T minus 20
The year is 2004... Your polyphonic ringtone habit is sending you broke. George W Bush is sworn in for a second term. And in spite of everything going on, the most controversial thing is a wardrobe malfunction at the superbowl?
T minus 20, rewind to this week in history 20 years ago with Joe and Mel.
T minus 20
A wall of water, a world in pain - the Boxing Day Tsunami
🌏 On December 26, the Boxing Day Tsunami, triggered by a 9.3 magnitude earthquake, devastated 14 countries, including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. With waves up to 30 meters high traveling at 800 km/h, nearly 228,000 lives were lost, 167,000 in Indonesia alone. The disaster exposed the lack of warning systems and even shifted Earth’s rotation slightly.
Sony’s PSP launched in Japan on December 12, redefining handheld gaming 🎮. With console-quality graphics, Wi-Fi, and UMD discs for games and movies, it became a multimedia sensation, selling over 80 million units globally.
Meanwhile, Ciara’s 1, 2 Step had everyone dancing 🪩, and Tupac’s posthumous Loyal to the Game, produced by Eminem, stirred debate with remixed vocals. In Australia, Kasey Donovan’s Listen with Your Heart topped the charts, while the UK embraced Do They Know It’s Christmas? 🎄.
At the movies, Ocean’s 12 delivered heist thrills, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events brought dark whimsy, and Meet the Fockers broke Christmas Day box office records with laugh-out-loud family chaos 🎬.
On bookshelves, Night Fall by Nelson DeMille explored TWA Flight 800 conspiracies, though its ending left some readers unimpressed đź“š.
Hang with us on socials to chat more noughties nostalgia - Facebook (@tminus20) or Instagram (tminus20podcast). You can also contact us there if you want to be a part of the show.
Transcript is generated automatically.
The year is 2004. Your polyphonic ringtone habit is sending you broke. Yeah, George W Bush is sworn in for a second term, and in spite of everything going on, the most controversial thing is a wardrobe malfunction at the Superbowl. T -, 20 rewind 20 years with Joe and Mel.
Alright.
Wait.
Ohh 12 December 2004.
3 minutes.
20 arrested history. You know what? I'm very forgetful 20.
Hi.
Hello there stop trying to make fetch happen.
If I.
Wait, wait, wait.
You bought 20.
Years and I thought it would be.
Fellow Americans.
20.
Let's roll.
You're probably finding yourself in the midst of the silly season. The world's going mad and we just wanna be a bastion. A lighthouse of hope for a little bit of sanity as we cast you back into a time where things were exactly. The same as what I would now already years ago. Who am I kidding? It's t -, 20. It's a podcast where we rewind to this week in history 20 years ago and look at all things that happened in music and pop culture and the new.
Ohh.
Was in all of that sort of stuff with your host, Joe and Mel. Hello Mel.
Yes, all that beautiful, comforting nostalgia. It does feel nice.
Yeah, is.
It does feel like a hug.
It's. A blanket. It's a blanket or a hug of nostalgia, an oldie of nostalgia where twins screening wasn't so much of a thing back then.
An oldie snoggy.
Well, it weren't always constantly buried face first in our mobile phone.
Now we've.
This this is very true. And yes, the time we speak of this week, well, it's a bit of a bumper edition actually.
Dad's what?
Yeah.
We're gonna do the 12th of December right through the end of the year, right through to the end of 2004, because next week we kinda enter what we call summer programming.
Yes.
We're gonna look at the best of 2004 and then after that, I think we'll do some best bits. Who knows?
Yeah.
Still gonna get a bit chaotic. So this is kind of the the. Last of facial.
Look back at 2004 for decent.
That's right. That's right. Every when when the only thing that's on sort of the TV or even the radio, well that's cause I listen to the BBC now cause I'm old is.
The crickets. Crickets.
So at least you can.
Tennis.
Yeah, tennis, cricket.
A little bit of tennis.
I don't know. Just Sydney to Hobart yacht races.
Pull those crap shows that never rated.
All of that. Sort of stuff.
They trot those back out again.
Yes, this summer rating season.
Yeah, no one cares.
That's right. We're gonna look at all of that. Sort of stuff, but that's not this week. This week we do have some stuff in the show for you.
Today, the worldwide market for mobile devices, whether it be. Phones, digital music devices, Productivity Tools and gaming machines is more than 1.4 billion units worldwide that.
That is, in 2004 and a new mobile unit is about to enter the chat this time 20 years ago.
Surprising and deadly away. So powerful it left no time to escape. Those swept out to sea by the tsunami forced into a fight for survival.
Yeah, this was a tragedy. Like we had never seen before, the Boxing Day tsunami, we're gonna touch on that in this era. So.
I need about black and white cause we're humans help. We see the light forest ruins my ghetto. Got.
And what's their? Podcast without a bit of Tupac in it.
I well.
Yeah. I mean, he's he's cocked it long time ago, even in 2004.
Yes.
This is a posthumous release and it.
Yeah.
Was quite a big deal.
Yeah, it's on.
When did he die?
Very 97.
Something.
I'm gonna say 96 or 97.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, he's released new music, which I guess fuelled conspiracy theories have him still being alive at all sorts of things.
The.
Hmm.
Those stories and more on Team -20.
Speaking of conspiracy theories.
Speak.
Yeah, kinda heading into Christmas, there is gonna be some time spent with the families.
Uh huh.
There's probably a good time to to bring up all those lies your parents told you when you were a kid. Remember that all that, all those, all those lies you were told to kind of keep you in line or stop you from doing dumb things.
Careful, be careful.
Parents would have the most outlandish. Reasons why remember, like if you eat, if you swallow chewing gum seven years till it comes out.
Ohh yeah, that's. To digest, yeah.
And I used to think I'll put that in my dinky diary for seven years time and and see if that Hubba Bubba comes back out.
Uh huh. Just a handy tip.
I'll keep an eye out in seven years just to see.
Yeah, yeah. Don't. Don't go on the water slides because people might put razor blades on them.
Ohh yes.
Never go on the water slides first. In the summer time, because of the razor blades.
And if you keep pulling that face, the wind will change.
Though of course it will and but well, maybe you need that like if you were into yachting or sailing, you'd be pulling that face in the hope that you could maybe turn direction and go home.
That was a good one.
