SOS! Rihanna’s taking over

Rewind to 16 April to 22 April 2006 — and the internet is arguing about journalism, Rihanna’s quietly becoming a global takeover, parody movies are still printing money and celebrity scandals are… very 2006.

💅 Rihanna drops SOS — and the rebrand begins
Rihanna hits #1 in Australia with SOS and suddenly she’s not just Pon de Replay girl — she’s a hit factory in training. Built on a Tainted Love sample and basically stitched together from songs you already know (but maybe didn’t know at the time) it’s peak “wait… why is this so catchy?” energy. 

⚖️ Apple vs bloggers — the internet gets a backbone
Apple goes head-to-head with early tech blogs after leaked product info hits the web. The big question: are bloggers real journalists or just chaos merchants with dial-up opinions? 

🎬 Scary Movie 4 — plot optional, chaos essential
By the fourth instalment, Scary Movie has fully abandoned logic and is just speed-running every pop culture reference it can find. War of the Worlds, Saw, The Grudge… all thrown in a blender with iPod jokes and Oprah shoutouts. 

📼 Colin Farrell scandal — tabloid era in full swing
A private tape involving Colin Farrell leaks online and suddenly it’s front-page chaos. Legal action kicks in fast, the internet proves impossible to control and the media treats it like cheeky gossip instead of… you know, a privacy violation. The real kicker? The wildly different narratives for men vs women in these scandals. 

🧠 Brain Age — the game that got your mum into gaming
Nintendo drops Brain Age and suddenly your entire family is arguing with a floating head about maths problems. Daily brain training, stylus tapping, being told your brain is 62 at age 35 — iconic. It makes gaming feel acceptable, builds daily habit mechanics before apps exist and quietly sets the stage for every “just 5 minutes a day” app you’ve downloaded since.

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

Transcript is generated automatically.  

The year is 2006. We head to the hills and learn reality is scripted. Your Sony cyber-shot uploads 462 blurry regrets. A Facebook poke makes everything complicated. And Twitter's like, cool story, you've got 140 characters. Go. T-minus 20. Rewind 20 years with Joe and Mel. Week of 16, April 2006. T-minus 20. I'm being a sexy ***. I want to forgive you. T-minus 20. I hate this long decent relationship. And I want to forget you. You have no style or succession. This is a beauty. This is very nice. Yeah, boys. 

If you have ever wondered what the world looked like before, algorithms, influences, and your phone listening to you breathe and making asinine comments about how well you slept last night, welcome to T-minus 20, your favourite nostalgia podcast. Each week we rewind exactly 20 years to relive the news, pop culture, and chaotic moments that made 2000s what they were, from chart-topping bangers to questionable tech decisions and everything in between. Nostalgia, but with a little bit of context and side-eye, and no one's better at side eye than my illustrious co-host, Mel. My name's Joe, by the way. Hello, Mel. 

Hello, we are rewinding the 16th to the 22nd of April, 2006 this week. 

Hi, I'm Steve and welcome to my weekly podcast, Super Secret Apple Rumours, featuring the hottest rumours about our favourite company. I have some pretty good sources inside Apple, and this is what I'm hearing. 

Oh, Jobs, he's got a podcast. 

What? 

Or a Jobs cast. No, that's not true, but there's some rumours going around. There's some rumours going around the, is it the Apple sphere? I don't even know. 

Bit of a lawsuit as well, I believe. Oh, yes. 

SOS be someone healthy. 

It's not healthy. 

It's definitely not healthy. Send help. 

It has entered the charts. Rihanna's SOS obviously built on ******* **** but. I don't know if everybody knows this. There are a lot of other references throughout that song. 

A lot of other taints, perhaps. Oh, we'll explore Rihanna's taint a little bit later on. 

It seemed like a good idea. The time two adults having fun with the little video camera, you know. Nothing wrong with that. No, it wasn't. You don't let the tape get into the wrong hands. Well, that's it. And at the end of the deposition, because all the very officious in a law office in Los Angeles, and the man that was in charge said, Well, you've learned your lesson, I hope, Mister Parle. I said, Absolutely, next time I take the tape with me. 

Big sex tape scandal this week, 20 years ago. Colin Farrell, remember this one? 

Yes, I mean, who doesn't love a sex tape? Back when sex was... 

There were a few of them going around. 

When it was committed to tape. I mean, well, what would you do now? It's all data packets and whatnot. I mean, you know, sex tapes do take a lot of commitment. Committing something to tape is so much more... premeditated than perhaps just being able to push a button and create a digital version of it. was a lot more challenging back in the day. 

But there was an interesting thing on the socials this week around, I guess, the challenges from back in the day that would send this current generation into a bit of a spiral. Someone posed the question, what back then inconvenience would break this new generation in 10 minutes? 

And. 

The responses didn't disappoint. Would you like me to share a few? 

I would love for you to share those with me. 

Having to buy an entire CD when you didn't know if it was as good as the one song on the CD that you liked. 

Oh, isn't that just a thing? 

Wasn't that a gamble? A roll of the dice. 

I mean, no, it depended on the genre, I think. You know, heavy metal, a little bit more committed to having more killer tracks than filler tracks, but there were still filler tracks on your metal albums as well, because it was like, oh no guys, we got to try and maybe put another one in there so that we can at least make up the time for the long play, if you know. 

It's different with R&B. It was always a gamble with R&B, although track 7 used to always be my favourite track. 

Was that the magic track, was it? 

Was that the magic number? And it usually wasn't the big hit that was released in commercial, but there was always a banger at #7. Maybe it was to keep you listening through to the end. I don't know. 

I still admire the commitment of buying an album from a full artist, like a, like a, sorry, a full album from an artist, not a full artist. It's like, oh, I've eaten too much. No, yes, because if you're buying compilations. I just think you're a shallow person. I really do. 

You're very mainstream. 

Yeah, you're just shallow. You're just like, I like my music. Yeah, do you? 

All right, another inconvenience that would break the current generation. Do you all remember early texting when you had to push the number to cycle through all the letters? So if you wanted to type C, for example, you had to push the number one three times. 

Oh yeah. 

Three button presses for one letter. 

Yeah. It was a loss. That's a fail. I hated that so much. I hated SMSing. It was the worst. But you became very dexterous. Like I feel like we could do push-ups on our thumbs. 

Yeah. But you also weren't verbose. You just got to the point. There was none of these back and forth waffle because you were paying per text as well. 

Exactly. 

Straight to the point. 

Yeah. 

Where are you? Meet me in 10 minutes here. Like just none of this. How's your day been? What you been up to? What's going on? 

And there was more of an excuse, I think, back then not to use the Queen's English, like to shorten stuff. Whereas now, when you've got an entire keypad and predictive text at your disposal, like just get it right. I sound like such a wowzer. I don't mind. I'm at peace with it. 

Another phone related inconvenience. Having to say hello, how are you to your bestie's parent before you got to speak to your friend on the old landline. Remember that. 

Yes. 

Then there was small talk, unlike texting. 

Well, it's just manners, isn't it? 

You'd have to be, hey, miss. Mrs. Jones, how are you going? 

Yes, and then your parents would teach you the drill and then they'd be like, could blah blah come to the phone, please? 

Yes, they'd be very polite. 

Oh, that was the worst. You just feel compromised every time you did that. 

