Podcasts about freeways

A fire fight near the H-1 Freeway impacted Oahu's traffic for hours. The nominees to fill the seat of Maui County Councilwoman Tasha Kama are making their case to represent Kahului. And Former President George W. Bush spoke at Former Vice President Dick Cheney's funeral. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Visiting the Statue of Liberty is often at the top of NYC visitors' lists of things to do, and with good reason. The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island are two deeply important historical monuments that encapsulate a significant portion of New York City's history.But is it worth visiting the actual Statue of Liberty when you come to NYC?We're gonna answer that question and so much more in this article.Here's what we'll cover:Brief History of the Statue of LibertyVisiting the Statue of Liberty – Island Access vs Pedestal vs CrownEllis Island Overview + Hard Hat Tour ReviewCommon Statue of Liberty ScamsCheapest Ways to See the Statue of LibertyLet's look at them all below.

Listen to Tuesday's "Dan O'Donnell Show" as Dan decimates leftist arguments that I-794 through downtown Milwaukee should be torn down and converted to city streets. Plus, the latest on the online sports betting bill and why utility bills are rising in Wisconsin again (hint: It's because of the Evers Administration).

 They put in their cover letter, “Honestly, we're just gonna go up to Yellowstone around that time and we would love to swing by and show the movie.”Rudi Womack is the Director of the Wyoming International Film Festival and the creator of the YouTube channel The Film Festival Guide.In this conversation, Rudi talks about:* What watching thousands of film festival submissions has taught him about good storytelling* The biggest mistake filmmakers make when they submit to festivals* Why transparency matters and why he published all of the submission and acceptance stats for the Wyoming International Film Festival * The importance of a compelling poster and thumbnail* How to write a good description of your movie* The most important questions filmmakers must askHere is a link to Hiike, the new film festival submission platform that Rudi mentioned.If you enjoyed this episode please forward to a friend.Here is an AI-generated transcript of my interview with Rudi. Don't come for me.79. Film Festival Director Rudi WomackBEN: Hi everyone. This is Ben Guest and this is The Creativity Education and Leadership Podcast. My guest today is Rudy Womack, who is the director of the Wyoming International Film Festival, and also Rudy has a fantastic YouTube page called The Film Festival Guide. So for all my filmmakers out there who are interested in submitting to festivals in this interview and on Rudy's YouTube page, he breaks it down. Enjoy.Rudi, thank you so much for joining us.RUDI: Hey, it's my pleasure to be here. Thank you for having me.BEN: So I always start off with a fun question, and we're entering the holiday season, so very important holiday question. Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?RUDI: Absolutely. A hundred percent. Come on.BEN: I love it. So I, I told you this off Air, I found you through the Rate YouTube channel.You have the Film Festival Guide. Is that the right name? I wanna make sure I get the name right. Yeah. The filmRUDI: festival guide. Yep.BEN: On YouTube Film Festival Guide on YouTube. Please. Any filmmakers out there go and subscribe. The information is so helpful. What, why did you start the this YouTube page?RUDI: I, as a filmmaker have gone through the festival circuit several times and I made a lot of amateur mistakes. I didn't know what I was doing. Definitely fell on my face a couple of times, but I also had some successes. And as I did more film festivals, I started learning more about the circuit.I got invited by a film festival to become a programmer, and so I started reviewing a lot of films and seeing a lot of the submissions. And I think instantly that made me a better filmmaker just because I saw what was working, what wasn't working, and how other filmmakers really brought to, brought their stories to life on the screen.And it, it was truly inspirational. Very long story short, the Wyoming International Film Festival was started by a gentleman named Alan Oi, and he's a, he's a documentarian out of Wyoming, which is where I'm from. I'm from Wyoming. So Alan had the film festival and he had run it for some years and it was going great and everything.But then Alan retired and now he's retiring. He wants to move outta Wyoming and he doesn't wanna run a live event. ‘cause it is a lot of work in his words. And I quote, it's a young man's game. And at the same time, COVID hit and he didn't wanna do the whole online thing and it was just a big mess.So Alan was like, I'm done with the festival, it's done. I'm just gonna let it die. And I was begging him, no, Alan, you can't do it. It's so important for indie filmmakers. And at the time I'm just finding my feet in the festival circuit as well as both a filmmaker and now I'm a programmer.I'm begging him like don't let it die. It's important, maybe I can help out. And he was like, why don't you run it? And I was like, absolutely not, man. What are you talking about? That's crazy. No way. No way. And I was like, I'm going to be your director of programming. That's what I'm going to do.I'm gonna help you get films in so you don't have to do that work. Very long story short, I ended up running it. I ended up taking over the festival from Alan. I did so reluctantly. But when I started working with the festival, working with the community, working with my hometown filmmakers and my home state filmmakers, and just seeing how important a film festival can be for a local community to uplift indie filmmakers to help them along the way I fell in love with it and here I am now, I run the film festival.And your question was, how did I start the YouTube channel? Sorry, I'm getting there. But I got a lot of questions from filmmakers about festivals, like how to navigate ‘em. And there's just so much mystery behind film festivals ‘cause it's so opaque. There's not a lot of transparency from film festivals.Film festivals are sketchy about which films they do select and which they don't. And frankly, there's a lot of misinformation out there about festivals. So I started answering a lot of questions and I started repeatedly answering the same question again and again and again. And I had some friends who told me, you should write a book.But I was like, yeah, but books, there are books, like people have already written books, bluntly, frankly, people far more experienced and knowledgeable than myself have written books. And so if you're not reading those books, then you're probably not gonna read my book. So that's when I decided, you know what, the YouTube channel is a great way to just do very easy outreach.Take one single topic, break it down for 10 minutes, and hopefully help filmmakers along on their film festival journey.BEN: I love it. And you said something for all the filmmakers who are listening. I'm gonna come back to it. Don't worry. You said something about once you started programming and watching so many films, you got a good sense of what works and what doesn't.So I definitely wanna come back to that. I know the filmmakers listening want to hear that. But before that you mentioned 10 minute videos. You strike me as somebody who, does research and takes time to Yes. Before they do something. What did you discover about running a YouTube page?What things work, what things don't work?RUDI: I'm still very early on in my own YouTube development. I'm still trying to learn what does and doesn't work. So I'm probably the worst person on earth to give advice. Definitely that first 32nd hook is so important on YouTube, just like it is on a film that, that intro, how we come into the story, whatever, on YouTube, you can see a massive drop off and apparently it's that way on every channel.Again, I'm not a YouTube guru, so I don't give advice, but that first 32nd hook is a big deal, but also just my presence on camera. I come from the post world. I'm an editor, so I'm not just behind camera. I'm behind, behind the camera. So I'm very much not used to an on-camera presence, so I'm developing that and learning it as well.What kind of energy I can bring. How to make it engaging. But also I don't wanna be zany and too quirky or anything because I am trying to give good guidance to filmmakers, but I also don't want to lecture them and bore them to death. So it's finding that balance of information that's valuable, but also entertaining enough that people don't wanna click off.And it's actually quite a complex thing that I'm still unraveling one video at a time. But the best advice that I saw was some YouTube guru who is just focus on getting 1% better on every single video. So is that little bit better graphics or better delivery, or better audio, or better editing or whatever it is.And after a hundred videos, you're now a hundred percent better. So that's what I've been focusing on. Just very small baby steps.BEN: Yeah, that's such a great way to break it down, right? It just makes it bite-sized, get 1% better.RUDI: I think you can apply that to life in general. There's a lot of things in life just today be 1% better.That's it,BEN: so you mentioned once you start a programming scene, get enough feel for what works, what doesn't, especially with short films, both narrative and docs. What are you seeing that works and doesn't work?RUDI: In the shorts world I'm seeing a couple of things. One, a self-contained story, and this is something that I had a problem with because oftentimes I would go for more of a quote unquote scene instead of a full beginning, middle and in, in a story.So a self-contained story typically is gonna make your short film much more successful. This can be hard for some filmmakers because they're trying to make a proof of concept short film that they're gonna go and get financing for their future. So one of the things that they often do is they just take a scene outta their feature and then just shoot that, which has mixed results.And the problem is the films that have gotten financed and been made from shorts that have done that are the ones that you see. So it's actually a survivor bias, where it's like it, it works for those particular films and therefore everybody thinks it's gonna work for their film. But obviously the films that it doesn't work for, you're never going to see.So you don't understand, actually for the majority of films, it doesn't work. So if you have a proof of concept, I actually say, don't pull a scene outta your feature. I say write its own scene, or sorry, your own short film. That exists in the same world and universe with the same characters as what your feature film is.And I think that's gonna have much more success on the film festival circuit. And that will lean you or lead you to whatever your goal is, financing or distribution or whatever. So that's a big thing with short films that makes ‘em successful is make sure it is actually a self-contained story and it doesn't have any loose ends, so to speak.What doesn't work is something that I myself struggle with, ironically as an editor. And that's things being too long and you need to parse them down. Now a lot of people will say, shorter, the better, which is true, but I actually think that's a result of actually getting to the core of the problem.And that's make your film as concise as possible. Get the idea. The emotion, the story out as concise as you can. And what that does by happenstance is it makes your film shorter. So it's not that shorter is better. I know there's it almost sounds like I'm just splitting hairs here, but I've seen plenty of five minute films that didn't work.I've seen plenty of 10 minute films that board me to death. So shorter isn't necessarily better. It's more concise of your story is better. And sometimes that still manifests as a 20, 30, 40 minute film. But if it's a very interesting 20, 30, 40 minutes, that's not gonna matter.BEN: It's such a great point. And for me, when I get to a certain point in the edit, I like to just bring in a couple friends and have them watch it. And then I just sit there and watch them watch it and whatever feedback they're gonna provide afterwards. 95% of what I need, I can just tell from Body Language as they're watching the film.RUDI: Yep.BEN: You come fromRUDI: theBEN: Go ahead.RUDI: Oh I was just gonna piggyback off that and just say, audience feedback is worth its weight and goal.BEN: Yeah.RUDI: And every filmmaker when you hit that fine cut stage, like you said, get your friends and family together, buy everybody some burgers and fries or whatever.Get ‘em all together. Gather ‘em up in a room, watch them, watch your film. That's gonna tell you more than anything else. We'll be able to about the success of your film and where it's strong, where it's weak, where you can still fix things. And I always suggest do it in your fine cut stage because nothing's locked in and you can still move things around and adjust, or whatever it is you need.BEN: Love it. And I think earlier what you are really getting at is telling a good story. Yes. And I'm amazed at, not amazed, but maybe a little disappointed, especially in today's world, the technical side of filmmaking. Even for an amateur, even for an indie filmmaker that you can, things can be d done so well technically, but there's no story.RUDI: Yes. All the time. So when I get onto Reddit, ‘cause you mentioned Reddit earlier if I go onto our filmmakers, right? Yeah. I don't have to look far to see people just geeking out over the newest Camerons. It's, and it's always cameras. Everybody always talks about. This camera is so fancy and it has so many stops above and this lens can do this and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.It has this big bit rate, whatever. Everybody gets so excited about cameras and I always say to myself, man, if they got this excited about audio, I wouldn't have to reject half the films that we have to reject because the audio is just blah. So if we're gonna talk tech, if we're gonna talk about the quote unquote quality of the filmmaking, I think what filmmakers need to understand is there are so many films out there we're that is just the foundation.It is the base level, it is the bare minimum that the film looks good. It sounds good. It feels good. So for us, festival guys, we see so many of these films. You're super gorgeous cinematography, you're really fancy, VFX, whatever it is that you think really separates your film from the pack. I don't wanna discourage you, I don't wanna sound jaded or anything, but it's not as impressive to us as you might believe it is, simply because we see hundreds and sometimes thousands of films like that.So for us it constantly falls back to originality and the story. Is the story well done? Is it well told? Is it a new and interesting story that we've never seen before? Is it a story that we've seen before but told in a very unique way, from a specific point of view, that is what is going to move us as festival people.