Hmm.
Maybe that's why I have a resting ***** face.
Really.
Maybe just can't help it. Maybe it was from the face I pulled when I was a kid.
Is it?
Is it the window change or and they see?
The wind changes in your face will. Be stuck like this or something about.
I don't know. I don't know that that's correct but.
Well, maybe we've mixed two, maybe we've mixed.
Every my wind changes a lot now that I'm a bit older.
2 old wives tales.
If I'm being honest.
That's.
What else was there? Ohh the car.
Lots.
I feel like this is a dead lie.
Ohh, when you turn the light on in.
You were never allowed to turn.
The car here.
The light on in the car. I heard it was illegal.
Hmm.
I also heard if you turn it on your crash. Yep, there were lots of different reasons why we couldn't turn the light, and I still don't know what the reason is. But you do see a lot of memes. They like someone, turns the light on. It's like. Progressive comic strip the kid turns the light on them. The car drives over the Cliff.
What about?
I think a lot of us were told that one.
What it is that's that's very menacing. That's very doomsday.
Hmm hmm.
Kind of menacing. What about just like 80 crusts? It'll make your hair Curry, but among clearly here, you know, I mean, that's that's eating crusts is what put ghd into business.
Hey, Carly.
And then use the same let out what Kayley has. I'm not going to eat my crust.
You know all of those sort of things lies are I've got lots of sort of lies.
What did you get when you recognise?
It was like don't touch that. You never know where it's been, but there's probably a little casual bit of casual racism that was thrown behind that back in the 80s.
Ohh yes yes.
As well my. Parents watched a lot of well, it wasn't really true crime. It was like, you know, Australia's most wanted and Crime Stoppers, so we used to get a lot of warnings. Like, no, I don't want you walking on the beach on your own. You might get buried under the sands.
Ohh yeah. Ohh.
We had a. Lot of those safety very, very serious. Safety messages as well.
Yes, I I had the ones where it's like, don't touch yourself too much downstairs as you. The blind or grow hair on the palming hands.
Ohh good.
You know those sort of things never stop me.
Hi.
It's funny too. As parents, we probably perpetuate our own lives these days.
Hmm, like, yes, we're almost there.
We're all my stairs.
We're almost there.
Or just like why? Because because I said so.
I did pull out a because I said so recently I thought ohh gosh, it's happened.
Yeah, I sound exactly like my parents.
I've morphed.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's time for the Hatch machine dispatch clue, though now we've got a well, this one is a. Is it a birth to somebody who was born who this time 20 years ago celebrating their 20th birthday?
Birth yes.
So we're gonna have no freaking idea.
No.
Here it is, but here's the.
Clue in a kitchen? Yum. And, you know, whipping on my sausage grouping. Did my chicken in there? But you know flakes and your mum naked, man.
What was what?
What was that?
What did you?
People say something about a sausage. Sandwich.
Yeah. Something.
Sausage sandwich.
Do you wanna reply? It again.
Yeah, many kitchen, you know, within on my sausage, baby. They my chicken in there but you know flexing your. Honest men.
I don't think it was a.
My sausage is dripping dip my chicken in it.
No, I don't think it's. No, I don't think it's a sausage drooping. I think he's in the kitchen doing whipping, his sources dripping his sitting.
Our souls.
He's digging his chicken in it. Sorry.
Ohh dear.
Uh, that will look.
Now, I don't think he is.
Ohh. I'm kind of proud that I speak the youth of today and I was able to translate that for you.
He's only young.
So if there's anything else that you need, I think.
I thought it was just dipping his chicken. In his sausage and was close.
Wait of make sure that I've got my rez happening. Uh. Later on, and we'll find out who that is on the the. Pizza LOL.
And.
This is one of those news stories where you just think I cannot believe that is 20 years ago and I still so vividly remember this happening the 26th of December 2004. We have the Boxing Day senami a 9.3 magnitude earthquake. That creates a tsunami causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and along the edges of the Indian Ocean. One of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history.
Yeah. So it was triggered by this earthquake on December 26 off the West Coast of northern Sumatra in Indonesia, which was caused by a mega thrust fault. This along the Sandra Trench where the Indian Plate was subducting beneath the Burma Plate. Remember plate tectonics, they used to teach you about that in school, yeah.
Yay.
Yes, yes.
When I shift under each other and rob and yes.
So the this rupture stretched for over 1300 kilometres in, lasted for nearly 10 minutes, making it one of the most. Longest lasting earthquakes ever recorded. And and at least the third most powerful earthquake ever recorded in the world since modern seismology began in the 1900s, or right in 1900.
Hmm.
And the sudden vertical rise of the sea bed by several metres during the earthquake displaced a massive volume of water, had to go somewhere and it caused a tsunami that struck the coast of the Indian Ocean. And it was you. You when we talk about the tsunami, we're talking about waves of up to 30 metres or 98 feet high in some areas. And I remember at the time, you know, it's Boxing Day.
We are at your mum's. Yeah, I remember.
Yep.
We were at your mum's having Boxing Day will be celebrating Christmas on Boxing Day.
Well, yeah, yeah.
We were having lunch and then all of a sudden breaking news came on the television and I think my dad's my dad was still working for a company that had stuff to do with earthquakes and ended up having to be.
Yeah.
The geology, yeah.
On call for that and he kind of called me up and said, hey, you know, something's going on and then the footage started coming in.
That's and it was just horrendous.
Right.
And but because because it we didn't have things like social media or Twitter or X or whatever you want to call it or any of that sort of stuff, we didn't really get the immediate impact because most of these places like coastal resorts, towns, cities cut off almost immediately.
Hmm.
And so the I feel like at the time the gravity of the site. Wishing you know us having Boxing Day? Eating leftovers, watching cricket hanging out didn't really. We didn't really understand the gravity or the effect of this, but it was one of the most horrific tragedies.
Hmm.
Surprising and deadly away. So powerful it left no time to escape. Those swept out to sea by the tsunami forced into a fight for survival. It is clear, though many did not win. Somewhere able to scramble to dry land carrying the injured with them across a vast region. Water was the enemy, surging through coastal communities and leaving devastation in its wake. It also left agonising grief.
Roblox Vanuatu idiada.
And there were scenes being played out too many times.
Well.
A man retrieving a tiny body.
I think working.
