Podcasts about merril

Ed Troup and Brian Batko are joined by former Steelers running back, team captain, broadcaster, and analyst Merril Hoge. Merril shares his thoughts on the current state of the Steelers, the new coaching staff, and expectations for the upcoming season. The guys wrap up the week with a look at the latest news and headlines from around the NFL.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's all Harry Styles’ fault that the 'taxi cab theory' is everywhere you look. His engagement has everyone debating whether finding 'the one' is a matter of fate, or as Sex And The City’s Miranda Hobbes told us, all about timing? We do not agree. The Devil Wears Prada 2 is officially massive. So, is it good? Why did it almost make Amelia Lester cry and why do some Americans just not 'get' our Aussie love interest Patrick Brammall? REMEMBER: We drop segments just for subscribers on Tuesdays and Thursdays, hosted by Mia Freedman, with Emily Vernem and Holly Wainwright. Become a subscriber, HERE. Why is there a Sperm Olympics? How is Australia performing in it? And… again, why the hell is there one? Clare Stephens explains spermmaxxing. Are you super-stylish, or are you just thin? Lena Dunham is heading back to the Met Gala this week, and a new essay from her about the reaction to her past appearances reveal who’s considered cool enough to go. VOTE FOR US PLS & THX: We’ve been nominated for Best Society & Culture Podcast and Best Producer (go Ruth!) at the The Australian Audio Awards. Vote for us RIGHT HERESUBSCRIBE here: Support independent women's media What To Listen To Next: Listen to our latest episode: She Opened The Fridge. What She Found Ended Her Friendship. Listen: The Real Reason You Resent Your Friends Listen: The One Minute Of Live TV That Undid A Noughties Icon Listen: Scurrilous Gossip: An Engagement, An Affair & A Royal F-You Listen: The Family Ritual That Has Us Divided Listen: The Most Honest Dating Questionnaire We've Ever Seen Listen: Is WFH Bad For Women? Connect your subscription to Apple Podcasts Discover more Mamamia Podcasts here including the very latest episode of Parenting Out Loud, the parenting podcast for people who don't listen to... parenting podcasts. SUBSCRIBE here: Support independent women's media You can now watch our show in full length video on the Apple Podcast app - make sure your phone is up to date and we can't wait for you to see Mamamia Out Loud on Apple What to read: 'My commitment-phobic ex is married with kids. This viral theory explains everything.' The 10 defining moments that made Sex and the City perfect television. 'The 5 types of Met Gala guests I look forward to seeing every year.' A brutally honest review of The Devil Wears Prada 2, a movie that breaks everything. 'I spent a day with Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway. One moment changed my view on The Devil Wears Prada 2.' THE END BITS: Check out our merch at MamamiaOutLoud.com GET IN TOUCH: Feedback? We’re listening. Send us an email at outloud@mamamia.com.au Share your story, feedback, or dilemma! Send us a voice message. Join our Facebook group Mamamia Outlouders to talk about the show. Follow us on Instagram @mamamiaoutloud and on Tiktok @mamamiaoutloud Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land on which we have recorded this podcast.- - - - - AUTO GENERATED TRANSCRIPT:Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Mama Mia. Out loud, It's what women are actually talking about on Monday, May the fourth. I'm Hollywayen right, I'm Clays Stephen, I'm Amelia Lester, and here's what's on our agenda for today. The taxiicab relationship theory gets an update thanks to my close personal friend Harry Styles. Speaker 2: Plus dispatches from the Worst Dressed list ahead of the met Gala tomorrow, and a lister shares what it was like to be mocked over her fashion choices for a decade. Speaker 3: And the Devil West product is absolutely everywhere right now, so we unpack why, and we also talk about the fact that Meryl Streep, who must be the most celebrated actress of all time, apparently didn't discover her worth until she was fifty six. Speaker 1: In case she missed it, though out loud as speaking of knowing your worth, we are pulling on our big girl pants and asking you for a favor. Speaker 3: You have to know, if you're listening to this, that Holly is so uncomfortable right now to just go with us. Speaker 1: To still like asking for this. I don't like asking, okay, But there's this thing called the Australian Audio Awards. It's like like the Oscars or the Emmys of the logos, except it's not but for people who speak into microphones like us, right, and we're up for some awards this year and we need your help to win them. So if you love love, love out loud, and we know that lots of out louders do, and you listen all the time, and you think you know what those those women need. They need some public accolades, Yeah, some affirmation. Speaker 2: Think you think you know what I'd like to see. I'd like to see them dress up in some frocks, you get on a stage and make a speech. Speaker 1: Yeah, but particularly you class evens, I would like to see you do that. The very pregnantness you will be when this event occurs, very high heel, great, and you're in your flop here you keep telling us, so maybe you'll be really indiscreet and just get up there and say something rude. Yeah, anyway, we digress. Tell the out louders how they can help. Speaker 2: Okay, So basically these Audio Awards, you go there's a link that will put in the show notes and you can vote for There's two things and sorry, you can vote anyway that you got. Speaker 1: We're not voting, you know, we've got suggestions. Speaker 2: In our interests. We like you to vote for best Podcast Producer Ruth to Vine, Mummy are Out Loud, and Best Society and Culture Podcast Mummy. Speaker 4: Because we are society high society, and we are very we're so cultured. Speaker 2: And we do. The thing is we pretend to be cool, but we really like awards. Speaker 4: And I think that's what people think of when they think of you and me. They're just like, we're. Speaker 1: Too cool for school. Speaker 2: And meanwhile we're like, we rely on achievement for something. But it would be funny. I think. So the podcast Awards the end of this month, right the twenty eight. I believe I would like to win this award. While Jesse's on Matt lead, I think. Speaker 1: You want to just wade right into that weird Steven's Sister dynamic. Just get into the weird Twin stuff. Come in and help. I think there's a people's choice too, So anyway, like just vote for us, vote for wherever you get to vote for us, and we would love it. We can't bribe you with anything except our affection. Yeah, yeah, anyway, shall we get on with the friends over to you, Amelia Lester, I'm up. Speaker 3: Well, it's been hard to escape the Devil Wears prior to of, like, really has it has been everywhere? Speaker 4: I kind of felt like bullied into going to see it. Speaker 1: I feel like Merril's chasing us down with that red pitchfork. She's like, literally, go theater on and look. Speaker 4: It's done really well. Speaker 3: It's done better than anyone expected at the box office over the weekend. I'm going to tell you what the critics said. They basically liked it, and then I want to know what you thought, Holly Claire. I know you haven't seen it yet. Yeah, the critics praised it. They said it was glamorous, they said it was wishy, They said it was the fun we need right now. They called it a millennial nostalgia bath. I love a millennial nostalgia brath. Look, some did question the whole premise of updating a movie that came out twenty years ago. Someone wrote it's less a follow up than a tribute at the satire apparently didn't bite so hard. Speaker 4: Holy. What I want to know. Speaker 3: Is did this movie live up to the marketing height machine for you? Speaker 1: I don't want to be a debbie down of it. No, I went to see it with my sixteen year old daughter, and that was really interesting because the absolute enormous generation gap there in terms of so this is a magazine. Once upon a time, magazine editors were considered very important and influential. She's like, this was a job everybody wanted. That was a lot of groundwork being laid there with my daughter. And look, I'm not allergic to a nostalgia bath. I like that. I mean I back in the day, I was first in line for the Sex and the City movie like I was. Speaker 4: And the vibes were similar. Speaker 1: And even though as we know, that run of movies ended up disappointing us bitterly, in that first movie, I remember the excitement of seeing those women on screen again and being in the movie theater and seeing them walk down the street and like the audience was kind of like, yeah, there's a girl, and we're back in that world. And I think the Devil Wears Prada nostalgia is similar in that these were great characters who've entered, you know, our culture in lots of different ways. Miranda Priestley and Andy Sex and Emily Blunt's character Emily is just heaven. So I understand that wanting to jump back into that, but they've had to give it quite a cynical update to reflect where media culture is now, and so it ends up to me feeling like quite a negative, like it's not and to be honest, the Sex and the City movie was a bit like this too. I remember they were grappling at the time of the financial crisis and so they were like, this cushion costs two hundred and fifty dollars, and lots of the critics were like, who are these women and why are they spending that money? And this feels a bit like that, and that we're supposed to all be lolling and laughing along while they're telling us our media has been hollowed out, billionaires run everything. Speaker 4: I don't know. Speaker 1: Am I being a bit too cynical? No? Speaker 4: I think you're right. Speaker 3: When I went to see it, I went to see it with two friends and they both turned to me at the end and said, are you all right? Because I kind of feel on the verge of tears and didn't Nicki Gammel, Yes. Speaker 1: I saw a review from Nicki Gammel in The Australian where she said, she cried, And she didn't cry because the plot line was really touching it. She cried because of what it was saying. Yea journalism, which is obviously not everybody's industry and they don't care. But if it is yours, you have this kind of affection for it, and this does not dress that up. Speaker 5: No. Speaker 3: And what's interesting is Lauren Weisberger, who wrote who wrote the book, The Devil was Prida a piece for Vogue dot Com on the occasion of this movie coming out about what her life has been like after that book came out. Now, that book was not seen particularly favorably when it came out. People criticize the bad writing. It was kind of seen as a little bit mean, a little bit throwaway, and then that first movie kind of gave the book a bit more of a sheene than it had on first publication. Now, Lauren Weisberger has done great for herself. She apparently announces in this article that she now lives on a boat in a remote part of the Bahamas, which is good for me. Absolutely sounds difficult to get your mail there, but other than that sounds delightful. But her article reminded me that her book was first and foremost about a bad boss. Yes, that's what people loved about it because everyone, practically everyone has been in a work situation where they felt oppressed underappreciated, and everyone could relate to that kind of idea that when you're young, you want to make your mark on the world, but older people kind of are trying to push you down, or that's what it feels like. So everyone knows what it feels like to be young and underappreciated, but the new movie is so far removed from that idea of bad bosses and bad workplaces as it feels alien to. Speaker 1: It's also funny because the bad Boss, Miranda Priestley, obviously became a cultural hero, so much so that Anna Wintour, who she's famously based on, kind of kept her distance very much from the first movie, but now is entirely in on it. She's appearing in all the promo. There's a lot of partnerships between Vogue and this movie, so she's accepted that. But there are a couple of nods in the movie to how times have changed in that now Miranda Priestley isn't allowed to just throw her coat at people anymore, and she has someone who sits next to on the meetings and says things like you can't say that all the time, as if there has been like a woke update, if you like. And that feels a bit funny, But you're right, it was everybody related to this idea that these people are monsters like glamour. Speaker 6: Like. Speaker 1: The idea was that, you know, the Miranda Priestley was kind of a glamorous monster who you got to see a little bit of the humanity of. But by this movie, we're all supposed to be rooting for her, unquestionably. Speaker 2: Because I think even if that was the kind of premise of the book, in the first movie, you're very much you're looking at Miranda Priestley, but you're also it's obvious that she's an icon and that it's Andy's character arc to kind of fight against that, not that there's something inherently wrong with Miranda. So so I'm interested to see in the second in the second one, whether, yeah, what the stakes are then if there's none of that tension. But as much as you say it was depressing, am I like because I'm going to go see it. I like a film that isn't good. Speaker 1: I don't know what you mean, but for me it felt and look, I'm not no spoilers here. And you do get lots of fashion montages, you get lots of a fashion show montages. You get you know, they're walking in a different coat every two minutes, there's music, there's celebrities everywhere like this. It delivers all that, okay, but it just for me, it felt kind of a bit empty. And basically the steaks are which billionaire is going to get to own this business? Which was kind of the stakes the first time around two is like will Miranda get to keep a job? And it kind of feels like I don't know if I care about that. But Patrick Brammel, isn't it Remember last Wednesday we were all giddy on the show because he was here and we bumped into him in the offices. He wasn't here to see us, sadly, he was here to be interviewed by the amazing Kate Langbrook for No Filter, and that episode's out today. Speaker 2: I have purely been absorbed being vibes so far online and I think you guys are pretty spot on with the vibe of people. People I've seen they're like, yeah, yep, fun But Patrick Brammel. I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed with him and Harriet Dyer, who's his wife. They co wrote, co starred in Colin from Accounts, and now he's. Speaker 4: Maybe one of the funniest TV shows ever. Speaker 2: Yeah, and now he's in a bloody Hollywood movie with Anne Hathaway. Is he hot? Is he car like? What's the what's the go? Is there? Is there? Speaker 4: Bare? So I want to. Speaker 3: Say the outset that I love Patrick Bramore and I think he's so good in this movie. And to me he was a highlight. He was he was just so he gets to play an Australian. So you might remember in the first movie, Andy Sack's love interest is also played by an Australian, Simon Baker, my personal friend has discussed on the show, but he has to put on an American accent, whereas in this one, in recognition of the fact that there are a lot of Australians in New York these days, he gets to play an Australian. So I loved it, But then I started to hear the rumors that his part has really been cut down. People observed that it felt a little underdeveloped, and I. Speaker 4: Was surprised to read that. Speaker 3: A lot of the reviews felt there was zero chemistry between him and Anne Hathaway. Oh. Speaker 1: I didn't feel that necessarily, But what I did fit I knew that his part had been cut. And the reason I knew this is because when we first found out about Patrick Brammle, there lots of pap of him and Anne Hathwayne. She's wearing this particularly incredible sort of bluey purple sequin slithery dress that's just like oh, and she was like spinning around a lamp post and it looked like she was tipsy, and he was holding her back and this kind of stuff. That whole sequence is not in the film, so it obviously has been cut back a lot. Speaker 3: Boy, I love your forensic knowledge of this so bad. Speaker 1: I did spy on that. But I think one of the reasons why he plays such a small part because basically he's the love interesting Again, no spoilers about whether or not that works out, But this movie is about girl bosses. Even though girl bosses are out of fashion now, this movie is ultimately about that. It's about Andy's ambition, It's about Miranda's ambition. They sort of talk a lot about how much they love work, and they're the partners are all a bit beta and a bit like not relevant. Speaker 3: Including by the way, Meryl Streeps, who was played by Kenneth Branner. Yes, and the reviews also commented that that didn't work for them either. So maybe just the writing around these boyfriends and husbands felt hollow because that's not where the interests lay. Speaker 1: But isn't it funny because we used to critique girlfriend roles, you know in movies. We'd be like, oh, the so and so actress, she just has to play the girlfriend. Not no character development, right, no particular complex characteristics or backstory. They're just the girlfriend. And I feel like this and so maybe this is progress. This is one of those movies where there are just the boyfriend roles. Speaker 4: So it's just like true sort of. Speaker 1: Middle aged guy. Well, I don't know whether Patrick Brewmle will qualify as middle age whatever, like nice enough age appropriate guy of name recognition is in this person's life, but we don't really care about them. Speaker 2: There is one person who is pretty convinced that there was chemistry between Anne Hathaway and Patrick Brammel, and it is Patrick Brammle's wife, Harriet Dyer. She I lulled so hard at this. She has uploaded this Instagram video where the caption is trust No One, and she is filming her TV as her daughter stands in front of it, and Patrick's on a red carpet and he is asked by the interviewer about Anne Hathaway, and he says, playing someone who falls in love with Anne Hathaway. Tough gig, tough gig, and he looks straight at the camera, and then the interviewer says, the world's most beautiful person according to People Magazine and everybody in here, and he says, and me too. Andy rewinds it and plays that again and then switches a camera to her and she's like what, And she's got her glasses on and just sitting at home, and then she interspersed it with all this footage of like when you propose to her their wedding. Speaker 4: Apparently they got engaged five days after he proposed. Speaker 2: Yeah, yea, yeah, they got married five days up. Speaker 3: Yeah. Speaker 2: It was like, so they've had this beautiful love story in him reading Newborn books and being miscored and hath the way talking about how gorgeous and joyful he is, and it's just so good But a great part that Amelia directed me to is that so ninety nine percent of the comments from Australians absolutely get it. That they're like, yeah, this is funny because like whose husband ends. Speaker 4: Up in Hollywood? Speaker 2: Blod faster. But there are a few Americans who are like, oh no, this is this isn't right. Speaker 5: Yeah. Speaker 3: No, there's a distinct portion of the comments that are like I don't understand what's happening here, or like check on your husband, or like just completely missing the point. And I have reason to believe, in part from the spelling of said comments that they may be from Americans. There's a suspicious lack of us in words like coloring. And that got me thinking as to why Patrick Bramle, who I thought worked so well in the movie, had evidently been cut down. And I wonder if it's just because he is allowed to play such a quintessentially Australian part in it. He is very laconic, he's very understated, he's got that very kind of irony seeped Australian wit about him, and maybe it just didn't play very well in a movie that's actually not very irony drench. Speaker 1: That's true. I just have to mention one more thing, because I think Mia would throw something at my head if I didn't. Twenty years have passed between these movies. Twenty years has not passed on these ladies' faces. Yeah, it's just be very clear about that. Speaker 2: I could have told you that without saying any Yeah. Speaker 1: That doesn't matter because in lots of ways, I think particularly Emily Brunt Blunt's character she plays, she's obviously still Emily, you know, the former assistant, but she's got a villain arc in this and she is meant to be again, this isn't a spoiler, the hot new girlfriend of a billionaire character. So they're like commenting. The script is commenting on the fact that the tech bros run the world now, and there's kind of a Bezosi character who's had a glow up in her hot new girlfriend, and she would have done all that stuff to her face. Question so perfectly character, you know, in character, and appropriate for the industry, for the vibe and all those things. But it is astounding to think it was twenty years ago. Because Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, who is just one of them. Speaker 2: She seventy, She is incincredible. Speaker 1: To look at her Jita performance and this is great. You're just like, Wow, my twenty years and your twenty is not the same. Maybe I live in doggy well, Meryl. Speaker 3: I did want to also say that Meryl had a great moment in her interviews for this She was being interviewed on the American Today Show by Jenna Bush Hager, who was