T minus 20
The year is 2005... Anakin turns to the dark side, YouTube makes its debut and we’re all couch-jumping for Maria, McDreamy and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo…
T minus 20, rewind to this week in history 20 years ago with Joe and Mel.
T minus 20
The King of cash: Elvis still owns the afterlife
Rewind to 23–30 October 2005 🎸
💀 The King still reigns
Elvis may have left the building, but he sure didn’t leave the bank. Forbes crowned him the top-earning dead celebrity — again — raking in a cool US$45 million thanks to Graceland tours, reissues and endless blue suede merch. Even in the afterlife, Elvis was out-grossing the living.
🚭 Britain stubs it out
Tony Blair’s government finally declared war on cigarette smoke, announcing plans to ban puffing indoors across England. Pub regulars cried “nanny state,” non-smokers rejoiced and by 2007, the beer gardens were full of shivering smokers pretending it was fine.
🏀 Sheryl Swoopes changes the game
WNBA legend Sheryl Swoopes became the first active pro basketball star to come out, telling ESPN she was done hiding who she was. The three-time MVP’s honesty cracked open the sports world and made her a trailblazer long before the rainbow-profile-pic era.
⚾ The curse Is broken
After 88 long, cursed years, the Chicago White Sox finally won the World Series — sweeping the Astros and making Ozzie Guillén the first Latin American manager to take the crown. Cubs fans quietly sobbed into their hot dogs while the South Side partied for weeks.
🎤 Chris Brown runs it
A 16-year-old newcomer with dance moves smoother than his lip gloss dropped Run It! and instantly became R&B’s golden child. Every TRL viewer decided he was the next Usher… before 2009 reminded us fame and character don’t always move in sync.
🧠 NSYNC Says Bye Bye (for real)
Fans clung to hope, but the release of NSYNC Greatest Hits was the final nail in the boy-band coffin. Justin was already bringing sexy back solo and the rest of us were left clutching our frosted-tip memories like it was 2001 all over again.
🪚 Saw II carves up halloween
Jigsaw returned with blood, traps, and trauma — slicing his way to #1 at the box office. Critics gagged (in both ways), audiences screamed and the “torture-porn” era of horror was officially born.
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 2005. Anakin turns to the dark side. YouTube debuts and we couch jump for Mariah, McDreamy and a girl with a dragon tattoo. T-minus 20. Rewind 20 years with Joe and Mel.
Week 23 October 2005. T-minus 20. Hey, what do you think this is a talk show? T-minus 20. Ice breaker, don't judge me yet. This is bananas. So tell you will come home. My question is, who approved that ****? Do you see where this is going? Not really.
Remember when you hit your limit on your iPod Nano at 500 songs and everyone smoked in pubs and Elvis was somehow still topping the charts 2 decades after he died? Well, welcome to T-minus 20. Two decades after, we probably should have given the way we behaved in the early 2000s. But anyway, it's a nostalgia podcast that cranks the time machine back exactly 20 years this week, digging up the headlines, chart toppers and cultural chaos of 2005 with your culturally chaotic hosts, Joe and Mel. Hello, Mel.
Hello, we are rewinding to October in 2005, 23rd through to the 30th.
Yes, and Elvis lives. how good is he? How good is he? Forbes names him the highest-selling dead celebrity. We'll unpack that a little bit later on.
I've got to keep coming out here, my legs are killing me. Cutches in there, I've got a blight here, I'll go back in there, something will be done.
Believe it or not. That is the English language. And that's a very outraged piece of English language. And we'll discover why that person from England was outraged in the news.
Swoops was the first player signed to the fledgling WNBA. And even though she'd missed the start of the season after giving birth to her son, Cheryl worked hard to make it back just six weeks later.
And Cheryl, Cheryl Swoops, the Michael Jordan of the WNBA makes history this time 20 years ago and shakes the sporting world. I don't think it shook anyone. Everyone was like, hi, yeah, of course.
Of course, and of course the boomers, the boomer comments. I'd like to have a moment.
That's the Australian basketball team, isn't it? The boomers.
The boomers.
What is it? Andrew Gaze, I'm thinking of, you know, Phil Small, the general. Yes, the only basketball player to make male pattern ball list look cool.
I'm talking about the other boomers.
Oh, not the boomers, not the basketball.
The older boomers.
I apologise.
I was on the Instagram the other day.
Yep.
And it was this, it's spoken.
Like a true boomer. I was on the Instagram, yeah.
And it's post and it's just text, but it caught my eye.
Alright.
Says this should be fun. Make this comment section resemble A Boomer Facebook comment section below and go.
Oh no. I can't. Would you like to? I can't throw stones. Okay, I think we should go, but before we do, I can't throw stones here.
We have seen your posts.
I don't know anybody, anybody who is free from sin here that should be casting the first stone on social media. At some stage in your social media career, tenure, you are going to make a d*** of yourself. Okay.
Yeah, that's fine.
And this comes from a place of love and endearment.
Please remove me from this group. I did not ask to be in this group. I don't know how I got in this group. Please remove me, please, and thank you.
That's so good. That's so good.
My beautiful niece in the red dress, next to the heavier girl in the green. That's terrible. My dad uses heavyset a lot to describe people. Oh, they're very heavyset. You know that person, you know, the one that's very heavyset?
Just call them fat, Booba.
Heavyset.
Honestly, what are you doing?
Oh, I think you've gotten this one from your dad. If you get a friend request from me, please do not accept I've been hacked again.
Oh, yeah. dear, hacked again. Yeah, yep. What is it that like, copy and paste this and post it into your thing because you don't want anyone to steal your personal. I own all of my content that I put up on the platform that Facebook actually owns and it's still mine, but I didn't read the terms and condition post. But this is me saying that I don't think it's okay and I'm the captain of my soul on your platform that I've given my soul to.
Praying for this sweet baby. May angels protect her. And it's an AI image of a kitten on a raft.
That's like one of those motivational posters. In the 90s, in the 90s, this is how tough we were. That'd be just a poster with the term never give up written underneath it. Yes.
Did anyone hear that loud noise just now? Was it fireworks? or something else?