What do you know, love?
A mother mourning her. Ohh there is a scale to the sadness that few, if any, can comprehend.
Relax.
So far, about half the dead are in Sri Lanka. There bodies are wrapped in white shrouds, but flooded streets hide A greater toll. Authorities grappling with counting the dead must also consider providing relief. Entire villages were simply swept away by the force of the water, leaving an estimated 1,000,000 without shelter, clothing or food.
That I think that estimate grew as well. But the other thing was when we're talking about 30 metre high waves the they were travelling at speeds of around 800 kilometres an.
Hmm.
Hour when they hit the coastline across the Indian Ocean and nobody had any warning. That was the thing. Nobody knew what was going on and when I think of tsunami's or tidal waves, I think of things that I'd maybe seen in the movies or cartoons as a kid, where a big wave comes.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But it was you.
You know the footage, like you've all seen the footage where they're in the. Thoughts. And they're on the beach. And the water just recedes. It goes right out and everyone's like and everyone's standing on the beach.
Hmm, what's going on?
And people walking it will. They hadn't seen that. They didn't know what what was going on. They didn't have the same sort of warning systems in the Indian Ocean as they did elsewhere, so they didn't know that the earthquake had occurred.
Yeah.
Hmm.
And it was some several hours between the earthquake and then the tsunami hitting. So the water goes out and everyone's going ohh what's going on here? And the fish jumping around on the sea bed, people are walking out to have a look. And you see, when you think Tsunami 2, you think sort of moving fast. But I just remember this footage of all of a sudden sort of the water coming in. And yes, there was a really big, tall wave, and it was all murky and brown. But the way it just kind of engulfed the area, it just it was so surreal because you saw the same footage because like you say, we didn't have social media at that time.
Yes.
So there was the same footage that kept replaying over Andover. So there's one with the water went out and came in and it brought all the furniture in. Yeah. Then there was the footage where people were inside. I think a resort and you saw it rush rushing past and J.
Ever so much, yeah.
The devastation that was like thick, murky brown water you couldn't see in it, and all of the debris floating around. Trees, furniture, cars, people and people trying to grab on to to trees and and buildings.
PayPal.
PayPal. There was. Floating around. And I think what when you watch the footage and you see people down in the water, it's a pretty safe bet that a lot of those people didn't make it.
It was. Just. So heart breaking.
Yeah, yeah. Hmm.
And also because the earthquake happened, they're like we've picked up this seismic activity. There's an earthquake out. Let's see. There were several hours between the earthquake happening in the impact of the tsunami, so that's another reason why everyone was taken by surprise. Because there's no warning systems in the Indian Ocean to detect sunamis or to warn the general population living around the ocean, and they reckon that detecting sunamis is actually really difficult, because while it's in deep water, it doesn't have much height and you need to have like a massive network of sensors out there to detect it. There was a geologist that they intend. You'd ohh on some network over in America. I should be more accurate with this information, but he talks about how they were very ill prepared, but I mean he was based in the Pacific.
Basically, we're talking 20 years ago the technology wasn't worried. It is #1. Number two, more importantly, where were the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre? We were just in. It was just in the wrong. It just in the wrong ocean basin, basically and we were flying blind essentially. Now we did have some tools and that was providing us successively larger and larger estimates of its size and with each of those larger estimates of its size. Is it becomes way, way logarithmically more dangerous and and capable of producing a much much worse cenami with each of these upgrades in magnitude.
Yeah.
So in some parts it was several hours between the earthquake and the impact, but in the Archer, isn't it Archie Province?
Yeah.
It was around 20 minutes that hit and I think. This was the. Worst affected area Banda Archie. The closest major city suffered severe casualties. Like I said, the sea receded and exposed the sea bed and people were like, well, what's going on?
Ohh, let's have a look around, yeah.
Let's grab some.
Fish and have a little explore. Then all of a sudden, eye witnesses describe three large waves, with the first rising to the foundation of the buildings followed minutes later by a sudden withdrawal of the sea, again succeeded by the appearance of two large black coloured steep waves, which then travelled inland to the capital city as a large, turbulent bore. Eye witnesses described it as a black giant or a mountain, or. A wall of W. Data and that's a lot of the footage that we saw where water was surging up to two storeys high.
Hmm.
Yeah. Imagine. I mean, where are you gonna go? Like I just, I couldn't imagine the horror and and just, you know, when you go to the beach, right, and you you get in a little bit too deep and there's a bit of an undertow and you sort of you lose your footing and you get a bit freaked out and you feel a bit uncertain.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, you magnify that by about a million, and that's probably what they're they're looking at there.
Hmm.
Lots. We know that there's a little bit of amateur footage and again on the day. Because we hadn't seen this, we weren't really aware of the severity of it. So we all just carried on about our business and then it was over the course of the week when all of these stories started to come to light, the death toll was huge, catastrophic, 227,898 recorded deaths across 14 countries.
Hmm. Hmm.
Indonesia had over 167,000 deaths. That was one of the hardest hit regions and that's just north of here. So I think a lot of people in Australia were really, really worried that it might. Have affected our coastline as well as Sri Lanka.
Hmm.
More than 35,000 deaths, India over 18,000. Thailand over 8000, including lots of tourists, 26 Australians confirmed dead. Hundreds of Australians were in the region at the time, many of them tourists in Thailand and Sri Lanka. Do you remember the movie? The impossible. We watched that film the impossible with a very young Tom Holland in it, and Naomi Watts and that film it it's such a visceral film.
Ohh yeah yeah.
It's it's.
Yeah.
It's a wonder. Two wonderful movie is not the way to describe it is. It is a great movie and it really captures the impact of what it would have been like to have been in the tsunami during before and especially after.
Hmm.
Especially after that was the big thing it was. People were then trying to find family because people were people were displaced.
Yes.
If they weren't caught up in the water, they were seeking refuge and shelter. And they all had to sort of come together and the infrastructure is not the same. He's like you. Just get on your phone and go. Hey, where are you? So people were trying to find family and friends and this went on for a long time and this is where we first saw the concept of a wailing room.
Yeah.
And these were makeshift spaces where grieving families and survivors gathered to identify bodies. Well, of loved ones and also to me.
Ohh.
Oh. One that's awful. And and this was the thing, because there was so much death and devastation they had to set up a lot of these areas for, for people to come.
