Ep 196: Dumb B!tch Hour. Special Guest Ted (Not Lasso) on Decentralized Social Networks, Blue Origin Space Flight & Conspiracies, Rippling vs. Deel, Coachella Payment Plans, Chinese Birkin Discourse, Male Short Length

[00:00] Dumb Shower is a weekly live chat on all things tech, crypto and pop culture news brought to you by Boys Club, a New York based media and creative studio. DBH is hosted by myself, Dina Burke and Natasha Hoskins. Hi. Co-founders, marketers and entrepreneurs that have built our careers in new tech and startups. We're also proudly the dumbest bitches in the room and we love to learn in public. DBH is recorded live and best consumed as a video podcast. Here's this week's show. [00:30] you [00:32] Welcome to DBH dumb bitch hour. I actually don't know if we should continue to say dumb bitch hour. I'm concerned about the algorithm. [00:41] Yeah. Not only the algo on X, but also the algo. [00:45] elsewhere where this podcast is distributed. So this is going to just be a little internal conversation whether or not we keep [00:51] the title of this podcast the same or if we need to change it again because I haven't heard about that. [00:57] The one thing that I [00:59] I just like it. I like the title because I saw a few people this weekend and they were like, oh, I saw I watched Dumb Bitch Hour. [01:10] which like, [01:12] My first response is horrified. I'm just like, why were you doing, why did you do that? That's a crazy thing to do. And I was like, what? And I like that I, I, [01:23] there's a coating, there's a blanket of like, [01:27] I don't think I'm a thought leader, OK? Like, I don't think that I'm out here telling people

[01:33] Something that they couldn't learn on their own. Mm-hmm. [01:36] And dumb bitch hour does that for me. Totally. It totally immediately telegraphs that for sure. And it's edgy. And I, I know you like an edge. I do too. I love an edge. I think, um, [01:46] Perhaps there's another way to telegraph that without using a [01:50] cuss word oh my gosh you and the gosh and the cuss word she's she's lived in nashville too in tennessee no i love it i'm all i'm all on board with it i when i find myself saying it i'm like [02:04] Ugh. [02:05] Oh. [02:05] Okay, so TBD there. Maybe we'll change it. Maybe we'll keep it. All right. Agenda for today. We have a lot to cover and we have a very special guest. We're going to talk about the space flight, Blue Origin space flight. We're going to have Ted on Ted Not Lasso, Farcaster Ted. We love her so much. Friend of the pod. She's going to talk about [02:24] social networks. We have a corporate espionage update. The Deal Ripple drama continues. We're [02:32] We have a recession corner, our recession beat. We're going to talk about Coachella and a couple other things in that segment of the show. We have Perkins in China. We're going to talk about Vitalik versus Polymarket and some quick hits to round it off. Before we get started, [02:47] We love Polygon. Thank you so much to Polygon for... [02:52] Sponsoring DBH huge. [02:54] Huge. Huge. [02:56] Couldn't love them more. We have a few things to say, but I do want to say the Boys Club Net Gala, which is in partnership with Polygon, is happening May 2nd. You'll be hearing a lot about it this week and the week's coming. It's a really fun event, a celebration of Internet culture happening in Bushwick. Everybody gets dressed up. It's so fun. And we are still accepting RSVPs.

[03:26] request an RSVP. Kate did a wonderful little video talking about what to wear and it's great. And we can do that because Polygon is such a great partner. Yeah. Just a few more words about Polygon. Then we'll move on to the rest of the show here. Polygon is the proof of stake side chain, totally dominating the payments and stable code game. And they're also the definitive leaders [03:56] and in Web3 generally, polygon.technology is where you go to learn more. Thank you again to Polygon for sponsoring this show. [04:05] Blue Origin. Blue Origin. Let's get started. I think we can all tackle this one together. Blue Origin did their space flight. Yes. Yesterday. No. [04:16] Monday. Monday. It was Monday. It's taken up the timeline. Wait, was it Monday? [04:21] I think it was Monday. I think it was Monday. I got a text from you there. They're headed up or something with a link to the live stream. I think everybody knows what happened here. The PR team went into full gear once the flight happened. Last week, I was like, I've not heard anything about this. This week, it's all I'm hearing about. So Katy Perry, Gayle King, Lauren Sanchez and a few other people took. [04:44] took flight and went to space for 11 minutes. And the main thing that I think came out of [04:51] that is a bunch of memes and some very funny,

[04:56] discourse around [04:59] waste, I guess, like financial waste. I don't really even know how to say it. But anyway, anything to add here? [05:07] before we get into the discourse that happened on the timeline let's talk about the discourse okay so they go to space um i love one one of the really great memes is like when they were entering the um spaceship they all like rang a bell and they all look most of them look like happy and excited and gail king looks so stressed out just terrified beyond belief and um [05:35] Dina said tag yourself. I'm Gail, which is really funny. Um, and then basically they go to space, they come back. Um, [05:43] One of my favorite anecdotes of what happened is that Katy Perry sang in space. And that's why the trip was so quick, because everybody was like, get me out of here, which is a really funny sort of tidbit. OK, next slide. [05:59] And... [06:00] There was some stuff about, I think we should go to the next slide and go straight into white women being really upset about this. Famous, rich, white women not happy about it. So Emily Rogichowski, Olivia Munn, Olivia Wilde, to name a few, like... [06:20] I can. [06:21] all posted a variety of videos or tweets or I don't know,

