91: I AM OFFICIALLY IRISH

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Fuck you. There are so many things to be said, so many things that I will try to get to in this episode. My God, I've been gone for two weeks. What have y'all done without me? Seriously, be honest. Have y'all missed me? Did you miss me bad? If the answer's no, keep it to your fucking self. I missed you guys. It's been two weeks. Plus, guess who had pancreatitis? Me. Guess who did a little timeshare staycation at Cedars-Sinai? Me. What the fuck? Like, I feel 65 years old. I'm good now. I am all good now. Hallelujah. Amen. He is risen. He is good. Happy late Easter. Yeah, I had pancreatitis. Here's the long and short of it all. I put a whole bag of jelly beans up my ass. Basically, they removed my gallbladder a month ago, right? Because I had a bunch of gallstones causing a blockage. Well, a little fucker was left behind. A gallstone was left behind in my bile duct, okay? The bile duct helps bring bile to the stomach so you can digest food. It was lodged in my bile duct. They had to go with a scope down my throat, go grab it, cut open my bile duct because it was closed, put a stint in it, remove the gallstone, and then that caused pancreatitis. Okay, awesome. Okay, perfect. So, I was in the hospital for a week dealing with that, but I'm good now because it just was kind of inflamed. It was kind of irritated. It was agitated, and now it calmed down a little bit. Only thing that's different in my life now is my diet's all fucked up now. I can't eat like a normal person. I'm on a super low-fat diet. Who gives a fuck? Anyway, I'm all good. That's just the story of the never-ending gallbladder continues. I hope it's done. All that to say, that's why I was gone. Thank y'all for being so patient. And we have a lot to get into today, so I hope you guys are locked the fuck in because holy shit! Sinners? Sinners? Sinners? What the fuck? Okay, I've seen sinners in theaters three times now. If y'all thought I was annoying about Elvis in the summer slash, autumn of 2022, you've got a new fucking thing coming, okay? I was addicted to the Elvis movie in a way that was suggesting I had some unhealed trauma, right? Why did I see Elvis in theaters nine times? I didn't need to do that. That's also really expensive, not a great way to spend money, but I really needed to see it. And then once it hit streaming, I never watched it again. It was something very special to me about going to see it in the theater, okay? A little similar about Sinners. I don't know what it is. It stirred something in my spirit. I think it's just the nature of the storytelling and it being a musical movie. Not it being a musical, but the same deal with the Elvis movie, where it was so musical, obviously, I fell in love with Sinners. So the majority of this episode is going to be about Sinners, so if you haven't seen it, fucking grow up. Go see it. There might be spoilers, but it's not enough to ruin the movie for you, okay? Let's begin. Now, let me go ahead and give a disclaimer that I wrote notes, okay? I love this movie so fucking much, I wrote notes on it of what I wanted to talk about when I talked about it on the podcast. So if you see me reading or if it feels like I'm reading, it's because I fucking am, because I typed all this up at 1 a.m. last night. Okay, so let's get into it. To start, it doesn't even need to be said, but it does need to be said. Ryan Coogler's a fucking genius. He is a fucking genius, and to have accomplished so much so young and every project with Michael B. Jordan, hallelujah, thank you, amen. He is just leaps and bounds ahead of everyone, I think. There was so much packed into this movie. Every time I see it again, I'm like, that's another thing I didn't catch. I'm just blown away. So, flowers for him. This, I mean, it's just so well done. There are so many symbolic topics that, I mean, I'm just going to rattle them off. Like, as I was watching it, as I was watching reviews afterward, as I was reading more about the influences and inspirations that he drew from to tell this story in a new way, you know what I mean? We're dealing with cultural vampirism, religious vampirism, vampirism as a symbol for colonization, of course. Jim Crow and its lasting effects, what we're still dealing with today. The fact that Jim Crow is recent history. This isn't even a hundred years old. This shit was 61 years ago. Not when this movie takes place, but Jim Crow was only repealed 61 years ago. Like, in our grandparents' light, okay. This movie deals with assimilation, community, freedom, true freedom, and what does that mean? And is religion, a type of spiritual subjugation when it is an evangelical religion, right? Black expression, black joy, black ownership, and Ryan Coogler's respective deal with the studio that in 25 years he will own this movie outright, which most directors don't own the movies that they make. Black ownership and its attempted destruction. So many things come to mind, like Tulsa and all of the, how Central Park used to be, a hub of black business, and these things are wiped from the historical record. They're wiped from a collective memory, and we know why. But projects like this really just, it's such a beautiful thing to witness and to call attention to. You know, especially, we're living through this horrific period right now of just rewriting history as it's happening in a truly 1984 fashion. So stories like, I mean, you don't need me to tell you that it's important. This is really the meat of what I wanted to speak about. We know that in Jim Crow era, specifically 1930s here, the blues as a genre of music was seen as a black form of art, and it was the devil's music, right? Then 20 years later, if even, you see it co-opted and stolen by people like, Elvis, and they are singing the blues, performing the blues, a watered-down version to the mass public to an incredible level of success, okay? Even when you talk about bands or movements, so to speak, musical movements like the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, the British Invasion, these things, I mean, Mick Jagger will literally say this in interviews, like, the reason that the Stones, I think, were so successful is because they were not stealing, but heavily borrowing from the black American blues scene, repackaging it as a white British guy singing it, and reselling it to the white American public, and they bought it. And that's just this, I