EarzUp! In-Depth | Episode #96: Bye Bye, Jer!

[00:00:00] What does filmed for IMAX mean? It isn't just a movie that'll look great on IMAX's

[00:00:05] screens. It means that hiding from a sandstorm feels like fear in every

[00:00:10] flicker and every triumph is felt in every sound wave. And the things we've

[00:00:17] only imagined, you can truly experience those too. That's what filmed for IMAX

[00:00:23] means. Get tickets to experience Dune the Disney world that I can't cover on the main show and it is kind of fun to do. So we'll see. I don't know.

[00:01:40] Did any, I'm just curious.

[00:01:41] I can't even imagine anyone would,

[00:01:44] but did any listener reach out and be like,

[00:01:46] I'd love to go on?

[00:01:47] No, no, no, no we go. That's it. That's our circle and then it gets even worse That's right That would be amazing that would be absolutely amazing Brian sorrow in the in the chat says I'm irreplaceable. That's true. Jeremy is irreplaceable, but

[00:03:01] You know still replaceable at the same time apparently Oh man. Well look, this is Jeremy's last show in case anybody has missed it. Jeremy has decided to retire. He's going to go work for inside the magic and, you know, far better pay probably, but you know, you can't beat the companionship. So there you go. Yeah. No, Jeremy's, Jeremy's off to greener pastures, mainly just getting beaten down at work. So

[00:04:25] basically you're traveling like the whole next month. very funny because I knew it was going to happen. I did it on purpose because that's the only way you can deter. Yes, that's right. I'm the stick off the tree that pokes the turd down the, down the hole. You know what I mean? Yes. I've always thought that it's fun. It felt good. It felt funny. What sort of things are people saying? You know what? That's a good question. Most people, hell you sw? Is this person really serious and like getting at it? You're flex? I don't know, man. Oh, someone said facts. Yeah. And then someone else said, yo, mama, how dare you insult a true classic? And I said, classic just means it's old and past its prime. So you're really going, you know, the thing is, you're really going in like you're defending it.

[00:07:00] You have to.

[00:07:01] And you're not.

[00:07:02] But like a lot of people will just not respond.

[00:07:04] Yeah.

[00:07:05] Well, those people don't and we heard about news. Yeah. You want to go first? You want to take it away? We'll leave the second line down the street. Yeah. All right. Go ahead. A universal rating this film's no longer got because they use the word hot and taut. Have you heard about this?

[00:08:20] Oh, I don't even know what that means.

[00:08:22] Well, then that's sort of part of this whole thing.

[00:08:24] But anyway, the British film industry or the British Board of Film Classification sort of like in the climax of the film when they do step in time and he sees them all dancing. Well, he freaks out and he exclaims that they must be being attacked by Hottentotts. Okay. He's like, Oh, we're being attacked by Hottentots. And then he loads the cannons with the fireworks and shoots them at the chimney sweeps and they all go diving down into the chimneys. Wow.

[00:09:40] Hottentots is a word used to describe the Koi Koi originally attributed to this group but also had a negative connotation, it's sort of not so great that it's used. So the film uses two instances of Hottentot's, according to this BBFC spokesperson. The other time is, I don't really remember

[00:11:01] this, but I remembered the first one that I just described to you when he says we're

[00:11:05] being attacked, but there up to this scene,

[00:12:22] she powders her face with dark powder because she wants to match the soot that's on the chimney

[00:12:28] sweeps.

[00:12:28] Right. I do think these things need to be sort of contextualized. It is a 60 year old movie. We've evolved. I'm happy that they're not going back and editing the film. I don't think that that's right because I don't think you should change art. But if we need to give a little bit more context around that and say, okay, this was okay then. Because I think what the UK,

[00:13:40] the British film council is saying is like in the movie,

[00:13:42] he's not corrected.

[00:13:43] And so therefore we have to provide that context

[00:13:46] because in the movie someone doesn't come along and say,

[00:13:47] hey, Admiral Boom, don't edit it. But it just doesn't up into a PG rating. Doesn't seem like enough. Doesn't seem like a providing context. Just limiting people. I don't know. Well, that's true.

[00:15:00] And actually the guidelines in the UK, a PG film, a child doesn't need a guardianship,

[00:15:08] doesn't need print. First of all, he's built a boat on the top of his roof because he's out of his mind. He's, I mean, he's kind of, they're sort of making a joke about dementia. I mean, he, and, and if you think about the timing, okay. So he sees a group of people sort of what he perceives to be like right. Or attacking, right?

