CULTURAL CAPITAL

0:00How did you want to change the production? tell me what you want i'll tell you why it's not possible i just uh you know trying to look at the angles i feel good i don't feel bad i just feel like maybe the angles could be doing me more favors yeah in what way you're gonna put this on the show aren't you maybe i prefer the way i look straight on versus the way i look from a sort of three-quarter angle that's all i'm saying and then last these clips man you just zoom so close into my fucking face man i gotta to crash assume it's our brand. I stole that from plenty of other content creators who came before us.

0:34That's right. I mean, I started shaving. I shaved today. Yeah, that's good. Because I knew that I was going to be on camera, but then probably not on camera for this episode. Yeah, you're on camera. I know, but anytime I decide to dress good and look better, I notice those are the weeks we don't get clips. And then the weeks where I just roll in and I forget that we're podcasting. Well, you're the captain. You're captain of your own ship, Alex. If you want a clip, You got to come correct and have a clip-worthy take. I got to get these clips. Now you got to do something clip-worthy.

1:11Three, two, one. Kevin. What's up? What's up, dude? How are you? Good. Cincinnati Reds. How are they playing? I think they're all right. I think they're in second place. Okay. Looked it up last night. Okay. Okay. They started off really bad. They've evened out here. We've got a lot of games to play. A lot of games to play. The Mets are the best team in baseball. Thanks for asking. Everyone says you want to be the best team in baseball in Mets. It's a little early. It's a little early, but I believe that this team is World Series bound. Soto come around? The thing is, Soto's not even playing that great, and that's why it's so incredible the pitching has been good.

1:45We put up 19 yesterday on the Nationals. Yeah. Yeah, we put up numbers like that. The guys just are loose and having fun. Yeah. And Soto is not even playing that well. So I think it's, you give a guy like that a huge contract with, I don't know,$800 million. You're, you got a lot to live up to. The aura is impeccable. The aura is a big time. I'm not worried about him. I feel like he'll come around and yeah, I don't think I'm really looking for him to play his best baseball in May. Yeah. That's, that's, that's really not what we're looking for. Got to get my ass to a game. We should go. Yeah. Let's do it.

2:18Good to see you. We haven't done a, a mano a mano pod in a minute. Probably about a month. About a month. I feel like the sort of new sketch is working for us. Yeah, I think the guests are doing good. We like the guests. Yeah, we've come around on the guests. We used to say we don't need them, and now we like them. Well, we built a nice core of fans without the guests. Now we have the treat of sharing platforms with our guests. Yeah, and I feel like the guest episodes bring people into the world, you know? And I'm still getting some people - Into our universe? Into the center cinematic universe, yeah, the CCU.

2:53And I, like the Gander episode and like the Lisa episode, like those episodes are still like I'm getting messages and people saying like, love this. So they're sort of evergreen too. That's absolutely where these episodes are very topical. Very, very topical. Yeah. Speaking of topical, I went to Coachella. Yeah. Everyone's, everyone's been waiting for this moment. The Coachella recap. Coachella recap. Yeah. I will not apologize for going to Coachella. No, as you shouldn't. And Kevin, do you like music? I love music. Do you like good weather? Oh, I love good weather. Do you like sunsets? Mm-hmm.

3:24Then you would like hotel. Is there beautiful scenery? Yeah, it's beautiful scenery. Oh, my God. And the internet has made it into something that it is really not. It seems like this super branded, overly douchebag, crowded mess of a festival. Well, a lot of people hate it from outside of the club. They can't even get in. That's precisely right. And it's really well run. It's fun as hell. And I did go weekend two, which I hear is the more chill weekend. Like weekend one is when all the like celebrities go and all the influencers. And so maybe that was my experience as my first Coachella sort of was not sort of with the masses.

4:00So, but that's good for me. I mean, that's what I'm looking for. It was also 20 degrees cooler. Oh, very nice. So like the first weekend was like 100 something degrees out and ours was like, you know, 7580. Oh, wow. It was perfect. What a treat. A real treat. And then I did see that they had Stagecoach. Did you see this? No. It's like country Coachella. Oh, yeah. I'm aware. Yeah. So they do essentially three weekends of Coachella. Is that? Same place. Same place? Same exact ground, same exact festival, same exact everything. Oh, wow. It seems like. I bet they're raking in the money. That's what I'm saying.