‘cause when I put it into the theater and my audience walks in and they pay a ticket. My audience is used to going down to the theater and seeing a hundred million dollar movies. So for them, quality is just a given. It's just assumed they're not going to be thinking about it for them. They go and watch a movie ‘cause they're interested in, and I think if more filmmakers really dialed in on their story, they're going to find more success.BEN: So many great points there and a hundred percent agree with what you were saying about people get excited about the camera. And so I did my MFA at USC and there were three different times where I was on a set that, that I felt was unsafe. Not that I felt it was unsafe, what they were doing. Geez. And I walked off and it was always to get the cool shot.Like no one's ever hanging off a balcony to get room tone. You know what I mean? It's just, it's always to get the cool shot that, again, if you're not telling a good story, it doesn't matter. And to your point, I've always felt good audio is more important than good video.RUDI: Good image.BEN: Yeah.RUDI: Look at the documentary. Look at the nonfiction world. We see verite stuff all the time. We see stuff people recorded on their phone or, security camera footage or whatever, like at the end of the day in the nonfiction world is a great example of the quality of the shot doesn't necessarily matter so much as the quality of the story and how it's being told and how it's being revealed to us.And the audio is always gonna be very clean, very top notch, even if it's quote unquote found footage or. Veritate footage or whatever, the audio is always peak. I saw that Netflix doc recently, it was super heartbreaking. The perfect neighbor. And most of it is police body cam footage, but the audio is clean so we're able to follow the story so no one sits back and thinks of themselves this isn't a good shot.Of course it's not, it's police potty cam footage. Like it doesn't look good and it's not meant to,BEN: but it sounds good. And so you can follow it.RUDI: Yes.BEN: What what are some tropes that you think you've gotten tired of seeing in, especially in short films?RUDI: So every year it's a little bit different.You would be surprised what things pop up and what don't. The one trope that kind of rubs me the wrong way, I, I don't know how to describe it any other way than filmmaker self therapy. Like they, they're definitely going through something at the moment and they're not focused on creating a good story.They're more focused on using their art form to emotionally process whatever it is they're going through, which fine, you are an artist that makes sense to do, but also I can't sell my audience on that. So while I don't wanna discourage someone from making a film that is very near and dear and personal to them, at the end of the day, it might not be a good fit for film festivals.And so I, I would really think twice about whether or not that is a story that an audience, frankly, needs to see. Filmmaker cell therapy is one that when I get it, I'm always eh I don't know what to do with it. I just, I don't know what to do. Some other tropes that we see very commonly are like.Obviously right now, tech and AI and stuff like that gives a lot of people anxiety. So there's a lot of like evil robot takes over or the big reveal at the end of the movie, they were a robot the whole time, or the whole thing was a simulation or whatever. That's being very well tread right now.For me, I'm I am not a political person and anytime some big thing is in the news, we see tons of films on it. So I understand politics do affect people's day to day and their lives, so I understand that manifest. But man, I probably have a hundred immigration films right now and that's a lot. And I'm not gonna screen that many, so I'm only gonna pick like one, maybe two, so that's a tough one to do.Anything that's like a hot button political issue. We always see a big wave of those come in. And then honestly, romance dramas get tough. It isn't evergreen. We do have an audience for it. We usually do have some kind of a selection of them. Romance dramas have existed since the beginning of time.It's always been a thing. But filmmaker broke up with his girlfriend, so now he has a character who breaks up with his girlfriend. It gets it, it doesn't get very original. I, it just it gets exhausted. So those are some of the kind of general tropes I would avoid. I have heard other festival directors talk about like cancer films and Alzheimer's films and stuff like that.This year I'm not seeing so much of those, but I have seen those in the past. So tho those are some other. Tread stories we'll see.BEN: One of the things that I appreciate about. Your series of videos is your transparency, and you have one video where you literally break down. Here are all the films the number of films, Wyoming International Film Festivals received. Here's how it breaks down, here's how many we, we accepted, et cetera, et cetera.You have another one where you literally show the viewer, this is what we see as a programmer on our film freeway portal. Here's the scoring sheet. I think it's a little bit different from the one you guys use internally, but basically here's what the scoring sheet on film freeway looks like. Why is transparency so important to you?RUDI: Because I'm a filmmaker, because I've been to so many festivals where I have no idea what the hell's going on. I've been to festivals where I think my film is gonna be a good fit. I think based on what I've been able to investigate on my own, digging through their website, digging through their archive.Seen what they've programmed before. I think I'm a good fit, but I don't actually know. And I've submitted to festivals where later on, I see what they programmed or I got rejected or even accepted and then gone to the festival itself and have been a little disappointed when was like I this festival didn't fit my goals the way that I thought it would, or, this festival wasn't going to do the things for me.Or this festival, like really promoted themselves very heavily as this big event. And then you get there and then it's not, and that's a little bothersome. So when I stepped into my role at the Wyoming International Film Festival, I made a whole bunch of changes. But one of the changes that I made was, we are going to be transparent.I don't ever want a filmmaker to submit to our festival, get in, get accepted to the festival, drive all the way out to Wyoming and be disappointed. I don't want them to do that. That's not good for them. It's not good for us. It's not good for the community. It's not good for indie film at large.What's better is if we just be what we are in Wyoming, we're straight shooters. We just say it as it is. So I'm going to tell you exactly how many films were submitted, which films we accepted, what the percentage rates are, how many shorts versus features, how many docs versus narratives, how many music videos, all of this stuff.And we've been releasing the data for the past couple of years. This year, like we went all out with the data it was much more thorough than what we've done in years past. And even me, the director of the festival, I sit back, I look at the data and I can see some weak spots in it. I can see where we need to improve as a festival, where we need to start, bringing in a certain type of film or where other films might be overrepresented or how we can give more of an experience to our filmmakers.Just by boiling it down to numbers and looking at it. I can start seeing some of our weak spots and I want to improve on that ‘cause I want to have a good festival. And I think if more festivals were to do that, I think the filmmaking community at large would be much more appreciative. And I think film festivals need to understand.That if you have fewer submissions, that's not a bad thing because the submissions that you are going to get are filmmakers that really want to be in your festival and that's good for the health of your festival, the community, the filmmakers, everything. So I, I think the only way we get there is by being transparent.And thankfully there are other festivals that are publishing their data, which is great. And that makes me very happy to see. And I hope that trend continues and I hope even more festivals start publishing more of their data and showing how they review films, what their scorecards look like, what they're looking for.‘cause ultimately I genuinely believe that just serves the filmmakers better and ultimately makes everybody have a better experience on the film festival circuit, including the festivals themselves.BEN: When you took over as directorWhat were the biggest challenges?RUDI: So our biggest challenge to this day is our venue.So there's only one movie theater in Cheyenne, Wyoming. It is owned by a company outta Casper, Wyoming. They own pretty much a monopoly of movie theaters across the state, like most of them. And they don't allow anybody into their theaters at all. They don't allow her private screenings or corporate events or, in individuals who wanna screen their film or film festivals.I'm not the only film festival in Wyoming. I talk with other festival directors. They can't get in either. It's funny, the film commissioner of the state can't even get in. You would think the movie theater would at least want to partner with the state film Commission, but no. So for us, the challenge has been a venue and luckily our partners over at Laramie County Community College.Have graciously allowed us to use their facilities for the last couple years. They have a beautiful auditorium that we do some of our screenings in, but we also have screening rooms in a black box theater that they have as well as a conference room. And when I say conference room, most filmmakers like their heart drops a little bit.They're like, oh man, I'm just, I'm going into a conference room. It's not a proper movie theater. And that's fine. We publish that data on our film freeway page on hike. We are transparent about that. So when you submit, you might be in the conference room. But ironically, I think it has some of the best audio and it has some of the best projection.So even though it's the quote unquote least movie theater, like I actually think it has some of the best projection, best color. But venue is probably one of our biggest challenges and we continue to develop that. We continue to. Trying to innovate. We're trying to build our own screening room there on the campus.Like we're trying to use one of their big classrooms for it. And what we wanna do is we wanna turn it into a lounge. We wanna bring in like couches and sofas and comfy chairs where it's like much more of a chill environment in there. And that's the type of film we wanna screen in. There's some you can literally sit back, settle in and relax.So there's things that we're doing to create a better environment for our filmmakers and of course our audience, our guests at the festival.BEN: I love it. What's been the biggest reward?RUDI: The, I get to meet you. That's what the biggest reward is. I get to meet so many filmmakers. I get to hear their stories.I get to be inspired. I get to learn stuff. I was talking with a festival director a couple of days ago. Who asked me about how we do our audience award scores and how we process that and what they do. And I just like I lit up, I'm like, oh my God. It's such a better way, it's more efficient, it's easier on the staff.It's more representative of how the audience actually feels about the film, the way the scores are aggregated and counted. It's so great. I get to meet so many people in this world of film and every single day it's like a new, whole new world is opened up to me and I get to hear so many fantastic points of view.I get to see so many awesome films, like just how many great movies are out there is a cinephile. It's like the most rewarding thing in the world. I'm an addict. I'm totally addicted to it. It's so great.BEN: I love it. I remember I used to coach basketball in my first year as a head coach. I was like, yeah, everybody's gonna be pretty competitive, other coaches and so forth.And they were, and I was. But at the same time, when coaches would get together, it was just so supportive. And people are sharing, this is what I'm doing in practice. I'm looking at this offense, this defense. And I imagine it's the same with other film festival directors and programmers. Oh, yeah. Just a supportive environment comparing notes.RUDI: It is. And the more that I meet, the more I truly do understand. 99% of festival directors out there are programmers, people who work in it. They have some tie to cinema. Most of them are filmmakers. Those who aren't, have a deep passion and love for cinema and for storytelling, and.Everybody's a volunteer. Everybody has a day job. Nobody makes money on this. They do it from the love of their heart. They truly do. And the way that they serve their communities, the way that they serve their filmmakers, some of the cool ideas they come up with there's some really neat festivals out there with like very interesting hooks or events or whatever.And I think it is such an incredible ecosystem and I think I'm truly privileged to be part of it.BEN: What are some lesser known or maybe mid-tier festivals or local festivals that you love to attend?RUDI: Okay, so one of my favorite festivals I guess you said lesser known. This one is not lesser known, but Film Quest over in Provo, Utah, damn man, pe like festival people talk about building community. They're on a different level. They've built a family. Like everybody who goes to that festival is just so tight knit there. There's no other festival like Provo or sorry, film Quest in Provo. It is just, it's on another level. And how well they treat their filmmakers is fantastic.Some years ago I was invited to be a jury member at the Fair Film Festival, which is in Ferazi Kosovo. So that is in southeastern Europe. It's a landlocked country, just a little bit above Greece, a little bit north of Greece and north of Macedonia. And Fari is a small town. And I went to that festival and first off, wow.What a great festival. I strongly suggest you submit your film to fair film. It's so good. But the cool part of being in this European festival, and frankly a small European country, most of the films are international, obviously. And so there's filmmakers coming in from like Jordan and Spain and Germany and Slovakia and Slovenia and like all over the place, Greece, Turkey, you name it.And how interesting it is to have this incredible cross section of languages and cultures and peoples, but we're all united by this one singular thing. And that's our love for storytelling and our love for movies. It had to be one of the most incredible experiences of my life. And the next movie I make, taking it back to cosBEN: Fantastic.Just had a question. What was it? Oh okay. So with the huge caveat of besides making. A good film, a film that tells a story. Besides that, are there any tips or tricks, things on the margins that filmmakers can do when they're applying to festivals to be aware of? Sometimes festivals. Ask for a cover letter orRUDI: Yes.BEN: Press kit, things like that. Okay.RUDI: So with, sorry, my phone is loud. I should turn that down. So obviously with a huge caveat of make a good film or whatever, what's the easiest way to get it? All of the stuff on film Freeway, and I do have a video on this, on my YouTube page if you wanna check it out, where I give you a tour of film, freeway from the festival side of things like what the festival can see and how we see it and how we navigate it.On the festival end of things. We can see your cover letter, your screenings and awards your. Cast and crew information, your director's bio, your director's statement, your photographs, your EPK, that's your electronic press kit your trailer, all of that. All of that. As much of that as you can possibly make, you should make it.It's very important. And you never know which piece is gonna be more important to a particular film festival. For instance, here's something crazy. I was meeting with some of my programmers last night. They had a whole bunch of films that they wanted to recommend to go to the next level programming.And we require films. Tell us where in the world or where in the United States the film was made. And every single one of ‘em was California. California. California. California. California. Which fine, whatever. California has a big film industry. That's, it's a very big state, population wise. Makes sense, right?But I am sitting back thinking, okay. I don't want it just to be a bunch of California movies. We have a big country here. I would like to see something else. And something caught my attention. One of the filmmakers, their address was in Birmingham, Alabama, but the film was shot in California, so I am suspicious.I haven't dug into it myself. I'm suspicious either that filmmaker's from Alabama and they have moved to California, or that filmmaker lives in Alabama and they shot their film in California. So they're answering where it was shot correctly. But for me, I'm like, there you go. When everybody's from California.I want that unique perspective. I wanna see someone's