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
Summer programming: best bits of 2005 vol 2
📹 A dating fail that created YouTube
Before it hosted cat videos, K-pop fancams and the entire cultural output of Gen Z, YouTube began as… a dating site. In 2005 its founders uploaded a “hot or not but for love” concept that failed spectacularly, pivoted to “upload anything you like” and accidentally built the biggest video platform on Earth. From grainy webcams to billion-dollar buyouts, we revisit the wild birth of a website that rewired culture — and our attention spans — forever.
🇪🇺 Europe says ‘non’, 50 Cent says ‘go shorty’
The early 2005 EU Constitution vote sparks political meltdowns, referendum chaos and enough diplomatic angst to qualify as its own Eurovision entry. Meanwhile 50 Cent drops Candy Shop, hypnotising the world with a beat so sticky it probably violated trade regulations. It’s geopolitics meets club banger — the moment Brussels bureaucracy collided with the slinkiest track of the mid-2000s.
✈️ 67 hours, one pilot and zero sleep hygiene
Steve Fossett pulls off one of the most jaw-dropping aviation feats of the decade: the first solo, nonstop, nonstop (yes, twice) flight around the world without refuelling. Sixty-seven straight hours sealed in a carbon-fiber capsule with snacks, oxygen tanks and the energy of a man who simply refuses limits. A record-breaker, a headline-maker and pure early-2000s daredevil energy.
📝 The gonzo goodbye to Hunter S Thompson
In February 2005, journalism loses its wildest voice when Hunter S Thompson takes his final bow. The inventor of gonzo reporting leaves behind a legacy of chaos, counterculture, political rage and some of the most electric prose ever put to paper. We look back at the man who turned journalism into performance art — and whose influence still echoes through everything from documentaries to Twitter rants.
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 the Dragon Tattoo t -, 20 rewind 20 years with Joe and Mel.
25 December 2000.
20 nice breaker. Don't judge me up. This is bananas.
This is a 12 show, -20. My question is who approved that? See where this is going? Not really.
Merry Christmas, everyone, and welcome to the Hot Take Time Machine that we like to call t -. 20 your podcast that goes back in time. 20 years to talk about pop culture and all that sort of stuff. Well, it usually does with your host Joe and Mel. Hello, Mel. Hello.
But no, not this week. We are rewinding. I guess the best of 2005, but the best that we had.
Yes.
The OSA of 2005.
Yes. And look, let me tell you, I mean I I put a little bit of care into curating it, but quite frankly, it's just to kind of get us through to the end of the year. There are some good bits in here though, like we're talking about the the debut of YouTube. That was a very significant event that happened in in 2005.
That was probably.
One of the biggest things that happened then we're also talking about $0.50 Song Candy Shop. Remember that one that the one with the amazing piano riff?
Ohh yes.
Yeah, I don't know. It was the piano riff.
And then the. We talked about all of that and the lyrics contained therein, and it will shock you to. You very poor.
Ohh yes, it was the video clip with a. Lot of booties.
Because I I never knew the hit. Well, that's not true. I absolutely knew the hidden meaning of the candy shop. And you will too, if you stay tuned for that one. We talked about the time I got ambushed by musical theatre while watching Star Trek.
Ohh yes, that was enjoyable, wasn't it?
Yes.
Steve fossett. Ohh. The balloon the adventure. Yeah, yeah, he did. The guy with the.
The adventurer, yes. Yes, he he broke a record. He circumnavigated the world. No, it was a plane. It was a plane. And Richard Branson was there as well. He's been in the news a bit lately as well, but I don't think we could talk about that. Hunter S Thompson passed away in 2005.
It wasn't the. Balloon it was a. Yes, that's right, no.
And we discussed him. He was a big, big person in literature and and journalism. Gonzo journalism in fact, and quite an interesting character to say the very. Beast.
Yes, and all Kanye at the Grammys and the Spanish referendum voting, that actually sounds boring. Why did you put that in there? Was there something interesting that happened with that? OK, sure.
That's right, yes. For the I was just whether they wanted to be involved in the European Union. Ohh, I think we handled it really well and that's why I put it in there. Yes, well, I think we handle lots of things. Well, we're handling Christmas very well at the moment. It's.
So this.
Yeah, this week is the the week of Christmas Day through to New Year's Eve.
Yeah. Which is that weird week that I and I heard the best name for that.
Week the week you don't know what day.
Wait, wait.
It is, and you've had too much.
Yeah.
Cheese.
Yeah. And then we dreamed sometimes you don't even know what time it is. And and I heard it on the national broadcaster and I feel like the announcer on the national broadcaster probably didn't actually know the meaning of the word when they so, so they. So this week is referred to.
No.
OK.
OK, what? What was it referred to as?
As I love this Gooch week.
I don't.
Think the national broadcaster would use Triple J? Maybe.
I don't think they had any idea. Yeah, maybe on the Jays, but this is the the more civilised national broadcaster, which is the one. I listened to.
How did? How did they say that if?
Well, they said, well, they talked about the week between Christmas and and New Year at The Leftovers and stuff, and they thought we we've got some great recipes for Gucci.
Or did someone text it in or something?
Like and I was like, excuse me.
Ohh, so they just said that they weren't reading something that someone had sent in.
Yes. No, I did a double take. They called it Gooch week and I well, I think somebody might have informed them and they just never sought to me now I mean. And for those of us playing at home that are like well I don't know what Gooch week is let me spell.
Wow. I didn't check that.
OK. Can you enlighten everybody?
It out for. You. Well, the Gooch. Is that area sort of bit on the man it would be between your balls and your **** hole.
Yes.
That that lives in between your legs, that dark, sometimes hairy moist area. The Gooch. It's kind of pointless and it's kind of lost in time. It's like it's like journey to the centre of the earth where you. Go down there and you know there might be some pterodactyls flying around and some brontosauruses grazing out in a Meadow.
Full of cheese.
In the Gooch cause it's just this this mysterious area that doesn't really serve any purpose whatsoever except for being moist. It's like a. Little.
Space.
Subtropical or temperate rainforest in between your your balls and your bum. Yes. And that, and that's the Gooch. And it's it's. It's one of those areas that is.
Space.
And M dash.