4:36Biggest three weeks of their freaking year. Just throwing some horses on some shit and eating out some cowboy hats and just round the duck. I mean, that's smart. They already have it set up. That's what I mean. brilliant it's fucking brilliant damn three weekends in a row yeah and hundreds of thousands of people i mean that's the money they make i mean my credit card just looking at the bills yeah but you know it's just like you know beard coachella food food food it's just like charges of 60 dollars just like just up and down the fucking statement a bunch of 60 dollar charges a bunch of yeah just dozens of 60 dollar charges racking them up uh so that's what it's like if If you love$60 charges and beautiful sunsets and warm weather and music outside.

5:18Any highlights? Yeah. I mean, Lady Gaga, one of the great performers of our time. Charlie XCX, one of the great vibes. Yeah. Green Day. I forgot that they have so many songs. Yeah. They got a lot of songs. Surprisingly fun. T-Pain, one of the greats. It was fun. It was fun. Any lowlights? No. Not too many lowlights. It was mostly fun. Did you see anything unexpected or something that took your breath away? Oh, man. Or did you see a lot of influencers? I mean, listen, everyone's taking pictures of themselves, right? Everyone's fitted up. And it's like, does that person have 100 million followers or do they have 100?

6:00I don't know. Who cares? They all look good. Everyone's having fun. All right. That's good for them. So you went to Tulum. Yeah, I will not apologize for going to Tulum. what was uh i'm pretty sure that you know similar um similar range of disrespect activity oh yeah beaches tequila and uh yeah i don't know it was good i had fun you know i liked swimming in the ocean that was that was cool um it's a nice i will i have to put this on blast but the uh the flight down you know super easy very good very very good jfk to tulum there you um however the flight down was not very chill what happened i could only describe it as nightmare blunt rotation um people yeah of people um there were perhaps six bachelor bachelorette parties going down um there were a lot of uh a lot of people yelling at the gates not not not like uh not actually yelling but like talk yelling i could hear everyone's conversations through my headphones i was just trying to vibe out listen listen to my podcast just lots of yapping going down um but ruin the ruin the flight i mean not really it was it was bro it was chill like nobody popped off or did anything crazy or you know but it was just like holy shit i do not want to hang out with these people and i didn't see any of those people in saloon so that was great yeah when i went it wasn't so crazy bad with like american tourists at least or new yorkers i remember when I went a couple years ago, I just felt like everyone was there.

7:39We were a little off the beaten path too. Do you say by the beach or in town? We were kind of on the outskirts of town. And then we had rented some scooters, you know, scoot around a little bit, went to the beach. We had a nice Airbnb with a good pool. Sounds delightful. Yeah, it was real nice. We had a bartender come through on Saturday. Made us a ton of tequila drinks and then hit us a cenote. Yeah, I got a little scratch on my nose. I was diving trying to see the cool rocks down under and kind of lost track of where I was and kind of came up and bonked my head, but that's okay. The cost of doing business.

8:18Yeah, no, that's what happens, man, when you're out there swimming in those cenotes. Kevin, I have to put you on a blast first because I mean, one thing, you've been doing a great job here in the clips and the podcast and the writing, just crushing it on all levels. Last week, you did something that is truly iconic, which was you took off friday which i knew you were taking off which you had put in and i was like and then on thursday you were like you hit me up like i don't know exactly what time but like somewhat midday and you're like yo i got a bunch of stuff ready i'm editing the pod i got a bunch of lines and shit like this for this project i got all my work is it cool if i take a half day or leave a little bit early right no on thursday no no no no what did you say you're like i'm gonna take off or I'm not going to be online for a little bit.