You never knew. Was your friend going to answer the phone? Was it going to be the parent? Was it going to be the brother or sister that didn't like you? 

Heaven forbid it was the brother or sister that didn't like you. I'll just get them, or they just deliberately, they just leave the phone there. I've had that a couple of times where brothers or sisters have just left the phone. I'm like, okay, I'll call back later. 

What about having to call the movie theatre and listening to the recording of all the movies showing that day and the times to figure out when you were going to go to the movies? And if you didn't get there early enough, it might sell out. 

Oh, yes, I do. remember that fondly, or even looking at the listing in the newspapers. You'd see the movie times, the session times in the newspapers, or yes, you'd ring the hotline, that special number, so you'd figure out exactly what goes on. And then if you weren't paying attention, or you, like, I think it was the inconvenience of having to listen to the recorded message again, which was, you know, that was very disappointing. 

Because someone distracted you right at the second when your movie was. 

Yes, it was usually an older brother or sister probably wanting to use the phone. 

The phone, yeah, of course. The penalty when you forgot to rewind a movie when you took it back to the video shop and the movie that you really wanted to watch was all rented out and there was just a paper version in its place. 

Oh, that was the worst. How bad? How sad was that? I used to hate it when you'd go in there and they'd be on the shelf and you'd think, oh boy, it's new release time. We're going to watch a new release. You wouldn't even care what the new release was because you'd just be like winning the lottery if you didn't find one. 

What was that, 5 bucks a night, wasn't it? 

Yeah, it was $5. I think it went up to like 7 at one stage. Back when like it was, it peaked before the decline. 

In the early days though, if the video was out, it was rented, it just wouldn't be on display. So you knew what was on the shelf was something you could hire. That's right. But then they started this thing where they would put the video behind the picture. 

Yeah. 

And so you never knew. It was kind of like a lucky dip. I know. Move it away and went, oh. 

Extraordinarily disappointing and it became even more deceptive with DVD covers. Also the rewinding thing. So did you ever get penalized? Did you ever face a harsh penal? I mean, I always rewound. I was kind, so I rewound. 

I generally did, but there was once or twice. You know when you used to get the five movies for five days for 5 bucks? Yeah, Those ones I didn't really care about. And it would $3.50 or something like that. 

You got a fine. You actually got a fine. 

Yeah, but it was on my dad's car. 

Oh, also you got a black mark on his record. 

He used to have to pay. I was like late fees as well. Did you forget to rewind that again? Yeah, the late fees. 

I do the late fees, but the rewind. Rewinding penalty, that's a bit, I mean, that's a bit much. 

But it took forever. You'd have to sit there waiting for it to rewind. And there's nothing worse than hiring one that someone else didn't rewind. And you went to go and watch it. And you'd have to wait. 

Or you'd rewind it. And you know, you'd be absent-minded. You wouldn't kind of heft the cover for weight and you'd accidentally take the cover back to the store and there'd be no cassette in there. And then it'd be like, there's a taste of your own medicine right now, isn't it? Yeah, there's no tape in there. 

Well, kind of winding related, something that would just destroy the current generation. in 10 minutes. Rolling up a car window. 

Oh, with the hand wind up. Yeah. 

I can't believe that there's generations of people that have never experienced the old school winding up or your things. 

That's right. You'd be able to pick who was the driver and who was the passenger because their left or their right shoulder would be slightly larger than the other because they would have a workout from winding in the window. 

There was so much going on in the old days because you didn't have power steering. You had to roll the window up and down by hand. You had your CDs in the visor. on the passenger side. So you'd be trying to pick a CD, wind down the window, light a cigarette, try not to burn the car out. 

Was that of your best friend's light? No, okay. Yes, the cigarette and all of these things, you know. And now we've got these teeny tiny little cameras that are above the road that pin you just for moving your hand slightly off your lap towards your phone. 

Yes, I know. 

God, if they heard a scene how we used to multitask back then. It was a big ordeal. 

How about this one? The pen pal. Did you ever have a pen pal growing up? 

I didn't, like I kind of, it was one of those things that seemed like a good idea at the time, but I lacked the commitment to the wherewithal to maintain the relationship with a pen pal. Because I'm like, why am I just writing letters to a stranger? 

Oh, okay. So you're probably pretty much like the current generation. But having to wait five to six weeks to hear from them again and wondering, are they going to Give me some proof of life. Are they still alive? What are they doing? And then the letter would come and your parents would hold it hostage until you did all your jobs. 

Oh, right. You can't read your pen friend's letter until you've done all your jobs. That's terrible. What a fail. Well, yeah, no, pen friends, no, not really. That's like chain letters. Chain letters and pen friends, I think, sort of. 

You put them in the same bucket, do you? 

Oh, well, maybe, I shouldn't because chain letters are more like spam these days. I mean, it's, but now it's like shared this link with X amount of friends for good luck or copy and paste this so Facebook don't take your photos away from you. I refuse to let Facebook use my pictures and I'm saying it here on Facebook. Okay. 

And this one here, actually this one, I'm going to take this answer and raise it. So this one here was printing out the directions from MapQuest and, you know, trying to get somewhere on printed out pieces of paper. But look, we were the generation before that. We were the Gregorys. 

Gregorys, yep. 

The book of maps. 

Yeah. 

That wasn't chronological in any way. So you'd be on, you know, page 50 and the road would continue over on page 268. 

You'd have to use a little sticky tab. 

You'd tab it and then you'd number. 

I think that's prepared you for all the tabs that you have opening your browser now, later in life. It's very similar. Like your web browser resembles a well-worn Gregory's. 

And it's all in a special order. Yes. Like it's got a flow to it. It's got a sequence. 

It has. 

It's comfortable. It helps me get to where I'm going. 

Is that the same with your web browsers? Is that what we're talking about? I don't even know which one we're talking about. Oh, Jesus Christ. That's the Herald of the Hatch, Match and Dispatch. clue. I've just, I feel so nostalgic this week after discussing that. I mean, it's a nostalgia podcast, so that's probably good. But that particular little piece, yeah, that's taken me way back. I really do want to go back to simpler times sometimes. I feel overwhelmed constantly. Anyway, this is the Hatches, Matches and Dispatches clue. And this is a, well, this is a hatch. We have got a hatch. Somebody who is turning 20, that was born this time 20 years that sang this. Blue moon, you saw me standing alone without a dream in my heart, without a love of my own. there you go. 

Pretty good singer. 

Great singer. I'm sure, very talented. Comes from good stock. There's a little bit of a clue, or maybe not. Well, no, good stock, I guess, as far as, you know, the archetype of celebrity or whatever you want to call it. I don't know. We'll find out who it is at the end of the show. 

21st of April, 2006, kind of news, kind of tech news. Bit of tech rolled into the news. 

Oh, really? So we got to do it. 

I feel like that's quite apt. 

Yes. 

Apple. Apple is taking the bloggers to court. 

Really. 

It's Apple V. Bloggers this week, 20 years ago. 

I feel like that's an unweighted competition. I feel like Apple hold all the power there. 

It's an interesting battle they were fighting. They were in a legal fight with several bloggers and online publishers, including Apple Insider, Power Page, and Think Secret. Think Secret was an early tech gossipy blog site, trying to leak all the exciting tech news. And the issue Apple had was that bloggers were publishing leaked info about unreleased Apple products. And obviously, the Apple keynote, such a big deal back in the day. So. 