Kind of trapped in time. It never knows what day of the week it is it. Doesn't know what time it is and the Gooch doesn't care. No, no. But maybe some of the people that were writing in to complain to the national broadcaster care.
Yes, I'd say so.
However, I do like the term, so happy happy Christmas for today and then for the remainder of the week. Happy Gooch week. Enjoy these.
Girl's week. However you choose to celebrate, yeah.
I think I'm a bit too shook for.
Ohh yeah, well I I thought the the story the back story was a different story again, so I'm probably just confused to be honest. I. But let's get into it. Let's get into the back story and let's find out all about it, because on the 14th of February 2.
From a technology standpoint? Hmm.
It's a lot.
1000 and. 5 so romantic.
Valentine's Day.
YouTube is founded and then obviously later launched that year. Revolutionising the way that we consume and share video content, and it's become one of the most influential platforms really in the these.
Yes.
Yep.
Funniest home videos 24/7.
Of the Internet history of the the Information Super Highway.
Yes, it was. Well, it was a big vehicle on it, a big rig on the information superhighway.
Was it was a Pantech.
Yes, three former employees have PayPal founded YouTube, which says a lot. Really. Chad Hurley. Designer who created the logo and branding. Is that all he did? Tense.
He must have done more than. That you wouldn't be. You wouldn't be like a founder just for.
We'll split it.
Choosing a font.
Three ways. What are you gonna do, Chad? I'll I'll do the logo.
I'll make your.
I'll do it in Canberra, Steve Chen, a computer engineer who contributed to the technical development. So I think he should be getting the biggest cut of the cash because he's the one that's doing it technically. And then and then Jared Karim, who's a software engineer, conceptualised the idea of sharing videos online. So, you know, I feel like they're probably get.
Paint and it's paints.
Like 40% each and then maybe give Chad 20 for the logo 20%. I think that's more.
That sounds. That sounds pretty.
Fair.
Than generous? I think so.
I. Too, according to stories, and I think this is. The story that you heard.
Yes.
The the trigger for this was that the founders were frustrated by the difficulty of sharing videos. Online in the early 2000s.
That's right. Yes. This is the story. This is the official it has been official for Aeons story.
And.
Sorry, no centralised platforms for uploading, sharing and streaming and they developed it off the back of a dinner party because. They I think they took some video at a dinner party and wanted to wanted to share it after the part, they had nowhere to to put their dinner party videos. What a conundrum.
Yes. Yeah, I think that they, they may have been discussing if they could have. Found a A. Better way to access the footage of Janet Jackson showing her ****** at last year's Super Bowl, which was another sort of thing that but that that as.
That's what I had heard. That's what I had heard that no one could sign that. Video after ****** gaze.
But that even as an extension of the dinner party story, I was like, well, that that's probably what happened at the dinner party, so.
Because they're talking about the ******.
The Level 1 and it's like, here's what actually happened. So yes, there was still a dinner.
Party here. Ohh cause if you say it was because you were talking about her ******, then you're dirty. So let's talk about you taking videos, sharing videos of *******.
Sharing. Videos. PR guys are like, that's the story the official PR story, the official public relations.
Hmm.
Sorry. Or so we thought.
So this was well rehearsed as we started working with the PR agency and we said, well, we were having a dinner party at my place in San Francisco, which I didn't have and and we were. We were having dinner, we were having wine and everybody was taking. They were taking photos. They were taking videos. Next day they share. Photos, but there was there was an option, there wasn't a product out there to share the videos, so therefore we decided to come up with the option to share videos for people that were taking photos and videos. That dinner party never happened. You know where we were trained to do this? And then only years later, there was a billion dollar lawsuit by Viacom. I came in for copyright violation with YouTube and under oath, you can't tell the fictitious story anymore. You had to. And that was the first time.
Really. Wow.
The real true story about how YouTube came out.
Under oath. So so so.
It's all well and good to completely deceive her, and then they put them under oath and they actually told the real.
Story you have to go and read the the the the hand side of the the court courtroom thing to find the real story.
I don't think I. I don't think I have the energy or tenacity for that, but they had mentioned that there were two other specific events off the back of the dinner party. So the Janet Jackson thing, which was the thing that. I. Thought was one of them. The ****** gate thing.
Yes, that's what I thought. Yeah. And then there was also a reference to the SANAMI in late 2004. Where where they mentioned that the video coverage. Wasn't easily accessible.
So that's and that's interesting.
Is online.
Because we we discussed that as well when we were talking about the tsunami, how we didn't kind of really comprehend the magnitude of that disaster. Hmm. Because we hadn't really seen the footage until much later.
Yeah, yeah. And you only saw there was two or three different. Bits of footage that were. Replayed over and over again at the top.
Yes, exactly.
So I think I think.
Actually, the real story is more around a video version of the online dating site. Hot or not?
Of course, of course it is. It's it's a couple of in cell geeks.
OK.
You know, up there in Silicon Valley with all the brains in the world.
Therefore.
But still no gain and can't talk to females. So what they do is they get all bitter and twisted, rate them whether they're hot or not online.
Yeah, well, more online dating, but. But with that hot or not visual component, I guess.
It's the same as. Is this not the same thing that inspired Facebook?
It is. It is.
Yes, yes, that was rating rating. How?
Ah.
Look, this one was more, I think it had a dating element, though not just rating, rating and dating I think.
You know what these. These jokers all need a Wendy's hot dog and a lie down. That's what they need.
I do. Yes. Warm a hot dog warmed by a rod? Yes, and I. So with the dating, the dating idea. I think they. Even posted on Craigslist asking. For attractive women to upload videos of themselves to YouTube in exchange for $100.
Mice.
Ohh my God.
They didn't get enough dating videos, so that's when they they shifted gears. They shifted the goal posts.
Then they went on Craigslist. They probably just got a whole bunch of photos of penises sent. To them, to be honest, they.
They then decided to accept uploads of any videos.
Ohh God help us all.
We were looking at all the. Dating sites out there that were just, but it was just just just photo dating here. This is me. This is what I look like. This is my age I'm looking for. But they were always photos. And so we thought, wow, there's got to be something here. If you could just put videos instead of phone. So it's supposed to be this dating video. Right. We launched the service a week, went by zero videos were uploaded under the service and and we changed our mind. They said, you know, before giving up, let's. Just open it up completely to any any video.
