness and awareness, and that is why technology in general pisses me off. Now, granted, we would not have survived this pandemic without technology. So, like, on the other hand, I understand that it is a very necessary.

[31:03] Alex Smolowe: Well, I was gonna say. Please say.

[31:07] Nik Walker: Yeah, I was gonna say there are benefits. Imagine, you know, the same thing happened in what, 1918 with the Spanish flu. Um people trapped inside forever. Um, the fact that we can continue to work, continue to connect. Uh, we played board games with my sister across the country over webcam the other day. Like you can literally, you're not really isolated when you're isolated. And there's so many bad things, I agree. There are so many ways in which the whole thing has become corrupted and commercialized and sanitized and brought out bad the bad in people, but it's also connected us a little deeper. And moving forward out of this pandemic now, we've built a structure where we feel comfortable this way. You don't feel comfortable with this, obviously. I don't having to have a fucking trash with having to connect this way. Um, but families don't like it. Everywhere even even grandparents know how to do Zoom, you know? It's a good thing. I think it's a good thing.

[32:17] Nik Walker: That's so great for you. That's so great.

[32:22] Alex Smolowe: Yeah, no, it can be. It can be if we weren't greedy bastards, which we are, uh, and if the world wasn't ending, which it is, but uh, you know, uh, whatever. Whatever. You know, I'm I'm fine. So do you and that's why fatalists, my goodness. Oh, welcome to season two. The subtitle is movies and mayhem. We wanted more mayhem. That's what I'm bringing. That's what I'm bringing. Here it comes. Yep, there it is. Mayhem and K. There it is. So, that's what was my thinking with the technology movie. I want to pick a topic that would allow us to enjoy yes. This the destruction of our beautiful, beautiful podcast. And you can see me blinking. I think it's the evolution. So that so I was thinking about this.

[33:17] Nik Walker: Yeah. A technology movie. What does what does it mean to be a technology movie? I realize there's two elements that it has to incorporate. What are those two elements?

[33:26] Alex Smolowe: Uh, because technology, technology means something, right? Like technology by itself. You can't hold a technology. It refers to a category of thing. And I think a piece of technology is something that has evolved in some way. It's taken something that's existed and bettered it or worsened it, but evolved it. It's moved it into a new form of existence. And a technology movie also has to examine our relationship to that as human beings. So it's it's the physical thing that is has been developed, has come into existence, and it's our reaction to it. And a good technology movie, that's what it looks at, I think. Would you agree?

[34:14] Nik Walker: I do agree. It's something being developed and it's our reaction to it. I th I think I actually think that's very what I love about that is it keeps it general enough that that's so many things, you know. I mean, that that's so many things. Creation, creation. It's a movie of creation. And um and these stories are about you know how we handle our creations. Um I I yeah, I'm a huge fan of that. Huge fan of that definition. I think that's great. I think that's excellent.

[34:44] Alex Smolowe: Yeah. Is that why you chose Bicentennial Man as your film?

[34:48] Nik Walker: Let me tell you a little story about Bicentennial Man. Because guys, Alex, just so you know, he put in our in our in our little justice group thread. He put in a gif is it gif or gif? I never know. Britt, is it a gif or gif? We talked about this last time. GIF? Yeah, it's gif. Well, first of all, I asked Britt. I just want to be clear about that. I asked Britt. It's the opposite of the peanut butter. It's not the peanut butter. Thank you. Well, wait, but the peanut butter, peanut butter is JIF. Peanut butter is JIF. So it's gif. I don't think gifts. No, it's the opposite of the peanut butter. No, it's no, it's the same as the peanut butter. Fight, fight, fight. I'm inclined to listen to Brittany. Comments are down below. Let us know what you think about the GIF Chif debate. Smash the subscribe. Stop saying that shit. Thank you, Britt. Thank you as always. Uh, okay. Well, I'm gonna I'm gonna go with what with what Britt said, and I'm gonna say that's gif.

[35:36] Alex Smolowe: Okay.

[35:36] Nik Walker: And uh you sent you to be wrong, and people are gonna be laughing at you this whole time.

[35:40] Alex Smolowe: They already are.

[35:41] Nik Walker: You sent us a uh a gif of bicentennial man of Robin Williams as a robot in that full robot. Is that was that him in that in that suit? Was that him at that point?

[35:51] Alex Smolowe: Yeah.

[35:54] Nik Walker: Wow. Must have been.