Excuse me, Apple, do you even internet? 

To have details about Apple ahead of those big releases and to be the one that breaks that news. Imagine that. 

I mean, I might be a wowser, but even I know that the whole thing about all of this stuff is to get the scoop to be first. And I think Apple probably are punching a bit above their weight if they think that they can control that, if they can stop the tide. It's kind of like sticking your finger in a ****. 

Well, they've launched legal action at this stage 20 years ago to force them to reveal their sources. 

Right. 

The leaked info at the time included details about an unreleased product codenamed Asteroid, which was believed to be connected to early development of what would eventually become GarageBand and the audio integration set. 

Oh, was that Jobs's podcast? 

Hi, I'm Steve, and welcome to my weekly podcast, Super Secret Apple Rumours. featuring the hottest rumors about our favorite company. I have some pretty good sources inside Apple, and this is what I'm hearing. The next iPod will be huge, an 8-pounder with a 10-inch screen. Also, Apple's working with other companies to get iPods everywhere. Well, that's all for today. See you next week. 

That's funny because that's from a keynote that he did in January of that year. And I feel like. 

He's been a bit of a *****. 

He's been brewing away. Because that time. He was ******. He's got a bug up his ***. 

Yeah, well, it started, they were ****** the year before, but it's at this time 20 years ago that they actually go to court about it. So I think you're right. I think he's very annoyed about this. And it then culminates in April with them taking the bloggers to court. 

Yes. 

That Apple was arguing that the bloggers were publishing stolen trade secrets. Not journalism, participating in corporate theft. 

Yeah, it'd be like if somebody put Colonel Sanders' herbs and spices up on the internet. Yeah. 

Oh, I've looked for that so many times. 

Well, it's there. There's 11 of them and they're all secret. It's not there. It's 11 secrets. 

Even ChatGPT doesn't know what it is. 

That's right. Yeah. I thought it would. So, I think it's like Steve's like going, Well, if it's good for Colonel Sanders, you know, with his chicken, it's good for us with our apples. How do you like them? Pools. 

Bloggers were arguing that they were acting as journalists and therefore should be protected under the freedom of the press laws. This is quite interesting because this would be the first time that these types of discussions would have been happening because blogging is a very new thing on the internet. And they were saying that they should not have to reveal their confidential sources, i.e. whoever's told them about these new products that they've then leaked, because the same same rules apply to them because they are effectively journalists. 

That's right, they're trying to protect their bloggeristic integrity. Yes. 

And this then becomes one of the first major legal tests of whether bloggers equal journalists. 

Wow, this is great because you look at it through the lens of now and it's a similar thing except if you take the word blogger out and you put influencer in there. I mean, I think that's probably unfair and I think a lot of people who are on social platforms that are doing journalistic type pursuits are sort of being lumped into an influencer category because they have following. But I mean, that's no different to a whole bunch of people subscribing to a news service, as long as they are consistent with what their product is. I mean, you can't be sort of talking about the state of the world, the situation over in Gaza on one post and then doing a TikTok dance, you know? 

So this was the first time that it was actually tested and Apple didn't just go After the bloggers, they went after the publishers themselves, so who the bloggers were working for? 

Oh, really? 

It kind of freaked out the early internet, because if Apple won, any company could silence... any type of online reporting or rumours or whispers. 

Yes. 

Because that's what early internet days were. 

This is uncharted territory. 

Mac Rumours. I remember that website. 

That still kicks around. It's still people still go on to Mac Rumours to find out what's going to be in the next keynote. What's in the next keynote? I hate to disappoint you, but it's just like, oh, we've updated the camera. Awesome. Now with a better camera on the same size screen, my eyesight's failing as I fast approach 50. I just, that does nothing for me. 

The case forced a big question, who gets to be called a journalist? And it is right at a turning point where individuals are starting to compete with mainstream media. And tech leaks, become currency for attention and credibility. 

And it's also like the, I blog, therefore I am. You know, like there's people that have gone to university and studied journalism and got their degrees and done their cadetships and slugged it out at like local newspapers and worked their way through the business. And all of a sudden, it's this platform comes out where everyone, it's no different to like YouTube. Like everyone can be a TV station now if they want to. Anyone can make a podcast. like Steve? 

Hi, I'm Steve and welcome to my weekly podcast. 

No, but like this is it. Like it's anyone can do it. So it changes the playing field. 

Do you want to know who won? 

Yeah. 

Not Jobsy. 

I wouldn't have thought so because it's still happening. 

Digital media, freedom of online reporting was the ruling there. However, Apple did later settle with the site Think Secrets, which was one of the sites that were leaking tech updates. And that site ended up shutting down in 2007. 

Really. 

But bloggers were considered journalists. 

Yeah. 

So like you say, very interesting through today's view of where your news comes from. And does it come from breakfast TV? Does it come from the news updates on the hour, every hour on radio? 

Yeah. 

Or does it come from TikTok creators? 

And like... 

Does it come from... people posting on Instagram or Facebook? Where does your news come from? All these curated feeds of your favorite outlets. 

I feel like this also has set the course for bias. So obviously there's a thing about journalism where it's supposed to be unbiased and it's not supposed to be left-leaning or right-leaning or whatever. It's supposed to be unbiased. And we were always brought up to think that, you know, any journalist that's worth their salt that has any integrity is not going to take sides. They're going to report the facts and then you can form your opinion. But what you've got here is, journalism working in a way where it is shaping opinions and it just, it kind of snowballs from this point. 

And I think the question is then, is that journalism by definition or is it commentary or is it content or is it comedy or parody? 

Or all of the above. 

Yeah. So what actually constitutes journalism these days? And I don't know that we have an answer, but everybody can publish. Not everyone verifies. But is it someone who's got the sources or is it someone who's got the followers? 

Yeah, and I know like, everything's behind a paywall now too, so it's monetized. But I kind of get that because if I want to read good stories, I am prepared to pay for them. But I also need to balance out the bias myself. So it becomes less of the responsibility almost of the media outlet to to give you that straight story. And it's more up to you to use your discretion to get a whole bunch of balanced or to balance the opinions that are coming in, to grab all of that input and then assess it and go, okay, I've taken a bit out of column A and a bit out of column B. And oh, that's interesting over in column C and it's helping to shape this opinion that I'm about to form. But it's not as clean cut as like, here are the facts. What are you going to do about that? 

But it's also, you have the ability to do that and make those decisions, whereas not everybody is that discerning. And if you start putting non-biased, balanced commentary behind a paywall, suddenly it becomes an access issue. And you look at the people that don't have the money to be paying for this. So they're consuming their news from these algorithms, from these commentators, and may not realize what is what's fact and what's opinion as well. 

Right, and that's how celebrities and reality show contestants become politicians, boys and girls. Okay, could you imagine, say, like, if hot dogs from Big Brother decided to run? There'd be lots of quizzes. I might even play. 

Ringtones. 

I want everyone to stay up late and order ringtones. I'm voting for that. It was a simpler time. So let's see the charts. Oh my God. 

All right, same #1 over in the UK, crazy Niles Barkley. I think you're crazy. I think you're crazy. I think you're crazy. 

You're going to be the first person to say that now, but thanks anyway. 

Over to the US, here's the top five. And I can't be without you, baby. And I'll be waiting up until you get home. 

But you know I'm about that But you know I'm about that But you know I'm about that I know. 