9:03I don't think I admitted to any of that, but basically I flew into Tulum. I started working on the flight. I was listening to the pod. I was scrubbing. I was taking notes. I was trying to figure out some clips. They were a bit complicated. They were long. There were multiple parts where I was like, oh, is this good? Is this good? But I I got in and I sat my ass down at the bar and started drinking Modellos. Okay. Yeah. And I did three hours of pretty vigorous clip editing. Also, I'm not saying you weren't working. I was just saying that you were like, hey, I'm going off the grid. And I was like, okay, cool.

9:40And then you said, do you have any Tulum racks? And I was like, yeah, of course. I got some Tulum racks. I was like, when are you going? Assuming that you were going in a couple months or so, you know, in the future. and you were like, my flight is at 3 o 'clock, which honestly is just like absolutely legendary. You're remembering it a little bit wrong. It was the day before. I didn't request any time off. Oh, it was the day before. It was the day before. I'm sorry. I'm going tomorrow. Sorry. You're going tomorrow? Yeah. Going tomorrow. Okay. Listen, it was legendary. And so maybe I'm exaggerating just a little bit.

10:15Yeah, you're exaggerating a little bit. Just a little bit. But it was still a legendary move and you still got all the work done. but um listen well done uh the real big question i have for you kevin 100 dudes or one girl what do you got oh i think uh i think it depends about the dudes you know i think the original tweet is they got to be about that shit right yeah who was the person with the original i'm not quite sure yeah i didn't i didn't locate it i was off the grid uh like you said i was off the grid um when the tweet first made landfall i was only there to see the uh the aftermath and the debates and which actually been very good.

10:47I've seen a lot of good content. There's been some AI simulations of how that would go. There's been a lot of people coming up with strategy and who's going when. It's good. It feels like a good unification on the internet. We're all aligned that this is a possible thing and we can do this. So the internet is a line that 100 men could take down. 100%. Yeah. 100%. But they got to be the right men. See, I disagree. I'm watching a simulation and I'm seeing this gorilla take care of these guys. Because I think the problem is the hundred people are not going to be able to fight a gorilla at the exact same time.

11:25So it's really, you're only going to get like five, six, maybe people around a gorilla. Gorillas are fucking huge, dude. Listen. This simulation I'm looking at is this gorilla is taking care of these people. I know, but the simulations don't account for, A, the dog in these guys. Who says these guys have dogs in them? Not the AI simulations. They don't. Pat McAfee said, I'm going with 100 guys if they're from Chicago. So now we're putting stipulations on the guys. Well, it's got to be the right guys. If you take 100 designers and put them against a gorilla, that's easy for the gorilla. The gorilla is going to fuck everybody up.

11:59So graphic designers have no chance. That's what you're saying. I'm saying if you sit at a desk all day, you're probably not in the 100. You know? Yeah. This isn't like... I'm out of it. I don't want to be a part of it. If you take a collection of 100 random guys, I'm totally team gorilla. But if you curate it and you come in it with a tactical mindset, I think we could get it done. I mean, there's a startling amount of scientists and anthropology professors that are... Oh, so a bunch of nerds? Yeah. Like I'm reading this article from Forbes. Bunch of haters. Is Forbes weighing in on this? Forbes is, this is where the article is.

12:37And it's like, I think all these people are saying, I mean, it seems pretty unanimously that people are taking the men here. Well, we have to. Yeah. We're going to dog our own, the human race. We're going to say we can't get it done against one gorilla. Come on. I mean, Mr. B said he's down to make a video of this. Yeah. I mean. Jeez, I don't know. I just feel like the gorilla is going to be able to take these guys on. Listen, we're smart. We're smart and we have opposable thumbs. They're strong as hell. I don't know. I just feel like - Yeah, but they don't have the tech. 100 guys. What are the guys going to do?