[35:56] Alex Smolowe: Wow.

[35:56] Nik Walker: Wow. Must have been. Well, you know, I'm gonna uh you have feelings about Bicentennial Man?

[36:02] Alex Smolowe: I do. I I was with it until uh they had that sex scene.

[36:07] Nik Walker: Yeah, Britney just put in our chat. Just like the peanut butter. I don't want to say that I've spent this entire episode being right. Bicentennial man. So you sent us a a jiff of this. And uh I was I was taking it back to again, watching Robin Williams, you know, come to life as a real boy, uh, as a as a robot real boy, and uh, you know, have a family with Sam Neil and all these random things. Oliver Platt gives him a penis. Like very strange film. Very strange film. Uh and I was like, ooh, maybe I should choose that just to spite him. But I didn't. I didn't choose that.

[36:51] Nik Walker: But you didn't.

[36:52] Alex Smolowe: I did not.

[36:54] Nik Walker: So you you actually thought about choosing Bicentennial Man as the quintessential technology movie.

[37:00] Alex Smolowe: Just to spite you.

[37:05] Nik Walker: I wish I I would have liked to talk about it. Here's the thing. I loved Bicentennial Man. Oh, when it came out. I mean, we were young. It has such a beautiful story. Okay. Bicentennial Man, like like data on Star Trek, right? It's about the search for what it means to be human. It's about, it's about making that journey all that it can be. It's about from beginning to end. It might take you 70 years. It might take you 250 years. You might end up marrying the guy who owned you, great granddaughter. I don't know. I don't know where life's gonna take you. That's for you to decide. Okay, that's for you to find out. Maybe you're gonna be robot Robin Williams you're an artificial penis. I don't know.

But it's beautiful. You know. Beautiful. There's so many possibilities, of course, unless you're uh suffering from uh, you know, systemic racism or some sort of prejudice, gender prejudice, you know. Basically anyone who's not a straight white man, that's not true for us. But it's true for you, and true for Robin Williams in this movie. And I think that's so great. I think that's so great.

[38:15] Alex Smolowe: Um, and I I applaud you for enjoying that lovely, lovely fantasy.

[38:20] Nik Walker: Um, wait. Ooh, new from Brit. Britt, wait, come in and tell us what you just found.

[38:25] Alex Smolowe: Newsweek declares it's GIF with a hard G.

[38:29] Nik Walker: And there are linguistic professors to back it up in 2016.

[38:35] Alex Smolowe: Yes.

[38:36] Nik Walker: Newsweek declares a lot of things. Literally Time magazine did a whole from 1987 to 2016.

[38:51] Alex Smolowe: So the mixed pronunciation was so was so vast that it became gif. People knew like that something sh should be pronounced gif and not gif, which is the peanut butter.

[39:05] Nik Walker: Oh I get it. I'm just saying Obama said it's also Obama took a side in 2014 announcing his official position is that it is pronounced gif like a hard G like a grape.

[39:20] Alex Smolowe: Like a fucking grape.

[39:22] Nik Walker: I don't like that we as a society can just get together and be like, let's just decide this word is different than it is.

[39:30] Alex Smolowe: That's a history of linguistics.

[39:33] Nik Walker: That's exactly what it is. That's precisely what it is. Um, you know, do yourself a favor, real big tangent, but if you ever want to hear uh how crazy language is, go and listen to the original pronunciation of Shakespeare. Uh Ben Cr Ben and David Crystal doing some amazing work out there on how Shakespeare actually sounded. It was completely different language, completely different English. Um, but we won't get into that here. What we'll get into is why Bicentennial Man sucks.

[39:58] Alex Smolowe: No, I'm kidding. I I we here's the other thing, guys. We don't trash movies on this channel. Uh what we do is we uplift them. We do love movies, so we're not gonna trash anything. I'm just I'm just annoyed that Alex tried to give me Bicentennial Man as a choice. No, Alex, uh, I choose a movie that um I think you'll enjoy. And I'll uh I'll do what we do now. So, again, first time listeners, what we do is we give you the uh first five minutes of the film. We describe it to you in vivid detail. And if you can guess what it is, before I say it, you get nothing. You get nothing because I'm not really there with you. I can't give you anything. And I'm not gonna get take down your address. Are you are you insane? So just appreciate it for what it is. Try to guess, I suppose. Alex, are you ready to guess? Do you want me to go first? Here we go. Great.