I'm about that You're beautiful You're beautiful You're beautiful, it's true I got the right temperature fishes to you from the storm Hold on, girl, I got the right tactics to turn you on And girl, I wanna be the Papa you can be the mom cuz you had a bad day you take one down you sing a sad song just to turn it around you say you don't know you tell me don't lie God, that's all over the place, the charts this week. So much different stuff. 

It's quite jarring, wasn't it? 

It really is when you're going from one to the other. Like you're going from you're beautiful to temperature. 

No, as seamless as my tabs. 

Yeah, exactly. Doesn't flow the same way. No, there's no tab flow. 

Beautiful tabs. 

No tab flow in the charts. 

Let's recap. Be without you, Mary Jane, #5. We have a new entry at #4, which we get to in a minute. You're beautiful, James Bond, #3, Temperatures Sean Paul, #2, and Daniel Powder still at #1 with Bad Day. But our new entry, What You Know by TI. 

What's he? Something where the cheese at? He wants some cheese, does he? T.I. 

Does he? 

I don't know. He said something about where the cheese at. Maybe he said where the G's at? 

I'd say the cheese. 

It's a little Mondegreen. Where the cheese at? I don't know. 

Here's the cheese. 

He's standing there with a bunch of jets. And he just doesn't know what to do with it. He's like, where the cheese at? What you know about that? 

That is TI. 

Maybe it's what you know about Jets. What you know about Jets? What you know about Jets? Where the cheese at? Yeah. 

Lead single from his album, King. 

TI. Is that him? TI. 

It's his first US number one hit, so it does go to #1. Dominates radio, clubs and MTV rotation. The start of the song is actually borrowed from a Roberta Flack cover of another song. Really. 

Blasphemy. 

But I've been listening to the start of it and there, I'm sure there's another song that was kicking around in the early 2000s that had pretty much the same intro, but I cannot for the life of me Think what it is. But look, TI is going to be in the top five for a while, so I've got a while to figure it out. Come to me in a video. Sure. 

You reckon? 

Probably in one of my tabs somewhere. 

Yeah, maybe. 

I'll look it up. It was produced by DJ Toop. 

You know, if I eat cheese after sort of midday, I have visions. Nightmares. Cheese dreams. What do you know about, Dad? 

You can't have cheese before bed. 

No. 

Or fruitcake. 

Yeah. Fruitcake. 

Fruitcake. 

Is that a fact? Fruitcake. 

I was never allowed to have fruitcake. Well, that's what my parents said. Maybe they just said it so I wouldn't eat it before bed. At Christmas time. No, I can't eat that. You'll have nightmares. 

It's very rich. It's very rich. 

Maybe it was just one of those parent things, you know, like if you turn the light on the car, we'll drive over the cliff. 

Yeah. Oh, yes. Heaven forbid. Sorry. 

Back to DJ Toomp. 

Yes. DJ Toomp. 

There it is. That was the producer. The song wins Grammy for best solo performance in 2007 and probably one of the most recognizable beats of the mid 2000s. 

Best rap solo performance. Like, okay, I'm not knocking the song. It's like one of those first sort of, like it's one of those, hey, oh type songs, right? But best rap solo performance in 2007, like he's not doing a lot. He's just like, what you knew about that? Where the cheese at? He's got his biscuits and he wants some cheese for them. And that's all you really get there. We're talking about the same timeline as Eminem. 

And Fiddy. 

And Fiddy Cent. And other rappers. that are out there. Chingy. Rappers that are nursery rhyming. 

Yeah, I know. There's a lot of effort in that. We've found out ourselves. 

And what you know about that wins best solo rap performance in 2007, Spoiler Eleven. There you go. 

Slow year in 2007. Okay, on to another recognisable beat of the mid-2000s, number one here in Australia, S.O.S. Rihanna. That was the lead single from her second album, A Girl Like Me, which she talked about, I think it was last week. 

Yeah, maybe last week, maybe it was just been released anyway. 

It follows Ponder Replay, but this song, SOS, is her first global number one smash. And it's kind of taken her from the island pop new artist energy into that mainstream global pop. 

Oh yeah. Again, the music video for that one. 

The moment we realise that she's not just a vibe, she's here to stay and she's got talent. After this, we've got hits like In Spades, oh my goodness. Umbrella, Disturbia, Only Girl, We Found Love. 

Yeah. I mean, she goes on to perform half time at the Super Bowl. 

She does. She does. The song was written by Evan Bogart. And Evan, I think until this song was primarily writing rap songs. So pop music was quite new for him. And if you listen to the structure, particularly of the chorus, it is very, even though she's not rapping, it does have that rap kind of flow. But here he is talking about how he didn't know how to write pop music. 

If you really look at how that song was written, it's not written by someone who knows anything about writing pop music. Because I had literally had no idea what I was doing. And I was just going off instinct. And if you listen to the, if you look at the verses, they're crafted with a lot of like clever wordplay and internal rhyme schemes, like a rapper would, right? I'm obsessive when just the thought of you comes up and I'm, what is it, aggressive, when just the thought of close enough, you got me stressing, incessantly pressing the issue because every moment gone, you know I miss you. It's like really? 

So he's saying that, I mean, I don't think there's much to writing pop music really. 

I don't know that he'd agree with you, but that was his first, that was his first foray into pop music and he sold. 

Yes, I don't think that's a fair statement actually, because good pop songs are still like. 

Catchy. They need to be catchy. They need to have a hook. 

They brainwash people. 

He sold the song, I think, to Island Def Jam and it was originally going to be for Christina Milian. 

Really. 

They brought it for Christina Milian. She was the AM to PM and I think she's the one that's done some of those. For JLo, yes. And then she changed her style for the next album that she released and they decided not to get her to perform it. And they called him back up and said to him, we're actually going to give this to this new artist called Rihanna. And it was like, oh, I don't even know who she is. And then obviously in hindsight, it was a pretty good idea because it became one of the biggest songs of the 2000s and really skyrocketed Rihanna into fame and just everything she touched after that was just incredible. But it's not just the ******* **** sample in it. He was actually really clever with the lyrics and it's not something, unless you're aware of it, you don't really know, but there is, and for me, there's always been something about this song of, it feels really familiar, not just the ******* **** but there's something about it that feels kind of warm and cosy and a bit familiar. 

I'd agree with that. It's a really smooth like melody. Like the whole composition of it's very easy on the ear. 

Yes. 

And the film clip is extremely easy on the ear. 

I think with the rap kind of licks, but also in the lyrics, he references a a lot of songs. 

But going back to the original when I wrote it, I had no idea what I was doing. Like the whole second verse of that song is 80s song titles strung together as sentences because I thought it would be super clever. No one ever knows that though. No one thinks about that. It's like, take on me, aha, you know inside you feel it right. Take me on, I could just die up in your arms tonight. I melt with you, got me head over heels. Oh boy, you keep me hanging on the way you make me feel. They're all number one songs from the 80s. 

That's incredible. 

I had no idea. No one does. No one does. Also, something fun in that song is I spelled you're wrong in the pre-chorus. No one cares. All that matters is Y-O-U-R making this hard. It would be Y-O-U-R-E making this hard. True. Just to be, hey, you know what? Whatever. 

Wow. That's a massive revelation. 

All those references to songs that you know, I've never realized, but I think subconsciously I did. 

Yeah. 