That's community notice boards. But I think that's where they all congregate actually is community notice boards. And that's where I used to have a lot of fun trolling people on community notice boards. But I just felt like a bit of a ******* afterwards. So I stopped.
Facebook does not have my permission to share photos or messages.
That one. There it is. That's the one I'm talking about. It's crazy. It is crazy. But I get it. They want to be a part of something and they just don't know where they fit. And I relate to that these days.
I'm cleaning my friends list. If you want to stay on my friends list, like this post, then copy this message and paste it so that I know that you read to the end. Do not skip this step.
Otherwise you'll have five years bad luck. It's like they went from chain letters. Remember you get a chain letter. I've got a chain letter.
You've got to forward it on or you're going to die.
And then like social media just kind of made that whole concept of chain letters explode. And because the boomers were so scared of chain letters, because you're always told, if you get a chain letter, you know, you've got to do something or you'll have Have bad luck or don't open it or whatever.
Send this to 20 of your friends and you'll be blessed.
Right, exactly. This is just chain letters on steroids. This is what this is.
Google order corn.
What? that's, they've done a, oh, oh dear. They've done speech to text or something and they've like asked Google to do something and it's done a post instead.
I love it. I love it. That's.
Can Google order corn? Because the other thing on social media is corn is a word for something else.
Oh, is it?
Like corn stars and people that make corn movies.
I've noticed. Oh, because people have been using them on.
It's like corn emoji.
And people have been rhyming because I think sometimes you You get blocked on different platforms if you use.
So they use the word corn instead of the other word.
There you go. Oh, that explains a few things.
Yeah, look, it might be a bit too early, but that's for you. And that whistled is the herald for the hatches, matches and dispatch clue that we're about to play for you. Not a corn star. This was a, what was this one? Oh, this was a dispatch. Yes. This was a death of somebody, a very significant historical figure who said this.
The driver noticed the four of us sitting there and the one man standing and he... ask us to let him have those seats.
Yeah, huge figure, huge figure. A very significant death this time 20 years ago. We'll find out who that is at the end.
28th of October 2005, Elvis, despite being dead, is still the king.
Yeah. Have a go at that. The king in all of his glory and splendour.
He was listed by Forbes magazine as the highest earning dead celebrity this week, 20 years ago.
He's in another #1 for Elvis.
Yes. Well, he's a state pulled an estimated $45 million U.S. in one year.
Gee, she'd be annoyed at being dead if that's how much money you're making in the dead, wouldn't you?
Decades after his death. Who does it go to?
Well, I guess it goes to his. He's family, he's a state.
Yes. Well, they say a state, but I don't understand how that works.
The estate.
It's just whichever family is still inherited.
His estate, I guess. I mean, Graceland is, Graceland would be hard to maintain. It's a tourist attraction. There's a lot of people going through Graceland.
The lawns are impeccable.
Cleaning. I mean, you know, the grounds keeping the landscape.
Jim's mowing.
The preservation of the actual site as well, you know, keeping the jungle room jungly and exactly.
Dusting.
Yeah, lots of work in Graceland.
Just as well then he's #1.
Yes.
Continues to generate massive revenues through streaming, re-issues, licensing for commercials. A lot of Elvis songs are used on ads and in movies.
Yeah, everywhere. Little *** Conversation was really big sometime.
Oh, the soccer.
Yeah, there was the soccer.
And then the Junkie XL remix.
That's right.
Yeah.
And then there is the tourist attraction that is Graceland.
His name, his image.
I'd love to go to Graceland.
Promotional deals.
I'd love to go to Dollywood. I think I feel like Graceland would be similar to like Old Parliament House in that's that time capsule from that era, like old Parliament House is like a time capsule of the 80s in politics admittedly, but Graceland would be, when did he die? 70s, right?
Yeah, they just kept the rooms. Like is it Lanyon Homestead, where all the rooms are just like from the olden days?
Except you can't rent it out for functions or anything like that. You can't just be like, oh, I'm going to have my 40th at Graceland.
Similar though.
You know, or something like that, or even my 50th. No. Although, you know, maybe that's a good way to make even more revenue, Elvis's estate, if you're listening. Visitor fees to open up Gracelands for private functions. Be good.
Licensing deals. So who else was on the list? Let's have a look.
Creator of Peanuts. He's worth $35 million.
I wouldn't have guessed. I wouldn't have guessed that would not have been in my guesses.
He used it in newspapers, Peanuts comics everywhere, Charlie Brown, the Peanuts cartoons. Peanuts is huge in America. Very big in America.
I've seen influencers buying a lot of Snoopy stuff lately. I feel it's had a resurgence, but I wouldn't have thought in at #2.
Shout out to our friend Joe. She's a big Snoopy fan. She loves Snoopy.
Yes.
Andy Warhol was 16 million. I think.
You skipped over John Lennon.
I did John Lennon 22 million.
That I understand more than the peanuts guy.
Really.
I would have, yeah.
John Lennon. I guess from royalties and songs and stuff. Didn't they sell the Beatles catalog to like Michael Jackson at some stage though? I don't know. Dr. Seuss, 10 million. He's worth $10 million.
See, I would have thought that's.
How much he made in 2005. This is how much they earned in just that one year.
You've seen how many Dr. Seuss books we've got.
There are a lot.
We've got doubles.
Well, because people just buy them all the time.
That's what I mean. I think that I would have thought Dr. Seuss would have made more money than the peanuts.
And they're like Marlon Brando and Marilyn Monroe, J. Double R. Tolkien, George Harrison, Johnny Cash, Irving Billy, Bob Marley, Ray Charles, all of those earned a fair bit of money. But that was the fifth year in a row that Elvis had held the number one spot. Five consecutive years. Proof of his enduring brand, I think. underscores that he was more of a musician in death. He was a global brand who'd outlived his physical body. He's immortal. He's achieved immortality. The benchmark for the dead celebrity wealth is Elvis Presley. $45 million became the annual benchmark, which pushed other estates to sharpen their licensing and marketing strategies. And I mean, you still remember, well, you don't, because you probably, well, you'd be a boomer if you did. I don't remember. I wasn't alive. However, this was the reaction when he died. I just can't believe he's dead.