from Alabama and what their perspective is now. I haven't watched the film yet. I don't know if it's what we're looking for. Obviously it's a good film if my programming team has recommended it, there's no doubt in my mind it's good film. Now there's other considerations we're gonna have, but.That alone was something, even my, like I myself did not know that I would be looking for. So filling out all of that data on film, freeway, all of your information that you possibly can, your cover letters your screenings, your awards, whatever it is, the more information you give us as a festival, the more we have to make our selections.And it only benefits you. It only helps you out. So filmmakers don't get lazy. Fill out all of that information. We need it. We use it. It's important. Just do it.BEN: You mentioned a meeting with your programmers last night. Take us inside that conversation. What does that look like? What do you discuss, et cetera.RUDI: So there's. There's a big programming team and it's divided up into two different groups. There's our kind of first round screeners and then there's our senior programmers and the senior programmers pretty much review the films that have gone through that first round of screening that are getting recommended to go onto the next one.So typically when I'm talking with my screeners and everything, it's a very different conversation on the bottom end of it where they're just sorting through all of the submissions versus a different conversation I have with the senior programmers who are on the top end of it. We're now trying to decide how to block films together, how we're gonna organize it, what's the schedule maybe look like, what's the overall tone and vibe of the festival going to be, okay.If we wanna have a sci-fi block, do we even have enough sci-fi films? If we don't. Where else can we find homes for ‘em? Stuff like that. So those conversations are a little bit more high end, if you will. And it tends to be less about the story of the film itself and more about how that film is going to fit into the festival.Whereas when I'm talking with the screeners, it's much more on the story end. Like what about the story did you like or you didn't like? Or what was the unique point of view? Or whatever. So depending on which group I'm talking to it, it's gonna be different. And then of course that divides out further on features and shorts and documentaries and narratives and music videos.So like obviously my conversation with the music video people are gonna be much different than my like short documentary people.BEN: Shout out to short documentary people as a documentarian primarily makes shorts I'll ask a question for us folks. In one of the videos, as I mentioned, you literally show here's what the scoring sheet looks like.Yes. And that was for narrative with, I think one of the categories was acting and so forth. So for a documentary or documentary shorts, what does that scoring sheet look like? What do those discussions entail?RUDI: Film freeway does not allow us to have more than one scoring sheet.So unfortunately, there's just this one scoring sheet that's for everything. What I tell my screening team, and we definitely double check everything, like there's multiple people who look at something. So it's not just one person's opinion. You have at least two, oftentimes three, pretty often four.So for something like documentary they skip over that. That's what they do. So if there's no acting in the film, they skip over that. They don't rate acting if there is no acting. But you'd be surprised. There are documentaries that have acting in ‘em. There are like docudramas or documentaries with recreation In the recreation is like actual scenes and performances and stuff like that.So in those cases, even though it's a nonfiction and a documentary, yeah, we'll still judge it for the acting ‘cause that's what it has. I get the question. I'm gonna hijack your question for a second, but it is applicable. I get the question, do we accept AI in our film festival, we do not have any official policy for or against ai, which scares some filmmakers.But we do rate AI on the same standards as we would anybody else. So when it comes to creativity and originality, guess what, you're getting a nothing. ‘cause AI didn't create it. AI is not original. AI just mashes together a bunch of information from other people. So that's no creativity and originality.Same thing for something like, I don't know, art design. If you have a AI character walking through a scene or whatever you're getting zero on your art design. Nobody built those sets. Nobody costumed that actor. Nobody was the makeup artist or the hair or whatever other art deck or, PD or anything on the set.So we will accept ai. We have accepted one single AI film so far because despite all of its quote unquote handicaps, and it was a music video. It still was successful in other categories that had a good enough score. We as a team sat down, said Yes, that it still is a good film. The audience is still gonna enjoy it.The filmmaker definitely had a vision with it. They wrote out a whole thing on like why they chose to use ai. ‘cause they're also an experimental filmmaker, so it made sense for them and everything. So we were like, you know what? That's legit. Let's put it in. But other AI submissions, like I got an AI children's animation the other day and I'm like they didn't animate it themselves.They didn't voice act it themselves. It's not getting good scores on any of these. So we'll see. We'll see. We'll see if it gets through or not, but already you're shooting yourself in the foot. So don't do ai.BEN: Okay. Couple little. I don't know, around the edges or micro questions. One of the things that you talked about in one of your recent videos was having a good poster and you talked about designing your poster for your film prudence.RUDI: Yeah.BEN: Talk, talk to me about,RUDI: I specifically gave my posters an example, not a great poster,BEN: But talk to me about that.For the no budget or low budget filmmaker that can't afford to hire a a designer to make a poster. Talk to me about poster design and how that impacts the presentation of the film for festivals.RUDI: So I strongly believe that a big part of filmmaking and marketing and packaging your film together, all of that is psychology.And as much as we want to sit back and say, Hey, don't judge a book by its, cover it, that literally goes against human psychology. People are not hardwired to do that. It, it is. In our DNA, it's not just a bad habit, it is literally a survival mechanism. So if you want to stand out, you do need to have everything put together.Your cover letter, your synopsis, your photographs, all of that, and of course all of your key art. That's your poster. That's any banners that you have, that's how you're going to be promoting the film. And you have to understand it's not just about making your film look pretty to get filmmakers to go, or sorry your programmers go, Ooh, and ah, it's a pretty film.We are looking at that as a mechanism for us to advertise the festival. You gotta understand if I have 150 films in the festival, I have to get an audience for those films. And the easiest way for me to do that is through your marketing materials. We don't have the capacity. To design marketing materials for 150 different films.We are relying on the filmmakers to do that so we can go out and promote the festival. So people show up to your screening, which I would presume is what you want if you're going to a film festival. So anything you're trailer, any photographs that you can provide, which some filmmakers only provide BTS photographs, BTS is fine.It's great. Give me some good key art I can also use, please. That's what newspapers, that's what the local news that's what podcasters, whatever, that's what they want to see. So that's what I can provide. And of course, your poster. Now, there are a lot of online tools to help in poster design, frankly, I don't have an excuse for making a bad poster like I did, which is one of the reasons I use it as an example is I am shaming myself being like, this could be better and it should be. But there's a lot of online resources that can help with poster design. And also for filmmakers who are a little bit strapped for cash, you would be surprised what people will do for in kind, service for service.So if you have a friend or if there's someone that you can find that's Hey, they'll design your poster if you can design whatever their website or whatever it is that your skills might be there, there's a lot of exchange that you can do on that part. So yeah your marketing, your packaging, all of that together is actually quite important.BEN: Such a great point. And I've written and published a memoir and through that, I've worked with other authors on, on. Both writing and marketing their books, editing and marketing their books. And I tell people the exact same thing. People judge a book by its cover all the time. And in this day and age, they judge it for listeners, I'm holding my thumb and forefinger part as a thumbnail on a computer screen.Yeah, that's the size. So even for a programmer or a festival director watching it on film freeway through their platform, they're not gonna see the poster like we see it in the movie theater. They're gonna see it as a thumbnail image. Yeah. So it has to work as a thumbnail image. And if you can't read the title as a thumbnail or can't make out what's on the image, what's on the poster as a thumbnail, then you've failed that part of the process.RUDI: One, one of the things that like really clued me into how important a poster is, I went to a film festival, I believe it was Kansas City Film Festival. Some years ago, and they had a bunch of posters of films out, but there was one that was like bright pink. It was like super bright pink and had like very eye popping design and everything on it.And it was like in a whole field of like dark drama posters that are all like gritty and everything. And I'm like that stands out. That really drew my eye to it. And I think that was like my big light bulb moment of like how important this stuff actually is. And one of the things that I've been saying for some years, I've said it on the channel, I think, I don't know, some, sometimes I record things and edit out.So I don't know what I've said on the channel sometimes but one of the things that I say is making a film is half of film making. The other half is marketing, the other half is getting butts in the seats. The other half is getting eyeballs on your movie. The other half is selling your film to an audience or a film festival or a distributor or a programmer or whatever you're trying to do with it.It's getting it out there. So making a film is half a filmmaking. The other half marketing, that's what it is.BEN: I'm just nodding along with everything you're saying and I've always felt both with films and with books, with art in general, you're trying to make an emotional connection from what's in your head and your heart to the audience.And if you don't do your job, getting your film out there and helping an audience come and see your film. Then you're not helping that connection. You're missing sort of the point of making this, unless it's just for yourself. It's for, it's to connect with other people and for other people to connect with your work.And that is marketing.RUDI: It's valid. If you're just making a film for yourself, that's absolutely valid. It's in art form. You can make a film for yourself, but if you're sending it to me at a film festival, you're not you're literally trying to find an audience. So these are the things you need to consider.BEN: I love it. I got two more just in the weeds detail questions.RUDI: Alright, let's do it.BEN: Let's talk description. And what I've seen ‘cause I'm in the middle of applying to festivals. And by the way just for. Listeners, this might interest you. So I discovered Rudi's YouTube page and I was like, this is so helpful.And then I went to the Wyoming International Film Festival page and all the transparency and statistics that, that Rudi puts out, that the festival puts out. And I realized, okay, so the short documentary I have is not a good fit for this festival. Exactly what Rudi's saying. So just for anybody listening, thank you for doing research.RUDI: Thank you. That's good. That's not a bad thing, right? That means it saves you time, it saves you money, it saves you heartbreak. It's so good. Do research before you submit. I'm sorry, but I, it's in, in almost every single one of my videos, I tell filmmakers, do your research before you submit. Find the festivals that gel with your film.And if it, if they don't screen the type of movie that you have, don't submit to ‘em. You're wasting your time, you're wasting your money. And the festival, like the programmer behind the screen, might love your film. They truly might love your film, but they're programming for a very specific audience and they know what that audience's taste is.So that's why they're driving specific films to that audience. So even if they love it, they might not include it, which is why you should always do your homework and do your research before you submit. I'm sorry to interrupt, but it's so importantBEN: And yes. And the flip side of that coin is now I also know what the Wyoming International Film Festival looks for.So in the future, if I have a doc or a film, I'm like, oh, this would be a great fit for this festival.RUDI: Yes.BEN: It helps both ways.RUDI: It does. And it helps you dial in. Which festivals you should target, which festivals are gonna help you with your specific goals. Whatever your goals are with the film it's gonna help you with your budgeting and your travel plans and your own personal calendar.It's gonna help with your mental health. It just, it helps on so many different aspects. And on the film festival side of things, I appreciate it when I hear from filmmakers say, Hey man, I looked into your festival looks good, but you don't have the kind of film that I have. And I'm like, not a problem man.Maybe I can point you in the right direction. Maybe I know some film festival programmers, I can make a recommendation, on your behalf too, that's not a bad thing. We love movies and we want to see them successful, but not every single fest or film and story is going to be successful in every single market.So it's very important to find your audience. And believe me, we are going to be cheering you the whole way.BEN: I want get back to my kind of in the weeds questions, but you've mentioned something that is big picture, that's so important. I feel like I've buried the lead here. And you mentioned this you've mentioned this multiple times in your videos.Is that a Phil, it's key. Maybe the most important part of this process is of the film festival submission process is a filmmaker needs to understand what are their goals in applying to a festival. Yes. So can you just talk a little bit about that?RUDI: So film festivals are a tool. And they can be a tool for many different things, but they are a tool.And just every single tool is not right for every single job, every film festival is not gonna be right for every film and vice versa. So before you go out to film festivals, you just need to ask yourself why? Why am I going out to film festivals? Why am I spending the money, the time, the energy, the effort?What do I want out of film festivals? And that's where you need to identify your goal. And the more specific you can be with the goal, the better it's going to be you going on your film festival journey. So for many filmmakers, a common reason they go out to film festivals is networking. So I'm gonna use that as an example.So let's say your goal is I want to network, I want to meet other. Filmmakers, I wanna meet, directors of photography and producers and other people that I can hire for my projects, or they're gonna hire me for their projects, and I want to build that network and I want to meet more filmmakers.Fantastic. Great. That's your goal. So the first thing that you need to do is you need to be looking at festivals that have networking events. And in this particular instance, you need to