[06:26] messages saying that they were really upset by this. One of the things Emrata said is look at the state of the world and then think about how many resources went into putting these women in space, dot, dot, dot for what. [06:38] And that was like the, [06:40] sort of sentiment from some people is that this is a massive waste of resources and it's really upsetting and there's so much more that could be done with those resources [06:52] Then Gail responded and basically was like, it's not one or the other. It's yes, and. And basically was like, we're going to... [07:02] Like, this is going to happen anyway. One of the main things Blue Origin is trying to solve for is to find a way to bring waste from the... [07:09] from earth into other places in space and to make our planet cleaner and better and was basically like [07:17] Didn't say this, but in so many words, that's like an anti-innovation stance. Mm-hmm. [07:21] My main takeaway is if you go back to the MRATA slide, then, of course, the Internet pulled up all these pictures of her on private jets in like large vehicles like the Internet is going to come for you. If you're going to make these claims, the Internet is going to come for you and you need to have a tough skin around it and be prepared for that. I personally do love Emily Rogatowski. [07:45] She is what she is. I know you have takes on this. Apologist. We have an Emily Ratajkowski apologist. I am. Okay. I have many takes on this. I mean, the first, I actually have very few takes on the Emily Ratajkowski of it all. My only take is that like if you're, they're going up into space all the time. And this is just like one of many missions. And sure, they made it high profile and they put some famous people in it. But like, if you're against this trip, then you're against space travel in general. Because they got to go up there. They got to try it out.

[08:15] of like understanding how to be in space. So I think if [08:20] it may be emily radichowski is against any space uh any any space exploration and in which case like fine i don't really care i think that the more interesting story for me has been the [08:35] conspiracy theories that it has it was staged that it was staged so this is way more interesting personally emirata great uh cool take [08:45] the stage stuff has been has incredible to see so there's one piece of there's one particularly damning video [08:54] that I should have brought in here, but I forgot. But basically, have you guys seen it? [08:59] The hatch door. [09:00] The hatch door is the smoking gun. Where basically... There's a video where... Okay. It's like the little pod is landed. Okay. And... [09:11] There's like a woman who goes up to the, to the hatch door to like let them out. Okay. And the hatch door, like kind of, [09:18] it like it it kind of like opens inward a little bit like it and it kind of resembles like a [09:24] a camper door like in quality and it like kind of opens inward a little bit and then she closes it [09:30] immediately and like kind of laughs and like walks away and then comes back for like the big reveal [09:37] Okay. [09:38] And then it opens and they come out and they're like coming out with like their hair perfect and everything like that. So anyway, the Internet has...

[09:46] absolutely ran full speed with this clip. [09:49] Because everyone's like, how? [09:52] did the hatch door, why would the hatch door open on the inside? Why would it open so easily as well? And then they like stage the reveal of the astronauts. There's no re-entry like burn on the exterior of the, um, [10:06] thing there's no shots from inside the cabin when they were in there's all there's as you can imagine this is a full Joe Rogan podcast now I'm like I don't know maybe it's oh really you kind of you kind of buy it [10:20] I pulled a bunch on the first slide. I was actually surprised when you search it. That's like the main takeaway. Obviously the memes, but everyone's just like this. I think we're in our own algos on it because everything I'm seeing is Emily Rogatowski. Everything you guys are seeing is this conspiracy theory. The one other thing that I saw that I loved was like, what if we found out that filler and Botox, filler and Botox exploded in zero gravity, which I thought was such a funny tweet. I was like, oh my God. [10:50] right before this slide, I think it was. [10:53] The tweet that says when you find out you weren't in the real group chat because they got to go to space. [11:00] Really good. Really good. Really good stuff. Here next. So. [11:07] She just texted me and said, I'll wait a few. Come on down, Ted. Come on in. [11:13] Also, one more thing on the conspiracy theories. They're like the shot of...

[11:18] the pod, there was no parachute. Everyone's like, where's the parachute? Anyway, if you're into conspiracy theories, I'm super into conspiracy theories. This is a good one to get into. If you're new to conspiracy theories, this is a good one to get started. Okay, Reggie James, I've been looking it up and the door is weird. The door is weird. I actually should drop the link in here because- [11:39] It honestly is so convincing once you see it. The door is what I need to look at. I haven't seen this. Yeah, you need to see the door. And there's also like... [11:46] just the quality of the door. You're like, why is it so... [11:49] Flimsy. [11:50] And then there's a lot of notes. [11:52] What's that? [11:53] I said it's giving Amazon. [11:55] It's giving Amazon. Yeah, it's giving Amazon space shuttle door. Timu space shuttle. [12:03] Okay, I should we move to another story? And then when Ted joins, we can come back to Oh, she's here. She's here. [12:10] Hi! Hey! Ed is here! There she is! How's it going? [12:20] It's good. I realized I was like running out of berries this morning. And I don't know if you can tell, but unintentionally. Wow, we love to see it. Ted, so nice to see your beautiful face. So good to see you and excited to see you guys in a few weeks for. [12:39] Net Gala. [12:40] Oh my gosh. Can't wait. Cannot wait. Ted, do you want to do a quick intro? [12:44] Yeah. Hey guys, I'm Ted. Ted on Farcaster. I recently joined the decentralized social network, Farcaster, which is...

[12:55] Kind of like Blue Sky, but built on crypto rails instead, or Twitter. [12:58] Yeah. Oh, interesting. Kind of like blue sky, but built in. I know that was, that was a choice. [13:03] That's an interesting way to say more. [13:07] - Well, this is interesting. Blue Sky is known for being decentralized. It's like decentralized social. So I feel like people, [13:19] grasp that concept better. Like in the content, like if you're like, oh, Twitter, [13:25] People just like latch onto Twitter and Elon and blue sky is like a much better comparison from a what like decentralized social looks like point of view. Okay. And it's been making the headlines recently. I get that. Okay. Yeah. So speaking of blue sky, we're going to talk about this post first. There's actually a few different social media stories that I want to get your take on. [13:55] And then you say, I have a lot of thoughts on this, but first I want to hear yours. [13:59] First, I want to hear yours. [14:00] I have some thoughts on this too, but tell me, tell me what's going on here. What? Oh, okay. [14:05] I was going to get two cents on what's happening before I hear your take, Ted. But essentially what happened is Adobe got on Blue Sky and had this very benign post that was like, we're here, like so excited to hear from like creators and da, da, da, da. And then they just got like absolutely ratioed and nobody wanted them there. And then they deleted the post and basically like left the platform. And the poor social media manager who was like, new platform was like absolutely destroyed.