[00:16:20] It's late 19, it's 1910.

[00:16:22] It's late at wordy in England.

[00:16:24] He's a retired Admiral.

[00:17:21] Kind of funny. Yeah, it is, I guess.

[00:17:22] Dan's in the chat and he asked the question, are they being too restrictive or not restrictive

[00:17:27] enough?

[00:17:28] I don't know.

[00:17:29] I don't know how to answer that.

[00:17:30] I don't think they're being restrictive at all.

[00:17:33] But I guess my point is changing it from G to PG isn't, it's not going to do anything.

[00:17:39] And then saying it's because of this word that is now considered a slur.

[00:17:44] It doesn't, it's not, it's not achieving the desired effect. when he's like when he when they're in the Emerald City and they're waiting to get let in by the wizard because that's the first thing the line he says what puts the hot and hot and hot. Interesting. So. Yes, he has a kid. All that stuff just goes over my head. I'm like, I don't know. Yeah, I saw it and I was like, I don't know. Yeah. But then again, I saw Blazing Saddles as a kid. I had no idea what was going on. So like I just maybe I was a dumb kid.

[00:19:01] I have no idea.

[00:19:02] No, I think you were just a normal kid and you're like,

[00:19:04] I don't know. What is that?

[00:19:05] But there are also like I'm a kind of kid is Disney board of directors sends letter to shareholders highlighting clear progress made and promises kept as it executes strategic transformation. That is the title of this, this you know, assertion just promises kept like that is such a political politically charged statement, but also just like a dumb, I don't know. See, we did it guys. We told

[00:20:25] you we would, and we did. And, and I voted. Oh yeah. And I made a TikTok about me. Because I voted against every single, every single, every single Disney thing, cause they'll tell you on the thing, if the board is for or against the vote or whatever. So it's like this person who's ordering the boat, they're for.

[00:21:41] Disney is for the weirdest stuff.

[00:21:43] They are for not disclosing their political donations.

[00:21:47] So I vote against that is nuts. Those are people who don't, they, they hear AI and they go, Oh, it's easy. It's faster. Oh, okay. Let's do that. But she's a lot of work that goes into AI, but also it's strip mine from other people's thing. The best use for AI found is memes. Like I saw one where someone put Michael Jackson, but as a

[00:23:03] teenager, Ninja turtle.

[00:23:05] And it was very funny.

[00:23:06] It was very well done.

[00:23:07] That was great.

[00:23:08] Great.

[00:23:09] There you go. stock. Yes. And isn't that like necessarily not the best thing? When do we learn in trickle down economics where if the big corporations made more, they're going to pay people more. But what we've been seeing in the last 10 years is that's not the case at all. They just buy their stock back to protect it and then don't spend that money and like, you know, paying people with their worth or anything. Yeah. I mean, it's still, if you're under

[00:24:24] paying people, like I don't think it's necessarily it's like, it's like so out of control. All these people who had jobs, they were all that's out of control, you know, come on. We don't need that many jobs, right? And it's on track to meet or exceed its cost cutting target of $7.5 billion by the end of fiscal year 24. Disney also reaffirmed it's on track to deliver 8 billion in free cashflow.

[00:25:41] That's insane.

[00:25:42] And to reach profitability in its combined direct

[00:25:44] to consumer streaming businesses income in quarter one And if so, which one? Here's my thing on Disney stock. I had 10 shares. I sold half of them to buy some other bank stock or whatever. Not like I know anything about anything, but I'm holding on to half of my shares because once I think Disney, that Disney Fortnite starts happening, I think that's really gonna, that's gonna be a good propellant for the Disney stock.

[00:28:22] But at 110, I don't know if that's worth buying.

[00:28:24] I don't know how high it'll get.

[00:28:27] But I think you're probably better off seem to be like most stocks that haven't gone out of business, it seems to be a good long-term investment. Yeah. And I say that about the Fortnite thing because that's what spiked it up to like 110, 111 bucks and it's sort of hovered there. So I feel like that's the new plateau. And once that moves forward, because Fortnite is a billion dollar industry, that is going

[00:29:43] to be, that's going to be nuts when that actually happens. Probably ever but not on the network. Maybe if he's lucky. Let's see how the second half goes Yeah, welcome back everybody little apropos music for Jeremy

[00:31:05] Haunting mansion II well, they're going to have to get $8 billion in free cash flow.

