The House of Cards Is Gonna Crumble
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Ladies, ladies, ladies. Hello. Hello. It feels so good to hear you say ladies. Listen, listen. I'm Sam Sanders. I'm Saeed Jones. And I'm Zach Stafford. And you are listening to Vibe Check.

Listeners might not know, the last few episodes you heard of Vibe Check were recorded well in advance of the holidays. So this is our first official recording of Vibe Check in the new year, and I can already tell that we are blessed and highly favored. Hello, my sisters. How are you? We are. We're good, even though, Sam, you and I are trying to survive the great flood of COVID.

Oh my. That's terribly inconvenient. It is pretty bad. We are waiting for the arc here in Los Angeles. What is happening? We are. It's been, I mean, just torrential historic floods, rain. My gym is shut down. The roof came down. Yeah.

Oh, wow. Which gym? And we are, a lot of us are going there later today to help clean up. Oh my God. It like really feels, I don't know anyone personally, super damaged, just lots of property damage. But this rain is crazy and the LA River is overflowing, which is funny because the LA River, as people

It's a drainage pipe. It's a drainage pipe. Yeah, like it's like concrete and cement. I will say the terminology given to all of this crazy weather just keeps getting funkier and funkier. I looked it up. It said atmospheric river. It's like there's a river in the sky. There's a reading rainbow. Yes.

I have taken to calling it the atmospheric adouken. But what's it like in your daily experience? It just started raining a couple of weeks ago and it hasn't stopped? It feels like depression, real life.

That's what it feels like. Wow. Okay. Like physicalized. She said the air is sad. It's sad. Like even this morning, I'm looking out a window right now. I just now can see my neighbor's building because it was so foggy. And that's the thing. LA is always beautiful. It doesn't rain. Nothing happens.

So to have this much weather for LA, the girls are shaking. And no one could drive before. Listen, every driver in LA is too fast, too furious when it's dry and sunny. Right now, I drove three minutes down the road last night to go see Megan at the movie theater. And I was scared for those two miles. I was like, people can't drive in this.

Also, the saddest part, anywho, you have heard the vibe of Zach and I. It is rainy and depressive. Saeed, how are you in Ohio? Sunny Ohio? It's not sunny. It was actually odd. When I first got back to Columbus from Mexico, it was only like a five to eight degree temperature difference. I mean, it was so surreal, of course, over the holidays, Christmas, New Year's, you know, this epic weather.

winter polar vortex that impacted everyone. It was like negative, however many degrees in Columbus and all, you know, snow and everything was happening. But then by the time I got back here, it was literally like 60 degrees. I saw someone in shorts. I was like, I don't know. I feel like that's kind of the point of climate change. It's not just one kind of change. It's that everything is weird. But, you know, today is, I don't know, it's in the 40s. I'm fine. I've been thinking a lot about

and the way you said, you know, you want to embrace 2023 as the year of maybe. Yeah. Snap to that. Yeah. And it's taken, I've been thinking about it because I think I value decisiveness. I value, respond to the strong emotion. And if you don't have a strong emotion, something's wrong. If you're uncertain, something's wrong.

And I don't know, getting into the rhythm of the new year, I don't feel like a charging ahead. Let's go. You know, I'm just like one step at a time. Let's see. Yeah, it's true. Thank you for saying that. And I want to say thank you to everyone that's tagged

Yeah.

That's beautiful. But you said it very well.

You did. Thank you. Before we jump in, we want to tell you what the show's about. It's not just about maybe. It's about Brazil and the political riots that you saw on social media that felt very familiar to a day a few years ago on January 6th. And we're going to kind of connect those and give you a little look into our psychic balls and show you what the next

few years will look like here in America and across the world. And we also, because we are gay and we support queer films, we have to discuss Megan, which is maybe the gayest thing that has come out in the past year. Although, was there an actual out gay character in the film? I mean, come on, girl. It's got a dancing doll. It's Cam. It's Cam. There was no gay plot line.

