Happy 4th of July!

Full Episode Transcript

In this episode of Filmmaker Commentary, hosts Reginald Titus Jr. and Casey G. Smith address their recent absence, announce a new consistent publishing schedule starting with the 4th of July weekend, and share a wide-ranging discussion of recent film and TV shows they've been watching, along with future podcast plans.

Podcast Updates and New Schedule Announcement

Reginald Titus Jr.: What's going on, y'all? Welcome to Filmmaker Commentary. I'm Reginald Titus Jr. I'm joined with Casey G. Smith.

Casey G. Smith: Welcome back.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Good to be back.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh, so this is a a special announcement.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh, we ghosted our audience.

Casey G. Smith: And we apologize.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Sorry about that.

Casey G. Smith: So we are still here. Things have been busy. We still been recording. We have we have a a slew of episodes that are going to be going up. So we didn't stop recording, it's just things get hectic.

Casey G. Smith: But we appreciate you hanging in there.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes. Um, so starting, so we're going into the 4th of July weekend, and our first episode back, will be this coming up Monday. We're recording today's Friday. So this Monday, we'll publish a new episode, which is in Scream 2.

Casey G. Smith: Scream 2.

Reginald Titus Jr.: So, obviously, content from from back in October, so we've got some more scary movie stuff coming your way for sure.

Casey G. Smith: Mhm.

Reginald Titus Jr.: And the goal is just to get caught up, you know, so that we're in current in current times. So if you go back and look at that, I don't know if we should keep the news in there.

Casey G. Smith: We could probably nix some stuff.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Nix some stuff, yeah.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah, we can keep what what we had been watching at the time, and we we'll take out the new segment, um, and of course, cover the the film.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. Yeah. It'll be interesting going to go back and kind of just listen to it to see what, like, how we were mentally and everything because, I mean, at the time, everybody was like scary, you know, even.

Casey G. Smith: may just keep it for context, I mean, because every episode becomes old eventually, and the news is will always become old.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Facts. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's archival historic.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. So that's the new schedule. Every Monday, we'll be publishing a new episode from here on out. Uh, we definitely appreciate y'all supporting us, rocking in there, and even shout out to Reginald for reaching out to us via LinkedIn, being like, hey, what's up guys?

Casey G. Smith: Yes, super fan Reginald, we appreciate you. Thank you so much for for reaching out.

Reginald Titus Jr.: So, what else would you like to add, brother Smith?

Casey G. Smith: Uh, also, we we we are super excited again. Even though we hadn't had content going up, we still have been working on the podcast. We've been actually making plans for for new things. We're almost like gearing towards a a relaunch, if you will, almost like Filmmaker Commentary 2.0. So there's some exciting things coming. Uh, hang in there. We're we're both amped. We're both very, very excited.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes.

Casey G. Smith: about the future of Filmmaker Commentary and uh and just more things to come. So we hope you are we hope you're safe. Uh, we hope you are, you know, beginning to to to to feel comfortable and and and and getting out and and, you know, you know, going to see movies and whatever the case might be or consuming content whatever way it works for you.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.

Casey G. Smith: And uh we we definitely want to we want to hear from you, right? We want we want to to to to interact with you. So, you know, you know the normal spaces to to to find us, you know, obviously facebook.com/filmmakercommentary. Um, obviously on Instagram at filmak commentary. Of course, you can always find Reginald at Reggie Titus. Uh, I'm at Casey G. Smith 32. Of course, on those are on Twitter and then, of course, on the gram, he's at Reginald Titus Jr., that's Jr. I'm at Casey G. Smith 32.

What We've Been Watching Recently

Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, before we head out, what have you been watching?

Casey G. Smith: Oh, oh so much.

Reginald Titus Jr.: It's been a minute. It's been a while.

Casey G. Smith: Man, so if we are going back to when the last episode.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Well, just just a couple things you're excited about about that.

Casey G. Smith: Um, okay, so things that I've watched that I've really really enjoyed.

Reginald Titus Jr.: I've been meaning to watch Loki. Have did you have you watched any episodes yet?

Casey G. Smith: I have. Yeah, I I finished episode 4 last night.

Reginald Titus Jr.: I've I've seen just the trailers and kind of been anticipating it. And then, you know, shout, you know, everybody, we my family recently moved and so that's a whole ordeal. If you have to move, that always it's good and bad, you know, trying to pack up and then unpack.

Casey G. Smith: Settle in. Settle in.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Man, so we're there now. But yeah, that's one I've been meaning to get to. How has it been get so far?