[14:35] So Ted, take it away. I want to hear your thoughts. [14:39] I think the best reaction or like the way that I was thinking about this was that [14:45] I think it signals to metas is that humans, social media, [14:51] networks were built [14:52] to connect. And I think this was just like a complete... [14:56] almost like denial of oh we have a corporate brand who's [15:01] technically just like pushes us into a subscription-based model. Creatives have to pay like $25 a month for the lowest tier and then you get locked in and then you can't cancel. And then they're basically like, why are you coming in here and like trying to extract more value from us when this is like a human first people first platform? So that was like number one where I was like, okay, this is just like people revolting against the [15:25] I don't know, extractive value. [15:29] But-- I have a question for you. Do you think that would have been for any brand or-- [15:34] something specific about creators and Photoshop and Adobe Suite? [15:39] uh [15:40] I think it was something specific about Adobe Suite. Like a lot, because especially they came in and they were like, we're here to connect with the artists and the designers and the storytellers. And it was like, basically like, hey, we want to connect with creatives without recognizing that they're like, [15:56] you have to pay maybe like [15:59] $1,500 a year and we won't let you cancel it. And if you cancel it, you still have to pay $750. They don't have any friends. Adobe doesn't have any friends.

[16:06] And they came to a party and they thought that they had friends and they don't. So that's really what it boils down to. But keep going. [16:13] Yeah. [16:13] So that's it. I would say like that was one of the first things I thought. I also think [16:20] recently, The New Yorker, I think it was The New Yorker, came out with an article about Blue Sky [16:26] as well that was like oh decentralized social it was like encouraging for anybody building [16:31] social and crypto because it was praising decentralized social and what it promises but then they also said that blue sky is somewhat of a monoculture and so it was interesting to me that if like you look through the comments and it got fully ratioed you could tell that it was very monolithic like [16:48] Nobody was like trying to... [16:51] play devil's advocate or like push back against bullying adobe off even if like adobe didn't have a place at the table like the point of decentralized social is that you know [17:02] like, [17:03] in theory, anybody can find their community and like doesn't necessarily, this is like one form of like, quote unquote, [17:09] censorship in a way without being like fully centralized censorship. It's like community censorship. Mm-hmm. [17:16] Yeah. And there wasn't like there's not an alternative. It's not like, oh, there's like another culture within Blue Sky where. [17:23] Adobe could go and thrive. [17:25] And maybe that's a signal for Adobe to be like, yo, you've got to change your model or your approach in order to connect with these... [17:33] with this community, but [17:34] That's a little tough. So damning for Adobe,

[17:40] Everyone hates them. Somewhat for Blue Sky in terms of it being one note, I guess, is your take on sort of how people were responding to Adobe being there. What's your take on like [17:57] maybe the fracturing of [18:00] social media, like maybe the fracturing of people and communities into like all these different social media, like places is natural and normal. And like, that's what we're just going to see more of. Like, do you feel like that has truth to it? And yeah, [18:14] If so, like we probably will see more of this or do you think that like [18:18] Thank you. [18:19] Do you think that there's a way to go back to more of like a 2014 social media where we're all in the same soup together? [18:28] It's a good question. And I don't, [18:30] know if we know the answer. I think if you look at a lot of like the meta trends that we're seeing right now, especially with like AI, [18:38] is like it makes any brand or any person just like immediately proliferate a meme like Studio Ghibli. Like literally every single person could participate in Studio Ghibli. And it almost like flattened the meaning of it and flattened [18:52] like the uniqueness of like what makes each of us us. And I think that was [18:58] like that to me is not necessarily a good thing. I think like if you look at a lot of Gen Z consumer social apps, they're actually like reverting back to like smaller communities. Like where do I go and find like-minded people and like meet them in person or like connect with them? Or it's like, oh, let's all be swimming in this like,

[19:17] one large pool where like we're just getting fed ad content and like everybody's [19:24] just to [19:25] different flavor of the same thing. [19:28] I don't know. I almost feel like we're at a divergence where Gen Z is kind of rebelling against this, and there's this whole rise back to Tumblr, and then everybody else is just like, [19:38] slowly becoming. [19:40] the same. Yeah. I feel like what I'm seeing from like new gen social is exactly what you were speaking to with, um, [19:50] sort of like [19:51] these monolithic, like you, you are then in a culture once you're on a specific platform. So like blue sky, you're in liberal world and farcaster it's crypto Twitter basically in like PI.FYI or sub stack. It's like scenes or dime square kids. And like, it's now becoming more and more siloed to these specific platforms. And like, I don't know if that's necessarily a bad thing. I just think it's like, you're not going to be challenged in your way of thinking or, [20:21] the [20:22] Like you're going to show up expecting one specific view and one specific type of community. I think that that could result in people becoming radicalized to their specific worldview or like, [20:33] digging in their heels. But I don't know that like, [20:36] there was ever a world where people's views were actually... [20:40] challenged and then informed. [20:42] on a social platform. Like, I don't know that that actually ever happened. [20:46] Yeah. [20:46] And I don't think it can happen, like at scale it becomes really difficult. So I've been chatting with like a ton of independent writers and journalists who've come on to Farcaster recently. And they're like, oh, it feels like early internet. Like I can post something and people can push back and it's still civil and cordial and like, there's a healthy debate going on. But at scale, I think you'll lose that. The way

