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
When the Xbox 360 took over the world… and overheated doing it
🇩🇪 Merkel makes history
Angela Merkel is sworn in as Germany’s first female chancellor and first from the former East. A grand coalition deal ends the election deadlock. Quiet power beats loud politics.
🎈 Candy meets physics
A giant M&M’s balloon whacks a light pole at the Macy’s Parade, injuring two spectators. NYC tightens wind rules and retires the balloon. Thanksgiving TV gets an unforgettable blooper.
🎮 Xbox 360 arrives
Launch day chaos as the 360 sells out in hours. HD gaming, Xbox Live 2.0, achievements — and soon the dreaded Red Ring of Death. Microsoft’s win… with a billion-dollar asterisk.
💿 Britney hits the club
Britney drops B In The Mix: The Remixes on 22 Nov. Toxic, Everytime and more get DJ makeovers. Modest charts then, cult favourite now.
🎤 Idol crowned
Bendigo’s Kate DeAraugo wins Australian Idol in the show’s first all-female finale. Maybe Tonight rockets to #1 and the Young Divas era beckons.
🛎️ Come on down, one last time
24 Nov: The Price Is Right (Australia) signs off its run. Mega Showcases become legend, Larry Emdur readies his next TV chapter.
📚 Book corner
Jimmy Carter’s Our Endangered Values fuels church-and-state debate. Less beach read, more ‘argue with your uncle at lunch’ energy.
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 of 20, November 2005. T-minus 20. Hey, what do you think this is a talk show? It's an icebreaker, don't judge me yet.
This is bananas.
The hell you will come home. My question is, who approved that ****? Do you see where this is going? Not really.
Remember when your Xbox wheezed itself to death? When Britney was remixing her pop princess era for the clubs, and Germany just hired a quantum physicist to run the country, well, welcome to T-minus 20, the podcast that blasts you 20 years into the past to relive the headlines, hits, and hilarious chaos that made the 2000s so unapologetically extra. Extra as in, like, that's what the kids say these days. It's so extra.
No, they said it about 10 years ago.
Yeah, right. With your host, Mel and Joe, you nostalgic co-pilots with the memory of a 2005 iPod that's somehow going. Hello, Mel.
Hello, yes, 20 to 26 November 2005 is where we're rewinding to this week.
At the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the main attraction were the colourful floats and comical clowns, but that is until the accident happened. A balloon mishap that broke up the fun with some misfortune.
Yes, that was what playing Candy Crush was like in the early 2000s. The Macy's Parade went crazy when a big M&M balloon went rogue in New York City.
For me, it was one of the happiest moments of my life.
That was Angela Merkel. Yes.
Germany elects its first female chancellor this week 20 years ago.
The next generation of entertainment. Xbox 360 with 18 months interest free. That's what you need. You need to get it interest free.
That's what we're going to go. I felt like a Harvey Norman.
Wouldn't want to identify any potential sponsors there, but yeah. I mean, it was a good deal, interest free.
Yeah, interest free. Remember that.
Everyone got their game consoles that way.
And then you'd forget to pay it off and you'd have to pay like five times as much.
Exactly.
You forgot to pay it off.
Can you believe?
Oh, Britney goes doof doof.
She does.
Be in the mix. The remixes.
Be in the mix. Is that what it's called?
Be in the mix.
When I lost the space, I thought it was been in the mix. I was like, oh, she didn't like it.
How dare you?
Well, we'll talk about how much I dare a little later on in the music segment, I guess.
Something I'd like to talk about, something I'd like to tell you about. I thought this was funny. I came across this during the week. TV 20 years ago. It starts out clunky, but if you suffer through the first 45 episodes, it starts to almost get good.
Oh my God, that is so true.
Remember that? How many series did you... people would go, season one, it's not great. stick with it, stick with it. Halfway through season 2, amazing.
But you're getting into like episode 17 or episode 26 or whatever, and then it starts to go up. And I were writing it week to week to try and keep you going. So it'll be like, you know, an hour of the out of that one hour episode. 10 minutes of it needs to be good and the rest could just be filler. As long as, and then we'll have to hook you through to the next one.
And sometimes they change where they were going with it based on the reception. So they might actually write the thing in a whole different direction based on people's reactions.
They're just making it up as they went along. They're like, here's the concept for the show. We got signed up for a season. Let's just write it as much as we can.
Well, people have guessed the ending, so let's change it.
Exactly.
That's happened a few times.
No, they're not in purgatory.
That was, yes, that was TV 20 years ago. TV Now. If this 8 hours of TV doesn't break all viewing records within the first 20 minutes of its release, we're going to shoot the cast.
That is so true as well.
Isn't it?
Oh, these are desperate times.
Expectations. It must be, there must be so much pressure to be a writer or an actor these days.
Yeah, well, unbelievable pressure.
People have to love it straight away. Otherwise, it's swipe right or left or whatever. I don't know. It's a Tinder era for everything, isn't it?
I mean, that's just the window.
We're so shallow.
Yes, we are.
Don't like it?
Don't like it. I skipped. Don't even get me started on scrolling through menus and thumbnails of shows to watch. But it's also problematic. Like that's just the window dressing, right? But what about the whole revenue structure? Like as soon as streaming and all that came in, that just got completely turned on its head. Like networks used to be funded to create shows and they'd have creative arms and then streaming services came in and they started buying up everything. And then it wasn't like, we're not going to be able to to finance these shows by actually making big, long seasons with lots of ad breaks and sponsors. We're actually moving it over to here. And it's like, so if it doesn't do well, yeah, see you later. We'll get something better.
Yeah. Back in the day, you would choose the popular shows to advertise because the advertising structure was based on how popular a TV show was and what time of day it was as well. Like there was a lot.
It started to cost you more.
It cost you more to advertise in, say, I don't know, a Grey's Anatomy?
Yes.
Lost or something like that back in the day, or Desperate Housewives, all those big hits.
And would there be like a related sponsor? Because I'm just trying to think of like streaming shows, and shows these days, but would the sponsor be related, for example, so Law and Orders on and then you get a whole bunch of commercials for solicitors. I think you did.
I think you did. Sometimes it would depend.
Just within the theme of it. I mean, that would make sense to have related kind of advertise.
Or would you advertise in Ghost Whisperer, for example? Like exorcists. I don't know, maybe funeral insurance?
Oh yeah, okay, yeah, like it could be sponsored by White Lady Funerals. I don't know if that's in good taste. That might be in poor taste. But I mean, these days, like when you've got shows like... Game of Thrones.
How do they make their money? Because there's no ads in it. Is it just because, does it just come from people who are subscribing to whatever?
Well, yes, they get a kickback from the, they sell the rights to the show. I would, I'm only assuming, I'm sure it goes a lot deeper to this. They sell the rights to the show and then maybe there's some kind of thing similar to, I guess, with streaming music where they get a certain percentage.
Depending on how many views they get.
They get a cut. They get a cut. I don't know.
I don't even understand.
I don't know. how the?
The ads so I can go to the toilet.
Yeah, no, just a few times in my favorite show.
Particularly the suspenseful shows. I often need to go and do a suspense wee.
Yeah, well, absolutely, especially if there's a little bit of, you get a bit of a fry or something like that in there. And then it's like, and then maybe it's like you can get ads for like depends and things like that. Yes, technically dangerous these days. It is dangerous these days and it's frustrating and it's hard to get through and we're, well, we'll boom a little bit later on, I guess, but let's Let's do this in the meantime. The Hatches, Matches and Dispatches clue. All good things come to an end and this week it's a dispatch that we're talking about. This clue we're going to play at the start of the show will tell you who it is at the end of the show. It's a celebrity who tragically, well sadly, I don't know if it was a tragic, like it wasn't a sudden thing, I don't think, but it was tragic that they had passed away. Anyway, I'm not doing myself any favours. I'll just, I'll play the clue.
He says, I don't want a comedian, I don't want a I want a comic actor for this role. This is a heavyweight part. I want an actor. In all of America, there's got to be some kind of an actor. Go find him.
Find out. Find out who that is that passed away at the end of the show.
22nd of November, 2005, we have the first female chancellor of Germany. And I... I'm wanting to say Angela, but I have a feeling that's not how it's pronounced. I'm sure I've heard, I'm sure I've heard it pronounced Angla on the news.
Are you serious?
Do you know what?
Do you know what? I have all of this time. I thought it was Angela. Like all of this. I was, I'm today years old when I'm discovering that the, are you sure?
I'm pretty sure because I was confused when I heard a news story about her years ago. But you know what? You know what? Is it like, what is it?
It's like Angela.
Well.
Angela.
Julian Miguel. Our resident pronunciation guy.
Oh, Miguel. Yes.
He's got Julian. He's got.
Oh, Julian Miguel.
He's got a pronunciation wise.
That's poor form, isn't it? I'm just like, well, you never trust a man that's got two first names, okay? Right.
Okay. He is going to help us out. Are you ready?