ask yourself two things. One, does it have networking? Is there in-person networking parties or networking events?And two, do the types of people that I want to meet actually attend those networking events. So us at the Wyoming International Film Festival, we have a pretty broad spectrum. We have filmmakers that are just beginning their journey. They're totally new, wet behind the ears. They're green they're just starting their journey.That's great. All the way up to every year we have multi Emmy award-winning filmmakers. Like people who do this professionally they're in unions or professional organizations, or they're a member of the academy, motion picture Arts and sciences or the TV Academy or sometimes like the Grammys and stuff like that.I, myself, I'm a professional editor, so there's people like me who professionally work, but they're like below the line. They're cinematographers editors, gaffers, what have you. So if your goal is to meet some like high-end producer that's gonna throw, a million dollars at your movie our festival is not the festival that's gonna help you with your goal.So you should skip over us because we don't have that kind of person in attendance. But if your goal is to meet other filmmakers at your level that you can collaborate with or get hired by or whatever. We're a great festival. We have tons of networking, and we bring in a ton of those filmmakers.We're a great event for you. So when you identify what your goal is and you're very specific about it, it's easier to identify which festivals you should start targeting. I take that one step further, and then once you've narrowed down which festivals are gonna help you with your goal, then you look into their history and see which of them have screened movies like yours in the past.So if you have a, you know I use the example, if you have a seven minute comedy coming of the age film, now you know which festivals have good networking, which festivals have the kinds of people you want to network with. Now you look at which ones have screened short coming of age comedy films in the past, and have a history of doing that.So that's gonna help you filter it even further. And by doing that, you're gonna really start to develop your film festival strategy. Now I do have some exciting news. There is something coming now, it's called Hike, H-I-I-K-E. It's hike with two I. And what Hy is doing, it's a submission platform similar to film Freeway, but among many of the tools that they're giving filmmakers, they're giving filmmakers customized festival strategies and they're scraping all of that data from film festivals, what they've programmed in the past.And when you as a filmmaker, join Hike, you take a little quiz, you tell them what your goals are, what your film is, you know how long it is, what the genre is, tell them about yourself. And they literally have. Data scientist who's built this like machine learning algorithm that pairs the data from the film festival to what the filmmaker provides.That literally gives you a compatibility score. So it's, it comes out and tells you, if you want to network with, professional filmmakers but not mega producers and you have a short comedy coming of age film Wyoming International Film Festival has that crowd screens those types of films and you would have a 90% compatibility.So it actually helps you develop your festival strategy for you.BEN: It's so needed. And Rudi has a great video on how to spot scam film festivals. Yes. That's something that is just prevalent these days. So for filmmakers who are getting ready to submit, I encourage you to watch that video. I'll link to it in the show.I'll link to everything that we're discussing in the show notes. The. So Rudi talked about one goal a filmmaker can have is to network other goals at various points in my, film festival my limited film festival career I've applied to festivals ‘cause I wanted to go to that city, new Orleans Fest, new Orleans Film Festival.TravelingRUDI: is totally legitimate reason to go.BEN: People apply because they want distribute, they wanna meet distributors or financiers for the next film. Although, that's what everybody wants. SoRUDI: you, you would be surprised. So in, in 2018, I had a feature film and my, my goal like most feature films was to land a distribution deal.But I was like, that's not specific enough. There are many steps to land a distribution deal. So what I need is I need good press on my film. So that was a goal. So I wanted to target festivals that had press. I wanted laurels. I wanted to win some awards with it, but I also knew my film was. Small and kind of small scale.So it wasn't gonna win laurels at big festivals. So I was like, okay, I need festivals with press. I need festivals that are legitimate and above board, but also small enough where I'm gonna be competitive. And then I wanted to actually meet distributors. And I know they only go to big festivals, so I actually had to target three different kinds of festivals.‘cause I had three, let's call ‘em conflicting goals with my own film. So that's what I did. I did a split strategy. I targeted festivals where I was gonna be this tiny little fish in a very big pond. And no one's really gonna notice me, but I'm just happy to be there. I targeted festivals where I know that I was going to get very good press and very good reviews on the film.And I targeted festivals that were small, still legitimate, but I was gonna be competitive and maybe bring home some trophies. And so that was my strategy and it worked, and I landed a distribution deal.BEN: That's so great. I, I'd love to do a part two at some point we can talk distribution deals and all of the, yeah.Things like that. But I think for people listening, the big takeaway is even with this multi-pronged goal, three different goals connected to each other. Once you identify what your goals are, then you work backwards and you create your strategy to Yes, to achieve those. Okay. Back to the two in the weeds.Two more in the weeds questions. Yeah. So description, and as I'm looking at other film descriptions, and I saw this at USC all the time as well, and we talked about earlier, filmmakers wanting to sit in emotion or sit in something traumatic and have the audience experience that I notice a lot of times in descriptions of short films.Can so and so come to terms with this? Can, and just as someone who has a little bit of experience marketing stories, where's the action? What's the active what's this person actively trying to accomplish, rather than can they just come to terms with something? Can you talk a little bit about film description, just three or four lines.What pops?RUDI: So just like your poster, just like your marketing and everything, a film description is your way to reach through the screen, grab the audience, grab the programmer, and pull them into your movie. Keep in mind, your whole entire goal is to get people to watch your film, get them excited about your film.And so if you just have a very drab, like description that's just yeah, has to face consequences for a decision they made or come to terms with something when I, that's a good V one, that's a good place to start, but that's not going to get an audience excited about your film.I saw film, I don't know if it was at my festival. It wasn't at my festival. We didn't screen it, but I'm saying, I don't know if it was submitted to my festival or if I saw it at another festival, but I remember one of the descriptions it was great. It was whatever the two character names were, John and Jane, I forget what the characters are, but like John and Jane are on a date, there's a bomb in the other room.I I hope the date goes well, or something like that. Let's hope the date goes well. And I'm like, what is this movie? That gets you really excited for it. You're. It, it creates so much mystery. And also just the cavalier way that it was written immediately tells me this is gonna be a comedy, or it's not taking itself too seriously.It's not some like gritty, dive into the underworld or whatever. Like just how blunt it was about the dis of the film and just that like small little description. I know I'm paraphrasing what it was, but it stuck with me for years at this point. ‘cause I'm like, that is how you write a description for a film.That is how you get someone excited to see what is this movie about? Let's jump in. Piggybacking off a description. Titles are another great way to do that. In, in my own repertoire of films I've had film called Prudence. Okay, fine, whatever. Prudence doesn't really tell you much about that film.I had a film that I'm very proud of. It's artsy, it's a little bit magical realism and it's called in this gray place, and it has that artsy mystique around it in this gray place. And I love that title. I did it, I did a film back in film school. It's terrible, but the title's great.It's called Back to Fort Russell. It was a Western and I, to this day, it's one of my favorite titles that I've ever had. But it tells you something. It clues you into what this film is going to be, what the journey of this movie is going to be. And some films do that better than others. And some films, yeah, it's not necessary.But I, I get more excited when I hear something like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre than I do something that's just like love. Or mom or something.BEN: I think this is the last question. So again, with all these little details, cover letter, talk to me about cover letters.RUDI: It's so interesting you asked me that question ‘cause hearing about four or five days, I'm posting a video on the YouTube channel about cover letters. It's short, it's only four or five minutes long, but cover letters are so important.Should absolutely write a cover letter. And a couple of days ago I was talking with programmers at dances with films, and if you don't know dances with films, look ‘em up. They are an incredible film festival. They are in the big leagues for sure. And I was talking with a couple of programmers and I asked them about covert letters and they said, it's so important it.How the filmmaker is going to put an audience in the theater is very important for their festival. How they're going to get people to attend is very important for them and they're like, a good indication in a cover letter is when they, the filmmaker indicates how they're going to market their film and they use the example of football.Let's say it's a movie about football. They're like, if it's a movie about football and you tell me in the cover letter that you're part of several like football organizations, or you're gonna be reaching out to sports organizations or youth organizations for sports or something like that, to attend the film.That's a very good indication for them in the cover letter. For me, I think a cover letter is very important in that it shows. You're going the extra mile to show the festival you care. You're not just submit and quit. We're not just one festival on a list of 50 that you're submitting to. There is a reason you want to screen with us, and that's a specific reason.Either you feel that your film is good fit for our audience, or there's something that you want to connect with. In Wyoming, I had one cover letter and we did accept this film and it was really funny. They put in their cover letter like their film was a comedy, so their cover letter was also very comedic, but they're like, honestly, we're just gonna go up to Yellowstone around that time and we would love to swing by and show the movie.And I laughed. I laughed so hard at that and I'm like. But that shows me they care. Like they want to be there. And the film was good and it was funny and we screamed it and they were there. So it's a way to show a film festival enthusiasm and it's way to inform the festival about yourself, about your film, and how that's gonna gel with their particular event and their audience.BEN: I love it. And that reminds me, I got one more, I got a bonus question. Yeah. Can you talk about applying early?RUDI: Yes. Statistically, when I look at our own data, statistically, it does seem to be that the earlier you apply, the better chance that you have. And so I don't want to give the impression that if you applied late.You have no chance. I think in the video where I literally broke down the data and the statistics, I think at our festival we had a one in five chance of getting in on the late deadline, which is about a 20% acceptance rate. But it was much higher the earlier it came in. So just with the raw data taking out my opinions, my emotions on it, whatever, just the data itself shows earlier is better.Now, here's where my opinions and my feelings towards it come from. I think it's a couple of things. One, when you get in early, you set the pace for the rest of the festival, you're telling us, okay, it's a drama. We're gonna compare your film against others. Like you have now become the benchmark that we're gonna compare other films to when it comes to like dramas or whatever.What it also does. It's something I'm going to discuss in my video and cover letters, but it also engages something, what's called mere exposure effect in psychology, which is essentially the more that you are exposed to something, the more preference you have towards it. Which means if you get in early, you are exposing yourself, your film, and your story to the programmers more often and more readily than late submissions are.So it's more likely that the programmers form some attachment to your film, and that's just human nature, that's just psychology. There's some practical reasons for it as well. Obviously, earlier submissions, earlier deadlines are cheaper, so it's better to get in. It's just gonna cost you less money to do and then lastly, there are many festivals that are developing their program as they go. So as films are coming in, they're shaping. We got a ton of dramas. Maybe we need two drama blocks, or, we, we don't have enough sci-fi for a sci-fi blocks, we gotta spread it out or whatever. So if you come in late, you're now trying to elbow some other film out of the way in order to find your screening slot.Which don't get me wrong, there are plenty of programmers that are absolutely gonna go to bat for you. They're gonna fight hard to get you in. Doesn't matter if you come in early or late or whatever, but the chances are just better. And the data shows that if you get in early. All that said, a couple of years ago, the very last film that came in with only two hours left in our deadline, we ended up programming it.So it, it is possible.BEN: Rudi, I cannot thank you enough. I can't tell you how helpful this has been. There's so much great information for filmmakers. Filmmakers submitted to festivals, people just interested in going to festivals. So thank you so much for taking the time.RUDI: Hey it's always a pleasure.I always love talking film festivals and for any filmmakers out there, head on over to YouTube hit up the Film Festival Guide. That's my YouTube page. I'm coming out with videos every two or three weeks. That's about what I put ‘em out there for. So if you need any guidance or any, I don't know, insight for film festivals that's where I am.BEN: Film Festival Guide. I'm a subscriber. I can't recommend it enough. Any other social media where people can find you?RUDI: Oh no, I'm terrible on social media. YouTube's enough for me right now.BEN: So Film Fest.RUDI: I will probably expand in the future and I'll probably make some announcement on the YouTube channel.Got it. But for right now, I'm just trying to get good information out there to as many filmmakers as possible.BEN: Thank you so much for doing that. It's such a huge benefit for film.RUDI: Thank you very much for the support and thank you very much for having me on. I enjoyed this. This was a lot of fun.BEN: Me too. This was great. Thank you. And that was my interview with Rudy Womack, director of the Wyoming International Film Festival and creator of the great YouTube page, the Film Festival Guide. Hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, please forward it to one person. Thank you and have a great day. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit benbo.substack.com