incidentally George W. Bush's daughter, and Jenna was talking to her about the fact that she initially turned down the. Speaker 4: Role on the Devil Wes product Let's Have a Listen called me up and they made an offer and I said, no, I'm not going to do it. Why because I. Speaker 1: Wanted to see. I knew it was going to be a hit, and I wanted to see if I doubled my ask. Wow, And they went. Speaker 4: Right away and said sure, And I thought, I'm fifty six year It took me this long to understand that. Speaker 1: I could do that, that you can ask for what you want. Yes, and I wanted it. But you know, if they didn't want to do that, I was okay, because I'm old. I'm ready to fifty six. Speaker 4: I was ready to retire. Speaker 1: But you know, I love that story. I also love that story because, as she says at the end, there she was fifty six, and she thought, well, I'm winding down, you know, like good years. Her career has been unbelievably amazing in the last twenty years. Speaker 3: I know. Speaker 2: And it's also quite inspiring to think you can have that lightning rod moment at fifty six, because I beat myself up thinking, oh goodness, maybe it's too late for me. I should have had it backbone before. Now I've got some time. Speaker 4: We've got time time to develop it. Speaker 1: Merril's shown us all that after the break. What Harry Styles can teach us about love? I don't think so what Harry Styles can teach us about taxicabs, which I also have to explain to my daughter what they are as well. God help me. But while we're on a roll of things from another time, A TV show that ended in two thousand and four has provided some of the most enduring relationship theories of several eras. I think there was He's just not that into you, which can also be She's not just not that into you. It's fine, And the other is everywhere in the news this week because of my close personal friend Harry Styles. I think we touched on it last week that Harry and Harry is engaged to Zoe Kravitz. Now, he hasn't said that because he never says anything about his personal life, but sources close to have confirmed. Speaker 4: Oh good, old sources. Speaker 1: The woman is wearing a golf ball sized diamond on her finger. It's on. It's definitely on. And this has started a lot of headlines like this one. Harry Styles and Zoe Kravitz are reportedly engaged after less than a year, and fans think this wild theory explains why, and they mean the theory I'm about to explain to you. Harry Styles proposing after eight months is further proof that taxi cab theory is real and none of us are safe. Okay, are you across what taxi cab theory is? Speaker 2: Yes, I'm across it from Sex and the City. As you say, I believe it was a bit of Miranda Wisdom. Speaker 1: Oh no, it was Miranda brand I'm about to play it to you. Yeah, Season three, episode eight. This iconic statement the wait. Speaker 2: Hedge, it's fate. Speaker 4: It's not fate. Speaker 5: His light is on, that's all what lights. Men are like cabs. When they're available, their life goes on. They wake up one day and they decide they're ready to settle down, have babies, whatever, and they turn their light on the next woman they pick up them. Speaker 2: That's the one, Mary. Speaker 5: It's not fake. It's dumb luck. Speaker 1: It's not fake, it's dumb luck, so says Miranda Hobbs. Now, obviously none of us, not even me with my close relationship to missus Steals, knows whether or not there's any truth to this in terms of their relationship. But the reason that it's being applied to him is because it has one of the classic characteristics of taxi cab theory, which is that he has had quite a lot of high profile relationships. And when I say high profile again, he's never mentioned any of them ever, but there are photographic evidence. Speaker 4: Is that right? Speaker 1: He doesn't talk. Speaker 2: About his was his most recent one before. Speaker 1: So he was with Taylor Russell, who's a British actress, for quite a long time. He obviously famously dated Taylor Swift. Yeah, he was with Olivia Wilde for quite a long time. He's dated Kendall Jenna, He's dated Caroline Flack, He's dated a lot of people. Speaker 3: Can I just interrupt Holly and ask do you think he's going to come to the tailor swift wedding now that he's engaged to no should wedding guests. Speaker 1: I we really hope so that wedding is going to be the best. The reason why they're applying this theory to him is they're saying that a trademark of a taxi cab the taxi cab theory, And I don't think this is just a men thing. I think this is men and women. Is that you know, you date lots of people and you try them all on and whatever, and the theory is that one of them is right for you. But taxi cab theory says it's not that one of them is right for you, it's that the timing is right for you. And they're saying that's why Zoe and another trademark of it is quick. So you've been dating, dating, dating, dating quite long relationships a year here, two years here, three years there, whatever, But then eight months he has been dating Zoe that we know of, he puts a ring on it. Taxi cab theory thoughts. Speaker 2: From the outside, he's looking ready to settle down, and so we all then assume that he's gone, Okay, who am I? Who am I next to right now? Who do I happen to be at dinner with? Speaker 1: Oh? Speaker 2: I happen to be with Zoe kra which is Bloody Convey, which. Speaker 1: Is a very good dinner because, as I discussed, absolutely amazing. Speaker 2: She's incredible. But the way at least this article was constructed was very much that it was about him and his readiness. And the thing I worry about is that do we start thinking if we use this theory, do we start thinking that someone is only with somebody because of timing, that it's interchangeable, it could have been anyone. It's not real, it's not a real life. Speaker 1: I don't think that's the correct way to view taxi cab theory. I think it's not about you'll do, it's that the timing is right. And the reason they're not applying it to Zoe Kravitz is because she's been married before and she's been engaged before, so it doesn't apply to her in the same way, do you know what I mean? So my theory on this, and the reason why I think it's true not for everybody, like everything isn't for everybody, is that we like to have a romantic narrative that there's one right person for us, and whether we meet them when we're nineteen or fifty nine, we will just know that's the right person for us. That's it. And what taxicab theory says is that's not true. There could be lots of right people for you, but in order for you to to get together and settle down in verted commas, you have to it has to be the right timing. So other examples for this might be Taylor and Travis. Right if they'd have met at twenty two, because at the same age, would we not have any of these beautiful songs that we have for Taylor, Or if they'd have met when they're twenty two, would the timing not have been right for them both to commit in the way that they are now ready to commit. So in my mind, taxicab theory doesn't mean you're settling or it's the wrong person. It just means timing is everything. So the people I dated before I met my guy, if you're a serial monogamist, and many of us are, we like to go, well, none of those people were right, This one's right. But the truth of it is is probably like that one probably would have been fine, but if we weren't ready, I don't. Speaker 2: Know it's by romantic sensibility. Speaker 3: I think I sort of agree with both of you a little bit, and agree with both of you a little bit because I think what the taxicab theory misses is it makes it very one sided, now, whether that side is a man or a woman. I take your point, Holly that even though sex and city talks about men are like cabs, we could equally apply to women. But a relationship is about a dynamic between two people. And what I think this theory overstates is that it's just about one person picking another person. And I don't think that's how relationships work. I don't think a relationship works or like ends in marriage. And I'm using air quotes here for anyone listening, just because one person decided, Yes, this is the person I'm going to make it work. It's about two people meeting and deciding together. And that's what's different about when you get in a cab. It's not about a mutual decision. Speaker 4: It's about one person deciding. Speaker 1: I agree. But the way that I've always thought of taxi cab theories, you both have to have your lights on, do you know what I mean, like, you have to both have your lights on for the timing to work. If one of you has the light on and the other one doesn't, it's not going to work. You both have to have your lights on. Speaker 3: I feel like that was what was really You know, we've been talking on this show about what happens over twenty years, and I think that that line from Sex and the City, they weren't talking about both people having their lights on. I think back then we had an idea of relationships which was that men in heteronormative heterosexual relationships men picked women. Yes, I think, and you're trying to update it, which is good. Speaker 6: Yeah. Speaker 1: Although I think I always that was always my understanding of that quote, because I think in later in the show, Carrie's talking about my lights not on, his lights not on, Like I always sort of understand it to mean it's all about timing. And I genuinely do believe that a great deal of whether or not a relationship will work or not is about time. Speaker 2: I think you only have to watch one to eight seasons I've Married at First Sight to see that it is not oh that much about time, because you've got two people who's lights could not be more on who are matched by very clever, non manipulative psychologist and they go in and you can have your light on as bright as it can possibly be, and it still doesn't vibe. Speaker 1: I don't buy that because I don't think their lights are on for that at all. Speaker 2: Oh holy just because they're getting Instagram followers. I am not looking for real love. But the other thing is, I don't know. I think you hear so many stories of people who may be met at a time that wasn't on paper a particularly good time. Speaker 4: Oh that's a good point to people. Speaker 2: To meet, and it's still and it still happens. Speaker 3: Yeah. Speaker 1: But I think, like any theory, it doesn't apply to everybody. One person's going to meet. Some people are going to football in love of their childhood sweetheart stay with them forever, right. But in the dating world, in the world where you are trying people on, if you are serial and anogamizing, I think that's where this comes in, because sometimes your lights on even when it shouldn't be. Like if you heard of the getaway car theory of like you find a relationship to get you out of the relationship you're in, so you could be married and one person's light is on and the other one doesn't know. Like I think the point of it is that for a lot of people, the one true love theory isn't necessarily it. It's more like, is this the right moment? Clooney and a mile? Very good, very good advertising for that. Speaker 2: No, hard because I'm also like A miles A mile. Speaker 3: Zoey, like, I don't know for a proving any extraordinarily Well, no, but I don't like that theory right because I bet that. Speaker 1: I mean, of course a mile is extraordinary, and of course so is extraordinary. But that theory buys into the idea that everybody who didn't get picked there was something wrong with that and we're waiting for like. So my point about A mile and George is he was married when he was young, but through all his big rise he was single, and he was known as the most eligible bachelor in Hollywood. And I think that he made a bet with Nicole Kidman comes to mind, I will never get married again? Speaker 3: Is that during that period, as people may remember, I had a long phone conversation with him. She went for about an hour in a work context, and I guess he's light his life just wasn't. Speaker 2: Why. Speaker 1: But the thing is is that of course these women are amazing, because of course they are. But if you believe that it just takes the right woman, then that's like a model of exceptionalism that I'm not that into. Was more likely getting to a point in his life where it's like, I don't want. Speaker 3: To be a six I don't want the pot belly pig as my life, and. Speaker 1: Then he meets an extraordinary woman, and he would have met other extraordinary women in Amma would have met a million extraordinary men who wanted to tie her down like she's a catch and a half in a million ways, intellect, beauty, human rights, like savior. She's incredible, but her light probably was not. Speaker 3: I feel like you just out sexist argument to know. I thought the taxi like theory was sexist, which turns out I was carrying. Speaker 2: Around the sexes I think. I think that there are I think the taxi light theory does make us feel better about ourselves, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's true, because because I think it's really convenient to be like, oh, that man like George Clooney. The reason he didn't end up with all those women was because of timing, not because he wasn't compatible, it wasn't right whatever, Whereas I think I lean towards Amal and George were always destined? Speaker 4: Is that do I? Speaker 1: Did we just say the word destined? Speaker 2: I think romantic you. Speaker 4: Are because you met the love of your life quite young. Speaker 2: Yes, I think maybe I'm trying to justify my own choices, which is. Speaker 1: And maybe I'm trying to just always because I don't. I don't buy the theory necessarily that everybody before was wrong and it was the right fit. Speaker 4: Oh, you haven't met my ex boyfriend, fair cool. Speaker 1: I'd love to know what we think about the taxi light theory, and also if there's an update, because I've heard a couple like some people say it's musical chairs, who are you with when the music stops? Some people say it's coughing season. EMM has said that, like there's times of years, seasons in your life where you're just like, Okay, let's do it. Speaker 2: I need someone. Speaker 1: But I was wondering because my daughter wouldn't even know about taxis and lights on. Speaker 4: No, no, we need to fit into this. Speaker 2: But yeah, yeah, it's like the ubers available and empty. Speaker 6: The. Speaker 1: Waiting time on this No, I can't ten minutes too long. Tell us out louder. Speaker 2: We're really in an era of maxing, which we've touched on on this podcast. Not me personally. I'm not maxing anything. Speaker 1: I'm just everything is maxim but everything. Speaker 4: Other people very optimi everything. Speaker 2: Yes, so looks maxing, sleep maxing, fun maxing, which sounds gross. But here's one I hadn't heard of until this weekend. Sperm maxing. I like it because it's not something I can personally participate in. I feel excused from sperm maxing. Speaker 1: What how does? Speaker 6: What? Speaker 4: How do you? Speaker 1: Maxis swem? I'm not I don't need to know. I'm just curious. Speaker 2: Headline in Sydney Morning heralds red iced testicles and abandoned underwear. This is the world of sperm maxing. And it begins by telling us about a lovely man named Mick and his partner Holly, and oh there you go, Holly, I'm in. So they were discussing their plans to have a family, and Holly was and Holly was saying she had fears about her fertility, and Mick said, you leave that to me, love, And so what he did was he stopped wearing underwear because most underwear is made of polyester, and that's apparently and a crime disruptor. Come on, and lowers testosterone. Speaker 1: I believe many babies have been born to polyester wearing people. Speaker 2: And then he would ice spark at least once a week, not that shrunk, No, no, no, Heat's the bad thing. Because then another guy called Tom was explaining that he goes in the sauna, but don't worry because he takes an ice pack with him. Speaker 1: And puts it on this necessary that would be a very confusing sensory experience. Speaker 2: Because apparently excessive heat is damaging to sperm. So apparently there is some evidence about heat and sperm. But the rest of this is complete. You won't believe it, but it's complete bullshit. But Brian Johnson, who's that tech entrepreneur who's obsessed with longevity, claims to have the one who has his sons. Speaker 1: Yes, the one who has his son's blood injected into He's done so many and measure time erections. He doesn't need food after eleven am. Speaker 4: Like that guy. Speaker 1: He's living a long but very boring life. Speaker 2: Yeah, well, he claims to have sperm quality to rival a twenty year old. He's got no basis that claim, but that's what he says, which brings me to the Sperm Racing World Cup. Are we aware of the Sperm Racing World Cup? Speaker 1: Totally? Speaker 2: I discovered this and it is the funnest thing I've discovered as of late. It's founded by tech entrepreneurs. Speaker 1: They have too much money, too much money that they should come to my We did frog racing, peak racing, like good. Speaker 2: Sperm race should be doing some sperm racing. It's a race that's going to be held in San Francisco next month. Speaker 4: I think what they're saying is that their cab light is on. Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll show you with my literal sperm. And it's one hundred and twenty eight men, each representing a different country, and they submit semen samples which then compete in a microscopic race for a one hundred thousand dollars prize. Now here's the ad for it, because I know you guys are interested. Speaker 6: The Sperm Racing World Cup one hundred and twenty eight countries, one hundred thousand dollars grand rights, the highest stakes competition elequancy. We are searching for the healthiest man alive. This race will immortalized a nation to your country is watching, the world is ready. Speaker 3: I don't want to know what images are currently playing. Speaker 2: It's sperm racing. Speaker 1: This brings a whole new meaning to the term wanking. Frustrating one hundred thousand dollars price. Speaker 2: Yeah, but I as much as trust the tech bros To make a literal tournament out of sperm racing, which I have to say I'd love to attend. I mean, how do you make it exciting? I don't know. This is interesting in the sense that fertility has traditionally been in something that women have seen as their soul responsibility and burdens. And it's nice that men are starting to recognize that. You won't believe it, but fifty percent of fertility is down to the man. Speaker 4: This feels like Elon Musky to me. It feels musky. Speaker 3: Yeah, and I imagine, yeah, and. Speaker 4: You got the That was the joke I needed. Speaker 2: And obviously the problem is that not every fertility issue is has a cause or like it's it's not your fault. Speaker 3: I'm sorry you're trying to what's problematic about the spermilm? Speaker 4: So I think we get a crash and it's. Speaker 2: Literally not a race. Do you reckon? Speaker 3: You can do a little bit of a race. Are you familiar with the facts of life? It is literally a race. Speaker 2: But do you reckon? You can tell when a man has very fast spur? Speaker 4: Oh my god. Oh interesting. Speaker 1: But do you think he's putting it on his dating profile like one this it would definitely be on that. Speaker 3: It's going to immortalize his nation. Yeah, for Australia, I need an update on this. Speaker 2: When it happens, we'll have to keep everybody updated on the tournament and Australia's participation. We need to find who's representing Australia. Oh my god, sorry, I've got another contact. Speaker 4: So clear, like you asked, you posed a question to the group. Can you tell first sperm? Speaker 2: Yeah, something tells me like you kind of know who would have fast sperm. But I don't think it's necessarily a good thing. Speaker 4: No, it's not always. Speaker 2: No, I think it's it's aggressive and it's like congrats Elon musk. But like you're releasing a lot of sperm and you're not like hanging out with that sperm very much? Speaker 1: Are you may not taking the sperm to soccer again. Speaker 2: No, you're not taking a sperm to sport on the weekend, and I think that's very sad. Oh my god, after the break, we get you across everything you need to know about the Met Gala before tomorrow. Tomorrow on the evening of the first Monday of May, which is always confusing. But America exists in a different time to us. Speaker 1: There are one day behind us. Speaker 2: They're one day behind us, and I always have to google time in New York. As is tradition, four hundred and fifty very glamorous guests are going to start arriving at the Met Gala. The dress code for this year is Fashion is Art and the theme is Costume Art and I don't understand the difference between dress code and a theme. Speaker 1: And also always yeah, the Met Gala is about a costume institute in an eye museum. Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, I'm glad I'm not the only one who was feeling like because I was like, I think it's just me not understanding fashion. But no, it's weird. So guests are invited to explore their relationship to fashion as an embodied art form. That might mean that there are references to literal art, literal paintings, literal kind of art, moments like whether it's the Renaissance or whatever. But it's the Met Gala, so I think everybody just goes bat it crazy and we don't really understand the tide of the theme. Most of her time, Anna Wintur is still the chair despite having handed the rains reluctantly. Speaker 1: Streep is still the chair. Speaker 4: Yes she is. Speaker 2: And she's enlisted Beyonce, Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams to serve as their evening's. Speaker 1: Co chair, so they have to go. Speaker 2: Yes they do. Holly, there's a little bit of gossip about Anna Wintour and whether we can expect to see Harry and Meghan at the met Gala. Speaker 1: You see, the thing is about the Met Gala, and we'll get to this in a minute too, but whether this is is particularly fraught with who will accept an int because of the involvement of one aforementioned Jeff Bezos and his wife Lauren Sanchez Bezos, because they are bankrolling it. So in the past, big companies bankrolled it. I think Apple's bankrolled it before, TikTok's bankrolled it before. Now it's Lauren and Jeff, and some people are like, I don't think we want to be part of that, So we're not going. Speaker 3: And there have been protests. People have been putting bottles of urine or a liquid that appears to be urine, scattering them around the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the lead up to the gala to protest the fact that the alleged fact that Amazon warehouse workers are not provided with toilet breaks. Speaker 1: Wow, that's a protest. And for the last few years they have been to kind of eat the rich vibe boiling away about the met gala for good reason, but this year it's overt, right, So I reckon that Harry and Meghan might use that as the excuse for why they weren't invited. You I didn't want to go any who wants to go and hang out with Jeff and Lauren. Those people are bad, evil, naughty. But actually it's that Anna wouldn't invite them, And why would Anna not invite them? So the word on the street is that Anna because it used to be Anna. Winter's relationship with celebrities evolved a lot over the years, and if you watch The Devil We was Proud of Too, you'll know that was a matter of survival. There was a time when she was like Kim Kardashian, I don't think so she's not vogue, and then she literally is exceptionally vogue these days. But she apparently doesn't like Harry and Meghan because she's a royalist, a staunch royalist. She's a dame after all. This might be overregged a bit, but she's a royalist, so she doesn't approve of what happened there and the way that Harry treated the late queen allegedly, and also that Meghan chose to do her first ever Vogue cover with Edward Ennafel in Britain and Anna was not happy about that and sees her as a bit. Speaker 2: So I wonder if eventually they'll be considered. Speaker 1: I think Anna's backtracked on enough things and in fact, you know, but as I say, I think that Harry and Megs, if they're not there, which I don't think they will be, well, could definitely use a social justice excuse. But there are a lot of very famous people who are going to be there, of course, including as you've said, the afore mentioned Nicole. Lena Dunham's going, which I find amazing because I've just read a memoir and she talks about the Metgala and not glowing terms, but she was on one of the committees as well. I think we've got Sabrina Carpenter, We've got Zoe Kravitz, so we might get Harry. We've got a lot of very famous people who are going. But this year, more than ever, it's kind of political. Speaker 3: There's a bit of a tipping point being reached about it. Amy O'Dell, who writes a fashion subject called The back Row, wrote last week a piece that I've seen a lot being quoted and circulated which basically argues that the met Gala is in danger of becoming uncool. Speaker 4: And the whole point of the met. Speaker 3: Gala was that it was cool, right, It was like the ultimate and fashion. And the problem is that by allowing the Bezoses to bankroll the whole thing and a winter, risks turning the whole thing into this very craven exercise that no one will want to be a part of. So it's interesting. I'm going to be watching the Red Cup very carefully this year to see if it does feel like the star wattage has been slightly dimmed. Speaker 2: Yeah, and if the people who make it cool because Ndaya is not going Zendaya makes things cool. Speaker 4: She does. Speaker 2: So what I found interesting in all the kind of stuff I've seen about the Met Gala coming up, there was a great piece on Lena Dunham's substack called and her subtacks called good Thing Going, and she wrote a piece called Dispatches from the Worst Dressed List, and I clicked straight away because having been a huge fan of girls, having been a huge fan of her, I remember years and years and years of seeing her constantly mocked for her fashion choices, and I remember wanting to scream at my computer and be like, it's not the fashion, you're talking about her body, And I was so frustrated. And she has now kind of processed that. And as you say, Holly, she's going to be at the Metgala, which is a bit of a surprise. But she writes at the beginning that she's in the process of getting ready for the Met Gala, which she loves to watch but tends to wobble through. And she talks about some of the things that were written about her and how it destroyed her relationship to fashion, and she had loved it when she was little, she had found it really really fun, but it got confusing. She writes when dressing became a bit more of a public affair. Basically, she quotes a bit that Joan Rivers said about her, where she said, it's okay stay fat, but don't say it's okay that other girls can look like this. Try to look better, and Lena Dunham Wrights, I was trying. We just have a different definition of what better meant. And do you guys remember those years? Oh yeah, her just being made fun of. Speaker 1: But also because as I said, I've just read the book, or nearly at the end, it's very clear that she's got like she went through years where she was conventionally skinny, and if you correlate this in the book, that coincides with time when she was really struggling with her health and her addiction issues and with mental health and all those things. Since she'd be super skinny and people would celebrate her for that. She made the cover of Vogue famously once in one of those eras, and then there were other times where she was encouraged. There's a part at the beginning about girls where she was told put more weight on the fact that your body looks the way it does is the thing that makes this show Edgy get bigger. So like her body has obviously been objectified to send different messages at different times about all kinds of things. But it's also clear in her book that she does love clothes and style and fashion and that her mind did does and so it was part of her world. But that's not the case for everybody. Right, If you go to the Met Gala, especially these days, you're generally paid to be there by a brand. They will dress you, they will style you, they will do your duels, they will do your put you up at the hotel, and you'll do all these things and it will cost them millions. But I was reading about how it's seen as the best possible advertise, which is be interesting. If the coolness factor wears off, as you're talking about Amelia, that is the best marketing spender brand can have. Because apparently the media impact of the Metgala is bigger than the Super Bowl in terms of how Father's pictures travel, how much coverage it gets, the fact it's televised, it will be on every news side, it will be on every social media feed forever. That not only the brands who are actively involved, like Vogue and whichever are actually sponsoring it will be the ones who cover it, so it is seen as money well spent, and the event itself costs about six million to put on. Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, it's obviously at a level that few of us can relate to the met Gala, But that Lena Dunham piece gave me a lot of feelings. Speaker 4: I loved it. Speaker 3: I read it as a companion piece to the love Story discourse. This whole idea of Carolyn Bessett Kennedy, who was lauded for her fashion sense. Speaker 4: People ask the question, is this fashion or is she just thin? Speaker 3: And this was kind of the flip side to that argument, which is can I not be fashionable if I am not thin? And I loved the fact that she asked that question. This really hit home to me because I have never felt like someone who knows how to dress. I am surrounded by very stylish people, and I grew up with like friends. And I interrupt, Please don't I think of myself as I feel like I've struggled with what to wear my whole life. And I do enjoy clothes. But it's interesting that when I was at my skinniest and probably at a pretty unhealthy relationship with my body. I was lauded much more for my clothes and for my supposed style than at other points in my life. And I love that Lena's teasing out that connection. And just recently I saw some comments online that said that I don't dress very well, and it hurt my feelings because I was like, I try, and I do try with my clothes, and I meant to not try. I mean, as as Miranda Priestley reminds us in The Devil wes Prata, we all have to get dressed in the morning, so you may as well put some thought into it. But I do wonder how much of what we perceive of as stylish is actually connected to bodies. Speaker 1: Oh so much of it is. And I mean this last night literally, I was packing for the week because I always come up to Sydney on a Monday morning. I usually stay for a couple of nights, so I've got to think on Sunday when I'm in my most harried, like what am I wearing? Obviously we're on camera, but and I was in my huffing around in my bedroom, going I hate all my clothes. I hate all my clothes, and my kids could hear me, and obviously because I am aware, you know, feminist mother, I do not huff around my bedroom going I hate my body, nothing fits me. But the code is I hate all my clothes. I've got nothing to wear, and my son it's like, what do you mean, why have you even got those clothes if you hate them? You know, But there is no question that these things are so connected, and that fashion world, particularly the high fashion world, they say we like to imagine that they've made a lot of progress on that in the ten years. But I don't think in Anna Wintour's world that progress. Speaker 4: I'm just not talking about it as much. I think that's what it is. Speaker 2: I remember it still sticks with me. Speaker 3: Now. Speaker 2: Remember when Kim Kardashian went on a red carpet wearing a It was kind of like a high neck dress. There's a lot of fabric, and she was very, very pregnant. Speaker 1: I was working gossip mags and I'm not proud of this at all, but everybody says she looked like a couch. I think we printed that. I think we took the piss out of that overtly, and she was trying very hard to be high. Speaker 2: Fashion exactly and I think about that all the time. As a pregnant person. I'm like, I the idea of being mocked and being so embarrassed because you're like, I didn't choose for my body to grow, Like, like it just grows in the direction and grows when you're pregnant, and it can grow in weird direction. And to be totally honest, this this move now, and I'm sure people have the total opposite perspective to me, But the move now of people having really cool maternity, you know, people make it look really really cool and sexy, having a bump like the Sienna Millers of the world with their like little top that will open and it looks really sexy. I'm like, God, you can't even be pregnant and be able to give up for just a few months. Speaker 1: No, we're not allowed hot at all times. Okay, I just need to ask, right, Because as we said, this mat Gala has got this political weight to it. I feel like for the last few years it has, and there's been a sort of oh but it's fun and we all need the distraction. Are we going to be looking at that red carpet tomorrow? Because I know I will, Yeah, I will. I will I will. Speaker 3: Yeah, I will too, And I think that why I will be looking is because fashion is fun. It should be fun, it should be something that we enjoy looking at. And I love how Lena ties up her piece because it's not a hopeless piece. Speaker 4: She ultimately concludes. Speaker 3: By saying, what I realize now is I was making choices that maybe made people feel uncomfortable, whether it was because I was wearing clothes that that type of body should not have been wearing, for instance, or she was wearing clothes that weren't regarded as as exactly mattering me. She talks about how she spoke to a very well known fashion critic about this sort of debate recently, and the fashion critics said to her, you just have a point of view that's called taste. And I love the idea that just because you're wearing something that might not be universally regarded as flattering or fashionable, you can still have a point of view about it. And I guess that's ideally what these kind of red carpet events are meant to showcase is a unique point of view. Speaker 4: So yeah, I'll be watching. Speaker 1: We will rope in our absolute fashion expert May who used to love the met Gala. As she said, people take more risks there than they do when they're you know, at the Oscars or whatever, because it is the whole point of it is to be quite bad shit. So we will be doing a met Gala wrap up for subscribers tomorrow afternoon, and I'm sure that Maya will have many thoughts. That's all we've got time for this Monday. I hope everybody's week starts well. We will be back in your ears tomorrow for subscribers, and the three of us will be here on Wednesday. Thank you to our team. We'll see you then, Bye bye. Speaker 2: Mummy acknowledges the traditional owners of the land on which we have recorded this podcast.Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Met Gala is COMING, and a huge backlash is afoot. Plus, the Beckham family feud has hit a genuinely painful new low, and the early 2000s boyband moment we always knew we needed has arrived. ☕ Jeff Bezos paid HOW MUCH for his wife to co-chair the Met Gala? ☕ Brooklyn Beckham stays silent on David's 51st birthday ☕ Zayn Malik's worrying health scare signals a huge cancellation ☕ The Devil Wears Prada 2 cast are already teasing a third film ☕ The Rock gets in trouble with the law (and it's somehow still wholesome?) ☕ The boyband moment of or early 2000s dreams has finally arrived THE END BITSOnce you’ve devoured this morning’s celeb stories, get your daily news headlines from The Quicky here.You can now watch some of our episodes in full length video on the Apple Podcast app - make sure your phone is up to date and we can't wait for you to seeLINK: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-spill/id1473523403Support independent women's mediaFollow us on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook. And subscribe to our Youtube channel.Read all the latest entertainment news on Mamamia... here.Discover more Mamamia Podcasts here.CREDITSHost & Producer: Ash LondonExecutive Producer: Monisha Iswaran Mamamia acknowledges the traditional owners of the land on which we have recorded this podcast. You're listening to Amma mea podcast. Good Morning Angels, Happy Monday. A brand new week is upon us, and what a weekend it was. I'm Ash London and I have been trawling through the celebrity news since dawn because I love you that much. Today and the Met Gala is hours away, and there is a ten million dollar controversy you need to know about before it kicks off. The Beckham family feud has hit a painful new low. Zane Malick is unwell and has canceled the entire US tour. Now The Devil was prior to two casts have already been teasing, well kind of teasing a third film, and The Rock got pulled over by police after celebrating Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci. Happy Monday. Let's pull the tea Tonight is the Met Gala fashions the biggest night, and before the looks start rolling in, it would appear a certain controversy is reaching boiler point. This is honorary co chairs are lead financial sponsors Jeff Bezos and his wife Lauren Sanchez, who reportedly paid at least ten million dollars to take on the role alongside Beyonce Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and of course and a Winter. Tickets to the event are one hundred thousand dollars each, a table three hundred and fifty thousand. Buying your way in the uprationans of fashion presseless. The backlash has been significant. Posters reading boycott the Bezos and Metgala have been plastered across New York City, with criticciting Amazon's alleged compliance with ice work in mistreatment and the optics of a billionaire buying his way into fashion's most prestigious night. New York City's mayor has already announced he will skip it entirely, and a Winter has defended the decision, of course, but we can all see what's happening here. She's no doubt mortified by the whole situation, But ten million dollars in this economy is ten million dollars. Next up, the Beckham family saga continues, and at this point, well, it was already sad, but now it's just even sadder. So Dave I'd Beckham celebrated his fifty first birthday over the weekend. Victoria, Romeo, Cruzen Harper all posted warm tributes. Brooklyn posted nothing not a word, and he also stayed silent during Victoria's birthday last month. David's post was typically gracious, writing he felt lucky and blessed and I mentioned in Brooklyn Victoria gifted him chickens for the Cotswold estate, which is the most posh spice gift imaginable and I love them for it. If you've ever wondered what to give the man that has everything, chickens is the answer. Zaan Malik has now canceled his entire US leg of the Conical tour, and the news has understandably worried fans. Zam was hospitalized on the same day that his new album dropped on April seventeen, posting a photo of himself in a hospital gown without disclosing the nature of his illness. This week, he posted I've been in home, recovering and doing well and will be better and stronger than before, before announcing twenty one US shows have been axed, UK and Mexico dates remain for now. This comes on top of the counciled Netflix documentary with Lee Tomlinson and a genuinely turbulent few weeks. Whatever is going on healthwise, we hope he feels better soon when we return The Devil Wets prior of two carts have dropped hints about a third film. The Rock had a very embarrassing run in with the Law and the early two thousands boy band duet that we never knew but absolutely knew we needed has arrived. Welcome back to morning tea. Now. The film has only been incigmes three days and has already made two hundred and thirty four million dollars globally, and Meryl Streep and Hathaway and Emily Blunt have already been asked about what it would take to make a third Devil Wears prior film. Streep said, immediately the script. Blunt agreed, a good script. It's all about the script, and then Anne Hathaway added, everyone has to say yes. It's got to be the core four, three of them plus Stanley Tucci and Merril added one final condition. They have to be alive. I refuse to believe that Meryl Streep is seventy six. She will never die, she will live forever. Amen. The Rock attended Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucciy's Hollywood or Fame ceremony on Thursday, delivered a heartfelt speech, then got pulled over by police on the way home for tinted windows on his Porsche KM. He stepped out calmly in a crisp white shirt and cream trousers, handed over his license and registration and was issued a ticket. Kevin Hart immediately told Paparrizzi he was the one who called the police before clarifying it was a joke and called the rock a piece of shit for good measure, nothing like a couple of mates ripping each other and finally something for the og boy band fans. En Sync member Joey Fortone was performing at a gala off at the Kentucky Derby of the weekend and invited to the stage bandmate Lamps Bass, Backstreets, Howie and Brian and even Despisido singer Lewis Fonsi. Who Joey fotone you in high school? They performed a bit of a medley I wanted that way and bye bye bye from Endzinc. It's too much. I can't handle it. Millennials, Hey feeling and that is it for me. My loves with the gals. You back in your feeds at three pm with this bill for your entertainment. Dick Dive. Wanting To is hosted and produced by me Ash London with executive producer manishia Is Warrent. Make sure you follow this Wheel podcast on Instagram at TikTok to stay up to date with all the latest entertainment news and Wanting To will be back to get you caught up on all the latest celebrity headlines tomorrow morning. Bye, Mamma Mia acknowledges the traditional owners of the land. We have recorded this podcast on the Gatigor people of the eorination. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, Ben and Merril reflections on the Hall of Honor event, where Ben and his peers were recognized. They analyze the recent Steelers vs. Dolphins game, highlighting key performances and strategies, and look ahead to the upcoming matchup against the Lions. The discussion also touches on the impact of injuries on team dynamics and the importance of both offensive and defensive strategies as the season progresses. The episode concludes with final thoughts on the team's potential and the significance of teamwork in football.Footbahlin Cookbookhttps://footbahlin-with-ben-roethlisberger.clockwise.io/products/footbahlin-cookbook-volume-200:00 Introduction and Personal Updates02:50 Hall of Honor Reflections05:30 Game Analysis: Steelers vs. Dolphins11:06 Upcoming Challenges: Steelers vs. Lions16:48 Injury Impact and Team Dynamics22:28 Offensive Strategies and Player Performances28:12 Defensive Strategies and Key Players33:57 Final Thoughts and Future Outlook