I don't even know if I mean, I don't even know. It's true anymore on.
I don't know what to.
These guys talk. That's a bit of a sliding noise moment though, because they could have hung it up. Couldn't they really?
Believe anymore.
Mm-hmm.
But they pivoted 1000.
We get to December 15, 2005. It's officially launched. So we've gone from beta to life. I don't know what's what's what's what comes after beta real life YouTube. I don't.
Yeah.
Uh-huh.
Let's.
Gamma.
It's receiving 8 million views a day, yeah, and clips at the time were limited. To 100. Megabytes.
And that's in 2005, right? Yeah. And I think some of them only 30 seconds. So. So you get like lots of viral. That's what viral stuff happened pretty much organically and straight away on there and and and the problem was I think in a lot of ways was it was the Wild West.
Yeah.
It it it?
Yes.
Wasn't all that well regulated, so there was lots of criticism early on for them, hosting thousands of hours, hundreds of thousands of hours, maybe even millions of hours of copyrighted content without any permission.
People uploading movies at one point before they were released, yeah.
TV shows, movies, music, videos, all of this stuff with our authorisation and then the companies came on board though the companies like, hey, you can't do this and this is where I think the Napster case really. Is ground breaking because even though that was an audio thing, it it does set the course for. For how these things are are done from here on in and and as a consequence you know.
Set the parameters, yeah.
YouTube profiting from stolen intellectual property is bad, cannot deny the fact that they have a captive audience. So how do we harness that, not punish them and get some kind of content identification system happening? And that's what we've got now, that's what we've.
Got now. So as of last month, YouTube had more than 2.7. Billion monthly active users, who collectively watched more than 1 billion hours of videos every day.
One that 1 billion hours. Yeah, yeah.
Every day. I think. 2019 we had more than 500 hours of content uploaded per.
Minute. Think about the infrastructure to house all of that data and that content like how big must the the servers the the. If. I feel like it's almost like it would need to be an entire planet.
Matches.
To hold all of that, because like, it's like time, which is a a concept and a commodity. But like there's so much of that time, like the volume of time.
And.
Is astronomical. It's beyond comprehension. It's like longer than millions of people's lifetimes, that it's sitting just there, and it's like, how do you? How's that? How do you, where do you keep?
Hmm.
That over 14 billion videos on. YouTube as of a couple of years ago.
That's crazy, but we have some music. News as well.
We do.
Big music news. It's like the music industry's night of nights.
At night.
The 47th Annual Grammy Awards.
Yes. On the 13th of February, we had Ray Charles and Nora Jones winning record of the year. For here we go again and Maroon 5 named best new artist. But a big nominee on the night, Kanye for his.
Hmm.
Yes, yes.
Album the college dropout, the most nominations for any artists.
In one three, I think he won three, but he got beaten by Maroon 5 for the best new artist and I think the other one was that he lost to Ray Charles for album of the Year. And Charles had Ray Charles had just passed away very recently, right. So I think we spoke about that as well. And he was given the award for his record. Genius loves Company and they just reckon that was just sentimentality or misplaced allegiance. So Kanye, no stranger to injustice. The award ceremony, but he still had his say at this one.
No.
Right now. It's my time and my moment, thanks to the fans, thanks to the accident. Thanks to God. Thanks to Rockefeller, Jay-Z, Dame Dash G, My mother, Brown fest, everyone that's helped me and I plan, I I plan to celebrate. I plan to celebrate and scream and pop champagne every chance I get because I'm at the Grammys, baby.
Woo spring break. What? Yeah, obviously. He's a strange cat. I mean.
Hey, trusting that he thanked the accident. So that's obviously the accident where he had his jaw wide shut. That changed the way.
We know this. Why shot?
In which he. He sang interesting that he acknowledged that.
Well, it's just a piece of pop culture history now, isn't it? That that was back when everyone loved Kanye as opposed to now, where everyone seems to hate Kanye. Kanye is always a performance unto himself, right? But this performance.
Hmm. Is it is. Hmm.
Hmm.
This, I think is probably the the highlight of of the Grammys for that year. And it was. Melissa Etheridge had been diagnosed with breast cancer. I think in a year prior, maybe. I'm not sure exactly how long that battle went for, but I know that she I remember she was diagnosed with that. And then.
Hmm.
She had her first performance. Since taking a break for that and and it was for a tribute to Janis Joplin, with the assistance of Joss Stone, and I think the most poignant thing about it is Etheridge comes on stage with a completely bald head and and and like.
Yeah, that's daughter. Remember that.
It was just. The look. But it was like she looked triumphant when.
Yeah, really powerful.
She did it and she she it was. It's a very powerful moment and a great song and the perfect couple like her and Josh Stone to pay tribute to Janis Joplin. I mean, could there be anything better? I think not.
You know, you got you feel good.
It.
Yes it does.
That is totally worth going away onto the YouTube and and looking up and having a look at cause it is a fantastic performance and I think the the thing about it was she did it in an interview with like Entertainment Weekly or something afterwards, she said. I wanted to show that I've been through hell and it's awful, but I'm not dying. And I wanted to present myself as I'm back. I'm not weak, and this has made me stronger. And by golly, did it ever.
She's incredible, isn't she? Over to. News starting with the 20th of Feb 2005, we have Spain voting on the EU or the European Union Constitution. They are the first country to hold a referendum on the proposed EU constitution, with the majority voting in favour of it.
And I wanted to be part of it though, like Viva. La Referendum or El referendum, I'm not sure.
L referendum for L Constitution was an ambitious treaty designed to streamline decision making and governance. Right across the expanding European. So I'm thinking you know a set of common rules making things a little bit easier. Yeah, sharing the burden. Sharing the load. Yeah. Having some consistency. We like consistency. I think we've got 25 members. So we've got to have a little bit of control.
Hmm.
That's that is absolutely. Over the chaos that is, in essence, the whole point. Of a union.