mean, we see this cycle constantly through history of black people make their trendsetters, the black community, create culture, and everyone else is sort of, like, second to catch up to it. And so that, just the blues being the central message of this movie was really beautiful and really well done. And the soundtrack, I know that Ludwig Goranson, is that his last name? He's quickly shaping up to be the Hans Zimmer of our time, hello! He did Oppenheimer. I'm pretty sure he did Mandalorian. He's done so many other, like, super famous soundtracks that are just heavily ingrained in the culture of the story that, you know, the storyteller is trying to tell, and he just nails it every time. I'm blown away. The soundtrack to this fucking movie is half the reason that I'm, like, hard. It's ridiculously well done. Here is what I think draws me to this movie and to the soundtrack so soulfully is to sing the blues, to love the blues, to relate to the blues. I truly believe believe to my core that the blues is a way, music in general, is a way to process what we otherwise cannot process emotionally, mentally, socially, physically sometimes. I mean, we carry stress in the body, and there is something therapeutic and very cathartic and very medical about singing and dancing as a form of release, as a form of stress relief, as a form of community bonding, and the solidarity of sharing a live music session with other people, with a community, with your community. It's beautiful, and the reason I'm trying to, I'm struggling to put this sentiment into words, and I've, I guess I've talked about it before on this podcast, but music, music is deeply spiritual for those who allow it to be. The blues, specifically, knowing what we know about the origin of the blues, that it is from the Black community that evolved and turned into rock and roll, and then that evolutionary lineage down the road, it is all American Black music, and it's so beautifully celebrated in this movie, but with that history in mind, knowing that the blues is related to slave hymns, and how hymns are a sort of spiritual salve on, on a wounded, on a wounded soul, and the collective trauma that the American Black community collectively has, it is just, it was so well done. The storytelling, the music, and as someone who loves the blues, and I think being from the South, I think it's so beautiful to be able to do that. I think it's so beautiful to be able to do that. The South really connects me to it, because the blues is in everything, right? It's in, you can hear it in church music, you can hear it in country music, you can hear it in some forms of traditional bluegrass. I mean, there are, you just start getting into this chord progression, or this turnaround, and it's like, God, it's just right. It feels right. I felt that way so many times watching this fucking movie, because it's in our bones. I truly, truly, I've talked about it before, like, I've talked about it before, but it's in our bones. I truly, truly, I've talked about it It's in the makeup of our being. I believe that humans are musical creatures, and to sing and dance is such a human thing, and there's a reason why dance is so heavily ingrained in every ancient culture on earth, you know? Like, each culture has its traditional dances and traditional music. It's because that is what we are, and this was just, oh my God, I cannot rate this movie, enough, okay? The message at the end of the movie, I think, especially with the post-credit scene, are these fleeting moments of joy worth all of the pain? And is that not kind of what the blues sums up? I had this great thing, and now it's gone. Pain and misery. And you spend the rest of your life, like, reflecting and longing for that joy that you once had, but now that joy informs the art you make, and that in itself is a type of joy. And so, it's just, I mean, come on. Now, here is what I wanted to segue into from the beginning. Okay, everyone talks about how challenging it is to raise kids, but what about protecting them? Don't wait. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company. Affiliates and other insurers. This is Troy Millis from Earn Your Leisure. If you run a small business, you know how important it is to stay on top of your numbers. That's why I want to tell you about Xero. That's X-E-R-O. Xero is a platform built for small business owners that brings accounting, payments, payroll, and analytics together in one place. You can access reports, visual dashboards, forecasts, and AI insights to help you better understand your cash flow and make informed decisions about your business. Learn more at Xero.com. Here's some background. For the last, week or two, I've been getting a lot of kneecap stuff on my For You page, okay? Who's kneecap? Kneecap is a rap group from Ireland. They're Irish. And they are so political, as they should be. And as an Irish person, how can you not? Your existence is political. You know what I mean? They did a set at Coachella. And a bunch of people turned up for it. It went great. At the end, they put up a message on the screens. That was like, Israel is committing a genocide. We stand with the Palestinian people. Free Palestine. Free Palestine. Free Palestine. Chills all over my body. Everyone in the crowd went crazy cheering. The videos I was seeing, I was like, this is incredible. Then, of course, the backlash online comes. They get dropped by their US agent. All this fucking tea has been happening. And I'm thinking also, by the way, you signed them. That like their whole thing is standing against the oppressor, right? Like no one understands that more than fucking Ireland living under the iron fist of the British Empire for 900 years. Like to have your lineage wiped out, your native language, your dance, your music, your traditions, your customs, by an occupation, like to be occupied. For them to do that, of course, they're going to do that. Why are you shocked? Like all this fucking tea has been happening of people, the political band is being political. What? What the fuck? Like what? So it's been fun to keep up with them. And then, of course, that got me started on a rabbit hole down kneecap. And I followed them on Instagram and they followed me back and I kind of freaked the fuck out. Okay. I kind of freaked the fuck out. Anyway, I got started on a rabbit hole down their whole ethos. And their whole sort of mission statement of reclaiming the Irish language as a form of, it's