[00:32:22] Of course, prices are going to go up.

[00:32:24] Yeah, sure.

[00:32:25] But Chargi, have you seen?

[00:32:26] Let's just pause for one second.

[00:32:28] Let's do that. And you just and there's a person just walking along and it's just people standing there like this and they're in the lightning Lane they paid for the honor to be there. I would be ripping that I would be ripping life apart You don't even understand what would be going on. So help me figure out the might lay like It it has a having having never used it. Does it give you a time to come back? I don't know. Yes

[00:33:42] I yeah, I think it does. I think it gives you time someone in the chat. Let me know you confirm that

[00:34:40] You're coughing.

[00:34:43] Well, especially for like a two minute ride.

[00:34:44] And you're like, okay, there you go. That was, that was two hours to get a thrill on my leg.

[00:34:49] Yes.

[00:34:49] Dan says it gives you a time to come back.

[00:34:51] All right.

[00:34:52] But it's, it's not just that you chose to wait in this line.

[00:34:56] You paid to wait in a fast line and that's the line they're giving you.

[00:35:01] That is that, I mean, that's fraud.

[00:35:04] It's certainly, um, service is not rendered for payment.

[00:35:08] Like you're not giving me what I promise. you count is $30. That seems, that just, that fundamentally knots my stomach up as a consumer, as a lover of the brand. It's like, that's just not right. There's gotta be something we can do. What are we paying this money for? And I say the Royal Week, cause I'm not doing it. What are we paying this money for if it's not fixing the fundamental problem

[00:36:21] of too many people, the lines being too long.

[00:36:24] And what can you do?

[00:36:25] I don't know.

[00:36:26] If people are willing to pay it,

[00:36:27] then they're just gonna keep accepting their money. Outland. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Text it to me. OK. I can't find a piece of paper. Because of Disney's dynamic pricing, which changes, it's kind of hard to measure the exact figures about how much the pricing has gone up. But we'll give you some examples. Some single day park ticket prices have gone up 10 dollars a day

[00:37:40] in this new pricing structure that goes into effect January 1st, 2025.

[00:37:45] Here's an example in late August.

[00:37:46] Disney's Animal Kingdom single park one day tickets. people would stop going to the parks nearly as much and it would sort of decompress the parks a bit. But the opposite seems to happen where the more you charge, the more people are going. You just look at the lines and the crowds. That's what I'm hearing a lot since the parks sort of opened and the restrictions have come off the parks from lockdown.

[00:39:01] That it just seems like it's more packed it look like the parks are more crowded. And also Disney is incentivized to inflate and this has been accused of this and there've been examples that people have published where the standby posted weights aren't actualizing at.

[00:40:20] So maybe it says 120, but it's actually 90.

[00:40:23] And so you have Disney's incentivized to that used to be there. I guess it's not there anymore. And through the food cart, like that is, I don't know. I would see that. And I would just get out of that whole area in general. I would just flee. There's two minutes, too many people. So you just, I don't know. They're backing up the line. So, but then I wonder if the lightning lane is moving faster than the standby

[00:41:41] line because the people paid for it.

[00:41:43] So the line stacks up, but it's not that bad.

[00:41:45] But even though that's bad, I don't care.

[00:41:47] I don't care if it's a 10 minute has been below inflation or the, the increases have been below inflation because the Euro, it's interesting that they're publishing this. So it used to be that they would announce a price ticket increase. And the next day it was effective. We're finding out about this. That is a weird strategy. Sales. That is weird.

[00:43:01] Like in a year from now, it's going to be,

[00:43:03] I wonder if it's maybe like you're they know not everybody's going to use, obviously, because not everybody's going to want to go to water park. But I mean, when does the average person check in three to six o'clock at night? Who's going to go to a water park at night? Well, the water parks close at five. Okay.

[00:44:20] Well, see there.

[00:44:21] Yeah, there you go.

[00:44:22] So that is so already, it's something free to do, and you can sort of like enjoy and relax and whatever. So that is cool. I'm interested to see how that affects the water park attendance and how many people you,

[00:45:40] that's the thing,

[00:45:41] I would love to know the internals on this.

[00:45:42] What are the numbers?

[00:45:43] How many people are at the park?

[00:45:44] Are they trying to increase the parks?

[00:45:46] Are the water parks close at five, I believe. Rob, google.com. Yeah, also Rewind. Yeah, Rewind, Robert. Good gravy. Very dairy. Okay, so that's it. Prices increases are coming, but it's been a little while since we've had them. That's good. And also, you know, bad.