I think the existence of a dancing doll that can murder people is a gay hotline. I'm like, this girl was taking time to hit the walk before she full-on slashed somebody. Like, come on now. So we're going to break that down, but we're also going to talk about the larger themes of the year that horror is here to stay. And why is that? Thank goodness. We have some answers for that.

Yeah, we're going to thank all of you. Oh my gosh, the emails. I got really emotional. It was like I just got back. It was the best thing ever. After the holidays, you finally open your email inbox and you're like, okay, here we go. You know what I mean? And you're waiting for all hell to break loose. And one of the first emails I saw was a collection of

of notes that all of you had sent over the winter holidays thanking us, thanking us for what we've shared and what you've been learning and like the determinations and the maybe, you know, that you're taking into the new year. And I was just so,

moved and we've talked a lot about it amongst the three of us. So thank you. It means a great deal to know that we're not just talking into the void, that this really is a dialogue we're getting to have with all of you. And of course, you can reach out to us on social media as well. You can email us at vibecheckatstitcher.com. Let's jump in, shall we? Let's jump in. Let's jump in.

As this year begins, it feels like American politics and global politics as well is stuck in this very Trumpian place. It feels like all over the world right now we are living out the long tail of Donald Trump. And I'm going to give you two examples to make this case. First, Brazil just had a Trump-style insurrection their own January 6th.

In the month of January. And on top of that, Kevin McCarthy took almost a week and 15 separate votes to become Speaker of the U.S. House. And a good chunk of the Republicans who caused this standstill were diehard Trump supporters who still think Trump won the last election.

And it just seems like when you look at both of those stories, you can feel and see the after effects of Donald Trump and his style of politics even years after he has been out of office.

So I guess to start, first question for you both, and it's kind of two. It's like, is 2023 going to be the year of the long tail of Trump? And if so, why? I think it is the year of the long tail of Trump. But I do think it is the beginnings of the great lie of Trumpism. Like you're going to see it how it governs.

And I think with Donald Trump, you know, when he was president, and the president, you know, still operates within a typical American government system. There's a few branches, there are checks and balances, and he spent many years eroding it and changing it, filling new federal judge positions, all this stuff. So now we've seen, after the stage has been set...

with full Trump power, Trump ideas, Trump beliefs, philosophies. Now we're going to see how it governs at its bigger capacity against the Joe Biden and the House, at least. And I think it's going to crumble. It's a big house of cards. And we saw that with McCarthy. Well, this is the thing. There's no actual governing. When you unpack what these diehard Trumpers wanted from McCarthy to give him their votes for Speaker,

All the concessions they were asking for were just things to kind of pump the brakes on actual governing and getting bills passed. You know, the concessions are insane. They changed the rules to allow just one member of the House the ability to bring up a motion to throw out the speaker. They put more hardline conservatives on key committees.

They would make spending bills, which keep the government open. They broke them down. So no more big omnibus spending bills.

They would fund the government through something like a dozen different smaller bills, which means we're more likely to see government funding just not get passed. In every way, it seems as if, at least in America, the Trump way to govern is to make it harder to govern. And we're seeing the same thing in Brazil. You know, the Trump style of politics wants to destroy the Capitol, stop governing, not respect the results of elections. Right.

I guess I want to push back a little bit, and I have two reasons for this. I mean, broadly, I guess I want to push back in that I never want to give Trump too much credit. We, you know, and that's what he wants. Trump wants us to make him the framework for how we talk about everything. And so I try to resist that. So in terms of the House,

My pushback there is, yes, obviously Trump was a huge influence on what's going on. But also, this is almost a decade in the making. It goes back to the Freedom Caucus and the Tea Party, which, I mean, that's like over a decade in the making. And it was very interesting to see Kevin McCarthy, who was the beginning of that kind of so-called movement. Yeah, he was a young gun.

with, what was it, Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan. They wrote a book together. You know, like kind of bring it, and now it's kind of like he's now reaping what he sowed over a decade ago, right, where it got away from him. But also I think internationally when we look, of course, to Bolsonaro in Brazil, I would also say, I mean, we can look to the Philippines. We can look like France is on thin ice

You know, when it comes to fascism, we can look to Italy, their girl boss, new fascist leader. I forgot they just elected a fascist. Yeah. So to me, it's kind of like...