like a generational push for reclamation and for continuing on for those who couldn't. And it's like a duty and a weight that rests on the shoulders of this next generation of Irish youth reconnecting with their heritage that, I mean, just, and then that sent me down a whole rabbit hole of the origins of the conflict between, you know, the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, the UK, which of course I knew the basics, but again, the American education system has failed me. And so that's been like my hyper fixation of the last two weeks has been the nationalists first, you know, even going back to like the bloody Sundays and the 1920s and then into the 1970s when the for real bloody Sunday happened and how this is not ancient history. Once again, you know, we're talking about these things and then you cut to Palestine right now, like this shit is still happening and we haven't found a way or at least our governments have not found a way to put the ego aside and like save human lives. And so going back into the, the sort of historical archive of where our relations today between the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom, especially in the wake of Brexit, it's all just very fascinating. And it feels like it's, it's very tense and it's very, it is a wonderful time to start learning Irish, reconnecting with, you know, me speaking to my Irish fans, this is for you guys, to reconnect with your Irish heritage because, or, or attempted as they have, it wasn't wiped out, not completely. And that's such a testament to the strength and the will of the Irish people. Also like learning about all the sort of paramilitary and how the famine wasn't, I mean, Sinead O'Connor talks about this in her song, like the famine wasn't real. The famine was created by British negligence. I'm fired up. Like I'm, actually, let me tell you something. I did my 23 and me and guess what, bitch, I'm 90% Irish. I'm 90% Irish and English. But I don't know what that means, right? Like, is that 50% Irish, 50% whatever? And actually I'm lying. It was 99% British and Irish. And the rest of it was Scandinavian. So you guessed it. I'm fucking white. So race reveal, I'm white. 99.9%. 0.01. We don't know. We don't know. Okay? Two different types of Caucasian, yeah. Actually, Caucasian, what does Caucasian really mean? Caucasian definition. Because I don't even know if I'm Caucasian, I'm just white. White-skinned, of European origin, a white person, a person of European origin, a person from the Caucasus. Now, that's a mountain range, is it not? Caucasus. Yes. Now, see, look. The Caucasus is a geographically diverse region straddling Eastern Europe and Western Asia. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. Now, see, I don't claim that. I am not Caucasus. Caucasus. I am a white-skinned from Europe. Anyway, yeah, dude, I've been down this fucking rabbit hole of like the IRA and speaking to. I watched this crazy documentary. A man who served like 16 years in prison for his involvement and participation in Bloody Sunday in 1972, which was when a bunch of British specially trained fighters opened fire into a crowd of civilians. And I think it was Dublin or Belfast. It was in Derry. That's right. Yeah. British. Special specially trained British soldiers opened fire on unarmed civilians during a civil rights march. During a protest. Oh, my God. This fucking documentary was tea. And this is just history, but I'm like, hello, the specifics of it. Opened fire into unarmed civilians peacefully protesting. And then because this atrocity was committed and it wasn't the first and it wasn't going to be the last, the British Empire. The British government was asked to conduct an investigation on what really happened on January 30th, 1972. And it took them until the fucking 90s. 1998, I think, is when they like reopened the investigation. And it ended in 2010, where they actually admitted fault that the force used was unnecessary and inflammatory and all these things. And I'm like, fucking what is that? 2010 to 2017? 40 years later? It's not like. Mecap always jokes about any fucking British person who buys a ticket to their show. That's reparations. It's funny, but it's like, what could ever be an apology? What could ever. Other than. Other than a united Ireland. Anyway. Been really, really locked the fuck into Irish history. Also because, hello, my people. I guess I've been Irish all along. On my mom's side, my whole maternal line is last name Riley. And it was O'Reilly because they dropped the O when they immigrated to the United States. They immigrated to Texas. And I don't know how many generations back it was, but now I'm. Now I'm like intrigued by all this shit because especially learning about the famine and how the famine was completely avoidable and how the British Empire used the potato blight as a justification for God wanting to wipe a whole population of people off the fucking planet. Just when you think the British Empire couldn't be more evil, they're more evil. Anyway. All that to say, around the time of the famine, those fortunate enough to scrap together enough money sailed to America or they sailed to Liverpool, mainland UK. And then they also sailed to a port in Canada and then some to the Southern United States. The conditions were horrific. A good percentage of them did not make it. And if they did, it was a whole new set of struggles. They were about to be faced with in these countries that were not kind to Irish immigrants, many immigrants at all. Actually, if you can go ahead and just put an asterisk there. And who created almost a new social class that was lower than poverty. That's what the Irish immigrants lived in. So all that, it's just got me really interested in how psychotic that. And I mean, this isn't. Say it. And I know it sounds stupid. And I know you're going to be like. But the United States of America, a country full and built by immigrants, all of us are immigrants. None of us are other than indigenous Native Americans. None of us are from here. So to think that a country that's barely 200 and something years old has such a strict like anti-immigrant sentiment or. Or such harsh prejudices. Like, where the fuck do you think we came from? Anyway, that's neither here nor there. I'm just fucking mad. Anyway, I learned a lot about the IRA and selfishly, not even selfishly, just ignorantly, I will admit, the first time I heard about the IRA, picky blinders. And they're