Casey G. Smith: It has been good. It is different from any other of the Disney Plus each one is different, right? The way that it's set up, the way that it's

Reginald Titus Jr.: WandaVision.

Casey G. Smith: Exactly. The the the themes, the the genre if you will is is different. I don't even know what what genre you would call this one. But yes, it is good. It's it's a little more cerebral.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay.

Casey G. Smith: and it is setting up some it's setting up some pretty big things, but time is like the the underlying theme of Okay. of Loki. It's time because obviously this is the Loki that, you know, who picked up that Tesseract in Endgame and shh we're we're with him and there are there are consequences when you play with time.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay.

Casey G. Smith: So, yeah. Yeah, it's been it's been very interesting. The it's the heads up, the third episode is a little slow.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, man.

Casey G. Smith: But beyond that.

Reginald Titus Jr.: How long is each episode?

Casey G. Smith: I want to say like 45 minutes on average.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay. Okay.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah. But yeah, third episode is a little bit slow, but so far, fourth episode, there's a post-credit scene in the fourth episode. You have to see that.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay.

Casey G. Smith: That's wow. That's a it's a game-changer.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay.

Casey G. Smith: It is a game-changer. But yeah, so Loki's been good, man. Loki's been good. Uh, other content, again, I enjoyed season two of of a Black Lady Sketch Show on HBO Max as well as uh that damn Michael Che. Uh, which is, of course.

Reginald Titus Jr.: For real?

Casey G. Smith: man, I I don't I don't really dig his stand-up. I saw a a stand-up special with him on Netflix a couple years back. I I wasn't really feeling that, but his stand-up special, excuse me, his his his sketch show is pretty good. There are some there are some pretty some pretty funny scenes. And usually there's like a theme, right? There's a theme that goes kind of throughout the show. So yeah, I I enjoy again, six six episodes.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay. What network?

Casey G. Smith: HBO Max.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay.

Casey G. Smith: And and and multiple times, like he's taking like shots at the at the network. It's like a thing that, I don't know if HBO encourages that, but you you see that at times like different shows are like literally taking shots at the network. Like it's it's kind of funny. I mean, John Oliver does the same thing. I'm like, I think they may.

Reginald Titus Jr.: They just do that to make fun of themselves and for Yeah.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah, I think they they like, yeah, take shots. Go ahead, do it.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Boondocks was like that. Boondocks, the the animation. Uh, um, Reginald Hudlin was the executive producer and they there was a whole episode. That's on HBO, by the way. They picked that up.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah, there's a lot of content there.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, Reginald Hudlin was making fun of himself, like just going hard. They call him like Wedgie Hudlin or something like that as his character on the show. He was the executive producer of that particular show. But he, you know, being able to take shots at themselves and BET and all that, it was like, wow.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah, yeah. And that's you know, that's the self-deprecating humor. It it's it's pretty funny though to to see. But yeah, but those have been two or three things that I've checked out. How about you?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, I was just talking about, we were talking about, um, Rick and Morty season 5.

Casey G. Smith: Season 5.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Watch that one. Mr. Nemesis Nimbus.

Casey G. Smith: Nimbus.

Reginald Titus Jr.: So, I mean, it's Rick and Morty, it's funny and gross. Yeah, it's uh came in like nothing happened, you know, like it's just regular programming as usual. So.

Casey G. Smith: Oh, yeah.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, I'm trying to see. Um, oh, um, you know, Joe Rogan's on Spotify. On Spotify, they have video now. So he just recently did an interview with Quentin Tarantino. And Tarantino hardly ever does like just long-winded interviews. Like he's he's newly married, got a kid now. So he's just at home with his kid kind of thing.

Casey G. Smith: Wow.

Reginald Titus Jr.: And it was a great it's a great interview for just film nerds. So I recommend if you sit down with Joe Rogan to talk, you're there for three hours.

Casey G. Smith: Sure.

Reginald Titus Jr.: And Tarantino is a perfect person to talk about movies for three hours.

Casey G. Smith: Cool.

Reginald Titus Jr.: So, it's uh, it's a good one. Yeah. Pretty solid.

Casey G. Smith: I saw a a a clip on YouTube of that but I I hadn't look I didn't look at how recent it was. So yeah, I'm definitely interested in in checking that out.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, sometime last. Was it last week? I wonder how quickly they publish. I don't know if like from when they recorded to publishing, I don't know what the delay is in there, but you know, Joe Rogan is on Texas now. So the guest are different now, as well.

