Podcasts about star wars hotel

Ashley, here! So I'm getting ready to move (again) and moving is a few steps below Hell on Earth and the only thing keeping me from rejecting all of my earthly possessions for a life among the jellyfish has been the fact that it's spring and I'm allergic to being outdoors when there are plants growing. (I am exaggerating, but like…barely.) I've been consuming too many YouTube video essays while searching for tape and sharpies. Did you know Ringo Starr recorded a disco album? That there's a group of people doing competitive birdwatching? There's that four hour video about the Star Wars Hotel. DashCon expose. The YouTube Plagiarism/James Somerton expose, that's a banger in this house. That ANTM documentary just dropped, so I keep getting suggested thinkpieces on Tyra Banks and such. I don't really have a point, other than video essays are neat and I enjoy learning about random things, even if it's the fact that Nickelback recorded a song with Flo Rida. (It's just as awful as it sounds, look it up.) Anyway. We're doing our 2025 music wrap up episodes and these episodes always end up being a good time. So, please enjoy. I gotta finish shoving books in boxes while consuming a four hour video about Animorphs. Be jealous.

This episode originally broadcast on July 17, 2025. The original podcast post is here: https://pixelatedgeek.com/2025/07/binary-system-podcast-466-station-eleven-lower-decks-superman-and-the-spectacular-failure-of-the-star-wars-hotel/It's a bonus-sized (and spoileriffic!) episode this week because we've got a lot to go over. Another episode of Station Eleven of course, with gorgeous cinematography, excellent music, and a lot of questions: are the child-bombing psychos from the Museum, the Prophet, or the Red Bandanas? (Or all three, we have no idea who's side anybody is on.) Does the Conductor have cancer, because in TV land bald = cancer but we know in the real world bald = chemotherapy and there's probably not a lot of chemo in the apocalypse. And finally, Alex, come on, we know you're up to something, please don't be evil?Next up on the season 4 finale of Lower Decks, remember last week where we wondered if one storyline was a very deep pull from Star Trek the Next Generation? Turns out yes it was a very deep pull from Star Trek the Next Generation. One that, at the time, made us feel really bad so it's no surprise we squashed the memory. But this episode makes up for a lot of that.And after that, surprise of all surprises, Elizabeth went to see the new Superman movie while it was still in the theater. Short version: she really liked it, though it wasn't quite as good as that trailer we loved. But that's an awfully high bar to hit. However Nathan Fillion is all kinds of awesome, the end.And finally, Kathryn watched the first hour of the Hugo-nominated "The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel." Turns out there are many things to love about Disney's short-lived luxury LARPing experience, but they've got an emergency plan that we DO NOT LIKE, and could possibly be illegal, but Disney gonna Disney.This week's outro is a clip from House Banger Music by YuraSoop.Looking for a present for that hard-to-shop-for person? Want to buy them (or yourself) a square foot of a castle in Scotland? Look no further! You can support the restoration of Dunan's castle, legally call yourself Lady or Laird, AND if you use this link to get there, you can support this podcast too! ScottishLaird.co.uk.For updates, fan art, and other randomness, come follow us on Facebook, Tumblr, and Instagra

It’s a bonus-sized (and spoileriffic!) episode this week because we’ve got a lot to go over. Another episode of Station Eleven of course, with gorgeous cinematography, excellent music, and a lot of questions: are the child-bombing psychos from the Museum, the Prophet, or the Red Bandanas? (Or all three, we have no idea who’s side... The post Binary System Podcast #466 – Station Eleven, Lower Decks, Superman, and “The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel” first appeared on Pixelated Geek.

John, Alison and Liz discuss this year's Hugo Awards finalists. An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, join our Facebook group, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on X or on Mastodon or on Bluesky) when you post about the show on social media. Content warnings this episode: None A note from John: I've done my level best to find useful URLs and link them below. Please let me know if there are better links or things I've missed! Best Novel Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell A Sorceress Comes to Call by T Kingfisher The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett Best Novella The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed Navigational Entanglements by Aliette de Bodard The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain by Sofia Samatar The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler What Feasts at Night by T Kingfisher Best Novelette “The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video” by Thomas Ha “By Salt, By Sea, By Light of Stars” by Premee Mohamed “The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea” by Naomi Kritzer “Lake of Souls” by Ann Leckie “Loneliness Universe” by Eugenia Triantafyllou “Signs of Life” by Sarah Pinsker Best Short Story “Five Views of the Planet Tartarus” by Rachael K Jones “Marginalia” by Mary Robinette Kowal “Stitched to Skin Like Family Is” by Nghi Vo “Three Faces of a Beheading” by Arkady Martine “We Will Teach You How to Read | We Will Teach You How to Read” by Caroline M Yoachim “Why Don't We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole” by Isabel J Kim Best Series Between Earth and Sky by Rebecca Roanhorse The Burning Kingdoms by Tasha Suri InCryptid by Seanan McGuire Southern Reach by Jeff VanderMeer The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson The Tyrant Philosophers by Adrian Tchaikovsky Best Graphic Story The Deep Dark by Molly Knox Ostertag The Hunger and the Dusk, Vol. 1 by G Willow Wilson and Chris Wildgoose Monstress, Vol. 9 by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda My Favorite Thing is Monsters, Vol. 2 by Emil Ferris Star Trek: Lower Decks: Warp Your Own Way by Ryan North and Chris Fenoglio We Called Them Giants by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans Best Related Work “Charting the Cliff: An Investigation into the 2023 Hugo Nomination Statistics” by Camestros Felapton and Heather Rose Jones r/Fantasy's 2024 Bingo Reading Challenge “The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel” by Jenny Nicholson Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the Alt-Right by Jordan S Carroll Track Changes by Abigail Nussbaum “The 2023 Hugo Awards: A Report on Censorship and Exclusion” by Chris M Barkley and Jason Sanford Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form) Dune: Part Two Flow Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga I Saw the TV Glow Wicked The Wild Robot Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form) “The Beginning” (Fallout) “Death's Hand in Mine” (Agatha All Along) “Dot and Bubble” (Doctor Who) “Fissure Quest” (Star Trek: Lower Decks) “The New Next Generation” (Star Trek: Lower Decks) “73 Yards” (Doctor Who) Best Game or Interactive Work Caves of Qud Dragon Age: The Veilguard The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom Lorelei and the Laser Eyes Tactical Breach Wizards 1000xRESIST Best Editor (Short Form) Scott H. Andrews Jennifer Brozek Neil Clarke Jonathan Strahan Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas Sheila Williams Best Editor (Long Form) Carl Engle-Laird Ali Fisher Lee Harris David Thomas Moore Diana M. Pho Stephanie Stein Best Professional Artist Micaela Alcaino Audrey Benjaminsen Rovina Cai Maurizio Manzieri Tran Nguyen Alyssa Winans Best Semiprozine The Deadlands Escape Pod FIYAH khōréō Strange Horizons Uncanny Magazine Best Fanzine The Ancillary Review of Books Black Nerd Problems The Full Lid Galactic Journey Journey Planet Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog Best Fancast The Coode Street Podcast Eight of Diana Wynne Jones Hugo, Girl! Hugos There A Meal of Thorns Worldbuilding for Mascochists Best Fan Writer Camestros Felapton Abigail Nussbaum Roseanna Pendlebury Jason Sanford Alasdair Stuart Örjan Westin Best Fan Artist Iain Clark Sara Felix Meg Frank Michelle Morrell España Sheriff Alison Scott Best Poem Calypso by Oliver K Langmead “Ever Noir” by Mari Ness “there are no taxis for the dead” by Angela Liu “A War of Words” by Marie Brennan “We Drink Lava” by Ai Jiang “Your Visiting Dragon” by Devan Barlow Lodestar Award The Feast Makers by H.A. Clarke Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao The Maid and the Crocodile by Jordan Ifueko Moonstorm by Yoon Ha Lee Sheine Lende by Darcie Little Badger So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole Astounding Award Moniquill Blackgoose Bethany Jacobs Hannah Kaner Angela Liu Jared Pechaček Tia Tashiro Credits Cover art: “Scorching Hot Takes” by Alison Scott Alt text: A black background. Text in purple reads “Octothorpe 132” while text MADE OF FIRE says “Scorching hot takes on the Hugo finalists”. Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

On this episode of Out Of Office: A Travel Podcast, the boys Catholic out hard. In celebration of Lent, “Conclave,” and a Catholic Jubilee Year, Kiernan talks us through the top sites to see in Vatican City. Rome is expecting 32M visitors this year, and now each and every one can listen to Out of Office! Things We Talked About on Today's Episode: Jubilee 2025 https://www.usccb.org/jubilee2025  Holy Doors https://www.ewtnvatican.com/articles/5-holy-doors-what-every-catholic-should-know-ahead-of-jubilee-2025-4075  Saint Peter's https://www.basilicasanpietro.va/en/  Pope John XXIII https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/martyrs-miracles-and-the-stuff-of-making-saints/  Vatican II https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2022-10/vatican-ii-council-60th-anniversary-video-history-background.html  Papal Altar and Canopy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peter%27s_Baldachin  Chair of Saint Peter https://www.ncregister.com/cna/historic-chair-of-st-peter-on-public-display-in-vatican-basilica-for-first-time-in-150-years  Tomb of Saint Peter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Peter%27s_tomb  Saint Peter Statue https://stpetersbasilica.info/Statues/StPeter/StPeter.htm  La Pieta https://fa-inkwell.org/1039/arts/artists-review-la-pieta-one-of-michelangelos-earliest-works/  Vatican Museums https://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en.html  Laocoon and his Sons https://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collezioni/musei/museo-pio-clementino/Cortile-Ottagono/laocoonte.html  Gallery of the Candelabra https://www.museivaticani.va/content/museivaticani/en/collezioni/musei/museo-pio-clementino/Galleria-dei-Candelabri/galleria-dei-candelabri.html  “School of Athens” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_School_of_Athens  Sistine Chapel “In Our Time” episode https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0015vh8  Sistine Chapel pre-reading https://www.througheternity.com/en/blog/art/michelangelo-last-judgment-sistine-chapel-vatican.html  Omio https://www.omio.com/  Jenny Nicholson on the Star Wars Hotel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0CpOYZZZW4 

Join Attractions Magazine contributing writers and correspondents as they bring you news and discussion about all things themed entertainment and parks, including Disney, Universal Studios and beyond on The Attractions Podcast. Topics of conversation on this week's episode of The Attractions Podcast: Star Wars hotel at Disney World to become offices for Imagineering ‘Coco,' ‘Incredibles' fans will be excited for these new Pixar Place Hotel suites Best and worst new food at SeaWorld Orlando's Seven Seas Food Festival 2025 Best and worst new food at Universal Mardi Gras 2025 Universal Fan Fest Nights 2025: Guide to new after-hours event at Universal Studios Hollywood The Attractions Podcast is brought to you by MEI-Travel and Mouse Fan Travel. They provide premium service and expert advice to get the most for your vacation time and dollars. Visit them at mei-travel.com. We welcome your suggestions and want you to be a part of the discussion. Please send your comments to info@attractionsmagazine.com with the subject line “The Attractions Podcast.” Statements or opinions herein are those of the hosts and advertisers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the producers, Dream Together Media LLC, or staff.