Yeah.
Okay.
We are looking at how to pronounce the name of this German politician who has been Chancellor of Germany since 2005.
Sorry, I called you, Miguel.
How do you go about pronouncing her name? Angela Merkel. Angela Merkel. Chancellor of Germany.
Angela.
Here are more videos on how to book.
Oh, that's all right. We don't watch the videos yet.
So he recorded this while she was still Chancellor of this.
Yes, of course.
A little bit old, but yes, Angela.
Full credits to Julian Miguel.
Thank you. Thank you for that.
Master of pronunciations over on YouTube.
Yes, absolutely. So Angela?
Angela Merkel.
First female Chancellor of Germany on the 22nd of November, 2005.
Yep.
A 51-year-old physicist from East Germany with a doctorate in quantum chemistry wasn't a career politician, not a general, just a scientist. Practical, cautious, and critics actually accused her of being a little too plain. I don't know.
I feel like in Germany, you know, maybe that's kind of just what they need.
Maybe you do want to be a little bit of plain, little.
Beige, straighty 180 leader, calm, very even-keeled. Nothing too extreme, perhaps?
She had been in politics since the 90s, though, in the Christian Democratic Union, and was mentored by then-Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who called her his... Wow. That wouldn't fly in today's workspace, would it? No.
Of course, straight to HR.
HR would have feelings on that for sure.
Listen, Helmut. Look, mate, you can't go around calling Angular. Little girl. You can't do that.
It's your first warning, mate.
It's 2025, almost 2026. You know, things have changed, buddy. Yes, we've got rules. And you'll find yourself, you know, with a warning letter. You get two more and it's lights out for you, buddy.
She rose rapidly through the party ranks, was Minister for Women and Youth in the early 90s, and then became the Environment Minister from 94 through to 98. There was a corruption scandal with Helmut. Not to do with the little girl. There was something else going on.
Well, maybe that kind of played in her favor because she'd be like, oh yeah, like I never took him seriously. He called me a little girl all the time. You know, what a s***?
She did distance herself publicly showing her legal independence. That's what I mean.
Never liked him anyway. Called me a little girl all the time.
Backed as a reformer.
I didn't go to HR. Look, you know, good things happen to those who wait. I just sat there patiently in the wings and lo and behold, it's kind of all just falling into place, isn't it?
Fell into place in the, well, the election occurred in September 2005 and ended in a near deadlock.
So it almost didn't fall into place.
She just edged out Gerhard Schroeder by a handful of seats. And then weeks of negotiation led to a grand coalition. So we had some political rivals joining forces together.
There would have been like lots of, you know, back office conversations.
Reeling and dealing.
Yes. There were, I'm sure, like a whip. Don't they have like a whip?
Writing notes on paper and folding it up, writing it with your other hand so no one knows your handwriting.
Secret meetings, and then maybe folding up a chatterbox and going, I'll pick a number between 1:00 and 10:00. And then it's like you smell or you love Angala. Yeah.
22nd she is sworn in as the first female chancellor and the first from the former East.
This is a really big deal. This is a big deal for Germany. It's the Bundestag vote was 397 votes for Angela and 202 against. So it signalled more than a new government for them. It's like finally 2 Germany's are kind of united and they've got one voice up at the top of the ladder there, which is wonderful. And she She was in office for a very, very long time.
Yeah. I'm surprised I didn't know how to say her name.
16 years. That's what I mean. I didn't know. I thought I always thought it was Angela Merkel. And look, in my defence, I'm fairly certain that a lot of news broadcasters called her Angela Merkel as well.
Well, maybe it's like the Megan, Megan thing.
Really.
Where in America. Megan is Megan. We call them Megan Megan's over here.
It's the Queen's pronunciation over here on the BBC is Angela. And we shan't be calling her Angela or any of them such nonsense.
Yeah, maybe.
That's why we won the war.
Or you know how herbal essences in America is herbal essences.
Yeah, I never get that.
That really throws me off when I listen to the ads in America and they say herbal essences.
Yeah, we're going to go and get some herbs. Yeah. Yeah, I know.
It's very often confusing.
Well, yes. Anyway. I mean, I'm not really sure what that has to do with German politics, but.
I'm just talking about pronunciations and how names can be different in different countries.
What's the difference is why we go to Julien Miguel.
Yes, exactly.
All of these things. He is the go-to. Yes. He is the goat as well.
As the go-to of pronouncing things.
Yeah.
Her leadership style was pragmatic, cautious, data-driven. We like that.
That's the scientist.
We like that. Evidence-based.
Evidence-based approach.
Beautiful. Beautiful. She was often described as Muti, which is German for mum.
Yes, that's right. Mum. Yes, which is a lot nicer than little girl, or as Helmut Kohl would have said, mud chin. I think, I don't know, that's really bad pronunciation. I apologize to that one listener from Hess. This probably is the week that we lose you.
Possibly. It's been, it's been, it's been wonderful.
It's been a great adventure. I hope we don't lose you.
If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have ever heard of Mensch. Remember that song? It's great. Maybe they played it. Maybe that was her victory song.
I just think he's, I cannot listen to these idiots any longer. The Eurozone crisis in politics, yes.
2009 to 2012 played a central role in stabilizing the European economy, insisted on fiscal discipline and bailouts tied to austerity. It's controversial, but it was very effective in keeping the EU intact. We had the migrant crisis of 2015, which made global headlines by opening Germans' borders to more than a million refugees.
Yes, and the slogan, I love this. and us, which means we can do this.
Yes, we can.
Yeah.
Praised as humanitarian, criticized domestically though from the far right.
Yes.
One would expect.
And I think too, her science backing around COVID times really, really helped her.
Science.
Evidence-based, very calm crisis communication over in Germany.
It's what she wants in the middle of the pandemic.
It gives you the information that you need, but also, you know, is calm in its delivery so that it helps to allay your concerns.
Climate and energy was also a bit of a thing for her. She launched Germany's, I'm going to get you to say that.
Energy vend. Energy vend.
Is that a bit more serious? That feels too light hearted.
No, it's excited. It's like energy wind.
That's too light. No, I think your inflections are wrong.
Energy wind. I'm trying to do it like.
No, just do it serious. Do it serious because we're looking after.
I thought I was.
The climate.
Energy wind. Bit more, just a little bit more smile. A little bit more smile. Are you serious?
Last one. Here we go.
Energy wind.
That's better.
It's not because I know that there's irritation in my voice and that's thanks to you.
The transition away from nuclear and fossil fuels towards renewables.
Yes.
And played an international role as well. She was seen as the de facto leader of the European Union and at times the leader of the free world during, well, obviously, yeah, Trump years. She was still in when Trump round won.
Yeah, She was still there. I don't think she was a fan. I mean, but I think she's science.
I don't think that goes well.
No. And you know, she's come a long way. Like a lot of people doubted that staying power with the ties to Helmut Kohl. And they said that she She was a compromised choice in a coalition marriage, I think. And her leadership style looked really quiet and perhaps dull next to some of the male predecessors. However, the public sentiment was very positive for her. I don't think she acts like an East or a West German. I think she's a very neutral person in that regard. And I think she does her thing very well. I do think she should pay more attention to East German issues. She should stress the fact that she's from the East because the East German people need personalities like that. I like her. She's likeable in a united German, European way. A united German European way. I'm not sure that if that's a backhanded compliment.
I don't know.
You know, she's all right in a united German European kind of way. You know, energy wind.
No, that was too sarcastic.
Right, sorry. So she was done. She stepped down. She retired basically, I think in 2021. She voluntarily didn't want to go for another term.
Too much.
She's like, I've had enough.
I've done enough. Too many pandemics, too much energy went.
And she went out on a high, like that COVID response, I think, helped her approval ratings. And she had that reputation for stability. Like, you know, what more could you ask for in a leader?
I think she's had a bit of a Resurgence on the TikTok and YouTube, her speeches have been resurfacing. Yes, because not because they were powerful, incredible, but it was the clarity, the clarity with which she spoke. And I think that comes back to her science roots.
Yeah, well, she's not the worst thing to happen in Germany. Oh my goodness. Oh dear. I'm sorry. Look, let's go from sausages to turkey. Can we? It's Thanksgiving. Like, because it's Thanksgiving sort of time around this time. And the 2005 Macy's Thanksgiving parade in New York City is one of those big televised events where they get, you know, where they get the big balloons. I always think of that scene from Tim Burton's first Batman movie where they have the Thanksgiving similar parade.
It has appeared in a lot of movies, hasn't it? Yes.
Big balloons.
Yes.
Which you don't really see that anywhere else except at that Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. It's quite striking to bear witness to.
Quite the event.
Yeah, I don't know if I could sit there and watch the full broadcast. Although there's been some really cool retro ones, like they had Snoopy one year in the 80s and then they had like Masters of the Universe and stuff like that. But it's been going for a long time.