I don't know. There was always something that felt quite familiar about it. I couldn't put my finger on it. 

Especially the way you make me feel like. But you know what I did. I will say I'm not naive to the fact that they spelt YOU. 

I didn't pick up on that. 

I was like, and I was like, but what? then I'd watch the music video and I just didn't. 

You just forgot. But then you could take it as YOU. So YOU as in you. And then the word R as in ARE. You could take it that way. See, that's what he should have just said. 

And then it's like, oh, and then it goes from being like, I can't spell to it's wordplay. Yeah. 

Exactly. 

Yeah, right. I just need to collect myself for a minute after that. There's a bit of a revelation and then kind of a, yeah. 

We should also mention actually that interview with Evan was from Daniel Wall's Behind the Wall podcast. It's a great, great podcast. And Evan also talks about, I think he did some songs for Eminem too. So there's some, really, really interesting interview, that one. 

Yeah, just don't play Scrabble with him anytime soon. Let's go over to the entertainment portion, the movies, TV section of the podcast. What have we got? Ice Age 2 is still like #1 at the Australian box office. Oh boy. And then we've got this one as the number one in the US. What's going on? 

There's no time to explain. an attack! Well, actually that about sums it up. Did you see the tripod? This spring... They're in every major city all over the world. When the worlds are at war... A girl had a pet duck. Mr. President, the planet is under attack by aliens. Well, I'll handle that for a minute. Right now I want to see what happens with the duck. More people will die. You mean right now all of these children's parents could be dead? No grudge is strong enough. There's something going on in this house. 

I can't shake this feeling of evil. 

No village is safe enough. There's someone here that has the answers. Shall we have a foot race? No saw is sharp enough. I did it! We're saved! Oh my god! What's wrong? Wrong foot. Mother. Scary Movie 4. Ready for the Tom Ryan Express? Based on true events. 

He is in the building, the man who saved the world, Tom Ryan. 

I'm in love. 

I love Cindy Campbell! The boy has lost him. I love this woman! I love this woman! So many references, pop culture references to big major events that were happening in the early 2000s and all of them quite visual, so that trailer was a complete f***ing waste of time. But this is Scary Movie 4. 

Number 4. 

Number 4. 

Anna Faris, Regina Hall. 

I have made my feelings known about these. 

It leans into the parody over the plot. 

It does. I will say it was directed by David Zucker of Airplane fame, or as we know, Flying High in Australia. And I did like the addition of Leslie Nielsen, the great Leslie Nielsen, God rest his soul in there, which certainly raised the bar. It lifted the cheesiness of the comedy significantly and made it a little bit more palatable. It wasn't terrible. It wasn't great. And they were really leaning into parody over any kind of plot. So it was very much just a whole bunch of skits all joined together really by a very thin premise or narrative. 

They were, what were they spoofing? War of the Worlds, The Grudge, Saw, obviously you had the reference to Saw, as well as The Village. But they did throw in a lot of pop culture. 

Well, those the Tom Cruise references, the Tom Cruise couch jumping, which you would have vaguely probably heard and hopefully been able to. 

Connect with in there. I've been at #1 at the US box office, made $178 million worldwide. Probably one of the last... big takers in terms of parody films before we started to get a bit tired. But isn't there a number six coming out later this year if it's not already out? 

Maybe or is that? 

I believe there's a number six. 

See, I can't even tell these days because you know how they've, like Scream is still going, like the Scream franchise. And I actually, it's got to the point now. 

I don't know what number that would be up to. 

Well, it's got to the point now where I'm confused because both are **** and I don't know which is Scream or Scary Movie. So, it's I know that might be a scandalous comment, but there's that's how I feel. I mean, without Leslie Nielsen, you know, and director of Flying High, I can kind of forgive Scary Movie 4, but beyond that, no. 

Let's get more scandalous. 

All right, yes, please. 

On the 16th of April, the Colin Farrell sex tape scandal. 

It seemed like a good idea at the time, two adults having fun. Look at the video camera, you know. Nothing wrong with that. I thought that was wrong. Unless you don't let the tape get into the wrong hands. Well, that's it, and at the end of the deposition because all the very officious in a law office in Los Angeles and the man that was in charge said, Well, you've learned your lesson, I hope, Mr. Farrell. And I said, Absolutely, next time I take the tape with me. Was it for you to look back on later then? No, it's not about that. It's kind of some pseudo-taboo thing about, Ooh, video camera. It wasn't about playing it back or anything, but I don't know what it was about. I think I was high. 

Possibly. At least he answered very honestly. That was on the Jonathan Ross Show. Very shortly thereafter, Colin Farrell was explaining himself away. I really like Colin Farrell because he's just very down to earth. Like he gives 0 F's. 

Yeah, the tape was actually recorded many years earlier with his girlfriend at the time, model. Nicole Narain, obviously never intended for public consumption. It was leaked and as many a sex tape in the early 2000s began circulating online and he took immediate legal action to stop the distribution and prevent further copies from spreading. He filed A lawsuit against Nicole alleging that she was actually involved in the distribution. 

Oh, because everyone's got to have a sex tape and he's obviously got a bit of currency. I mean, his star was very much... He'd arrived. 

He'd had a movie come out recently, hadn't he? 

Yeah, I mean, he'd arrived. He'd done Minority Report and a whole bunch of songs. 

And he had a date with Britney. Britney went to the premiere with him. 

Yeah, he was a bit of an it guy in Hollywood. 

He really was. 

And like I said, he was kind of, you know, a bit of a rogue, bit out there. He kind of had that Errol Flynn type personality, you know. He was very much... almost like a Marlon Brando type, I guess. People had predicted big things or expected big things from Colin Farrell. So I can understand why, well, I think he dealt with it quite well. I mean, he wanted to shut it down. 

He tried. 

And then he openly discussed it and it kind of all just went away after. 

He owned it. And he was always sort of framed as a bit of a bad boy with the wild lifestyle. He was cheeky, a little bit scandalous. I think it's interesting to look at in the context of the sex tapes of involving celebrity women that were also leaked at the time in terms of how we spoke about him, even us now going, oh yeah, he handled it well, he's just a bit cheeky, good on him and he regrets it. Yet the narrative around your Paris Hilton or your Kim K or any females at the time, even Pamela Anderson, I know that was a little bit earlier, but the view was very, very different when talking about the female sex tapes. 

Yes, I think though Colin lent into that discussion as well. Like you can see him on television talking about it as well. And I'm wondering if it was sort of a way to cope with it as well. The narrative around Colin's sex tape was all of course about, you know, what he was packing in the downstairs department. Everyone was like, hey, it was very impressive. And he's like, yeah, thanks. You know, whereas it's, I mean, it's still a very vulnerable thing to have captured and a very private thing to have captured. But I do take your point. 

But I think we looked at it, and sure, I'm sure he was embarrassed, and he did regret it, and he did obviously do things to stop the release, but it was more about the conversations around it. Was that everyone's like, oh, that cheeky bad boy? 

What a rogue. 

You know, and it made him probably even a little bit more desirable in a way. Whereas for women, it was the complete opposite. We would judge them, we would **** shame them. 

It's the same. 

It would ruin their lives and their livelihoods, but for men, for Colin anyway, the story kind of faded, if anything. And it didn't damage his reputation or his career in the way that it. 