Disney abandoned its overpriced Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser when it was clear it was one of the biggest blunders in Walt Disney World history. Now it looks like they're going to repurpose it -- as office space for Imagineers working on other unpopular announced attractions. Good luck with that.

#NerdToKnow, #StarWars, #GalacticStarcruiser, #NintendoSwitch2, #DavidLynch, #PodcastLife, #GeekCulture, #PopCulture, #StarWarsFans, #GamingNews, #CinemaLegends This week, we dive into the highs and lows of the now-closed Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, the officially announced Nintendo Switch 2, and pay tribute to the iconic filmmaker David Lynch. Don't miss this blend of sci-fi, gaming, and cinematic greatness!

 It's episode 205 and time for us to talk about our favourite reads of 2024! We discuss fiction and non-fiction books we read for the podcast, plus comics, videos, music, and more! You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a park executive named Bob Chapek set out on a mission to create an immersive experience that Star Wars fans would never forget. The luxury Disney hotel would feature a two-day role playing adventure, fun foods, funner games, and unique memories they would cherish forever. But the exorbitant cost, embarrassing technical glitches, and a little thing called Covid, sent The Galactic Starcruiser spiraling into a black hole. In the end the dream was lost, and fans were left to wonder, wtf was up with that blue shrimp?Moshe Kasher (The Endless Honeymoon) and Jessi Cruickshank (Phone a Friend) join Misha to compare their limited edition lightsabers and take a journey to The Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel.Follow The Big Flop on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Big Flop early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week! BancyCo's new game, Aero the Acro-bat is back, who is Emio, Double Dragon ready to brawl again, the Concord beta, Kubits Gallery, Shining Force II, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and much, much more. Join us, won't you? Links of interest: ‘Paramedic action drama' Neo Harbor Rescue Squad announced for PS5, PS4, and PC Nintendo drops “Emio” trailer Starfy GBA games show up on NSO Aero the Acro-bat coming back Switch now the longest Nintendo has kept a console w/o a replacement Double Dragon revival from Yuke's 4-hour Star Wars Hotel video Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth Kubits Gallery Concord Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Yoshi Color Guide for TTYD Shining Force II Greg Sewart's Extra Life Page Player One Podcast Discord Greg Streams on Twitch Racing Evolution - The Rise and Fall of Ridge Racer Add us in Apple Podcasts Check out Greg's web series Generation 16 - click here. And take a trip over to Phil's YouTube Channel to see some awesome retro game vids. Follow us on twitter at twitter.com/p1podcast. Thanks for listening! Don't forget to visit our new web site at www.playeronepodcast.com. Running time: 1:38:44

Today we're talking about Notorious by Jacob Price! A game about bounty hunting in space featuring Sol's Search for Bindy and Amurrsa's Quest for the Perfect Scrap Crawler.Buy Notorious on itch! And check out Always Checkers' other work on itch!---Discussed in the episodeThe Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel by Jenny Nicholson on YouTube71. Back Up On Those Corners, Yoda Is (AMCA Goes to the Galactic Starcruiser) from A More Civilized Age on your podcatcher of choiceAdditional stuffOutsiders, an expansion for Notorious on itch---Visit our website!Support the show on Kofi!Follow the show on Bluesky!Check out The Worst Garbage Online!---Art by Tara CrawfordMusic by _amaranthineAdditional sounds by BoqehProduced and edited by AJ Fillari---Timecodes:(00:00) - Happy Solstice to Shrek (00:29) - Kim gets cancelled (01:52) - What is Notorious? (03:17) - General impressions | General Discussion (07:21) - Touching on the loop and general story stuff (15:53) - Chase's Nomad | Spoiler Discussion (18:44) - Kim's Nomad | Spoiler Discussion (24:03) - Our targets | Spoiler Discussion (27:47) - Story highlights | Spoiler Discussion (28:19) - Sol Starlander's story | Spoiler Discussion (45:26) - Amurrsa's story | Spoiler Discussion (01:09:39) - Worldbuilding | Spoiler Discussion (01:11:07) - Chase's Big Takeaway (01:17:11) - Kim's Big Takeaway (01:22:09) - We're talking about Star Wars now (01:35:43) - Thank you for listening to this podcast episode about the TTRPG Notorious available now on itch.io  

Prepare yourselves for a new season of drama, lies, and accusations with the return of the Real Housewives of Orange County. Plus, EW Photo Editor Alison Wild shares why you should check out her What to Watch recommendation, the documentary The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel, and we take a look at the upcoming season of a fan-favorite series that you should mark your calendars to watch. More at ew.com, ew.com/wtw, and @EW on X (formerly Twitter) and @EntertainmentWeekly everywhere else. Host/Writer/Producer Gerrad Hall (@gerradhall); Editor: Samee Junio (@it_your_sam). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You ever just buy games and not play them? Us too! Join us as we tackle some of our backlog with a friendly challenge! Tune in around 23:40 to hear the parameters and games that made our shortlist. Before then, hear about what we've been reading, watching, and thinking about lately. Reading: The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Comics Series (IDW) 'The Moth Keeper' by K. O'Neill Watching: The Acolyte: Episode 5 (Disney+) The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel by Jenny Nicholson (Youtube) Mice and Murder (Dropout) Thinking about: David Tennant Find us on Twitter: @NovelGamingPod Send us an e-mail: novelgamingpodcast@gmail.com Logo by: Katie! Theme song: "Bit Bossa" by Azureflux 

On today's episode, ICYMI is bringing back a time-honored tradition: High Speed Downloads. For Candice's first and Rachelle's last HSD, they'll have exactly one minute to explain some of their favorite internet stories. This includes tall people finding love on TikTok, Jenny Nicholson's iconic four-hour Star Wars hotel review and that time John Green was bullied off Tumblr. This podcast is produced by Se'era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode, ICYMI is bringing back a time-honored tradition: High Speed Downloads. For Candice's first and Rachelle's last HSD, they'll have exactly one minute to explain some of their favorite internet stories. This includes tall people finding love on TikTok, Jenny Nicholson's iconic four-hour Star Wars hotel review and that time John Green was bullied off Tumblr. This podcast is produced by Se'era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode, ICYMI is bringing back a time-honored tradition: High Speed Downloads. For Candice's first and Rachelle's last HSD, they'll have exactly one minute to explain some of their favorite internet stories. This includes tall people finding love on TikTok, Jenny Nicholson's iconic four-hour Star Wars hotel review and that time John Green was bullied off Tumblr. This podcast is produced by Se'era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode, ICYMI is bringing back a time-honored tradition: High Speed Downloads. For Candice's first and Rachelle's last HSD, they'll have exactly one minute to explain some of their favorite internet stories. This includes tall people finding love on TikTok, Jenny Nicholson's iconic four-hour Star Wars hotel review and that time John Green was bullied off Tumblr. This podcast is produced by Se'era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We got a king for a ref because this week we're discussing season 3, episode 4 of Lucha Underground entitled "Brothers In Broken Arms". Come along as we chat about who is the heel, "A Thousand Miles" by Vanessa Carlton, Jenny Nicholson's Star Wars Hotel video, L.A.O. drawings, weasels, tuxedos, Shock G, Mortal Kombat, Puma Dark, windowless rooms, heartbroken Dario, Who Killed WCW, The Dark Carnival, under Vampiro's wing, the Mundo Section, injuries, spiders, brats, ref punches, "Dave's Old P*rn", more! Want to hear more from your favorite Marsh Land Media hosts? Hear exclusive shows, podcasts, and content by heading to Patreon.com/MLMpod! Buy some Shuffling the Deck / MLMpod MERCH, including our "Natty With Otters" shirt, over at redbubble.com/shop/msspod! Follow James @MarshLandMedia on Twitter, @MLMpod on Instagram, and listen to his music under "Marsh Land Monster" wherever music is found! Follow Sean on Twitter @SeanMarciniak and on Twitch @GooseVK! Join our Discord! Have fan mail, fan art, projects you want us to review, or whatever you want to send us? You can ship directly to us using "James McCollum, PO Box 180036, 2011 W Montrose Ave, Chicago, IL 60618"! Send us a voice mail to be played on the show at (224) 900-7644! Find out more about James' other podcasts "Mostly Speakin' Sentai", "Hit It & Crit It", and "This Movie's Gay" on our website, www.MLMPod.com!!! Plus, download all Marsh Land Monster albums there, too!

NEWS EPISODE! We talk about the the 4hr Star Wars Youtube video, and strike updates, Russian War Keynesian updates, COVID propaganda updates, and a preview of Sean's new AI show.Spectacular Failure of Star Wars Hotel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0CpOYZZZLabor: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/13/business/economy/supreme-court-starbucks-nlrb.html?smihttps://www.labornotes.org/2024/06/teamsters-and-amazon-labor-union-announce-affiliation-member-vote-still-aheadhttps://thehill.com/homenews/education/4711847-judge-orders-uc-workers-pause-strike-israel-hamas-war/https://x.com/thehousered/status/1799216761872458085Covid:https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/coronavirus-lab-escape-theory.htmlhttps://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-covid-propaganda/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/08/opinion/covid-fauci-hearings-health.htmlBolerium Books: https://www.bolerium.com/Song: John Williams - First Order March [EPIC VERSION]

Clive Staples Lewis (C.S. Lewis), known to friends and family as “Jacksie” (or Jack), was a stridently opinionated young man from the earliest age. He was a bookworm, an avid enjoyer of mythology and you could even say he was a bit too pleased with himself for it. During an unpleasant period of Lewis' life (age 15) studying at Malvern College, a boys' prep school, Lewis began to form an aspect of his personality he'd work a lifetime to keep in check: scorn. Malvern valued athletics above everything else. The school aimed to shape the boys through physical competition and sport, something which young “Jacksie” had no talent in or appetite for. He avoided the games whenever possible. But he went a step further and adopted an attitude of contempt for the school's jocks. I was the same way at 15, despite being good at sports. Lewis was this classic archetype. The nerd and intellectual who looks down on sports and all his peers who participate in it. Lewis wrote in a letter, “If I had never seen the horrible spectacle which these coarse, brainless English schoolboys present, I might be a danger of my sometimes becoming like that myself.” C.S. Lewis was at least self-aware and seemed to know he had an arrogance problem. A few years later, Lewis had found himself a mentor in one, Mr. Kirkpatrick, a friend of the family. On a walk one day in the English county of Surrey, Kirkpatrick began to work on Lewis' snobbery in what can only be described as a Socratic smackdown. Lewis was Irish and very much hated being in England. He found it ugly, dry, and uninspired. So naturally, he made an underhanded remark about it. Lewis said on their walk that Surrey was “wilder” than he had anticipated. Kirkpatrick began his pushback. “What do you mean by wildness?” (I dunno)“Have you been here before?” (No)“Have you studied maps of the area?” (No)“Have you read books about Surrey or seen photographs of it?” (NO!!) Lewis was caught off guard. His gentle jab at Surrey wasn't meant to provoke, it was just him making small talk, but it reflected his opinionated nature. Kirkpatrick put Lewis in his place by asking him questions that would reveal what informed his thinking. Nothing informed it. Only his contempt for England and romanticization of rural Northern Ireland. Before you continue with this stoic lesson from the life of C.S. Lewis, open up our new Geeky Stoics video analysis on the closure of the “Star Wars Hotel” at Disney World. There's another lesson here about opinions, stubborn confidence, and listening graciously to feedback. Geeky Stoics is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.C.S. Lewis had no basis for thinking ill of Surrey or that it would be tame and boring. Lewis knew then that he needed to develop his critical thinking capabilities. Being taken apart like that over such a simple matter was not something he wanted to endure again. In Meditations, Marcus Aurelius writes that:“It is in our power to have no opinion about a thing, and not to be disturbed in our soul; for things themselves have no natural power to form our judgments”Not being overly opinionated is a pillar of Stoic philosophy. The idea is that you should test every impression and feeling like a shopkeeper tests the currency they're given by a shopper. Is this counterfeit? The Roman stoic, Seneca said in his letters that, “Pain is slight if opinion has added nothing to it.” C.S. Lewis could have used this when watching his peers play football at Malvern College. You don't have to enjoy sports. You don't have to have strong opinions about it all. His opinions on the thing were causing him to suffer more than the thing itself. Our world is driven by opinion and sounding off, more than at any time in human history. It's amplified and monetized by social media. Look around and you'll see most people are not too happy about it, but they play right into the hands of the opinion industry. It's okay to not have an opinion about this or that. You are not uninformed for having no opinion. Nothing is worse and more cheap than a paper-thin opinion treated as gospel. Thanks for reading Geeky Stoics! We'll be back next week with more. I'm in Poland right now on business, but I did have a little excitement on my way here. Here's that!I did make it to Warsaw. Here's the evidence. My daughter sent me here with her stuffed cow named Epictetus. Yes, the stoic…Epictetus. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.geekystoics.com/subscribe