[40:51] Nik Walker: I'll go first.

[41:51] Alex Smolowe: I I am ready.

[41:54] Nik Walker: I think adding video chat, what it's done too, is giving us a couple, like a two-second lag in hearing each other. Because our computers are trying to send this to each other. So if I cut in and you're still speaking like just like that. Just it's almost like, it's almost like, you know, we should know that this is too much. You know, our computers are trying to subtly tell us, hey, you guys have you're doing too much. Slow down. It's not a staff repo. Now, do you have a broadband ethernet adapter that you could wire hard into your laptop?

[41:54] Nik Walker: Let me tell you about this movie. I can't pass the first minutes. We open. You're gonna know it from like the first two seconds. And I'm very excited for you to know it. We open.

[42:06] Alex Smolowe: I didn't know they take us in China.

[42:08] Nik Walker: Cambridge, Massachusetts.

[42:11] Alex Smolowe: Yeah.

[42:12] Nik Walker: Some beautiful music.

[42:13] Alex Smolowe: Yep.

[42:14] Nik Walker: Yep. Beautiful. Some beautiful rock music.

[42:15] Alex Smolowe: Beautiful.

[42:18] Nik Walker: We zero in on a bar.

[42:20] Alex Smolowe: Yes, we do.

[42:21] Nik Walker: Young white.

[42:22] Alex Smolowe: Young white couple is.

[42:24] Nik Walker: Well, I would say it's uh the actors Jesse Eisenberg and Rooney Mara. And they're having a discussion about uh punching the pork.

[42:34] Nik Walker: Joining the Porcellian, uh, which is one of the clubs on campus at Harvard.

[42:39] Alex Smolowe: And um, this guy, uh, that Jesse, I just said his name.

[42:46] Nik Walker: Uh, cut that out.

[42:49] Alex Smolowe: Yeah, you said it already.

[42:50] Nik Walker: I'm not gonna cut anything.

[42:52] Alex Smolowe: I can't cut anything now.

[42:53] Nik Walker: We're live, we got video.

[42:55] Alex Smolowe: You can edit the video.

[42:58] Nik Walker: You can cut back and forth between me and you.

[43:01] Alex Smolowe: Oh my god.

[43:03] Nik Walker: Do you know what the movie is? You know what the movie is?

[43:06] Alex Smolowe: The movie, of course.

[43:08] Nik Walker: The social network.

[43:15] Alex Smolowe: Can't connect.

[43:17] Nik Walker: The network's down.

[43:19] Alex Smolowe: Unless it's a coincidence, I think this is us.

[43:22] Nik Walker: It's not a coincidence.

[43:24] Alex Smolowe: Holy shit.

[43:26] Nik Walker: Great. Why did I just play the music?

[43:30] Alex Smolowe: I gotta figure out how this, how the clips are gonna pop up now.

[43:33] Nik Walker: Because I figure while you're talking about it, we could have it like blurred out. I don't know. You'll, you guys will see. If you're watching it now, you'll see how I already figured it out. Uh, but I haven't figured it out yet.

[43:43] Alex Smolowe: Technology, I'm sorry.

[43:45] Nik Walker: Why did I choose it?

[43:46] Alex Smolowe: Why?

[43:47] Nik Walker: Why did I choose it?

[43:49] Alex Smolowe: Because it's about technology.

[43:50] Nik Walker: It's a great choice, actually. I can s, I considered it. I considered choosing it also. It's, it's, and there's very few movies like it. Um, I remember when it came out.

[43:59] Alex Smolowe: Yeah, we just watched it recently. My wife and I, she'd never seen it. Um, it was weird that a movie about Facebook, which is like Facebook, this was like peak Facebook.

[44:12] Nik Walker: It hadn't yet kind of gone off in the alt-right direction. You know, the whole disrupting the world balance direction. It was like peak, everyone's on Facebook, still updating their relationship status.

[44:24] Alex Smolowe: Um, it was weird that a movie could be so good and poignant, uh, while being about the creation of basically like a social media company that, you know, basically when it came out was still in its infancy.

[44:43] Nik Walker: Is it about technology? It's, well, again, let's look at the two things. It's about the evolution of something, right? It's really about because it, it, it's, it's a guy who wanted to meet girls in college, creates this thing.

[44:59] Alex Smolowe: Uh, he completely changes the way that we as human beings, as world citizens, interact with each other and satisfy needs and desires that we have in terms of our connections to other people, right?