[00:47:01] Jeremy, I know we were talking before the show

[00:47:03] that you've heard about this story

[00:47:04] and you didn't read too much into it.

[00:47:05] And of course I had read nothing about it.

[00:47:07] So we're gonna learn together. doing, but I personally, that would be such a bigger leap of faith that I'm willing to give the general population. Right. I can't, I don't, I trust everyone with nothing. I don't trust anyone. It's like, I don't believe anyone, anything anyone tells me. No. Yeah. If I'm choking, I'm going to Heimlich myself. Thank you very much. I don't trust you. Yeah. Just wasting time and giving

[00:48:21] me a stomachache. Yeah. Appendectomy. No I guess without reading the story, I'm trying to think of like where the cross-contamination happened. But some of the food- What about the batter on the onion rings? Dairy. Yeah. Milk usually. Well, no, yes, because I think you would have to dredge it and like with chickens, like buttermilk or whatever. Anyway, some of the food delivered lacked allergen free flags, but the waiter again guaranteed the food was allergen free.

[00:49:42] Okay. So they didn't market as allergen free with the flags, which is what you're supposed

[00:49:47] to do, I guess.

[00:49:48] Right. I'm associated with multiple hospitals. The lawsuit alleges Raglan Rose failed to properly train its staff, that the employees failed to properly warn Tank Swan about allergens and her food, and that the employees failed to prepare the food without allergens as requested several times. The lawsuit also alleges negligence by Disney Parks and Resorts, since it has control over the restaurants and policies at Disney Springs.

[00:51:02] We were talking about this in the Discord earlier today,

[00:51:05] where who's on the hook for this? It's a tough one because it is like you've given them a lot of like just get a salad. This is and this is what I don't. Vegan and nut and dairy. This is what I don't want to let it do. Yeah, but it's like, you know, she should be able to go out and enjoy her life and eat at a friggin restaurant if she wants to. And if got you. And she trusted them. But also imagine being that server. Oh my God, I would feel terrible. I mean, it's not the server's fault. And maybe it is, who knows? That's the thing, that's the investigation needs to happen. It's like, I don't know. It's like manslaughter. You know what?

[00:53:40] It would feel like that.

[00:53:42] To me, if I was in that position,

[00:53:44] I don't know what I would do.

[00:53:46] I would rot in my bed for a week.

[00:53:48] I don't know. I know. Uh, speaking of pay, uh, this is an article comparing character pay, comparing character pay at Disneyland and Walt Disney world as Disneyland performers seek to unionize. I think this is a fascinating article following the news that Disneyland's 1700 character and parade performers are seeking to unionize. An article from the orange County

[00:55:04] register points out some comparisons in the differences between the minimum wages and cost of living and housing in California and Florida for cast members. California's minimum wage is 16 bucks an hour with the hourly rate set to increase to 18 in 2025. Florida's minimum wage is $12 per hour with

[00:56:20] the hourly rate set to increase to 13 in September. amount of cereal in their boxes, raised their prices and bought back a bunch of their stocks

[00:57:41] and laid off a bunch of people

[00:57:42] and then they hit record profits.

[00:57:44] And then the CEO comes out and says, I was like, well, can't your union get you like a fan? I mean, what is all this for? Worker rights, man. Yeah, for sure. I have the right not to sweat off 10 pounds a day. Yeah, I mean, this is what it was all the muckrakers. This is what was all founded on was like horrible conditions in New York City and getting people and like you're sweating all day. What's going on here? It's a hundred years later.

[00:59:02] Also like in a hundred years, that's where we came from.

[00:59:04] From like breathing in cold dust and having miners work unless you're going on the property because you're on property. How is that going to affect traffic? So Disneyland has addressed that. Apparently there was some sort of like public hearing about it. And let's see the biggest issue that people have that residents have is magic way, which runs to the South of the Pixar pals parking garage connecting Walnut street and Disneyland drive as part of a presentation to the Anaheim residents and officials today,

[01:00:22] which is yesterday, Disneyland said that updated Story parking lot. Another part of that plan expansion runs underneath an apartment complex on Haster street. Disneyland officials emphasize that Disney is not proposing and has no plans to obtain or remove those

[01:01:41] apartments. Okay. Well, there you go. And lately, the past six months, there's been this kid who has a dirt bike and he rips around the neighborhood, no helmet, doing wheelies. And it's like not street legal,