It's terrible. But I just thank God that Elvis died here in Graceland instead of on the road.
Just like any other rock'n'roll singer. Whether you're black or white, whether you're country, redneck or freak, young or old, from Moscow, London or Memphis, Elvis Presley will still be the king of rock'n'roll to me.
Thank you very much. Let's go over to Britain. Let's go to Britain.
Oh, it's very controversial on the 26th of October 2005.
It really was. They were outraged. They were so outraged. This is what happens when you reach peak whinging pom. You get this.
I've got to keep coming out here. My legs are killing me. Crutches in there. I've got hobble out here. I'll go back in there. Something will be done.
How can you? I just don't know.
Did you just talk about crutches? Was there something about crutches there?
One more time.
I've got to keep coming out here. My legs are killing me. Crutches in there. I've got to blow out here. I'll go back in there. Something ought to be done.
Something's aren't be done. Crutches in there out here.
How can you call that language? English. And they're in England. It blows my mind.
She's very angry. She's very angry. She's very angry because they've banned smoking.
Yes.
In the pubs.
Yes. Well, they were getting to it. So this is sort of been announced in Parliament, right? So by the 2000s, we had it in Ireland, remember? The evidence was undeniable. It kills people, smoke kills people, secondhand smoke is killing people too. And Britain's pubs and clubs and cafes are like, nah. And I remember, I remember being in England and Wales in the early 2000s, around 2000s. One, I think it was.
Three, you were there.
Oh, it was 2003. My God, yes. And the people were still smoking. I can remember being in Wales having breakfast in a restaurant. Somebody was smoking at the table next to me. It was disgusting. So I was still doing it there. that's social ritual. I don't know. There's nothing social about it. So in October, well, in October 2005, they talk about it in Parliament. And then in November 2005, Tony Blair's Labor government announces their plans to ban it. So they're just announcing the plans to ban it. And that's where you get...
I've got to keep coming out here. My legs are killing me. Crutches in there. I've got a lot out here. I'll go back in there. Something will be done.
Now, admittedly, that's from the future. That's from when the ban was actually put in place. Like the public, the health advocates were thrilled. Bar staff, waiters, office workers were like, oh my God, we don't have to breathe secondhand smoke anymore. It's great. Pub landlords though, and smokers, no. They were fuming, for want of a better word. It's going to destroy the culture. It's going to drive the customers away. Civil liberties people.
You're supposed to have a scooey without your dowry.
It's a nanny state, you know, according to the civil libertarians and supporters are just like, well, we're just trying to protect people. So it's like freedom of choice versus freedom to breathe. And then And the bingo patrons, the oldies that were playing bingo, they really had the sh*ts.
Make a place for the smokers and a place for the non-smokers that segregated off. Not herders out here like bloody prostitutes standing on this corner, which is what you feel like when you're standing here with a cigarette in your hand.
Every afternoon you'll see them on the corner of Stokes Cheapside. People's grannies in what they say is a degrading situation.
They're taking our rights away from us. for one thing, I've never smoked in the street. Never. But now I have to. And I don't like smoking in the street.
How does it make you feel?
Oh, not very good. Clickety-click, it's 66.
It's surely the same in bingo halls up and down the country. Eyes down, housey-housey, and a mini exodus outside. Number 11, legs 11, or is it #9, doctor's orders.
I've got, keep coming out here, my legs are killing me. Crutches in there, I've got a blight here, I'll go back in there, something ought to be done.
Something ought to be done. They're going to ban smoking, that's what ought to be done. So they were annoyed.
Because they felt like prostitutes.
Well, when they're standing out on the street smoking. Whereas if they were just walking down the street normally, nobody would have batted an island. This is the thing. If you give a grandmother a cigarette while she's out on the street, instant ******. People start driving slowly past them, rolling down the window, asking how much. How much? Exactly. And it's all because of that cigarette. I mean, just the degradation.
Yeah, it's just, you know.
Yeah, it's that embarrassment will take years off your life.
Smoking was a big thing for bingo, though. I remember when my mum and grandma used to go bingo.
They'd smoke at bingo.
But they didn't smoke. They'd go to bingo. They'd go to bingo and the smoking was so bad, you could smell them before they got home. Like they'd come into the house and you could smell it.
Down the street.
Because it was just, and I used to go to bingo sometimes.
That's a good early warning system though.
Mum's home. Yeah. I smell some durries.
Down the corner. Yeah.
If you're sitting there, you'd be literally sitting in this cloud of smoke for three hours while you play bingo. And then you couldn't get it out of your hair or your clothes. And then they did that. Well, you know how that lady said they should have a segregated area. They actually did that at one of the bingos I went to and they sat the smoke is up a little bit higher. So the cloud of smoke was meant to be like above your head.
Lofting. It didn't work under the cloud.
Didn't work at all.
Start raining nicotine down on you if it's.
Then there was a big controversy if you. years later because one of the bingo players contracted lung cancer.
Well, I'm not surprised.
And she wasn't a smoker.
Oh, there you go. The proof is in the pudding.
Yes.
Or the, you know, they had the ad with the lung.
The lung.
The proof is in that as well. Yes.
Well, it was a good move.
I think.
We didn't like it at the start. I was annoyed when I couldn't smoke in the Hyperdome food court anymore. But imagine if someone lit up a durry in the pub or a restaurant or the Hyperdome.
They'd be mortified.
You'd be in trouble.
You'd be in massive trouble. We all, yeah, we all know what... I reckon alcohol's next.
I think alcohol is the new cigarettes, yes.
You reckon? And then gambling will be the one after that.
Yeah.
And then we just won't have any fun.
No fun.
Ever. No. If they come after coffee, we riot. This segment is brought to you by SportsBet. Let's go over to sport. A big, big moment in sport back in 2005 on the 26th of October. Cheryl Swoops, who was nicknamed the Michael Jordan of the WNBA, three-time WNBA MVP, four-time champion with the Houston Comets and Olympic gold medalist, the face of women's basketball in the United States. In their formative years, the first woman signed by the WNBA.