13:14Go for the eyes. Punch them? Go for the eyes, disorient them. With what? Their hands? Our fingers. Yeah, 100%. Their fingers. Take out the eyes? Yeah, take out the eyes. But the gorilla's just going to start running around. so he'll tire himself out eventually i don't know maybe maybe he'll think once we get the eyes he'll probably think that everyone's gone like if these are ufc fighters then i feel like maybe this is a stand a better chance but these are just average joes well yeah i don't see it i don't yeah see this simulation you could throw this is you could throw 200 average joes in there and the gorillas to probably get it done the simulation i'm looking at is how i visualize it in my head which is it's just this giant sea of people and the gorilla is just swinging his arms and just taking out everybody that's how i see it but i mean listen i'm in the minority here i guess yeah but i love this kind of debate on the internet it's really great i mean it's it reminds me of like are there more wheels or doors on them you know on planet earth it's pretty good i think there are more doors i feel like there's a hell definitely way more doors right for sure yeah i mean this is the kind of stuff that really gets the people going.

14:22But I'm here for it. And listen, I miss it too. All of a sudden this pops up and I'm like, where was I? I guess I've been busy. I guess we've been working, Kevin. Speaking of work, Kevin, Pope Francis died and the kerning on the tomb is a travesty. Sad. Sad. Couldn't be us. Yeah. I would never kerning the Pope's tomb like that. And I'm not even a designer. It's a real fucking mess. Somebody's got to pay for this. They need to redo that ASAP. I like the V in it. Speaking of ASAP, it's got a V that just looks cool. Yeah. It's kind of crazy. They just carved it into marble. Didn't he just die? Yeah.

14:59He died like a week ago. Damn. They got this design project briefed, finished, and shipped in a week. RIP to the goat. I mean, this is just what happens when designers move too fast. That's the real lesson here. This is when you overlook design and typography. They probably didn't hire the right guy for the job they probably hired some budget-ass typographer and it was a sprint they're like oh yo we're gonna need to do this in a sprint format and they're just like all right cool and they picked the typeface and they just threw it down and i mean the difference the distance between the r and the a is insane compared to the rest of the other letters i mean it ain't right i mean this is uh he's rolling in his grave yeah i mean i just don't understand what happened here approved it yeah who proved this i mean somebody needs we need answers and somebody needs to pay for this this is unacceptable latin is dope though the fact that it's just like you know whatever franciscus or whatever just i mean it just looks cool as hell even with the have you seen uh have you seen some of the fits the decorum and you know just the whole pageantry of the entire like you know haven't it's it's pretty crazy oh i did see some of their photos yeah those photos that that uh sort of just all these people lined up perfectly in these crazy things say what you will about the catholic church but the cardinals, they get some fits off.

16:12They're looking good. The fits go hard. You bring up a good point. Yeah, no, it's sad. It's sad that the kerning is bad, and it's sad that Pope Francis, and it's sad that he won't be alive for Fyre Festival 2. That's the real thing. Died just a little bit too soon. He may have made a comment on it. He popped off in his last little... Oh, he said something about Billy? No. In his final address, he was spitting some facts. Oh, really? I didn't see his last speech. This is probably a top fact spitting Pope of all time. Oh, really? Yeah, he was laying it down. How long before we get a new Pope? I think there's a whole process, from what I know from Catholic school.

16:55All the cardinals are going to get together, and something with like, they burn the ballots, and if the smoke's white, there's a Pope. If the smoke's black, there's no Pope. Wow. It's been a minute since I've boned up on my electoral college. I mean, you sound like you got at least a decent amount of information here. So I'm impressed. Yeah. We should talk about Fyre Festival. We got to talk about it. R.I.P. Because we've been a fan of Billy's work for a long time. Yeah, we've been big Billy advocates. Yeah. And Fyre Festival, obviously, sort of a bit of a debacle, but not Billy's fault. Really, truly.

17:32No, if anything, it was that damn advertising agency. it was Matt Project yeah and fuck Jerry they did too good of a job promoting the festival and like how was he supposed to find how was he supposed to live up to that yeah exactly with musical artists for a music festival out of control that's too crazy the expectations were way too high but yeah that's a problem and so as we all know Billy did go to jail for a number of years for scamming the good people that were paying money to try to go to this festival he did his time yeah justice was served i mean i watched both documentaries it was the weather the weather remember it was like it was a wind and then it was rain and stuff it was really tough i mean yeah uh but so billy has been going around town talking about how fire festival 2 is real this time is real it's really going to come out and uh it was supposed to be like this month or it was supposed to be pretty soon if i recall correctly and i've been starting to feel like maybe, just maybe, that this wasn't going to happen.