Yeah.
So they just lie him. All that, and you just go and try and. Identify them like lost property.
Some some heads, some had photos somewhere bodies and I think as time progressed it became more and more difficult obviously.
Almost. I'm.
That being too more words.
Well, you've gotta remember too, these are tropical locations.
It's hot.
Yes, you don't have enough morgs to.
It's humid all of a sudden. You've had this ****. Yeah, I mean, just, even even the if like the infection and the the problems that you would have suffered after the fact, you know, septic sewage systems overflowing, all the infrastructure is destroyed.
That wasn't a problem afterwards, yeah.
There's no plumbing, there's no fresh water. There, it's just it's, you know, disease and and and yeah, all sorts of horrible back.
Hmm.
Yuria, just in the streets and affecting people in various ways. Just hideous. Just.
And there was no food.
Fresh water.
Yeah. Well, and well, that's the other thing with a lot of those places as well is they, you know, they, they they ship a lot of their food in, you know, you know, aside from a few coconuts and some fruit.
All of that.
Hmm.
Really awesome fish. You know, you don't really, you don't. You can't get a steak or stuff like that there. So I mean it just they would everything was decimated and and to be stranded there would have been horrific eye keep thinking. Um, and especially after watching that movie The impossible, how that family got separated in that film and it's like, you know, they're holding on to the children, but the force of the water is so great that they slip from their grasp.
Hmm. Hmm.
And just as a parent, I just, I mean as a parent, as a human being as anybody, losing somebody in a situation like that would just B.
The.
I I can't even wrap my mind around what that would be like.
There was a lot. There was a lot of stories about that as well. A lot of accounts of of that happening to people, which is just.
Yeah, it's just horrible.
In addition to the deaths, I think we had over 500,000 people injured. So just having the medical facilities and people available to help with that as well, 1.7 million people are displaced, have lost homes, livelihood communities, I.
It's not built for that, yeah.
I think entire villages were wiped out in Archie, the worst affected region.
Yeah.
Total damage exceeded $10 billion. Ten billion U.S. dollars.
Yeah.
Um popular destinations like Phuket in Thailand and the Maldives suffered significant destruction and these are tourism dependent economies as well. It took years for them to rebuild as well.
Up.
Yeah. And I guess it certainly gave rise to better early warning systems and all of those sort of things, particularly in that Indian Ocean region and in 2005, they started to establish that tsunami warning system similar to the one that they had in the Pacific.
Hmm.
Chin. But I mean, that earthquake was so powerful. They say that it caused the entire planet to vibrate by about one centimetre and slightly actually altered the Earth's rotation. So it shifted the tectonic plates permanently, which reduced the length of a day. The length of a day it it affected time, OK by 2.68 microseconds.
Why not?
It's not a lot, but it's enough, I mean.
That's that.
That's shows how significant it was, though, yeah.
It was. It was the first one of the first large scale. So natural disasters that was covered really extensively by the global media, which definitely amplified the response.
Do.
That awareness of the need for disaster preparedness this I it's just after this disaster that we talked about the Canberra bushfires back in 2003.
The hmm.
This is another massive disaster that happened around Boxing Day and I feel like this was sort of the rise of the disaster season. These things are things that we almost anticipate and think about a lot these days.
Well, now you've just. Got this block of time in your mind that from October to around February, March is particularly well for Australia.
Badge is gonna happen, yeah.
It's disaster season in terms of floods, bushfires, tropical cyclones and and you can have those things happening simultaneously.
Yeah.
Yep. Graph allsorts of stuff.
As well, right? Across the country and you just go.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's disastrous season. So it it's terrible, but it's almost expected.
Ohh, you know, like four or five years ago, the entire country was almost on fire. Like it's it's just become something that is almost the norm, but it never used to be and I just I still remember. We never really understood how full on the tsunami was actually on Boxing Day. It wasn't until the coming weeks when the story started to come to light that we were like ohh my God, this is such a.
Hmm.
Tragedy and that, but that was very that was very true of the time because we did, and particularly when you're talking about global. Media and in areas that say aren't Australia aren't the US.
Yeah.
You did not get a lot of news coming out of other areas that that quickly, so that was quite true of the time. And I mean, even with what happened in Bali. Yeah, you heard that something was happening in Bali, but it wasn't until days later again that you you got the the information and you realise the level of devastation. Question. And I think as we sort of move into the Internet age and move through the 2000s, we start to see this immediacy. We see the the the citizen journalist and the person on the ground reporting live and footage coming through our different social media channels.
Yeah. You you definitely do, but I like I and this is, I mean, I'm an experience that I had last week when we went to the shops in the middle of sort of the Black Friday sales and Christmas shopping and all of that sort of stuff where? There was a huge. Group of people, all in a concentrated area in a metropolitan area in a capital.
Hmm.
Cde and I could not access the Internet on my phone because the network was so congested because there was so many people there. So I couldn't find information or get information Christmas shopping's probably a bad example, but if you look at like things like the bushfires and stuff when when mobile phone networks go down and there is no way to communicate.
Hmm.
So most these vacuum of information, and even now when we look at our bushfire kits and all of that sort of stuff, it's like have you AM radio handy, we go back to really old school forms of communication.
Yeah.
It's interesting because we talk about things like Twitter or X I'm still calling it Twitter.
Yeah, yeah.
I don't care.
That's how old I am.
Hmm.
But you we talk about these, these things being wonderful because we can get this real time information. We can share these warnings and we can be on the ground and share it. But but when you when the infrastructure goes out, it's actually the consequences are probably a little bit more severe because we rely so much on that. So I remember the bushfires. 2019 down the coast, the networks were out so people weren't able to contact each other, weren't able to contact loved ones, and they were cut off effectively and people were like, what's going on?
Hmm.
Where's my family? Are they OK? And because you become to you, come to rely on it so much, then you don't have these alternative ways of of getting information out or contacting you, yeah.
Yeah, but the other thing is, is with things like social media and the rise of the citizen journalist and all of that sort of stuff, there is so much misinformation that goes out as well. So you can be going off in completely the wrong direction as to what's happening like so.
Hmm.
So I mean, as an example, I'm thinking about when they had that big ammonium nitrate explosion over in Lebanon and everyone was like it's terrorists, it's terrorists. And it was an industrial accident.