kind of a villain. Like, the IRA is kind of a villain in Tommy Shelby's story because he's from Birmingham and it's whatever. Like, they're just kind of a terrorist group. And a lot of people saw the Irish Republican Army as terrorists. And they're not. Like, are. Like. Anyway. This is another episode where I should have just put up the Irish flag behind me. Everyone talks about how challenging it is to raise kids. But what about protecting them? Progressive offers customized coverage options, so you can be sure you have the right coverage for you and your loved ones. Don't wait. We're built for small business owners that brings accounting, payments, payroll, and analytics together in one place. No data, no AI. It's just that simple. Until now, the data your AI depends on has been trapped behind ever-increasing cloud fees. Wasabi created hot cloud storage and is redefining cloud storage for the AI era. Delivering simple, predictable cloud storage for AI, analytics, media, and more. Your data is free to move, fast to access, and ready when your AI needs it, giving your business a competitive advantage. 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Because I can genuinely see why my body feels differently depending on the day, why I'm running differently, why I'm maybe less focused. Whoop effortlessly tracks my sleep, it tracks my strain, my recovery, my stress, and most importantly, my overall health. And it just gives me all that data and all those patterns so I can make better decisions, which includes knowing when to go easy and knowing when to go hard. New members can try whoop with a 30-day free trial before committing to a membership. That's join.com. Okay, here's something completely unrelated, but it's just been on my heart. It's been on my heart. There's something about Sinners and the cadence of the movie with the time period that has me really thinking about, this is a deep cut. Like, I need you fucking weirdo bitches to lock in with me right now, because I'm gonna throw you a curveball and I need you to catch it, okay? Do you remember the 2013 movie called Beautiful Creature? Please tell me someone remembers. It's like, I think it was a book that was adapted into a movie, and the whole premise is like, she's a witch. Like, she moves into this town. She's a new girl. She's a fucking witch. And then, of course, the popular hot guy takes an interest in her, and he's like, I'm seeing you around here. And she's like, you can't come to my house. And he's like, what? What do you mean? I love you. don't fucking come i told you and it's because she's like a born again like she's condemned to keep living the same life over and over and over through generations in this same city but she's got to move away she's a witch i don't fucking know and it has to do with the civil war and i don't know why i cannot remember but this movie just popped into my head then i'm like holy fuck i have to watch that movie what it's like it was the same era of what's that nicholas holt movie warm bodies like these freako monster magic movies were coming out there were romances and like it was around the time of divergent and hunger games and fucking fault in our stars like that it was this era beautiful creatures just feels like one that people just like for some reason forgot about i remembered i remembered why i don't know it's not really an impressive movie and the ending is kind of stupid doesn't make sense but it's i just remember it vividly being a civil war like reenactment movie that's what it fucking felt like but it's not like it has something to do with their they have been lovers in the past life and where they met and how they tragically died was in the civil war now on which side they were fighting for i do not know i do not know okay i'm not i don't know if it's problematic movie i haven't seen it a long time but he's sexy in it she's a witch and it's that classic like just let me in she's like come away and then her magic explodes and like fucking hurts him and she's like i told you i was gonna hurt you like it's one of those fucking movies which like whatever trope that is i love it whatever fucking joke that is i'm drooling thinking about it i told you being with me was gonna get you hurt i don't i don't care i'll do whatever it takes i'll just love you i'll be with you and then she explodes and then like if she hurts him but he's like i'm fine i'm fine right like whatever the fuck trope that is need more of that need to write a book with that in it so beautiful creatures i don't know why sinners made me think of that movie maybe it's just because it's like in the fucking boonies in the south i mean sinners takes place in mississippi uh the beautiful creatures takes place in like north carolina or something like that beautiful creatures this beautiful thing oh god benson boone no comment her name in the show is ridley ducanis that's not right okay now this movie doesn't have horrible reviews now they're not great 48 on raw tomatoes 6.1 out of 10 on imdb it could have been worse in the small town of gatlin south carolina teenage ethan waite who is played by alden erikenreich and he is sexy and i don't know what he's doing nowadays oh he's five nine okay he's actually five nine holy fuck that's right he's in solo star war he plays fucking on solo yes dude yes dude yes he plays on so oh my god i need to rewatch solo because i'm you know i had a real addiction to this man as a 16 year old i was 16 when the movie came out yeah i was addicted to him i was also addicted i watched that dune prophecy show when it came out i didn't finish it just because life but i loved it while i was watching it uh the guy who plays the atreides the atreides lineage who's like a spy i was addicted to him for a second and he's married and like fully has a child but i was like god for him alone i'm gonna keep watching this show they're they look similar what's his fucking name um dune prophecy cast and the guy who plays desmond hart he's hot chris mason this guy he plays kieran atreides they're like you know just attractive white guy just dime a dozen i'm i am locked into him though like i really i was addicted to him in this show because he looks like harry styles a little bit okay going back yeah beautiful creatures i know what i'm doing tonight i'm gonna go rewatch beautiful creatures because what the fuck i might have to rewatch it again i'm gonna go rewatch it have to rewatch warm bodies as well okay here