There's No Business Like Show business! Chris is covering Netflix, Diddy, and Prince Andrew. PLUS Gen Z has work tips and Dr. Wendy has advice. It's all on KFIAM-640!

Chris is getting political with SNAP benefits and Prop 50. We are also getting into turkey, tabs, and the flu and healthy ignorance. It's all on KFIAM-640!  

Chris is covering the Dodger World Series, support for prop 50 in SoCal, and law makers, law breakers, and the times their ought to be a law and daylight savings time preference on KFIAM-640!

Merril Hoge calls out the defense for allowing the Bengals offense to rip them apart, and Merril doesn't think the task at hand will be any easier this Sunday night against the Packers.

Merril Hoge calls out the defense for allowing the Bengals offense to rip them apart, and Merril doesn't think the task at hand will be any easier this Sunday night against the Packers.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Adjusted Reality, Dr. Sherry McAllister is joined by former NFL player Merril Hoge for a conversation about resilience, peak performance, and the mindset it takes to overcome life's challenges. Merril shares how powerful habits, mental focus, and staying consistent can help you perform at your best on the field and in everyday life. This episode is a reminder that health isn't just about recovering from setbacks. It's about building a strong foundation so you can stay at the top of your game. Chiropractic care plays an important role in keeping your body aligned and ready for whatever life throws your way.Whether you're an athlete, a weekend warrior, or simply striving to feel your best every day, this episode will motivate and empower you. Listen in for practical insights and inspiration to help you stay strong, focused, and performing at your best.In the Adjusted Reality podcast, well-known athletes, celebrities, actors, chiropractors, influencers in the wellness industry, and other podcasters will talk with host Dr. Sherry McAllister, president, F4CP, about their experiences with health and wellness. As a special gift for listening today visit f4cp.org/health to get a copy of our mind, body, spirit eBook which focuses on many ways to optimize your health and the ones you love without the use of drugs or surgery. Follow Adjusted Reality on Instagram. Find A Doctor of Chiropractic Near You.Donate to Support the Chiropractic Profession Through Education. Pre-order the Adjusted Reality book: https://www.f4cp.org/adjusted-reality/

Throughout 2025 we have been bringing you shows where people share their memories of picture palaces.  We have a few more of these planned for the year, however for this show in that unofficial series we have something a little different for you. Lyn Williams is a life long film fan, and film music aficionado, who also happened to be, for many years, a cinema manager.  In this podcast Lyn shares with us his love of films, some of his earliest memories in wonderful cinemas now sadly long gone, and some incredible stories of his time managing cinemas. You will be entertained by Lyn's tales about: - Working late in a haunted cinema - How to stop a fight between rowdy patrons on a cinema stage - How he avoided serious injury when part of a building collapsed - How not to bring a generator into a cinema. - And much, much more!  You may also detect another voice in the background.  That is Lyn's wife Merril, who gives some lovely pointers to make sure we stay on message.  Indeed, meeting people face to face is something we don't do that often in these days of computer teams linking.  It was an absolute pleasure to meet them and thank you very much for feeding us.  And as if that is not enough, Lyn, who still goes to the cinema a couple of times a week, gives us his views on some of the 2025 releases. So, if you are a listener in South Wales and you are a regular cinema goer, you well see Lyn At The Flicks. Until next time….

Another day, another friend needs our help. Merril reveals to us why she left her clan, a dark mirror that her people associate with evil due to the perceived role it played in the death of one of their people. Merril, convinced that the mirror holds the key to restoring a piece of elven history, is determined to repair it using blood magic. The mirror is incomplete and she needs a relic from her people to finish it–a relic that she must ask the keeper for. Afraid of her mother figure, Merril asks us to accompany her on this quest. Along the way, Merril receives the cold shoulder from everyone in her clan due to her work with demons and blood magic. This fear leads to the death of an innocent hunter and we must decide whether or not to support Merril's mission. Special thanks to Redd Spinks for our amazing logo as well as to Miracle of Sound for the song Age Of The Dragon, which we use as our theme music. You can find the show on Instagram and Bluesky!! Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts! Rate us on Spotify! Wanna join the Certain POV Discord? Click here!

Show Business / Going Broke 

Race / Biden Cancer / Tariff Madness / Jailbreak 

Palm springs / Doge / Law/ Newsom

Meet centenarian and gold star wife Eleanor Stark. In 1944 at age 19, she learned that her husband PFC Luther "Buck" Bagley, who served as a member of Merril's Marauders, was listed as missing in action, presumed killed. There's more to this story … a lot more.Our library of shows can be found at www.veteranscornerradio.comJoin us on Facebook at the page Veterans Corner RadioYou can contact our host Joe Muhlberger at joseph.muhlberger@gmail.com

The boys are back for Diggin' Weekly! A ton of MLB news to cover: - Jackson Merrill's 9-year, $135M extension - Jurickson Profar's PED suspension & MLB's issue with PEDs - Atlanta Braves Awful Start - Roki Sasaki's Early Struggles - Rafael Devers Potential Trade? - Crochet's ExtensionLet us know what you think in the comments!---------HostsEric Hosmer /⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @hosmer305⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Mike Moustakas / ⁠⁠⁠⁠@moosetacos8⁠⁠⁠⁠Peter Moylan / ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠@petermoylan⁠Interact with the Diggin' Deep crew on:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ / ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ / ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ / ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Advertising & Partnership inquiries: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠diggindeep@moonballmedia.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠a⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ MoonBall Media⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Podcast

Merril Hoge thinks everyone on the Steelers including players and coaches is to blame for what Merril calls the worst loss of the season agains the Ravens in the playoffs.