Casey G. Smith: Okay.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh, and Tarantino just recently rid wrote wrote a book about Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Casey G. Smith: Okay.

Reginald Titus Jr.: So, his movie. So.

Casey G. Smith: Interesting.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes. Definitely gonna check that out.

Casey G. Smith: Awesome. So I I watched a show on Netflix that again, we were talking about offline that I really, really loved. Uh, it it was amazing vacation rentals. About eight episodes, first season, brand new show. And I know I mean, I don't just watch travel shows like that, but this one just caught me and it's beautifully shot, and you have three three hosts. They're all traveling together. They're super diverse. One one always always selects a luxury property. One selects a a DIY kind of budget property. And the other always selects a kind of a mid-range, kind of more like natural kind of property, kind of down to down to Earth or connected to the the Earth in the environment. But they're all traveling together. And so within each episode, you have three different spots they're all going to go to together. And they're always be some kind of adventure that they have, but they check out all the amenities. It is just it's phenomenal. I absolutely loved it. And just the the the hosts that they selected are perfect. I mean, they are perfect. They all they all get along. At least, you know, on camera, they're eating amazing food also while they're there.

Reginald Titus Jr.: That's the best.

Casey G. Smith: Uh, it's just it's just wonderful entertainment. You feel like you are on the, you know, just along with them traveling. It's it's great. It's great. Yeah. Amazing Vacation Rentals on Netflix.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Like, speaking of food, there was, I'm trying to look it up now. On Netflix, they had a show about like black food. And they were promoting it.

Casey G. Smith: Yes.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Do you know what I'm talking about?

Casey G. Smith: I think it's like two of them. Uh, one is like something with like the the the the hog or something like that or something's like like or fried, fresh, frying crispy or something.

Reginald Titus Jr.: I don't know what you mean, though. I think there's like maybe like two of them that that are dealing with uh that kind of it's African-American. Well, but they they travel all over. So that's High on the Hog. Yeah.

Casey G. Smith: So there's High on the Hog.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh-huh.

Casey G. Smith: Uh, how African-American cuisine transformed America.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Is that the one that you're watching?

Casey G. Smith: No. Um, but I I's one of the ones that I knew that was African-American.

Reginald Titus Jr.: That's what it is. Okay. High on the Hog. Yes. I just forgot the name. That one is solid. I would recommend checking that one out. You know, just just to credit to American cuisine. I'm trying to say cuisine. Cuisine that uh African-Americans have created but don't really get credit for. And uh I I think it it's it's a good history lesson to see where things come from because the more you know and the more informed you you understand, it's like you can just make everything starts to making more sense. You know what I mean, when you're more informed about what's going on, especially when it comes to historical things. Like, hey, why do people do that? Why do they do that? But when once you know the history behind that, you're like, okay, you can make better decisions, as well.

Casey G. Smith: Context.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes, indeed. What were you about to say?

Casey G. Smith: The other one was called uh called Fresh Fried and Crispy.

Reginald Titus Jr.: I haven't seen that one. Is that an episode or is that the actual show?

Casey G. Smith: Uh, it is a show.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh.

Casey G. Smith: Season one. And so this brother's going around and eating all kinds of stuff different places. St. Louis, Savannah, Las Vegas, Baltimore, San Diego, Denver, Birmingham, beans, greens, potatoes, tomatoes.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, Lord.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Speaking of speaking of of of that particular riff, uh, Jamie Foxx's uh dad stop embarrassing me. Dear God. I need to finish it, but I'm like six or seven episodes in, but I I I haven't finished it yet. I kind of fell off of it. But uh, yeah, I need to I don't think it was renewed either for what I've seen. Yeah. Yeah, y'all correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure it did not get renewed. Me and my wife tried watching it to be honest. We couldn't get through it. I'm just being real.

Casey G. Smith: I need to finish it, but I'm like six or seven episodes in. Yeah. But I I I haven't finished it yet. I kind of fell off of it. But uh, yeah, I need to In fact, he was trying at times a little too hard. Like like kind of try shoehorning, he's again, great impressionist. But it felt like sometimes he was trying like too hard to work in some of those impressions at different times.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. It's like, feel a little forced.

Casey G. Smith: It's like, feel a little forced.

Reginald Titus Jr.: It yeah, the whole thing felt like that. Like, I'm hamming it up a little bit too too much. I always like David Alan Grier. You know, he's gonna give you that. I just think the like the whole sitcom vibe to it. I think those days are kind of over. You got to, I don't know. Yeah. Like that style.