[21:09] The one thing that I'm hopeful of, and I don't know if it's possible to do, is like, in theory, if you own your identity, like, let's say this is like back to like, [21:20] If Blue Sky was centralized or anywhere else is centralized, it's like, OK, if you decide you're like, wait, I've actually changed my point of view and I [21:29] want to find like another [21:32] community that's more aligned with my changed perspective, you have to start from scratch on centralized social. And that's really tough. Like you can, so you're almost like forced to stick with the same point of view, because starting over so daunting, whereas on decentralized social, like if you own your identity and you own your social graph, like you can go find a new community and like some [21:53] of your current followers might decide to [21:55] stick with you, but you don't have to start over from zero again. [21:59] So, um, Ted quickly, before we move into this next story that I do want to get your take on, um, what do you, what's your perspective on, on brands, um, [22:09] on [22:09] social [22:11] platforms like Adobe Blue Sky didn't work, but [22:15] Could Adobe come to Farcaster? Like how are you feeling about like setting aside their reputation and their community issues, like just brands on social generally and how Farcaster is thinking about it? [22:27] loaded question. I'm actually going to use Boys Club as the best example. Brand accounts that do the best, [22:34] are like Boys Club or like Duolingo. Like they have a distinct personality and a persona. And so like they're representative of their target audience. And I think those are the ones that

[22:46] absolutely crush it. Another example of this is polymarket. Like polymarket is like super, super unhinged on Twitter. We have a polymarket story in here about them being unhinged on. So get on. Yeah. So that's [23:01] So like, I think that is what does the best because then people can look at it and be like, okay, like this is what the brand stands for. It's like maybe one of the purest forms of brand marketing is like understanding what the vibe and like, [23:14] what the trend is. Again, I think the risk is when brands just hop on these like internet trends or like micro trends, it kind of like flattens [23:23] Yeah, flattens their meaning. [23:26] Yeah. That's my take on it. [23:29] Okay, great. We are not going to talk about this post because we don't have the time. I know we only have another minute with you, but I do just quickly want to get your take on the news yesterday about Sam Altman and OpenAI. [23:42] maybe [23:43] getting into the social network game and [23:47] Just heart take. [23:48] um, [23:49] Okay, hot take is, okay, for everyone, yeah, OpenAI has apparently been, has the first prototypes of a [23:58] social app. [23:59] at least with a social feed in it, where you can generate AI images and share in a social feed. I think that they have to do this because X and XAI combined. And Elon fundamentally believes that social and AI are intertwined in the future. And then Meta is also really leaning into AI. And they all have endless social data to pull from. And ChatGPT doesn't have the same social data to pull from. And so I think they, A, have to do it from a...

[24:29] what resources are we pulling data to inform our models from? And then also I just think it like heightens the, [24:36] the rivalry between Elon and Sam. Now, do people want to be on a social media platform where it's like AI first and you'll probably have to like scan [24:45] your world orb, whatever, in order to like verify that you're human. I don't know. Like, I wouldn't be surprised if there's like a world [24:54] integration with it, but [24:57] Thank you. [24:57] I don't know, like. [24:58] I'm trying to onboard people and people are sick of using more social platforms. Like people are just like exhausted at the number. And so [25:05] If they do do it, I think it has to be built within the chat GPT interface. It can't be like a whole separate app. [25:11] That's my take. I don't know. Would you guys use it? [25:14] that's funny you said that because like when you guys were like oh the poor social media manager there was like oh i thought it would be exciting for a new social i'm like as someone who that's their job the last thing i want is another platform and if i was adobe's i'd be like great they hate us we're off yeah you're like bye bye i think for me i'm like [25:36] Pretty much. [25:37] The... [25:38] Like I'm not looking for another social platform where there's more AI images. [25:44] Like I'm not looking for more... [25:46] of that. Stop. [25:48] Personally human. [25:50] Right. So anyway, that's my take. But, Ted, I know we're at time. Thank you so much for [25:55] joining friend of the pod you're welcome anytime yeah i love you guys um thanks ted talk to you later thank you

[26:05] She's the best. [26:06] She's literally the best. [26:09] Okay, this is me. [26:13] I am going to update you all on the Rippling deal drama corporate espionage update. So the tweet here that I do find really funny. This is from when the drama started a month ago. This is from Son of Ali, who's a great follow on Twitter. She said the deal versus Rippling drama is Kendrick versus Drake for people who find meaning in B2B sales, which is true. [26:43] Sure. [26:44] very valuable multi-billion dollar companies, HR software companies. And this story came out that Rip Rippling was suing deal for essentially, I mean, [26:56] They're suing them for alleged racketeering, misappropriation of trade secrets, unfair competition, as well as aiding and abetting a breach of fiduciary duty. So like basically a ton of stuff. But what it really was is that they had a spy inside of the Rippling house. And so Rippling had a spy in their midst that Deal had, they alleged Deal had hired. So that was the original story. [27:26] And the way that he was caught was basically... [27:30] the team at ripley like the senior management at ripley started a fake slack channel that they like lured him in to make to feed information out of that slack channel to get back to deal so that they could prove that there was an actual mole amongst them so this drama starts to come out and like it's a big story and people are like i can't believe this is happening and then

[27:52] Then what happened is... [27:54] It was like, is the spy going to come forward or not? They tried to... [28:01] like not arrest him, but like detain him. And he hid in the bathroom and then destroyed his phone with an ax, which is just like a side quest. That's really funny. And then basically he had Rippling was like, [28:15] I'm sorry. No, not rippling. The spy was hired by Deal. And so the lawyers of Deal said, like, we'll help you escape to Dubai, essentially. And he decided instead to work with authorities and to come forward and to tell his truth and to tell his story and basically spilled the beans on everything that happened. [28:45] And part of his testimony was that he specifically recalled him mentioning James Bond, which is just so cringe. And then he was only paid $6,000 a month. So he was paid $6,000 a month to funnel messages, data, and presentations from Rippling's Slack, Salesforce, and Google Drive back to the deal team. [29:10] Man, the art of a bad deal. [29:12] a bad deal that guy doesn't know how to negotiate terrible oh my god six thousand dollars a month to like be a