Swoops was the first player signed to the fledgling WNBA. And even though she'd missed the start of the season after giving birth to her son, Cheryl worked hard to make it back just six weeks later.
Another long three-pointer. She got it! Are you kidding me? She's the best player in the WNBA.
Swoops was a three-time league MVP, a two-time scoring champion, and a three-time defensive player of the year.
Swoops, the all-time leader in steals, has one here. And Swoops gives Houston the lead. Yes, indeed. Cheryl Swoopes, she's looking cry tonight. Four seconds, Swoopes wants it on herself and she got it.
So Cheryl Swoopes, okay, in 2005, women's basketball, you know, starting to sort of take off. But in 2005, Cheryl Swoopes comes out as publicly gay in an interview with ESPN's The Magazine and becomes the first high-profile team sport athlete to do so while still active. Now, you've got to look through the lens of 2005. If a female basketball player came out as gay today, everyone would be like, yeah. Right? She said she didn't want to hide who she is. She hoped to inspire others. It was a very groundbreaking moment for LGBTQ plus visibility in sports. And I think it was a great thing. At the time, the sports world and the mainstream culture were pretty much shook because openly gay athletes, quite rare. Except of course, if you look at NRL and Ian Roberts, who I always maintain.
What year did he come out?
Very early in the piece. It was in the 90s.
Was it in the 90s?
Was it? I thought it was in the 2000s. It was, I think it was late 90s. I feel like he came out before I left school. And I left school in 94. So I think he was much more of a trailblazer than maybe, well, they're all trailblazers in their own right. Nobody in America would have known who Ian Roberts is and nobody in Australia probably would have known who Cheryl Swoopes was at the time. But she was very courageous. However, sponsorships, she had big sponsors in the WNBA. Nike endorsed her, didn't say anything, didn't come out in support. Whereas you look at it these days, they would use it as an opportunity, as a platform to further their own brand and jump on the back of that and say, we really admire our courage. In fact, we're making a new Cheryl Swoop shoe or something because it would be a new ad, a new just do it type ad or something like that. And it just showed that brands at that stage in 2005, it was a, like we always say, it was a very different time. It was a very different time. So it was a big deal. But a lot of people just thought it was a non-issue as well. It just depended on which side of it.
Some people were shocked.
Well, how liberal are you?
That was damaging to women's sport.
Bullsh*t. Absolute bullsh*t.
But she did become a bit of a symbol, but was criticised within the LGBTIQ community a few years later. after she said that she didn't want to be seen as a spokesperson for being gay and that her orientation wasn't political, then raised eyebrows later after entering relationships with men, prompting debates about bisexuality, fluidity and labels and whether her story was actually mishandled by the media.
Of course, because back then it's like you were either straight or you're gay or you're bisexual, but you're not.
You didn't move between.
No, you just stayed in the sand and you weren't allowed to cross them. But I also think this is the problem with people who are in high-profile positions. Now, she's not famous because she's a lesbian. She's famous because she's really good at basketball, right? And so when these people in these high-profile positions come out a whole community like rallies behind them in some degree and it's support. But then it's also like they kind of push them into a position where they're almost an ambassador. And they don't necessarily want, that's not what they signed up for. Yeah.
And I mean, she may have revealed that she was gay because maybe someone had taken photos somewhere and it was going to come out and she wanted to be the one that said it. Like, I don't know that she necessarily came out because she wanted to be an ambassador or play that. that role. And then you've got to continue to answer to that as well. And if you change your approach or your views or anything like that, then yeah, you're criticized.
Then they start to disturbate. It's almost like, it's like anything though, right? It's like anything. Like you're loved by everyone until you're not. If you hang out for long enough to become the hero and you stay the hero for a long amount of time, you'll eventually become the villain. It's just the way of the world. That's what happens. And I think that's what kind of happened with Swoops a little a little bit as time went on. But you cannot deny the impact that making a statement like that in 2005 would have had. And good for her for doing that. Now, let's go over to baseball. If we think about baseball, we can swing all night. The World Series of Baseball happened or finished on the 26th of October. I don't understand this game, honestly. The Chicago White Sox.
Tying run at second, two out. Palmero over the head of Jenks. Urebates Charges, throws. Out! And the White Sox have won the World Series. Juan Uribe with a play, charging it, throwing it, and the White Sox celebrate their first title in 88 years.
The first title in 88 years. The last time they won was 1917. That's before the Great Depression. Yes, that's before radios. Well, there were some radios, but not many, because they were expensive. They were the team that were infamous for the black box scandal of 1919, when players were accused of throwing the World Series. So for decades, they've lived in the shadow of that. And also the other team from Chicago, the more higher profile team, the Cubs. So you get the Cubs and the White Sox. So October 26, 2005, in Houston, Texas, The White Sox complete a four-game sweep of the Houston Astros in the World Series. It's their first championship in 88 years, like they said. Managed by Aussie Julian, a fiery, unpredictable leader who became the first Latin American manager to win a World Series. The MVP was Jermaine Dye, who delivered clutch hits throughout the series. Game 2 highlights Scott Podsednick, who hadn't hit a regular season homer, launches A walk-off bomb. Chicago goes nuts. The city starved. of baseball glory finally gets some relief and the White Sox fans are rejoicing in the streets. Generations who've never seen a team win have finally got some bragging rights. And that made everyone think that maybe they were free of the curse, which they thought they had the hoodoo since 1917. It wasn't just the Cubs making the headlines, but I don't know. I don't get, we don't get baseball over here. We don't understand it. tiny, tiny gloves, slow pitches, players running around in softball.
I played softball.
Yeah, T-ball. We did softball and T-ball.
I played softball, but I don't think I knew the rules when I played it.
No, and there are fans of baseball in Australia and there are like the Canberra Cavalry who are a great baseball team who have done very well and they'll be offended by this. But I'm sorry, it's niche. Like this is Australia. This is the land of cricket footy and anything that can be yelled at over a BBQ because it was big in history. It's a big moment in history. We might have some American listeners.
Oh yeah. Sure.