Casey G. Smith: Canned laughter, the laughter track.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, and WandaVision kind of like played with it and stuff like that. But when you have a reason for doing it, it like makes sense. But yeah, I don't think that sitcom is a thing. Yeah. You can, I mean, you can keep your budget low when you do it, but yeah, I'm not a fan. Sorry, sorry Jamie. I'm a friend of you. But just the show was I couldn't get through it. Keep it real.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah. Maybe that's why I fell off. I was like, yeah, you know.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. People, it's funny. Um, we vote when when, um, I will say like kind of like with Black American audiences. We don't like kind of go out of our way to kind of talk bad about a show. But like the silence is loud.

Casey G. Smith: Silence speaks volumes.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes. So like when, for example, when Bad Hair came out. Was it Bad Hair with Justin Simien? When Bad Hair came out on Hulu. Like they were it was a big build-up because they went to Sundance and all that stuff. But when it finally dropped, people just didn't say anything.

Casey G. Smith: Ooh. Again, if there's nobody saying anything about it, that's yeah, that's the worst thing.

Reginald Titus Jr.: But there was a lot of buzz though. It was like a lot of buzz, you know, during I think it was Sundance. Was it Sundance? It was either Sundance or South by Southwest, but I'm pretty sure it was Sundance. Uh, there was a lot of buzz around. I was like, oh man, I can't wait to see it because of, you know, it's kind of a twist on everything. But once we finally, the audience, the general audience got to see it, like everybody just like, do Just.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah. Killed it. Dead on arrival.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, they just like, you know, we're just not gonna talk about it. You know, you don't wanna go out your way. It's like, it's hard enough that for, you know, black people to get a get a movie or a show or whatever. Okay. It's like, wow, that's what it felt like.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah. Yeah, it's uh uh it's not easy, right? I mean, these things are not easy to do.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Not at all. And you you know, you got to have some room to have some duds too, you know.

Casey G. Smith: That's true.

Reginald Titus Jr.: You know, nothing's wrong with having duds. It's part of the game. But you know, don't let that be the reason why, you know, shows or movies don't get greenlit. Well, we tried that and.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah, there's been plenty of failures. And it takes it takes a it takes failures.

Reginald Titus Jr.: That's the part that sucks, you know. Yeah. Um, I'm trying to think of anything else that I've that I've seen that was just. There was another show that was kind of like a sitcom that they were showing on Netflix. The trailers with Michael Epps and.

Casey G. Smith: Oh, with Kim Fields. And Wanda. Yes.

Reginald Titus Jr.: And Wanda Sykes, right?

Casey G. Smith: Wanda Sykes.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, I haven't seen an episode, but that's you and me. But it part my tablet. Yes. Uh, that one actually seems like they captured the magic. I'm just making assumptions based off the trailer though. But I want to I want to dive in there and see. Seems like they were having a good time.

Casey G. Smith: See what's what.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. I'll let you know. I'll keep you all informed.

Casey G. Smith: Any movies?

Reginald Titus Jr.: Have I seen any movies? No, I don't think so. Kind of. Oh, I know, uh, we're going to cover Constantine soon. But I had to watch it. Still solid.

Casey G. Smith: Okay.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Still solid. Good, yeah. I've never watched it. So for real. Never Yeah. Never watched it. Yeah, and for a treat. Yeah, I like the genre.

Casey G. Smith: Oh, for real? Never yeah, never watched it. Never watched one Keanu. All right, all right.

Reginald Titus Jr.: So yeah, look forward to covering that film.

Casey G. Smith: Constantine.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, so uh, I brought my wife in to watch that one. I'm sure there's a lot more that we've watched. I just can't remember.

Casey G. Smith: Likewise. Again, I've I've seen the things that I've dropped on like HBO on HBO Max, things like that. And some things we've already talked about and recorded and and and that's just haven't been produced yet. So they're Yeah. there are things.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, there you go. They are things.

Casey G. Smith: There are the virtues, Father.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. The other movies that I missed the war that I missed the battle.

Casey G. Smith: But uh yeah, it's is there anything you're looking forward to? Anything uh on the horizon?