Merril Hoge thinks everyone on the Steelers including players and coaches is to blame for what Merril calls the worst loss of the season agains the Ravens in the playoffs.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chris Merrill is in for Mo'Kelly today on Later. Chris kicks things off with an NFL update. Aaron Rogers is having a rough season. The biggest story of the weekend is that former President Jimmy Carter passed away. And most of Carter's legacy has been established post his Presidency. // Prop 36 and the impact on crime in California and why Chris believes it's not a cure-all. Chris recounts a viral clip that praises Prop 36 and explains that it would have been a felony either way.  // Life and limb. Authorities in Palos Verdes Estates have found multiple human limbs on Bluff Cove Trail and are investigating a possible, not yet confirmed connection to recently missing boaters. And a near-miss between 2 planes at LAX was caught on video // Social media and the extremes that exist you're either the hero the villain, and the new year and resolutions. A Californian hits the jackpot with a historic $1.22 billion Mega Millions win, and the latest conspiracy on TikTok is California is rigging the lottery to steal the Capital Gains Tax.  

Merril D. Smith lives in southern New Jersey near the Delaware River. Her work has been published widely in poetry journals and anthologies, including Black Bough Poetry, Acropolis, Feral, Sidhe Press, Anti-Heroin Chic, The Storms, Fevers of the Mind, Gleam, Humana Obscura, and Nightingale and Sparrow. She holds a Ph.D. in American history from Temple University in Philadelphia and is the author/editor of numerous books on gender, sexuality, and history. Her full-length poetry collection, River Ghosts (Nightingale & Sparrow Press) was Black Bough Poetry's December 2022 Book of the Month.   Twitter/X: @merril_mds   Instagram: mdsmithnj   https://merrildsmith.org/  

The 'Z Special Unit' was one of the most audacious and little known clandestine forces of WW2. It comprised Australian, British, New Zealand, Dutch, Timorese and other Allied personel. One of their most famous missions was 'Operation Jaywick'. This saw a disguised fishing vessel the 'MV Krait' sail from Exmouth Gulf to Singapore where the operatives, after paddling more than 50km, attacked Japanese ships at anchor before making their escape back to Australia. This extraordinary operation was followed by 81 other covert missions including the ill-fated Operation Rimau and Operation Semut. I had the privilege of speaking with Gavin Mortimer author of the Osprey Publication 'Z Special Unit' about the history and events surrounding this incredible force. Gavin is also the author of some other seminal books on the history of Special Forces including David Stirling: The Phony Major, The SBS in World War II and Merril's Marauders. 

Check Merril Hoge's Speaking Availability: https://premierespeakers.com/speakers/Merril-Hoge This episode of the Beyond Speaking Podcast features Merril Hoge, a former NFL football player and motivational speaker, discussing his journey from a small-town kid to playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Merril shares his personal philosophy, “Find a Way,” which has guided him through his career, battles with cancer, and life challenges. He talks about the importance of resilience, mental strength, and finding motivation to overcome obstacles. The conversation also covers his experiences with the Steelers, lessons from his mentor Chuck Noll, and advice on leadership and teamwork.

We're in the home stretch of the season and Casey is locked in on the Scoreboard Watching as far as Playoff Races are concerned.  The AL divisional races are bananas and we rip through each one. Power Rankings time:  Who does Casey have at the top? Plus, the Padres are coming with Jackson Merrill lighting it up and the Orioles are riding Jackson Holliday's hot return after being called up.  So we pose this question:  Which Jackson do you want right now on your team? All that plus Byron Buxton leading the charge for The Twins and a preview of tomorrow's Brewers Guest!  Join us! Bleav Also make sure to subscribe to our Youtube page below! https://www.youtube.com/@themayorsofficewithseancasey  

We were thrilled to talk to Matthew, a rising junior and a rising star in the culinary world.  Matthew has captivated the hearts, appetites and inner chef of millions with his vibrant, humorous, and approachable cooking style, making his kitchen and his dorm room a global stage on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. He's got 3 million followers across his platforms. THREE MILLION.We met him on a panel we were part of at a CALC event in Baltimore last winter and we have been dying for more ever since.He is also somehow exceptionally active on campus, and not just within the Hotel School.You have got to hear his story, told exceptionally well because he is an incredible storyteller on and off social media.We LOVED him.You can find Matthew here:https://matthewmerril.comTikTok:MatthewinthekitchenInstagram:MmerrillYouTube:MatthewMerrilNot sponsored by or affiliated with Cornell University

Make sure to book your next cab with Johnny Dollar Cab Company and ride from Harford MA to New York City for $2!

Containing a Matter of Mutation. Timestamps: Judith Merril biography, non-spoiler discussion (0:00) spoiler plot summary and discussion (35:09) Bibliography: Knight, Damon - "The Futurians" (1977) Merril, Judith and Pohl-Weary, Emily - "Better to Have Loved: The Life of Judith Merril" (2002)

We're thrilled to host Merril Hoge, former NFL star with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Merril's incredible story begins on a farm, where he not only learned the value of hard work but also survived a near-fatal accident involving farm equipment. Despite the challenges, Merril's determination led him to a successful career in the NFL, playing under legendary coaches Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher. But the challenges didn't stop there. Faced with a life-threatening cancer diagnosis, Merril was once told he might not survive. Supported by his daughter's inspiring words to 'find a way,' he fought back and is here to share his powerful story. Now a motivational speaker and the force behind the 'Find a Way' initiative, Merril is ready to share the insights and life lessons that continue to motivate and inspire. Stay tuned as Merril Hoge reveals how to overcome any obstacle and truly 'find a way.'" Learn more about "Find A Way": https://merrilhoge.com/findaway/ Shop Like a Farmer merch at https://agamericashop.com/ Follow along: IG: https://www.instagram.com/likeafarmerpodcast/ FB: https://facebook.com/likeafarmer TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@likeafarmerpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/likeafarmer_   About Like A Farmer: Like a Farmer is a podcast and video series that spotlights accomplished individuals from diverse industries and their inspiring stories of overcoming adversity and achieving success. Come along for this fun ride and meet some inspiring folks along the way: https://likeafarmer.com/ Contact us at: info@likeafarmer.com Powered by: AgAmerica Media  Our Supporters: Field Tested. Farmer approved. Shop the Like A Farmer Blue Otter Sunglasses. 10% of all proceeds go to the AgAmerica Giving foundation to help farmers and ranchers in rural communities. https://blueotterpolarized.com/collections/like-a-farmer-collection AgAmerica is supporting agriculture nationwide, with personnel that know the industry best. Learn more by visiting: https://agamerica.com/  Supporting Florida's fruit, vegetables, meat, and seafood industry. Learn more and find some delicious recipes at: https://www.followfresh

In a deeply personal and inspiring episode, Mick Hunt converses with Merril Hoge about the power of perseverance, the impact of mentorship, and the essence of resilience. Merril's journey from a determined NFL player to a motivational speaker offers valuable lessons in facing life's hurdles with a proactive and positive mindset.Merril Hodge's Background: Notable for his tenacity on the football field and his courageous battle off it, Merril shares his life's challenges and triumphs.Defining Moments: Merril discusses the importance of mental preparation and visualization in his success, both in sports and life challenges.Discussion Topics:The impact of mentors on Merril's life and career highlights his admiration for Walter Payton.Merrill's approach to overcoming adversity emphasizes preparation, mindset, and resilience.He transitioned from an NFL player to a motivational speaker, sharing his philosophy of "finding a way" in life.Key Quotes:"Being prepared is your responsibility. It's a combination of an opportunity.""People always remember how you made them feel. That's the relationship point."Next Steps:Learn More: Visit Merrilhoge.com to explore Merril's work, book him for speaking engagements, and find inspirational resources.Reflect: Consider how Merril's approach to challenges can apply to your life. What steps can you take today to "find a way" through your obstacles?Engage: Share your stories of resilience and how you've been inspired by Merril's journey using #MickUnplugged.

The Nazi occupation of Hungary led to the mass transportation and murder of over 400,000 Jews in 1944 and 1945. Why had Hungary's leadership sided with the Axis? Al Murray and James Holland are joined by John McManus to review the events of 80 years ago this week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Football analyst Merril Hodge comes on The Daily Ticker to discuss exactly what the process is for a young QB in the NFL Draft process, and why he hates the Wonderlic test. 

2.29.24 Merril Hoge, NFL Analyst, on the top 3 QBs in the NFL Draft and which QB would fit best in Washington. Kevin reacts to his conversation with Merril and his thoughts on the QBs. 

Former Steelers RB Merril Hoge joined the show. Merril talked about his love for big game hunting. The guys asked Merril about his comments on George Pickens from earlier in the season and he asked him why Pickens is super talented, but not yet a great pro. Merril talked about why Kenny Pickett sitting at the end of the season might help him in the long run. Merril got into what we could see in camp if the Steelers bring Mason Rudolph back and a potential QB competition. He talked about why the rest of the team shouldn't worry about position battles except for their own. Merril then told the guys what he is doing out in Vegas ahead of the Super Bowl. 

Hour 3: Poni called Buffalo chicken dip overrated. The guys also got into why Super Bowl commercials aren't special anymore. James Harrison says the Steelers standard isn't the same anymore – it's just about living a playoff game or just getting to a playoff game at this point.  Former Steelers RB Merril Hoge joined the show. Merril talked about his love for big game hunting. The guys asked Merril about his comments on George Pickens from earlier in the season and he asked him why Pickens is super talented, but not yet a great pro. Merril talked about why Kenny Pickett sitting at the end of the season might help him in the long run. Merril got into what we could see in camp if the Steelers bring Mason Rudolph back and a potential QB competition. He talked about why the rest of the team shouldn't worry about position battles except for their own. Merril then told the guys what he is doing out in Vegas ahead of the Super Bowl.  Donny Football Debrief – It looks like the Steelers have added a few coaches to the staff. They are also retaining Mike Sullivan as QB coach. 

Episode 125 with Merril Hoge. You may know Merril from the Pittsburgh Steelers, Chicago Bears, ESPN, or his Inspirational speeches. He is also a Cancer Survivor, and he tells me a lot about it all. We really dive deep into his end of his NFL career and how he transitioned into his new career of Inspirational speaking, author, and so much more. This is an episode you won't want to miss.  If you can leave a review and subscribe to my Podcast on Apple Podcast or wherever you listen to this it would be greatly appreciated