are some extracurriculars before we get back into sinners because i figured y'all did a break okay i've been talking about it for too long because then i'm gonna really get into it but here are some other things i wanted to talk about let's book club for a second i am currently reading game of thrones i started it i'm currently reading anthony bourdain's book one of them i'm also currently reading that book i bought on priests and poverty in post-famine ireland it's a book i bought from uh this used bookstore by my house like a while ago and because i've been so fucking into irish history from pre-famine to now it's like i think it covers like 1847 to 1890 something and how just the the irish catholic church versus the protestant is such a point of tension in like all of the history and this is specifically how you know the churches on both sides are just there's so much abuse in the churches which we know this isn't shocking to anyone but it is just disturbing every time you have to hear about it or every time it's relevant and so reading this book i'm really excited about it it is relevant and it's also always disturbing when you hear about a church being used as a sort of a way to control people and unfortunately around the time of the famine or leading up to the famine or post-famine protestants were offering food to catholics but you had to convert if you wanted to eat if you wanted to feed your family and for some it's like i'll tell you what whatever you want to fucking hear as long as i can eat tonight you know and and you can promise food for my whole family but for others it wasn't worth it you know and i i my feelings on religion aside like that is that's tough and it's admirable to believe in your faith so fervently that you would forego you would be without and then a lot of them eventually passed and it's just the church should never i mean that is quite literally the antithesis of what religion especially a an abrahamic religion stands for which is love thy neighbor like give them the clothes off of your back in what fucking universe is that it's just sick and reading this book is it just makes my stomach turn and it doesn't make me miss the church but at the same time i do have a deep seeded uh i guess sensitivity to religious folk to people who have strong religious devotion who are rich in faith because i've been the opposite for so long but i used to be and i remember what it feels like and i remember the i wouldn't call it peace but the comfort of that being faithful uh and praying what that gives and i you know as i'm reading this book i'm just like it's taking me somewhere else and it's somewhere that i don't like to visit and and it makes me sad anyway i'm reading i'm currently reading those three books but at the same time sometimes when it's too you know intellectual and heavy like that i mean a book like that is so fucking heavy sometimes i want to cut up the heaviness with a romanticist okay fucking sue me for the longest time on my goodreads on my whatever like whenever you scroll through those book talk recommendations if you liked akatar you'll love can i just say you bitches are smoking something cheap you're smoking something cheap because i got one of those fuck ass slide shows of some aesthetic woman who had put her all her books on her bed and had done flowers around it perfect lighting if you're a fan of throne of glass you will love these books guess what the one i picked was cruel prince you bitches make me angry y'all make me mad i'm mad i read i paid for the cruel prince two stars a two-star read i was a hundred pages into the book and they talked about leaving the fairy realm and going to a human mall and the main character was wearing sparkly converse. I said, I am fucking livid. I'm mad. What is wrong with y'all? That can't, this can't be what we're reading. This can't be it. Am I being, am I being punked? Like, I'm so mad. I paid $11.99 for a two-star read. Fuck you, bitches. I'm mad. The Cruel Prince. Okay, here we go. I wish I had my review in front of me. The Cruel Prince was an unbelievable dynamic to begin with, okay? First 10 pages, sorry, I'm going to spoil it for you. Their parents get murdered, okay? She's like six, and her sister is like half magic. I don't know. This guy comes in, murders their parents, and then is like, guess I have to take care of you now. It's my duty. After he just murdered, okay. He kidnaps the kids, takes them to Ferry. And of course, he is a general. So like, he's very well off. He's very well to do. They're never taken into poverty, right? They're taken into the palace. And so he steals them and raises them as his own, and he loves them. What? So like, from the very beginning, I don't believe this dynamic. I don't believe this. Like, I don't know what. Here's a small accolade. I will give to this book. Is, I think the author described the Ferry realm. And I say that as like F-A-I-R-I-E. Like, Ferry is the name of the land that they exist in, right? And it's sort of like a platform nine and three quarters, where if you see it, you can go. You know, like you can pass. Or maybe a ferry will make a bargain with you, and you can enter Ferry. But other than that, it's invisible to the human eye, okay? What I appreciated about her describing, Ferry, is that the Ferry realm is incredibly morally gray. They do not have a set of moral guideposts or standards that they live by. Sure, there are things like honor and power and fame and glory and control. All these things exist at the same time. But to be morally good is not really a, a concern for anyone in Ferry. And of course, this is part of the ride that our female main character takes. Is that the longer she spends in Ferry, the less human she becomes. And therefore, is that inherently wrong? Is her assimilation into the Ferry realm positive because she's finally accepted into something? Or she's, you know, this is the whole point of the book. She's proving her worth. She's proving. She's, even though I'm a human, I can, I'm still badass. I can kick some butt. I can kick some ass. Sorry for cussing. Like, that's how this fucking book felt. Um, yeah, I'm a badass who can kick some ass. Sorry, mom, if you're listening. Like, bro. And so, that was one aspect that I actually found intriguing is the way that she would describe, um, some of the royals, how they acted, or just general fae. They steal. They lie. Not unlike humans, but at least humans try to act like we're, we