Dr. Joe Yelton's sermon came from Mark 10:35–45 and is titled, "Freeways and Backroads" — First Baptist Church of Sylva, November 16, 2025

Parag Agrawal, Founder & CEO of Parallel Web Systems, talks with TITV Host Akash Pasricha about his $100M AI infrastructure startup and the future of AI agents on the web. We also talk with Sid Sheth, Founder & CEO of d-Matrix, about taking on NVIDIA with their specialized inference chip, and Cory Weinberg about the escalating boardroom battle at Grindr. Lastly, we get into Waymo's freeway expansion and the autonomous vehicle landscape with The Information's Ken Brown and Nick Wingfield.Articles discussed on this episode:https://www.theinformation.com/articles/buyout-offer-boardroom-feud-festered-grindrTITV airs on YouTube, X and LinkedIn at 10AM PT / 1PM ET. Or check us out wherever you get your podcasts.Subscribe to: - The Information on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theinformation- The Information: https://www.theinformation.com/subscribe_hSign up for the AI Agenda newsletter: https://www.theinformation.com/features/ai-agenda

Waymo now offers fully driverless Level 4 robotaxi rides on freeways in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix, and it connects San Francisco to San Jose with curbside pickup at SJC. This expansion enables faster airport trips and cross metro rides without a safety driver and brings autonomous service to everyday commuter use cases.Learn how highway driving, availability, safety protocols, pricing pressure, and competition from Uber, Tesla, and Zoox will shape self driving car adoption in 2025 across California and Arizona. Keywords to help discovery include robotaxi, autonomous vehicles, driverless rides, freeway routes, airport pickup, SJC, SF to San Jose, LA, Phoenix, reliability, and scale.

The Most Dangerous Freeways full 384 Thu, 13 Nov 2025 16:24:00 +0000 U26MaCHhqA0VMK6oNHtWRmy6OaXwuqxE society & culture Klein/Ally Show: The Podcast society & culture The Most Dangerous Freeways Klein.Ally.Show on KROQ is more than just a "dynamic, irreverent morning radio show that mixes humor, pop culture, and unpredictable conversation with a heavy dose of realness." (but thanks for that quote anyway). Hosted by Klein, Ally, and a cast of weirdos (both on the team and from their audience), the show is known for its raw, offbeat style, offering a mix of sarcastic banter, candid interviews, and an unfiltered take on everything from culture to the chaos of everyday life. With a loyal, engaged fanbase and an addiction for pushing boundaries, the show delivers the perfect blend of humor and insight, all while keeping things fun, fresh, and sometimes a little bit illegal. 2024 © 2021 Audacy, Inc. Society & Culture False https://player.amperwavepodcasting.com?feed-link=https%3A%2F%2Frs

MRKT Matrix - Thursday, November 13th Dow drops more than 800 for worst day in over a month (CNBC) Markets no longer view the December rate cut as a sure bet, with Fed officials casting doubts (CNBC) New foreclosures jump 20% in October, a sign of more distress in the housing market (CNBC) October Jobs Report to Skip Unemployment Rate, Hassett Says (Bloomberg) Verizon to Cut About 15,000 Jobs (WSJ) Companies Begin to See a Return on AI Agents (WSJ) Big Tech's Soaring Profits Have an Ugly Underside: OpenAI's Losses (WSJ) Wall Street cools on Oracle's buildout plans as debt concerns mount: ‘AI sentiment is waning' (CNBC) Microsoft to Use OpenAI's Custom Chip Work to Help In-House Effort (Bloomberg) Zuckerberg Weighs Ideas for Too Many AI Data Centers (Bloomberg) Waymo Launches Driverless Robotaxis on Freeways in First for US (Bloomberg) --- Subscribe to our newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://riskreversalmedia.beehiiv.com/subscribe⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ MRKT Matrix by RiskReversal Media is a daily AI powered podcast bringing you the top stories moving financial markets Story curation by RiskReversal, scripts by Perplexity Pro, voice by ElevenLabs

Waymo is the first to offer humans a ride without other humans that use the expressway. Plus, Even Realities makes a smart glass that works with a smart ring. Starring Tom Merritt and Sarah Lane.Links to stories discussed in this episode can be found here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The new capability will gradually roll out to riders in San Francisco, Phoenix and Los Angeles.

Waymo is taking to the open roads becoming the first robotaxi service in the US to offer rides on freeways. For more, KCBS Radio news anchor Holly Quan spoke with Bloomberg's Natalie Lung .

Ever wasted months on something four minutes could've solved?I share a story that had me laughing at myself and realizing just how often we waste time trying to fix the wrong thing. What started as a dumb Zoom glitch turned into a much bigger lesson about blindspots, stubbornness, and the real cost of doing it alone. Just like in our health and fitness journey, we can be doing all the right things and still miss the one piece that changes everything. Sometimes it's not about working harder, it's about getting the right perspective.If you're feeling stuck despite your effort, this episode is exactly what you need.Episode Timeline: 00:00 – Episode Preview01:29 – Podcast Intro02:20 – The Zoom Background Story04:40 – What It Revealed About Our Habits05:42 – Doing Everything Right but Still Stuck07:18 – The Real Cost of Blind Spots08:47 – Asking for Help Isn't Weakness10:20 – Shortcutting Struggle Through Coaching12:15 – Clarity Is Priceless13:35 – What's Your “Orange Background”?14:35 – Don't Wait to Ask for Help15:09 – Outro and Free Ways to Get SupportLinks & Resources:Connect with Ben on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bodysystemscoaching/Learn more about Ben's coaching program: www.bodysystems.comSubscribe to the Smart Nutrition Made Simple Show on Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-smart-nutrition-made-simple-show-with-ben-brown/id1244912234 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/4H8vUlwYvKcAXZOv84sFgT Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@bodysystemscoaching Book Free Nutrition Strategy Call - https://bodysystems.com/free-strategy-call/

It's time to audit your pricing and make sure your photography packages are actually setting you up for profit in 2026. In this episode, I'm walking you through a hands-on pricing audit so you can stop guessing what to charge and start paying yourself what you deserve. Grab your notebook and calculator—we're doing the work together in real time!Here's what you'll learn:How to find your true hourly rate (and what it reveals about your pricing)My step-by-step formula for setting profitable session ratesHow to align your packages and client experience with your pricesIf you're ready to confidently raise your rates and step into your role as the CEO of your photography business, press play now.