Last time we spoke about Operation Flintlock, the invasion of the Marshall islands. The allies brought overwhelming power against the Marshalls, unleashing the simultaneous invasions of numerous islands in an attempt to strike at the heart of the island chain at Kwajalein. The horror of the Gilbert Island campaign plagued the minds of the commanders who hoped to thwart such carnage. Airstrikes, naval bombardments and massive amounts of land based artillery smashed the Japanese defenders into submission before amphibious assaults were made. Countless islands such as Roi-Namur fell one by one as the Americans secured places to deploy further artillery to forces the ultimate submission of the defenses on Kwajalein. The casualties were light, but the fight for Kwajalein would soon descend into a bitter struggle, for the Japanese were not going to give up their stronghold without a good fight. This episode is The Fall of Kwajalein Welcome to the Pacific War Podcast Week by Week, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about world war two? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on world war two and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel you can find a few videos all the way from the Opium Wars of the 1800's until the end of the Pacific War in 1945.  Operation Flintlock went off with a bang, and was initially a grand success. Aerial bombing, followed by naval bombardment and then land based artillery was smashing the Japanese defenders into submission. One by one the islands were falling into the Americans hands. On the second day of the battle, Roi-Namur, the northern objective was seized. Yet the stronghold of Kwajalein would provide much more of a fight. Back on the morning of January 28th Admiral Frederick Sherman's Task Force 58.3 landed a knockout blow against Kwajalein's airfield. Dawn saw a Hellcat fighter sweep ensure the airfield would not be tossing any further action before the amphibious assault occurred. The next day Sherman's force hit Eniwetok with the same kind of treatment. Sherman's carriers would remain off Eniwetok for 3 days while his aircraft smashed its airfields and ground installations. On the third say not much was left, just heaps of rubble and a few scattered palm trees stripped of their foliage. Sherman's airmen reported “they could not find any targets on the ground or in the lagoon that seemed worth bombing, and the island looked like a desert waste.” The warships came in on the 31st just off Roi and at 6:51am, Admiral Conolly maneuvered Maryland 2000 yards away from the northern beaches before unleashing 16 inch guns. As Holland Smith put it “So close that his guns almost poked their muzzles into Japanese positions.” By 7:15am the naval guns went silent as carrier planes came swooping in. Then 127mm artillery from Roi began firing, alongside cruisers and destroyers. Return fire occurred, but for a very short amount of time as they were snuffed out. Admiral Truman Hedding recalled “We learned a lot about softening up these islands before we sent the Marines in. We really worked that place over. They developed a tactic called the ‘Spruance haircut.' We just knocked everything down; there wasn't even a palm tree left.”  The Kwajalein atoll islands were hit with 15,000 tons of bombs and naval shells in 72hrs. Admiral Turner would make a Churchillian statement about the event “Never in the history of human conflict has so much been thrown by so many at so few.” Then transports carrying nearly 64,000 men of the 4th marine division and the 7th army division were launched at Ivan, Jacob, Allen, Andrew, Albert and Abraham islands. Once they were secured, the marines set up artillery batteries. The 7th infantry division was assigned the task of taking the banana shaped Kwajalein island as their colleagues set up 105mm and 155mm howitzers on nearby Roi-Namur. The 32nd and 184th regiments landed on the lagoon side at 9:30am on February 1st, first encountered only feeble and intermittent resistance. The eastern half of the island was secured in quick time, as the bombardments had certainly inflicted heavy casualties upon the enemy. The army moved slowly and methodically, advancing cautiously against the Japanese fixed positions. Soon they reached Carl Road, where they were met with an impressive defense system consisting of an anti-tank ditch on the south and a long rifle trench on the north. As February 2nd came on, so did another wide scale smashing of the Japanese. Artillery fire on Carlson Island and from the 32nd Regiments Cannon Company in the Wart Area coordinated with the tank and infantry movements. While the new assault units were moving up, the enemy in Corn Strong Point were kept under heavy artillery bombardment and were isolated from possible reinforcements by naval gunfire. Enemy guns that were still active in the northeastern end of the island were struck by dive bombers. The jump-off was ordered for 12:45. A series of delays deferred this crucial attack over an hour. To assemble the staff and coordinate the plans for employing tanks, artillery, and infantry while the 3d Battalion made its approach march, proved difficult to arrange. The time for the assault had passed before the planning difficulties were resolved. Then came notice of an air strike to be made at 1:15pm later postponed, on Admiral Turner's order, to 1:30, thus necessitating the suspension of all artillery fire. Since the attack on Corn Strong Point was to be immediately preceded by a heavy artillery barrage, the whole operation was postponed to 2:00. For the initial assault on the tank trap and Corn Strong Point, Colonel Logie's 32d Infantry's 3d Battalion was ordered to pass through its 2nd Battalion at Carl Road and to lead the attack. These fresh troops were to be supported by the tanks of A and D comapnies, 767th Tank Battalion and, from the left flank, by the tanks of B company, which would be temporarily detached from the 184th. The tanks of A company, 767th Tank Battalion, lined up along Carl Road to fire against the strong point, while those from B company took up positions almost at right angles to that road and prepared to strike the enemy from the left flank during the first stage of the attack. One of the batteries on Carlson continued to fire during the air strike, and the Cannon Company's howitzers also laid a preparation on the target area before the advance commenced at 2pm. Then, while the artillery lifted fire to ground northeast of the target, the tanks and infantry approached the tank trap in a 225-yard advance across open ground. The tanks poured machine gun fire into the area. Thirty yards behind them the troops came forward to the shelter of the tank ditch without receiving an enemy shot. The Japanese were pinned down. The assault initially saw the Americans pin down the Japanese. While the left wing of infantry troops started to push across the wide tank barrier, the tanks on their left momentarily broke off fire from the flank. A few tanks from A company, 767th Tank Battalion, moved toward the ocean to bypass the deep ditch, and the others after a brief hesitation laid a base of fire to cover the infantry's advance. The tanks hesitated to poke out along the flimsy wooden bridge by which Wallace Road cut through the angle of the tank trap. At this stage, a concentration of white phosphorus shells commenced to fall into the area in which I company, 32nd Infantry, was moving, and countless men were burned. After hesitating briefly the infantry moved steadily to the tank ditch. There the troops remained for some time because the medium tanks pulled back claiming they could not get over the ditch. The tanks finally broke through and began to make their way to the beach smashing pillboxes in the Corn strongpoint. An estimated 100 Japanese were killed in the area, the majority by demolition charges carried forward by engineer details while rifle and BAR men covered them. Little or no defense was put up against these tactics. The Japanese remained huddled in their shelters in spite of efforts made to coax them out to surrender. Only a single prisoner was taken in the whole area. Grenades were thrown into the shelters, and those who survived were then destroyed by demolition charges. Altogether, it took about 35 minutes to reduce Corn Strong Point once the American infantry got beyond the tank trap. Contact between the forward battalion of the 32nd Infantry and that of the 184th was temporarily lost during this fray, and K company, 32nd Infantry, moved through the left platoon of I company to establish contact firmly as soon as Corn Strong Point was taken. Advance to the Nora Road line seemed practicable within the time remaining before taking defensive positions for the night. To escape spending the night in an area too heavily wooded for security, the 3rd Battalion, 32nd Infantry, planned to advance northeast of the junction of Nora Road and Wallace Road, even though that would place its perimeter slightly forward of the 184th's front-line elements, which were resting just short of Nora Road itself. To the north, Colonel O'Sullivan's 2nd Battalion began advancing at 12:45 without tank support. F Company was on the right while E Company on the left along the lagoon. For the first 45 minutes no serious resistance was met. There were no tank obstacles in the area and the enemy's positions along the lagoon shore were less formidable than had been expected. At 1:30, however, the 184th had to lend its medium tanks to the 32nd Infantry as the latter moved against Corn Strong Point. This left the infantry unprotected at a time when they began to meet their first serious resistance. Without the tank support the infantry became stalled. The 184th suffered over 60 casualties by the end of the day, including the loss of F Company's commanding officer. O'Sullivan was forced to organize night defenses just 100 yards northeast of Carl Road, which also forced Logie to pull back to the abandoned trenches of Corn for the night. Heavy casualties were suffered that day, with 11 dead and 241 wounded. Japanese prisoners reported only 200 to 300 defenders remained, so the Americans expected a banzai charge to occur during the night. General Corlett's headquarters warned, "Be alert for counterattack at anytime day or night, it's bound to come. The Jap makes his suicide counterattack at dawn on the day after his cause becomes hopeless. Watch out tomorrow morning.” Yet there was no attach, so General Corlett prepared his men for a new assault at 07:15am. For the next day's operations, General Corlett ordered the two assault regiments: "Organize vigorous attack 0715 tomorrow… Finish the job not later than 1500 3 February. The Northern Force [at Roi-Namur] has finished the job…". At this point the Americans on Kwajalein faced a narrow 2000 yards of island. After artillery rained down at 7am, O'Sullivans 1st battalion advanced. In the first 150 yard B Company, along the lagoon, and Company A, at the right, advanced through rubble and broken trees west of Nora Road without more than scattered rifle fire from Japanese riflemen and occasional light machine gun fire from pillboxes. Their momentum carried them on for another 75 yards with such rapidity that the prospects for swift advance seemed excellent. B Company cleaned out an air raid shelter with grenades and shot down fleeing Japanese wearing arm bands like those of the American troops. Both companies were advancing over ground that had been under American mortar fire just before the jumpoff. At 8:06 enemy opposition was reported to be weak. After 250 yards the Americans reached the Admiralty area, finding a group of shattered buildings along the lagoon shore where it was believed the Japanese HQ was. Among the ruins were several underground shelters, with great earthen mounds above them. There were also concrete blockhouses.  Against strong resistance, B Company would not be able to advance further; A Company, meanwhile, pushed farther north and attempted to attack from the flank through the Admiralty area, but became quickly bogged down. At the same time, Logie sent forward his 3rd Battalion, with I Company rapidly advancing along the coast while K Company stopped to subdue a large concrete pillbox on the corner of the Admiralty area. By midday, I Company reached Noel Road and K Company successfully bypassed the Admiralty area. Yet behind them, there was a vertical gap including most of the Admiralty area between the two regiments. Thus, Corlett sent Logie's 1st Battalion to cover the gap and O'Sullivan's 2nd Battalion to swing right and continue the advance north while his 1st Battalion contained and neutralized the Admiralty area. At 3:30, the new attack was launched, with Logie's 3rd Battalion rapidly smashing into the Nap strongpoint while O'Sullivan's 1st Battalion concentrated on the Admiralty area and his 2nd Battalion attacked north towards Nob Pier. E Company started its attack before those of either G Company or the 1st Battalion. At 2:40 E Company began moving northwest. Somewhat more than half an hour later E Company  crossed Noel Road, with G Company on their right. 2 medium and 2 light tanks, taken over from the 1st Battalion, moved forward with each of the companies, and each had one squad of engineer troops with demolitions. Enemy rifle fire was heavy. The men broke up into small groups, proceeding unevenly in the general direction of Nob Pier. Between 6:30 and 7:00, Captain Peter Blaettler, commander of E Company was seriously wounded. Control from the battalion command post was lost seeing the men hugging the ground to avoid sharp fire from enemy riflemen. Colonel Aulich became separated from the main part of his battalion and was to remain so until the next morning, for all intensive purposes he lost command of his unit. The 2nd Battalion's attack was pushed along the eastern side of Will Road toward Nathan Road, but as sunset approached it became evident not only that Company E would not reach Nob Pier but also that across Will Road on the left flank there was an area with many strong enemy defense positions too powerful to be occupied in the 45 minutes before dark. Meanwhile, at 3:45 A Company 1st battalion was joined by 2 medium tanks and C Company  by 2 mediums and 2 M10 tank destroyers. At 4:05 they assaulted the western edge of the built-up Admiralty area along a 300 yard front, with A Company's right wing somewhat south of Noel Road. 10 minutes later they advanced towards the lagoon. Will Road was crossed shortly after 4:30. The enemy was much more firmly established between the highway and the beach, in pillboxes, blockhouses, and strong shelters. Mortar fire kept the enemy down until the tanks and infantry approached. The coordinated effort of tanks, infantry, and demolition teams ran very smoothly, gradually destroying the pillboxes and blockhouses of the Admiralty area, successfully reaching the lagoon by 6pm.  To the east, Logie's I Company rapidly reduced the weakly-defended Nap strongpoint and then pushed forward to the objective Nathan Road with haste while the other companies made slower progress against stronger defenses and would not be able to reach their objectives before nightfall. The Japanese in the areas south of the front line, were in greater numbers than on either of the preceding nights of the Kwajalein Island operation. They prowled in the forward area all night. Some incidents occurred as far to the rear as Corn Strong Point, more than a 1000 yards from the 32nd Infantry's advanced position. Japanese came out of shelters, screaming and yelling, throwing grenades, and charging at the men in their foxholes. They fired rifles and threw grenades from buildings that offered places of advantage. In a pocket northeast of the Admiralty area, they greatly harassed the companies near them. Attacks from the north and from the lagoon shore were also attempted by enemy troops at various times during the night. Just after sunset, a bugle could be heard sounding among the enemy shelters near the base of Nob Pier, and shortly afterward a headlong counterattack by screaming Japanese was made toward E and G Companies, 184th Regiment. As the Japanese tried to cross Will Road, they were cut down to the last man. 5 more attacks were broken up before they were actually in progress by barrages along the entire front from mortars and from the supporting batteries of artillery on Carlson Island; and more attacks followed after midnight. From various positions beyond Nathan Road, enemy machine gun, mortar, and artillery fire was directed into the forward area at irregular intervals during the night, sometimes coinciding so closely with the fire from Carlson Island that Japanese monitoring of the artillery radio was suspected. Nonetheless, over 1000 yards had been gained, by February 3. The Americans estimated they had killed around 1300 Japanese, more than were expected to still be in the island, at the cost of 54 dead and 255 wounded.  After sunset, several Japanese counterattacks and infiltration attempts were carried out against the steadfast Americans, all ending disastrously. Corlett expected to end the enemy resistance by February 4; but far too many small pockets remained in the rear and the reserve battalions were experiencing difficulties rooting them out. Corlett's final plan was for Logie's 1st Battalion to clear the remainder of the island, allowing  Companies C, B and A to attack through O'Sullivan's 2nd Battalion and Logie's 3rd Battalion. Unbeknownst to him, O'Sullivan also directed his 2nd Battalion to attack towards Nob Pier in order to complete the unfinished task of the previous day.  At 7:15, Corlett unleashed his final attack, supported by tanks. On the east, Logie's Companies A and B ran into a full-scale battle with the Japanese who had been bypassed the day before and who now poured heavy fire on the companies as they advanced toward the line of departure. It was not until 10:00 that the 2 1st Battalion companies reached the lines held by the 3rd Battalion. Then, the Americans successfully managed to advance 200 yards past Nathan Road, where the advance was stopped pending relief. Meanwhile, to the west, the attack of O'Sullivan's 2nd Battalion, supported by B Company , prevented the advance of Logie's C Company until 11:00. The Americans managed to push towards Nob Pier by 1:00, where they found no enemy resistance. Behind them, the lagoon shore continued to be mopped up, showcasing a surprising number of Japanese and Koreans surrendering.  All forward movement of the 1st Battalion had stopped, its line consisting of a series of small, exhausted groups in a dense confusion of debris. The ground was interlaced with innumerable trenches and foul with bodies of the enemy, many of them long dead. Some of the corpses had been mangled by maneuvering tanks, adding greatly to the nauseating stench that blighted the area. Finally, at 3:45, Logie's 2nd Battalion passed through the 1st to complete the assault along Kwajalein. These troops would successfully push to the island's northern tip, blasting through the remaining Japanese camouflaged dugouts and ruined concrete blockhouses.  As in every other island battle, Japanese stragglers had infiltrated the American lines through tunnels and overlooked bunkers, and the assault troops quickly learned to watch their backs. Nisei interpreters broadcast surrender appeals through loudspeakers, but there were only a few dozen takers, and most of the men who gave themselves up were Korean laborers. At long last, G Company reached Nero Point at 3:15. At 4:10 Corlett radioed to Admiral Turner: "All organized resistance… has ceased. The troops have been organized for mopping up operations." yet F Company, would still have to methodically destroy the enemy positions until they finally secured Kwajalein's northern end at 7:20. Ken Dodson went ashore the next morning. Writing to his wife, he described a desolate landscape of “shell craters and hillocks of upturned coral. Some of the Japanese had been dead from the first bombardment, the day before we landed. Their bodies were seared and bloated, and the stench was sickening. I saw one half buried in a pillbox. You could not tell whether he had on any clothes or not. The skin was burned off his back and his head lay a few feet from his body. Another looked like a bronze statue in Golden Gate Park. He lay forward in a crouch, helmet still on, both hands holding on to a coconut log of his pillbox. There were many, many others. I lie in bed at night remembering how they looked, and that awful sweetish sickening stench of powder, and kerosene and decaying human flesh, and I wonder, after all, what war is all about. I feel sorry for those Japs in a way. They died courageously after a stubborn, last-ditch, hopeless fight. They fought for the things they had been taught to believe in, with their poor little bundles with pictures of their wives and kiddies tied to their belts. . . . They can't tell me war is a fine and noble thing.' Losses during the last day were 252 wounded, with 65 Japanese killed and over 100 captured. Thus, for the Battle of Kwajalein Island, the Americans suffered a total of 142 killed, 845 wounded and 2 missing, killing around 4300 Japanese and capturing another 166. During the week after Operation Flintlock, numerous high ranking visitors descended on the battle-scarred islands of Kwajalein Atoll. Admiral Nimitz flew out from Pearl Harbor with an entourage of officers. On February 5, when fires were still burning on Kwajalein Island, he toured the blackened wastes alongside Spruance, Turner, Smith, and several other major commanders of the fleet and Amphibious Corps. Three weeks earlier Nimitz had been the guest of honor at a huge “Texas Picnic” in a Honolulu park. Walking among 40,000 sailors, soldiers, and civilians. He had pitched horseshoes, posed for photographs, and signed autographs. Afterward, the park looked as if it had been hit by a hurricane—clean-up crews had to cart away more than 50 truckloads of garbage and debris. An estimated 120,000 beer bottles had been left strewn across the grass. Now, upon setting foot on the lagoon beach at Kwajalein, Nimitz was waylaid by a mob of correspondents. “What do you think of the island?” one asked. The admiral drew a cheerful laugh by replying, “Gentlemen, it's the worst scene of devastation I have ever witnessed—except for the Texas picnic.” The operation had been a model one in almost every respect. The attacking force had achieved strategic surprise; artillery preparation, naval gunfire, and aerial bombardment had successfully softened up the target in a fashion unexcelled at any other time in the Pacific War; the ship-to-shore movement had been conducted expeditiously and without too many hiccups; supplies flowed ashore and to the front lines relatively smoothly and without interruption; the infantry-engineer teams assisted by tanks moved steadily clearing the enemy from shelters and pillboxes; and American casualties had been fairly light. Altogether, the battle for Kwajalein represented the ideal for all military operations. To complete the conquest of the southern Kwajalein islands, detachments of amphibian tanks had been landed on Buster and Byron back on February 3. Troops of the 2nd Battalion, 17th Regiment landed on Burnet and Blakenship on February 4; the chain between Ashberry and Bennett was secured by February 5. On that same day, Clement, Clarence, and Clifford Islands were also secured, although on Clifton a force of 101 Japanese fought to the death. Beverly, Benson and Berlin were also secured on February 5, seeing 119 Japanese dead on the latter. Bennett fell against the 7th Reconnaissance Troop and O'Sullivan's 3rd Battalion with 94 Japanese killed. Most importantly, Colonel Zimmerman's 1st and 3rd Battalions landed on Burton's Beach Orange 4. The fortifications on Burton were much lighter than those on Kwajalein, mostly machine gun positions and rifle pits. These were organized at the beaches with a concentration of dual-purpose machine guns grouped around the seaplane base in the lagoon. At the base of the south seaplane ramp was a 20-mm. antiaircraft machine gun. Near it, and between the two seaplane ramps, were two 13-mm. single-mount machine guns, three 7.7-mm. machine guns, and a concrete pillbox. Two 8-cm. dual-purpose guns were located on the ocean shore. The large number of empty machine gun emplacements would seem to indicate that the defenses of the island had not been completed at the time of the invasion. The few pillboxes found in the vicinity of the seaplane base were small, reinforced concrete shelters, each with two firing ports facing seaward. Most of the fire trenches and rifle pits were on the ocean side at the center of the island and at the north and south ends of the island. On the morning of February 3 after a heavy artillery, air and naval bombardment, the 1st Battalion traversed the southern end of the island against weak resistance and began pushing north supported by tanks, ultimately getting stopped by strong enemy resistance at Bailey Pier.  The following morning, the assault was resumed at 0730, the main enemy resistance had shifted to the eastern side of the island. The Japanese had reoccupied four pillboxes close to the American front line on the ocean side, and were able to hold up A Company, but with the aid of self-propelled mounts, the company took the positions. During the morning, a flight of five Navy bombers made two runs over targets that had been spotted with the aid of information from a prisoner. The planes dropped a total of two and three quarters tons on an ammunition dump, a shelter, and a heavy machine gun that had an excellent field of fire across the hangar apron. Direct hits on these targets apparently disheartened the enemy. Not a single shot was fired by them at any later time during the operation. They remained buried in their dugouts until forced out or until they killed themselves. By 1130, when the 3d Battalion passed through and took up the assault, B Company  had moved about 350 yards to the southern edge of the concrete apron, and on the right A Company  was fifty to 75 yards farther back. The 3rd Battalion continued the advance north against meager resistance, ultimately reaching Burton's northern tip by 12:10. After this, the last of the enemy were readily mopped up; and by 3:37, the island was fully secured. During this battle, the 17th Regiment suffered 7 killed and 82 wounded while reporting 450 Japanese dead. Meanwhile, to the north, the 25th Marines led by Colonel Samuel C. Cumming occupied some 55 islands in the northern part of the atoll between February 2-7, finding absolutely no enemy resistance. With Kwajalein Atoll finally secured, the next objective in the Marshalls for Admirals Nimitz and Spruance would be Eniwetok, where Major-General Nishida Yoshimi was preparing his men to fight to the last. Yet that's it for the Marshall islands today, as now we are traveling over to the CBI theater, where Generals Christison and Stilwell's offensives continued.  Now last time we left off with the gang in Burma General Liao's 22nd division, Colonel Rothwell Brown's 1st provisional tank group, General Merrill's Galahad Unit alongside Chinese and American engineers were busy building the Ledo Road through the Hukawng valley. Location parties up ahead cleared a trace the width of a bulldozer and put in the center-line stakes. The final clearing averaged 150 feet. The route of the Ledo Road in some cases followed existing roads, a circumstance that did not greatly diminish the amount of clearing needed. Most clearing was by bulldozer. Combat trails and access roads were cleared to the necessary minimum that would permit heavy equipment to use them. In the valleys, the road was generally built on embankments in order to lift it above flood level. In mountainous regions, side-hill cuts were used. The road itself had about seven culverts to the mile in the mountains and five to the mile in the lowlands. These culverts were most necessary as the road was a barrier to the normal runoff of water. Surfacing was with stream-bed gravel in the valley sections and, so far as hauling permitted, natural gravel in the mountainous sections. Surfacing was about ten inches thick on the average, and from twenty to twenty-eight feet wide. Compaction was by the normal road traffic. Two regiments of Chinese engineers did pioneer construction work. There was also a combat road, a hasty improvement of the existing Kamaing Road plus the Kachin and Naga trails, that ran through Shingbwiyang, Yupbang Ga, and Taihpa Ga, then went south. The trace of the Ledo Road was moved to higher ground on the north. Forward construction units were rationed from combat supply points. Meanwhile Vinegar Joe sought to end the campaign with a single decisive victory. He planned to deploy the 1st Tank Battalion as an armored spearhead against Maingkwan, the 1st battalion, 66th regiment, the 113th was to follow down the road to take over successive positions, while the 114th would assemble at Taihpa in reserve and the 112th was to protect the flank east of the Tanai, advancing on Mashi Daru. He expected his men to hit the enemy across their rear areas. Now January had been a very rainy month, armored warfare does not do well in mud, so it was important the terrain was dry for the offensive. Stilwell would end up on February 4th decided to shift the bulk of the 22nd division to seize Yawngbang-Lakyen line while General Sun's 38th Division cleaned up the area south and east of the Tanai.  Once this first phase was done, then General Liao's 2 regiments could support an armored advance south towards Walawbum. The bad weather, however, had also delayed road work and hampered their supply lines. Stilwell biding his time, building up a reserve at Shingbwiyang and Ningam, while the men progressed their work on the Ledo Road, and built an airfield at Taihpa before launching his second phase. This unfortunately also gave enough time for General Tanaka to prepare an orderly withdrawal towards Maingkwan. During early february, General Sun's 32nd division successfully accomplished their part of the mission, but to the southwest, the enveloping hook from the Taro Plain did not go as planned. By February 14th, the 66th regiment were beginning to arrive on the Taro Plain through heavy rain, but only the 3rd battalion of the 65th regiment managed to join them. The 66th regiment was forced to continue without the proper support until they diverted to Yawngbang Ga which they seized on the 16th. By the 18th, Stilwell and Liao personally went over to check on their regiment's location and found the entire force was within the neighborhood of the 66th command post. It seems the utter confusion during these movements saved the Japanese, as quoted by General Tanaka: "If the Chinese 65th and 66th Infantry Regiments operating in the vicinity of Yawngbang had been prompt in closing in on our left rear flank on the 15th or 16th, as predicted, the main force of the 18th Division would have faced a grave crisis." After sorting out the confusion,  the Chinese advanced from Yawngbang Ga to Lakyen Ga. There they captured a Japanese document indicating they were withdrawing. Thus another chance to envelop the enemy had thus been lost.    Meanwhile, to support Stilwell's offensive, the two Allied long-range penetration units, the Chindits and Merrill's Marauders, were preparing to embark on a new mission, codenamed Operation Thursday. It was to be the second Chindit expedition with the objective of mounting a long range penetration behind the Japanese who were opposing Stilwells forces in the Northern front. It was hoping the action would prevent the arrival of any reinforcements from the two Japanese divisions on the Central Front. General Hap Arnold wanted his airmen to take the Chindits behind Japanese lines, carry their supplies, evacuate their wounded and eventually fly them off, so he decided to create the 1st Air Commando Unit, under Lieutenant-Colonel Philip Cochram. The unit consisted of a squadron of P-51s; one of B-25s; 100 C4A Waco gliders; and a squadron of C-47s. Arnold spelled out the mission to Cochram and Lieutenant-Colonel John Alison, his deputy. "This man [Wingate] has really done some remarkable things. He has walked through the jungles. He has carried his supplies on mules. It takes him about six weeks to get his men through the jungle, across the rivers, and in behind the Japanese lines. The next time he goes in, I don't want him to walk. I want him to go by air. I want to make this an air operation completely independent of land transport. I want to demonstrate that you can use the air just like the navy uses the sea. You can land and maintain a force and support it in battle. I want you to go in there and take out General Wingate's wounded. We will make available the resources that you need. 'I not only want you to do that... but I want the USAAF to spearhead General Wingate's operations.' We gathered he wouldn't mind if we turned it into an air show." The mad onion lad Wingate also wanted to created strongholds within the Japanese controlled areas that could serve as bases to receive aircrafts of all types, store  supplies, hold wounded until they could be extracted, and act as centers for locals resisting the enemy. The motto for the Stronghold, as he called it, was “No Surrender”. Meanwhile Stilwell ordered Merril to close in on Ledo by February 7th, and the last American unit would arrive to Margherita on February 9th. Merrill's Marauders were to assemble at Ningbyen by February 21st whereupon they would envelop the 18th divisions east flank and block the Kamaing road near Shaduzap with the support of Sun's 113th Regiment. Simultaneously Stilwell's other troops were preparing for their attack on Maingkwan. Further in the south General Christison's 15th Corps was in a lot of trouble. The Japanese had been bringing in a lot of reinforcements for their forthcoming Arakan counteroffensive from both within and outside the Burma theater throughout December and January. By early February, General Hanaya had assembled his men and was ready to launch the first phase of Operation Ha-Go. General Hanaya planned to destroy the 7th Indian Division in the region east of Mayu Range using a pincer movement launched simultaneously from the north and south. After that, he would shift the main weight of his 55th Division near Ngangyaung against the 5th Indian Division in the Maungdaw region west of the Mayu Range. From there, he hoped to advance along the Kaladan valley to perform the phase of Ha-Go, named the Kaladan Operation. For this the men would advance towards Chittagong to distract attention from around Imphal and to draw the British reserves into Arakan.  On the night of February 3, Hanaya unleashed his offensive, with several columns, under the command of Major-General Sakurai Tokutaro, commander of the 55th Infantry Group. His force secretly infiltrated through the jungle under the cover of darkness, on the left bank of the Kalapanzin river near Buthidaung, through gaps between the 7th Division's widely separated brigades. The element of terrain and weather was paramount. Throughout the dry season a morning mist with heavy dew formed daily in the small hours and, unless cleared by rain and wind, normally persisted till well after sunrise; the noise made by the dew falling from the trees on to the dry undergrowth was loud enough to drown the sound of footsteps so that, in the jungle, movement in the early morning could be unheard as well as unseen. The tides were an important factor in planning, for at high tide many of the chaungs were unfordable. The knife-edge ridges into which the Japanese so often dug their defenses presented an unusual artillery problem. If guns were to bring effective fire to bear, they had to be sited on the line of the axis of a ridge, which was always difficult and sometimes impossible. Fire from any other angle meant that reverse slope defenses were untouched and accurate ranging was extremely difficult. The dense jungle covering the hilltops greatly restricted their use as observation points. Using the early morning mists, Hanaya's men shrouded their columns advance cutting deeply into the British defenses. At about 9 am the Gwalior Lancers reported to 7th Division by wireless that a column of Japanese about a hundred strong followed by another about eight hundred strong were approaching Taung Bazar. Major-General Frank Messervy immediately ordered his reserve brigade, the 89th to advance north to locate and destroy them and asked 15th Corps to speed up the arrival of the tanks. Christison ordered the 25th Dragoons to send a squadron to Sinzweya and 5th Division to send an infantry detachment to prevent infiltration over Goppe Pass. The 89th Brigade advanced north in two columns: the right column encountered the Japanese at about 4 pm near Ingyaung resulting in hand to hand fighting, and the left reached the bend of the Prein Chaung east of Preingyaung. The right column  dug in at Ingyaung and Lin babi and the left over the Prein Chaung. Although the main force of the 1st Echelon was delayed by some confusion, the advance guard surprised the Taung Bazar garrison at 7am. Without delay, the Battalion crossed the Kalapanzin River south of Taung Bazar, using captured boats, and was followed closely by the 2nd Echelon and the 3rd Battalion of the 112th Infantry Regiment. The main body of the 1st Echelon crossed the river northwest of Taung Bazar on the morning of the 5th. By 9am Taung Bazar was overwhelmed as the Japanese forces crossed the Kalapanzin River to cut the Ngakyedauk Pass in order to isolate the 7th Division. Meanwhile the 1st Battalion, 213th Regiment headed towards Ngangyaung. The battalion advanced parallel to the Sakurai Column before moving towards Goppe Bazaar. It was held up short of its objective, however, by the leading elements of 26th Indian Division committed from army reserve on 5th February to bolster 15th Corps. Despite this local setback, the Japanese hauled their mountain guns and equipment over the Mayu Range, midway between Goppe and Ngakyedauk, before attacking administrative troops, bridges, dumps, ambushing convoys and building a roadblock on the main line of communications along the Bawli-Maungdaw road. It failed to prevent supplies reaching 5th Indian Division, however, whose ammunition, equipment and food was transported by sea to Maungdaw. Overnight the rear areas of 15th Corps were transformed into the front line with administrative troops bearing much of the burden of dealing with advancing Japanese troops. To the surprise of many officers, they displayed a determination and fighting spirit unknown a year before and took a heavy toll of the Japanese attackers bearing out Slim's direction that every man in the army should be a soldier first and a tradesman or specialist second. The bulk of the 112th regiment led by Colonel Tanahashi Shinsaku marched towards the pass as the 2nd battalion 143rd regiment and Sakurai's HQ advanced south. The quickly found enemy resistance near Ingyaung which delayed their advance for over 2 days. Failing to make contact with General Sakurai, the Battalion continued its advance southward, bypassing Awlanbyin. Major Gen. Sakurai and his headquarters also got involved in fighting off enemy counterattacks near Ingyaung on the 5th and 6th and due to failure of his communications, was unable to keep in touch with his units. To further support the offensive, Japanese fighters and bombers from the 5th Air Division's 7th Air Brigade launched a heavy offensive to gian air superiority over the battlefield, using 34 fighters and 10 bombers. Between the 4th and 14th their fighters flew 350 sorties, and bombers attacked the Bawli and Briasco bridges and Sinzweya. Spitfires intercepted them but had less success than before. Japanese losses were believed to be some 14 aircraft destroyed and a number damaged, while RAF losses during the same period were around 11 fighters. On february 5th, having made such quick progress, Hanaya ordered the 143rd regiment to advance north. The 3rd battalion, 143rd managed to infiltrate through the Indian brigades en route and joined Sakurai's men to hit the pass. Seeing the danger, General Slim decided to reinforce Christison with the 26th Indian division led by Under General Lomax. Christison in turn ordered Lomax to move it forward to Bawli Bazar as quickly as possible. Upon their arrival at Bawli North, the 71st Brigade was then ordered to relieve the detachment from 5th Division on Goppe Pass and then attack the Japanese operating in rear of 7th Division. Likewise the 36th Indian division of Major-General F. W. Festing sped up their advance towards Chittagong while C-46 Commandos and C-47 Dakotas air dropped ammunition, food and other supplies to the front units. On the morning of the 6th, the 112th Regiment reached the sector north of Sinzweya and overran the headquarters of the British-Indian 7th Division while the 1st Battalion cut the Ngakyedauk Pass. In a perfect position to envelop the enemy in Sinzweya, Colonel Tanahashi disregarded the vital necessity for speed and delayed for 24 hours, giving the British time to establish a perimeter defense in the Sinzweya Basin. East of the range at about 5:00am, an enemy force, estimated at battalion strength, penetrated the widely separated posts held by the company of 24th Engineer Battalion defending 7th Division Headquarters, established machine-gun posts on tracks throughout the headquarters area and broke into the signal center. In hand-to-hand fighting the attackers were driven out, but not before all communications had been cut and ciphers compromised. Tanks from Sinzweya moved to the sound of the fighting as soon as it was light but the ground prevented them from reaching the headquarters area; rain which set in about 8:30 further hampered them and they had to withdraw. At about 10:00am, the signal center was finally overrun. Messervy, unable to exercise command any longer, sent orders to all branches of his headquarters to destroy papers and equipment of value and make their way in small parties to Sinzweya. Most of them succeeded in doing so during the following 24 hours. Major-General Frank Messervy and his staff would manage to successfully escape towards Sinzweya. Consequently, instead of ordering a general withdrawal like the Japanese expected, Christison directed the 9th Brigade to organize a defense of Sinzweya, which was the weakest link of the four isolated, self-contained all-round defensive boxes held by each brigade of the 7th Division. By the 7th, the defense of Sinzweya, also known as the Admin Box had been consolidated. The perimeter consisted of a series of small defended posts held, in the main, by administrative units, except at the south east and southwest corners where the roads entered the area. These were held by 4/8th Gurkhas and a company of 2nd West Yorkshire. There were insufficient troops to hold the whole of the Point 315 feature, and thus there was a deep reentrant between the southeast and northeast corners of the perimeter extending back to the southern end of Ammunition Hill. Most of the artillery was disposed on the southern face with attachments holding perimeter posts. The 25th Dragoons were in mobile reserve in two harbors held by a company of 3/4th Bombay Grenadiers, one each side of Ammunition Hill. The 2nd West Yorkshire constituted the infantry reserve and was located with divisional and garrison headquarters on the western side of Ammunition Hill. The main dressing station in the southwest corner was being moved to a more secure area. During the night, the Japanese launched an assault against Sinzweya, yet the tenacious defenders managed to hold on against the fierce enemy pressure. That night, the 33rd Brigade also managed to repulse an attack against Sinohbyin, though the arrival of these reinforcements would allow Sakurai to extricate himself from Ingyaung and head to Sinzweya to take command over the assault. On February 8, all British troops east of the Mayu range were receiving supplies by air, yet the strong presence of enemy fighters disrupted the first few attempts. Eventually, British air superiority would be restored. The No. 31 Squadron and 62 Squadron were reinforced on the 10th by 194 Squadron and on the 25th by 117 Squadron, recently arrived from the Middle East. Not only were 7th and 81st Divisions kept supplied with food and ammunition, but such amenities as cigarettes, rum, mail, razor blades and newspapers were delivered by air to the troops in increasing quantities as time went on, certainly a morale booster. Throughout the battle the Strategic Air Force and 224 Group gave constant close support to 15th Corps. In addition to providing escorts for transport squadrons, Hurricanes harried road, river and coastal transport on the Japanese lines of communication to Arakan that movement by day into the area virtually ceased. Tactical bombing of enemy positions was undertaken by two Vengeance squadrons which flew no less than 269 sorties in just over a week. The transports flew a total of 714 sorties in 5 weeks, successfully delivering nearly 2300 tons of supplies. From the night of February 8 onwards, the Admin and other boxes would also hold firm against repeated ferocious Japanese infantry night assaults, occasional air attacks and limited artillery bombardment from a handful of mountain and battalion guns by day and a medium gun firing from the nearby tunnels, thus showcasing the new spirit of the British-Indian troops. As quoted by Lieutenant-General Pownall: “We've learned how to fight where we stand and NOT to be frightened of the bogey of infiltration.” I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Kwajalein has finally fallen, leaving the rest of the Marshalls at the mercy of the colossal allied air, land and sea forces. Within Burma, the Chinese, British, Indian and Americans were ferociously meeting the Japanese, showcasing their dominance in the theater was no longer as sure thing, now the Japanese faced a much stronger enemy.   