Yes, and I think, yeah, since 19, well, they've done it since the early 1900s, and I think they had zoo animals to start with from Central Park City.
You would assume.
And then they added the giant helium balloons around 1927, I think, and that's when they.
Had Felix the cat. Yeah, it was safe for the zoo animals. It's like, I wonder if there was an incident. Like, I'd like, I'd like, well, I don't think there was, but it'd be wonderful because we know about it.
Maybe if the animals went rogue.
Somebody got mauled by a baboon.
At the Macy's Day. So let's just have helium balloons instead. It's a lot safer. And it's not just people going there IRL. It's watched on TV by over 40 million viewers every year. They loved the big balloons. We're very excited because we had a SpongeBob balloon. Dora the Explorer, she was big then.
Yes.
Scooby-Doo. And a brand new M&M's balloon.
Yes, the M&M's.
Very exciting.
Not Dear Slim, like M&M's. No, the candies.
The chocolates. Yes.
And so.
In the candy shell.
All of the crowds are on the street. I think NBC broadcasted. It looks spectacular. You got these big skyscrapers and the balloons going in between them and stuff. But it all went horribly wrong. And you can hear it here, not here first. You can hear it here 20 years later thanks to this report from CNN.
Macy says there were 62 people handling the M&M balloon and that all but four worked in previous parades. Only team leaders are required to go through training before the day of the parade. Handlers do not. But Macy says that didn't play a part. Experience definitely didn't play a part. Weather played a part. We have to analyze it before we could say. Winds say officials were also within the range of what is considered safe for these parade balloons to fly.
Now, it's already controversial. There's conflicting reports there. Like, they're like, no, it was the wind. Like, Macy's like, no, handlers are all fine. It was the wind. And then there's another source going, the wind was fine. It was well within the safety scene. So I'd say that would be the city of New York saying that.
Well, there were wind gusts at the time.
Yes.
And we're all there to see the brand new.
And there's just people holding them with ropes, right?
Brand new M&M's balloon catches the wind, collides with a light pole, and snaps off a heavy metal arm. And the falling debris from the metal arm that snaps off hits two women, 26-year-old and her mother, causing head injuries and facial injuries, but thankfully not life-threatening and they were okay. In the end, they were taken to hospital and later recovered.
City of New York took care of them.
They deflated the M&M's balloon. So Eminem did not get to continue, was deflated on site and removed from the parade route and the TV broadcast had to cut to another float because we didn't want to scare the 40 million people watching at home on TV.
Yes.
So they did say later on, despite what they were saying in that report, that the winds clocked at around 30 kilometres per hour, which is above the safety threshold for the bigger balloons within the parade, apparently.
So this is, that's what the handbook says. I think they're sort of the media people from Macy's and the media people probably, I'm going to assume, from the city of New York, like from the local council or whatever, who are like, yeah, we do the parade, you got your permits and all that sort of stuff, like city, city of New York. And they're like, they've gone, yep, the wind's fine. You're approved to go ahead. And they're like, let's go ahead. And then this happens. It's like, you said, the winds are fine. They were approved to go ahead, but they weren't fine. And then they're there like, no, it's your handlers. It's like, no.
It'd be a good job, balloon handler.
Finger pointing.
No, an official balloon handler.
Well, yes. Yeah, well, you'd have to do a lot better until, I mean, you wouldn't, this would be a black spot on your resume, I'd say, if you were holding the M&M's balloon.
You'd just have a blank spot for 2005.
2005. And then people would be connecting the dots. You're like, no, I had a gap year from balloon handling at that stage. I definitely.
Yeah, I was travelling. I was travelling. I had a year off to travel.
Thanksgiving, see balloons on the other side of the world, other countries.
There was a safety review.
Yes, of course there was.
It's good.
Probably a few discussion papers and focus groups.
Macy said sorry. And old M&M didn't come back ever. He was retired permanently. Oh, the M&M balloon was gone. That's sad. I wonder which colour M&M it was. Who's the trouble, mate? Who's the ******** M&M?
I think the yellow one. The yellow one.
Must have been the yellow one.
It would have been. He's got attitude.
He does.
And I just, but I do, I don't know how aerodynamic an M&M. The balloon really is.
Big round.
It's just going to kind of rock around a bit in a gust of wind, I guess. Yeah.
New safety rules by 2006.
Bit of column A, bit of column B, partly handler's fault, combined with wind gusts. I mean.
Maybe it was the balloon itself. Maybe it wasn't made well.
They're so litigious. Like you can't just be like, oh, it happens. they're like, somebody's going to try and make some money out of this.
I was the one that got injured by the M&M.
Exactly. I'm going to sell my story to That's Life Magazine.
Yes, that'd be good. Balloons are grounded if winds exceed 37 kilometres per hour after 2005.
But they were saying wind gusts of up to 30. So, you know.
Yes, mixed messages.
Well, I think that this is where they've.
Angela Merkel would have been a lot.
She would have levelled it out. Absolutely. That's who they should have brought in. I mean, she was probably solving a few crises in her country, but Common sense and calm heads would have prevailed in this situation. Oh well.
Height, tethering and fabric strength limits were standardised and each balloon needed to have its own dedicated NYPD wind monitor team. Each balloon had a wind monitor team.
They're like, freeze NYPD wind monitor team. Who's tethered that balloon?
Wow, how do you? Get that job. I'd like to be that too. A wind monitor.
Yeah, it's just flashy badge. And the police?
For the balloons.
Yeah, for the balloons. Be very clear about what you want to be the wind monitor for in New York City. Yes, so they're still in a post-9-11 mindset, so it's still pretty.
Yes, I think too, people would have reacted and been running away and that always makes people a bit nervous. Yeah, Particularly around there. But these days, it's become a bit of a science.
Yeah.
You've got drones monitoring wind patterns in real time.
Oh yeah, it would never happen these days.
The materials of more lightweight.
Exactly.
Pressure sensors, GPS trackers. You don't need the wind monitor team. No, And the parade has grown a lot safer over the years, but that clip does still resurface every now and then the day, the day the candy crashed.
Yeah, the day the candy crashed. Like, is that a reference to like stock market in New York? Like, I'm not sure. Candy Crush light pole.
Yeah.
I guess there's no puns there. Like, think of a pun for a light pole. No. Moving into technology and I think we need to really, we're going to talk about the Xbox 360. We need to have an expert come in.
An Xbox expert.
Sid the Kid. Bring in Sid the Kid. Hello, Sid.
Hey guys, I heard you're talking about Xbox 360.
How did you hear that? The walls have ears around here, don't they?
Well, I knew it came out on November 22nd.
Okay, don't be careful. Don't go too early.
Don't use all your facts straight away. That's right. No, I'm not.
So we've got 5 Xbox facts as delivered by Sid the Kid. Fact #1.
Okay, fact #1. Xbox 360 was one of the most anticipated Microsoft launches in history.
Yes, it was correct.
In 2006, the Xbox 360s that were launched in 2005 had a major defect called the Red Ring of Death.
My goodness, the Red Ring of Death. So that's two down. That's fact one and two. What's fact three?
One of the most best games that was released on the system was Gears of War because of how poly it was and how good the HD graphics were. Everyone loved it.
Oh, good. Okay. Well, that's excellent. Okay. Facts. What are we up to? Fact #4.
There were two more revisions of the Xbox 360 that came out in 2009 and 2012. The first one was the Xbox 360 Slim. That came out in 2009. And then there was the Xbox 360 E, which came out in 2012. These were both not affected by the rendering of death, thank God.
Thank goodness. Is that, was that five or was that four?
Four.
Four, okay. What's fact 5?
The Xbox 360 was discontinued in 2016, but remains the best sold Xbox console.
Yeah, amazing. Okay, all of those are great. One more bonus. Can you give me one more bonus fact?
Yep, the third Halo was supposed to be the final Halo, but then Halo 4 came out.
Yay! Awesome. Round of applause. Thank you very much, Sid the Kid.
You're very welcome, man.
All right.
If you're going to talk about the we next year, I can do that too.
Okay, sure. We'll call you up when we need to talk about wees. Thank you very much, mate. Off to bed now.
So we'll be recapping some of the facts, because the facts have already been dropped. But the 22nd of November, as Sid mentioned, 2005. is the big launch of the Xbox 360. And this is a day when we still got, PS2 was still really big.
That's what I had. I had the PS2.
GameCube still kind of hanging on there for Nintendo, but obviously Microsoft wants more than a seat at the table. And this is 4 years after the original Xbox debut.
I do remember, because there was a lot of people I know that got these, and I just felt.
Left out.
Really left out. Did you? Yeah, but then I'm like, you know what I'm like these days, Mike, who needs friends? That's why nobody listens to this podcast, because I'm a jerk. But yes.
The speaker, Wireless Dream Machine was the Xbox 360.
Yes, not the 360. That's the Teemu version.
Not the three, the three shifty.
The 360, the Xbox 360.