The European Union is a political and economic union of 27 European countries with common goals and value. It is a unique entity as it is neither a country nor a federation, but rather a supranational organisation that exercises some of the powers typically associated with national governments. What this means is that the EU's Member States have transferred some of their sovereignty to the EU in order to jointly address issues such as trade security. And so. So what does the European Union actually do? The EU has a lot of functions, but there are three main ones. Firstly, promotes economic integration, single market, which allows goods, services, capital and people to move freely across national borders. Secondly, the EU develops and. Implements common policies in various areas such as agriculture, environment, energy and transport. Thirdly, the EU is committed to protecting fundamental human rights, such as the right of freedom of expression, privacy and non discrimination.
That is courtesy of the EU made simple YouTube channel and I have to say.
So there's a whole channel of EU stuff. It is it.
Is a phenomenal research and I went down a little bit of a European Union rabbit hole when I was collecting information for the show. When I when we were putting it together today and I stumbled across the EU, made simple YouTube channel and it really drained my productivity. Because I was very interested in it because. I I'm like I. We I they explain it far better than you or I ever could. So they're definitely worth a visit over there if you want to learn about all things European Union. And it is quite. Implicated, but in essence, it's basically that united front for making big political decisions and sharing currency and opening trade borders and whatnot and see, that's what I mean. that Channel explains it far better than I could it.
Yes.
Explains the what not. Exactly. So we mentioned 20. 5 Member States. That's how many they had back. In 2420. You know, some of the big power players at that point were Germany with the largest economy in the EU, France with very strong military and I think they had nuclear weapons at that stage, you.
Yes.
I mean.
We. Yes, yes, they did, they. Were testing them all through the Pacific in. The 80s. Hmm. Hmm. Shirah. Yeah.
Oh, that was the Jacques guy. Yes. Because someone wrote. **** you, Jacques. On a car out the front of the hyperdome once. And then I finally figured out who Jacques was and why.
Well.
And look.
They were faking him.
Yes.
It was FARK. So. I can say that far.
Yes, and there's a tuggeranong local that's tapped into some world defence and it's trying to make a statement.
They obviously watched the EU made simple YouTube channel and thought that they'd comment on.
Well, yeah. Yes. They're like, who's responsible for that French stuff? And they like giraffe. Yeah. OK, I've got an idea. I've got a I mean, Tuggeranong, and I've got.
It.
Yes, yes.
Strong military over there.
An idea. There's a car and I'm gonna.
Yes.
The UK is in there. They left actually.
Yes you are.
Ohh the UK, yes, well, yes, they Brexiters, remember? Yes, they Brexit.
In 2020, yes. And they also never fully committed re the euro and I understand that I hate the euro. I hated. I hated.
Yeah, so do I. I'm not a fan of it, especially when you're home shopping. No. When you're shopping on the Internet.
It. I was overseas. Ohh, is it still like 3 times our dollars?
I just. I just. I always get confused.
I was just added zero at the end.
With place I. Kinda understand that America's almost double, you know, almost double maybe 75%. I have no idea what the exchange rate is for the euro. So I see stuff and I'm like oh, it's only €11.00 and it ends up being like 50 bucks or something.
Yeah. Yes, I hated. It when I went overseas, I. Still have a problem with it, so I I agree like keep your pounds. That's fine. Italy was also one of the the heavy hitters at the time. They had one of the larger economies as well. Thanks in part to a lot of the luxury brands that they exported and tourism obviously a very big deal for Italy.
Yes.
Yes. Yes, but Spain, Spain had this referendum at this time 20 years ago as non binding, meaning its outcome actually wouldn't.
The vote yes.
Even maybe automatically ratify the Constitution, but it was intended as a democratic expression of support. How non committal is that like?
Why would you go to all that effort just to go? Yeah, we support.
It.
Couldn't you do a phone vote like an Australian idol vote 1800 number a?
I was gonna say.
Phone poll. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah.
Yeah, wouldn't that have worked or an Ipsos survey?
Yes.
Maybe. But you know, this is a referendum. I feel like the outcome should be a bit more finite. Exactly.
That costs money that costs money. People have to be doing a sausage sizzle. There's a lot of organising of sausages and onions and bread.
Yeah, whereas whereas if you.
Set up like a 1800 or 0055 or one whatever.
To make money.
Number you could make money off the referendum.
It just sounds dumb. Why are we? Even talking about it then. Anyway, yeah, I don't.
Know how does it affect your time in the house? I'll vote for him the next evictee from the European Union. Ohh, you know UK, they kind of they just. Yeah, not many people like them and you know, they affect me by they they don't they leave the toilet seat up all the time. They don't bathe very often. And I have horrible taste.
Wow, there was a low turnout though, so maybe. That's that's a result of the fact that it. Didn't really mean. Even though the majority were in favour, yes, there wasn't that many people that turned out, so it raised concerns about public engagement with EU matters.
Again, then I, well, maybe. And it's like, well not.
Vote the 1800 number. And be given the URL for EU made simple YouTube jazz just end. End of story.
If it's just an expression of interest, then we don't know what the outcomes are gonna be. I'm not interested in getting up on a set. No amount of democracy sausages.
Yes. Yes.
Would encourage me to to vote in a referendum that's not gonna have a finite results. Just like, yeah, maybe. I mean, you know, they're European, though. It's a different lifestyle. They're way more relaxed. You know, they walk down on the beach in their underpants practically. You know, they don't really care. They're more relaxed than us. We're a bit too uptight. We're like, we need, we need the.
Yeah. Well, unless.
You get fined. You. I do it. Yeah, you'll get fined.
Answers we need to know the result. And the result is definite, whereas Europe are like maybe. I think there's a sign these days where you've either made it or something from pop culture has officially made it. When they turn it into musical theatre. And I was talking to a friend the other day, and apparently, and this is a very I haven't really researched this or looked into it. It was more of a conversation. They are making a musical for the back to the future films. Yes, I can't.
So just taking his word was word of it.
Yeah.
Imagine that as a musical.
I think I.
I mean, I couldn't imagine Spiderman as a musical and we went and saw Spiderman as a musical on Broadway. I mean, I think that they can musical iffy anything if they really put their minds. I mean, look at Hamilton. Isn't that supposed to be some kind of political drama or something? Again, not a musical guy. And it's bad because I have friends who are very supportive of what I do.
Yeah, true, true.
Hosting trivia nights of doing podcasts and stuff that are into musical.
Theatre. Ohh yes very much.
And I don't.
So mean to a friend, but I. Just every time. Because I just. I know, I know.