feel guilt about it. Or that there's a sense of shame. There's no shame in Ferry. They are, uh, they have no insecurity, I guess, about their, their naked forms or their, like, everyone in Ferry is beautiful. So, why would you need to feel insecure? And there's so many different types of flora and fauna-based beings, which was also a fun element of the book. Everything else was so unbelievable, bro. The enemies to lovers that they, this feels like she wrote that, she wrote the book with that in mind. Like, I'm gonna write an enemies to lovers and then make it not make sense. I'm so just, I don't want to read a book for the sake of tropes. If it just feels like a bunch of tropes that you've mashed together in, like, a casserole and then published it for me to read. It's a two-star read. It's a series. I'm not interested in continuing. I'm not interested in continuing the series because I read it and I'm not joking. When they went to the human mall and they went to her sparkly converse, I said, I can't fucking do this, dude. I can't fucking do it. So, they talk about, like, anti-ants in the fucking book because they're in the mall. I'm mad. But yeah, the morally gray thing I found intriguing because what a cool set of rules, or I guess lack of rules. I don't know. It just falls flat because it's not, it's like I see, I can see through the words on the page into how the author planned to write it. Do you know what I mean? Like, it, I can see the vision. It just wasn't executed very well, which makes me sad because I think it could have been a much better book, but maybe it's one of those where the second and third book gets better. I don't know. I'm not really interested in reading it. And this is honestly the first read for me. It's been a long time that I've genuinely, like, I didn't want to finish it. But I did. I finished it because I don't think you can give a fair review of a book if you haven't read all of it and you haven't paid attention. So, I finished it, but, like, that's just not, that's not my type of book. And so, to go from this sort of faux intellectual political scheming strategy landscape that The Cruel Prince tries to offer, I'm just going straight into fucking Game of Thrones. Like, truly, I was so over Cruel Prince, I was like, I have to start Game of Thrones. Like, I need something that is, that is, I know will not lead me astray. Because I have so many romanticies in my, to be read, and I didn't want a romanticie per se. I didn't want another commitment like A Red Rising, even though I love Red Rising. That's a six book, you know, probably 4,000 pages of reading, and I didn't want a heavy political. I didn't want a heavy political. I didn't want a historical book like my Ireland book, and then I didn't really want a memoir like Anthony Bourdain. And so, here we are at Game of Thrones, and I'm on page, like, 40 or 50, and it's, it's so good. Like, of course it's great. Like, I fucking love Game of Thrones. And so, I'm going to power through all of them. I know he's not done with, what is it, The Winds of Winter, Ways of Winter. That's fine, because I'm going to go and read the Targaryen books, which is Song of Ice and Fire, or Song of Ice and Fire is the main six books, right? Five books. What's the Targaryen one? George R.R. Martin books. Okay, this is the one I'm talking about. It is Fire and Blood, and it's a history of House Targaryen. Rather than a novel, Fire and Blood takes the form of a scholarly treatise about the Targaryen dynasty written by a historian. Within the world of A Song of Ice and Fire, Archmaester Gildayne, Gildayne, Gildayne cites a variety of fictional primary sources for the historical events he describes, whose accounts sometimes conflict with each other, reflecting medieval methods of historiography, and thus making Gildayne an unreliable narrator from the reader's perspective. Whoa. Okay, so now this is what House of the Dragon is kind of based on, right? Because I don't know if these are done. I don't know if he's done with the second Fire and Blood. It's called The Princess and the Queen or something like that. Aegon's Conquest describes Aegon Targaryen, the first conquest of the seven kingdoms of Westeros. More or less, the same version was published in the, okay, Reign of the Dragon, The Wars of King Aegon I, Three Heads Had the Dragon, Governance Under King Aegon I. I need to lock the fuck into this. This shit is real to me, dude. If you don't know your history, what do you know? If you don't know the history of your kingdom, what do you know? If you don't know the history of your king. By the way, I cannot fucking wait for House of the Dragon season three because season two just felt like you bitches are edging us. You are edging us. And Rhaenys did not need to die. I need to speak to the showrunner because you bitches, I am livid. I'm mad. Anyway. Anyway, free Prince Aemond. He didn't do nothing. He didn't do anything wrong. He's just trying to lead the kingdom. He didn't free my king. My king. Okay, yeah. So I may have went a little bit too in on Cruel Prince. Sorry. If you like that book, my fault. My fault. Okay? To each their own. But you know what I was thinking the other day? Just a tangent for a second. My favorite books that I've ever read are not Romantasy. And that, I think, says a lot. But it doesn't say anything at all, really. Because I really. I really enjoy Romantasy. Like, duh. That shit is so fun. One Dark Window, Two Twisted Crowns. That was a fun read. I loved those books. And it was just enough. It was original. It was cute. It was intelligent. It was just the right amount of intimate, right? It was a dynamic that I believed. It was an interesting magic system. 