This week: all the gaming news plus Multiversus, Little Kitty Big City, NFSMW, and UK Games Expo. #GameBurst More info... Music includes DragonAge 2 OST Gary -  UK Games Expo Stardew Valley The Board Game Taylor -  Need for Speed Most Wanted 2005 Little Kitty Big City Jerome -  Multiversus Elden Ring DLC preparation The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel - https://youtu.be/T0CpOYZZZW4?si=XpOcRn0LSh8ogKiw   

The Gents get hit by a bus and woke up to a movie where The Beatles don't exist. :50 - Movies We've Seen (Pleasantville, Mad Max: Fury Road, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Sicario, Babe, The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel, Leave the World Behind, The Holdovers, Dune Part Two, Flora and Son, Free Fire, The Iron Claw, The Fall Guy, Downsizing, The Descendants) 40:45 - Yesterday Get bonus episodes over on our Patreon! Next Episode: (Coming soon!)

 AndrewLego Deku Tree: https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/great-deku-tree-2-in-1-77092Wolverine Popcorn Bucket: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90lAiDCdwX4Cara: https://cara.app/exploreFallout: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12637874/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1Bridgerton: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8740790/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_2_nm_6_q_brLaurenHouse of the Dragon: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11198330/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_3_tt_7_nm_1_q_houseThe Acolyte: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12262202/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_4_nm_4_q_acoJenny Nicholson, The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0CpOYZZZW4PatrickImpromptu Caddy: https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/03/sport/fan-caddie-injured-pan-canadian-open-spt-intl/index.htmlAshley Madison Doc on Netflix: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32307741/Quartz: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172881/quartzTwitch - Live Every Monday at 7pmhttps://www.twitch.tv/mof1podcast Watch us live on Twitch every Monday at 7pm CT: https://www.twitch.tv/mof1podcast

On this episode of the podcast, Jason returns from Universal Studios Islands of Adventure and shares his experience at that theme park. Then they pivot from Universal to Disney to discuss the Jenny Nicholson viral four-hour long video about her experience aboard the Galatic Starcruiser, better known as the Star Wars Hotel. This video has permeated pop culture, even as far as Rolling Stone Magazine. Glen and Jason discuss the points that Nicholson makes and wonders if Disney will respond by listening to the critics or if they will dismiss it and only focus on stock prices. They also talk about “influencers” in general. Glen also picked up some melting rebels! Download and listen. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/smugglersgalaxy/message

This episode we're discussing the topic of non-fiction Pop Culture books! We talk about cult classics, the Disney channel, the futch scale, and being Eldritch Millennials.  You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Jam Edwards Join our Discord Server! Things We Read (or tried to…) Street Unicorns: Extravagant Fashion Photography from NYC Streets and Beyond by Robbie Quinn Poisoned Chalice: The Extremely Long and Incredibly Complex Story of Marvelman by Pádraig Ó Méalóid Part 0: Introduction I Am the Law: How Judge Dredd Predicted Our Future by Michael Molcher And Don't F&%k It Up: An Oral History of RuPaul's Drag Race by María Elena Fernández The 2000s Made Me Gay: Essays on Pop Culture by Grace Perry Note: Anna didn't have the Disney Channel because she lived in the woods in Alaska. It also did not exist in Canada until 2015. The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel by Jenny Nicholson That's So '90s!: A Pop-Cultural Guide to the Raddest Decade by Jo Stewart and Lisa Gillard The Bizarre World of Fake Video Games by Super Eyepatch Wolf Junk Film: Why Bad Movies Matter by Katharine Coldiron Other Media We Mentioned Attack of the New B Movies: Essays on SYFY Original Films edited by Justin Wigard and Mitch Ploskonka Introducing Postmodernism: A Graphic Guide by Chris Garratt and  Richard Appignanesi FRUiTS by Shoichi Aoki Wikipedia Miracleman: The Silver Age by Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham RuPaul's Drag Race (Wikipedia) The Pit Stop S16 E01 Glee (TV series) (Wikipedia) Euphoria (American TV series) (Wikipedia) Abbott Elementary (Wikipedia) The Simpsons is Good Again by Super Eyepatch Wolf Taskmaster: Series 17, Episode 1 Plan 9 from Outer Space (Wikipedia) Every Frame a Painting Links, Articles, and Things Follow our Twitch channel! Jam and Matthew will be streaming Monster Prom 2: Monster Camp on Saturday, June 8th at 3pm PT/6pm ET.  Jam made an image to promote it. Jam's Top Ten Video Essays About Media They Haven't Experienced Mood board (Wikipedia) Blockbuster (Wikipedia) Walkman (Wikipedia) Milk caps/Pogs (Wikipedia) Tamagotchi (Wikipedia) Webring (Wikipedia) Which Pokémon are the most goth? 20 Pop Culture Non-Fiction Books by BIPOC Authors Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers' Advisory Podcasts chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here. A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance by Hanif Abdurraqib Indigenous Celebrity: Entanglements with Fame edited by Jennifer Adese & Robert Alexander Innes The Male Gazed: On Hunks, Heartthrobs, and What Pop Culture Taught Me About (Desiring) Men by Manuel Betancourt Carefree Black Girls: A Celebration of Black Women in Popular Culture by Zeba Blay The Pretty One: On Life, Pop Culture, Disability, and Other Reasons to Fall in Love With Me by Keah Brown She Memes Well by Quinta Brunson Can't Stop Won't Stop: A Hip-Hop History by Jeff Chang & Dave Cook Producing Sovereignty: The Rise of Indigenous Media in Canada by Karrmen Crey Wannabe: Reckonings with the Pop Culture That Shapes Me by Aisha Harris Leslie F*cking Jones by Leslie Jones K-Drama School: A Pop Culture Inquiry into Why We Love Korean Television by Grace Jung Superfan: How Pop Culture Broke My Heart by Jen Sookfong Lee Indiginerds: Tales from Modern Indigenous Life edited by Alina Pete Nerd: Adventures in Fandom from This Universe to the Multiverse by Maya Phillips The Dead Don't Need Reminding: In Search of Fugitives, Mississippi, and Black TV Nerd Shit by Julian Randall Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong by Katie Gee Salisbury First Things First: Hip-Hop Ladies Who Changed the Game by Nadirah Simmons Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop by Danyel Smith Making a Scene by Constance Wu Rise: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now by Jeff Yang, Phil Yu, & Philip Wang Give us feedback! Fill out the form to ask for a recommendation or suggest a genre or title for us to read! Check out our Tumblr, follow us on Instagram, join our Facebook Group or Discord Server, or send us an email! Join us again on Tuesday, June 18th when it's time once again for One Book One Podcast as we each pitch a book we think we should read and you (the listeners) get to vote! Then on Tuesday, July 2nd we'll be discussing the genre of Law/Legal Non-Fiction!

On this weeks episode of The Theme Park Podcast, wait WAIT... talking Dug is in the parks?! Then the guys talk about what happeend to the Star Wars hotel, and Universal is celebrating Halloween early but this event might be a very good idea.

This week your hosts discuss AI again, Trump's elite team of experts, local government, and Star Wars Hotel. Listen to the Jortscenter playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2ioAsKKw7AhdJ0cCrasqfH?si=6c2cef121c3a4a9a Please help Will's neighbors recover from a devastating house fire. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Support The Collins Family | TheYardFoundation⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Please help our friend and Jortscentrist Laura if you can. https://gofund.me/92e54c8e https://podvoices.help https://donations4abortion.com Please help support our friend Tim! https://www.gofundme.com/f/tims-head-trauma-and-living-expenses Join our Peloton!   https://www.patreon.com/JortsCenter Facebook group  https://www.facebook.com/groups/342135897580300 Subreddit  https://www.reddit.com/r/jortscenter Follow us on Twitter at @JortsCenterPod  Will is @wapplehouse  Josh  is @otherjrobbins  Ryan is @ryhanbeard  Vic is @Dokktorvikktor  Dan is @motleycruedetat

We witness Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and also talk Flash Gordon, If, War for the Planet of the Apes, Unfrosted, The Contestant and Jenny Nicholson's The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel. Follow the show on X: @thecinemaspeak Follow the show on Instagram: cinemaspeakpodcast Subscribe on Youtube: Cinema Speak Intro/Chock Full O Nuts controversy: 0:00 - 10:43 Review - Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga: 10:43 - 58:14 Movie Roulette - Flash Gordon: 58:14 - 1:10:54 Micro-Reviews - Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, War for the Planet of the Apes, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Cheers, If, The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel, Unfrosted, The Contestant: 1:10:54 - 1:38:29 This week in new releases/Outro: 1:38:29 - 1:41:33 Spoiler Discussion - Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga: 1:41:33 - 1:53:56

Show Notes 

Stig's away and Gadget's got technical difficulties, but worry not because Planty is here to the rescue. Join us for another week of news, laughs and reviews, as we discuss the below Onimusha: Warlords Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead Hallmark of Greatness Podcast The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel by Jenny Nicholson Senua's Saga: Hellblade II Parasyte: The Grey CONTACT US Website Modern Escapism are creating Brilliant Podcasts | Patreon Email Twitter Instagram Discord Twitch TikTok Check out our other podcasts: https://shows.acast.com/scorchedsheep https://shows.acast.com/smashthatglass https://shows.acast.com/deepdivelounge You can also follow us individually at: @OodlesODimm @Bigkopman @GadgetTheDM candymachine_tattoos This episode was produced and edited by Stig

It's unbearable. This week Nando DJ and Diggins take a walk down memory lane to the secret door in the secret room to watch the movie that isn't Night Swim but might as well be, Imaginary. They nitpick the bear, the kids, and of course the neighbors.   Reccomendations: DJ - Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind (ride), Demon Slayer (show) Diggins - Where the Sidewalk Ends (movie) Nando - The 8 Show (show), The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel (video)   Mostly Nitpicking on Twitter The Nando v Movies Discord Roses and Rejections All of Nando's Links   Mostly Nitpicking theme by Nick Porcaro Logo by Michelle Chapman