Trump is obviously a key player in what's going on. But I think, you know, American exceptionalism kind of unduly influences how we perceive this. And I think it's more like fascism. It seems like it's like a global echo chamber. Maybe it's less that Trump is directly influencing politics in other countries, more that they're like pinging back and forth. Yeah, I mean, there were times throughout Trump's presidency where I was like, God, it feels like he's taking notes from Trump.

from other, you know, really just, you know, like misinformation, all this kind of stuff. So maybe we're seeing the kind of bounce back and forth from people who just crave power. Yeah. I love what you're saying because it's taking me back to a complicated memory of I was in New York in 2018 at Adweek, which is the big summit of all the big advertisers and all this blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I was sent there because I had to do a bunch of talking stuff. And I was in a talk and

one of the heads of Hulu, and I'm going to be messy about this because this is public. Do it! Gave this whole little speech at a private-ish lunch I was at where he called Trump the chief marketing officer of America and was kind of praising him and saying like, he's really good at marketing. And I was so pissed at the time. I said, that is so dangerous for you to just say it's marketing, blah, blah, blah, blah. But what's

What Saeed is saying kind of connects to this, that Trump is kind of the CMO of fascism. And he's kind of rebranded it without— Not the CMO of fascism! No! Not the CMO of fascism! He's the CMO of fascism. And he has taken credit for all these big things that were already in motion and branded them. And that's what we're dealing with now. Because it's an ecosystem. Yeah.

Right. It's like everyone is OK. All right. That's I mean, that's a story. You know, I definitely hear all that. You know, we are seeing a decline in trust of institutions we used to trust. We're seeing a rise of autocrats and fascists. And it is happening everywhere, everything all at once.

But there's some of this stuff where you're just like, man, it feels really similar. When you compare the facts of the insurrection in Brazil versus America, literally in Brazil, they also stormed the Capitol, trashed the offices. They stole stuff from inside. They tried to set fire to the carpet. There was blood, feces, and urine found in the royal palace rooms. You're just like,

I don't know who started it, but man, like the echoes are crazy. And on top of it, guess who is in Florida right now? Right. Bolsonaro. Where Trump is too. Oh my goodness. It's a while. And then guess who was the deciding vote that made McCarthy the speaker who is the bridge between our two countries right now? George Santos from New York.

With his alleged Brazil connection. I can't even keep up. What we do know is that he's a criminal in Brazil. So there's that. Can't go back there. But what I think of what I'm feeling with all of this is the closeness of it all. And that's kind of like, Saeed, you talked about this in the anti-Semitism episode. And we've talked about it a lot is that, you know, a lot of these issues we're dealing with in the country aren't far off. They're next door. They're in your family. They're near you. And they can pop off at any second. And I think,

think it's not a coincidence that Brazil sees people storming their capital right after we see our own capital stormed. It's not a coincidence that one of those high profile newly elected congressmen has Brazil connections as a criminal in both. There's something happening between all these that's bringing us into the forefront of it. Yeah. And I think, and what I'm going to be watching this entire year as this style of politics continues to take root all over the world,

What I think we're gonna see across the board is an increasing inability to govern. We're already seeing now in the concessions that McCarthy has given to certain House members. There's already speculation and discussion about an inability to fund the government this year. And folks are saying, get ready for some shutdowns. Just the fact that they screwed with the way that these spending bills get passed.