4.5 stars. I loved that duology. Cruel Prince just fell flat for me. I don't, you know. Anyway, I love reading a romantic every now and then. But my favorite books of all time, The Secret History, Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, Red Rising, the whole Red Rising series. These are not really anywhere even touching romantic. The Secret History is a fiction thriller, I guess, like a dark academic thriller. Angels and Demons is similar. It's a historical fiction. Red Rising is sci-fi. Like a political sci-fi. And I'm sure when I finish Game of Thrones, that'll be, you know, up there with my favorites ever, which is high fantasy. So yeah, I find it very interesting. Maybe it's just because I haven't found a romance book that gives me everything that I want. I loved ACOTAR. And ACOTAR, truly, I can credit to getting me back into reading. I've read like nine or ten books this year so far, and it's April. Like, I'm very proud of myself. That is not, I have not been that woman since high school. Like, I'm so fucking back. And it makes me feel smart. It makes me feel accomplished. And, you know, I like discussing the stories and the books and, like, online and with people. It's fun. But I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if I've ever read, like, I loved ACOTAR, but some of the war felt a little, okay, to me, you know? Versus, like, when you read a book like Game of Thrones, when you read a book like Red Rising, where it's like, holy fuck. Yeah. I mean, we're doing military strategy. Like, that is, you know. But yeah, that's my one thing. I've also been toying with the idea of if I were to write a book, would it be fantasy? And I don't, I don't know. It would be fiction, for sure. And it would be a thrilling fiction. Not in contemporary times. It would, it would probably be a historical fiction. But even then, like, I, to write a fantasy novel, I just feel like the space is so oversaturated and you're competing with the heavy hitters. Like, immediately, it's going to be compared to the top three most famous book talk books that are in that trope or that genre. And it's like, I don't, I would love to write a book someday. But what is, what feels the most authentic to the story that I love and a story that I would want to tell and that I could tell well? I get all these inspirational bullshit, like, slideshows on TikTok that are like, never have something to critique if you don't just start. Like, you can never finish if you don't just start. And I'm like, I'm not writing my book yet. Stop. I don't want to fucking write my book yet. But yeah, I don't know. It's, it's something that, like, maybe that would be a really fun outlet. Never to be released. But maybe I need to, maybe I need to, like, I don't know, start typing. Maybe I need to open a Word document. Document. Anyway, yeah, I've just thought, you know, I've just been thinking about it a lot lately. Like, I've always thought, oh, I'll write a romance. I'll write a romance. I don't know if I will. I don't know if I want to. I don't know if that calls to me. I like reading them, but I don't, I don't know. Also, here's another thing that is completely just tangent, irrelevant to anything I've been talking about. I have spent a lot of time with myself the last two weeks through the hospital stuff, whatever, and I'm realizing some, like, my favorite this, my favorite that. I didn't know some of the things about myself. Like, I took some time to sort of answer those questions. Does this make sense? Like, what's your favorite flower? What's your favorite season? What's your favorite this? And I landed on, this is huge, and I want you guys to sort of. You know, have this conversation with yourself, because it's fun to know these things, so when you know them, you can treat yourself. Because I'm on this whole fucking journey of, like, I don't need someone to buy this shit for me. I can get it for myself, because I like it. It's a whole thing. My favorite flower is lily of the valley, because they look like fairy hats. Doodle, doodle, tiny and small. Doopity, tiny and small. This is my favorite flower. Lily of the valley! Look how freaking cute! They're just so, like, how does this just grow naturally? Nature is amazing and so cute. And they make fucking vases and lamps that look like this! Shh! I need a lily of the valley lamp now! Now, now, now! Because they're fairy hats. They're so cute. I don't know. Yeah, these are my favorite flowers, and they're so small. I just love them. Lily of the valley lamp. Look at this one. Like, I'll cry. Okay, fine, I'll cry. So anyway, just big news. Discovered that's my favorite flower. And my favorite food, crawfish etouffee, but we knew that. Okay, a few more things, and then I'll let you guys go, okay? Here's my favorite flower. I saw Orville on Broadway in Cabaret, and I don't know if I ever talked about it on here. That bitch needs to be put down. He is so talented. It makes, like, I'm angry. It makes me mad. He, it is so much fun. And I, I told him this afterward. I was like, there is not a better person like me as a person than watching my friends and people I love, like, do what they were meant to do. It is a beautiful, magical thing when you see someone walk in their purpose. And that's me sort of projecting, I guess, of, like, he's just really fucking good at it, and I can tell it brings him joy, and it just feels right. It was like a heavenly spiritual experience watching him do that. And to be like, I know that him, the most annoying man I've ever met, Orville Peck, he's so good. It was so good. And who said gay people can't be talented? Good for you. Good for him. Amazing. Yeah, I, I would, I don't know how much longer they're doing their run, but for the love of God, if you can go, please go. I had a big blast. A blast. And the woman who plays opposite him, I had never seen Cabaret, by the way. I had never seen it in my life. Addicted. I might have to go and watch a little bootleg version with Alan Cumming in it. Thank you and amen. But wow. And I didn't know Adam Lambert, Adam Glambert, was the emcee before Orville. Fucking gag. Like, just amazed. And I saw it with my writers, the Metchke twins, and they were like, this performance, and, and production of Cabaret, I've never seen anything like it. Like, they've both seen Cabaret before. They were like, this was really immersive and really kind of bare bones. And you're so close to the stage. It was just, it was amazing. Had a freaking blast. Also, watched by John Waters, couldn't say hi. Got nervous. Thought about saying hi, and I was like, I, I, that's not going to happen, actually. And they put, listen to this seating arrangement, girl. Fucking Orville. He was like, he invited me to come, and I was like, oh my god, I would love to. I show up, Katya to my left, Trixie to my right, Jinx down there. I said, oh, and Chapel, Chapel was behind us. I was like, he put all the fucking annoying people front and center. I showed up, I said, oh my god. I didn't know it was a stupid bitch club meeting. Meet up, front row. Anyway. So fun. Here are my songs of the week. Okay. The Bell by Yeet. I don't know. I don't know. The Bell by Yeet is a great song. When I'm driving, I'm