Reginald Titus Jr.: No, I don't think so. I watched Ghost World. How about that? Ghost World. That's one of Scarlett Johansson's first films. And man, that came out like 99 between 99 and 2001, around that time. I think we're we're like we're close. We're like the same age, I believe. Yeah. So that's when I first got, I was like, who's that? Who was this? Scarlett? Who was this? Uh, Ghost World. Uh, I think it's on HBO. It's on one of the networks. But it's I wouldn't recommend it. For all that build-up. I mean, as a younger guy, I was watching this and, you know, kind of it's one of those like awkward kind of comedies, you know, coming of age story.

Casey G. Smith: What was a comedy?

Reginald Titus Jr.: It's an awkward coming of age sort of comedy based on the graphic novel called Ghost World, which is basically two girls trying to find their way after high school.

Casey G. Smith: Okay.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh, nothing too exciting. It's just it's it's like one of those nostalgic things. Like when I watch it, I'm like, oh, it's almost like Can't Hardly Wait, that movie called Can't Hardly Wait.

Casey G. Smith: Oh, I remember. I was uh in high school when that came out. It was one of those, yeah, again, coming of age.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. You know, Jennifer Love Hewitt, uh Seth Green. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Casey G. Smith: Jennifer Love Hewitt, uh Seth Green. Paul Rudd.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.

Casey G. Smith: Before before they were stars.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes. Kind of thing.

Casey G. Smith: I saw that in theaters.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Dang. But that's a good one. Can't Hardly Wait's a good one. That's a solid piece.

Casey G. Smith: I haven't seen it since high school.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Well, there's no need. Probably wants to revisit it, but I just it's hadn't uh, just hadn't. Yeah. Actually, I watched that thing over and over again. Yeah, it was a weird part of my life. It was about a like a year after graduating, going back to watch it. It's like, let's watch it over and over. Yeah, we all have our films that call us back. Yeah, that was a weird one. But I enjoyed it. But any any how, Ghost World's kind of like in that same kind of style vein. Uh, but the comedy it's not as funny. Even though it's a comedy, you know what I mean? It's like kind of dark humor.

Casey G. Smith: Really? Yeah, we all have our films that call us back. Hmm.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, it yeah, I it's hard to explain. But um, but yeah, it's based on the graphic novel. So any how.

Casey G. Smith: Ghost World.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, I just recently watched that. Um, I'm trying to see. It's the only film that I can think of right now that pops into my head.

Casey G. Smith: I know I've seen something.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Something.

Casey G. Smith: Yes. I've seen some movie. I watched again, I've kind of just been dipping into things that I could quickly that I could quickly kind of jump into, check out and then, you know, move on. Yeah, grab an episode or something here or there. Like there's like on Netflix, something like on like like there's history. Like little bits of history. And so I watched one episode that dealt with the the space race. Uh, that was that was actually pretty, pretty interesting. But uh.

Reginald Titus Jr.: There's a uh on Netflix. I watched this morning with my son. Dude, they really he's really into, um, what they hate about why everybody hates Chris? Oh, yeah. Dude, that one's solid. That show is solid. If you go back and check it out, it's like themes, lessons, and it's well produced. I I see why it was a hit, you know, when it came out. Um, but I've been what have I been watching alongside that? I lost my train of thought. But everybody hates Chris, that has been hilarious to just watch with them.

Casey G. Smith: Oh, yeah. Dude, that one's solid. That show is solid. Some shows are I think are, you know, some are some are evergreen.

Reginald Titus Jr.: That one is for sure. Because it because it goes back in time.

Casey G. Smith: Sure. So I literally just today just today before I I came here. Um, you know, on YouTube, Hasbro, they have literally a channel that just streams GI Joe. Like original old school GI Joe.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Damn. All day.