Ohh.
But but there was so much misinformation flying around in the absence of any kind of official reporting or statement. So it it can almost go the other way and create a lot of hysteria which could potentially do more damage if people start, you know.
Yeah. Yes.
Going. Crazy.
Reacting, reacting to the information.
Holding toilet typer, you know, just doing stupid **** like that.
I have on hand.
Yeah, yeah, yes.
Like people are pretty dumb with when they're given the wrong information, they become infinitely more stupid.
Well, it might be absolutely.
And they do stupid things.
And it makes you worry about things like where we talk about the the chaos theory and how it's I can't remember what the time frame is, but it's something like, you know within 3 weeks. You know, supply chain start to get cut off and and people.
Start to get.
A little bit antsy, and people do things they wouldn't normally do. And then something like six weeks and a story, we're all gone crazy.
Yeah.
Yeah. And so then when you feel that with speculation through these social media networks and people that aren't checking facts or people that are wanting to spread misinformation on purpose as well, like you think how quickly things could descend into chaos based.
Yes.
On that as well.
Yeah.
And and I think too that's why when the Boxing Day tsunami happened, we kind of all just went like there's been an earthquake and a tsunami.
Pretty frightening.
Hmm.
We've heard about that many, many times.
Yeah, it was out in the middle of the ocean.
Thought we did not. Yeah, let's go back to eating your leftovers or whatever and watching the cricket, but then you then you realise the full effect of the devastation as the information comes to hand.
Yeah. OK, that happens.
Yeah, yeah.
But at least that information was correct.
Yes.
Alright, a change of pace if there ever was one. Let's go over to technology, where the PlayStation Portable was released on the 12th of December 2004, just in time for Christmas. This was Sony's first attempt to turn the home console into a portable device and compete with Nintendo for hand held dominance. And they did it.
No competition.
They did a keynote. They did a keynote earlier in the year at that E3 thing. I don't ask me what E3 stands for, but there was lots of technical people there, nerds being. Very excited about a portable PlayStation.
Today, the worldwide market for mobile devices, whether it be cell. Owns digital music devices, Productivity Tools and gaming machines is more than 1.4 billion units worldwide. PlayStation Portable will enter an already crowded space, but one with much growth opportunities. PlayStation Portable will allow consumers to enjoy 3D gaming similar to the experience delivered on PlayStation 2. It also has the ability to deliver high quality movies, music and video, as well as other forms of digital entertainment content through 1 central device.
Yeah, similar to the PlayStation 2.
OK, so you've got high quality portable *** *******.
Sevilla. Yeah. Well, no, you couldn't. I don't think it was a call of. Duty type thing but.
Ohh I can't.
Shame, isn't it?
Ohh yeah, I don't think you could do like you know first person shooter online sort. Of stuff, but it was good. It was very good. Not one. It was great.
I think I bought you that didn't.
Yeah, I think you got it for me for Christmas actually.
Wanna good girlfriends? Yes, cause it didn't come out till the next year in Australia. I think I got it for you in 2000 and.
Ohh, maybe it was my birthday one of those.
5.
Might have been no. It was later in the year, I think. It was Christmas, actually. So it's what are we a few weeks out from the DS big release? So it's obviously. To compete with brain training and nintendogs, no competition.
Yeah, it was great. It was. It was a great little machine I've still got. Fine, but the rechargeable battery in it, it turned into a spicy pillow and it expanded.
I didn't like him this.
Um, I took it out. I think I can replace it, but I just haven't done it.
Maybe.
They introduced this new format too, as UMD is like these little like, almost like a mini disc that that you could put games and you buy movies and stuff on it.
That's right.
I remember you had a little you had a little thing that held all your discs had little pouch.
Yes, to the power to little disc power.
Yeah, like a little mini CD pal.
Much it was good.
Great.
It was so. This is the release in Japan, 12th of December. We should say because. It wasn't released in North America until March 2005. It was the 1st of September here in Australia. Ohh so maybe it washer birthday.
Hmm, maybe all the ohsa good girlfriends because.
I think it was. I think you got a phone for my birthday. You really were.
We've only been going steady for like a year and a half.
Maybe you still trying to press me that side.
Jesus did well, Tonya.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What do you get me now? Like vouchers and BBQ tools.
Yeah.
Take me back.
Yeah.
Ohh.
Well, most powerful hand held console of its time.
It was good.
Yeah, people camped overnight to buy it and all of that. Sort of stuff. It was very exciting.
4.3 inch LCD screen with 480 by 272 pixels 16.77 million colours.
It was a similar view, yeah. No. Yeah, the tile of the type. I think it had like somewhere around like 333 megahertz CPU.
But.
They did a bunch like this, like they're saying did a bunch of things, though, because you could use it as multimedia so you could play music.
Yeah.
You're MP threes and you're what's a CD format.
That's a that's a just a like a lossless musical format.
That's the same day formats play movies.
Yeah. Hmm.
You played a movie on it once. Didn't you?
Yep, yeah, I.
Very small.
Don't. Not a big fan of watching movies on small screens.
We had to squint.
Goodnight.
It's just really silly.
No, it's not very practical.
Yeah, but I mean, if you were travelling a lot, if you're on a plane or something, it would be a very handy tool. To.
Have and you could accidentally hit the the Internet button and be charged millions of dollars on the PlayStation Portable as well.
On the plane. No, I looked the Wi-Fi, wasn't it? Like he could access the Internet, but it's still pretty early days with all of that. But the critics loved it. They said the hardware was very powerful. It looked beautiful and it gave a home console experience on the go, which is something that a lot of these other hand held game consoles didn't do that it was. It was pretty high end at the time and still quite versatile, quite compact and it really did give the DS run for its money. I think even though it did outsell the DS, actually outside the PSP, but it did well.
Think.
I've still got mine. A lot of people are bringing them back now. A lot of retro game is a big fans.
Isn't it funny how a lot of those old school consoles, they cost more the Gameboy costs more now second hand than what it did back in the day?
Of them. And they are expensive, yeah. It's it's almost been like no depreciation. If you've got, if you've got one in good condition, like almost mint.
It's gone up. Then. Yes.
Shins and you've still got all the packaging and stuff. You can fetch a pretty penny for it, I tell ya. Hmm.