Well, actually, actually, we'll get back to that Ring of Death. This was the first true HD. console, promising high definition gaming, seamless online play, and multimedia, well, basically everything.
Yeah, I remember you could get Project Gotham Racing and I was like, oh, that sounds like a Batman style thing. I definitely want to see that. And I think, well, this is, I don't know, was Halo a thing? I don't know because I never had it, but I know other people were playing online together and I was just City. It's like, it's like the people that had beta video recorders back when VHS and beta were going to war. But that's how I kind of felt with the PS2.
And didn't I always think that they were better than everyone else? And then?
The Betamax.
Yeah. And then they just stopped putting them in the video stores and they couldn't get anything to hire. And I was like, suck ****.
Yes, exactly. I don't think anyone told me to suck **** for having a PS2. But, and like PS2 eventually kind of, it all evened out in the end is what I'm trying to say. It was sucked in the process of this particular debacle.
It was chaos though on the launch day. It hit the shelves in the US and Canada a full year before PS3 and the three. Lines around the block at Best Buy, GameStop and Walmart. Every unit sells out within hours. obviously we then see the prices skyrocket with people selling them on eBay. So eBay's a thing now?
But that was a thing even back then. I didn't know. I didn't know that was even a thing back then where it's like, you know, and this happened when the PS5 came out. And I think the Xbox, what is it, Series X that they've got at the moment when they were launched, again, pre-orders went through the roof and then they ran out of pre-orders and people were selling the pre-orders. So they haven't even gone and picked the console up. They don't even have the physical console They're just like, I've got a pre-order, it's in my name, I'll hand it over to you. I don't even know how it works. Well, I'm sure, I reckon a lot of people probably got scammed or ripped off in the process.
Yes. Speaking of scammed and ripped off, let's go back to the Red Ring of Death. RRID.
Yes.
One of the most infamous problems with the 360, it was a general hardware failure that was signalled by three red lights around the power button of the console. The underlying causes, as Sid mentioned, overheating. I think there was cracked solder joints, poor heat dissipation, and components were then failing under the thermal stress.
Maybe it's just like they were just trying to churn them out, produce them too quickly. So they were, yeah. bit cheap in the manufacture process, cut a few corners perhaps?
And it affected a lot.
Allegedly.
Something like 23%. That's insane.
That is a lot. That's a big fail.
Yeah. And initially it only came with a standard one year warranty, but they had to then extend the warranty to three years for the consoles that were suffering the RROD issue.
So I wonder, yes, the red ring of death. I'm just, I'm wondering. That must have cost them a lot of money to actually run that, because that's basically a recall scheme. I mean, you do see that happen with things like cars and stuff as well. I wonder how damaging a product recall is. to a company, surely it could almost sink them. It's a wonder they didn't go under.
Well, I think Sid was actually watching a documentary on it the other day and I overheard it while I was getting ready for work and the guy, a guy was being interviewed who worked on it and they were like, at what point? is this going to stop? Because we're just running at a loss here. I think it was pretty, I think it was pretty bad. And it was not great on the brand.
Yeah.
Not good for brand reputation.
That sounds interesting. That sounds like they could make that into a telemovie something or maybe a Netflix special. They had a 27-part TV series with commercials.
Yes, and if it doesn't rate, they'll shoot all the actors.
Yes.
There was other problems as well. Some of the early units had insufficient dr stabilization, which meant that it vibrated and it damaged the dish.
Yes, you did just get destroyed.
I think they ended up spending around $1.15 billion addressing the failures and repairs.
That is an insane amount of money.
Yeah, 20 years ago. But it was still the golden age. And I think the redemption story was really around the games because they launched so many games and it was this high definition.
This is where my insane jealousy kicked in because I couldn't play these games.
And it was true HD and the games were, yeah, Halo 3, Gears of War, Mass Effect, BioShock.
I didn't play BioShock for another, I think, five years by the time, because it never came out. Yeah, so there you go. That's amazing. And there was the multiplayer thing as well.
Yeah, the online stuff.
Yeah, I mean, that was revolutionary back then.
They introduced voice chat and the downloadable content and achievements and things like that.
Well, it's very much, and there's not a lot's changed.
Is that probably where people first started designing their own avatars?
Yeah, I think this is where teabagging really. starts to take off. Like if it's like, if you look at the curve, like it's kind of flatlining for a little bit, there's just a couple of people like, have you heard of this thing called *********? And then all of a sudden gaming goes online and the ********* curve goes up. It's almost a right angle. It's like 90 degrees and it's never stopping.
No, And you'd probably started to see a lot of the 69s appearing in the gamer tags as well and their little avatars reflecting that.
Yeah, and the people that hone them or like the more lewd the gamer tag, the younger the person generally. It's quite ridiculous. Well, it's very immature, I guess. So that makes sense, actually. Yeah. But I mean, it was like, it certainly made them not the underdog anymore. Like PlayStation. And I love that. I love that there's like rival consoles and because that competition is great for the end user, right? It's awesome. And like their controller design still very much through the modern hardware. I only recently got an Xbox for my first Xbox. Did it come with?
A special controller for your little hands.
No, but it was a bit of a curve as well. And then I was teabagging before I knew it. But it was a very different, it was a very different interface and stuff. So it was hard to get used to.
Are the buttons different? Are the controllers very different across the control stack?
Yeah, the drawsticks are a little bit off-centre, so you're using different controllers. But it's amazing how, like, just it's not so much muscle memory, I don't think, but just how you just quickly just to see that.
Is it like if you then drive a Volkswagen and the gears are all different and the indicators are on the other? No, it's definitely not that bad. Set off the windscreen wipers when you're trying to change lanes.
It's not that bad. It's just a little different. It's not, it's not, it's nothing on the wrong side or anything like that. It's fine. So, but they also, and this was where they were really smart because they had the backward compatibility as well. So a lot of the, you could play a lot of the older games on that. And then, yeah, the community. Like as soon as you get a community of gamers, it's, and then they start doing that, that's, it just, it's gonna take off. As soon as people can have that experience. in the safety of their home with other people, even though the other people aren't in their home. That actually, that's very appealing to me. I just, I knew it was coming this episode. I could feel it in my waters. It's time to open up the boom box.
We're teetering around the edges of a boom earlier on.
Exactly. It's like if you're the sort of person that thinks they don't make them like they used to, this is definitely the segment for you. This is our equivalent. Like, you know, if you've got a legitimate complaint about something and you might be talking about it, then somebody throws you in the old man yells at cloud category, really annoys me, especially if I can relate to what they're complaining about, because I feel like we should go out in solidarity, but I tend to just slink away in the background and let them have their shame by themselves. But not this time. Not here. Not here. Not now. Not when we open up the boom box. This is the safe space where you're allowed to do it. You're allowed to vent your spleen. You're allowed to let it all out and put forward your complaint where you will be not only validated, you'll be celebrated, applauded and praised. All you got to do is if you want to send in a boom, a boomer style complaint, just go and find T-minus 20 podcast on the socials. Instagram's a really good one to get to. on if you want to message us. I didn't phrase that very well, but you know what I'm saying.
Because you, that's the one that I'm on. That's why.
Yeah.
Well, I'm not on it very much anymore, actually. I was having a bit of a break. It was getting too much because I kept getting RIP content all the time and I was getting depressed.
Look, there's a whole other boom about social media. I'm not even, we could do a...
I had a death algorithm and I didn't like it.
That could be a podcast special, a T-minus 20 special.
Oh, we could do a booming. special, where we just ***** for an hour.
The entire time.
I love that.
I don't, I think we'd need more than an hour. I'm going to go and buy some memory cards.
That could be a Netflix special.
Yes, but you could message us other socials. You can see, you can send us an audio message. It'd be great too. Karen did that a few weeks ago. It was lovely. Geez, it made me happy.
There were people walking in my way today and I thought of her and her voice, a very polite voice in my head going, why can't people just stick to the left?
Yeah, that would have been soothing and relaxing. You were just going, oh well. Yeah. Who have we got? What have we got?
Well, this one comes from at Life in Chaos. So you just know it's going to be good.
All right. What is at Life in Chaos? Is that just somebody's tag?
Someone's tag, yes.
Right, okay.
So this one, this is not someone who boomed at us. They're just booming out of the universe. It's a general boom that I accidentally got wind of and captured.
A little boom radar.
Was captured in my butterfly net.
Yeah, we were tracking it. We were tracking it across time and space.
With GPS and the drones and the wind parades.
I used your little boom tractor beam and pulled it in.
Caught the boom?
Well done. Good catch.
Are we ready?
Absolutely.
Stop making me make accounts. A light bulb that changes colours shouldn't require an account. A TV speaker shouldn't require an account. Oh my God.
How true is that? Everything is connected to an account. Why does my light need to know where I live?
I'm logged out of the lights at the moment. I can't turn, and then the S voice assistant whose name I'm not going to say now because then she'll just join in.
Do you know what? I don't even know if I've got the password for the lights because like it's inside.