This week JK and Adam discuss the week on Ramsay Street as well as pasta shapes, freeways and slight returnsIf you would like to support the podcast, you could always leave a nice 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or SpotifyOR you can subscribe to our Patreon for just £1 a month (plus VAT) and receive:Early access to the ad free video and audio versions of the podcast and exclusive bonus episodes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The sister of a Houston, Texas man found hanging and burned under a freeway overpass says her brother was murdered—and she’s begging for justice. A 2-year-old boy in Brick Township, New Jersey, is rushed to the hospital after being stabbed in the chest, and police say the attacker was his big sister. Drew Nelson reportsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In dieser sehr persönlichen Folge spricht Tobias offen über seinen Weg: Vom unmotivierten Informatikstudenten über eine Führungsrolle im internationalen Konzern bis hin zur überraschenden Kündigung – und warum genau dieser Moment der Wendepunkt für seine Selbstständigkeit war.Gemeinsam mit Verena spricht er über prägende Kindheitserfahrungen, den Wunsch nach Unabhängigkeit, Learnings aus seiner Angestelltenzeit, wie Freeway entstand und was unternehmerische Freiheit für ihn heute bedeutet.Themen dieser Folge:Wie der Wunsch nach Selbstständigkeit schon in der Kindheit entstandWarum Tobias sein Studium abbrach und was er daraus lernteErste Führungserfahrungen beim BlutspendedienstWie eine Kündigung zum größten Geschenk wurdeDer Aufbau von Freeway und was echte unternehmerische Freiheit bedeutet _______________________

The city of Pasadena is selling more than a dozen homes that were set to be demolished as part of a failed plan to extend the 710 Freeway. It's win or go home tonight in Game 6 of the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays. LAist's food and culture writer Gab Chabran tried Erewhon's new Smashing Pumpkins-themed "OG Goth" smoothie, aptly priced at $19.79...was it worth it? Support The L.A. Report by donating at LAist.com/join and by visiting https://laist.com This LAist podcast is supported by Amazon Autos. Buying a car used to be a whole day affair. Now, at Amazon Autos, you can shop for a new, used, or certified pre-owned car whenever, wherever. You can browse hundreds of vehicles from top local dealers, all in one place. Amazon.com/autos Visit www.preppi.com/LAist to receive a FREE Preppi Emergency Kit (with any purchase over $100) and be prepared for the next wildfire, earthquake or emergency! Support the show: https://laist.com

What REALLY happens when you nearly die: 48 people reveal exactly what they saw during their near-death experience – from black holes to God https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-15223139/near-death-experience-visions-revealed.html 00:00:00 – Halloween costumes; "Freeway to the Problem Area" v3 and a whole Kenny Loggins–parody EP brainstorm 00:07:18 – Alex Jones Clips of the Week: "pound town," animal list, social-media rants, rapid-fire soundboard chaos 00:11:12 – More AJ quotes; hosts pivot to the Charlie Kirk case and odd Google Trends chatter 00:16:04 – Google Trends deep-dive: pre-incident searches from D.C. and Huntsville; layers of clips on clips on clips 00:39:08 – Musical interlude: "Totally Not Footloose" work-in-progress (future Loggins-style track), then back to news 00:42:46 – Government shutdown fallout: SNAP stoppage Nov 1, ACA premium spikes, travel delays; who gets blamed 00:47:29 – "Walmart will lose billions" without SNAP; talk of possible food-riot optics both sides "want" 00:52:16 – Truck hauling research monkeys crashes; disease scare and déjà-vu of the 2022 Pennsylvania monkey truck story 00:57:06 – Poll: 60% of Americans report a paranormal experience; "being watched" sensation, Rockwell/MJ aside 01:01:32 – Belief stats: demons (43%), psychics (41%), ghosts (30%); haunted houses and disclosure laws chat 01:06:29 – Southern-accent bit, AI voice cloning, and tee-up for near-death experiences segment 01:11:13 – NDEs: Jesus on the stairs, angels with "Greek-statue hair," tunnels and light; culture shapes visions 01:16:07 – NDEs get sci-fi: black holes, "the Matrix" lattice, instant travel by thought 01:20:00 – Back to Loggins covers; listener's Montana "OBDM" Sasquatch plate; tee-up for Fat Squirrel Week 01:23:52 – Texas Fat Squirrel Week: Chonk-a-saurus Rex beats Chunk Norris; local-news riffing 01:28:53 – Music news: Wolfgang Van Halen on "nepo baby"; talent vs. parentage debate 01:33:34 – Furloughed IRS lawyer becomes hot-dog vendor; the $10 (or $17?) dog saga begins 01:38:27 – "Correct hot dog" menu rules (mustard + sauerkraut) and $1 penalty for "wrong toppings" 01:56:58 – Vintage Halloween candy rabbit hole: wax lips, Chick-O-Sticks, Sugar Babies and more nostalgia Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research ▀▄▀▄▀ CONTACT LINKS ▀▄▀▄▀ ► Website: http://obdmpod.com ► Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/obdmpod ► Full Videos at Odysee: https://odysee.com/@obdm:0 ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/obdmpod ► Instagram: obdmpod ► Email: ourbigdumbmouth at gmail ► RSS: http://ourbigdumbmouth.libsyn.com/rss ► iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/our-big-dumb-mouth/id261189509?mt=2

Let's talk about reviews—because they're one of the most powerful ways to build trust and attract new photography clients. But how do you actually get more of them without feeling pushy or awkward? In this episode, I'm breaking down the simple system I use (and teach inside The Fully Booked Method) to help you collect more glowing reviews with ease.Here's what you'll learn:The best time to ask for a review so clients actually follow throughHow to make the process easy and natural (no awkward begging!)What to do if you receive negative feedback—and how to handle it like a proIf you're ready to start turning happy clients into your biggest marketing asset, press play now.

https://youtu.be/1wafN9yAoZESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Conway hopes and prays tonight's Dodgers game doesn't go for 18 innings, like last night's epic battle against Toronto. We're keeping an eye on Hurricane Melissa as it barrels through Jamaica on its way to Cuba. It's predicted to be bigger than 2005's Hurricane Katrina. Yesterday's suspect in the killing of a San Bernardino police officer, followed by a police pursuit on the 210 Freeway, has been identified as Angelo Jose Saldivar. There's a weather warning for the Santa Ana winds, with hot weather causing fire danger, and wind gusts predicted up to 45 miles per hour. 

A procession for Deputy Andrew Nunez began staging as Angel provided traffic updates on the growing road closures. A tough inning for the Dodgers unfolded while the solemn procession for the fallen San Bernardino deputy officially got underway. Coverage continued with the procession honoring Deputy Nunez, followed by a remarkable story about the first person to ski down Mount Everest. Closing the hour more bad news for Hollywood — a beloved costume shop shut its doors, marking another blow to California's struggling film and TV industry. 

A serial killer is on the loose in the nation's capital, and police are baffled to learn that most of the victim's have the same middle name.  Who is the Freeway Phantom?If you have any information that can help, please call 202-727-9099 or email unsolved.murder@dc.gov.  You could receive up to $150,000 dollars in reward money.Thank you The Huntsville Times, the Culpeper Star-Exponent, the Bristol Herald Courier, The Sacramento Bee, The Washington Afro American, The Cinemaholic, the Biographics YouTube channel and Wikipedia for information contributing to today's story.Written by Frederick Crook - check out our other collaboration WRAITHWORKS - Wraithworks at Amazon https://www.amzn.com/dp/B07HXNCW4L (audiobook narrated by John Lordan) Also avaible on iTunes: https://apple.co/2OFXb8LDo you have any comments, or a case you'd like to suggest? You'll find a comment form and case submission link at LordanArts.com.This is not intended to act as a means of proving or disproving anything related to the investigation.  It is a conversation about the current known facts and theories being discussed.  Everyone directly or indirectly referred to is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.LordanArts 2025

Angel Studios https://Angel.com/ToddJoin the Angel Guild today and know you are not just watching, you're helping make bold, faith driven stories like Disciples in the Moonlight possible. That's Angel.com/Todd.Bizable https://GoBizable.comUntie your business exposure from your personal exposure with BiZABLE.  Schedule your FREE consultation at GoBizAble.com today. Renue Healthcare https://Renue.Healthcare/ToddYour journey to a better life starts at Renue Healthcare. Visit https://Renue.Healthcare/Todd Bulwark Capital https://KnowYourRiskPodcast.comBe confident in your portfolio with Bulwark! Schedule your free Know Your Risk Portfolio review. Go to KnowYourRiskPodcast.com today. Alan's Soaps https://www.AlansArtisanSoaps.comUse coupon code TODD to save an additional 10% off the bundle price.Bonefrog https://BonefrogCoffee.com/toddThe new GOLDEN AGE is here!  Use code TODD at checkout to receive 10% off your first purchase and 15% on subscriptions.LISTEN and SUBSCRIBE at:The Todd Herman Show - Podcast - Apple PodcastsThe Todd Herman Show | Podcast on SpotifyWATCH and SUBSCRIBE at: Todd Herman - The Todd Herman Show - YouTubeIf the Mockingbird Media wanted to be distrusted and loathed by more than half of society, how would they behave differently? Let's look at this idea through their narrative on immigration.Episode Links:I can't believe this is real but it is. CBS Sacramento did a segment last night on the growing threat to Sikh truck drivers. - "The roadway risk for Sikh truck drivers is growing." Even the ending is comedy. They can't read English street signs and that could be a problem. You think CBS? BTW, half of west coast truck drivers are Sikh? When did that happen?BREAKING: A senior official in the FL AG's office tells me initial results of their investigation into Harjinder Singh, the Indian illegal alien truck driver charged w/ killing 3 people in a crash in FL in August, reveal Singh failed his CDL test 10 times in a 2-month window between 3/10/2023 and 5/5/2023 in the state of Washington.BOMBSHELL: A federal audit of CDL's issued in California just EXPOSED a huge corruption scandal over TENS OF THOUSANDS of illegal aliens being given a CDL. There were MULITPLE instances of ILLEGAL ALIENS who also had a REAL ID, which is OUTRAGEOUS.JUST IN: Dash-cam footage shows a semi-truck plowing into multiple vehicles on the 10 Freeway in California. The 21-year-old driver was arrested for driving under the influence of drugs. At least three people were k*lled and two others were hospitalizedBREAKING: An Illegal Alien from Venezuela being harbored by @GovPritzker was just arrested for committing 4 home invasion rapes, has been arrested 5 times since June while on pretrial release under JB Pritzker's cashless bail system and then shielded from ICE deportation.Portland Mayor Keith Wilson in a bizarre speech saying he ran for mayor to make sure no one gets left behind, including street junkies and illegal immigrants.  “If you are an undocumented immigrant, we need you. If you are in Portland, you're a Portlander.”Well, here it is: Conspiracy theory no more: Not only did @DOGE confirm it — the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has re-confirmed: Illegal aliens were issued Social Security numbers by the Biden–Harris terrorist administration.      •      270,425 in 2021      •      590,193 in 2022      •      964,163 in 2023      •      2,095,247 in 2024 — on their way out the doorWith a whopping 1.4 million illegals on Medicaid. You have been Robbed. Deceived, Blackmailed. Extorted.

Today, we meet a florist who grows the marigolds used for "Dia de Los Muertos” And, an update on Bay Area roadways and Freeways. Plus, some poetry to help us through these tricky times. 