Casey G. Smith: All day, every day. And it's all it's just

Reginald Titus Jr.: That's like Adult Swim. They have like marathons all day.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah, and it's just GI Joe and it's like And so, I was like, you know what, let me just drop, you know. And again, you could like just scrub back and, you know, 30 episodes or whatever to find, you know, find something. And so one of the things that I I appreciate about that cartoon, like if you were to if you were to watch, you're like, man, this it's it's got obviously it's got action. It's got diversity. You know what I mean? I mean, like, you know, as far as like, you know, different genders, obviously, different different races, things like that. And I could say maybe it doesn't seem too overly stereotypical, but that's for each person to to judge, you know, on their own merits and, you know, your your background is. But diversity is definitely there. You you you deal with like some kind of complex things. I mean, they're talking about terrorism, right? A ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world in Cobra. Military tactics. You're talking about even like costs. Like one of the one of the pilots was, you know, his plane got shot down and he was like, oh man, he goes, Duke's going to get mad at me because, you know, this is the third the third one this month, you know. Like you're talking about military budgets, like, what what's going on? You got these elements of romance that are mixed in. You didn't know that was even in GI Joe. 100%, right? You've got you got this flirtation that that goes on kind of throughout between Duke and Scarlett. And everybody's like, okay, are they, you know, there's something there, right? But, you know, you don't really see anything like really, really happen. But you definitely have a a a ship, if you will, between Flint and Lady J. No doubt 100%, like they they got something going on. You could you could tell like when there one is in danger, how the other one goes runs to the like, they're together. There's even a there's even an episode where one of the other Joes, like Lady J literally asked at the end of the episode like, oh, so who wants to take me on a walk on the beach or something like that. It's one dude, Alpine. He's like the he's like the he loves to talk trash. He even like, he even like bad mouth Flint, who's like his commander. He like said something and Flint was like, what was that like, oh, oh, nothing. And so he was going to, you know, say, I'll take you out. But as soon as he says something, Flint was like, you do that and you'll be court-martialed. Like he like pulled rank on him. And he's like, oh man, and you know, Flint would offer, you know, with Lady J. But there's just like this dynamic, man. And anyway, it's just something that you notice. And even on the bad guy side, right? You got this dude Destro and Baroness. Literally, there's a there's a scene where the head guy, Cobra Commander is checking in with them and literally it cuts to them and they're literally making out like on on the boat. He's like, what are y'all doing? And he's like, oh, uh, she had something to her. It's like, there's crazy it's it's there's there's humor mixed in and even as an adult, you could see thing like, oh, wait a minute. That's that wasn't for the kids. That was for the adults. It's a far smarter show than I think um people would probably realize. And it's it's I mean, if anything, I would say there's there's two episodes. It's called um something Springfield. No Place Like Springfield. It is a mind trip what happens to one particular member of of the Joes who's who gets partially brainwashed and tricked into this fake reality of thinking that he's married with kids. And it is, I remember seeing it as a kid, I was like, what is this? It is kind of psychologically a trip. But anyway. Yeah, a little bit of GI Joe, Real American Hero.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay. All right. All right. That's a that's a Wow. Okay. Wow. All right. Okay, GI Joe. Okay. Okay. Wow. Okay, GI Joe. Okay, GI Joe. All right. That's one of the things I love about the show is because and you and you know, they're they're talking freely, you know, cursing and, you know, things like that. It's just like, they're pretty pretty as real as can be. Another episode, that's what I was going with, um, we watched on Netflix this morning, uh, a show called Pop. P O P, like pop music. Okay, I saw the trailer for that. And you like on the trailer, it's got like T-Pain and stuff like that. So we watched two episodes. The first episode is dealing with Boyz II Men. And just how they were like this powerhouse and they could just really sing and how basically everybody just bit them after that. So like, and they were talking about like what their first song that came out, the Uptop Philly. I think it was that one or or Mountown Philly. I said Uptop, didn't I? Uh, they came out the gate basically crossed over, you know, just because of their look. Uh, Bell Biv, uh, what's our brother Michael Bivins. He ran in the show. He was basically the he didn't discover them. Uh, our brother with the glasses from Boyz II Men, I don't know his name. But he was like, hey, he's like, you can manage us. And then, he didn't really think about it, but he's like, okay, you know, kind of a situation. So he was the one kind of making, you know, their BBD, New Edition all them, you know, they got all the clout. So he can bring any group that he wanted to, you know, to the thing. So any how, that's how they were able to to be on the fast track with things. But you discover like they had their own look, which is kind of like the kind of like preppy style that we that's what we used to call it in school. Oh, yeah. Uh, I used that's like