Did for the women. And I mean, this is the thing that has been going on between men and women for years and years and years. You know, if you're a bloke who gets around, it's all like, hey, he's a lad, he's a bit of a rogue, he's a playboy. But if you're a woman who does that, you've got terrible morals and you're a bit of a ****. 

And I think that the contradiction there as well is that a lot of people that are commentating on the women are also consuming the content. They're watching it and then discussing it. 

Yeah, and then usually, they're usually sort of, on the obese side of things, probably, indulging in a bowl of Doritos with some of the corn chip crumbs sort of settling on their naked belly while they're in front of the TV. You know, a little bit of drool coming out the side of their their mouth as they're observing it going, yeah, that's not a very good angle, is it? Do you know what I mean? Like it's like armchair experts and let's have a look at them. None of them are oil paintings. 

Yeah, exactly. It's interesting. And looking at it today, it's treated very differently. It's not, it's not, and I think in the early 2000s, like we talked about people rushing to release the tech news and how that was currency. It was similar in terms of celebrity because we started to see Perez Hilton. Hilton's site and similar sites. So there was always a rush to out celebrities, whether outing them as being gay or outing a sex tape or upskirting, they're wearing no undies. Like it was always the rush to have this scandalous gossip as well. 

And the treatment of them like they are property. Like Perez Hilton, I cannot stand that guy. I just think his moral compass is f***ed. he's a horrible, horrible person. And the way he kind of does this stuff, I think is dreadful. I don't know if he, I like to be perfectly honest with you, I haven't consumed a lot of Perez Hilton's content, but what I have seen, I don't like, so I don't get it. Do you know what I mean? 

Yeah, But the conversation these days is more around a pretty serious privacy violation. And we did see that a few years later when there were those naked images of all the celebrities. And we actually rushed to stop the distribution. The conversation was very different. Instead of, oh, how could you do that? Or you're a this and a that. It was how dare somebody hack in and take these intimate photos and share them. And it becomes a legal matter really, really quickly. There's conversations around consent. 

This is, I think, even if you link back to the story about the Apple lawsuit, and maybe we're comparing apples and penises, but it is, it's just, it's the world trying to keep up with how fast things grow. When they're, excuse me, when they're online. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. 

And either being the first to break the news or trying to then contain it once it's been brought. 

Yeah, and it's like, oh, the genie's out of the bottle. Oh, quit putting back in. How do we do that? And well, in Colin's case, it was pretty hard to put back in. See, I'm doing it now too, and now I feel bad. I don't think we mentioned it, but he did. He was actually successful in blocking the distribution of the film. Oh, yes, Which is a great thing, because we've seen this happen in the past where they weren't successful. 

No, and it ends up at the DVD store. 

And isn't that interesting as well though, because... The people that weren't successful, females, this guy, actor, star on the rise, I don't know what that, I don't know, what that means. But it makes you think, doesn't it? Let's move over to video games while we're on the subject of joysticks. 

And this one, not so much a classic shoot-em-up or, platformer. This was the game that actually made your parents buy a TV. 

Yeah, this is like Nintendo appealing to all ages. 

Brain age, train your brain in minutes A day. I think it was called something different. in the Japan version versus the American-Australian release. 

Yes, this is a Doctor Kawashima. 

It was a brain training with the Doctor. 

And you've got it. 

We've got it. 

I can hear it. 

We have a copy. 

Your little DS on your little Mario edition of DS. 

And look, there he is jumping around. 

Oh, there's Doctor Kawashima there. 

In an isolated version of himself. 

And you're on both screens of the day. I never had a DS, so I've never seen it. So what do you do? What do you do? 

Well, you've got different games, quick play, there's daily training. Sudoku. 

Oh, Sudoku. Oh, Nana would love that. 

Do we want to see how good your brain is? 

Sure. Train my brain. So you're going to fire up Dr. Kawashima's brain training and ask me questions? Is that how this is going to work? 

Should we do that? Do we want to see how old you are? 

Sure, Just hold it a bit closer to the microphone so we can hear what he's doing. 

Well, he's just saying words. It's on the screen. 

Oh, so you've got to translate on behalf of Dr. Kawashima. 

Together, he just said. 

Okay. 

His levitating head is pulling me off a bit, to be honest. 

This is going really well. 

He's laughing now. He's laughing at me. 

Oh, well, why is he laughing at you? I don't know, because I don't know how to play. 

Well, I've set it to right hand. 

This is supposed to be for older people, so you should be good at it. 

Okay. 

Yeah. 

Is the date and time accurate? 

Is that part of the question? 

No, that's just the Nintendo. Okay, we're going to set it to left. he doesn't like the fact that I'm left-handed. 

Oh, doesn't he? Well, that's discriminatory. No, so he's an old school teacher. 

Left-handed people use both sides of the brain to control movement. 

Is he going to belt you with a ruler if you don't write correctly with your... 

Left-handed people are thought to make better athletes too. 

Okay, are they facts that he's sharing with you? Like what's going on? Because I've lost you now. 

This is why I get a bit carried away when it comes to brains. 

This is why I hate screens. 

Oh wait, if it's not too much trouble, could you turn the DS around? 

All right. 

Okay. 

Oh yeah, he doesn't want you to hold it in. 

It's because I'm left-handed. Chand is accepted. Okay, good. Gosh, this is a lot. 

Yeah, this segment's going really, really well. 

If you don't use your brain, it will age quickly. 

When do we get to the training? These are all just facts that I don't care for. 

Look, there's some brains. 

Okay, cut to the chase. Come on. 

He just wants us to look at the brains for a bit. He's telling me that C is a lazy brain. 

Yeah. 

While D is someone who's reading out loud. See how they've been. 

Like what you're doing right now. Yes. 

So mine, I'm a D-brain then, honestly. 

You are a D-brain. 

I need to ask one thing. 

What's he need to ask? 

He inspires you to talk out loud. Are you in a quiet place where you can speak? 

All right, well, come on, speak. Yes, do it. 

Why is he asking that? Just get on with this. So people do brain training in private. Get on with the brain training, hurry up. Please say the colour of the words you're about to see. 

Three, two, one. Here we go. Okay. Black. Blue. Oh, yellow. Oh, blue. Got it. Blue. Yellow. Blue. Yellow. Blue. Black. Oh, ****. Okay, so what it's doing is, it's got the spelling of the actual color and then the color of the actual word is different. So like red is blue in the color. Anyway, yellow. Yes. Okay. I've cleared nothing. It's terrible. Great. That's awesome. Thank you for that. Made me feel really stupid. 

Yes, your brain's 163. So it was, yeah, train your brain in minutes a day was the catchphrase. 

Yeah. 

The. What do you call that? 

Slogan. 

Slogan. That's it. My brain's 100. It's going well. 

We need to take a leaf out of Dr. Kawashima's book. 

Well, it blew up because it made gaming acceptable. Before this, you know, kids, teens, serious gamers on their, you know, their computer keyboard in their dark room. And now it was like, nah, it's good. It's good for everyone. Grandmas, grandpas, mums, dads, commuters, everybody started playing the DS and doing their brain training. And it was thought that doing it for a few minutes a day would actually improve your brain over time. 

Right. 

And help get you the smarts. So who doesn't like that? 

Well, so this came out on the 16th of April, Dr. Kawashiba's brain training. 

Yes, 2006. 