[29:25] corporate spy that's nothing my friend okay really bad yeah so then um [29:32] So then he got caught when he fed the bad data back to Rippling. Deal's legal team said, we'll get you to Dubai. And he said no. [29:42] So then he testifies around everything that happened. And then this week, a new layer to the story came out. So Rippling has been trying to serve the deal CEO, Alex Bases, I think is how you pronounce the name, with the lawsuit. And the lawsuit is happening in Ireland. [30:01] And they have not been able to find him. And he's he's a French citizen. The lawsuit is happening in Ireland. And so they've been trying to serve him this lawsuit. And then basically they found out this week. There was yesterday it came out that he has been hiding in Dubai. And Dubai is famously known for. [30:22] like basically how difficult it is to extra extragate someone extragate extradite extradite okay extradite someone so like the eau is like famous for this it like is a safe haven to many criminals oftentimes um not there's other things going on there but like that's a vibe and he's not the only one in dubai his legal team [30:46] The Deal legal team is also there as well, as well as his father, who is the CFO of Deal. And so and who O'Brien, the spy, is.

[30:57] in his testimony said that his father o'brien was who's the cfo was like the one who was processing the payments he was in on the scheme he's currently on the list also to be served yeah so um and deal throughout this whole time has been saying [31:14] this they had no wrongdoing that they did not do this that this is incorrect amount and that's what's going on so he's hiding out in dubai with his dad and his legal team and they are desperately trying to find a way to serve him and the eau is claiming that they are going to work with authorities to help this uh get resolved and wow go ahead what i find [31:38] personally, I don't know. [31:39] funny about, well, so many things I find interesting about the story, but one of the things that I find, uh, personally really entertaining is that for those who don't know, Dina and I share an inbox. It happened initially. And then like, we just like, don't have it support to like separate these inboxes at this point. It just is what it is. And so when people, when we get SAS companies reaching out to boys club for a variety of things, we'll get the same email. It's like, hi Dina. Hi Natasha. And you'll see how we're on some automated email. [32:09] would have made an email from rippling this week. And I was just like, I can't believe you guys are just going, pushing through the drama. You're just not looking at it. You just got to keep going. Cause what else can you do? You got to keep sending those cold emails. You must, you must hit your sales team. Honestly, this to me is a lesson in giving people skin in the game. They needed to give that guy more skin in the game in order for him to not

[32:34] to not [32:35] Why wouldn't he immediately turn? Also, when it came out that it was $6,000 a month, the whole internet was like, this guy's a fucking idiot. And you have to turn. There's no other option. You have to turn. Yeah, you have to turn. Wow. [32:48] Great. Thanks. Thanks for the update there. Anytime. They should just search all the bathrooms. [32:54] Search all the bathrooms for all the guys hiding out there. Yeah. [32:59] Okay. Next story here is our recession corner, our recession beat. We're going to start talking about the Coachella crisis. [33:08] payment plan news, which honestly, we're fully saturated with this news at this point, but just one more time for good measure, we'll talk through it. And then hopefully we'll put it to bed. The story came out. [33:20] that 60% of people used a 60% of Coachella goers, festival goers used a payment plan. [33:31] The details of this payment plan are as follows. And I had to read this many times because I needed to make sure that I totally got it straight. Because the first time I read it, I was like, wow, this is crazy. And then, [33:41] There was some fake news that went around it. [33:43] and now I'm back to why this is crazy, but basically $41 to spread your Coachella ticket [33:51] $600 ticket. [33:53] price into three payments to three months. Uh, it's an interest free payment plan and that, that like interest free [34:03] selling point was very much like,

[34:05] like got top billing. [34:08] But it was $41. So it's interest-free, but you're paying a flat fee to... [34:14] use it. You had to complete the three payments [34:19] before the event. [34:21] So there was no way where you could like, [34:23] go and then still be paying it off and people, but like 60% it's, and it's up from like 18% a couple of years ago. Like there's, it's a lot of people who are using this and, um, [34:37] I would say that the way that it's been categorized as buy now, pay later is a little bit [34:42] misleading because they're they're not paying later they're just paying [34:46] before and spread over three months. So I'd say there's a lot of history. My take is that like, everyone's like, well, oh my God, literal recession indicator, like we're cooked, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh. Like there was, that was the take basically that the internet had around this. And I, [35:00] can understand why on first glance you'd be like, this is seems damning. But I think like, when you actually look at it, you're like, well, [35:09] They're... [35:12] Like they're paying... [35:14] It's just you're spreading it across three paychecks. Okay. So you had to complete the three payments before you could attend. Yeah. Okay. That part of the story I did not know. Yeah. So... [35:25] I think that, but I do think that it is normalized with the younger generation, certainly than my generation, to use payment plans for money.

[35:37] Lots of things, including... [35:39] what's probably like a luxury purchase like a Coachella ticket so I think that that's kind of the more interesting part of this story I think that did the math and you [35:49] whoever put this deal together, $3 million a day. [35:53] they got from this wow so that's like that's the insight i think is good business to be in [36:01] that's the deal we want that's the art of the deal yeah wow [36:05] I don't know. I just like sort of... [36:08] Every time I see these types of stories, I've never been someone who's bought something I can't afford. I don't understand that as a person. [36:20] as a way of being in the world but like many people do many people do and honestly i think some people [36:27] you and I both had a person in our life who [36:32] was expert [36:35] at debt lines of credit. Yeah. And like a way that was like really smart. Like it wasn't management. Yeah. Debt management. Yeah. Debt management. Um, and like, [36:45] Sometimes I wish I had that bone, but I do not. I do not. Every time I do my taxes, I'm like, I've got to find some debt somewhere. I've got to. Where is some debt? [36:58] But anyway, interesting, interesting stuff. [37:02] It's, [37:03] I think like this, the moral is that like, it's, it's less predatory than I think it was, than it was mentioned.