January 6, Sarah Merril contacts the Mount Vernon, Washington, Police Department, reporting her 14-year-old daughter, Ella Jones is missing.  Ella Jones has not made contact with any family members or friends since.   After police released information about Ella Jones disappearance, some of her friends reached out to Merril, telling her that Ella had been talking to an older man on social media.  The morning of her disappearance,  the mom went to Ella's room and saw her window was open, but her phone, keys, and computer were left behind.   Merrill tells KING 5 Seattle that Ella left a cryptic message sayin she loved her mother and "didn't want to hurt us anymore."  Merrill tells FOX Digital  it appears Ella knew where she was going because she took some of her belongings.  Visit here for the family's GoFundMe page Joining Nancy Grace Today: Sarah Merrill  - Ella Jones's mother; TikTok, FB, X: @findellajones/ IG: find_ella_jones Kimberly Fierley - Godmother   Dale Carson - Criminal Defense Attorney (Jacksonville), Former FBI Agent, Former Police Officer, & Author: "Arrest-Proof Yourself;" Twitter/X: @DaleCarsonLaw  Caryn L. Stark – Psychologist, Renowned TV and Radio Trauma Expert and Consultant; Instagram: carynpsych/FB: Caryn Stark Private Practice Bill Garcia - Licensed Private Investigator, "Bill Garcia Investigative Services;" Facebook: Bill Garcia Investigative Services   Anna Sonoda – Child Grooming Expert, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, and Author: “Duck Duck Groom: Understanding How a Child Becomes a Target” Nicole Partin - CrimeOnline.com Investigative Reporter; Twitter/X: @nicolepartin   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark Yusko is the CEO & CIO of Morgan Creek Capital Management. We discuss:- Bitcoin Spot ETF launch and inflows- Jamie Dimon, Vanguard, & Merril anti Bitcoin Stance - Ethereum Spot ETF approval chances - Will the Fed cut rates and start the money printer this year - Bitcoin can quickly break six figures this year - Can Bitcoin overtake Gold's ETF AUM this cycle?