And it's a shame it wasn't effective because we're still stupider than ever. But I guess the thing with old people, like, you know, I don't think it's appropriate because old people like cups of tea. And I don't want to have to explain to them now that they're in the gaming world what teabagging is? 

That could get awkward. But think about what we've got now. This is pretty smartphone, but now your smartphone. Duolingo. 

Yeah. 

Wordle. 

Yes. 

All the brain apps. 

Yeah, definitely. 

It's something where you get a score and you do a test and you've got a goal. He used to harass you if you didn't come back and train your brain, much like that stupid owl on Duolingo. I hate that owl. 

Well, see, I'm doing pretty well. on Duolingo because I've surrendered to the owl's demands and I just do. 

I'm on a pest. I'm on about a pest. And it pesters you over multiple different mechanisms. I was getting at one stage, because our son had an account and used my details. I was getting text messages. I was getting emails. I was getting all kinds of things. And then it got the ***** with me and went, well, it looks like this isn't working. So I'm going to stop. And I'm like, great, please do. And then because I responded, then it's like, oh, you're still there. Now I'm going to harass you again. 

We'll do your training. I'm on a 51. one day streak on Duolingo at the moment, learning Japanese, and I still can't understand what it is. So I don't even know if it works. Like I can actually game the thing and I can match the words and do all of that sort of stuff, but if you want me to speak the language... after 51 days of Duolingo. And admittedly, I do it when I'm sitting on the toilet anyway, so I'm a little bit distracted. 

I was wondering why you were taking a dump one day, and then I heard you saying all these, I thought you were talking to me, but I was like, I don't understand the words. What's he saying to me? 

I don't do it. 

And then I realized you're bright. 

When you're under strain, you kind of sound like an ancient Japanese warlord. Konnichiwa. 

This did really take off, though, because there was science-backed. It was a doctor, and he was telling you it was good for your brain. Look... Yes, he was a doctor. He had some good advice, but it was questionable whether or not it actually made you smarter or improved your memory. 

Well, let's face it. 

I think it was a little overhyped in terms of the play. 

Yes, and from Nintendo's point of view, I mean, if you go to like, you know, Super Mario Land, there's no Dr. Kawashima running around there these days, is there, signing autographs for the kids? 

No, but it did walk so that wellness apps, habit trackers, brain training subscriptions, all that stuff we download in apps on our phones could run. And it did have, it did start that whole formula of a quick daily task, getting a score, tracking your progress, and that whole guilt if you skip a day. 

Yeah, but the, I mean, brain train, the little brain training apps that are on a smartphone, I mean, to try and sort of keep the synapses firing while everything else is, I feel like that's just putting a band-aid over cancer with screen time. 

Make you feel better about your screen time. 

Yeah, but I'm learning things. Just throw the thing away. Seriously. Well, actually don't, because then you won't be able to listen to this podcast. Right, yeah, throw it away and read a book, which you can actually read on your device as well. 

It's not the same. 

It isn't the same. It doesn't have the same soothing effect reading a book on an iPad. I think if you had a Kindle, maybe it's a bit different because it's engineered a little bit different. 

The lighting's different. 

But if you're reading it on like a tablet, like an iPad or something, it's like basically still bombarding yourself with screens. 

Gotta go dark. 

It's no different to sitting in front of a monitor. 

But it still makes me fall asleep like a real book. 

A little bit. I do feel a bit more fatigued when I do it that way. And it does make me fall asleep, much in the same way I fall asleep in front of the television, except for the fact that it's only a few inches Yes, but this is the books we didn't read. This is the segment we're on now. The books we didn't read. 

Yes, New York Times bestseller, this time 20 years ago, is a book called Gone by Jonathan Kellerman. It's #20 in the Alex Delaware series. 

Yes, and I saw the thing and it said something about it looking like it belongs on the news. Sounds pretty newsy to me. This music's brought to you by Feslian Studios. You can find their copyright music over on YouTube if you're looking for it. Search for Feslian, F-E-S-L-I-Y-A-N Studios. Okay, it's a story. Taylor Made for the nightly news. Dylan Meserve and Michelle Brand, young lovers and fellow acting students, vanish on the way home from a rehearsal. Three days later, the two of them are found in the remote mountains of Malibu, battered and terrified after a harrowing ordeal at the hands of a sadistic abductor. And this is where you then they go to an interview, grab a someone and say, yeah, I saw him running up the hills with a sadistic abductor. Yeah. The details of the nightmarish event are shocking and brutal. The couple was carjacked at gunpoint by a master assailant and subjected to a horrific regimen of confinement, starvation and assault. But, before long, doubts arise about the couple's story, and as forensic details unfold, the abduction is exposed as a hoax. Charged as criminals themselves, the aspiring actors claim emotional problems, and the court orders psychological evaluation for both. Mikayla is examined by Alex Delaware, who finds that her claims of depression and stress ring true enough. but they don't explain her lies and Alex is certain that they are hidden layers in this sordid psycho drama that even he hasn't been able to penetrate. Back to you in the studio. 

Wow. Were they lying or were they not? 

Who knows? 

Psycho drama. 

Yes. Alex Delaware, number 20. Is that the? 

Number 20. 

Alex Delaware is obviously the character, right? 

Alex, who examines Michaela. 

And Dylan? 

Alex is a guy. For some reason, I thought Alex was a girl. 

No. 

Girl Alex in my name. 

No, named after that famous action-packed place Delaware. Yeah. 

Let's see what the readers thought, starting with Jim 2 stars. 

Okay, Jim. 

Could it be that Kellerman is selling millions of copies to people who were trying to figure out why he sells millions of copies? 

What? Oh, okay, sure. Yes, okay. Maybe, he is. But I don't understand why they'd be trying to figure out why he's selling millions of copies if he's selling millions of copies. 

Well, he's on the bestseller list because people are buying it to figure out why it's a bestseller, but not necessarily liking it. 

Or maybe he's he making some kind of conspiracy theory about, you know, the figures being stacked. 

Cooking the books. 

Yeah, cooking the books, so to speak. Cooking the books we didn't read. Roger, two stars. Too much talking in this book. Well, okay, said Roger. Yeah. 

Michaela, not the Michaela in the story. 

Is that why she grabbed it? Because there's a character with her name. 

Possibly. 

Yeah. 

Well, she grabbed it. 

So Michaela's a narcissist. Yep. 

Well, grabbed this book from a Little Free Library because I was in need of a physical book. We'll be putting it back in the Little Free Library. You know those little free libraries? Can we stop for a minute? Think about the community libraries. 

Okay. 

We've got a few around. 

Yeah. 

And I'm always intrigued because it's often just people donating the books that they don't want. 

Somebody sticks like a repurposed bird feeder with a door on it in their front yard and stacks it full of books. 

Yeah, and then anyone can take a book, like take one, leave one, whatever. 

Have you ever done that? 

I've never, no, I don't like second-hand books. I don't like sharing. Like the library. I don't like touching things that other people have touched. 

I just don't like sharing. Yeah. 

But have you ever stopped and looked at the sort of things that people put in those little free libraries? There was like a whole Reddit thread on the most unhinged things that people have put in little free libraries. Like really wacky conspiracy theory books, really controversial opinions, the joy of sex. 

Oh, well, I mean. 

There's a lot of erotica with illustrations. There's a lot of. 

This just in. Yeah, sure. 

A lot of erotica that pops up in little free libraries. 

Wow. 