sort of my style, but I didn't wear the bow ties, but, you know, that was kind of like my style in high school sometimes. Um, and that allowed them to cross over. But so they had like this run for like four or five years, I believe. And then, but that was the blueprint for N*SYNC, 98 Degrees, any of these kids. They were basically saying, can you have, we need a New Kids on the Block look with a Boyz II Men sound. That's what they were actively casting for to like have the new Boy bands. Yeah, new boy bands because at that time, everything was like super segregated, still segregated, but like extremely still. Uh, from a radio standpoint, uh, how like the music pop, what the pop charts reflected with the R&B charts, hip-hop, whatever. Sure. Your your Video Soul versus your MTV. In particular radio, particular radio because that changes who you're going to be talking to, all in DJ's and things like that. Um, and then two, you know, when you got your daughter, you know, you don't want her putting up Boyz II Men. You're like, what's that? You know. So they need like some posters to put up. So, you know, that's when you got the New Kids on the Block, not New Kids on the Block, uh, 98 Degrees, N*SYNC, Backstreet Boys. And so it was basically the same style, four or five piece part harmony. Same kind of style. Basically, they took everything and that kind of wasn't the end of Boyz II Men, but that's basically like, they dominated charts for so long, then everybody else. It was it's like they don't get the recognition that they should get for that. But it was it was uh. Boyz II Men is they're arguably my favorite group of all time. Like, I love Boyz II Men. I've I've got I've got their their, you know, their newer stuff. And it's still, but yeah, it doesn't get enough play or whatever. They were gonna come to uh Arlington a couple years back, and they were a show at this small old venue in Arlington. And I was going to get tickets to it, but they didn't sell enough tickets and they had to cancel it. I was like, Dang, Boyz II Men, come on. But yeah, they were like they they like do their show in Vegas, you know what I mean. Kind of like Prince, was it a residence, residency, what they call it when you're performing every day, basically. Uh yeah, I think Prince was out there for a while. Yeah, quite a few. You know, Celine Dion did it for a while. You see some even some of the biggest names will go. That's a hard grind, man. I mean, at least you're in one spot versus when you're touring. True. Different city every night. They didn't do like two or three shows a day. I'm not sure. Oh, that may. But I remember Who's who's the well-known uh magician? David Copperfield. Oh god. I remember going to David. Like the someone like just someone like magical like, wait a second. He's getting lazy. You know what I mean? Pigeon's flying out too soon. Yeah, it was like Like there was a card that was floating but like it wasn't right. Like it wasn't set up right. I think you messed up. It's supposed to look like it's floating. It looked like it like it just doesn't look right. That card just fell. That's all. It was bad. I was like, this is not good. This is He's losing it. He lost it. The magic's gone, Dave. The magic is gone. I remember that vividly. Oh man, it was bad. But the show sounds interesting on Pop. I I watched the trailer for it and again, I know you've got again, Boyz II Men. You know, you said T-Pain. Uh is it is Nicholas Lachey is he the one is he the one kind of is he like hosting it kind of or The guy from 98 Degrees? Yeah. Uh, he was just commenting on how they took their style from Okay. Yeah, they emulated it after them. You know, they were and they looked up to them. You know, that's why they wanted to be uh signed to Motown and all that. Dude, I saw I saw Boyz II Men in concert sophomore my sophomore year of high school. My aunt took me and my sister to the and there's this was like when, you know, two, right? The their second album had been that was I mean that album was that's it, man. you don't get any higher than that, achievement. Man. You know, bend it. so many amazing songs. Babyface had they're writing the ballad, all the ballads was by Babyface. You can't go wrong there, man. It was it was amazing. I think I think at that same one like TLC they were supposed to perform but uh T-Boz was sick. So like they they couldn't but Usher. This is when, you know, he had, you know, you make me want to like, he opened up. Like Montell Jordan was there. Yeah. And then, you know, Boyz II Men, they were the headliner and, you know, they, you know, tore it up. There was a lot of pelvic thrusting. I remember that throughout. Like a lot of. Shout out to Jodeci. Like just like I was like, It's a lot of pelvic thrusting in this concert. That's it. Let's tone it down, guys. But that was obviously for all the for all the ladies. But, uh, but it was cool. But you still, you know, talking like a, you know, magic trick at the end, like they were on this big like, I don't know what you would call this. It's like object that was floating that floats up into the into the above the arena. And then they're still singing, you know, doing, I think they were singing End of the Road, right appropriately. And then it's like, it like flip this thing like flips and turns and like they're gone. I was like, huh? It was cool. It was a cool trip. Yeah, you remember it for the right reasons. Yeah. Yeah. But it was it was a that was a that was a good show, man. That was a good night of just quality entertainment. Quality. Quality. Oh, that's great. Um, so, so that's the first episode and then the second one's like Auto-Tune. And you talking about T-Pain and, oh man, that was that was a good one. T-Pain is just a hilarious guy to interview. He's gonna give you jokes.