So if you get logged out as well. This is your fault. You're the one that decided to hook our house up. And we do have an account for the lights and we do have an account for the bloody speaker. And then there's a separate account for the light in here because it's on a different grid. Yes, but I've managed to different colour.
I've managed to merge all the lights for the accounts with the home kit.
Then you have to put it into a different account again. So we've got 3 light bulb accounts.
Three light bulb accounts.
This is not the future I envisaged.
This really isn't, isn't it?
When I was in the 90s, I didn't think that I'd have to be dealing with three light bulb accounts.
Three light bulb accounts and not one hoverboard.
Ripped off. Ripped off. That is bull. Can I extend this boom to from there from accounts?
I don't know if you can top that. That's it is so it is one of the most vexing things I experience. I'm even thinking about it now and getting quite upset.
Okay, well this one, okay, this one's not going to make you angry. This is just a I give up. So we've gone from accounts through to verification codes. And Cam has said, my verification code is 304183. And they told me to never share it with Anyone, but honestly, I just don't give a f**k anymore. He tweeted his verification code because he just had enough. He's locked out of his light bulbs and got a verification code, but forgot the bloody username.
Verify this, motherf**ker. Yes. I should probably start this segment by saying that no children were harmed in the last segment because our resident Xbox expert has gone off to bed.
Oh, yes, he's long in bed. That's fine. He didn't hear any of that.
No, which is good, because...
Well, hopefully he's logged into the light bulbs.
Maybe that can be our fail safe. It's like there's a curve and it goes from just flat to almost straight up. And that's what happens after the boombox. It just loosens things up a little bit. I would say it loosens screws up. in my brain. OK, right. And now it's over to Mel for the music segment.
OK, #1 in Australia, my humps.
You love my lady, love my hump, my hump, my hump, my hump, they got you. She's got me spending all your money on me and spending time on me. She's got me spending all your money on me.
That's calm me down thinking about humps. Although, if I'm being honest, because like I'm not a music video guy so much, I don't think I was watching a lot of music videos about my humps or whatever, even though it's probably would have been in my best interest to do that because the subject matter sounds really good, right? But because of the way she sings in this ******* chipmunk cartoon-esque type voice, when I close my eyes, I picture a cartoon camel singing that **** gyrating their little humps. on their back.
The one with two humps.
Yes, that sustains them. Well, maybe there's a couple with two humps and maybe there's a couple with one with one. We're not going to be discriminating against animated camels. But I mean, I just, I challenge you to unsee that now that I've mentioned it. And next time you hear that song, close your eyes and picture a cartoon camel.
Is the hump effectively twerking?
I guess you could twerk your hump. It depends on if you go side to side or backwards and forwards.
How is it? How is it moving its hump? I'm just, I don't know. You're trying to give me a visual, but you didn't describe it well enough.
Maybe it's got a little tassel on the end of it that spins around.
Oh, that's a bit saucy.
Anyway, that's what I see when I hear that. Check out.
So yes.
Number one in the UK, Madonna.
Every little thing that you say I'll do, I'm kind of I'm having a moment.
See, now that's how it's done. You know, classy. Yes, they've appropriated a tune that was composed by a completely different group, but they've taken an old song and they've put it together with the new song and they've made something completely different that's a good tune. It's Madonna. My God.
Was I listening to today? And I was like, that's an old song. I think it was Tricky by Run DMC.
Yes, that's a very old song.
No, but yeah, but there was a tune within.
Oh, you heard the tune that they sampled in Tricky.
I don't know that they sampled it, but it just reminded me of My Sharona.
Oh yeah, right. They probably did.
Did they? Is that a thing?
I don't know, but I, what, when you say that, and then I think about Tricky by Run DMC and now I'm hearing samples of my Sharona and I'm getting very confused. But at least, I was just about to say at least I've got rid of that visual of the singing animated camel, but you just reminded me.
Okay, well let's go to the US charts.
Probably for the best.
Look at this photograph, every time I do it makes me laugh. Get some red, yeah Oh, this is so survivor, yeah Everybody know the game, don't stop Trying to make it to the top for your skin I love my lady, love My hump, my hump, my hump My homestay got you She's got me spin If the man need the flow If he ain't ready, let me know Let me see if you can run it, run it Girl, I need I can run it I ain't saying she a gold digger, but she ain't messing with no broke. I ain't saying she a gold digger, but she ain't messing with no broke. Get down girl, go ahead, get down.
That's quite uninspiring because I'm fairly certain that is exactly the same as last week. But the only thing that I take a little bit of solace in is the fact that Nickelback are just hanging in there. They're hanging in there in #5 for grim death to stay in the top five. Every time I do, it makes me laugh.
Does that mean we don't have to pay the robot guy this week then, if it's the same order?
Yeah, I just do any work. It's just nothing for you this week, mate. Okay, we're seeing that's boring.
I have uncovered something. Did you know Run DMC It's Tricky was sampled from my Sharona? Here, listen.
Yeah. My Sharona, very good. I love it. You're very smart. That's amazing.
Thank you.
I am. You're impressed. Did you, did you just, you didn't look that up before or anything like that?
No, I was doing, what are those things called? Rose. Rose.
Rose.
Rose at the gym and I was listening to Tricky because it's on my old school workout.
And you've just gone.
And I was doing, I had to do 12 today and I was getting really sore and Tricky was on and I'm like, hey, that's my Sharona. And I was like, how did I never notice this before?
That's extraordinary. Yeah. And now that you've said that, yeah, how didn't I notice this before? And there's probably all these other people listening just going, oh my God, these guys are *********. How do they not know that ****? They call themselves, well, I've never called myself an expert.
No, Neither of us have.
No claim to that. We're just trying to do our best with this little.
Just some regular people with three light bulb accounts.
Exactly.
What do you expect?
Yeah, it's like, you know, we're just like you, right?
We did have an album release.
Oh, good.
Britney, Britney's first full-length remix album.
My loneliness is killing me And I I must admit I still believe it's for me When I'm out with you I lose my mind Give me a sign.
Whoa, that's there's a lot going on there.
Took tracks from her earlier albums, I think mainly from the In the Zone album, but obviously the first album with Giving Baby One More Time and reworked them for the dance floor. There was remixes of, besides Baby One More Time, Toxic, Every Time, that ballady, bathtubby song.
Every time I try to fly, I fall without my wings, I feel so small.
Actually, I think I heard that in one of those doof doof gay clubs back in the day. Did you?
I was going to say, I just, it reminds me of what was that show where those dirty British people go to Ibiza? The Villa.
Oh, yes.
It just, that's that Euro trashy disco type.
Foam party.
Oh, hepatitis party. party. Yeah, that stuff. Yeah.
Smells like toe jam.
Yeah. So I don't know.
You're not a fan.
Of Britney, yes, but I just, I don't know.
There was some heavy hitter DJs and producers that did the remixes. The only one that stands out to me, because I don't know any DJs and producers for dance music. Junkie XL is the only one I recognize. They did the remix of the Little Less Conversation, Elvis.
Oh yeah, that guy.
Elvis versus JXL. Bill Hamill, Justice, Dave Vodet, Peter.
Yes.
And Stuart Price.
I wonder if he voted for Angela Merkel. Stuart Price, that is. I think he was. I'm not sure if he had German citizenship at the time, but anyway.
Some ambient house music.
Yeah.
Techno inflicted dance pop club remixes.
See, but what's the reaction?
What's the reaction?
Mixed, mixed reaction. Mixed critics.
So like you like that every time.
I'm a bit indifferent. I didn't like the every time thing because it just reminded me of like dirty. British guys with fake tans.
Reminded me of the gay club that had the big swing and you swung out over everybody.
That was a good club.
Remember that club?
Too much hair gel that wear t-shirts that are too tight. I shouldn't I shouldn't limit it to like I've probably offended heaps of British people like we're British and we don't look like that and I'm like I know you don't but it's like this.
Is Oh the ones that wear the v-necks that are just too deep?
The villa just wasn't you guys putting your best foot forward and like look like go and watch any Australian reality show like Oh look we.
We brought turkey slapping you to the vernacular.
Exactly.
It's not like we cannot talk.
Yeah, No, we're just as bad if we're being honest. We've probably we've got horrible people in our reality shows as well that would probably dance to the same music.
It did okay on the charts. But these days, these days, it is a bit of a cult moment in pop history. This is an icon handing over her tracks to the club world. And I think she was probably one of the early artists that did that.
Like, was she evolved?
Yeah, it was an interesting release because she'd done her greatest hits prior to that. So this came out after the greatest hits. And then I think the next album release after that was Blackout. So that was a big turning point for her in terms of her sound. So it was almost like a bit of a stepping stone into this new Britney.
But what do you, I mean, how much do you, I don't know.
She would have made a fair bit of money.
She would have made a lot of money.
Surely. But she was one of the first to then do the big house club remixes of her stuff. So paved the way for others.