[45:16] Nik Walker: That wasn't the goal. The goal was to create a way for to find out who had a girlfriend. But this piece of technology evolves. Then you see the repercussions of what that means.

[45:28] Alex Smolowe: And, and what I love about it is it's very meta in the sense that as you're watching it, you're also checking your Facebook at the same time. Like it's such an ingrained part of life at this point.

[45:38] Nik Walker: Uh, and even when it came out, it was such an ingrained part of life that you're laying your own experience with that piece of technology against the movie as it's happening.

[45:49] Alex Smolowe: When you check my email and there's a website open on your computer.

[45:52] Nik Walker: Yeah, after you passed out last night, I went on the Facebook for a little bit.

[45:57] Alex Smolowe: What's that?

[45:57] Nik Walker: The Facebook? Scafford's had it for like two weeks now. It's really awesome. Except it's freakishly addictive. Seriously, I'm on the thing like five times a day.

[46:07] Alex Smolowe: Mind if I send myself an email?

[46:09] Nik Walker: Yeah, is everything okay?

[46:11] Alex Smolowe: Everything's great. I just need to find you, Mark Zuckerberg.

[46:18] Nik Walker: I would argue that the reason the social network works for me as a, as the technology movie is because it's not about technology at its core. Here is, there's some, uh, someone on Twitter said, um, something that I love, which is the best genre movies are not about the genre until 15, 20, 30 minutes in.

[46:40] Alex Smolowe: Until the terrorists come over and take over Nakatomi Plaza.

[46:45] Nik Walker: In Die Hard, Die Hard is about a cop and a wife with a strained relationship trying to get back together. Until Robocop becomes Robocop, right?

[46:57] Alex Smolowe: The movie is about a cop who is going, is trying to do the right thing in a system that won't allow him to do that. He needs backup, he becomes Robocop.

[47:09] Nik Walker: Social network is about one thing. One thing. So the, the, the app, the thing that becomes Facebook is, is an extrapolation of it. It's friendship.

[47:24] Alex Smolowe: It's a movie about friendship. It's a movie about friendship between specifically these two guys, Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Savarine.

[47:34] Nik Walker: And, you know, it's so interesting to watch the movie because you see as this thing grows, they have the idea. Mark has the idea. It's, you know, at first, yes, it's a horribly misogynistic, terrible idea.

[47:51] Alex Smolowe: And then he grows it into something else. You know, once he talks to the Winklevi, um, the Winklevoss twins, he gets the idea to turn it into an app, turn it into a thing, and then it grows into something else and grows into something else.

[48:04] Nik Walker: And the, the Sancho Panza to his Don Quixote, the whole time is Eduardo Savarin, who's there funding it and they're being loyal to him.

[48:16] Alex Smolowe: And then when they bring on Sean, uh, Sean Parker, played by Justin Timberlake, uh, who wants to turn it into a corporation, a business, like a thing.

[48:29] Nik Walker: Eduardo is rightfully so apprehensive. Says, well, we don't even know. How can we, we don't, he says he actually parrots things that Mark said before, which is like, why would we put ad, you know, we don't even know what this thing is yet.

[48:43] Alex Smolowe: Why would we, why are we trying to drive it like this? But Sean is all about, no, you know, you know what's cooler than a million dollars, a billion dollars, and you can do all these things, and blah, blah, blah, blah.

[48:55] Nik Walker: And um, eventually, Mark's commitment to making this thing the biggest flashing light to I'm special, look at me, I'm smart ever, becomes what destroys his friendship with Eduardo Savarine.

[49:13] Alex Smolowe: So if we're looking, if we're talking about technology and about growing things too fast, about having a good thing and fucking it up.

[49:24] Nik Walker: Who am I, and who are you?

[49:29] Alex Smolowe: You laid in bed last night and you mapped that whole metaphor out. Who am I?

[49:36] Nik Walker: And who were you?

[49:44] Alex Smolowe: The thing is, they both walked away with tons of money, and I bet they're friends now. You know, after the trials and tribulations.

[49:56] Nik Walker: In this case, I think it's pretty positive that I'm Eduardo.

[50:01] Alex Smolowe: I'm sorry, that means that I am the mastermind behind this podcast. I'm the driving force. I'm the one people care about.

[50:10] Nik Walker: You would, um, yeah, you would, you would think that you're the Mark Zuckerberg of this podcast.