Write into the show at MidnightFilmSociety@gmail.com and @bisickle on Threads and midnightfilmpod on Instagram. Subscribe on Pocketcasts, YouTube Podcasts, and Spotify. Rate and review it on Apple Podcasts. I Tell a friend, family member, or stranger. Scavengers Reign Moves To Netflix BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE | Official Trailer The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel notes Winners At Cannes Film Festival What Damian's Been Watching: The Adventures Of Pete And Pete, I Saw The TV Glow, Back to Black, Mad Max Trilogy Furiosa What Derick's Been Watching: IF, Poolman, Anyone But You, I Saw The TV Glow, Furiosa Best Picture Winner Marathon

May 27, 2024The Daily Mojo is 2 hours of news, commentary, comedy, and auditory deliciousness.Show Notes: CLICK HERE"Memorial Day 2024"The origin of Memorial Day from the VA. An in-depth YouTuber looks at the demise of the Star Wars Hotel and nails it! What's it take to make it in LA? Phil Bell's Morning Update: Jane Fonda's sex strike!Links:Phil's Morning UpdateOur affiliate partners:We've partnered with The Wellness Company – a based, dedicated group of medical pros – including Dr. Peter McCullough – to bring you a single trustworthy source for your health.www.GetWellMojo.comPromo Code: Mojo50Dave and his crew were roasting historically great coffee before some of these newcomers even thought about creating a coffee brand. He's still the best, in our eyes! www.AmericanPrideRoasters.comNothing says “I appreciate you” like an engraved gift or award. Ron and Misty (mostly Misty) have the perfect solution for you if you need a gift idea for family or your employees!www.MoJoLaserPros.comWe love to support Mike Lindell and his company. He's a real patriot and an American success story!www.MoJoMyPillow.com Promo Code: Mojo50Be ready for anything from a hurricane to man-created stupidity (toilet paper shortage, anyone?). The tools and food storage you need to weather the storm.www.PrepareWithMojo50.com Stay ConnectedWATCH The Daily Mojo LIVE 7-9a CT: www.TheDailyMojo.com (RECOMMEDED)Rumble: HEREFacebook: HEREMojo 5-0 TV: HEREFreedomsquare: HEREOr just LISTEN:The Daily MoJo Channel Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-daily-mojo-with-brad-staggs--3085897/support.

Send us a Text Message.Ever wondered what it's like to traverse the halls of OtakuFest in full cosplay regalia? Anthony here, along with Dakota, are your guides through a weekend of exhilarating geekdom. From the calm before the storm on Friday to the electric buzz of a Saturday crowd and the surprise hustle of Sunday, we wax nostalgic about the festival's evolution and its shiny new venue. Buckle up as we take you on a whirlwind tour of fandom celebrations, reflecting on the quirky thrills of donning a character's mantle and the distinct vibes that each day of the con brings to life.As Anthony's journey through OtakuFest concludes, he can't help but spill his excitement for the star-studded conventions looming on the horizon. Imagine rubbing elbows with the illustrious Critical Role cast or getting swept up in the strategic planning to catch their live D&D antics—Dakota and I are all in on that action. We then segue to the Critical Role universe's expansion and Beacon's role in serving up bite-sized content for fans. And before you think we've wandered off-topic, we loop in Jenny Nicholson's hilarious critique of the Star Wars hotel, proving that our geeky hearts beat for a galaxy of fandoms.Capping off our fan-fueled escapades, we plunge into the infamous 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine,' where we dissect its notorious elements, from the contentious Deadpool portrayal to the adrenaline-infused action scenes that are guilty pleasures for so many. We laugh in the face of unfinished movie leaks and marvel at the audacity of bone claws and adamantium bullet-induced amnesia. So, if you're a fan of candid critiques and want to share in our good-natured ribbing of Wolverine's rocky cinematic journey, stay awhile and listen. And hey, if you're feeling the love, why not drop us a review or rate us? Spread the word—Anthony and Dakota's geeky banter waits for no one!Twitter handles:Project Geekology: https://twitter.com/pgeekologyAnthony's Twitter: https://twitter.com/odysseyswowDakota's Twitter: https://twitter.com/geekritique_dakInstagram:https://instagram.com/projectgeekology?igshid=1v0sits7ipq9yGeekritique (Dakota):https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBwciIqOoHwIx_uXtYTSEbATwitch (Anthony):https://www.twitch.tv/odysseywowJenny Nicholson's video, 'The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel':https://youtu.be/T0CpOYZZZW4?si=uYhIL_qeClpYL3MySupport the Show.

In this episode, Al and Andee honor the legacy of the legendary Robert and Richard Sherman, after the recent passing of Richard. Join them as they revisit their favorite Disney songs created by the iconic Sherman Brothers, reminiscing about the magic and inspiration these timeless classics have brought to generations. They'll also explore other uplifting Disney tunes that continue to inspire and delight audiences around the world. Tune in for a musical journey celebrating the genius of the Sherman Brothers and the enchanting world of Disney music. What songs inspire you? Did we miss your favorite Sherman Brothers song? Let us know on YouTube, Facebook, or Instagram. Join in deeper discussion with the rest of the Duelists at Dueling Disney Community Duelists.  We appreciate reviews wherever you go to for podcast listening, thank you! “C” ya real soon! Links discussed on episode: The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel  

As Hollywood blockbusters struggle to attract an audience, more than 5 million fans willingly watched 4-hours of a YouTuber systematically dissect why Disney's Star Wars Hotel sucked. Plus, pop goes the gecko! Learn how you could own a piece of Funko history. And, collectors preemptively prevent premature pre-orders from pressuring their purchasing power. Can toy companies survive without that upfront cash? Oh, I've wasted my life. It's The Reluctant Adult Podcast. Email TheReluctantAdultPodcast@gmail.com Save and get Free Shipping on in-stock items on Entertainment Earth with code TOYPOD Save and discover a wide selection of art collectibles, vinyl toys and action figures on Tenacious Toys TikTok @TheReluctantAdultPodcast Instagram @TheReluctantAdultPodcast Twitter @Reluctant_Pod Facebook Toy Sale Boat YouTube The Reluctant Adult Podcast Paul's Amazon Wishlist Bill's Amazon Wishlist

This week we talk about AI search results, computer literacy, quick pickling, goat cheese, twink death, and the new Jenny Nicholson video. Support us on Patreon to keep the podcast going, view more detailed show notes, and to gain access to exclusive content at: http://www.patreon.com/theshowsamandjoe Favorite things: Jenny Nicholson - The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel

This week, Katey returns from The Ankler’s Los Angeles to re-focus Patches and Da7e in the War Room while David keeps Cannes-ing. She only has mild success as the podcast transforms a “what we’re watching” segment into one about Disney’s “Star Wars Hotel” and the 4-hour takedown video about it. Then, Patches guides us through […]

The latest (and second) film from director Jane Schoenbrun is a glimpse into the void, into the ‘90s, and into a whole lot more – it all depends on how you're watching. We're joined by MaxFilm producer (and now host of the new show, Primer), Christian Dueñas to see it all.Then, we have a fast and loose movie quiz about…Justice!What's GoodAlonso - Jenny Nicholson's 4-Hour Deep Dive into the Star Wars Hotel's FailureDrea - clocking the perfect mileageChristian - “Sex Vampire” playlist and the artist FilmmakerIfy - Postal Service/Death Cab concertITIDICCannes First “Hit” Is the Unexpected Emilia PerezYorgos Lanthimos Has Already Set His NEXT Next movie at Focus#MaxFilmontheCroisetteStaff PicksDrea - Hit ManAlonso - Little DarlingsChristian - SkinamarinkIfy - Detective PikachuSubscribe to PRIMER, new from Maximum Fun! Follow us on BlueSky, Twitter, Facebook, or InstagramWithDrea ClarkAlonso DuraldeIfy NwadiweProduced by Marissa FlaxbartSr. Producer Laura Swisher

In this episode of LNC, a live actor will speak back to Ariel and Jonathan on the podcast. Or maybe that won't happen. It will depend on our budget. But we will talk about a Stranger Thing play in London, a long YouTube video about the failed Star Wars Hotel at Disney World, and much more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Enjoy the ambient sounds of the Atrium...BESH!  This video has stirred up a lot of emotions for a lot of people, and as die hard Halcyon fans, this is our take on it.  Were a reaction channel now. JOY.

The access media is turning on Disney's Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser Hotel... a year after it shut down. Yes, now they're claiming they ALWAYS knew it was going to fail. It almost sounds like now that the Disney checks stopped coming, they're cool with sounding like those nasty negative YouTubers. ➡️ Tip Jar and Fan Support: http://ClownfishSupport.com ➡️ Official Merch Store: http://ShopClownfish.com ➡️ Official Website: http://ClownfishTV.com ➡️ Audio Edition: https://open.spotify.com/show/6qJc5C6OkQkaZnGCeuVOD1 About Us: Clownfish TV is an independent, opinionated news and commentary channel that covers Entertainment and Tech from a consumer's point of view. We talk about Gaming, Comics, Anime, TV, Movies, Animation and more. Hosted by Kneon and Geeky Sparkles. Disclaimer: This series is produced by Clownfish Studios and WebReef Media, and is part of ClownfishTV.com. Opinions expressed by our contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of our guests, affiliates, sponsors, or advertisers. ClownfishTV.com is an unofficial news source and has no connection to any company that we may cover. This channel and website and the content made available through this site are for educational, entertainment and informational purposes only. These so-called “fair uses” are permitted even if the use of the work would otherwise be infringing. #Disney #WaltDisneyWorld #News #Commentary #Reaction #Podcast #Comedy #Entertainment #Hollywood #PopCulture #Tech

The Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser was just hard to explain to people, which is probably why it failed, according to Disney exec Josh D'Amaro. Not the $5000 price tag? Not that it's barely based on anything recognizable from the Star Wars franchise? Not that the paywalled experiences are massively underwhelming and even laughable? No, no it's the consumers who are wrong... ➡️ Tip Jar and Fan Support: http://ClownfishSupport.com ➡️ Official Merch Store: http://ShopClownfish.com ➡️ Official Website: http://ClownfishTV.com ➡️ Audio Edition: https://open.spotify.com/show/6qJc5C6OkQkaZnGCeuVOD1 About Us: Clownfish TV is an independent, opinionated news and commentary channel that covers Entertainment and Tech from a consumer's point of view. We talk about Gaming, Comics, Anime, TV, Movies, Animation and more. Hosted by Kneon and Geeky Sparkles. Disclaimer: This series is produced by Clownfish Studios and WebReef Media, and is part of ClownfishTV.com. Opinions expressed by our contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of our guests, affiliates, sponsors, or advertisers. ClownfishTV.com is an unofficial news source and has no connection to any company that we may cover. This channel and website and the content made available through this site are for educational, entertainment and informational purposes only. These so-called “fair uses” are permitted even if the use of the work would otherwise be infringing. #Disney #StarWars #WaltDisneyWorld #News #Commentary #Reaction #Podcast #Comedy #Entertainment #Hollywood #PopCulture #Tech

Jason and Colleen do a practice round of Pop Culture Detective trivia for this morning's Weekly Trivia Face-Off! TV TASTE TEST: Jason watched more "Beckham," Jason shares his thoughts on the failed "Star Wars" hotel at Walt Disney World, AND Pop Culture Experiment: Holly watched some vintage "RHONY!" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jason and Colleen do a practice round of Pop Culture Detective trivia for this morning's Weekly Trivia Face-Off! TV TASTE TEST: Jason watched more "Beckham," Jason shares his thoughts on the failed "Star Wars" hotel at Walt Disney World, AND Pop Culture Experiment: Holly watched some vintage "RHONY!" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join the boys as they discuss their intergalactic adventures at the Star Wars hotel, realizing the Resident Evil 4 DLC was out. Plus, they'll be sharing their thoughts on the “highly anticipated” Expendables 4 movie.