Good. And then let's, well, let's go to the 22nd of November. which is, I don't know when that album came out. Was that on the 22nd?
Doesn't matter.
Doesn't matter. Let's go and watch the American music industry pat itself on the back with the 33, 33rd, the 33, the 33rd American Music Awards. amazing. The Shrine Auditorium was a buzz. A buzz? Is that a word? I don't know.
It is now.
It was glittering with stars in Los Angeles. The Shrine Auditorium, you know the one. Cedric the Entertainer was there cracking jokes. Mariah was doing the whistling thing and somebody's like, is there a kettle boiling in here somewhere? And then Kelly Clarkson is like, yeah, reality TV can actually turn people into mega stars. The 33rd American Music Awards. Pat yourselves on the back, American music.
And we always get excited for the music awards, because that's usually where the controversial things happen. That was like the Britney and Christina Madonna patch.
Oh, was that that one?
No, because I was hoping.
No, the AMAs are there.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
Don't they do? There's been...
MTV do all that stuff, don't they? MTV are the ones that go for the big money shows. This is the American Music Awards.
I don't even know.
I think it's the industry's night of nights. I mean, it's not the Grammys. It's not the Billboard Awards. I was getting my awards mixed up.
I thought that was that one. Okay.
Was it the one who put the?
Britney and the Snake? I thought that was the Britney Snake one as well.
Well, it could have been, or was that the VMAs as well? That would be MTV, surely.
I don't know.
Not the AMAs.
Okay, so this is the classy one. So this was boring, basically.
Well, I don't know. Cedric the Entertainer was the host. I mean, he's a very famous black comedian over in the States, and he was quite big at the time, both in size and also profile. And I just, I don't know. It's like, but this is also pre-streaming and stuff. So these things probably had a bit more currency. I mean, the American Music Awards, I mean, what is that? I don't even know what the foundation of the American Music Awards is. Does it even matter?
I don't know. I don't like the shape of the A in the logo. I know that.
No, that's very spiky.
It looks like a yacht. Sale. Yeah, bothers me.
Yeah.
Who won? Kelly. Kelly Clarkson won, like you said.
Kelly Clarkson won, yes. The award was presented by John Stamos and, who was it?
Oh, Michael Jesse.
John Stamos and somebody else. Who was the other person? Oh, Jesus Christ. It's just completely fallen out of my brain. This is going really well. Let's, I'll play it and see if it reminds me.
This next award is very unique because for the last month, fans have been voting at ABC.com and on their T-Mobile phones for the Artist of the Year. Catherine.
Oh, Catherine Heigl. Catherine Heigl. Anyway, back to that.
Voting just ended a few minutes ago, so the results should be coming in. And this is the only award where all the competition covers all musical categories. And the nominees are?
That is Mariah Carey. Kelly Clarkson, 50 Cent, Green Day, Toby Keith, and Gwen Stefani.
And the winner is... It's for you.
Oh, it's my mother. It's a text message. And the winner is of the T-Mobile Text Award is Kelly Clarkson.
Amazing.
Champagne television. How good is that? Oh my God.
That doesn't sound like Uncle Jesse. You sure it was Uncle Jesse?
Yeah, it was him. It was him and Catherine High. Uncle Jesse. They were big stars at the time. Yes, she was, wasn't she? So it's so appropriate that American Idiot by Green Day takes Album of the Year for this, which is really good. And I think the Black Eyed Peas want some stuff. So they were, you know.
Yes, Tim McGraw. Tim McGraw.
Yeah, they have country. It just has everything. I don't think it has metal, though. I don't think so. Not at the age. Amaze. I mean, no, it's.
Certainly not in the performances. We had Gwen Stefani and Pharrell.
Well, Mariah opened it, and don't.
Forget about late nights playing in the dark and...
She was like really, really live, if you know what I mean with that. There wasn't a lot of like... She had backup singers and stuff like that, but that mic was super live and there wasn't a lot of processing on her or anything. She just went in and it was a really good performance for her. She is a fantastic singer. And I think she won an award pretty soon after she sang that song and just delivered. She's just the best.
And the American Music Award goes to... Let's see. Mariah Carey! I just have to first... Hey, baby. I just have to 1st take a second and just... First of all, thank you so much for the warmth and the love. You have no idea, okay? I have to thank Larry Klein. I have to thank Larry Klein because I was literally... You saw me run across the stage if you were sitting here. My dress was not sewn on. My ear monitors... thing not hooked up. So if anybody saw me pulling out things out of my ear, that was me like, I got to just freestyle and do what I got to do. So basically, thank you to the audience. If it wasn't right, I tried. I did the best I could. But thank you, God. The only reason I am here is because of the grace of God. And if you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.
I do feel like there's a lot of Christianity at the American Music Awards. There was a lot of people doing the whole preachy thing at the end. But I love her delivery up until that point where it's like, she's just like, here's what happened and I don't give a ****.
Someone's getting fired.
And now I've got an award. Somebody's definitely going to lose their job.
My monitor and my ear.
I mean, the dress. The dress was incredible.
Somebody had to sew it up at the last minute.
Mariahs Carey's were on display. It was, yeah, it was, there was a lot, there was a lot not left to the imagination. It was Classic Mariah Form, but she just doesn't give a ****. She's just swanning out there doing her thing. She's like, I can sing, *******. I'll come to your awards, sing. Yeah, I'll do a song and I'll take an award home with me. Thank you very much. And that's exactly what she did.
Harry Potter and his goblet on fire is #1 in the US still. I don't think we've got it yet.
That goblet hasn't caught fire yet.
No, they haven't lit up the Flaming Sam Booker yet.
Oh, that was cheesy. You had one of them in a goblet, you'd be in a lot of trouble, I reckon. That's a great night. Burn the house down.
We had a different number one here in Australia at the box office. The Brothers Grimm.
Now this is interesting because this movie came out in August, but in the States. And this is one of It's one of the last of those sort of movies that has a really weird release date compared to that when it's premiering in the US, but it was a great film.
In a world ruled by magic and superstition. This place is haunted by a witch. There were two brothers named Grimm. Your town shall be haunted.
No more.
They were fearless. They were ferocious.
Your money. Thank you, Brothers Grimm. Oh, is she's dead.
They were fraught.
Get me down! What the hell are you doing, trying to kill us? I'm getting too bloody old for this.
Now, a town under a curse. Ten girls in this village have gone missing.
People always knew that the forest was enchanted, but it's never turned against us.
Just found their only hope.
We're here to save your land from evil enchantments.
Right you are, son, the famous Brothers Grimm. Look at this strapping young lad.
He is my daughter.
And a fine wife, he'll make some lucky man. It was great. I really enjoyed it. Heath Ledger and Matt Damon. I mean, it was so and that is like a play on obviously the Brothers Grimm from the fairy tales and they're con men, but like they pose as monster slayers. They're like, if you've got a monster problem, we'll come and. Yeah, we'll solve it. Yeah, and that would they were conning people, but then they have to put their monies, then they have to put their money where their mouth is because they're in like French occupied Germany and they're recruited by a general to investigate these disappearances. And they I think it's all a big con, and then it ends up being like real fairy tale and dark magic and horror and stuff. And it's great. It's directed by Terry Gilliam, who is very famous for the Monty Python stuff.
Yes.
And he's also, I mean, he's had a few... There's interesting films like, I think he, did he do Time Bandits? No, he did Twelve Monkeys. He did Twelve Monkeys. He directed that. He directed Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and then he directed this. And he also tried to direct a movie about Don Quixote that was a complete disaster and ended up becoming a documentary, Lost in La Mancha. He's a very polarizing director in that some people think he's amazing and some people think he's just like out of control.
And how did the movie go? What did?
Oh, it's good.
He did all right.
38% on Rotten Tomatoes. But in Australia, because it had Heath Ledger in it, paid like over $4 million in the first week.
Wow.
Yeah.
Why wouldn't it? We love him.
Yes, America loved him back in August. So that's not very fair, is it? Anyway.
Oh well.
Go back, we just watched TV in protest.
Yes, I think we'll watch the Australian Idol finale, shall we?
Kate Derouge. You are the Australian Idol, Kate Derouge. Oh my God. Emily Williams. So many people have got behind you from the start of the show. You've done amazingly. Thank you so much for being a part of it.
Oh, thank you. Thank you Australia for making me a part of it. I love you as well.
Give it up for Emily. Won't be the last we'll see of you. I did do it.
If I was to say all the things that I wanted to say, I'd need a whole hour show dedicated.
To just that, but-- Nah, that's enough. We'll cut her off there, Ollie. I don't want to I don't need to hear anymore. I was flat out with just the host of the Andrew G. and James Matheson screaming the entire time, like, Stop shouting, boys! You got a microphone! I guess it would be very mad.
Was it still the two? It was both of them still there.
Yeah, it was those two. James Matheson Osher Gunsberg.
Yeah, I heard him, but I didn't hear the other one.
James Matheson was there as well.