[37:10] and [37:12] I do love this tweet. [37:14] the real Coachella headliner, Klarna. Really funny. It technically was not Klarna that made this deal, but it's still a good deal. Okay. I have a question for you guys. Are you getting fed so much Coachella content? [37:28] Enough. On Twitter. Yeah. [37:29] Yeah. Okay. [37:31] Not a ton for me, but I mean, like performance stuff, like the Lady Gaga performance. T-Pain. T-Pain. Definitely T-Pain. Okay. It's really been clogging up my Twitter feed. And I don't know if I've watched too many of them. I don't know if I'm responsible, but I'd like to like whoever's listening... [37:48] unsubscribe me. [37:50] I'm good. I'm good. [37:52] Um, [37:53] Yeah, you are responsible. You know, like that meme where it's like some guy opens up his shows you his for you page and it's all like girls in bikinis. [38:01] And they're like, well, okay. Clearly trained it. The algorithm. I don't know how this happened. Bad data, bad data. [38:11] Okay, Bon Iver. Again, second week in a row that we're covering Bon Iver. Putting out an incredible album is absolutely a recession indicator. That's a very funny tweet. The Bon Iver... [38:23] um, [38:24] Fish Wife collab, of course, is what we covered last week. And... [38:31] Do you guys watch Trackstars on Instagram or Twitter? [38:35] Or on TikTok? You don't know. It's like, name the... [38:39] uh artist you win five bucks you've definitely oh yeah i didn't know the account okay

[38:43] And he started as just like a man on the street type thing, but it was really good. And then now it's only like famous... [38:51] musicians, basically. And he's on [38:54] the press anybody who's on a press tour is now going to him and they he did a really funny one someone told me about it this weekend i can't remember who told me to watch it and then i went back and watched it and they were right so if you're listening great you're listening great [39:05] great rec, but basically they did a track star, Bonnie bear and the track star guy did one, but instead of it, instead of doing name, they're just one, five bucks. They, they, [39:17] um found random people on the street and played his unreleased album to them and then they had to guess who the artist was and if they did they'd win five bucks and and it just ended up being like a full-blown roast of bonnie bear like nobody knew who he was and everybody was like like one guy was like oh some like lo-fi beats bullshit okay like like they're just like roasting him and he just takes it on the chin and is such a good sport about it and then there's one girl who's like oh [39:47] the track star guy's like yeah this is bonnie bear and she like frees out she's like i'm a huge fan like and you're like get her tickets did you see the bonnie bear basketball stuff like him playing basketball and [39:58] No, I didn't. I don't know. He's on a whole press thing right now. And [40:02] is was it a good video like i think he's doing a great job on his press um yeah it was like him playing basketball with his friends like i don't know i think there was like a new york [40:11] like basketball meetup that he did.

[40:14] Was Adam Taylor there? [40:16] Thank you. [40:17] What's that? Was Adam Sandler there? [40:19] Nope. [40:20] No, that's a classic. That would have been good. Yeah, that would have been good. Tim, when he did a press, when he did a press tour a few years ago, it was like Adam Sandler and him in the West Village, like playing basketball. So, okay. Okay. Cool. Cool. Okay. More on the recession here or should we move on? [40:38] Just real quick, Wendy's replied to Katy Perry going into space and said, can we send her back? Ouch. Burn. And then Kesha was seen posting a selfie drinking a Wendy's beverage. [40:55] And somebody tweeted pop stars being petty again, recession indicator. [41:01] Kate, I have a question on this slide. These glasses that Ms. Kesha is wearing, where do you think I can find a dupe of these? [41:09] Amazon. Okay. Can you maybe help me source? Oh, you got it. Okay. Thanks. I'm looking for this shape. [41:20] I got you. We'll keep everyone updated next week. But she will recreate that selfie with the glasses. [41:29] OK, Birkins in China. OK, so here's what's going on here. [41:35] We're really in a misinformation [41:38] Bonanza with this story and hard to know what's true or what's not true, but I'm very excited for you to talk about it because I,

[41:45] I can't get to the bottom of it. [41:46] in my [41:48] very low... [41:50] effort research. Yeah, too much Coachella content. Totally. So basically what's happened over the [41:59] there have been [42:02] all there there's been a few viral videos from [42:07] manufacturers, suppliers in China are [42:13] lit like in their warehouses. [42:17] showing [42:18] how [42:19] either showing how they make, in this case, [42:23] how they can make a bag that's exactly like a Birkin for a thousand dollars versus thirty eight thousand dollars like this this video went like turbo viral and it's a guy he's like breaking down the [42:34] production of a Birkin dupe. And he's like, we're, we're, this is how much the oil costs that we import from Italy. It costs 50 bucks. And this is how much the, um, [42:46] like the, uh, [42:49] the thread costs it's a hundred dollars and we put it in like this and then like whatever it's basically he's showing the process of how they can make a thousand dollar essentially working with the same material and uh it went super viral and then there's other videos that have gone viral which are [43:03] um [43:04] very charming young women who are sort of walking around the factory being like, we make, uh, [43:11] We make Lululemon here. We make stuff for Lululemon. We make stuff for Nike. We make stuff for all these whatever brand names, American brand name.