[01:03:01] no license plate, no helmet,

[01:03:03] and just like full on extended,

[01:03:06] just like wheel him down the road and I see him as he's rounding the corner and I just take the

[01:04:21] hose and I just hose him down as he drives by. the magic for me. They don't even have a clean place to pee. I used to stare up at spaceship Earth in wonder, but Zach Ridley's disco lights are just a big blunder. They installed new lighting in the core of the park, but after five nights more than half of them went dark. Then there's the much touted Moana's Journey of Water. After five months it started to falter. Guests that EPCOT this week were perturbed, and now there are

[01:05:43] signs saying the attraction's being refurbed. and more silly. There's more to this world, architecture, music, and art, better than paying to see show buildings that look like Walmart. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention you, Jace. Miss doing the show with you no matter what happens. It was fun. It was a good time. And it was a good time for us to be able to sort of expand on our knowledge

[01:08:22] a little bit about what's happening in the parks

[01:08:24] and sort of bring a little bit, like we're

[01:08:26] saying earlier in the show, right? There's so much weird stuff to do that I feel culturally devoid of, I don't know, of life if I just spend it all at Disneyland.

[01:09:40] Disneyland's cool.

[01:09:41] I love it.

[01:09:42] The history there is undeniable.

[01:09:44] It's amazing.

[01:09:45] It's really cool what a wasn't, you know, you look at the new edition in EPCOT France I know I'm very EPCOT centric or Disney World centric. So those are my examples But yeah, and they put Remy into EPCOT France the architecture isn't even architecture half of it is billboards it's two-dimensional just like they just put up fake like it's not buildings and

[01:12:22] From the side you can see the supports. It's just it's just literally it's like a cardboard cutout

[01:13:24] Um, I, yeah, I, yeah, it's, uh, strange. The whole thing is odd, but hopefully moving forward in the next 10 years, things

[01:13:29] will be a little different or whatever.

[01:13:30] Or maybe there's a vision that we're not seeing who knows.

[01:13:32] Or maybe they've just taken a different direction and it's just, there's a time

[01:13:37] and a season for everything.

[01:13:39] And I did it and now I'm moving on.

[01:13:42] And that's okay too.

[01:13:43] That's healthy for you.

[01:13:44] Unlike me.

[01:13:45] It was clinging to every last Patreons.

[01:14:43] Did Iger bought Marvel, like Lucasfilm, I know those are different, but isn't that when he bought,

[01:14:46] made a bunch of those purchases?

[01:14:48] Yeah, I mean, it was all during that, yeah.

[01:14:50] So I wonder if that's like, we're gonna buy this,

[01:14:54] so budget cuts have to start here

[01:14:56] because we have to pay off all this debt.

[01:14:58] I wonder if the purchase of Marvel and Lucasfilm and Fox

[01:15:01] has impacted the parks in that way even earlier

[01:15:04] than like maybe we really knew about. It was made 16 years before I was born. People can like things that aren't made the minute they woke up that morning. Like, um, but there's this new sense in, in, in companies, a lot of companies today that you have to be relevant. And I think they think that they sound smart, but they're actually doing a lot of disservice to their, I mean, these are amazing places.

[01:16:22] Look at, and look what they've done to Epcot.

[01:16:25] It's so bad.

[01:16:27] It's unspeakably bad.

[01:17:25] Yanni out of there seeing that people taking pictures. No, but I want to know if I get flagged or like

[01:17:28] Chat saying Iron Man came in 2008

[01:17:32] Purchase of Marvel's 2009. So I think I'm thinking of like

[01:17:35] Lucasfilm 2015 I don't know that's these things got to play a part in it these big purchases or whatever which we well it certainly

[01:17:41] It's a focus for the company if they take hate it so much. That's strange. I don't like it. He's not using his fingers. He's using his thumb to come over and nail all the chords.

[01:19:03] I just don't like it.

[01:19:04] But his hair is friggin amazing. We record on a separate night now, so it's like eight o'clock our time still. So it's not like two o'clock your time. And we're like, I got it. I got a war. Right. It would be, it would start at midnight or one o'clock. Yeah. And we do it like on like a Friday. Oh yeah. I was fun. Friday nights at 11. Jeremy's not going anywhere folks. Don't worry about that. I'm just on the secret.

[01:20:21] I'm behind a paywall now.

[01:20:23] You got to pay for this premium content of Jeremy.