Traditional Christmas song checklist // Tesla Recall // Quiet quitting and slacking off // Relationship help from Chris

Entrepreneurship is groundless because things are always changing. Finding success means learning to stay afloat with what is happening. Join us in this episode as Merril Gilbert from Trace Trust shares how to thrive in an era where change is the only constant. She discusses the changes in entrepreneurship, from raising capital to fostering resilience in uncertain times. Merril touches on the power of community, impact-driven entrepreneurship, celebrating progress, a purpose more than profit, and more. Today's discussions are not just about entrepreneurship but also about seizing opportunities in this world. Tune in now.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! tigbrands.com/tig-talks/

Merril Hoge isn't willing to put all the blame for the loss to the Patriots on Mitch Trubisky's shoulders given the effort Merril saw from the rest of the offense.

Ray Carnicelli and Matt Kerwick bring on canadian lacross legend Brodie Merrill as well as Mark Dixon of the Big 10 Network!

IN EPISODE 154: When adversity strikes, we can either lose ourselves in pain, blame and shame -- or we can find a way to move forward with purpose and passion. In Episode 154, former NFL player Merril Hoge shares his personal story battling adversity -- a career-ending injury, depression and cancer -- and how "find a way" became his personal mantra for discovering a deeper sense of agency, courage and hope. After listening to Merril, you'll understand what it takes to turn setbacks into comebacks -- and find a way to bring more resilience to life's challenges. ABOUT MERRIL HOGE: Merril Hoge is a former NFL running back with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Chicago Bears who set teams records for receptions. A former analyst for ESPN, Merril serves on the board of the Chuck Noll Foundation for Brain Injury Research, leads the NFL's Way To Play  program, and also works with the Steelers on their scouting staff. He's an inspirational speaker and the author of two books: "Brainwashed: The Bad Science Behind CTE and the Plot to Destroy Football," and "Find a Way: Three Words That Changed My Life."

Merril Hoge is a former professional American football player. He played eight seasons at running back for the National Football League (NFL's) Pittsburgh Steelers and Chicago Bears, retiring after the 1994 season. In 1996 he became a football analyst for ESPN television until 2017.  During a road game in 1994 against the Kansas City Chiefs, Hoge suffered a concussion and, five days later, the team doctor approved him to resume playing during a telephone call without examining him to determine if he had recovered; he was still suffering post-concussion symptoms.  Hoge sustained another concussion several weeks later, and had to be resuscitated after he stopped breathing. He spent 48 hours in the intensive-care unit and was forced to retire due to brain injury. Hoge had to learn to read again and experienced memory loss, confusion and headaches. In 2003, Hoge was diagnosed with stage II Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Hoge commented on this: It is destroyable, it is beatable. You have everything in you to do it. The mind is a powerful thing. There is no doubt, come May, I'll be cancer free; five years after that, I'll be cured. Fifty years or whatever time I have left after that, it will be the platform I stand for. I'll be a better man. This has been a blessing.  Sara and Merril talk about sports, parenting sports kids, leadership and his slogan by which to live your life: “Find a Way”. Merril talks about his life journey and how as a father, player and leader, he learned the power of self-reflection as a way of looking at situations differently and learning different ways than his father may have showed him. Self-reflection helps in building resiliency and to live a life that you don't live to regret. He also shares tools for parenting that made a difference in his parenting: He judges kids in yardsticks of how many years they have lived.. do not assume they think like an adult. He is a believer of patience and keeping perspective at all times. Hoge reminds us that what are children see us do, they do- so we are responsible for modelling the right behavior.  Merril's wisdom is shared and we can all learn from a man who has been a football star, but also has gone through enough of life's challenges to learn from those as well. Website: www.saraschultingkranz.com Social media: IG:  https://www.instagram.com/saraschultingkranz/             YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@saraschultingkranz./about Sponsor: Go to www.saraschultingkranz.com and use the code Live Boldly at checkout to get the special price of $39 for programs offered. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The French archaeologist Ludovic Slimak has spent three decades uncovering evidence of ancient human life. In The Naked Neanderthal (translated by David Watson) he explores the last great extinction of a humanity that died out at the very moment Homo Sapiens expanded across the earth. The ingenuity, compassion and cruelty of Homo Sapiens are at the centre of Sebastian Faulks's new novel, The Seventh Son. As scientists develop methods to genetically alter the human race, ethical questions arise, as do questions about how humans respond to difference. The American playwright Lauren Gunderson interrogates our relationship with AI in her new play, Anthropology, at the Hampstead Theatre, London (to 14th October). When Angie goes missing, presumed dead, her grieving sister Merril assembles the digital footprint she left behind, and builds herself a digital simulation. Producer: Katy Hickman

Join me and my special guest, Merril Hoge as we uncover the power of the Find A Way Mentality to overcome adversity & achieve success.   Merril Hoge is a former NFL player and current ESPN analyst. He is known for his Find-A-Way philosophy, which helped him overcome obstacles throughout his life, including cancer, open-heart surgery, and family tragedy.    He has shared this philosophy in speeches and in his best-selling books, "Find a Way: Three Words That Changed My Life" and "Brainwashed: The Bad Science Behind CTE and the Plot to Destroy Football".    In addition to his work as a speaker and author, Merril has also been a strong advocate for concussion research and has served on various committees and boards related to head injury prevention in football.   In this episode, you will learn: 1. The power of the mind and spirit 2. Understanding that you are in charge 3. Strategies for controlling your mind 4. Taking action to attack your circumstances   Tune into this EXCITING episode of Stand Out & Grow with Kat Ramirez.   Find all notes at www.standoutngrow.com Find adBidtise Properties at: www.adbidtise.com www.hashtagsocialbuzz.com www.linkedin4yourbusiness.com www.katherineramirez.net Please take a moment and review us so more people can find our podcast. Thanks in advance. Kat You Got This!

Merril ranks his top current NFL RBs and provides his top 5 NFL teams with a coach on the hot seat entering 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Merril gives his top NFL factor backs, if the NFL is still a two back league, and the reason the RB position has such a low shelf life. And is the LSU jello shot tally legit? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chris Merrill in for John & Ken. Alex Stone comes on the show to talk about the latest on the suspect in the murder of 4 college students in Idaho. More on how they found the suspect. Here are some new laws going into effect this year. The Rose Bowl will never be the same.

7-year-old Merril screams when she doesn't get her way, and she and her mom would like Dr. Laura's help with taming her temper. - Dr. Laura: "There are more effective ways to get what you want than yelling."Do you shout when you're frustrated? Email me your thoughts at: drlaura@drlaura.com To participate on the radio program; call 1-800-Dr-Laura / 1-800-375-2872 or make an appointment - https://www.drlaura.com/make-an-appointment. Find me on social media at:Facebook.com/DrLauraInstagram.com/DrLauraProgramTwitter.com/DrLauraProgramPinterest.com/DrLauraYouTube.com/DrLauraBecome a Dr. Laura Family Member: https://www.drlaura.com/ See https://www.drlaura.com/privacy-policy for privacy information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.