You do every week. You did the other night.
Because I can't stay. Musical theatre and I don't know what it is. Ohh well, I do know what it is. I think it's just that for me it like I can suspend my disbelief for lots of things in like.
Me.
Ease and and all of that stuff, because as long as there's good dialogue and a good conversation happening, that kind of supports everything and it sounds believable. And the actors sound believable and everything's credible. You can kind of believe what's going on, but that breaks as soon as somebody breaks into song.
That's, you know what I mean?
It's just not realistic. Doesn't happen IRL in your life.
Exactly, exactly. There's somebody breaks into song, and I'm like, oh, well, that French Revolution wasn't really revolution. No, it wasn't white. Miserable. That's. Why? Because Jean Valjean singing his guts out. Actually lame his robes pretty good. Maybe I need to change my stance on musicals, but that's what happens to me. I just can't all of a sudden, I'm like, oh, well, I break it into song. And I I don't necessarily mind it. OK. If you go to. The theatre and you know what you're getting for.
What if it's something?
That's designed as a musical. It's not something that's been adapted into musical are you OK with that? You are.
Yeah.
Of course, of course, because it's staying in its lane and I feel I think in this day and age, people should stay in their lane. And you know what you're getting. But when they try and musically adapt something that's dramatic, I find that.
I was in a few musicals growing up.
Over the years. Hmm.
Really hard and be.
So.
A little bit of a fight too, because you don't know when they're gonna break out and solve.
Yes, and and more, I mean it's very hard to be ambushed by this sort of stuff, right? Like, it's very hard to be ambushed by musical theatre. OK. And you know it, it usually is. What it says on the tin, even if they do a movie release these days, you kinda aware it's gonna be a musical, but Star Trek, Star Trek.
Hmm.
I think the brave new worlds, I think that's the name of it. Or strange new world. Sorry, Star Trek, strange new worlds. I went like, you know. Into literature there with brave new world and all of that sort of stuff. It's not brave. New world. It's not Aldous Huxley, it's Star Trek. OK, Star Trek strange new worlds. They had a it's a fantastic series and they explore a lot of genres within the realms of this Starship that they're on like a a Star Trek theme, but it's like they did like a murder mystery in a courtroom. Drama and a bit of a noir type thing and an action one and a martial arts one all in this one. Reason and I was like, oh, this is great. They're just doing all these different genres. It's so great. And then I got to, I think the second or third last season of the episode, and they were in the transporter room and Spock was beaming somebody in and suddenly Spock broke into song. And I was like. What's going on? And they sang throughout the entire episode and I was ambushed by musical theatre in what?
Time for you in a safe place. Ohh dear.
What used to be my safe place that I had to get in the foetal position and cry in the shower for hours after?
That we spoke a good singer.
Spock was fantastic. The whole cast was fantastic. It was a really hard episode for me to get through, and it's painful talking about it now.
Before we moved to Candy Shop last week, we had.
Right.
$0.50. Disco inferno. And remember, I told you it was **** heavy and for some reason you thought I better investigate that and we went after we finished recording you went and put it.
Ohh yeah.
And I lose. Yeah.
On on the YouTube what honest? Review how did you feel? How was that for?
You David 5 mud flaps out of five.
There was 1 moment that you thought was. Particularly poetic.
Ohh, it's hilarious. There's this one scene and the chick is like she's shaking her booty. Yeah, and $0.50 in the front and it's it's like it's not doing the part where he wraps. He's just looking. The camera and he's bobbing his head in time with the music, and the booty is in time with the music also. So the booty in 50s head are perfectly choreographed and In Sync, and it was spent tastic so good it was like it was mesmerising is what.
It was. It was beautiful, wasn't it beautiful?
It was you.
Were.
You were in a bit of.
A trance. When I walked into the.
Mesmerised.
Room. So what's going?
Ah, have you never seen so many bottoms in the music bottom bottoms?
On here. I know, I know. That's that's why it was on the up late and people had to sneak into the other room to watch it so that.
Understood. Disco inferno. Well, it didn't last on the charts cause not in there this week.
Grandma wouldn't see. No. So the video. Was pretty risque for that one, this one candy shop more than lyrics, so features singer Olivia. It's the second single from second studio album the Massacre. It was produced by Scott Storch. Do you remember that name?
Yes.
M.
Scott Storch? Is he the singer from Crete?
No, I think he's. But. Is it? I don't know his last. Name Stap stap snap.
Yes, no, it's Scott Stapp is green. I I can't remember who. Scott starches.
It's not stored. She's lean back. The lean back producer. Yeah. They say his name in the song.
How?
That Joe says. It's called George.
At some point you should know that you should.
How? How am I gonna?
Are. Sure, that's.
Know that.
What he says, he says it's somewhere in.
The song? Yes, he's just shouting out to.
It's not much.
Scott's thoughts. No, I no.
Production or something somewhere, but anyway, he said. That's that's who produced it. It goes to number 19. Consecutive weeks? Yeah. Reaches #1 in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and top five in other nations. Yes. Filmat candy shop.
This candy shop candy shop. Take you to the candy shop. That one.
Mixed reviews. Some praise the production and the catchy hook has that. Middle Eastern kind of vibe as well, doesn't it?
That thing? It's got the Middle Eastern vibe.
Hmm. Yes. Yeah. Others felt it was a bit reminiscent, a bit copycat of magic stick with little Kim.
It's very similar.
And I think the way that he sings and then little Kim sings sings the same thing. It's quite similar with. Olivia, kind of.
Hmm.
Repeating him in a similar kind of way.
It's like.
How do you want it? You going back that thing up?
So yes, I well I I do have a feeling that the magic stick and the. The Lollipop referred to in Candy shop are one and the same. To be honest, I think the magic sticks turned into a.
Yeah, I think so. I think majestic the magic stick is the lollipop. I think it started out as a lollipop and it got licked too much and turned into.
Lollipop. I think so. Turns into a magic.
A magic stick? Hmm. Hmm.
Stick. Yes, yes.
And the candy shop is where you put the magic.
Stick.
Or the lollipop. Ohh.
When writing the song, 50 said that he attempted to be as sexual as possible from a male perspective without being vulgar. Obscene. Yeah, it's definitely not vulgar. Definitely not obscene. So the chorus, I'll take you to the candy shop. I'll let you lick the lollipop. Go ahead, girl. Don't you stop. Keep going.