OCHELLI EFFECT 10-21-2025 SNAFU NEWS Chuck is going LIVE as the sun goes down on the East Coast of The U/s. Strange things are happening on a day when The Government is shutdown and The No Kings Thing is officially in the rear view mirror.THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISEDLIVE streams might inform you about it in real time if you can stay connected and know the difference between what is being revealed from the world or AI generated Propaganda on a mission that isn't actually yours. Chuck is following The LIVE stream from Federal Plaza in NYC. wgeb The podcast opens ...STAY TUNEDLIVE SKYFOX: ICE operations in New York Cityhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pdqzrxw2kJcTHE END OF THE AMERUCAN EMPIREhttps://youtube.com/shorts/_9U2DwigJ1M?si=wv7gMMpNXmInfovfLAWLESS & DIS ORDER on This Weeks All New MAGA Unreality Network ... DUN DUNIn The World of Criminals and Miscarriages The People and Justice are not representedThe Highest Bidding Criminals Get privilege The Rest of Us Get Abortions of Law Instead of Miscarrages These are NOT YOUR STORIESDUN DUNGeorge Santos expresses gratitude to Trump following commutation of his 7-year prison sentenceDisgraced former U.S. representative began serving his sentence in July for wire fraud and identity thefthttps://www.foxnews.com/politics/george-santos-expresses-gratitude-trump-following-commutation-7-year-prison-sentenceDisabled vet swindled by George Santos blasts Trump as disgraced GOP walks FREE from prisonhttps://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15203735/Disabled-vet-swindled-George-Santos-blasts-Trump-letting-serial-scammer-prison.htmlWhy was former Rep. George Santos in prison? What to know as Trump commutes sentence.https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/10/17/why-was-former-congressman-george-santos-in-prison/86754847007/Did Trump just try and say he was not in control of The FBI on January 6 2021? Biden placed people there before he took office?Trump falsely suggests FBI agents to blame for igniting Jan. 6 violenceThe president's baseless claim continued a yearslong effort to rewrite the history of the Capitol attack.https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/27/trump-january-6-fbi-00583383Trump appears to forget that Jan 6 happened on his watch as he blames Biden in late-night screed: ‘What a SCAM!'https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-biden-fbi-jan-6-post-b2843973.htmlFollowing up on the Phony Comey Hog and Pony ShowFormer Trump adviser John Bolton criminally indictedhttps://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgql2qzkz5zoNew York Attorney General Letitia James criminally indictedhttps://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g9n4xj904oFirst Comey, then James, now John Bolton. Here's who is next on Trump's legal hit list.https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/10/17/bolton-comey-james-who-next-trump-indictments/86733213007/Kash Patel has some wild acts to follow as the current FBI Chief. What is most hilarious is that Ochelli believes Comey when he says he believes in the integrity of a system that failed long before he got his establishment protection job. It makes sense when you see that Christopher Ray who Trump picked transitioned in public and no one noticed. Underqualified Trump supporter to enemy of the state?CON Preservatives? & Transparency of Plea Bargains , Bargains, and Please Pleas Shelf-Life As part of the Racket run laundering bribes in broad daylight through The Trump Presidential Library has a complex element where Rupert Murdoch's publishing company, HarperCollins has to comply so the family interest gets in on the TikTok grift despite The endless fellating of TRUMP that has been in progress for a decade on FOX NEWS and NEWS CORP. affiliates. Melania Trump and Jeffrey Epstein relationship claim removed from Prince Andrew bookhttps://inews.co.uk/news/world/melania-trump-jeffrey-epstein-relationship-claim-prince-andrew-book-3863220?srsltid=AfmBOop-He0UnleqzXSlWzYKLvxHW-UhRwRSob0rrhiwQOKZFw_dIyKaBOZO A ZOSOJeff Bezos:Founder, executive chairman, & former president, CEO of Amazon    AKA ALIEN flavored Danish with a Cuban NameMade Pizzo to THE ORANGE HAND in the sum of 40 Million to cover The Vig from past Due RespectAmazon licensed an upcoming Melania Trump documentary for $40 million, with a theatrical release planned for January 2026 before it hits Prime Video. "Melania", is directed by Brett Ratner and promises "unprecedented access" to her life during Orange Jesus second coming. post hocShort for “post hoc, ergo propter hoc,” a Latin phrase meaning “after this, therefore because of this.” The phrase expresses the logical fallacy of assuming that one thing caused another merely because the first thing preceded the other. In other words, it is the fallacy of inferring a causal relationship from a temporal one. For example, “the dog barked immediately before the power went out; therefore, the dog's bark caused the power to go out.”https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/post_hoc---WAR AND PEACE from THE PEACE PRESIDENT IN SEARCH OF A PRIZECan we actually keep score at home?Deadly Gaza flare-up tests Israel-Hamas ceasefirehttps://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czxk8k4xlv1oDRUG WAR? US conducts seventh strike on boat allegedly involved in drug trafficking in the Caribbeanhttps://www.cnn.com/2025/10/19/politics/us-conducts-new-strike-on-ship-allegedly-involved-in-drug-trafficking-in-the-carribeanTrump Erroneously Thinks Killing Suspected Smugglers Is the Key to Winning the Drug Warhttps://reason.com/2025/10/17/trump-erroneously-thinks-killing-suspected-smugglers-is-the-key-to-winning-the-drug-war/Maybe a new invasion Target somewhere south of our borders.Trump confirms the CIA is conducting covert operations inside Venezuelahttps://www.npr.org/2025/10/16/g-s1-93677/trump-confirms-cia-operations-venezuelaOCHELLI WONDERS OULOUD if Media Outlets are publishing and POTUS is openly discussing a C.I.A. operation as it is being conducted, How The F__K does the word "covert" fit in? 4D chess thing again?Trump urged Ukraine's Zelenskiy to make concessions to Russia in tense meeting, sources sayhttps://www.reuters.com/world/trump-urged-zelenskiy-cut-deal-with-putin-or-risk-facing-destruction-ft-reports-2025-10-19/Can we actually keep score at home?Ordnance fired over 5 Freeway at Camp Pendleton during anniversary event prematurely detonated, striking CHP vehiclehttps://www.ocregister.com/2025/10/19/ordnance-fired-over-5-freeway-at-camp-pendleton-prematurely-detonates-striking-chp-vehicle/---MAGA ZINE TIMES COVER ART OF THE SQUEAL - NECK-GYNA CGI AI WIG PARTY POSSE 2025Trump is Unhappy with a TIME Magazine cover he didn't have photo shopped and might just bomb Norway for not getting a PEACE PRIZERite Aid shutters all stores after years of financial strugglesThe 60-year-old pharmacy chain filed for bankruptcy twice in two years before shutting down entirely.https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/rite-aid-closes-stores-nationwide-rcna235596The GOVERNMENT IS STILL SHUTDOWNDonald Trump Posts Bizarre AI Video of Himself in a ‘King Trump' Fighter Jet Bombing NYC Protestors With Streams of Fecal Matterhttps://variety.com/2025/digital/news/trump-ai-video-no-kings-fighter-jet-brown-sludge-protestors-1236556347/AMAZING FEET - WORLD RECORD - BRAVE SOLE in NEW ZEALAND A NEWS item we completely missed in SEPTEMBERMum with tough soles breaks record for fastest 100-m barefoot run over LEGO bricksBy Vicki NewmanPublished 04 September 2025https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2025/9/mum-with-tough-soles-breaks-record-for-fastest-100-m-barefoot-run-over-lego-bricksYoutube is eating cable newshttps://www.chaoticera.news/p/youtube-is-eating-cable-newsFox News, MSNBC, & CNN All Saw Their Ratings Drop in The 3rd Quarter of 2025 By As Much as 42%https://cordcuttersnews.com/fox-news-msnbc-cnn-all-saw-their-ratings-drop-in-the-3rd-quarter-of-2025-by-as-much-as-42/ A Wake to Remember: MSNBC Bids Farewell to Its Dying Audiencehttps://freebeacon.com/media/a-wake-to-remember-msnbc-bids-farewell-to-its-dying-audience/Anybody Else thinking of Lyrics from A Classic OZZY No Rest For The Wicked Track?your mother sells whelks by the hullhttps://youtu.be/50jw48zVCWk?si=oRpuN9G3PTTy49FoDr. Oz Adds ‘Underbabied' to List of Issues Facing American Familieshttps://www.jezebel.com/dr-oz-adds-underbabied-to-list-of-issues-facing-american-familiesDUH TAKE 2Teen Models, Rich Creeps, and the Epstein Pipelinehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hGyDZmmEyk---ICE ICE BABY  (Too Cold) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4kiJ2dp0w4Blind man handcuffed, dragged by federal agents at ICE facility, he sayshttps://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/protests/dhs-blind-protester-ice-facility/283-fb7e85ec-3009-4096-805b-bb14df6fc1feBill O'Reilly promised to protect Bad Bunny if gets pinched by ICE but what is THE BIG DEAL?The Bad Bunny Super Bowl 2026 Controversy, Explainedhttps://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/bad-bunny-super-bowl-2026-controversy.html&https://fandomwire.com/bad-bunny-in-super-bowl-halftime-2026-controversy-reaches-all-time-low-afteBE THE EFFECTListen/Chat on the Sitehttps://ochelli.com/listen-live/TuneInhttp://tun.in/sfxkxAPPLEhttps://music.apple.com/us/station/ochelli-com/ra.1461174708Ochelli Link Treehttps://linktr.ee/chuckochelliAnything is a blessing if you have the meansWithout YOUR support we go silent.---NOVEMBER IN DALLAS LANCER CONFERENCEDISCOUNT FOR YOU10 % OFF code = Ochelli10https://assassinationconference.com/Coming SOON Room Discount Details The Fairmont Dallas hotel 1717 N Akard Street, Dallas, Texas 75201. easy access to Dealey Plaza

00:00:00 – Intro, missed “1337” leetspeak milestone; coffee sponsor; caller-art bit 00:04:54 – Trump fighter-jet poop meme sparks Kenny Loggins/Danger Zone backlash 00:09:53 – Variety piece read; “Freeway to the Problem Area” legal/AI riff 00:14:44 – Top Gun, Pentagon-Hollywood office, celeb “No Kings” reactions 00:19:30 – More on protests; tee-up to AI parody song bit 00:23:14 – Performing the AI parody: “Freeway to the Problem Area” lyric gag 00:27:40 – HBO developing David Chase MKULTRA series; Gottlieb & Manchurian-candidate talk 00:32:21 – “We're all living through MKULTRA” via social media; pivot to 3I/Atlas 00:36:44 – Avi Loeb TV clip: delayed NASA images; mothership/probes speculation 00:41:38 – NY Post write-up: NASA group watching 3I/Atlas; anti-tail, weird alloy, IAWN campaign 00:46:21 – Remote-viewing recap: thousands of probes, “sleepers,” super-intelligence controller 00:50:24 – Sleeper pods & humanoids; Star Trek “Nth Degree” tangent connects to AI ship 01:00:02 – 3I/Atlas tail reversal explained; CO₂ jet model; not a “simple comet” 01:04:21 – NASA/China rant: “look up, not down”; missed PR moment on comet 01:08:43 – Music bit redux; Battlefield-6 squad-up chatter; setting up calls 01:13:36 – Edgy “Jeopardy!” parody audio; open the phone lines 01:18:29 – Call-ins: new baby Oliver (G.I. Joe name), “Queen from beyond the grave,” Electric-Universe angle on 3I 01:22:24 – Drawbridge donations & Cave-of-Honor thanks; Discord shout-outs 01:27:10 – List: “most controversial Halloween costumes 2025” (Epstein list, ICE agent, etc.) 01:32:05 – Travel rant: WestJet to remove recline/charge for space; viewer reactions clip 01:43:48 – Ohio bill would ban AI personhood/marriages; liability stays with humans 01:48:18 – Halloween drinks & party trends; jello-syringe nostalgia; “candy economy” talk begins 01:53:08 – Candy searches: jello-syringe spikes; New Hampshire loves trick-or-treating 01:57:23 – Wrap-up: host's moon costume plan; thanks; “keep watching the skies” sign-off Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research ▀▄▀▄▀ CONTACT LINKS ▀▄▀▄▀ ► Website: http://obdmpod.com ► Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/obdmpod ► Full Videos at Odysee: https://odysee.com/@obdm:0 ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/obdmpod ► Instagram: obdmpod ► Email: ourbigdumbmouth at gmail ► RSS: http://ourbigdumbmouth.libsyn.com/rss ► iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/our-big-dumb-mouth/id261189509?mt=2  

It's that time of year again—Black Friday is coming, and it's one of the best opportunities to bring in cash flow and fill your calendar before the slower season hits. In this episode, I'm walking you step-by-step through how to plan your Black Friday strategy so you're ready to launch with confidence instead of scrambling at the last minute.Here's what you'll learn:5 creative Black Friday offer ideas that don't involve discounting your sessionsHow to plan, prep, and promote your sale without burnoutSimple ways to infuse cash into your business before winterGrab your notebook, press play, and let's map out your most profitable Black Friday yet!