[50:16] Alex Smolowe: I'm actually gonna say that you're the Sean Parker. I'm gonna say that you invented next.

[50:20] Nik Walker: Yeah, see, I wasn't gonna do that.

[50:21] Alex Smolowe: I'm gonna say that you can't. I don't think I'm the Mark Zuckerberg.

[50:24] Nik Walker: Yeah.

[50:25] Alex Smolowe: You are the Mark Zuckerberg. Me and Britt kind of hold the, yes, we hold the Sean Parker, we hold the Eduardo Savarin uh slots, right?

[50:35] Nik Walker: Because we're two good-hearted people.

[50:36] Alex Smolowe: Well, I was gonna say if there's, if there's only three options, if there's only three options, then, uh, and you're Eduardo Savarine, uh, and I'm Sean Parker, then Britney, you already is Mark Zuckerberg.

[50:52] Nik Walker: Whoa.

[50:53] Alex Smolowe: She and I, I would give her Mark. I would give her Mark.

[50:56] Nik Walker: Except, except Brittany's not a dick. Do you know what I mean?

[50:59] Alex Smolowe: Britney's, Britney's a good person.

[51:01] Nik Walker: So I'll say I'll give you, I'll give her Mark Zuckerberg. But with the caveat that Britney makes the right choice in this scenario. Do you know what I mean?

[51:09] Alex Smolowe: Or at least, at least doesn't leave her friend behind. You know? Now I'm like Sean Parker.

[51:18] Nik Walker: I'm surprised that you would not make me the six-foot blonde, you know, silver spoon.

[51:26] Alex Smolowe: The Winklevoss Asshole Brothers.

[51:28] Nik Walker: The thing, the Winklevoss.

[51:29] Alex Smolowe: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought, I thought about it. I thought about it.

[51:31] Nik Walker: But let me tell you why. Who's a cannibal in real life?

[51:34] Alex Smolowe: Right.

[51:36] Nik Walker: Army.

[51:38] Alex Smolowe: The Winklevoss?

[51:40] Nik Walker: Ty, are they cannibals? Please Google Army Hammer Cannibal.

[51:43] Alex Smolowe: Britt, please Google it. I'm so ready for you to know this.

[51:46] Nik Walker: Please Google Army Hammer. You don't know about this?

[51:49] Alex Smolowe: I don't know about this.

[51:50] Nik Walker: What are you talking about? Are you guys about to make it a little bit more?

[51:51] Alex Smolowe: It's all in the technology. Use technology more. You know that Army Hammer likes to drink blood, sir.

[51:58] Nik Walker: Okay? This is, this is what you miss out on when you're like, oh no, you soon.

[52:02] Alex Smolowe: Yeah, he's, he's got some abusive pedestrians. Army Hammer likes to drink blood.

[52:08] Nik Walker: He does. Apparently not such a nice guy.

[52:13] Alex Smolowe: Not so much. Britt, you're confirming this.

[52:17] Nik Walker: I, yeah, I can, um, I can confirm what it, I have read it online.

[52:25] Alex Smolowe: See, we can't see the link, but just the URL Army Hammer Sex Cannibal.

[52:33] Nik Walker: I mean, that's a movie I'd watch.

[52:35] Alex Smolowe: But in all seriousness, actually, uh, apparently a terrible abusive person who is very rightfully being shunted out of society at the moment. Did you like Army Hammer?

[52:46] Nik Walker: Is this, is this?

[52:50] Alex Smolowe: I wonder if you bummed out because this made me the perfect choice.

[52:55] Nik Walker: No, you are.

[52:56] Alex Smolowe: Well, now you are Army Hammer.

[52:58] Nik Walker: You've absolutely, absolutely are Army Hammer in this movie. You're both of them. You're both, you're both him and his double.

[53:04] Alex Smolowe: But, uh, but yeah, Alex, I, that's my, that's why I chose the social network.

[53:08] Nik Walker: That's my, I think that's a great choice.

[53:10] Alex Smolowe: Yeah. I think the social network's a great choice.

[53:12] Nik Walker: I, I think in terms of looking at a movie about what effect technology is having on us as a society, it doesn't get more current than that.

[53:20] Alex Smolowe: Even though it's, it's kind of old at this point. It makes you, it makes you really understand the new era that we have moved into, right?