I got it.
It.
We hit the spot.
Ohh.
Of course, we had to check out the comments on the YouTube and see what people had to say, and we'll start with at Mikey DDS.
OK. D is that an acronym DY DSS? I don't like it dids. Yeah, I bet he did.
I. Want to know? To be honest. Something. Mikey was watching candy shop during lockdown. Obviously got a bit bored doing yoga and baking bread and thought I'll. Watch candy shop by $0.50.
Sure, why not? So this is a recent comment.
Yes, so 2020-2021, I don't know, one of them sounds.
Well, reason. See. This is yeah, which was, which was about five years ago. You know, that's a significant chunk. That's 1/4 of the way towards where we are at at T minus.
20 Mikey revisits candy shop so you know, 15-16 years later.
Yeah.
Uh-huh.
Goes to the comments, you know, quarantines. Really got me thinking a lot lately. Something tells me this song isn't actually about candy.
Hmm.
Yes, please refer to my earlier comments, Oscar Chavez 7712 or is that 77 or not dose because I do not know the Spanish word for seven. When you realised you've been listening to dirty songs since you were a kid.
Hello Mark Wiz 3189.
Hugo Marquez, yes.
Wait a minute. I thought this was the song about a candy. Shop and lollipops.
You're not on the, you're not on the the Spanish, the Mexican accent train.
No.
No, I'm not very good at accident driving it probably look.
Alex Mercy, wouldn't it be flash? Alex mercy. Oh, my God. I remember listening to this song while playing the $0.50 game and singing with it. Is that a $0.50 blood on the sand game?
Hmm.
I found out there's another. $0.50 game, did you know?
Because he can't be nice, he can't be shooting people down. I'll.
Take you to the candy shop.
I'll make you lick your lolly.
Whoa, there's another $0.50 game. Did you know?
Puppy, you know you can't do that. What is it?
I can't remember it. Was called, but it's. It's like we'll get to it in about 2000 and.
I can't believe that. I can't believe that passed me by. Yeah, it's OK.
There's another one. Yeah, there was one that came out before that. Yes. I'm disappointed you don't have it.
The the, the, the.
Original and best is $0.50 blood on the sand and if you've got a PlayStation 3. Blow it out. Blow it out. Blow. It blow the dust off it, blow the dust off it. We're not talking about the head itself. Actually. You want to blow the dust.
Take it to the candy shop. It out.
Will be OK. The shock. You're on no blow the dust off your PS3 and get yourself a copy of $0.50 blood on the sand. And just thank me later.
At Anita at Anita DHM underscore so true Luffy face. I thought it was about a sweet shop, but.
Hmm. Hmm.
I'm nearly 16. And it has a much deeper meaning.
Well, well, well.
Well, I think she just found. Herself. Marie Franco Marie Franco, 1553.
I have always heard this. This is about the candies from my mama's purse being promoted when I was around the seven. Now at the 23, well, I realised it's a different type of a candies at tree.
Trevor.
3013 I remember trying to tell my grandma it wasn't dirty when I was really young because she.
Yep.
Said it was is.
Grandma's grandma's been around a bit. Yeah, yeah.
It isn't that bad.
Grandma's undefeated and he's telling this this is a dirty song, so Grandma knows what the lollipop is.
He's like, I'd tell you what I'd do. I'd.
Take that $0.50 to the candy.
Shop. I've sucked more than the lollies in my handbag in my time.
We're talking about hatches, matches and dispatches, which is the thing that we do at the end of every show. Births, deaths, marriages this week it is a death.
Yes.
And your clue is this.
I insist on the use of the term doctor. Yeah, at certain times but and and met him a doctor of chemotherapy, of the journalism and of. What's that? Divinity. Yes, divinity.
If you said Hunter S Thompson. You would be correct. Now a bit of a trigger warning for for this one because it's Hunter S Thompson ended his own life. OK, but if anyone was gonna.
Yeah, he does. He.
Do it.
Yeah, I guess that's kind of the way Hunter S Thompson wanted to go.
Yeah, self inflicted gunshot wounds in his home at Wee Creek, Colorado on the 25th of February 2005.
Just 67.
Years old at the time.
I actually I this is not having been a fan of his work, a massive fan of his work, he's and not to say that I agreed with everything that he wrote or said, but just a fan of how out there he was. This is not actually the way I would have expected him to go, so although I I I would say that he would have gone in some kind of self inflicted manner, this this man took enough drugs in his lifetime to probably take down an entire herd of bull elephants like he he was very into things like cocaine and.
Hmm.
Hmm. Chloroform, which said to kill people.
No.
No.
Which you yes, you can knock people out with it. And if you give them too much, it's lethal. He used to mix it into his whiskey and he and he'd give very clear instructions and have the ice and the cloth and swirl it around a little bit before you put the whiskey in to let it. Kinda.
Yeah, yeah. Ohh my gosh.
Yeah, look and for for all of those wild and crazy things, he was an incredibly talented writer. So he started out as a sports journalist, but he pioneered this thing that he called Gonzo journalism. And he posted loads of articles in Rolling Stone magazine. But prior to that, he was made famous by his first book, Hell's Angels.
Wow.
Which was published in 1960. 6 Where he went inside the gang and got himself pretty roughed up in the process like he basically was a lived experience, and that was what Gonzo journalist kind of was.
So that's what it is. Gonzo journalism was. Yeah, well.
It put the. The writer at the centre of it, so the writer was part of the story, and they kind of lived the story so.
Yeah. Wow.
It was like. He was very ahead of his time. With regards to that, like it took a while for TV and. Stuff to catch up with.
When you think of things like Louis Theroux sort of nursing themselves in these situations, yeah.
Yeah. Right. Or even just the way like wars and? Stuff are covered as.
Yeah.
Well, so he goes on to cover politics. He was known to be quite vicious and irreverent with politics. He, he there's an example in 2004 where he referred to George W Bush as a quote, treacherous little freak. You didn't mix words, but I think everyone would know. Hunter S Thompson is most famous for his book.
Yeah.