Casey G. Smith: Pop music. Okay, I saw the trailer for that. Yeah, you remember it for the right reasons. Yeah. Quality. I bet.

Future Outlook and Concluding Remarks

Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, so yeah, so that's what we're at on Pop. So speaking of shows, what I watched yesterday, the second episode of uh the Barbershop. LeBron. Yeah. And this episode. LeBron wasn't on it. But I I really wish he had been. But even though he wasn't, it was still an amazing episode. They had, uh, Kid Cudi. Yeah, Kid Cudi. They had Draymond Green. Man, nine night. Yeah, yeah. They had Chelsea Handler.

Reginald Titus Jr.: What is Draymond Green on talking about? I'm wondering.

Reginald Titus Jr.: You remember the Nation Pail joke? He said something about like giving me the blackest something. Give me the blackest name or something. You remember that? Draymond Green. I do you remember that? Yeah, I do remember that now. I was like, wait, once he said the once he said the the the the leading, I was like, yeah. But no, so him on there and Tom Brady.

Casey G. Smith: Yeah. So speaking of shows, what I watched yesterday, the second episode of uh the Barbershop. LeBron. Yeah. And this episode. LeBron wasn't on it. But I I really wish he had been. But even though he wasn't, it was still an amazing episode. They had, uh, Kid Cudi. Yeah, Kid Cudi. They had Draymond Green. Man, nine night. Yeah, yeah. They had Chelsea Handler. What is Draymond Green on talking about? I'm wondering. You remember the Nation Pail joke? He said something about like giving me the blackest something. Give me the blackest name or something. You remember that? Draymond Green. I do you remember that? Yeah, I do remember that now. I was like, wait, once he said the once he said the the the the leading, I was like, yeah. But no, so him on there and Tom Brady. Yeah, that's one of the things I love about the show is because and you and you know, they're they're talking freely, you know, cursing and, you know, things like that. It's just like, they're being real. Pretty as real as can be. But no, they get into that and why professional athletes. You know, somebody gets like he said, you know, I get ejected for for a game. You already know I'm pissed off. And then you want to put, you know, reporter in front of me to get my to get my my thoughts and my feelings. Which when I do give those, then you want to fine me for and you want to take my money away from me. Yet when he gives that, when he gives that remark, especially if it's angry, while he gets fined for it, all these other media outlets make money off it because they're going to continue to run that and talk with it and all that. And that's also then brings more tension to the NBA. And they're gonna take money from the player. It's weird. I'm like, that is not a that's that's not a not a good thing. Um, it's not a good system. It it brings publicity and it brings money in certain ways, but the player shouldn't be fined. Yeah, but the player, you know, you do it at you literally are sacrificing the players' money in terms of when you when you do that. You know, we want you to it's like, you know, you don't really want that. You do want them to give the crazy answer because you know, that's going to Yeah, come on, man. You know, you know what you're doing. But it's a good episode, really good episode.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Tom Brady's on there? Yo. Dude, good episode, man. Like I was Some high achievers up in there. Yeah. But like psycho, you know, like they call him psycho Tom. He's like he's there like Jordan for like psycho with winning. Sure. Yeah, from now I'm talking about. Very very interesting episode because you get when you think about Draymond Green about Tom Brady, you think about things like temperament and how they approach things like having to, you know, talk to the press things like they they they get in they get into that. And it's some really good dialogues that that happens. Yeah, that's one of the things I love about the show is because and you you know, they're they're talking freely, you know, cursing and, you know, things like that. It's just like, they're being real. Pretty as real as can be. Neal villain. You gotta creep villains. Mhm. But it's a good episode, really good episode. All right. All right. Check it out. Anything else before we wrap it up today? No. All right. Um, yeah, y'all y'all stay tuned. We're going to every Monday, we're going to be publishing a new episode every Monday starting July 4th weekend. This July 4th weekend, that's actually, yeah, so it'll be July 5th when the when our next episode publishes. Uh, if some of the news, you know, it's a little dated, don't worry about it.

Casey G. Smith: So you get you know what you're doing. Indeed. So we want to tell you that we we we appreciate y'all. We we love y'all. Thank you for the support. Uh hang in there. There's there's there's a a flood of content coming your way.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Exactly. Yes. Yes. Again, it's it's we've got a slew of episodes, uh, over like close to like 30 episodes that have that have been recorded. Again, we've been steady on the grind. Uh, now again as we've kind of been in the lab, if you will, working, rebuilding it, making it stronger. And we got a different sound too. So like we got a new setup. You know, our microphones finally match. Uh, yeah, so I wonder if the sound is going to be that much different compared to our older episodes. We shall see. We shall see.

Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes. Uh, until next time. Peace. Happy Fourth.

Casey G. Smith: Respect.