It's really hard to overstate what happens when you break an omnibus spending bill into 12 separate bills. That gives the House 12 more times to argue, 12 more opportunities for dysfunction. The government will just be jammed up in the same way in Brazil. Once you have an insurrection like that, once you have that kind of bold display of distrust of the government itself-

How can they govern? It's going to be that much harder to get anything done. And this is what's so frustrating about –

the Trumpism or the fascism or the autocracy, there's a lot of smoke and signaling and sound and fury. But in actuality, they just make it hard to get even the basics done. Yeah. And I think one of the lessons here is this is why it is so important to be a humble but ambitious and curious student of history and to listen to people who are.

Because when you open that door, really, let's go back to 2014, when Trump is still doing the birther stuff. And like, let's say just in U.S. media, a lot of people are taking it as a joke and a stunt. And it's a great way to fill time on CNN because he's always willing to do press. It's like, look, you need to pay attention to people who are going, ah, this is going to lead us down a bad road. First of all, this is racist.

He's questioning democracy. It's the roots of all this, and you never know what's going to come trailing in there because politics and ideology is energy. Energy cannot be created nor destroyed. So even though Trump is no longer in office, an election, yeah, it's not a reset. And look at Kevin McCarthy.

baby. You know what I mean? It's like winning an election, voting someone out in an election. It's not just going to stop whatever transpired during the previous terms. And so even though Trump is no longer in office, it makes me think of the artist Lorraine O'Grady, who said in the future, racism won't even need white people or maybe white supremacy won't even need white people. It's kind of like Trump's ideology, this fascism. He doesn't even need to be in the room anymore because he's got Marjorie Taylor Greene on the cell

phone in the chamber. I just can't even. It is so wild to me to see it, but it's also this reminder about politics. Politicians don't change. They're going to be who they are. And this expectation that the hardcore Trumpies would get better or that Trump would get better or that they would compromise or that they would come to the table at some point, they were never going to argue or debate in good faith and they still aren't.

They're just not. And so I guess my last question for y'all for this segment is, knowing that, what do we do next? What do we do now? What do we do in this year of this long tail of whatever the hell it is? I mean, I think it's important to crystallize the lessons, you know, to come together and talk about what we're not. We're a little bit late, but there is value in it and sharing. Like Sarah Schulman, you know, a historian and critic who we love, she tweeted, and this is about Kevin McCarthy, but I think it does apply internationally. The traditional money-hungry, greedy Republicans building up

The fascist Republicans, like Marjorie Taylor Greene, for example, thinking they can control them. History shows that this ploy never works, right? And so I think it's really important now at every level of government, and I mean down to your local city council. Oh, yeah. School board. All of it.

Who are the chaos agents that you have unwittingly or wittingly invited in to your table? You know what I mean? And like, what can you do now to get rid of them? You know what I mean? Because that was what was so interesting watching Kevin McCarthy endure those 15 humiliating votes. It was like, baby, you had a...

plus years to get rid of a lot of these people. And a lot of people were saying, stop trying to work with them. You're not going to be able to control them. This is going to get out of hand. They're not going to change. Yeah. Zach?

I think we're going to face a lot of chaos. And whenever I see myself confronted with chaos or things I can't understand, I always return to the late, great Toni Morrison and the Bluest Eye, where she writes in the foreword, when why becomes too much to bear, take refuge in how. And I think when you look at these events, like how are these writers storming the Brazil capital?

How is this similar? How can be a really great space to meditate on all of this stuff? Because you look at the structure and the process of the chaos, it helps you figure out that it's not just happening. There isn't some God stepping in and making this happen. It is a reaction. It is that energy Saeed's talking about that builds on each other. And in that space, you can find some logic that helps you go to bed at night at least. Yeah. And also, don't look away. You got to keep your eyes on this stuff.

Kevin McCarthy, Donald Trump, Marjorie Bolsonaro, we're watching you. George Santos, baby! We're watching you. I've got my eyes on you. All right, time for a break. When we come back, another evil dictator. Her name is Megan. Much more entertaining, though. Ha ha ha!

This message is brought to you by McDonald's. Did you know only 7.3% of American fashion designers are Black? Well, McDonald's 2024 Change Leaders Program is ready to change the face of fashion. The innovative program awards a monetary grant to five emerging Black American designers and pairs each with an industry professional to help them elevate their brands.