[43:18] companies and we can sell them to you direct for a fraction of the cost. Or like someone like in a shoe factory talking about how they make like Timbaland and Nike, whatever it is. So there's [43:33] viral and then the discourse has exploded and basically people are like, well, I'm [43:42] I'm just going to start buying directly from these suppliers because there's basically then this, the tariffs, obviously, girl, the tariffs, we know that that's happening. We're in a trade war essentially with China. But there's this clause within it where it's like the de minimis clause where purchases under $800 are, um, [44:01] exempt from the tariffs. Okay. So you can, could theoretically buy directly from a supplier if they're willing to [44:09] work with you in that way. Okay. And people are like going on DHgate, going on these like direct from supplier websites to purchase things and to [44:19] this guy I'm sure is doing a roaring trade now and his thousand dollar like quote unquote Birkin dupes. But [44:26] Yeah, I'll pause there. That's basically the... [44:29] bigger story that's happening and then there's all the discourse that that follows but okay because i had seen a tweet that was like um like china propaganda is so good that it's getting the girlies to believe that birkins are 450 that birkins are made in china and 450 dollars and [44:48] And now it's clear in this video that these are dupes.

[44:54] The Birkin story, yeah, they're dupes and like there's, um, [44:59] but i don't think that all of the suppliers are i mean they're dupes in that they're not branded lululemons but [45:06] They are... [45:08] I don't know. A dupe is a funny word to use in this case because it's, I don't know, it loses its meaning. I see. He's not making Birkins. They don't make Birkins. He's not making Birkins. He's not making Birkins. They don't make Birkins in China. [45:20] So, but he's basically replicate, he's, he's felt like he has replicated the process and, um, that's, that's what he's doing. But yeah, there, there's definitely like a lot of people who are like, oh, [45:33] Thank you. [45:34] especially with the luxury goods they're like these actually aren't the luxury goods [45:39] their [45:40] like, [45:41] a made up version of the luxury good and that that is [45:46] propaganda [45:48] - Uh-huh. [45:50] I'm shocking. [45:51] Does that make sense? It does make sense, yeah. Okay. [45:55] I've also seen videos... [45:58] And this is just, I don't know what's real. And I look at all of them and I go, could be real. I don't care enough to fact check it. But there's a video very similar to this one where someone's in a factory and they're like, what you don't know is these luxury brands actually start off in China and they're [46:14] They are saying that they're making the real product, but then the luxury brands take [46:20] that product without the tags and stuff on them. [46:23] bring them back to their factories, wherever they may be, Italy, Spain, whatever, US, and then

[46:30] do the finishing touches, like add the tags and the, you know, just to say, hey, [46:36] we can now put it made in italy exactly yeah and so those are the ones i'm being fed [46:44] Okay. [46:44] Which I know that to be true. That's been the case for, I had a, I won't say his name, a family member who is like a con artist, essentially. And he would import, every year he would give me. [47:00] like fake [47:02] luxury items like it was mostly perfume like you know the perfumes that you find in like i don't know uh in china you're at like a [47:10] a kiosk mall thing and it's like all these fake [47:15] I love those. He would basically, he basically, he basically like dealed in those and, and in different luxury, quote unquote luxury goods. And so I have known since I was a child that all you have to do is send something for a tag to have made in Italy. It only has to have two tags. [47:31] components [47:33] attached to that thing in Italy. You could do one button and you could do one thread and you could say made in Italy. And that's what my uncle was doing. And then he was like bringing them over to the U.S. and selling them. So anyway, this is a story like it's kind of like a story as old as time. I think what's different about it now is that we... [47:51] everybody's paying attention in a different way because of the tariffs. And like the $800 import is like, okay, now we're going to be seeing a ton of stuff. That's $799. Like that's going to be what ends up happening. And it's similar to having a 1099 employee. If you, or a 1099 contractor, if you,

[48:10] contract them for over $600, then you have to give them a 1099 or whatever. And so constantly getting a [48:19] a quote for $578. And it's like, okay, great. Yeah. I think like we're, [48:27] I think like let's all exercise some media literacy when we're seeing stuff like this right now, especially we're in a trade war. We're in an information misinformation war. It's extending in all sides. So like just who's benefiting? [48:41] Where is it coming from? Let's, you know, I think just approaching it with that, those, that lens is important right now. Totally. [48:47] So last, that's my final note there. Let's, [48:51] Should we jump to the quick hits? We only have a couple of minutes left and I think we have some good ones. [48:54] Yeah, should we talk about this though? You feel compelled by this one. [48:57] I can take this one. Okay. It's pretty straightforward. So basically Polymarket... [49:07] tweeted about an open market, whether Tiffany Fong is pregnant [49:14] The rhetoric has been that she's pregnant with Elon Musk's child. And the market is, will Tiffany Fung... [49:21] be pregnant before July. [49:24] And the tweet from them, while she has denied the rumors, there is ongoing speculation. She may be secretly dating Kanye West or Elon Musk. Do you think a baby is coming soon? [49:36] Thank you. [49:37] And Vitalik responds to this and he says, like, for the record, I personally think that this is tasteless and violation and a violation of a person's privacy and dignity.