Diaries. And I think often people just grab things off the bookshelf, or like maybe it's a deceased estate, for example. And people's diaries get mixed up in there. So often people's diaries and innermost thoughts. I crammed into the little, so next time you see a little free library. 

Yeah. 

Go and peruse the titles and let us know. 

I'm going to walk past, is it Harry Hartog, that bookstore? And they've got like the shelves out the front with all the old books on it. And I'm like, you guys are just doing free libraries on steroids. But except... 

Are you allowed to take those? I don't understand what those shelves are for. I've never quite understood that. 

I don't think so, but you know what I'm going to do. No, I'm going to go in. I'm going to find the rattiest, oldest book on that shelf, and then I'm going to grab it and walk into the shop and say, is this for sale? 

Yes. 

And just see what happens, because I've always wanted to know. I've always wanted to get to the bottom of it. And as a hard-hitting reporter, I'd like to bring these news stories to you, back to you in the studio. 

The fact that she got it from a little free library speaks volumes about the book and the fact that she wanted to put it back. 

Yes. 

I don't know that it was great. 

Yes. Sarah, one star said, my favourite observation was, quote, the seatbelt cut diagonally across her breasts, unquote. 

Some belts will do that. 

We can all relate to that. Oh, that reminds me of my seatbelt. Does exactly the same thing. 

There's your relatability. Angle. So annoying. 

That right there is what makes this a New York Times bestseller. The relatability. 

Larry One Star. Not entirely sure why I grabbed another Kellerman book off the wife's pile of two reeds. I swear on a stack of double knit cardigans worn over some pleasantly worn chinos with my slightly tousled auburn hair damp from the shower that I will not do this again. 

Oh, there's a frustrated writer if ever I've seen one. Good on you, Larry. 

And it was on the wife's pile, of course. Blame the wife, Larry. 

All right, let's wrap it up. It's Hatches, Matches and Dispatches time. And the clue this week, a celebrity who was born, we have a hatch, who sang this. Blue moon You saw me standing alone Without a dream in my heart Without a love of my own. Now, if you said, wait for it, do you reckon people are going to get this one? 

I don't think so. 

If you said Suri Cruise, you would be correct. The daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, singing Blue Moon there. 

I didn't know she was a singer. I think she's acted in a few things. 

Stage parents, mate. 

Yeah. 

That's what it is. 

She's obviously born after peak Tomcat couch jumping mania. 

Yeah, you had to do something with all that testosterone, jumping up and down on the couches and whatnot. Did a few more up and downs on various other couches in order to... Yes, that's right. Straight after that. 

Tom Cruise put out a press release explaining her name. I do remember that everybody was... Where did that name come from? Like we were obsessed with these celebrity children's names when they were a little bit unusual. 

Apple thinks I'm saying the other S word with the I. Sorry. Oh, and you know, I've confused that as well. Yes, because it doesn't listen very well. I apologize. Carry on. 

So Tom's press release said that the name Suri derives from the Persian word for red rose. That's the meaning behind her name. And became probably the most photographed baby in the world. Always across the tabloids. 

Big money. 

We had the photo shoot, the Vanity Fair cover in October 2006, which were the first official release of photos of her. But it was a full-blown media event and paparazzi, they loved it. They loved it. They loved taking photos of her. They loved the cover, putting it on the cover of all the tabloids. And I think it was because she was such a well, so when she started, when she was a toddler, she was so well-dressed, sort of mini-me. And I remember there was a particularly big scandal at one stage because she was wearing tiny heels when she was still, I don't know, four or five. She had heels on and we were all, It's a twister ankle. 

It's like people that judge babies when they've got their ears pierced. 

Yes, it was just like that. 

Yeah, same sort of thing. And like to each their own, I'm not going to tell you how to parent your child. I did see footage of Katie Holmes with Suri as a baby. Well, I was doing the research for this and the paparazzi as she was moving just in and out of the car to the front door of whatever shop, hotel, whatever it was in New York City. And it was horrific. horrific to just see the intensity and the amount of people that they need to employ to just separate them from the paparazzi to get them from car door to shop door was insane. Just insane. It's a baby, you know. 

Oh, we were obsessed. We were obsessed with what she wore, what she ate, what toys she had. There were reports about her wardrobe being worth thousands. She was dressed in designer brands. So what? Her parents were rich. 

It's all bankrolled by the Church of Scientology. 

This was early celebrity kid becoming a brand. 

Was she like, is Suri Cruise like the equivalent of Scientology Jesus? Like the Messiah in Scientology form. Being with Tom Cruise being, you know, and then with his virgin bride. I don't know. You know what I mean? 

There was speculation that she was hidden for months after birth. There was wild conspiracy theories about her even existing. 

There was like a Christmas story, like John Travolta in his Battlefield Earth costume as Turl the alien comes down and says to Katie Holmes, you will have a child and it'll be the Messiah, the son of Tom. And she's like, oh, yes, my lord, I hear and obey. And then, you know, and then they rode a donkey all the way to, I don't know, the Prada store, and then they wrapped her in swaddling clothes and laid her in Versace. I don't know, something like that. 

Very invasive times, zero boundaries. Obviously, then there is the split of Tom and Katie, 2012, I think it was. And she moves to New York with Suri. And after this, we don't hear much from her anymore, apart from a few public outings here and there. She's trying to live a very private life with Katie. I think, you know, goes to uni, pretty normal by all standards. And I think cut ties with Tom, but I do believe he's trying to get back in her life and reconcile and has been, I think there's something about him taking on a movie role somewhere nearby so he 

can be around Suri. 

Yeah, I think I've read that. I could be making it up. 

You know, I remember when Tom and Katie got together and we spoke about that a while ago and it was, I think, you know, she's obviously glamoured by the fact he's the biggest star on the planet, you know. But **** me, there's a lot to be said for the lamb roast, let me tell you. Anyway, that's it. That's the end of the show. We are done. We're wrapping it up for this week. What do we got next week, Mel? 

Oh, can you believe 20 years since the Beaconsfield mine collapse? 

I'll believe anything you tell me, but yes, I can. believe that. 

We will chat about that. 

Oh, that means that like next week it's going to be all over breakfast television, because who was there? It was Channel 7 of Sunrise Lovers. Kosti and Mel, yeah. 

Oh, I think, yeah, I think Mel was working out of there. For weeks, because it went on for a while. 

That's right. Bill Shorten was out there as well as the union rep. 

Tool, release an album. 

Oh, good. 

Got some new movies. And another book. 

Oh, that's good. Well, that might be a little bit better than this one. So stick around for that. Come and find us on the socials. Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, search for T-minus 20 podcast. You can find us on YouTube as well. You can check out the podcast there. Not a lot of videos. We do it in audio form, but you can see videos of some interviews past that we've done. Maybe, not the Cabrera one. I was still working out the technology, but I'm pretty proud of the one that we did with Courtney Cosack a couple of weeks ago. So if you've heard the interview, go back and watch the interview on YouTube as well. All of that stuff, I don't want to tell you what to do. I don't want to tell you how to live your life, but I do appreciate you downloading us and coming along each week for this little nostalgic ride. And thanks heaps. We'll see you next time. See you. 

Thanks for taking the time to rewind. Join us next time for another Week Fit Was 20 years ago. In the meantime, come and reminisce on the socials. Search for T-Minus 20 Podcast on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.