[53:28] Nik Walker: There really is like a hard split. The new social media era, it's not a fad, it's not whatever, like everything has changed from that point on, and you start to see it.

[53:37] Alex Smolowe: The further we get from social network and that time, the more you realize like that wasn't just because that's why it was weird when it came out as a movie.

[53:46] Nik Walker: You thought it's Facebook, like it's a fad. Like, why are you doing, why is there a creation story about a product that just came into existence?

[53:53] Alex Smolowe: Because we didn't understand the implications of it.

[53:55] Nik Walker: Now you look back and you're like, oh god, like good thing that movie is there to cut to tell us what this was as it was happening.

[54:04] Alex Smolowe: You know.

[54:05] Nik Walker: We've learned nothing.

[54:06] Alex Smolowe: We've, and we've learned less.

[54:09] Nik Walker: We've actually moved way backwards.

[54:12] Alex Smolowe: I was drunk and angry and stupid.

[54:15] Nik Walker: And blogging.

[54:15] Alex Smolowe: And blogging.

[54:18] Nik Walker: Pay them.

[54:19] Alex Smolowe: And scheme of things, it's a speeding ticket.

[54:24] Nik Walker: That's what Sai will tell you tomorrow.

[54:27] Alex Smolowe: Do you think anybody would mind if I stayed and used a computer for a minute?

[54:30] Nik Walker: I can't imagine it would be a problem.

[54:32] Alex Smolowe: Thanks. I appreciate your help today.

[54:40] Nik Walker: You're not an asshole, Mark.

[54:43] Alex Smolowe: You're just trying so hard to be.

[55:02] Nik Walker: Wait, what is your movie?

[55:04] Alex Smolowe: All right. My movie. You'll also, you'll also get it. I went through.

[55:12] Nik Walker: I, I've wanted to avoid bringing this movie up. It's one of the few that I love.

[55:20] Alex Smolowe: It's very obviously I love this movie. Very obviously it's, it's a classic.

[55:25] Nik Walker: Very, it's very talked about, very analyzed, very much part of the like cinema, you know, zeitgeist, whatever, which is why I've wanted to avoid talking about it.

[55:38] Alex Smolowe: But when I was thinking about a technology movie, about what does it like what movie really examines the potential of technology, the relationship to humanity, all of it.

[55:52] Nik Walker: This one is just perfect. It's just, it's perfect for looking at it.

[55:57] Alex Smolowe: So, uh, we don't open for a while. It's black screen, music plays.

[56:03] Nik Walker: There's, it's kind of, uh, an overture plays.

[56:07] Alex Smolowe: Uh, and then that stops, and the credits start to roll.

[56:13] Nik Walker: It's the sun coming up over the earth.

[56:27] Alex Smolowe: See, we're in a lag, so we can't really sync that up, but that's okay.

[56:33] Nik Walker: Uh, some monkeys.

[56:37] Alex Smolowe: Cut there, there's a p, some pigs, monkeys are trying to survive.

[56:42] Nik Walker: Now, eventually, these monkeys, they get mad at each other. They want to fight. But they're monkeys. They can just yell at each other. They can kind of, you know, whatever. Until, and this is the dawn of man, right? This is how the movie describes the beginning of what humanity is. This is the spark that separates us from the primordial, you know, fabric away from the beasts, is one of them picks up a bone off the ground and uses it to kill another monkey. It takes it learns how to use a tool, and it uses it. The very first use of a tool in the history of humanity, the first piece of technology is a weapon. And then he throws it up in there. There's that famous show. What's the movie? I've gone on too long. Two thousand one. A space damassery.

[58:24] Alex Smolowe: It is. It is. See why I didn't really want to talk about it. But I feel like for our first video episode, too. No, it's it's it's very cinematic. This is great. It's very, you know, we're not gonna talk about these, you know, film school bullshit movies all the time. Kind of like to stay away from them if we can. But this one is too related to what we're talking about. Talk talk to me about talk to me about uh. Yeah, I mean, talk talk yeah, talk to me. Talk to me about this movie. Yeah.

[58:57] Nik Walker: Well, I mean, I fully agree. I fully agree. There's not I've seen it more times than God. Like I've I've watched this movie a lot. Usually I'll make it through about three quarters of it before I'm asleep. Which is the hallmark of any good movie, right? You want to be asleep before it's over. Um, yep. I saw it one time at the Hollywood Bowl with a live orchestra, which was incredible.