EP306 - Apple WWDC announcement, Generative AI, and Holiday First Look  Apple previewed a new mixed reality headset called the Apple Vision Pro at it's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) this month. Apple calls the new category spatial computing and we speculate about how it may or may not be a big deal. We also discuss the latest Echo hardware from Amazon, which is mostly disappointing. We discuss the rapidly evolving generative AI space and some of the commerce use-cases. And we take a first look at Holiday 2023. Don't forget to like our facebook page, and if you enjoyed this episode please write us a review on itunes. Episode 306 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded on Thursday, June 8th 2023. http://jasonandscot.com Join your hosts Jason "Retailgeek" Goldberg, Chief Commerce Strategy Officer at Publicis, and Scot Wingo, CEO of GetSpiffy and Co-Founder of ChannelAdvisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing. Transcript Jason: [0:23] Welcome to the Jason and Scot show this is episode 306 being recorded on Thursday June 8 2023 I'm your host Jason retailgeek Goldberg and as usual I'm here with your co-host Scot Wingo. Scot: [0:38] Hey Jason and welcome back Jason Scott show listeners well it's been about a month our weekly pot has become a monthly cut pod because our lives have gotten pretty busy here in this postcode world I know you've been traveling a lot what else is new with you. Jason: [0:57] Yeah yeah it's finally feels like summer which I'm very grateful for, a lot of interesting stuff going on in the world of Commerce that keeps me engaged but I feel like the main reason our podcast is slow down is because you are an entrepreneurial mogul. Scot: [1:15] I don't know about mobile but I'll take the entrepreneur piece yeah the day job is a occupying 100 or 99 point, eight percent of my time and I used to be able to use speed like 97 and I could squeeze in more time so I podcast start button but got a there's a lot of cars out there to take care of and we're doing our best to get to all of them. Jason: [1:35] And we are grateful for it I feel like I'm I'm going back in time about six months because we've been on such a leg but I feel remiss. There was a huge accomplishment like six months ago you were named one of the founding members of the. Marketplace Hall of Fame. Scot: [1:57] I saw that yeah yeah. Jason: [2:01] Here's the thing I'm going to say about that I didn't know that much about it and I don't think anyone would be surprised to hear you're a founding member but like. Don't like five names and it was like Jeff Bezos Mar Quarry. And you and Jack Ma I'm like I'm like man you are going to be the best looking dude on that Mount Rushmore. Scot: [2:24] Yeah usually I'm I'm kind of Groucho Marx not sure I want to be in the club but this is one I was very happy to be being is like me and like three or four other billionaires all I'll take I'll take being included in that group. Jason: [2:39] Yeah yeah you don't want to be the fanciest house on the Block so. Scot: [2:42] Yeah I got a yeah I'm I'm excited I'm punching way above my weight on that list for sure. Jason: [2:48] Yeah well so anyway congratulations on that for sure I know and westerners would appreciate it and then while I'm thrilled for summer I've been a little down about one bit of news. Scot: [3:00] What is it Jason. Jason: [3:01] Disney click closed the Star Wars Hotel before you and I got to go there. Scot: [3:08] Yeah I know we could have done a live stream when this thing was announced I was excited and then I saw the price and then I saw the promo video and then I saw the reviews and you could just tell they had totally the totally whiffed on the whole thing it was. It was it wasn't just kind of a hotel you stayed at you had to just do that thing alone you didn't have to but it was so expensive. You're paying like two or three thousand dollars a night which I don't know this gonna be some. Someone in California makes these decisions I guess I don't understand the the tolls of the everyday American or even the higher in Star Wars hand that's a that's a big ask and you know I'm not in the cosplay so I think they had this if we kind of put on our marketing hats they had death by a Thousand Cuts so you had to be a Star Wars fan number one number two you had to be willing to spend 5K on this fancy hotel experience number three had to be in the cause playing and then number for the experiences that people that try to gave it you know at best a. Jason: [4:11] Yeah mediocre. Scot: [4:12] Yeah it felt very Star Trek e which is definitely a problem for Star Wars fans and you know it had a lot of kind of fun Spacey kind of vibe but like not enough Star Wars so yeah but you know. I'll say kudos to them for trying but it was an expensive mistake and I'm sure they can repurpose the real estate it's not like they're gonna I'm not shedding a tear. Jason: [4:36] Real estate has been depreciated I'm sure. Scot: [4:38] I think they'll be okay but yeah you know it is bummer because I was kind of hoping it would work, I've done some other Star Wars experience you'll stuff that was really fun there was there's this group in the UK and they go create movie scenes and industrial areas it's really weird the way it's described is called like underground movies or something like that they did a Star Wars experience that was like amazing where they had a Cantina I guess galaxies Edge is kind of like yeah. As when I mean I haven't been yet but I'm actually going to go this summer so I'm excited about that all. Jason: [5:11] Yeah it's really good you should. Scot: [5:12] Yeah everyone says it's good so that's on my list. Jason: [5:15] Yeah I'm in the same boat like it I don't feel like I'm disappointed that I missed it because I feel like. It sounds poorly executed in poorly conceived but the high-level concept of a. Experiential Star Wars Hotel experience I was super excited about and I hope the fact that this does didn't work isn't going. Like slow down future future ideas on that space because it could have been cool if they did it really well. Scot: [5:44] Yeah yeah I don't put salt down. Jason: [5:47] Onto something more reliable Apple announcements. Scot: [5:51] Yeah this was exciting so I'd love to get your take on the Apple Vision Pro so first of all the the earlier announcements I was kind of like I was getting a little concerned because they're like you know coming up the biggest new feature in Mac OS is a really cool screen saver and then the phone had a new sleep display mode I'm like, we've kind of jumped the shark if this is the big new OS features there were some other ones and I'm being a little bit facetious but there were there were to say there were minor tweaks which is kind of a Fair assessment I think. [6:24] And then they finally gave us that one more thing that we've been waiting for and I went and our crack staff of interns went into the Jason and Scot show vault and you and I and 2016 gave a talk at an in our F / shop dot-org event where we were asked to talk about the future of retail and in there I remember I pulled up the presentation we talked about drones and 3D printing and then we talk about a rvr and at that point in time Facebook they're used to this company called Facebook now you may know them as meta they they had just acquired Oculus and we were speculating would Apple enter the game and turns out we were right but like many of our predictions we were maybe a little early if I've done the math on this right we were about seven years ahead, but I think the wait has been worth it because they definitely swung for the fences on this one and you know the the feature sets and the user interface no one none of us have experience to have read the reviews of folks that have sounds like it I can't wait to get my hands on one and I'm definitely ordering one so excited to hear what you think. Jason: [7:37] Yeah yeah so maybe half a step back Apple tends to do two big events a year they and they do as software announcement and they do a hardware announcement this is normally the software announcement where they detail all the. New releases of the various operating systems for all the devices and they do sometimes, launch devices at this which they did again they launched a number of new configurations of Max and then in like September they announced. The hardware which is up you know generally includes a new phone for October. So you don't necessarily expect a huge new hardware product at this announcement and I was I was kind of with you most of the OS and announcements were very incremental the new. Computers were all like like very very incremental there is like. [8:35] The new 15-inch the the MacBook Air is now a 15 inch. So that's maybe going to be an appealing laptop for people that want to pretty powerful laptop that's super light. But I will say there's a number of small enhancements in the OS has that I'm looking forward to like they their incremental but they did you know call out a number of sort of pain points where like. The autocorrect on the keyboard can often be very annoying and they're going to use a large language model too. Um what you keep your curse words and proprietary language a lot easier and, a few little bits like that and then yeah to your point like at the end they go and one more thing and as I assume most of our listeners know that's magic language at Apple, that's that's the language Steve Jobs used before he pulled the first iPhone out of his jeans pocket or the first MacBook Air out of the manila envelope and you know that language has been used to introduce a lot of apples game-changing products and it frankly hasn't been used very much. In the in the modern era so the mere fact that they started the innocent reduction with an one more thing tells you that Apple thinks this is a. In extra big deal and. I'm with you like I will I'm embarrassed to say somewhere in some ways I will probably buy one I think there's a bunch of. [10:03] Cool things about it like the the hardware achievement is is pretty impressive so this is a. They would be pissed at me describing it this way they invented a new term they call this spatial Computing but it's a it's an AR VR headset and it kind of looks like ski goggles. And you know a lot of people had predicted this and their renderings that weren't too far off but the hardware is beautiful as you would expect from Apple it has a bunch of Premium finishes it is not an accessory that talks to a computer a phone it's a. Computer that you wear in your face and in fact I think it has to M2 chips in it. And in the specs are really high each eye has more than a 4K screen so very high resolution VR headset and the latency, it has this Mode called pass-through mode which means there's cameras in front of it and it can feel like a transparent visor because. The the cameras see outside and then you know project that onto these two 4K screen so it makes it feel like you're seeing through the visor and it's in full color at 4K with less than 12 millisecond latency which is. [11:20] Other VR headsets have a pass-through mode like the Oculus has a black-and-white pass-through mode but the latency is. As much there's a lot more lag and so that creates like all these like motion artifacts and stuff. That this is all very premium high-end Hardware which seems, pretty cool and so the experiences seem cool everyone I've read you know just got to actually try it thanks though I. On your face experience was vastly better than any other a rvr. They had experienced and then they also you know brought in Bob Iger from Disney and who announced that they were doing a bunch of proprietary content for the platform which is a. Another exciting thing right because the these headsets are only as good as the. The content you have for them so all that to me was super favorable the things that they're rightly getting knocked on is you just talked about the price of the Disney hotel being unrealistic they didn't really even mention the price in this announcement but they released it afterwards and it's the base price is going to be over 3500 bucks and if you're blind like I am you're going to have to then buy some prescriptions Iceland's is that screw into it. And so it's an expensive device. [12:43] It also has kind of mirror battery life like the there's a small battery on the device but in order to get a two-hour battery they make you put a battery pack the size of an iPhone in your pocket and connect it via a cable, to the headset and that gets you two hours which frankly isn't even enough time to watch a lot of movies that are out these days. People have talked a lot about it being really heavy. On your face because of all this like you know metal hardware and premium materials that it feels pretty pretty meaningful on your face and then the biggest weird thing to me. In the announcement they made multiple they took multiple occasions to talk about. [13:28] How important what they called presences right so they talked like there's a lot of new features and all the OSS around FaceTime. And making it a more useful meeting thing and and all of those features were around making you feel like you were. More together with the people you are FaceTiming with and when they first show this, this apple Vision Pro experience the first thing they show is video conferencing with other real people and how their faces are floating right in front of you and it you know it's this great presence experience. Except for anyone wearing. This bloody device because guess what you don't get is a picture of the person wearing the device wait what what you get is a. Uncanny valley like semi-realistic Avatar of the person. [14:18] And it just feels like very incongruity us that they're both saying presents a super important and then they're partitioning, anyone wearing this device sort of away from real people and so I that to me is worrisome I got to be honest when I add up all the pros and the cons it feels like people like you and I will buy it, but I kind of suspect that this is going to be more like an apple Lisa than the first Macintosh. Scot: [14:44] It you know but you gotta start somewhere and this is by setting the goalposts hi it's easier to go down than up so you know I can imagine several iterations and maybe it'll take another seven years but at some point I think they'll solve all those things and they'll get the cost way down but. Jason: [15:00] 100% if you look at this as like the entree into a new form of computing I'm totally with you right and and I get I wish I owned one of the a police's but and it did pave the way for the Macintosh so so I'm all down for it I don't think, if you're a retailer at home and you're going like hey do I have to invent some new Commerce experience for the. For the Apple Vision Pro like the answer is no right like and what like unless maybe your Louis Vuitton and you want to get a good press release about being a first mover you know it's unlikely that there's going to be 100 million people sitting in their house wearing this thing on their face all day and wanting to shop on it. Scot: [15:42] Yeah I saw so to last comments on this one I saw One reviewer who's really into a rvr and it was interesting framing he basically said Facebook is going down this path of VR is a social experience and you're using it for meetings and for meeting people which aligns since their social network right and that's part of their DNA where's apples kind of more saying we're heading into a world where we're more alone and you'll you know your increasingly you'll be working for home alone and remote and your you'll you know you'll be interacting with your family with this mask on it's kind of a I don't buy this framing but it's kind of an interesting you know the way it's set up today is very different view of things and then you know then the conclusion was you know for society I hope it's the Facebook silly should be good or else we're all going to be ready player one like sitting in little tiny you know compartments never interacting with each other at a human level and. Jason: [16:38] Yeah no I agree and then ironically like apples Imaging everyone sitting at home except for Apple employees who will get fired and they said. Scot: [16:46] Yeah. Jason: [16:48] Yeah another framing I heard which makes some sense is like they talked about meta really thinking of their device as a gaming platform and it's kind of priced at parity with gaming platforms and the, Partnerships that are leaning into a really gaming Partnerships and it comes with very sort of gaming friendly controllers and things like that and apple is really thinking of this as a compute platform and I think on an implied in their announcement is they Envision a future when. You know we don't we don't own clamshell devices with keyboards that we used hitter. Get our work done and that we're more likely to sit in a comfortable chair with one of these things on our face and be much more productive. Scot: [17:28] Yeah another thing that was interesting this got obscured by the announcement was I've heard a fair amount of Buzz about this roller coaster experience in Japan and I think it's a Nintendo theme park and what you yes. Jason: [17:39] Super Mario Kart and I think they did they just did it in. Scot: [17:43] Yeah. Jason: [17:44] Universal Studios in Los Angeles I believe may not have it. Scot: [17:48] Okay well Apple acquired the company that built this experience for Nintendo and. Yeah so you know kind of putting that together you see all right you got Bob Iger on stage and that was like content on the device but think about this killer you know imagine you go to your next Generation Galaxy Edge experience in your writing some kind of a ride and now they throw some AR part on top of that experience that that would be pretty cool. Jason: [18:14] Yeah I guess so to other random things I thought