He was, was he?
What was that?
Bumbling around.
21st of November, I think it was. I remember it well.
Do you?
I don't think I watched it.
The swimming teacher from Bendigo.
I think because it was like first year out of radio. I'm like, I don't have to watch this anymore.
Great, we won't.
And so I'm not going to. This is me not watching Idol.
I don't think, yeah, no, I don't recall watching it either. But her single went straight to #1, of course.
She was a swimming teacher from Bendigo.
I just said that.
Did you?
Yes.
I was too busy thinking about Not watching it. The fact that I didn't watch it. Yes.
She actually auditioned twice before she finally got through in 2005. So it's a comeback story.
Oh, was it?
We love that.
Oh, so they're like, Battler?
She was a battler.
Yeah, but like, what did she do? I mean, she obviously wasn't good enough the first time. Maybe it's just got him on a bad day.
Maybe she had some lessons.
Yeah, could have got some lessons.
Got a record deal with Sony BMG.
We love an underdog too. Yeah. And then the single, what was the single?
Maybe tonight.
What do you reckon? Oh, maybe tonight.
And maybe tonight, maybe I'll fall. Maybe he'll crash through my walls. Maybe at last, love will come back and take me deep into it all.
Oh, boy. That's a lot, isn't it? That's been written by a committee if ever I've heard one. Yeah.
She beat out Emily Williams, I think they said. So I wonder if Emily also recorded it?
Did a version of Maybe Tonight.
And they ended up in Landfill in Condobolin as well.
Oh, really? They just, I don't know why it'd be in Condobolin and still be like, hey, Shannon, can you show us where we buried those? Lost copies of, what was his one, Angels Brought Me Here? Yeah, that was it. Oh, God. Well, I had to watch it that time. So there you go.
But Kate, that wasn't it for Kate. She joined the Young Divas, which was a group of idol, well, I think she was the only one that won.
Idol losers. I don't know that we're making a lot of money here. And we've got these people that we kind of, I think they've still got a bit of currency.
Yeah, people still know who they are.
Well, we'll do a superhero team up.
In stores, it's Sanity.
Yeah, and we'll call it, what is it, the Young Divas.
Young Divas.
And then we'll make them cover Loverboy.
So why don't you turn me loose? Turn me loose? Turn me loose? I gotta do it my way. I wanna fly.
I feel like that's something you'd see at Top of the Cross.
Yeah. The Southern Cross Club. These days, or even back then. Young Divas.
Probably not these days, because Ricky Lee was in it. Ricky Lee's, like, famous now, isn't she the moment?
What's she doing? Yeah, big radio career with Ricky Lee.
She's hosting something on the TV as well with the show as well.
I'm pretty sure.
Maybe like a voice or something.
Don't watch it.
She's on some.
How many episodes do they have? Like 27 as well? You know, is it one of those shows? I mean, Could they do it in eight on Netflix?
Couldn't they shoot the cast?
Yes, if it doesn't do well. that's the thing. You've got this like trash heap of all these other idols.
I didn't mind the young divas. Is that okay? Pauline, any of you?
I'm not referring to them as a trash heap as a reflection on them. The trash heap that the industry creates is what I'm saying.
They were the young divas and they also did. This time I know it's for real. They just covered songs basically.
Yeah.
But they were quite successful. Quite successful.
Did the RSL club circuit and.
Which was the one, who was the one that became a criminal? Who was the one?
Out of the Young Divas.
One of them got in trouble with the law, but I'm not, I don't want to say it because I don't want to say the wrong one and get sued, but one of them did have some run-ins with the law, I think.
That was Kate Derugio.
Was it?
Yes. Kate Derouge, sorry, not Derouge.
It's spelled Derouge.
She wasn't convicted. She got charged on some drug-related offences, I believe.
No, there was something else as well, I think.
Well, she's pulled herself together. She's a big spokesperson for Lifeline these days. I think she's battled depression and she's overcome it or she's tamed it. I don't know that you ever overcome it, but she's learned how to manage it. And so she's a spokesperson for Lifeline.
If I could give anybody. One bit of advice, it would be not to be ashamed and not to be frightened because you can learn to live and function with depression. But being ashamed and being frightened of it only makes you more crippled. And if I could stress, just go and talk to someone, and don't be ashamed.
I think it's great that she's come out of the other side of it. I do think, and like I do take the **** out of the idol stories a bit though, but like you're getting to season three of this show. It's worked a couple of times, a little bit of fatigue kicking in. Her story does show that side of like instant fame and that whole fantasy happening really quickly, but it also the fallout and the fade away that happens almost just as quickly. And like she's, I think she's kind of these days, she just does it for fun. Not for money or pressure. a little bit, but I mean, she's a mum of two boys. She does a podcast called Why Do I Feel This Way, which is obviously all about that sort of stuff as well. You could probably check that out if you like. And, you know, I mean, she's obviously a pretty resilient person. She persisted enough to actually get on there and then win the bloody thing, I guess.
Yes.
But, you know, good for her.
We had a sad TV moment as well.
Oh, yeah, the end of an era.
The very last episode of Come On Down, The Price Is Rise.
Oh, nobody was coming on down after this. After the 24th of November in 2005, no one came on down anymore.
No more cars, no more mega showcases.
Yep.
Washer dryer combos.
I mean, no.
The little yodeling guy that falls off the cliff. Higher or lower?
Well, no more Larry or so we thought. Here's everyone's. favorite host, Larry Ender.
Welcome to the show. Thanks for joining us. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. If only my careers advisor could see me now.
That audio was actually from the last show. It's you can watch the entire last episode.
Very emotional. You can hear it in the cheers.
Listen to the crowd.
I like the women that always like you would jump on Larry.
I mean, well, the crowd are always fair along the time. All over him. All over him.
Everyone loved Larry.
How hard must the warm-up guy on The Price is Right go to get them into that much of A frenzy before Larry even sets foot in the building?
A washer dryer combo is pretty exciting.
Yeah, there's a lot of I think. They've got vinyl seats, just in case. A lot of people get very excited over washer dryer combos or even a toaster oven, don't they? because you need some things that you need to know the price of, right, in order to win. The price is right. The other guy, Sean Cosgrove, the come on down guy.
That's the voiceover. Yeah, he was great, wasn't he?
Yeah.
So the last episode, 24th of November, 2005, it was on the Nine Network at this stage. Larry was the host from 2003 to 2005. And I think he also hosted earlier on in the 90s as well. And then someone else did it for a bit and then he came back.
Yes.
And obviously they had the mega showcase version that was introduced in the later years.
Well, I think that was a mega showcase. The last episode of the mega showcase as well. And you know what? Oh man, it just, it didn't end well.
You need to know if the furniture and the luggage fit in there comfortably on your behalf and the watches are in the right spot. Money won't be of any interest to you whatsoever. The money or the monster showcase? If they're wrong, I'll take that. I've already got a piano, mate. I'll go to showcase. Go to showcase. Once in a lifetime. Trevor said, I've already got the piano. I'm going for the showcase. Who needs 2 grand when you've got the beautiful piano? That's a team. Okay, the watches obviously need to squeeze in between one and three. Let's line up now the price of the luggage. You got the piano.
Thanks, mate.
Good on you, mate.
Denise, happy birthday for tomorrow. Thank you very much.
Kathy, I'll take you for a walk. Thanks, guys. I'll take you for a walk. Well, it's been an amazing series here in the Dream Factory. Dreams coming through all over the place. And on behalf of all of the crew, we've all been so, so proud to be a part of all of that. Thank you very much for watching and game over. See ya.
Game over.
So sad, but remember that they'll take you for a walk. Remember when you lost the people that would model the cars and point their hands?
They'd escort you out of the room.
No, they'd walk you over to the prize that you didn't win just to rub it in.
Like, have a look at that.
Look at that. They'll just take you for a walk.
Take you for a walk and have a look at the thing that you shan't be taking out.
Shoot you out the back or something?
I don't know.
Take you for a walk. It sounds a little bit.
It's like Yellowstone when they take you to the train station. Yeah. You could do like a whole horror film, like a slasher film around The Price is Right. You know, it's like they went on the game show, it's like they'll take you for a walk and they were never seen again. And then finally some intrepid group of teenagers and their trusty Great Dane with their stoner friend who owns the Great Dane go and decide to go and crack the mystery of the missing people from The Price is Right.
It was the end. It was the end. kind of an era. There were some big winners over the years. Joanne Segiviano, who won the mega showcase.
That was a monster showcase. This was a bit more this one, wasn't it?
$664,667. That's what I call a mega showcase. Marissa Tamboro won $568,000 on the show. And Laurie Dennis won a mega showcase at $569.
This is why they cancelled it because it said the network broke.
Well, it was the decline of the big budget game show in Australia.
Exactly right. Like you look at game shows now and the prize money's f*** all. I wouldn't go on for that.
But it was the end of an era or so we thought for Larry. And I remember because I was working at a TV station at the time when this ended.