Ah, Josh.
We had a lot. We had Atari lynx and game boys and the DS.
Yep they did.
Gosh, imagine that.
Some they did some iterations on it too. They had, like the PSP 2003 thousand the PSP go.
You.
Haven't event.
Another one, the hall.
Yeah, the PlayStation Vita, which is in 2011, which I could connect to, I think it was my PS4 and remote play, which was wonderful because I stay up in the middle of the night with my headphones on, under the blankets, playing alien isolation.
The visa, yes. That's why it's.
9:30.
Being absolutely terrified, it was great fun I.
The.
What's the one now?
The one that I've got now is the PlayStation Portal, which is not a game console in and of itself.
When you're free.
It's merely a device that will connect to your home console via Wi-Fi or via the Internet.
Ohh wow just.
I believe you can remote play from other locations as well, but you need a pretty damn good connection.
Hmm.
And again, you don't play first person shooters on it because you pings to. To the high, you know or low. I don't know what the the proper well you ping is, is you know how quickly you see the images to go in relation to how fast you move your joysticks and pull your triggers and what not.
What's a peeing uneven know?
And that's that.
Ohh, you really lets you reflex.
That enables, yeah, seibles you to get the drop on the bags.
She know you? Nerd reflexes.
Yeah, if you if you've the.
So you can't. That's you get. That's why you can't.
Yeah, well, that's why I've been.
Tea bag would be very slow.
I I actually have become quite good at those games.
You're very slowly wouldn't be able to sneak up something. I know you're *** ******* me because you're Ping's lagging.
Ping's lagging well. My ping is pretty good here.
Stop blagging your ping.
What?
I.
At night.
Yes, but the point is we have shorter ping. Now I have short ping, which means that I'm able to play better. So before when I thought I was actually really bad at the game I was, it was actually the ping was too long at a big ping and in in video game world it's the size of the ping is very important but smaller ping is better than larger ping.
OK.
Bad game are always blames their ping.
Every music, Mel.
Hmm.
Australian and UK charts are very consistent with the previous week. Australia's #1 is still Casey Donovan. Listen with your heart.
Same with your haha.
Hi. Listen to your son.
Ohh God, that's enough.
Do they know it's Christmas is still not born in the UK?
Okay.
We'll see.
You.
Raise a glass falling today. Did they end up?
I feel like they may have started funnelling some of the funds from that too. The Boxing Day cenami relief, but don't quote me on that. I'm pretty sure there's some benefit concerts and what not wave aid on the horizon.
Ohh way valves way valves. Yeah.
Yes, maybe not. Band aid in particular, but that's that's probably on the horizon to when we get to next year's lot of programmes.
Hmm.
And the top five in the US are a little bit of shifting around.
Just a little bit.
Five me. See you 127.
I don't.
Stop it. And having fun.
4.
Hey, go home.
Cause it's woman.
Think about it.
Over.
Three, love you. You should let me be the one you give you everything you want. Any. Meet a pig.
2.
Ohh happy fish. Don't know why, but you will always.
Ohh with you.
When we were Sunday.
When the pimps in the crib. Mom, drop it. It's cause ohh. It like it's. Drop it like it's hot when the extra to get at you talk it like it's hard. Park it like it's hard.
Ohh it's it's.
Park it like it's hot nipping.
Give.
Ohh sorry, I just ducked out for a second while the charts were fine and could fetch himself a beverage.
We might have you made it just in time for the the number? And you did well, so it was pretty quick.
Yes. Yeah, yeah.
Well done.
I don't knock around here, you know, not eat spiders, as I said.
But you didn't. You say you don't know what the new entry is, so we better recap.
Yeah, you better do that.
Drop it like it's hot is #1 is that new number one or is number?
No, no, it was number one last week.
One last year. I can't remember cause we recorded that a.
Yeah. No. Hmm.
Few weeks ago. That's that's a.
Distant memory, my Boo usher and Alicia Keys. Number two, let me love you, Mario #3, over and over. Nelly and Tim McGraw. But our new entry this week in at #5 Sierra 1 two step.
Let me see you one Tuesday.
Stop.
Everybody get life. Don't. Ohh. Want to I want to sleep one.
Hey, just.
Ohh ended abruptly at the meant to be another.
Ohh it's just.
I love it when you want to step. Would have been a better spot to stop this.
Ohh, Buddhist food is really.
But yes, yeah you are.
You kind of ripped us.
All hanging right.
Dinner you did.
Yes, good you.
Well, I apologise that I'm not. Ohh Faye with the 1-2 step clearly. Yes, I was more of a I was more of a carabao shuffle type.
Clearly it's not a dance for you.
Person.
Sierra featuring Missy Elliott. This single is from her debut album Goodies. It's the second release, obviously after the first release, which was goodies, self titled Track features a synth heavy beat 808 drum patterns. For those in the know and.
Ohh, you'll be running at 8:08. Like I said, on the outcast.
Ohh.
So yeah.
Incorporates the infectious Electro baseline.
Infectious Electro base pay, yes.
And minimalist production. And this is where she really became known as the. The Princess of Crunk. Did she crunk?
E What a.
That's little John. Little John brought that style in this fun.
The Princess of Crunk.
So he produced. Is it little John?
The yeah guy.
What?
Yeah. Him, OK. He produced, I think it produced goodies, but he had a lot. To do with her production.
*****.
No, little John.
MMM.
Gotcha. It's just starting to sound like Robin Hood.
And you'd notice in there.
If you know what I couldn't give a Friar tuck.
Did you notice what old mate?
Wood.
Ohh.
There's also in that one.
Ohh, what are you? Ohh just for anyone who's playing at home that may have joined the podcast for the first time. That was Mel doing an impersonation of a theremin.
Sir.
Well, this is what you thought. So goodies had that strange play. Play it again. Play 1 two step and listen. For the OK.
Let me see you one two step. Stop. And I.
I want to ****.
Ohh you. You can stop it now, cause it's got one.
Stop skin stuff in a minute anyway.
Yeah, that thing.
What?
Say very abruptly, and if the we you yeah.
Love it when you want to step.
Yeah.
And that was I. Think she pretty much took it out of goodies and chucked it in there. Sounds pretty much the same, doesn't it?
Well, I mean, Thurman's aren't cheap. So you wanna get bang for Buck?