Fear and loathing in Las Vegas, which was about that extraordinary Bender. That and it's it's a work of fiction. So but the the protagonist is a journalist by the name of Raul Duke, who based on himself and his attorney doctor Gonzo, who he based on his attorney and they travelled to Las Las Vegas across the. Harvey in this red convertible with a suitcase full of drugs to cover a motorcycle race and the whole thing descends into this depraved, paranoid trip that he describes as an examination of the fall of American counterculture.
And there's a a quote.
From the book.
We had two bags of grass, 75 pellets of mescalin, 5 sheets of high powered blotter acid, a salt shaker, half full of cocaine, and a whole Galaxy of multicoloured uppers, Downers, screamers, laughers. Also a quart of tequila, 1/4 of rum, a case of bud. Riser a pint of raw ether and two dozen amels. Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get locked into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can.
And that that is pretty much how Hunter Thompson lived his life. He was man mad. It's very fitting that Johnny Depp, I think, played him in the movie. And Johnny Depp spent a lot of.
Wow. Wow.
Time with him, there's. A lot of like, very famous people did. They got to spend time with Hunter S Thompson. He was a very eccentric man.
Hmm.
And while his death was certainly a great loss, I I think it was absolutely no surprise. Like I said, I'm surprised you made it that long, but I will just to wrap up for this week. It's my favourite quote from that book is this and it's a. It's a wonderful quote and it is actually I think quite deep and quite poignant. And the quote is. In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. This guy, this guy that has cost the Australian taxpayers a fair bit of money, he's cost the Australian taxpayers a ridiculous amount of money. When he crashed his bloody balloon. And where was it? I don't know. Somewhere in the yes.
Ohh, somewhere in the desert in the.
Middle of Australia.
Exactly. Yes, I'm talking about Bloody Steve Fossett, the adventurer, the so-called adventurer? Yes. Who? Yes.
Venture guys, yes. He he. Swapped his balloon for a plane.
Yes, he did. He's adventuring in planes now, which just, I mean, that's just. I mean, that's ridiculous, really, isn't it? I mean, who would think that you could have any kind of adventure in a plane with the amount of leg? Room they give. You these days.
3rd of March he flies his plane around. The world solo. No, no stops, no refuelling. The flight lasting for 67 hours and 1 minutes covering approximately 36,898 kilometres. Well, that's probably not approximately. I'd say that's exactly or 22,936 miles. That is a long way with no stops and no refuelling.
Good, good buddy.
Ohh, it's gonna say. Could you imagine being on?
A. How long was it?
67 hours. You'd have to have some jolts. Remember Joe?
A 67 hours like.
Cola.
Please yes, you'd want to have your compression socks on as well.
What was the other thing you used to? Take at school.
Jolt cola. Ohh yeah.
So. Jolt. There's like the double the caffeine or no dose, no dose tablets you take when you were like, stay well, no. In university, when I'd stay up all night doing my assignment the night before it was due.
Took that at school. That's what's wrong with the kids these days. They're all pepped up on their bloody joke cola and then no nose.
As was Steve Fossett, I would think no.
Fine.
No, I the 67 hour flight like I'm. I mean, if I'm a passenger on a 67 hour flight like I am drinking.
67 hours. Drinking and I don't think Steve is drinking. He was flying a Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer, which is a lightweight carbon fibre aircraft designed for ultra long distance flight.
Till I pass out. And then I'm waking up somewhere else. Yes.
No.
Just kidding, yes.
Was built by the same company behind Spaceship 1 and sponsored by Richard Branson.
Hmm.
Was that no, that?
Was the Virgin spaceship the the? Yeah. OK, cool.
Virgin Atlantic took off in Kansas on the 28th of Feb, flew eastward around the globe, passing over the Atlantic Ocean, Africa, Asia, the Pacific, back to the US, landing in Kansas once again on the 3rd of March, and we mentioned no refuelling. It was designed to carry enough fuel for the entire journey.
Hmm.
Hmm.
Yes.
Yeah.
So that you didn't have to refuel.
Remarkable feat of engineering the actual plane itself. As far as like, it's quite light like a glider, but it had an engine on it and it was able to carry a lot of fuel. So Steve didn't. I'd say, you know, the baggage allowance? Yeah. Always get, like, over with baggage allowance.
No, you just, you just don't weigh your bags first. That's your that's.
Not real life.
It can fit if OK, what's the difference?
See this is.
This is the thing. That's OK, alright.
There we go.
Talk about baggage allowance on play. And yes, like my bag can fit into the thing. It's quite compact, but I can fit a lot of stuff in it and it can vary in weight, but it's still.
It's.
The same size. Yes. What is the difference between having a heavy bag and a heavy person?
Ohh, be careful, be careful.
Do you know what I'm saying? If if the weight of my baggage is so critical to how much fuel you put in the plane and how you fly and all that sort of stuff, how much you charge? Which?
Is for your tickets, which don't get me started on that one as well. Like how is it? Doesn't. What's the difference do?
So.
You think then maybe. Maybe a better option is total weight, so the weight of you and the weight of your bag has a. Limit.
Ohh, you can't do it. That's so bad.
So then.
Well, that's what.
You're practically saying by saying what's the difference between a little bit of a heavier bag and? A little bit. Of a heavier.
What I'm saying is what I'm saying is amongst the airlines that we.
Person, I think that's what you're saying.
Should just have. A nod and a wink. And we should understand. That certain things have different weights, including people, and you should transcend that and factor it into. The price of your ticket.
Well, I guess they don't know what the weight of the people are, so how can they? Yeah. How can they say?
That's exactly what I'm saying.
Right, OK. I thought you. I thought you were.
Got it.
Being rude. So how then can they say that your bag is going to be too heavy for the aircraft of not knowing the? Weight of all the passengers at that point.
That's right, exactly.
It's both. That's what it is.
Wow. OK.
Anyway, Steve Fossett, if that was true. If that was true, Steve Fossett.
Would have a minute.
No. Carry on. Carry on. Probably no.
Carry on allowance.
Would have had to do his number 2's.
Before he left, well, yes, because he'd be heavier. Exactly. Just to drop some weight. Maybe you have to cut weight. I don't.
Drop a bit more weights. Yep. Yep, definitely.
See Steve Fossett when you look at him, though, doesn't look like a bloke that's, you know, I mean, he's an adventurer, but he's not an athlete, you know, he's so he's like, he's probably.