just doing Yeet, okay? And I missed his Coachella set, and I'm literally sad. Y'all care if a white girl turns up for a second? Can a white girl turn up one time? I've also been doing Emergence by Sleep Token. Okay. Where's the album? I like Emergence better than Caramel, but Caramel's good. And also, I say, what do I say? Well, here's that age-old thing, right? Is it Caramel or is it Caramel? Because it's a caramel apple But I want caramel sauce on my ice cream So don't even get me started on that I like Emergence by Sleep Token The whole Sinner soundtrack Goes without saying And here are two more Worst Behavior by K-1 I just I have sort of a fixation on K-1 right now So Worst Behavior and Do What I Say Okay I'm not going to start squirming in my seat Moving on Street Sweeper by Future and Gonna I don't know I'm just This has been what's on my repeat lately Also I've been really I know I talk about them a lot But the band Sports They're just I like to take a little edible and listen to sports I don't know That's how I have fun I like to dance around in my kitchen to sports You are the right For me They need a tour They need a tour And I'm going to take an edible and go nonverbal in the crowd That's what I need in my spirit Holy fuck Hold on I have a few more things to say about Sinners I completely I completely Missed this Hold on Holy shit How did I miss this? Oh because I started talking about Ireland I started talking about Ireland I went on a tangent Okay here's what I wrote My ears sort of perked up At the Irish element of this movie How Remick is of Irish descent But he is a southern white man in the movie Remick and the whole crew The whole cast of characters in the juke joint Have more in common than is comfy to admit Both have been touched by colonization Stripped of their heritage and native tongue Complete lineages wiped out Broken And beaten And yet He becomes what he despises most The colonizer He also fell for the grand lie That is Colonization But I think he sympathized Because there's this whole scene What I'm saying is I think he sympathized And wanted more so to offer them Freedom through vampirism Becoming a vampire Versus just killing them Killing them To kill them Does that make sense? There's this whole scene where Remick kind of goes into his Background of Sammy starts saying the lord's prayer And he finishes it for him And he goes yeah they tried that on my people too You know what I mean? Like to come in and completely just Wipe the slate Instill a new religion A new language A new schooling system A new way of dressing A new way of speaking and praying Just wipe it And then you're like Like what a What a Interesting and true parallel Of Colonization doing its fucking thing You know and this great lie That It's better this way So it was such a strange Full circle thing to watch You know here's Remick talking about What happened to the Irish people Which is not dissimilar To how slavery Is to slavery Began and ended In the United States So And arguably it's still happening So I found that Parallel really like An interesting way to move the story along Or I guess to resolve the story Of why What is Remick's motivation Other than the fact that he's a vampire To do that You know and what a weird Place of sympathy To come from as the villain That just It's just genius And to think that Ryan Coogler wrote this And he wrote in the Irish Sort of The Irish of it all And then Jack O'Connell comes in And can do Traditional Irish dance He can Speak in the Irish accent Flawlessly Because He himself I think half of his family's Irish Or something like that Like it was just so well done And it felt very respectful But it was also like You know What a symbol For Colonization And how you can Sort of Carry on That negative cycle And the horrific cycle Even having experienced it Being on the receiving end of it It's just Wow Also I don't know where This was I think it's in the soundtrack Maybe in the Album artwork for the soundtrack But It explains more of Remick's background Of We don't know when he became a vampire We don't know when he Immigrated We don't know But There was a ship That sailed from Ireland To Boston I think And It was like Spooky circumstances How the ship arrived How Things were on fire There were no Remnants Of human beings But there was blood everywhere And destroyed furniture And there was Small Evidence of fire Had occurred And People saw One man Who was Steaming Like he was burned Exiting the ship And you know Wandered river And then the first time You're introduced to Remick It feels like he drops from the sky And his His skin is sizzling And it's You know So That can kind of explain I guess his His Background Or how we come to know him That We don't know how long He's been a vampire But we know that From when he touched down In the US This has been his MO Also Loved the cameo From the Native population They were like Okay This is your problem now Okay We were trying to help you lady I just saw you're actually A clan member Fuck you and goodbye Good luck with all that Fucking crazy Anyway Yeah That was what I had to speak about that Of what an Interesting way To paint a villain And You almost like Feel bad for him Until you don't Cause it's like Oh Anyway Okay I think that'll do it For me team New Royal Court Pretty much every week And If you want merch Go to broski.shop Subscribe to this podcast If you want We've also got Some crazy guests Coming up on Royal Court soon Also Go stream my music If you give a shit If y'all care at all And if you want another song I don't know Let me know It's kind of up to you guys I will see you Next week Y'all be good Bye Okay Bye bye Until now The data your AI depends on Has been trapped Behind ever increasing Cloud fees Wasabi created Hot cloud storage And is redefining Cloud storage For the AI era Delivering simple Predictable cloud storage For AI Analytics Media and more Your data is free to move Fast to access And ready While your AI needs it Hidden fees add up fast As AI workloads grow Wasabi's flat pricing Eliminates all of it One rate No surprises Learn more and try now For free at wasabi.com Wasabi The AI storage cloud Proud partner of the iHeart Podcast Network Hi This is Gemma Spegg I've been approaching my health Really differently this year I used to be really focused On maximizing And doing more And now I'm just realizing That if I listen To what my 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