[49:48] And [49:49] Then Polymarket responds and says she was in on it. I'll accept 30X long ETH with the entire foundation budget as an apology. Cheers. And then has a milady sign off that starts with an R. And so it's just like we're beefing here, Polymarket and Vitalik. One other addition to this story that did come out. [50:10] moments before this live stream is that, um, [50:15] There is a Wall Street. I sent you guys this. Did you guys see it? I didn't see it. No. [50:19] okay i sent it to you guys and i was like i saw you're like who has a subscription i was like [50:28] um so basically um [50:32] elon musk's baby [50:34] mama Ashley St. Clair has a [50:39] article i guess in the wall street journal and they talk about [50:44] her experience with him and [50:46] But... [50:47] Tiffany Fung is her story is in there. It's not, she's not quoted, but, [50:52] They said, [50:53] Two sources said that Tiffany Funk is an influencer. She was making about $20,000 a month. [51:00] uh in creator fees on x and she was tweeting about it elon was responding there was a back and forth publicly and then in this wall street journal article it is said that he dm'd her and was like do you want to have my baby and she uh declined and then it got out that that was an exchange and then he unfollowed her and uh was upset that she was not more discreet that is i haven't had time to like really dig in and fact check but that's where those were some screenshots

[51:30] Wall Street Journal article. So some piping hot tea. Believable. Believable. But also you were poo craved earlier today. So I don't know. I was poo craved earlier. I was poo craved earlier. It does seem believable though. I will say that. [51:44] Okay, we can move on. Okay, some quick hits. First one here, men's guide to shorts this summer. I really enjoyed this tweet. It has various inseams, five inch inseam, seven inch inseam, nine, 22 each, and then basically anything except for the five inch inseam is crossed off. And the tweet here, five inches is objectively correct. [52:06] Got to show off them getaway sticks. I agree. I'm five or shorter. I agree too. [52:11] Me too. 100%. Anything longer than that. I'm 11 or longer. [52:15] Oh my god. She wants a Capri. She wants a Capri on a man. I just, um, I tweeted something. I was like, if it ain't John Cena or Stone Cold Steve Austin, I don't want it. Stone Cold is a five inch seam version of the Jort. It's just like tighter and higher. [52:34] Okay. I feel... [52:36] Yeah. [52:37] I feel like I, on men, I like a leg. I hate a foot. [52:42] I was going to say, oh my gosh, Gina, I was going to say someone needs to do a guide like this for men's shoes. [52:49] Yes. [52:50] I do a lot of X's on mostly X's. Most. Yeah. Mostly X's. I don't want to see a foot. It's upsetting. It literally upsets me if I see someone's foot out. So then how do you feel about like the fisherman's sandal? Cause it kind of covers the toes.

[53:04] And those are hot right now. What is a fisherman's sandal? [53:06] Um, it looks like, do you remember jellies that we would wear? Oh my God. Okay. Yeah. I don't like that. With the strap in the back. [53:16] I don't think a man should be in any form of a sandal. He can be in a clog. [53:20] Okay. Like a, uh, uh, uh. [53:22] a Birkin [53:23] A Bergen. How about a Mary Jane? Because that's hot for guys right now. [53:27] I saw your Mary Jane in the mood board on a man. That's cool. If he's got a cool edgy style, I'm like, throw in a flat. Why not? [53:36] Throw in a flat. I'm actually quite open to a lot of shoes for men. Throw in a heel if you want. I don't want to see a dog. I do not. A toe. Yeah. [53:47] Also, I... [53:49] I, I, [53:50] Nothing is more offensive to me. Nothing is more offensive to me than... [53:55] a man who takes off their shoe, their shoes in an office. [53:58] And walks around. Upsetting. Like barefoot or even honestly in socks. No, you know what's the worst? In an office setting. [54:05] And no show sock walking around. [54:10] That's really bad. Really bad. Really bad. Okay. Next quick hit here. Oh, just Kate's tweet here. People unironically get married in these in Bermuda. A man in. No, in Bermuda. As in the length of the short is Bermuda shorts. [54:26] And they're in Bermuda. Oh, I see. Oh, okay, okay, okay, okay. I like that, yeah. [54:31] Cool. Okay. Last one here. Micro stays are in. New York City just got its first sleeper cabin hotel, the Now Hotel. And it's basically...

[54:42] photos of a photo carousel of what I assume are this new hotel's interior. It looks like, um, the wing, [54:52] if the wing had, um, like a hot, like the wing, if the wing was a hostel, [54:58] So it's like little private rooms, but shared bathroom situation. And it's heavily stylized. [55:06] uh, [55:07] is what I would, how I would describe it. So, [55:11] Natasha, as our travel correspondent, what are your feelings here? [55:17] Well, I... [55:19] I don't like it. Like, I don't want to do this. I don't want to be here at all. I, you know, how I feel about luxury hotels. I, I, it's a priority in my life. Uh huh. [55:31] I... [55:32] think that prices of hotels in New York have gotten obscene. And so I like this for like a 21 year old who doesn't want, there's no Airbnb. Like Airbnb is illegal here. There's no options. So I love it for somebody else. I do not want to be here. That's how I'm not for you, but for, for just generally as a trend. Also two questions that I didn't look into how much it is a night and where it is. [55:56] Very important. It should be $99 or less. If it's over $120. Crime. Crime. I mean, I... [56:04] I'm just picturing this being at like the cross streets of Broadway and Myrtle. [56:10] Thank you. [56:10] That's upsetting. [56:12] It would be though. That's upsetting. It maybe would be. And then very expensive. Also, I do say that this is not, I don't think that this is exactly true. I guess microstates is different, but there's the pod hotel in Williamsburg, which is essentially like,

[56:25] essentially like this. So hold on, let's, let me just get a location of where this is. Track the location. [56:34] Yes, please. [56:36] Whoa. [56:37] Great Jones between on on Bowery between Bond and Great Jones. That changes things. That really does change things. That's a great location. That is a great location. You know what I would have done when I was 21 years old? Stayed here and then walked to the Bowery Hotel and spent just as much on drinks as I was staying on my hotel. Which I would recommend to those who are watching and thinking about that. Okay, guys. [57:02] The last thing that I just want to shout out quickly is that we are going to be in London. [57:09] um in may for avalanche's conference we're very excited to be there um kate and i will be on the ground as well as miranda and hopefully we'll see you there so more on that soon but uh just wanted to give the little shout shout out there okay anything else guys i think that's it thanks for watching thanks for watching [57:31] Okay, that was DBH. Join us live on Twitter every Wednesday at noon. Or here, I guess.