were mildly interesting normally apple is pretty good about dropping these announcements and then having like. Pretty quick of the ability thereafter and so one weird thing they're announcing this and June and it's not going to be available in told 2024. Um which I you know that feels a little unusual for me and then not surprising at all but like very noticeable. Three words that were not mentioned ever in this announcement were artificial intelligence VR or the metaverse. So they kind of invented their own terms and I think they very intentionally avoided. A variety of stigmas that are attached to some of those those other terms and then I guess the last thing in my head you know there's this company and I think they still exist and they have raised billions of dollars. On a lot of hype around a really high-end AR headset it's this company called magically. And I think like if there's any loser in this whole Space. [19:26] Like if there was any hope of magically surviving think I think this you know this seems like a better product in every way than what magically was promising and wasn't able to deliver. [19:46] Yeah I'm sure there's some IP that's that's interesting to someone I hope so they spent a fortune. Scot: [19:48] Yeah I think they're done they yeah they missed their window and they had these really cool early demos but. Jason: [19:55] Yeah I actually got one we're like literally the it was kind of like old-school Oculus like there's a you know a refrigerator size computer that was Tethered to the. To the screen but it definitely it was not 4K with 12 second latency. Scot: [20:10] Nothing yep and so this is where Apple wins because they can they built their own silk and they built a chip for that latency it's called the R1 or something and so they basically said alright we need to create Hardware that can have this under eight millisecond latency and they just did it and you know that's not everyone can do that. Jason: [20:28] Not many yeah so I thought that was interesting again like you and I will be able to have our little Avatar meetings after this maybe we'll be able to record the podcast in it. Scot: [20:38] Yeah people can watch us look at each other with goggles. Jason: [20:42] I feel like if there's two people that would whose attractiveness would be improved by the goggles and might be us we have faces for podcasting. Scot: [20:47] Yeah yeah I can yeah I'm kind of wondering can you change your eyes you know so those are all simulated so. Jason: [20:54] You have to be able to write like if I can buy blue contacts why can't I have yeah because that that is true for those that didn't see the announcement it can look like the glasses are clear because you can see the where's eyes through the glasses but it's because, there's cameras inside the glasses and there's always screens on the outside of the glasses and so they're they're renderings of your eyes. Scot: [21:16] Yeah I want to I'm going to do a Terminator ice that's what I'm going for. Jason: [21:20] Yeah I'm extra weary about Terminator references in our current AI climb. Scot: [21:25] That's a good Segway. Jason: [21:28] Nice I like it. Yeah so there's lots of AI news like we could do a month of AI shows it feels like the only thing I talk about it work but there's one particular subset of all this AI That's often called generative Ai and I'm going to even say focusing very specifically on the image generation Ai and there's tons of cool stuff that I think you and I have both been playing with. Scot: [21:58] Yeah I'm big into mid-journey and then everyone's done chat G PT but then the big the big thing that's helped me is once it became where you could do the links I've been able to I do a lot of writing and I've been able to accumulate all my writing in a file and then feed it in and say Here's my style analyze this so that it goes to, then I taught to start writing in my style and then that has been a huge game-changer for me that's the first one gives you like a decent draft and then you're kind of find yourself editing a lot but like having it where you can now upload new information either from the web or in a file or a PDF is a been a big game changer for me it's it gets it more like you know 95% weather. Jason: [22:47] Oh yeah I think I've mentioned this before but like there's a small subset of the writing I do that I get to partner with a copywriter so I'll like, give outlines or dictate things to a copywriter in the draft I get back is almost always will written but not remotely in my voice and so it takes me a long time to edit it and give I give the same raw inputs to chechi BT that that I've trained. To know my writing style what I get back is is way closer to use them. Scot: [23:19] Does your copywriter listen to this podcast. Jason: [23:23] Hopefully she does not. Scot: [23:25] Okay good. Jason: [23:27] Yeah yeah no I you know again there's a whole we again we could do another podcast about whether AI is gonna create or destroy jobs or both but I think like a lot of things there are things that we used to pay people to do that are it's going to be harder to make a living doing, but there's going to be lots of new jobs to write and those copywriters like ought to be the first ones learning how to write good prompts for these for these things, the image ones I've been playing with image generators to I use mid Journey, you know there's an open source one that you can kind of run on your local hardware stable diffusion, that has a lot less constraints it's not quite as high quality of rendering is mid-journey but I'll tell you the new thing that's been fun for me is Adobe announced a generative AI model called Firefly and they already built it in one of their products so the the if you own Photoshop CC you can download a Photoshop beta and it has this feature that they call. [24:28] Excuse me generative Phil and, generative Phil is a legitimate Game Changer there's a bunch of use cases that used to be super time-consuming for designers that that this beta version already like. Makes Child's Play and one of the sort of unfortunate thing mid-journey generates really beautiful images the one thing it doesn't do is, trademark images or copyright images or text right so very often you might generate an image in mid Journey but then you had you'd have to hand it to a good Photoshop artist to put the spiffy logo in it or to put you know and actual image of Scot Wingo in it or something like that. And Adobe Firefly is really good at that use case so like I've actually done a bunch of kind of Blended image where I made an image in mid journey and then, I refined it in the Photoshop beta and it's, it's super fun but man like you know if I'm any kind of designer or graphic artist like I want to get good at this stuff right away because it, I'm not saying is going to eliminate jobs but it's going to change the kind of jobs people need to be good at. Scot: [25:43] Yeah there's been a lot of really cool use cases of the generative AI feature in Photoshop where people would start like with them Nirvana cover you know the little baby swimming naked and then expand it ever bigger than you can like see the rest of the scene what the computer imagines and they're starting to it with memes to it's pretty wild to watch some output of that it's it's like it's a little scary wow it could be, how real it is it feels like it is it's not real obviously because no one knows what's in that rest of that frame. Jason: [26:15] Yeah there's a real world use case where Nike and Tiffany announced a collab product and everyone saw it and thought it was awful. Right like that it just like is just a very like not inspiring combination of Nike shoes with Tiffany branding and a bunch of people then you know went and use these generative AI models to create. Way better looking shit Tiffany Nike shoes and that really happened and then last night I actually watched the Nike are movie which is the movie about the. [26:50] Both of the Air Jordans with them. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in it awesome movie by the way especially if you grew up in the 80s like there was a lot of fun nostalgia. But in this movie The they get a meeting with young Michael Jordan and his family who are going to come to Beaverton to talk about. In doing a Nike endorsement and and Nikes though Dark Horse like Jordans not interested in Nike and so the the the team after they booked this meeting on Friday afternoon they go to the the one Nike designer in the basement and they say Hey by Monday I need a prototype and a rendering of the world's greatest basketball shoe and this, this guy had a weekend to invent the Air Jordan which he did right and and history is made like you know it made 40 billion dollars for Phil Knight and a couple billion dollars for Michael Jordan so great success but you imagine that if that kind of thing were to happen today, um there'd be a team rendering, a hundred different concepts in these generative AI models and that it have like a way wider variation of interesting ideas to consider. Scot: [28:10] Yeah very cool. Jason: [28:12] So I will say we're starting to see some interesting Commerce use cases the I have seen a bunch of clients that are using generative AI to create or refine product images and in some cases they are literally saving millions of man hours now. You know so maybe you've got you know a huge catalog of products and they're all shot as lifestyle imagery or they're all sot on a particular background and then you now need to sell them in the new Marketplace at Sheehan that didn't exist a year ago. And there's a requirement for white backgrounds. Well you know you used to pay like an army of graphic designers to mask out all these images and change the backgrounds and now that these like generative things can do it. [29:02] Trivially and you imagine pretty quickly that all these images are going to be personalized right so instead of, you know seeing that that product around some you know model family like at some you know random persons Thanksgiving table, you're going to see that that that new food product. At your Thanksgiving table with your family sitting around it and all of these sorts of you know personalized cases as as the imagery the ability to generate imagery on the Fly gets really good, and I've actually never seen a couple of demos from Google of a product they first announced. Last year and then they announced that it's going to be released eminently last month, it's called Google seen exploration in this is a cool AR use case specifically for retail so this is walk into a store hold your phone with the camera on in front of an aisle and it recognizes all of the products on the Shelf using computer vision, and then it overlays all the products with Google ratings and reviews. [30:08] So like giving you a lot of this like valuable digital information that didn't used to exist on the shelf right and you you know they talk about all the use cases like you know you need to buy a highly rated nut free vegan chocolate bar and you're standing in the chocolate aisle and there's a you know a thousand chocolate bars there's no way to search by that right and and with this scene exploration you know you can now do that on the fly in a store and to me that seems like a, pretty cool use case and it's it's going to be built in the phones and then area of your in the OS in the very near future. Scot: [30:50] Yeah I saw a Salesforce they've been going at this very hard in within the Commerce Cloud they announced like 10 features they have one where it will auto-generate your pdp's for you they have one where it will it'll generate tags so like it'll search the description and come up with sizes and colors and and you know kind of like a variance and things out of a description to have another one, there was no actually go create product catalog for you so if you've you've this was a huge thing we had a challenge with it Channel visor is if you're selling if you're selling on Amazon and you're just matching to their Easter eysan you don't really have the rights to that product information so then you can't just copy that and then put on eBay or something like that or your own website so they've got this whole way that you can take that data your your properties which aren't, sentences create the description and then move it to other sections to a lot of really interesting things going on in the intersection of AI and e-commerce. Jason: [31:56] Yeah absolutely so exciting about that and there's going to be I have a feeling we're going to be talking about significant new capabilities on an ongoing basis for the foreseeable future. Scot: [32:06] I remember you'd walked internet retailer and there be ten vendors there that would take your product pictures and add a white background yeah. Jason: [32:15] And that win from like you know people in America doing that to people in India doing that and now it's it's an Nvidia chip doing it. Which side note like you know people keep asking who's winning the who's going to be the one to monetize a eyes are going to be open AI or meta all these small companies we also got the answer to that this quarter it's Invidia. Scot: [32:36] Yeah they're gonna win yes. Jason: [32:39] So for those that don't know nvidia's market cap Nvidia has a chip manufacturer famous for, these high-performance graphic chips that were originally used for gaming and still are and their chips have been extremely useful for training and doing refining training for all these these large language models in AI, and their market cap briefly passed a trillion dollars, um this month I think it dipped like just below a trillion dollars at the moment but to put that in perspective Intel's market cap is like 130 billion dollars. Like so Nvidia the game chip company is eight times more valuable than Intel at the. Scot: [33:25] It's crazy yeah who knows no one had that on their bingo card five years. Jason: [33:29] No I wish that was one of my year beginning predictions. Scot: [33:34] Yeah anything else on a iron. Jason: [33:38] No no did you Amazon 10 announcement last month you follow. Scot: [33:44] Yeah yeah well it wouldn't be a Jason Scott show without some. [34:00] That's right time for some Amazon news Amazon has been unexpectedly quiet so we've got a new CEO basis is out romping around wearing crazy shirts at festivals and living the high life with his girlfriend so, some of that out there other engage did not know that congratulations Jeff I know he listens to. Jason: [34:26] If you're playing bingo it was a 2.5 million dollar diamond. Scot: [34:29] Nice the one thing I saw just to highlight is a lot there's kind of a, this bit of an economic downturn has made many of the video providers get more serious about profitability so we saw both Netflix and Disney add an ad-supported tier and increase their prices and just as we're recording this Amazon announced they're going to do the same thing with prime so they're going to have an add to your 44 Prime but I know you follow the devices I totally slept on this because I was so eager for the Vision Pro tell me about the new devices. Jason: [35:07] Yeah yeah. I would characterize it as disappointing they want some new Echo devices at. The in the middle of May for release on May 31st and you know I have it. An embarrassing amount of these devices controlling smart home features throughout my house and they when I first got them like. [35:37] I seem very I felt very satisfied with them like the the accuracy of the speech recognition and stuff seemed adequate like based on my expectations at the time but I've grown to be very annoyed by them like they really struggle to know which room you're talking to and they're inconsistent about how semantically accurate you have to be like in in this world where Chad gbt is writing all my articles for me you know you just go I, man the speech recognition in this Hardware has to be better and so I was kind of eagerly looking for some new Echoes that have like an llm in them it seemed like Amazon was a first mover here, and so they did announce some new devices but they're pretty boring so they announced a new form factor called the echo pop which is. [36:27] I want by my count their fourth or fifth attempt to build a more premium speaker into an echo and this is like. A more affordable premium speaker which seems like a weird Niche so that wasn't that interesting I don't actually use the echoes. As speakers so much and then they launched a new Echo Show 5 which is. The the echo with the screen it's the smallest screen has 5 inch screen and then they announced some new Echo buds the echo built into the the earbuds which you and I both tried and I don't think we're very enamored by. The. The features are like oh the speaker sounds better than the old speaker the microphone is more accurate than the old microphone and it's 20% faster. [37:15] And so like I bought a couple of these new new Echoes to see if I you noticed a difference and it's. Like it's to me it's mostly imperceptible from the old Hardware so pretty disappointing. Um but app that announcement I will say Andy jassy said that hey the large language model for Echo is coming and you know there. It does feel like Amazon's a little behind and I don't know if this announcement was meant to apologize for that that. Status or whether there really is something that's going to be imminently announced but you know like he he doubled down on their effort to make this the, the most useful personal assistant on Earth and you know part of that is we're going to have a robust large language model that's you know on has a, a similar number of parameters to to open a I or bear door or Lama from from meta, that the Amazons going to release to make these these sneakers smarter so I hope he delivers on that promise. Scot: [38:23] Yeah the there if definitely feels like chat gbt started this new gear for