And he's like the nicest guy on TV at the time.
And that was the thing. Everyone was devo. I'm pretty sure there was some kind kind of petition or something that was done because everyone was devo at Larry leaving. And then I remember the network that I worked at hired him for the morning show. And it was this big revival of we've saved Larry's career and everybody wanted him back. And he's still doing it.
He is.
To this day.
He is. You cannot kill Larry.
He's just a lovely guy with the big smile.
Yeah. my goodness, what a show, what a week back in 2005 we were having. I'm really exhausted by now. I certainly wouldn't have time to read a book.
No.
Which is exactly why this segment's called Books We Didn't Read.
Yes.
It's too busy. Too busy mourning the loss of The Price is Right and the mega showcase and celebrating.
Drama in the Macy's parade.
Celebrating who I thought was Angela Merkel's win at the time. All of these things.
Yes.
I didn't have time for this book.
No, and we we've headed to the non.
Wow. Okay, we definitely can't, this is where we really do rely heavily on Goodreads and Snops for certain reviewers aside from us.
We went to shelf number 105 6.38 of the Dewey Decimal System and picked out Our Endangered Values by Jimmy Carter off the library bookshelf.
So was it a it was a New York Times bestseller?
It was, yes.
Because that's a cold qualifying thing.
Yes.
Like if it's not, then I'm not in. So this is President Jimmy Carter, right? So something, there we go. That sounds quite presidential. No, it does, yes. Oh, it sounds a bit like a funeral march as well, I guess, but okay. President Jimmy Carter offers a passionate defense of separation of church and state. He warns that fundamentalists are deliberately blurring the lines between politics and religion. As A believing Christian, my goodness, we are gathered here today. Carter takes on issues that are under fierce debate. Women's rights, terrorism, homosexuality, civil liberties, abortion, the death penalty, science and religion, environmental degradation, nuclear arsenals, pre-emptive war, and America's global image. Wow.
What a read. Should we see what the reviewers thought?
Yeah, I should turn it down a little bit. That's a bit much, isn't it?
All right, let's start with Betty One Star.
Betty One Star. Any stripes with those stars, Betty? Hey.
I know this book would have some great ideas, but I'm just not in the mood to read something of substance right now.
That's not fair, Betty.
But she hasn't read it because she wasn't in the mood.
You gave it one star based on the mood. She couldn't be asked. Like what kind of mood do you think?
Maybe she was at the Macy's parade and she was a bit worn out after all.
And I'm like, I'm just not in the mood for a mood. Maybe someday she comes home and goes, you know what I'm really in the mood for? A passionate defence of separation of church and state. And when I'm in the mood for that, I look no further than.
Homosexuality, the death penalty, science and religion, environmental degradation.
Yes. That, whatever she said last. And I look no further than that of President Jimmy Carter's book, Our Endangered Values. That's what I look for. Blake gives it one car. One car.
One star.
I'm still in Price is Right mode. The mega showcase. Lower, lower. Yes, it is lower. No, you can't get much lower than one star, although maybe you would have. Blake gave it one star. He says, I have an autographed copy. Still a stupid book.
So the autograph didn't make it any better.
Well, I wonder if it was just one of those things where you like, you buy it and it's already been pre-autographed. Just pre-autographed. Like there was a book signing, they didn't give them all away and there was still some autographed copies and he managed to get it that way. In which case, yeah, okay, I can accept you saying it's a stupid book, right? But if you lined up for that autograph, who's stupid there, buddy?
Chris, two stars.
Yes.
I learned a lot about Baptists.
Fair enough. Okay. And that was worth two stars. Two stars. Learning stuff about Baptists is worth a couple of stars. Absolutely. Well, at least we know what two stars is worth. Well, Bob, two stars, he thinks that holds about the same value as understanding the Jimmy Carter book skit on Saturday Night Live now. So that's why he's doing it.
Oh, so he finally got the joke on SNL because he read the book, so he gave the book two stars because he's figured out the punchline.
Or maybe he just read the synopsis. I'm not sure. But whatever it was, it helped him. Okay.
Lars, two stars. I'm pretty familiar with these arguments already though and have made many of them myself. So I sort of feel like I'm patting myself on the back by reading it.
And that's what the two stars is for.
Because he's patting himself on the back.
All right for reading the book.
But then he gets a reply from Jacob. Old guys rule.
Yeah, they do. It's almost time to hitch up the wagon and get out of here because old guys rule. It's the hatches, matches and dispatches segment. And well, it's births, deaths, marriages. You know, we've got a death this week and it's time to do this. Our clue was this.
He says, I don't want a comedian. I don't want a comic actor for this role. This is a heavyweight part. I want an actor. In all of America, there's got to be some kind of an actor. Go find him, you know.
If you said Pat Morita. I know, I can't feel, it's a bit inappropriate that we're applauding there, but you would be correct. So we're applauding the fact that you're correct. We're not of the fact that Pat Morita. On the 24th of November in 2005, passed away sadly. Who's Pat Morita? I'll come on, you might know this voice.
Man who catch fry with chopstick. Accomplish anything.
It's Mr. Miyagi. Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid, an icon, Pat Morita, who is in Happy Days as well, but he's most famous for that role. He was born in 1932 in Islston, California to Japanese immigrant fruit picking parents. He had tuberculosis when he was a kid. It's been years immobilized, spinal tuberculosis he had, lived in a hospital, learned to entertain himself with sock puppets, which is, and he was definitely more of a comedy actor before The Karate Kid, I think, as well. and sort of that sitcom type thing. During World War II, his family was interned at the Gila River Camp in Arizona, which was a Japanese-American internment. And then he became a stand-up comedian and then was in a couple of TV roles like Happy Days and then became Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid.
Ruler #1, karate for defence only. Ruler #2, Fast run rule number one.
Oh, I remember that.
So good. It was such a good movie. And that character is so iconic. Mr. Miya, my goodness.
Yes, so he passed away on the 24th of November, 2005, aged 73 at his home in Las Vegas. died of kidney failure following a urinary tract and gallbladder infection and some reports also mention heart failure as well. His wife said he dedicated his entire life to acting and comedy.
It's a very sad way for him to go out, but I mean, a great story as well from like being so sick as a child and then that wartime internment and then becoming one of the most recognized, talked about, beloved figures in pop culture. I would say of all time.
Still referenced in the Cobra Kai show. Everyone knows who he is.
Exactly. And it's like, I think he kind of opened the door. I don't know if it's for better or worse for the Asian American actors in Hollywood, because he was very much like the that stereotypical kind of Japanese character. But at the same time, he was, I don't know, like, I love the character of Mr. Miyagi because he was so wise and he was calm. And he was like, it was almost like that comparison between like that, the cultures as well, like how fast-paced American was. And Daniel was the basically the American kind of culture versus the Japanese of just slow down and be respectful and all of that sort of stuff. It was very, it was a great movie.
I like drunk Miyagi.
Drunk Miyagi went a bit dark though, didn't he?
Well, I didn't realize that as a kid. As a kid, I was like, oh, he's just drunk. That's really funny. And then we watched it again a couple of years ago and I was like, oh.
That scene really messed with me because it's like, yeah, he's having like, he's talking about his time in the war.
I didn't realize that as a kid when I watched it. I was just like, oh, that's a bit naughty. Why is Miyagi's drunk?
And even though like Miyagi is this font of wisdom and he's, you know, so calm and measured and all of that stuff with Daniel is obviously some still has his demons. He's been through some as Mr. Miyagi has, and so had Pat Morita. And I think, who else could you put in the role of that? Well, They tried to do it with Jackie Chan, didn't they?
Did they?
Didn't they do a Karate Kid movie with like Will Smith's kid and like Jackie Chan or something? Is he Miyagi though?
No, I don't think so.
Well, it's not my Miyagi. Pat Marita is. Sorry, I got a bit upset.
Yeah, settled down.
It's very sad when he died in 2005. That's the end anyway, that's the end of the show. We haven't really prepared anything for next week, but we will say that it's been quite the journey. It's been a big show this week.
If anyone's got the code to our light bulbs, let us know. That'd be good.
I don't even know how to retrieve it. It's probably A two-factor authentication and they need to scan your face and shove something up your bum just to make sure it's you. It's ridiculous. Anyway, that's it. We're done. We're out of here. Thank you so much. Tell your friends, get them to subscribe too. Hopefully you enjoy it. And then if you subscribe and your friends subscribe, then you can talk about it. And then maybe you'll talk to us at some stage and send us in a boom. Like maybe?
That'd be great.
That'd be really nice. We appreciate you nonetheless. However you may want to choose to get involved. Come and find us on the socials, T Minus 20 Podcast, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube. People on there as well and TikTok's just, I'm over it.
Did you just say TikTok?
No, well, I might as well have. Really, if we're being honest, we might as well. I might as well have, but I don't think I did. We're done. We'll see you next week. See you.
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.