[59:20] Alex Smolowe: That would be amazing.

[59:21] Nik Walker: Which is yeah, incredible. Um this movie, it's one of those, it's one of those movies, it's Stanley Kubrick. It's Arthur C. Clark. Uh, they like wrote it together. I've read the book. They like wrote the book and did the movie in conjunction. So the whole the whole movie is based on idea, right? It's like the the biggest film director of the time sat down with the biggest sci-fi author of the time. They said, let's make a sci-fi story. And they just talked about what it could be about. Not even the plot points. They like, like, what if we examine this this way, right? We look at technology and humanity and and consciousness and all this stuff. And they hashed out a general story, and then Clark went off and wrote the book based on whatever conversations they had, and Kubrick went off and made the movie. It wasn't like one based on the other. It was like running along a similar idea line, they created these two separate products.

[1:00:19] Alex Smolowe: So the movie is not the movie is trying to explore, right? It's kind of a challenge upon Kubrick to explore it in a way unique to him and use what's going on, you know, to cut at deeper things because it's going to be challenged by a literary source, basically. It's like it's like the people who who broke down the shining, you know, there's like because you don't know really what goes into the making of a movie, there's kind of an infinite pool of stuff that you can conceptualize that you can imagine goes into it. And they meant to do that, they didn't mean to do that. This means this, this means that. Like your English teacher trying to tell you what Fahrenheit 451 is about, you know, like there's C themes and symbols and all this stuff, whether they're there or not. But given the context of how this was created and why it was created, I think there actually is a lot of uh reason to break it down uh in in that way.

[1:01:27] Nik Walker: So you get you look at what it means to be a human, which is right, the baseline story. Anything starts there, examines personhood. Um then in terms of technology, it it, you know, we move immediately from apes at the beginning to spaceships, right? Which in in the history of the universe is a very small gap of time. But we put this big thing on it. Uh what the movie's really about, and I don't think a lot of people pick up on it, uh, because it's very long, it's very dry, is the next phase, right? It's a three-part story where the first part is really short. It's just a little section at the beginning. And then we move into the modern day, even though it's in the future, it's modern day. It's us now using our tools the way we use them, whatever.

And we're introduced, uh, you know, it starts with the scientist going to the moon where they found this obelisk that's emanating something they don't understand, right? And so we've gone from to scientists who are all about trying to rationalize the world, and now we're introduced the the obelisk is basically just the bone, right? It's it's this introduction of a new aspect uh of the story of our existence.

[1:02:59] Alex Smolowe: And then, and then after this happens, right, there's on they're on a ship and and it becomes the technology that becomes self aware that goes crazy. And in battling that, it gets all it gets warpy and trippy. And and again, I could be totally wrong about this, but that's been my over the the many times I've watched it, that's kind of my analysis of it. So like in terms of looking at at what technology does, what we use it for, what we think we use it for, right? Like why, why make progress at all? Where is it leading? What does it do? And what do we do to transcend it? Like, can we create a product? Can we create a thing? Can we improve on something that is going to move us forward as as a species? Right? Can it really transform the product? Or are we just making things until we die? Like I've still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission. And I want to help you.

[1:04:25] Nik Walker: But this will and this gets into, I think, a theme that's common in all of Stanley Kubrick's movies, right? Because you look at you look at 2001, you look at Barry Lyndon, you look at um even, I mean, Eyes Wide Shut, certainly The Shining, certainly Clockwork Orange, um are all these movies about people and what they're willing to do for power, right? This what what what are you, what are the steps that you're willing to take to feel more secure in your life? You know, uh for for for for Jack Nicholson coming into the Overlook Hotel, um, you know, it's I mean, but true, I mean, truly, right? This is a person who is struggling with alcohol alcoholism, is trying to find a way to, he's trying to get his family back together, but really what he's trying to do is is get his own power back, right?

His family is a nuisance. They're an annoyance. That's that's why, you know, um Stephen King hated the movie because it just from the beginning you knew that his family was pissing him off. So he he allows himself to be taken over by this thing, right? And it's very similar to Clockwork Orange, this idea of you know, these these kids who are experiencing what can only be described as insane amounts of freedom at the cost of the safety of their community, right? The that uh uh you know, Barry Lyndon, obviously about dueling and about all these, you know, but it's it's it's constant. It's a constant exploration of I mean, truly, peep the idea that we go to violence to find ourselves, even even Eyes Wide Shut is a movie about violence. You know, it's it's it's it's sex as violence, but the idea that you have to risk your marriage.