I'm just trying to contextualize where we're coming from. So the mystery that I get for baseball is you hit the ball, but maybe. And then you run around the bases, but only if which direction to go. And then the game can last forever until someone decides to score, perhaps. And then they call them innings and we're just like, have you finished? No, we've got another innings. And we still don't get it, but we embrace the weirdness. And I think it's just a great excuse to drink beer and eat hot dogs, really, if I'm being honest.
Pretzels, don't they eat the pretzels?
Oh, they do the pretzels, see.
The mustard.
Yeah.
That's about my knowledge of baseball.
I think it's just cricket where someone forgot how to bowl. Let's not go too hard on the boomers this episode, okay? Like, if it wasn't for boomers, we wouldn't exist.
That's true.
You know? Yeah. they'd be knocking their two boomer parts together in order to create our entire generation. that's a horrible way of looking at it. Oh dear. And my imagination is still going, so I want to try and put this back on the rails. It's time to open up the boom box. This is where you go for your boomer-esque style complaints. Boom-esque style complaints. That's right. Esque and style, one in the same. You know what I'm talking about. It's a safe space, so there's no judgment. If you've got something that you want to get off your chest, where you would be met with the standard, okay, boomer response from someone slightly younger than you, can do it here, free from judgment, free from any of that stuff. In fact, it'll be celebrated. And Mel, have we got a boom this week?
We've kind of got a follow-up boom and a follow follow-up boom.
Really.
So this relates to a boom that we did very early on in the piece about headlights being too bright.
Oh yes, and I totally agree with that.
We all agree with that.
The headlights strike me nuts. Those LED halogen things. Horrible. Not halogen, because that's not LED. But you know what I'm saying?
They're bright. They're way brighter than they used to be. Okay, so here's the follow-up.
Right.
I'm really tired of the LED headlights on some cars. Like, I'm really glad you can see 92 miles ahead, but the rest of us are blind now. That's the first follow-up. Give it a boom. That was good.
Yeah, it is. Yes.
So that was Kirby.
Thanks, Kirby.
And then Matthew replies to Kirby.
Yep.
Especially when you flash your brights at them and then they turn their brights on and give you an x-ray.
Yes, absolutely.
Flash someone.
With the LEDs and then you get flashed with those LEDs and it's, oh man, puts you into another dimension. It really does. If you do have a boom, just DM us. Come and see us over on the socials, T-minus 20 podcast. You can send us a DM through Facebook or Instagram. I think Instagram is the best way to go. You can do an audio one. We've asked for that. on many an occasion, and I'm not going to ask for it anymore, because none of you, none of you young whippersnappers know how to work any of the technology. Yeah, you tell Google to buy Korn or something, but then you could end up with a CD as well. Or many different things, because you know, the band Korn with the K. That's an old man thing now, too. I'd like Korn is like classic rock. Yeah, it's the music segment, by the way.
Smooth, Smooth FM. I like Smooth FM.
You would not hear corner.
Smooth FM Twist.
You would not hear that on Smooth FM.
Smooth FM played King of Wishful Thinking the other day. That was good. I love that song. It's very good.
That was, who was that? Was that Go West? Yeah.
I've got a thing saved on my Instagram without performing live and everyone in the audience was singing. It just makes me cry.
Really.
Saved in my folder. My crying folder. Yeah, it gets me.
Yeah, right.
It gets me in the field.
Oh, it's good. It's like coming up next on Smooth FM.
OK, they weren't #1 here in Australia.
Sorry, I just got a chicken bone caught in my throat.
No, Kanye was...
We finally caught up. We finally caught up.
They're like, oh, this Kanye guy.
Kanye guy is all right. Yeah.
Nice. Sugababe's still number one in the UK. If you're ready.
For me, boy, you better push the button and let me know before I get the wrong eye. Let it go. You're gonna miss the freak that I control.
I don't have anything to say about that.
No, not really.
Let's listen to the US top five.
OK.
Five.
Look at this photograph.
Having somebody who makes me laugh.
How did our eyes get so red?
If he ain't, let me know. Let me see if you can run it, run it. Girl, indeed, I can run it, run it.
I ain't saying she a gold digger.
But she ain't messing with no broke, broke. I ain't saying she a gold digger. But she ain't messing with no broke, broke. Get down, girl, go ahead, get down.
I feel like I peaked too early in this show, if I'm being honest. I don't have much now. I'll just need to replenish. So if you can cover off all that. Just need to reboot. I should be right by the time you hit it.
Okay, #5, Mariah, shake it off.
Yeah.
Number 4, my humps. Number 3, photograph. Number 2, new entry.
New entry, there it is.
Run it by Chris Brown. Number one, Gold Digger.
Kanye. Yeah.
So Chris Brown. It's kind of, I don't know. how I feel. He's problematic, isn't he? is problematic. He's very problematic, but I feel like he's popped up again and everyone just seems sort of just normal about it.
Everyone's kind of forgiven Chris Brown. I feel like he kind of committed career suicide, really.
But he's now he's doing stuff now.
Yeah, and he's still quite popular.
And he pops up in my playlist, my early 2000s workout playlist. There's a few problematic artists that pop up and I just have to skip every time because I just don't feel right listening.
Try and separate the artist from the music.
I don't know. I just wish they'd just removed the problematic notes out of my playlist.
In context, in 2005, Chris Brown was He wasn't problematic. 16 years old at the time. 16 years old.
Just a baby.
Yes. And well, just a baby who confidently is asking a girl on the dance floor if he can run it with her. Yeah.
I don't think he's talking about a running race, is he?
I don't think so.
I think he's talking about the park runner.
Well, there's a dance-off happening. See, I think Chris Brown was tated. Is that a word? word like potatoes, tatered. I think Chris Brown was tatered and we made some hash browns and you used taters for many things, some poutine over in Canada and whatnot. No, I think he was set to be the next Michael Jackson.
Or touted.
Touted is the word I was looking for, not tatered.
I thought you meant tainted.
No, we used tainted later on in his career.
Touted.
Yes.
They also thought he was the next Usher.
Right. Yep.
He was signed to Jive Records. That's Sue Ensign.
Well, that's a big label, isn't it?
Brittany, Usher. Usher was on Jive and then moved to BMG. Or maybe BMG took over Jive.
Right.