18:37I don't know. It was just something inside me that said, the fact that they don't have any artists, the fact that they're still holding out some information on the people, I don't know. It just made me start to get dubious, feel dubious about Billy's ability to pull off Fyre Festival 2. And so it's not a huge surprise. But unfortunately, this week, he released a special announcement on April 23rd that did say that Fyre Festival 2 was not going to happen and that he was selling the brand. Damn. And when I say that this announcement is iconic, I mean, the first sentence is, when my team and I launched Fyre Festival 2, it was about two things, finishing what I started and making things right.

19:28And when I say he did neither of those things, it is to start this press release. It was out of control, Alex. He couldn't help it. And he's been bringing honesty, transparency, creativity. That's true. That's a whole bunch of facts right there. He's taken the long road to rebuilding trust, momentum, and proved one thing without a doubt is that fire is one of the most powerful attention engines in the world. That's the line I was talking about. The man is nothing but consistent in his absolute bullshit. And, you know, he's – but it's a movement. And he has decided to say the movement is bigger than one man.

20:10And he has decided to sell the Fyre Festival brand, its trademarks, IP, digital assets, media reach, and cultural capital to an operator that can fully realize its vision. I love cultural capital. Yeah. Yeah. That's something you can really put a price on. That really is something special. So yeah, I think Billy finally realized. And what's really great is that he couldn't just hire someone that could pull off this festival and still be involved. He has to get out of the way completely and not be a part of it whatsoever. I think it makes sense. I mean, Fyre Fest 2 is bigger than Billy McFarlane.

20:45And I think if you love something, you got to set it free and it comes back to you. It was meant to be. Isn't that what they say? I could save this festival though. I could do it. I know I could. If somebody wants to help me do this, if we can get some capital behind me and my brain, I think I could save this festival. Should we start a GoFundMe? Should we start some - Oh, yeah. Yeah, we should get some money. That could go so hard. I am really interested to see who will fall for this and who will buy it. Yeah, I can't wait to see how the story unfolds. First order of business coming from the desk of Kevin.

21:22Yeah, yeah, what do you got? We're holding this in New York, and it'll be one day. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We got to set expectations a lot lower. No one said that it needed to be an island. It just needed to be a festival. I think that was your, that you bring up a great point. I think he was trying to do too much. Yeah. He was doing way too much and it wasn't going to happen. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Talk about trust. I mean, like, I mean, they were, people have already been burnt once flying to an island for his festival. We got to fish where the fish are. We just need people to not have to, To assume that people are going to get on a plane for Fyre Festival is maybe asking a bit too much.

21:58Listen, you sign like, I don't know, you sign like 100 Gax and maybe like Joey and - Yeah, some internet people. Yeah, some more niche internet artists. Maybe you get some headliner like Danny Brown, JPEG Mafia. Okay, okay. Maybe either or, maybe both, Freddie Gibbs. I don't know. I think you can make it happen. But what happened to that person who bought the Prometheus pass? That's what I want to know, Kevin. Oh, they're fucked. Remember when Billy was running around talking about they secured one Prometheus pass? It's probably Billy. Yeah. It was$1.1 million. So who got screwed out of that? I don't think we'll ever know.

22:35I think they should rightfully be ashamed of their purchase. Yeah, no. I think this is all leading to just a small setback for a massive comeback. I am pretty interested to see who will buy this, if anyone. I think The Onion or those guys, the birds aren't real. I could see that. That'd be cool. Some sort of highly ironic group of individuals. Yeah. I mean, listen, I'd love to see it. I'm rooting for it. I'm rooting for Billy and we believe in you. And I just think this is probably the right way to go out. to the supporters, believers, and builders who've stuck with my team and I. I just also want to say something really quickly.

23:20You didn't do anything. At no point did you achieve anything other than being an absolute mess. They tried. Just an unmitigated disaster. It was such a mess that two documentaries were made for it. So the fact that there's any part of this press release that is a victory lap is hilarious to me. Well, you know, you got to take a victory lap before you secure the victory. Yeah. So they'll pick the new group based on their ability to execute the vision of fire in a transparent, grand, and expeditious matter. Expeditious. Yeah. Do you think you get Andy King? Yeah, that's a good question. Do you think, is he still on the team and is he in this package?