[1:05:57] Alex Smolowe: Um, well, would you would you say that it that it's violence or it's about the elements that actually make us up, right? And violence is part of that. What who we actually are when you when you rub away the facade.

[1:06:17] Nik Walker: I would agree with what we feel. Yeah.

[1:06:18] Alex Smolowe: I would agree with that. Yeah.

[1:06:19] Nik Walker: And that is, and so technology then becomes a an extension of that. Right? Technology is it's it's it's why it's so scary because it it it represents our deepest desire. When you when you write, you know, Alex is uh uh a novelist, he he's written, he's written like many, like several thousand pages, but um, you know, one of the things that that we have talked about when we talk about what Alex is working on is the fact that you can't hide who you are in your creation, right? Anyone who's directing, even if you're directing a Marvel film, you know, like like a movie that has so many execs on it and so many studio heads on it, and people telling you, well, this needs to be this and this needs to do this, you can't hide yourself.

I look at your movie and I'm and there's something of you in your movie, for better or worse. And I think that technology lays bare who we are. There's no way to, you know, the the the things that we build because we need them, right? And I say need with air quotes. So I think that this exploration of exactly like you said, it's at the core, what does that say about us that we have that we are searching for these things and going after these things and building these building AI that potentially you know deems to destroy us, like what does that say about us, you know, and that's I think what what to your point all of his films definitely seem to explore, you know.

[1:07:47] Alex Smolowe: So, like, what is what does it say about you?

[1:07:50] Nik Walker: I would agree with that. What does it say about you that you felt the need to put yourself on YouTube?

[1:07:58] Alex Smolowe: I am an insufferable, vain, attractive person who needs validation from strangers. I think that starting with that level of honesty is what's gonna set our our channel apart. Guys, you don't come start here. Start here. You don't come here for the bullshit. You come here because we're gonna tell you how it is. And uh I I really appreciate Alex just saying what it is, you know. If you're still hanging. It's just what it is. If you're still hanging out with us at this point, you're already in. You know, so you might as well. You're in. So you might as well smash that subscribe. Links in the bio. Merch store coming.

[1:08:43] Nik Walker: We're not opening a fucking merch store. There's other stuff. Oh, you know what we should do? Britt can help us with this. We should link in the description the time code to the choice, the beginning of the choices. So if people are on a shoot schedule and they just want to see what the choices are, we can jump straight to it. Yeah, Britt likes it. And if you if you want to just get to know us as people, use this technology to actually have a verifiable connection instead of zipping through your fucking day like like Brere Rabbit in Splash Mountain. You know what I mean? You can just watch the thing. Just watch the thing.

[1:09:24] Alex Smolowe: Now here's another thing about us is the Disney Parks. Big Disney Parks fan. Are they replacing Splash Mountain?

[1:09:30] Nik Walker: Yes. This is what I've heard. It's happening.

[1:09:33] Alex Smolowe: With what?

[1:09:34] Nik Walker: It's out. With uh uh Princess and the Frog theme.

[1:09:35] Alex Smolowe: Amazing.

[1:09:35] Nik Walker: Princess and the Frog theme. Yep. Perfect. So we gotta ride that racist ride one more time. And then uh they already they already they already did, they're doing the overlay for a Polynesian. It's not it's not Polynesian anymore, it's Moana now. It's all Moana over at the Polynesian resort yet.

[1:09:58] Alex Smolowe: Of course it is. Gotta gotta sell that IP, buddy. Gotta sell that IP.

[1:10:02] Nik Walker: Alright. I'll guys, listen. We hope it. We hope you've enjoyed this first this first uh inaugural season two episode of Little Justice movies in Mayhem. Um, you know, if if you do enjoy, come on back. We do this, we do this uh well, I think our release schedule is every other week or or I don't know. I don't know anymore. I don't know, because we're in a new phase. But the release schedule will, I'm sure, be in the show notes. Check it out. We're playing around, we're testing. Testing it out. Come visit with us, come enjoy. We love you. Uh, and uh we'll see you soon. Have a wonderful old day there.

[1:10:37] Alex Smolowe: Little Justin.

[1:10:41] Nik Walker: Little Just Ed.

[1:10:44] Alex Smolowe: Little Justin.

[1:10:47] Nik Walker: Fuck yeah.