I remember Usher being on BMG. I remember the BMG guy gave me an Usher CD.
Well, he was at 16 years old. He was the package. They just, they were very enamored buying.
And he was in a movie. Was it a stomping one?
Oh, Stomp the Yard or something. One of those ones.
Or was it dancing?
I don't watch.
Stompy dancing.
I don't watch dance movies too much.
Well, he was in one.
Okay.
And his debut album comes out later in this year in November 2005, which had Yo, Excuse Me Miss in brackets.
Yeah.
That was a big song.
Was it?
Sounded very neo and ushery. Did it?
Yeah.
So 2005 was the year of the Chris Brown. By the end of it, he was everywhere. He's on TRL, winning lots of awards, being dubbed as R&B's next big thing. And then, yeah, obviously goes and makes his acting debut. But obviously nowadays, it's impossible to talk about him without acknowledging the issues that came later.
Well, yeah, I mean, the big domestic battery violence thing where he assaulted Rihanna.
Yes. And I just, I don't know. but he's still doing things. I think he's touring and he's released a couple of songs recently that have done well.
Is it a redemption story?
I don't know, but...
Or is he still a bit of * ****?
I'm not sure. I still feel funny talking about him, to be honest. I guess we've got to acknowledge him because he was in the charts and that's what was happening 20 years ago.
I mean, I didn't go rushing out to buy. I'm not a fan.
I didn't go rushing.
Out to buy his album or anything like that. It's fine.
We talk about the other Chris Brown instead.
He's 16 at the time. Which other Chris Brown.
The vet.
Oh, Dr. Chris Brown.
He's much more wholesome.
He is. Except I've tried. My dog really likes some of his treats. He's got a treat label to Dr. Chris Brown called Drool. Yeah, and they make these little. like smoked salmon balls that you can put in a Kong that keeps the dog entertained for hours, but she gets a bit obsessed over. She gets blisters on her lips because she goes too hard.
So maybe you have to take it to go and see Dr. Chris Brown.
No, I don't think I want to do that. I think he'd be quite expensive. It's bad. And the worst thing about the Chris Brown stuff is that I just wanted to sample some. So I was like, I'll buy one pack and they'll put me on a subscription service. And then a month later it got billed to my credit card and some more arrived and I'm like, I don't remember doing that.
You got more Chris balls.
Yes, I don't need your balls, Chris. I've got plenty of smoky crisp balls here. Yeah, so that's what that's what happened there. Is there an album or something? Do we have an album release?
We do, yes. Sorry, I was going a bit further down.
Come on, pay attention. Stay with me now or I'm going to have to do it over.
So I was just thinking about Chris Brown, vet Chris Brown, and I was thinking that's unfortunate that his name's Chris Brown, because if he Googles himself, he could get the story about the other Chris Brown.
I think he's established himself.
Taint him and he's wholesome and the other Chris Brown brings him down.
Worse still, you know, he ends up sending smoky BBQ balls to himself. I subscribed. I don't even know how. I was just looking for myself online and now I've bought my balls.
Such a boomer thing to do.
Yeah, really is. I subscribed to myself.
Okay, push the button. No window.
I hacked again.
Not push the button, N Sync.
Yes, N Sync. Sorry.
N Sync. Let's talk about N Sync.
Push that button.
Yes, yeah, you push that button.
Go.
You may hate me, but it ain't no lie, baby bad bad lie. Don't I wanna make it tough?
That's not a new song.
No, it's not.
This is, oh, this is a Greatest Hits.
They released their first compilation album, Greatest Hits, three years after they've broken up.
This is the nail in the coffin.
They've been on hiatus.
They're done.
Hiatus.
They are done.
Since 2002 after.
The Greatest Hits album. This album is symbolic. It's a line in the sand.
This is when the rest of the band found out that the band was over. Yeah, so they're like, they're all still waiting.
I think we're still contractually obligated to a record company. He's coming back, is he?
He's coming back, surely?
I hope so, because we're still contractually obligated to this record company.
Right.
Yeah. Like, they've got to pay for Chris Brown's new single and his album based on the money that we made for them.
And subscribe themselves to the other Chris's balls.
Yeah, and we've still got, oh goodness me, we've still got one more that we have to deliver. So I'll Greatest hits, greatest hits albums, yep, yes, and then after the greatest hits albums released, so yeah. See you later.
And fans were still hoping of a reunion. I thought I was like, hiatus, they'll be back.
They never were.
I was secretly hoping.
Took decades.
But no, that was it. What else was on there? Oh, it's going to be my, Pop, Tear It Up My Heart, I Want You Back, Gone, and Girlfriend, which was their last single before the hiatus. Yeah, It's very, the unofficial ending of NSYNC. No more albums after that one. Very bittersweet. We're all.
I mean, is it? Is it all entirely Justin's fault or is it just because like AJ couldn't come back from rehab?
AJ? AJ was in the Backstreet Boys.
No, I'm just messing with you.
Oh, you did know that.
Oh yeah. I'm well versed in the trials and tribulations of both the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC, but that's not what we're talking about here. Not until they do like a movie, like a biopic.
They're in trolls.
Yeah, that's, is that a biopic about them?
Just a biopic about the trolls.
Wouldn't surprise me. Very. This is loosely based on a true story. Sure. Over to the box office. We've got a new number one in the USA. This is your mate. There's your mate. Yeah, James. Is it James Wan?
James Wan.
Yeah, you went to school with him. Yeah, Lake Tugganon College, wasn't it? Yeah, James Wan. Saw 2, released on the 28th of October.
Greetings and welcome. Right now, you're breathing in a deadly nerve agent. The only way out is to find an antidote. One is inside the safe. You will all possess the combination in the back of your mind. Let the game begin. Let's just take out this. This whole house is a... Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! Run! Therefore, I make you a choice. There's something that we're not seeing. You did this. Open the door. There's nowhere to go. Where is he? Oh, yes. There will be blood.