Met well, okay.
If it is a caravan.
So they hired a a theremin. Specialist and it cost, you know, probably a couple of 1000 and the like.
Yeah, yeah. Right, yeah.
We'll just shove it in this so. Well no, you wrong because I looked up. I was like songs. I asked for a definitive list of songs that used the theremin, and it wasn't on the list.
Uh huh.
Ohh really?
Neither. Neither goodies nor 1-2 step were on the list, and so then I did another search and I was like, what's the noise?
So what is it?
That's in goodies. And one two step. And at some weird since thing so then I. Went on to gear.
Ohh, it's a synth well.
What was it? You know the website will.
G slots.
No, it's not called that anymore.
Ohh really?
I think it got cancelled. It's called gear space. Ohh, but if you look up some of the old links it still has the other word.
Yes.
Anyway, someone jumped on there and was like, can somebody please give me the sample or the code or the I don't know whatever music people use to make sounds for that.
For the synth preset for that is it called theremin. No. Ohh
But they got in trouble. They then this guy's like, just chucks a hyperlink in the response I like.
Ohh here we go.
I'm gonna find out how to. Like that myself is graves.
We ohh God, the audio guys are fighting. Yeah, great.
Excellent. So then there's other guy puts a hyperlink and it links them to the rules back when it was called gear and in the rules. It's like, you know, allowed to to paste those presets and stuff.
From the LED share your presets.
Yeah.
So we got in. Trouble. So we don't know. We do.
Wow for preset swapping.
But no, but what I thought I'd do is to to put this to bed a found number of theremin covers of popular songs.
Yes. Yeah. Ohh wonderful.
So we can we can hear the theremin in all its glory, even though it wasn't in Sierra's tracks.
Yeah, right.
I think I've found some better examples.
So we could do like Theremin. Name that tune.
Yes.
OK, he's the first one.
The you.
Ohh God.
Canon indeed.
Soon.
That sounds like I've got gas. Ohh excuse me.
Oh oh.
When you believe, when you're not tying the balloon up properly in the airs.
Escaping.
But yeah, well. Ohh dear. Too many enchiladas that was zombie by the cranberry.
In your hands, yes.
Yeah, well, here next one.
Hang on, let me see. OK, here we go. Ready. Ohh.
That one's pretty easy.
Tommy's got his theremin in Hawk. Now he's holding in. He used to make it talk so tough, but but I feel like they've got a karaoke backing track.
Hey, playing the real song underneath the kinda gives it away, doesn't it?
Yeah. For the theremin there, Luce Alvin. Wow.
That's quite the nice shot.
Ready.
Is that going to say you? Know that's a job in.
I was the ceramic guys.
See you.
My goodness, living on a prayer.
Thank you. Ohh.
And if it's not traditionally this. Is the other thing. It's quite a complicated instrument.
You really do need to focus because it's got the little steel loop in the thing and you gotta stick your hand in the loop and then move your other hand.
It's very unattractive. Then the thing you you move your it's. It looks a little sexual, to be honest.
It's like you're dipping well. Yeah, I guess you're dipping one hand.
When you watch the fingers, it's a bit.
You're dipping one hand in the in the Halo in the the Halo of energy, and then you and then you diddling your other hands in order to make the noise.
Ohh keeps a little bit 4 player. Yeah, it it's a little bit. Yeah, it's a little bit sexual, OK.
Let's try this one.
Okay. That's my favourite, that is.
That's right. Your order Shrek off wish.com.
That's my favourite. It's on YouTube and if their comments.
Ohh that's an.
Ohh back.
That's a little bit like I'm scared, but the comments on that one, everyone's just like I was having a bad year till now.
Ohh.
How come I'm only just discovering this out? People love it, pitty, love that one.
Yeah. Yeah, that's from that movie, shrock.
You know what? PlayStation.
Yeah.
Can you please bring out a theremin?
Hero theremin hero.
Ohh.
That would be fun, wouldn't it?
That be amazing.
Yeah, I don't know.
That would be so fun to play, but also.
A little bit sexual.
That's it. Expensive peripheral. If ever there was one. We've got some album releases as well, don't we?
We do.
I don't see, I think that. Ohh my God, that's just a great stocking stuffer, isn't it? Like hooked on Christmas, the theremin version.
I just ohh. Ohh Theremin Christmas songs.
Yes, I'd love silent night on the theremin.
Ohh, that feels that feels like it could work.
You sure?
I I think there's a lot of holiday.
Hmm.
What's the Feliz navidad?
A Felice Navidad on the theremin.
What that would be good?
That'd be pretty great, yeah. Ohh I don't. You don't need to stop it.
My.
Cut it out. You sound like Dory speaking whale.
Ohh I.
Think I wanna get one. How expensive are they?
Just. OK. Well, we'll go and have a look later on now.
Maybe this could be a yeah, maybe this could be the show next. Year instead of the recorder.
Will use it. We'll get a theremin.
Yeah.
Hey, think all the possibilities.
Alright, I know what to get you for Christmas next year.
Anyway, we've got an album we've got a couple of album releases, actually a loyal to the game is the 9th stud.
Sure, albums.
Yes, please.
New album and 5th posthumous studio album by Tupac Shakur.
5th posthumous album Who's Who's putting them out?
5th since he died, yeah. Mum. Mum's.
Follow his mum.
Yes, Athene name is because she had all the rights to the music and she was suing, remember she.
And Feeney.
She sued the Jenners for making a line of T shirts.
Did she?
With now read the wearing them or they are made them, I don't know. They got sued by her anyway and fair. Enough to.
Because they put two PACs image on the shirt without getting permission.
I think they did year.
On on some shirts.
Yeah, we can't do that.
Now.
Yeah, that's a dog act. Yeah, that's terrible.
The album was produced by Eminem, OK, and it consists of remixes of previously unreleased music that Tupac recorded before he died.
OK.
So he died in. 96 yes.
So and so these are these are tracks that he's recorded, yes.
It's not, and so his mum, his mum, had the tracks.
This is an A I or a hologram or anything like that.
Well, it's mainly.
This is.
It's mainly Tupac recordings.
Right. So we'll cause there's, there's this one.
Hey, black or white cause we're human. The. We see the light before throwing gospel. My ghetto.
Moseley.