Innovation and feels like apple even with their big announcement there was they worked some AI in there but it just feels like. There's a lot of people speculating do you really need a phone if we're going to head to a device where you can talk to it and these plugins at chat gbt now give it action so you can say hey book me a restaurant reservation the things you would do on your phone you're going to be almost able to do totally by voice soon therefore will you need a phone so there's a lot of you know that's a new would expect Amazon who was ahead on voice now feels like they're behind on a lot of this so it's be really interesting this next year to see who can kind of hang with this and you can't the R&D budgets are gonna go through the roof that's for sure. Jason: [39:14] Yeah and the irony is you know you go back in time and you know all the retailers in America where happily you know shipping two weeks after you place an order in Amazon you know disrupted Everybody by saying like hey you should get your stuff in two days and then one day and then same day right and they they raised the expectations for everyone else it feels like open AI is doing that to Apple and Amazon right now on the on the natural language models. Scot: [39:43] The to the pop did not pop. Jason: [39:46] It did it did not I did that in full disclosure I did not buy a pop because again like I don't I don't so much by them for their speaker Fidelity I mostly buy them to control my lights and stuff. But yeah I like I still have to repeat myself multiple times and some rooms to just turn stuff on and it's frustrating. Scot: [40:06] Yeah so this one was one I wanted to bounce off of you I'm a CNBC junkie and I was watching the other day and Target stock had a big Miss and the folks on, Talking Heads were saying that in their earnings release they really called out this shoplifting as a. [40:24] A problem and they took a one right off of something like 500 million dollars so I'm sure everyone has seen the videos where you know this is just new organized crime kind of wave going on especially in big cities where you'll see. 20 people go in a store and just run out with arm full of stuff it's happening to starting to kind of luxury then then you saw a little lemon and it happens in Apple Stores and now you're starting to see it in every day department stores and drug stores, so I thought that was you know as e-commerce person I was thinking huh that's interesting you know I wonder if and kind of hi Pro some high-profile store closures have followed from the so Nordstrom closed a store and like San Francisco and that's kind of thing so I was thinking is e-commerce person I was kinda thinking well this is interesting this is gonna this is going to benefit Amazon pretty immensely because as the stores have to close due to this crime wave it's going to benefit e-commerce and then Amazon like 60% of e-commerce so they'll just get they'll just absorb a lot of that that that so that the crime is going to have this unintended consequence of getting rid of stores which is bad for for the local environment and then it'll yeah I don't, yeah I don't think they really want to benefit Amazon but they will so I wanted to get your hot take on them. Jason: [41:40] Well first of all just to complete your thought the the brick-and-mortar retailers and the national retail Federation would actually say Amazon's double-dipping on that benefit because they're both. Selling stuff when the the stores closed in the big cities but also most of the Retailer's blame the organized crime on Amazon. [41:59] So the The Narrative is basically that like you know people here's who used to steal from stores, people that needed something and couldn't afford it for whatever reason right so they. Stalled food for their family or you know items they could afford to buy that was individual shoplifting and, employees told stuff employee shrink and there now is this much higher occurrence of organized crime for profit where where people are stealing you know every bottle of shampoo in the Walgreens and one of the reasons these big retailers say that this kind of crime is much larger now is it's way easier to monetize that stuff after you steal it, and the reason they say it's easier to monetize it is you can go sell all of this this still the merchandise pretty easily on Amazon and eBay. Um so that's controversial like the marketplace is due a lot to sort of avoid selling, um song Goods but that one of the premises why there's more organized crime is because. It is easier to fence and monetize this stuff. But here's the thing that's super interesting about that like there for sure is this new kind of crime and it's. [43:22] It's much more newsworthy so when someone drives a truck through the front of an Apple store and then steals all the phones that's going to be on the local news when someone shoplifts pound of cheese, that's not going to be on the local news right or when an employed as a fake return to embezzle 60 dollars from a shirt like that's not as often on the local news so all of these organized crimes get put on the news and on YouTube and things like that more and and a huge problem is. Like it's much more violent people are getting hurt employees and in a few cases the perpetrators are are getting hurt or even killed and so like there is a way higher human cost to this kind of crime and so we have heard a bunch of. Retail CEOs, you know raising the alarm bells and they say two things like oh man our losses are going up this is having a material economic effect on our business we're closing stores partly because of this and you know we're having to change how we do do store operations and and you know all these things they're also saying that police forces are underfunded and you know don't have enough resources to retailers with this problem so they're there in many cases you know asking for more more Municipal support here's the thing though. [44:51] People have always stolen stuff from retailers there's always been a line item on every retards p&l for shrink and for most public companies that's that's a publicly disclosed number and usually, for most retailers and it varies by the type of retailer and the the geography but usually it's one to two percent of Revenue is lost in shrink and so. [45:19] Target's announcement was hey we lost we potentially could lose 500 million dollars in profit this year. And their stock partly went down from because of it like I would argue their their stock also went down for some, PR missteps they made and then also because their revenue is just soft compared to some of their competitors, they probably went down for that shrink because 500 million dollars in profit sounds like a big deal but if you gross up 500 million dollars in profit to product costs, that's one point six billion dollars in shrink at Target in 2022 and they're saying it could be as high as two billion dollars in shrink in 2023 that means that shrink is 1.5 to 1.9 percent of targets Revenue which is below industry averages Walgreens, has made all of these same complaints and last year the Walgreen CFO like in the earnings call said hey this is a huge deal like our shrink could potentially be up 52 percent from before the pandemic. Um and then he did his swing 22 year in earnings and Shrink was lower then then the last two years and he literally had to say like maybe we cried too much. [46:40] So I do think there is this new crime it's very serious like it is a problem and you know I have great empathy for retailers in addressing that and they shrink should be zero like a butt. It's a little bit of a fallacy to say hey there's this new material economic impact from this shrink that didn't exist before because the employee shrink is way down because the the surveillance and the the big data and in the business process has evolved eliminated a lot of that and so the net shrink for a lot of retailers, really isn't as significant now it might be more significant in particular stores and so some of the the closing of these stores, seems at least partially legitimate I will say there's even controversy about that like when, Walgreens has hey we're closing a store in San Francisco because there's too much crime, the San Francisco Police Department rides in and goes that's weird because we got way less complaints from from Walgreens last year than we did three years ago or whatever so there's there's. Room for disputes about all this stuff but organized crime, is definitely an increasingly serious thing that retailers have to deal with but don't immediately by all the hype that it's. That it's some you know New Economic strain that retailers have never seen before. Scot: [48:04] I wonder if there's a bit of a narrative around this shrink number like I you know I'm sure they're reporting it correctly but so I wonder if it has the same store sales effect like let's say Walgreens has to closed in ten stores because the shrink is so bad. That comes out of the numbers right because it's probably a seems to work kind of metric so they probably you know now gold number would improve dramatically but. They've shrunk their footprint like it's probably not capturing that you. Jason: [48:33] Yeah no agreed, all as a Wayne huizenga taught me 30 years ago like it any good healthy retailers should be closing and opening stores every year why there's like you can't if you had the perfect realist real estate in one year it would not be perfect the next year right and so in many cases like they're closing stores in economically you know unfriendly climates for them and that improves their same-store sales numbers and improves their cops right and you know whether they did that for purely economic reasons or they did it because there was more organized crime or to put protect employees or whatever like, um it's not wrong for these retailers to curate their, they're fully in an economic downturn that might mean having fewer stores than last year historically the challenge with that is investors always expect you to grow. And so infect investors don't like the story of what of closing underperforming stores and having better comps if you if your overall Revenue goes down so, you know this is yet another kind of excuse for them to reset expectations with investors I think I think that's totally fair. [49:44] In some cases I will tell you retailers are closing iconic stores that just feels kind of sad like the the, Nordstrom flagship store in San Francisco is has always been a big deal that's closing I lived in Portland Oregon and they had a beautiful REI in the Pearl District which was, like a great super friendly place to live and they're closing that store and they said partly because they didn't feel they could protect employees like. That there is something happening that feels like a bummer and there's a lot of big cities that it feels a lot less fun to go shopping. Than it did a few years ago which which is I do think a legitimate concern. Scot: [50:26] Yeah so I know you're the king of all e-commerce and commerce data what are you seeing in the the reports that have come out since our last pot. Jason: [50:36] Yeah well we've slowed down a little bit on the frequency the podcast so kind of just super brief recap US Department of Commerce data comes out every month so we we have the May report which has data through April next week we'll get the, the May data so January through April sales for all of retail are up 2.4% from last year that, that is down a little bit from historical averages pre-pandemic you'd expect retail to be up about 4% a year so 2.4%. [51:11] Is concerning if you look at it from before the pandemic retail sales are up year-to-date, three thirty six percent from 2019 for example so still by historic standards that's very high but this year feels like a meaningful slowdown in sales from last year and of course as soon as you start talking about this people go well what about inflation so if I normalize this data for inflation year-to-date sales this year are down three percent from last year, which historically doesn't happen even with inflation so that, that is a real concern like it it feels very legitimate that we're seeing a Slowdown in in consumer spending and particularly in inflation-adjusted dollars so I mentioned retail sales since the pandemic are up 36% if you adjust that for inflation there up about 14% so less than half of all our sales growth since the pend or more than half of our sales growth since the pandemic, has been a direct result of unusual inflation more than typical inflation and then you know people always ask us in particular about the e-commerce numbers again before the pandemic the. [52:25] Over the last 20 years e-commerce would average around 12 to 15 percent growth a year retail would average three to four percent growth a year there was a weird transposition in the middle of the pandemic when people you know finally went back to stores for the first time and slow down their e-commerce bending so like for the only time in my lifetime, 20:22 size. Retail sales growing faster than e-commerce briefly that trend has reversed e-commerce is back on top of retail but it's not back to Historic standards so e-commerce year-to-date is up about 7.4% verses 2022 still, you know, you remember in the pandemic people are talking about e-commerce spiking and then regressing to the mean just want to remind our listeners that's not true the US Department of Commerce revised some numbers and e-commerce growth. Has ended up being much more robust than like the Wall Street Journal reported in in in a famous article in 2022 so e-commerce is up about 89 percent since, since 2019 and that means. [53:29] Above and beyond the traditional growth that I would have forecasted for e-commerce we've sold an extra six hundred and seventy five billion dollars since the pandemic started so e-commerce still is the biggest winner in this kind of. Pandemic accelerated spending and it's you know we'll get the cue to e-commerce data and about two months it's going to be interesting to see, how it plays out and whether you know the consumer slowdown persist through the end of the year and holiday or whether we start to get a bounce. Scot: [54:01] Yeah and I know it's June and but you get paid to think about this more than I do so what when clients are saying Jason what are you thinking about holiday 23 Woody tongue. Jason: [54:14] I think on the aggregate I'm not expecting it to be an awesome holiday I think there's even if, the the economy listens up there's it's going to take awhile for consumer spending to come back and I think the overall consumer spending is going to be you know modest there will be growth but it'll be low growth and because inflation will still be unusually high like profitability is going to really be, be strain for this holiday that being said we are likely to see some clear winners and losers so like not everyone's going to kind of match the industry average and we've already had a couple bankruptcies Bed Bath & Beyond used to sell a lot of holiday Goods so retailers are going to fight over you know who wins that customer this holiday and so I do think. You can expect to see some retailers have a really good holiday and you know, I hate to say this for all the small retailers out there but like at the moment the the likely narrative is the biggest best retailers in the ecosystem are likely that too. Disproportionately win holiday so like if I had to guess I would guess Amazon and Walmart are going to have a pretty good holiday at the expense of the rest of retailgeek. Scot: [55:32] Got it well you're a Grinch. Jason: [55:37] Yeah I want to be wrong I want to be wrong on that I want to be right on all my year beginning forecast which I can't even remember what they were. Scot: [55:44] Yeah I'm just kidding you get paid to tell the real. Jason: [55:49] I'd rather I would rather be prepared for soft holiday and then be pleasantly surprised. I almost hesitate to even bring this up because it kind of feels like it always happens but there there are now some potential new supply chain challenges. Perking up so there's there's some labor disputes our friends the teamsters the unload all the boats on the west coast of America like are threatening work stoppages and, you know any disruption in there like has a meaningful impact on how much Goods we have available for holiday and then one I've never heard before in my lifetime, the worldwide drought is having a material impact on the supply chain what there is not is enough water in the Panama Canal. [56:39] And so it turns out the way the locks work they have to pour a bunch of water into the canal to lift the boats and there's less water available so the water costs more so it is more expensive to take a heavy boat through the Panama Canal today than it was a month ago. Because of the price of water which. It makes sense when you hear it but it's not something you would I would have thought of and so at the moment the supply-chain wonks are are talking about like you know we might have some unanticipated, supply chain cost as you know people have to pay for the constrain amount of tonnage that they can lift through the Panama Canal. Scot: [57:23] Wow learn something everyday and I can check that off my box in it. Jason: [57:26] Nice well that's probably a perfect place to end it because we have used up our allotted time but even though we've been a little less frequent than usual, I always look forward to catching up with you and it's been great to chat but I look forward to hearing how our listeners are doing. Scot: [57:44] Yeah and you know what listeners could do to help us out leave a review we would always love your feedback let us know how we're doing and if there's any topics you want to cover and we appreciate you giving us a listen. Jason: [57:57] Scot that's a great idea and until next time happy Commercing.