There you go, just in time for Halloween. This... This dominated the box office in the US over the Halloween weekend. And it really, I think it launched, like the first one was the precursor. It is like Saw 1 was successful, more from a cult point of view. And everyone was like, oh my God, like the concept. I think Saw actually did better on DVD probably than it did at the cinemas. But as a consequence, the groundswell from that film made this one really outperform the original Saw. But a franchise is born, James 1 becomes a million billionaire, basically. makes his fortune, is a major player to this day, James Ward in the horror genre, with like the Conjuring movies and Saw and Jigsaw as one of those cinematic villains, the likes of Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers and all of that sort of stuff. The Jigsaw Killer. I mean, I love the idea that they would just sit around and think of really f***ed up ways to kill people and then just turn it into a movie. That's basically what they did.
I thought that was part of it, because when you sorry, I can't believe they did that, and then you like when the one comes out, you're thinking, how are they going to top that? What are they going to do this time around? How many did, how many Saw movies are there?
There's heaps. There's a few, isn't there? Like 6, maybe 7, who knows? I can't, they kind of lost me after the second one, to be honest. I was like, it's good, but I don't really like that's kind of, I don't like the torture kind of stuff. And I know the Saw was a bit quirky because it had a few little gadgets and tricks and stuff. I was like, haha, that's messed up. But yeah, but you, at school, he did feel film projects at school, James.
Yeah, we were in a, he was in my media class.
So you saw probably the first iteration of the puppet.
I think he did, if I'm remembering, it was a long time ago.
Yeah.
If I'm remembering correctly, he did a short movie that involved a Barbie being decapitated, I think.
Right.
There was something to do with a Barbie and it... the head being pulled off.
Did he have the puppet on the tricycle or something, though?
No, I don't think so.
Oh, well, that would have, yeah, that could have been a really interesting story, but anyway, it's just a bit.
Well, the Barbie was interesting.
Some weird kid in film class decapitating Barbie dolls. And the teacher probably going, you're never going to get anywhere in your life. You'll never be a film director as they normally do. And look at him now. Get that up here. Good on you. I'm a big fan of his stuff. Let's go to TV.
Yes, let's, because Wallace and It's #1 here in Australia, and we've talked about that before.
Oh, yeah, sorry.
I've missed that. Oh, this show, yes, I remember this show. This show was like my worst nightmare. You know when you have those nightmares of being trapped underwater or being eaten by sharks? It was a whole TV show dedicated. I shouldn't be alive.
Real stories. Real heroes.
My dad never saw me as being a strong person, and I was going to show him.
Impossible situations. Mayday, mayday. You won't believe. How they survive the new series I Shouldn't Be Alive, tonight 8:30 on 7.
I just couldn't go past like a big ballsy Channel 7 promo with real stories.
I remember him, yes. He used to do all the promos.
It's a great voiceover. He's a good. Look, it was a great premise for a show. It was very compelling.
No, it was too much for me. Whereas where people found themselves in life-threatening situations.
But they survived. They said that you know they're going to survive based on a time.
I shouldn't be alive, but I am.
I'm here to tell the story.
But it's one of those shows just like, oh God, that's one of those things that I'm more really worried about. Now I'm more worried about it.
Like quicksand?
Yes, the Bermuda Triangle and the Triads, Legionnaires' disease.
Just added to the list.
Yeah.
Isn't this what happens when you get older though? You watch like all those documentaries, you get into murder mystery and like. True crime, these sort of things, It's like it's what's that magazine? That's life.
That's life.
That's life. Well, this was Discovery Channel. First episode, Lost at Sea.
Lost at Sea?
Two men go fishing off the coast of Mexico, their boat capsizes, and they survive for a week on an esky. In the sea. In the sea with sharks circling around them, no fresh water. They survived for a week. And they survived by drinking rainwater and hallucinating. Now, what a payoff, I drunk this rainwater and oh my God, I'm lost at sea.
Oh, the colours.
Yes, indeed.
A group of friends were camping in Botswana when lions attack in the middle of the night. One of them was dragged from his tent and mauled while the others scrambled to fight the lions off with sticks and fire.
I shouldn't be alive. Sticks and fire. those lines off with sticks and fire.
Two friends attempt to climb Mount Kenya, but things spiral. They get altitude sickness, dehydration. They stack it and one of them's crippled after stacking it and the other one has to drag him down the mountain for days with no supplies.
Real stories, an incredible tale of survival. It really is. Like it was, you know, it's they did all the stuff so that you never have to wonder. You know, you don't have to go and do it because they did it and they shouldn't be alive, but they are. But it's cautionary tales. A whole series of cautionary tales. The list is endless. It's content.
It's four or five seasons of caution.
Exactly. You know, write in with your... I shouldn't be a live story and you could be the next one up on the Discovery Channel. I had many a nice...
You had an experience that could have been on this show.
Yes. Really? Yeah, but it was with a goon bag. Just when you thought it couldn't get any better. Books we did not read.
Yeah, another book this week. It's good this year because it's not The Da Vinci Code every week.
It's the yo-yo in New.
York Times, bestsellers, titles coming through the list.
It's interchangeable, a revolving door. It's good. It's not a yo-yo, it's a revolving door. I picked the wrong thing at the start, but I came good in the end.
It gives us something to talk about.
Yes, it does give us something to talk about. And this is a Michael Connelly book called The Lincoln Lawyer. And this got turned into a movie, didn't it? Did it? I'm fairly certain with like Matthew McConaughey or someone.
Oh, actually, yes, one of the people in the one-star review said, just watch the movie.
Right. I don't... What have I got for Lincoln Lawyer? No, that's more sore, isn't it? that's a bit. That's Miami Vice. Let's see the Miami Vice or some more corn. Oh no, I don't want to play in that one. That causes a lot of problems. Let me see. I'll just go with this. I don't even know. It's just a bit 80s. I like it. It's got a synth kind of vibe. It's a bit Miami vice as well, but anyway. Criminal defence attorney Mickey Haller's father was a legendary lawyer whose clients included gangster Mickey Cohen. In a nice twist, Cohen's gun given to Dad, then bequeathed to his son, plays a key role in the plot. But Dad also passed on an important piece of advice that's especially relevant when Mickey takes the case of a wealthy Los Angeles realtor accused of attempted murder. The scariest client a lawyer will I'll ever have is an innocent client, because if you screw up and he goes to prison, it'll scar you for life. There you go. That's the story. It was the synopsis sort of thing.