Just logged me.
Ghetto gospel.
I welcome hands.
We're.
That song. Sing.
Great, song said.
That Elton John sample that wow.
The sample.
Yep, Yep.
Um and yeah, so Eminem reached out to a Feeney and told her that he really wanted to produce the album and she gave him permission. So he produced the whole thing, including ghetto, gospel and a lot of bonus tracks. But what he did so they were original recordings, but he used a lot of innovative methods. And if you listen to this album. Some of the songs you listened to and you go doesn't sound quite right. That doesn't sound because it's some of these songs are in my my latest playlist from Spotify.
Really. Ohh. Ohh that's a bit. You actually exist.
Spotify is giving me a nice 90s playlist for the gym now, and a couple of these pop up and I'm like, hang.
Hmm.
On that doesn't sound fully Tupac. So what M and M's done is. He's in some of the songs. He's altered the pace in the pitch to align with the instrumentals and he's put a lot of duets on there too, so all samples, so there's another sample.
Hmm.
With Dido, you know he does.
This is like the magic of digital production, where you can time stretch and you can retain the pit through the yeah.
Dido was Stan.
And some of it. You listen to and you're. Like. There's something not quite right and cause he's pitch shifted or he's made it a little bit faster. It it's not that signature to pass if you're.
Sounds processed.
If you're a.
Yeah, if you're a big fan, you can tell the difference.
Hmm.
And he also this is where a few people got a bit upset to actually with with his technique, because he manipulated the vocals. To create new words. So in some of the songs he manipulated the vocals to say things like 2005 G unit OB, as in Obie Trice, because there's a a song where he's got Obie Trice performing with Tupac.
Ohh that's you know.
I think he's even made Tupac reference M as in M&M.
Really.
So I think a few people were a little bit. Nah, mate, you can't do that.
Well, that's.
Ohh, I feel like he's a bit ahead of his time because this is a similar conversation that we're having these days around the A I and exactly.
Synthetic gorgeous. People cloning voices. Absolutely. And you know what? Like sometimes when I do a voice over, I record a massive voice over. And I say the wrong word.
Yeah.
And if I had the mad skills to create myself, doing another, doing the right word, that would save me, I wouldn't have to.
You do it.
Go and record it again. Would be amazing.
Yeah, but in the amount of time you spend doing that, you could probably just record it.
Probably, but you know, I'm lazy. I don't want to stand up. I wanna stay sitting at my death.
Mean it's, it's. All proceeds I'm sure for this album would have gone back to his estate.
Teresa's States and think about it from from the perspective of will, he's actually keeping the legacy alive and he's bringing out this music that would otherwise be unreleased.
Who are seen to his mum?
Yeah. Easy.
And he's also bringing it out to a new generation. So he's kind of shifting it with the time. So I mean, if Tupac was still alive, maybe he would be experimenting in that kind of way. There are maybe he would have a slightly different sound in 2004.
More you'll never know. I I I think that there's. There's huge ethical questions that are brought up here and I don't know that I like this and I don't.
It's interesting then you don't.
Well, Eminem, I think there's a. Bit of hypocrisy here as well. I mean, he this is a guy. That was pretty outspoken against Napster and all of that as well, and I know they're kind of. Maybe I'm comparing apples and oranges, but you're taking. It's one thing to take a track that an artist has recorded that maybe they intended to release, right?
Hmm. Hmm.
So the there's the intention to release that track. So they basically finished the job for them.
Hmm.
And I think that's very respectful. I think that manipulating. The work of that artist manipulating the work of that artist to suit your own agenda or to change the narrative. Or what they are saying is incredibly unethical.
I don't know that they've changed. I don't think he's changed the narrative. I think he's added a few little M and Obie Trice references here and there because there's, well, there's a duet, right?
But he's he's well, he's yeah.
So it's done. A duet with 2PAC. And Obie Trice.
Yeah.
And so he's got to park saying Obi, because the song is him and Obi. I don't think.
I don't think that's a big deal.
Speak ohh.
Did Tupac ever intend to release that song and have Obie Trice on that song?
Probably not.
It's this song, right? Hennessy.
In the city, let me tell him why. The squid him slipping up.
I've been big baller. That chicken named twice now.
I was pouring in Detroit on the side this W troubled child coming up. I had the bride, I guess, tried to apply myself in this bother. My momma couldn't tell me it's you the streets. Falling.
So did the whole thing of big bowl. Of. Inward named Trice.
Try yes, so choice is a fake word, yes.
That was the bit that he put in. So Trice is was the fake word in there.
So maybe he wrapped about a. Triangle and rice and.
Joined it together, made it so sorry.
And then have just added that. I do that all the time. When I say the wrong word and voice overs, I get a little bit of here over there and mash it up most of the time it doesn't work and have to rerecord it, but you know it's worth a try.
Do you? Yes, what a waste of time.
But I'm still sitting, though I'm sitting, rather than having to stand up and talk into a microphone sitting, sitting.
Up and voice filling his money. Yeah, I don't know. There's a lot of ethical questions. I just find it interesting in the context of the conversation that we're having today. About a I and voice over.
Yes, yes, we'll synthetic voices altogether like that.
Very interesting.
Your whole voice print is supposed to be unique to you, like your fingerprint, and you talk about voice biometrics and you use your voice as an authentication system.
Yeah.
Yeah. Well, if they can clone your voice, what are the implications? Of that as well.
Yes, yes. He put 2 park in the NAV man for example.
Ohh, I'd love that.
Would you?
I'd love it if he told me which way to go.
Probably tell me exactly where to go.
I.
Are they? Tupac's told babes. People where to go, I think he'd tell Eminem where to go if he said I'm gonna change the way you say things.
Will the album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200? Sold over 300,000 copies in the first week certified Platinum, and it did receive mixed reviews. Some people were really happy that the legacy of Tupac was continuing and these previously unreleased tracks or. Pieces of tracks where were now in in the public domain, but others were quite upset about the vocal manipulation.
Did this sum did this fade the conspiracy theories as well?
Bit controversial.
But he was still alive.
I think I. I think the conspiracy theories. Were more in the 90s. It's where you had the 7th. You had the seven day theory and you had, like I remember cause I was in uni and this was. When the Internet was first.
Hmm.
Was first invented and I used to go to the computer room and I us