23:59He better be. Because I'm only in if Andy King's in. Yeah, at any cost. Do whatever it takes. Yeah, the next chapter of fire will be bigger, better, and built to last without me at the helm. So, listen. I mean, that's probably the biggest selling point right there is without him. Yeah, no. No, it's clear that Billy can't be involved in any way, shape, or form. Yeah. So we'll have to continue to see where this goes. And I think there's still hope that FIRE can turn into a global force in entertainment, media, fashion. CPG. Oh, CPG. They need snacks. That's what they're missing here. I mean, it would be kind of a FIRE brand to buy.

24:32Yeah. If I was poppin', I'd totally buy it. FIRE, festival, protein, popcorn. Exactly. That's what he needed. He needed a line extension. Which brings us to our next topic. Chloe Kardashian is here. Kevin, you know how we've been talking about protein? Everyone wants it. Everyone wants it. It's in our bars. It's in our sauces. It's in our drinks. Nobody wants seed oils either. Yeah, no one wants seed oils. Protein up, seed oils down. Protein popcorn. Chloe's Cloud Protein Popcorn. With no seed oils. A snack that delivers exactly what its name promises. Made with whole grain corn kernels grown in Nebraska.

25:08Cloud is non-GMO, gluten-free, kosher, crafted without seed oils, and a single serving contains seven grams of protein. God bless America. Wow. Wow. I'm just going to say it. This is a good idea. Yeah. I'm just going to get ahead of this one. The design is good. The name is great. The packaging is solid. Turn to Darkworth. Didn't expect them to be associated with this. Good for them. Yeah. They're the ones that did this. And the people want protein. Give them the protein. I'll say good job on this one. I think that the protein enrichment here makes sense. I read a little bit about some sort of like whey protein type powder that's going to be incorporated in some of the popcorn, which I think is a brilliant idea.

25:51I think a lot of the other protein-announced foods maybe fall short, maybe with applications that don't make as much sense. But I'm here for it. I've heard a shout-out Andrea from Snack Shouts. She said it was good. She said it was delicious. Not a direct quote, but she had it and she enjoyed it. Yeah. Chloe, send us some popcorn. I mean, I'm here for it. I'm here for the sweet and salty one. I love sort of kettle corn. That's, that's, let me, it's only, it's exclusive at Target. So I can get this in, yeah, about an hour. So we'll have to try it. We'll have to try it on the pod. We'll have to give it a go.

26:26I mean. A boomer doom. Yeah. Boom, boomer doom. What happened to them? R.I.P. We didn't talk about Hornbulls Chornbulls. Oh, we didn't. Yeah. That's protein candy. So. Yeah. I like the name. Yeah. I love the name Hornbulls Chorambles yeah shout out Dayjob yeah Hornbulls Chorambles I haven't said it out loud it's fun to say Hornbulls Chorambles Hornbulls Chorambles yeah I mean as far as yeah naming go I mean they're off a lot of fun with that name too delivery let's see if we can get these 6pm I can get it today oh wow sweet and salty add it to the car a little Khloe Kardashian cloud popcorn probably should have thought of this earlier so we could do it live on the show Kevin but hey look always next show we're just getting going here with this podcast in year four you know we'll get ahead of this yeah it'll be great Yeah, it'll be great next week.

27:09I'm also going to say something I've said before. The Kardashians, great branding. Yeah, they're very good. They're good. And I'm not necessarily saying that they're particularly great at it, but they're great at surrounding themselves with people that are great at it. They're like Phil Jackson. They are. They're like the Phil Jackson. Is it the coach or is it the players? I don't know. It doesn't matter. They're all winning. Skims, winning. 818 Tequila, winning. Kylie Cosmetics, already won. Sprinter, hardly even know her. Lemmy. What is Sprinter? It's Kylie's Hard Seltzer. Oh, yeah. Okay. Got it.