Still got no idea.
Was that on the dust jacket? Is that where you got that from? Because I feel like they could have done.
I don't have the book.
They could have done a bit better.
No, well, there was about five other paragraphs after it, but it was boring, so I didn't copy it.
Let's just cut straight to the reviews then, shall we?
Ross, one star. I've got to find a way to stop spending money on recommended bestsellers written for an audience of half-wits.
See, that is not a nice review. You can attack the book and you can attack the author. But not the readers. But I don't think you should label all the other readers as half-wits just because you didn't like it.
Yeah, it's a bit rude.
I don't think that's, it's just bigoted. Like, I just don't like that. Melissa gave it one star and she simply said that she found that she couldn't even focus on the storyline because of the constant swearing. I kind of like that in a book. I like a bit of swearing. It adds an air of authenticity to it, Melissa. Maybe you should give it another chance.
It was quite sweary because Beth Pearson also gave it one star. At page 11, I got to the first open bracket of I'm sure many close bracket F words. I didn't want to go any further, so she saw the first f**king stopped.
Just one f**k. That's it.
One and I'm done.
Fair enough. That's good for you. I just don't understand if she didn't want to go any further. Did she go any further?
Oh, was it she didn't want or she actually didn't?
Yeah, and maybe she got used to it.
I'm going to say she didn't want to. In fact, I reckon I don't think she did. I think she stopped at age 11. I think it's a DNS.
Yeah. See, that's a shame because you need to really, like, it's never pleasant you first.
Oh no, she didn't keep going because she said it's the first of, I'm sure, many F words.
So she stopped. Fair enough. All right. Sergey, Sergey, one star litter in my ashtray and I don't smoke.
No.
Good on you, Sergey.
Poetic.
Yeah.
Lucy McCoskey, one star. I quit 18% into it. The corruption and sleaze factors were too painful to deal with as today's society has me so disgusted and frustrated because of these two illnesses in our lives.
What illnesses? Corruption and sleaze.
Corruption and sleaze.
They're illnesses, are they?
Too much of it going on in the world. I don't want it in my books.
Jeez, I wonder if I could get a doctor's certificate for being too sleazy. Give me a day off work.
Corrupt.
Wouldn't that be crazy?
And we have found a review of The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connolly from one of our favourites.
Have we ever?
Reviewers has read this book.
Yes, I have. Lois, 2 stars. What? Two stars, not one, as per my namesake. I've decided to give this book two stars. And here is my review. Okay. It was a gift from my parents, so I felt obliged to read it. Not my type of book, but nonetheless, very good.
Very good is only two stars.
Two stars is very good. Three stars is great. Four stars, excellent. Five stars. Well, that's your co-host, Joe. That's him naked, five stars, that is. There's an F word I'd like to take further.
Lois, who would have thought?
It's been a while. She must get a lot of books gifted to her, because that one was a gift from her parents. Remember, she hates John Grisham because family members keep buying them for birthdays and Christmases.
I was going to say it's probably a long time between drinks for Lois, but I've heard on good authority that she really enjoys gin and has a lot of cats.
Not too sure about that. Let's do this.
The Hatches Matches Dispatches clue from the beginning of the show. A celebrity who died, sadly, this week who said this?
The driver noticed the four of us sitting there and the one man standing and he asked us to let him have those seats.
Now, if you said Rosa Parks. Goodness me, you would be correct. In 2005, the world said goodbye to Rosa Parks. On the 24th of October, she passed away. Yes. Of course, known for that quiet act of defiance on a Montgomery bus in 1955 that changed America forever. She was 92 years old. Now, back in 1955, she refused to give up her seat to a white passenger back in the days of segregation. She was arrested and that single moment sparked the Montgomery bus boycott, which was led by a very young Martin Luther King Jr. And this is Rosa talking more about that incident.
Well, it was frustrating and humiliating. and was designed actually to make us feel inferior. It was just one of those things. It was not even in the newer day as the 1950s were approaching with the young men returning home from service and many black soldiers had given their lives and their efforts to make America free. that they would return to the same humiliation and even worse than they had left was not, to my mind, the meaning that I would want to give to our country, which was supposed to be a democracy and land of the free.
Now, what a calm and dignified and just smart and measured woman. Like, could you imagine them trying to get her off the seat? And she's just like, no, I'm sorry. I'm not going to stand up. By 1956, the Supreme Court struck down bus segregation after that incident in 55. One choice, one act, and the entire system starts to unravel. She was the spark.
She was, and she didn't stop. She worked for Congressman John Conyers in Detroit, spoke out for equality her whole life. And in 1996, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. When she passed in 2005, she became the first woman to lie in honor at the US Capitol.
Yeah, so a big legacy. It wasn't just about a bus seat, obviously. It was about dignity, courage, standing firm when the world tells you to move. That's what I mean, what's not to love about Rosa Parks and her message and her name, I think, you know, which just is completely associated with quiet, strength and dignity. I think it's wonderful. And it's a It's very sad that she passed away, but 92 years old. What a long innings. And isn't it great that she was able to see sort of how much things had progressed? Obviously still had a long way to go by 2005, but had progressed a long way. So that's it. That's it for this week. There's been a lot of stuff. We've had swoops coming out of the closet. We've had Rosa Parks passing away. We've had reviews from Lois. We've had Elvis making more money than in death than most of us would make in life. We've had Chris Brown at 16 years old. Too much, too much. I don't even know what's happening next week and it doesn't really matter because we'll be here and we'll bring it to you then. Thanks so much for joining us as always. You really, like, you don't understand. Like it means a lot that you listen. Every time we see a little download, our hearts are all aflutter because we don't do this for any other reason except for the fact that we love it and we love that you listen to it. And if you didn't do that, what's the point?
What is the point indeed?
Thanks very much. Find us on the socials. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, search for T-minus 20 podcasts.
Over now, see you next week.
Bye. Thanks for taking the time to rewind. Join us next time for another week that was 20 years ago. In the meantime, come and reminisce on the socials. Search for T-minus 20 podcast on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.