Yeah.
Same as me, same so as me potentially.
He had a few dramas. They weren't weight related, right? There's a fuel, a major fuel leak, which caused concern that.
No, not connected to his carrier ship, but you'd have to take his belt off at the metal detector. And then you like you. That's a pain in the ****, isn't it?
Ohh any shoes.
I'm gonna mate is really clever, actually. Shout out to Andy, the cameraman. He has a he has a a belt with a plastic.
What does? Do.
Buckle saying, just breeze on through the metal detectors every time, not having to pull his pants up.
That is very formal. Very clever. That's a good point. What about shoes? Is there a way to avoid having to take your shoes?
He has a pair of plastic clogs with three. D printed them clocks. Yeah, exactly. No, he does not. But that's a good idea. Crocks, crocks.
Does he really does? Ohh OK I.
Thought he might just.
It wouldn't surprise me surprise me.
Sorry, we're, I mean we're going, but I feel.
Like we've introduced.
We're we're being like. Dears, people, we're sharing some good ideas.
Yes, there's some very handy hints. That we've workshop to you.
As well as breathing, we're also healthy.
But Steve Fossett would never have to. Worry about only 67 hour flight.
Yeah, well, he was worried because there. Was a fuel. Leak, but that was he got over that.
Yeah, well, that's. Just made the plane lighter. Mate are. You be like ohh.
There was no.
We're shedding fuel now. I could have, you know, in place of that fuel use and carry. Carry on. I don't think it works like that, but anyway.
Could have held on to. That number 2. No, he encountered severe turbulence over the Pacific Ocean, and I assume it would be much worse because it was such a lightweight. Aircraft. There's dangerous storms. We managed to avoid.
Oh yeah, he'd be going up and. Down all over the place.
Those I only. Took cat naps during the flight. I don't know what a cat nap equates to in terms of time. Would that be would what's how long does a cat nap for? Is that 10 minutes 20 minutes? Is it like 20 minute power nap? I don't know. Cats are quite sleepy. I feel like a cat.
I don't know, I guess.
Would would sleep so.
Sleeping day. Yeah. Yeah. When he comes out at night time and kills a whole bunch of.
So that's dangerous.
It's dangerous. It's dangerous.
Native animals? Yeah, I look. I. I don't know, I I. I guess.
They should be. They should be more.
He knows what direction he's going. He's gotta navigate. Maybe it's like, you know, when I when I cook a brisket and I go to sleep and I've got the little temperature thing and it fires off an alarm if the.
Ohh vape some money.
Temperature drops maybe? That happens in the plane when it dropped like moves off course or something like.
Maybe.
I don't know.
That but yes, but I mean. He's flying the plane. You can't, really.
He also had to endure long hours of sitting. That doesn't sound terrible. Sounds great.
That sounds like it's. That's pretty standard on a flight.
Dehydration and exhaustion.
Yes. Yes, well dehydrated because there's no hostesses coming down the aisle saying, would you like, you know to?
If you're the one flying the plane, you don't want those stupid water cups where you've gotta peel the thing off and cut your lips. Who thought? Who thought of that for water honestly, honestly, a Jelly Cup? It's a.
Ohh yes, could you imagine you very well? Potentially peel them. And that's like water in it, basically a bowl that sits in the palm. In here, right? Yes.
Jelly Cup, where you. Feel the thing off the top and it doesn't all come off in one piece.
Now, if he had one of those and he tried to peel it off. And and he could potentially splash all the instruments. Exactly. It's very dangerous. It's very dangerous. Anyway, CNN broadcast is landing live. And if you listen really carefully, I think the most fun part about this is is not so much what Branson or Fossett are saying. It's more the the journos and the camera people in the background.
All the.
Like trying to really discreetly argue amongst themselves as they're blocking. Each other's shots.
That is 1.
Happy man Steve fossett. High fiving. Sir Richard Branson.
He looks pretty sprightly. He looks pretty sprightly.
In high fiving. He made it three days non stop.
Right, I think. He's he's ready for a bed pretty soon.
See if we can listen. In the first person in the world to go round in solo.
Support one of the. That was something I wanted to do for a long time and had a good portion of getting the right people to associate it with it.
There's nothing wrong.
First, with scale composites build and test it led by John Kerkow. And then Richard Grant sending Virgin in to make this a much better project and then the team here not only the airport authority at the Kansas State University.
Play the music and play him off. It's it's not the most exciting thing. I mean, he's just flowed 67 hours. He's like, I just like. But did you hear him? Like you're in the way. Out of the. Way I cannot believe. See this this flight actually. I guess confirmed to everyone or cemented or whatever you want to call it. Validated Steve Fossett as being one of the greatest modern adventurers and. I just I I mean when I think of greatest adventurer like I think of like Indiana Jones.
But do you know what I mean? Not Steve Fossett crashing a balloon that looked like a goon bag out in the middle of the.
It's not Steven. He's created the lane.
Desert in Australia and costing taxpayers. A whole bunch of money to rescue.
He went on to attempt more records. He didn't give up after that one second global flight in 2006. And we did talk about this last time. In 2007, he disappeared when he was flying his plane over Nevada. And then they found his remains 2008. After an extensive search has not been mean, actually dead. God.
More taxpayers. Money wasted. Oh yeah. Ah, great. I forgot about that. Yeah. Now basically ****** on his grave. Ohh, I didn't mean to do that. He is Steve Fossett, one of the world's greatest. What an adventurous and and a hero to boomers everywhere. Well, that's it for this week. At the end of good week.
Yeah. Glad we made it to the end. Yeah, that.
Yeah, we'll check in with you a little bit sort of throughout the course of the next couple of weeks with some more summer programming, but until then, look after yourselves. Don't necessarily worry too much about what day it is to just make sure you're ready when you use comes around and be ready to go back to work, but potentially.
Lovely.
Hmm.
Happy New Year, yes.
On the 2nd of January, if you have to, sorry if that's the case. We're just gonna keep you during our holidays and we'll catch you a little soon. Bye.
Thanks for taking the time to read. Mine join us next time for another week. That was 20 years ago. In the meantime, come and reminisce on the socials search for T -. 20 Podcast on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.