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ChatGPT+ & AI Powered Bing; more pink slips at Dell, Zoom, Disney & Yahoo; WB to keep Discovery+ stand-alone option; Amazon only hiring students & recent grads for entry-level positions; Twitter flounders around for a plan; Musk not liable for anything he says; Google unveils Bard, makes $100 billion mistake; MetaBirkin NFT lawsuit; M3GAN; Andy Prieboy, Miles Hunt live; Minions: the Rise of Gru; Clarkson's Farm; Nuclear War Simulator; Pen.Tips, Paperlike; the Unmaking Engine; Life: What Nat To Do; signing away your voice; Disney World, Star Wars Hotel prices; ChatGPT hallucinations; Wazin' with Dave; KITT.Sponsors:Lectric eBikes - Start your next adventure with a Lectric XP 3.0 today. Visit lectricebikes.com to learn more, and mention GOG at checkout because you love us!Show notes at https://gog.show/588FOLLOW UPExclusive Q&A: John Carmack's ‘Different Path' to Artificial General IntelligenceI Tried Microsoft's New AI-Powered Bing. Search Will Never Be the Same.IN THE NEWSDell to cut roughly 6,650 jobs as PC sales dropZoom is laying off around 1,300 workersIger Announces Layoffs as Disney Grapples With Streaming LossesExclusive: Yahoo to lay off more than 20% of staff as it shrinks ad bizWarner Bros. Discovery to Keep Discovery+, in Strategy ShiftLeaked emails show Amazon will only hire students and recent graduates for entry level software engineering positionsTwitter Considers Charging Brands $1000 Per Month to Stay VerifiedTwitter Will Share Ad Revenue With Creators. But There's A CatchTrump White House asked Twitter to take down Chrissy Teigen's mean tweet about himTwitter reportedly had only 180,000 subscribers in the US last monthMusk Found Not Liable in ‘Funding Secured' Tesla TrialGoogle unveils Bard, its ChatGPT rivalBard's first public mistake cost Google $100 billionGoogle will soon default to blurring explicit image search resultsHermes wins U.S. trademark trial over 'MetaBirkin' NFTsMEDIA CANDYM3GANLinda Rondstadt: The Sound of My VoiceANDY PRIEBOY - LIVE AT LARGO - 1997-ISHMiles Hunt Live in LeedsMinions: The Rise of GruThe Peripheral Season 2 Renewed At Prime VideoClarkson's Farm Season 2APPS & DOODADSNuclear War Simulator | Out Now“What if?”: Academic Scenario Simulation Tool “Nuclear War Simulator” Launches Today on SteamOPEN-RISOPPen.Tips Textured Feeling PenMatPaperlikeAT THE LIBRARYThe Unmaking Engine (The World Walker Series Book 2) by Ian W. SainsburyLife: What Nat to Do - A Hot Take on the Advice You Never Asked For by Nat's What I ReckonNat's What I Reckon on YouTubeSECURITY HAH!The CyberWireDave BittnerHacking HumansCaveatControl Loop‘Disrespectful to the Craft:' Actors Say They're Being Asked to Sign Away Their Voice to AIDisney World's struggling $5,000 Star Wars hotel slashes prices, cancels summer datesChatGPT Can Be Broken by Entering These Strange Words, And Nobody Is Sure WhyDave Bittner on WazeCLOSING SHOUT-OUTSBurt Bacharach, one of pop's greatest songwriters, dies aged 94See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.