⚾ The Duke of Sports Talks Lakers & Dodgers – Eric Sklar breaks down the Lakers' opening day excitement and the Dodgers' big trip to Toronto for Game 1 of the World Series. 

Description:

The John Kobylt Show Hour 1 (10/23) - Tim Conway Jr. fills in for John. Reporter Jayson Campadonia detailed that 21-year-old Jashanpreet Singh of Yuba City, California, has been identified and charged in connection with the fiery 10 Freeway crash that killed three people and injured four others. Authorities allege Singh, an Indian national who entered the U.S. via the Mexico border in 2022, was driving under the influence of drugs and failed to brake before the collision. Later, Eric Sklar (“The Duke of Sports”) joined to discuss the NBA gambling scandal, highlighting a developing story that reportedly involves both a current coach and player. Betting lines for the Chargers vs. Vikings game were also mentioned (Chargers –3.5). The scandal reportedly ties to former NBA player Damon Jones, who is alleged to have traded insider information—including details about LeBron James missing a 2023 Lakers game—as part of a broader gambling probe shaking the league. 

Three innocent Americans were killed in a DUI crash on the 10 Freeway in Ontario, California — and the suspect, Jashanpreet Singh, is an illegal alien who was caught and released at the California border in March 2022 by the Biden administration.Federal sources confirm Singh, an Indian national, was allowed to remain in the U.S. under the current administration's “catch and release” policies. This tragedy was 100% preventable.In this podcast, we break down:The timeline of Singh's entry and release into the U.S.What happened in the deadly DUI crashHow the Biden administration's border failures enabled thisWhy Americans are paying the price for political gamesWhy this story should be front-page news

The City of LA budget is tickling $1 billion! The LAFD says it needs $200 million for more firefighters, ambulances, general personnel and land management. Malibu will move homeless people along by declaring a local emergency during fire season and potentially arresting them. Last Sunday's Camp Pendelton military event caused shrapnel to hit a car on the I-5 Freeway due to live artillery training, coinciding with the No Kings Day protest, and Gov. Gavin Newsom shut down the freeway in response. The Louvre Museum in Paris was broken into and several artefacts were stolen, including the French crown jewels, worth over $100 million.

On The Andy Riesmeyer Show, car chases and Chipotle collide. Andy breaks down the latest freeway madness in L.A., takes listener calls on life-or-death food decisions (Denny's vs. Shogun in La Verne, anyone?), and investigates the perks of celebrity fast food cards

What if you had to choose one place to eat for the rest of your life—Golden Corral, Disneyland, or Buc-ee's? On The Andy Reismeyer Show, journalist and storyteller Andy Reismeyer dives into the ridiculous, the nostalgic, and the strangely true. From free food hypotheticals to band tour road tales and wild freeway chases, each episode serves up a slice of America you didn't know you were hungry for. 

What happens when a state with the world's fourth-largest economy revolutionizes how it buys everything from office supplies to life-saving fire retardant? Angela Shell, California's Chief Procurement Officer, takes us behind the scenes of procurement modernization in the Golden State.Through data transparency initiatives, California has transformed how government agencies make purchasing decisions. Their enterprise procurement system captures every state purchase—revealing everything from multi-million dollar contracts to that time someone accidentally ordered "a million packages of ketchup." This wealth of information drives smarter buying decisions and allows unprecedented public visibility into government spending through dashboards anyone can access.Whether you're a government buyer, supplier, or simply curious about how your tax dollars are spent, this conversation offers fascinating insights into procurement's evolution and its critical role in public service. Subscribe to NASPO's Pulse for more conversations at the forefront of government innovation.Follow & subscribe to stay up-to-date on NASPO!naspo.org | Pulse Blog | LinkedIn | Youtube | Facebook

Chris is getting into the No Kings Protest, fire on the free way and someone who scared off 3 burglars in Studio City. How would you defend your home? It's all on KFIAM-640!

Marines celebrate 250 years with a live ammo demo that won't close the 5 Freeway near Camp Pendleton. Dean Sharp, “The House Whisperer,” breaks down the best grasses for SoCal lawns and explains how to safely rebuild chimneys after earthquakes. And we revisit one of baseball's greatest moments — Kirk Gibson's legendary 1988 World Series walk-off, immortalized by Vin Scully's call.

First, we clear up any confusion around freeway closures near Camp Pendleton this weekend. Then, we bring the latest news from the military this week, including members of the Pentagon Press Corps turning in their credentials. Then, a bill has been signed paving the way for carbon capture pipelines. Next, details around the North Park Book Fair and why it almost didn't happen. Finally, we bring you details on more weekend events happening across the county.

If you're in the middle of busy season feeling like you're drowning in sessions, editing, and everyday life—this episode is for you. I'm sharing real strategies to help you handle the chaos, reduce overwhelm, and protect your energy so you can make it through this season without burning out.Here's what you'll learn:How to set boundaries and know your true capacitySimple ways to delegate and outsource (at home and in business)The power of batching and shifting your routines during busy seasonIf you're ready to stop surviving and start feeling more peaceful—even in your busiest months—press play now.

Mark Sanchez was last week's biggest pickle, and now we've got the full brine. New footage dropped, the lawsuit's out, and Peter from Lawyer You Know breaks down the civil case filed by Perry Tole—who, by the way, is 69 years old and got into a hotel loading dock brawl with a 6'2", 235lb Sanchez. Pepper spray, blocked cellphones, and a hospital visit later… yeah, it's messy.We also pay tribute to Boston Red Sox legend Mike Greenwell, who passed away at 62. The Gator raced trucks after baseball, and somehow Fast Car queued up while we wrote this. Brutal.Cam Jordan's house got hit in a 1,000-mile burglary road trip. Two suspects caught, two still out there, and the FBI's involved. That's five NFL players hit this year. What's going on?Delon Wright made his Pacers debut, got knocked out cold mid-game, and was cut hours later. That forehead gash was gnarly, and the Pacers didn't even wait for the blood to dry.And finally, this week's Biggest Pickle: Paul Pierce. Allegedly drunk, asleep in his Range Rover, in the middle of the 101 Freeway. He posted about it like it was a nap in traffic. We break down the Instagram post, the DUI investigation, and the existential question: Where was he coming from?

We'll bring you the latest on the storm that's flooding parts of SoCal. Pasadena city officials are looking to reconnect an unfinished freeway stub with the rest of the city. And the music world has lost a legend -- R&B singer D'Angelo. Support The L.A. Report by donating at LAist.com/join and by visiting https://laist.com This LAist podcast is supported by Amazon Autos. Buying a car used to be a whole day affair. Now, at Amazon Autos, you can shop for a new, used, or certified pre-owned car whenever, wherever. You can browse hundreds of vehicles from top local dealers, all in one place. Amazon.com/autos Visit www.preppi.com/LAist to receive a FREE Preppi Emergency Kit (with any purchase over $100) and be prepared for the next wildfire, earthquake or emergency! Support the show: https://laist.com

Get the AD-FREE version of my sessions - PLUS playlists, repeat options, offline access, and THOUSANDS more sessions for day, sleep, and deep 4-hour sleep at https://www.freehypnosis.app  This powerful daytime hypnosis session guides you through deep subconscious transformation and visual rehearsal, helping you overcome fear of freeways.

If you've been overlooking word-of-mouth marketing in your photography business, this episode is your wake-up call. I'm diving into why referrals and client experiences are more powerful than any ad or Instagram post—and how to intentionally build a business that keeps your name on everyone's lips.Here's what you'll learn:The #1 marketing strategy photographers often ignore (and how to fix it)Simple ways to turn every client into your biggest hype personHow to weave client experience into your social media and marketing contentIf you want more consistent leads without constantly creating new content or running ads, press play and learn how to make word-of-mouth your most powerful marketing tool.

Get the AD-FREE version of my sessions - PLUS playlists, repeat options, offline access, and THOUSANDS more sessions for day, sleep, and deep 4-hour sleep at https://www.freehypnosis.app  This powerful hypnotic meditation for overcoming the fear of driving on freeways and highways. This session guides you through deep subconscious transformation using visual rehearsal, calming hypnotic language, and identity-based affirmations.

Making all-cash offers is an incredible tool for investors, but it can be hard to do if you don't have the cash to back it up.Luckily, there are ways to make all-cash offers even if you don't have the cash on hand. One way is to get a Proof of Funds letter. It is a document that shows the seller that you have the funds available to purchase the property.Brent Daniels has three simple and effective ways to get your hands on a Proof of Funds letter that will help you make more offers.For more winning strategies, check out the TTP Training Program.---------Show notes:(0:54) Beginning of today's episode(1:52) Hard money starts with a group of wealthy people.(3:29) Hard money Lenders are in business because they want to lend money.(4:12) Reach out to hard money lenders and ask for "proof of funds."(5:45) Having a local hard money proof of funds is more powerful than having more of a national brand.(9:18) It is so powerful to be able to offer motivated property owners a "cash as-is" offer.----------Resources:Double Closing Best Transactional Funding To speak with Brent or one of our other expert coaches call (281) 835-4201 or schedule your free discovery call here to learn about our mentorship programs and become part of the TribeGo to Wholesalingincgroup.com to become part of one of the fastest growing Facebook communities in the Wholesaling space. Get all of your burning Wholesaling questions answered, gain access to JV partnerships, and connect with other "success minded" Rhinos in the community.It's 100% free to join. The opportunities in this community are endless, what are you waiting for?

Tara Grinstead disappeared from her house in October 2005. The investigation led authorities to various suspects over the years, but sadly, Tara's case went ice cold. Then in 2016, a budding filmmaker (Payne Lindsey) decided to investigate the case in season 1 of his true crime podcast, Up and Vanished. The podcast was a hit and by early 2017, GBI released a statement, they had made an arrest in Tara Grinstead's case. 10 days later, another arrest. The alleged perpetrators? Ryan Duke and Bo Dukes - no relationship to each other, despite the similar last names. After the two men confessed to their part in Tara's disappearance, the case seemed pretty cut and dry, until one of the men took the stand in his own defense and flipped the script. Dig in with Margot as she tells you this most bizarre case that although solved, will leave you asking, Who Killed Tara Grinstead? ⸻