I know specifically and distinctly how McDonald's can support and empower not just black Gen Z, but black people. My first job was McDonald's. I learned a lot there about customer service and how to relate to people. I still love that place and go there very often. Look out for the change of fashion designers and mentors at events like the BET Awards and the Essence Festival of Culture. And follow the journey of the 2024 McDonald's Change Leaders Awards.

On their Instagram page, we are golden.

Here's an HIV pill dilemma for you. Picture the scene. There's a rooftop sunset with fairy lights and you're vibing with friends. You remember you've got to take your HIV pill. Important, yes, but the fun moment is gone. Did you know there's a long-acting treatment option available? So catch the sunset and keep the party going. Visit pillfreehiv.com today to learn more. Brought to you by Veve Healthcare.

We are back, and we are going to talk about my favorite topic this week, which is the big blockbuster cinematic masterpiece that is a movie called Megan. Megan with a three in it, by the way. I've been calling it M3gan, my dog. I was about to say. M3gan. M2gan? M2gan. It is an acronym in the movie, which you'll find out why. As of this morning, Universal has already greenlit

because it's done so well. You know the heck. I mean, it was one of those movies. I'm surprised that it just came out this week. I thought it came out like two months ago. Because we've been watching this dancing doll since last year. I'm going to call it the Matilda effect because the same thing happened with the Matilda movie. It was that dance scene. I thought we were in it. Where is it? Before we talk about it, Zach, tell folks what this movie is and what it's about. So if you don't know what we're talking about, that probably means you are straight.

And I'm sorry. Or over 45. Or both. Over 45 and straight. Hi, mom. So for all of you, this is an explainer of what Megan actually is. So Megan is a new horror comedy film that was released by Universal. Universal is who has brought you in the past six months, Puss in Boots.

It brought you Bros, R.I.P. to that movie, and a few others. And it has become their breakout hit by making over $30 million in the first weekend, which is 30% higher than they expected. And the movie only cost $12 million to make. So that is why Universal has greenlit sequels because this baby is making cash. And that 30 was just in the U.S. It was a larger gross globally. Just domestic. Yeah, just domestically.

So an overview of the movie is Megan is a marvel of artificial intelligence. She's a lifelike doll that's programmed to be a child's greatest companion. And she's designed by the one and only Marnie Michaels. I'm sorry, Alison Williams. You meant to do that. You are such a... And I hate that you're being vindicated because I feel like the girls discourse is having like a positive resurgence. It's having resurgence. Yeah.

Zach has been planting the seeds of this for months. Lena is back. Allison's back. It's all happening. And we're about to see girls have grown up and now they're women. And one woman became a robotic scientist and became a horror queen. You know, Allison Williams famously was in Get Out, which...

was a huge success and launched Jordan Peele as a director. He was already very famous before, but now he's become one of the leaders in film due to that movie. And it's because Alison Williams reimagined herself as the Scream Queen that we did not see coming. So in this movie, she is a robotic scientist. She builds Megan for her niece after her sister dies. And what happens next is the most beautiful campy film where a doll is overprotective of a little girl and decides to kill anything that stands in its way, including Alcindor.

A neighbor's dog. Yes. What I loved about this movie, I watched it last night with our friend Brandon Sharp. And one, it was the most fun I've had in a movie theater since that latest Minions film. Like so campy and good. But also...

It was incredibly derivative, but that was okay. Like the final 10 minutes, you just feel like you're watching an updated version of Child's Play, but I loved it. I think like very Chucky energy. And this movie did a very smart thing where it seemed immediately familiar, but also brand new at the same time.

This trope is not new, but it's the first time I've seen a four-foot-tall, blonde-headed baby doll popping and locking in TikTok videos for three months before the film came out. So smart. I just think this movie was incredibly smart. And I think it's like, you know...

there's a narrative around it that it's campy, it's dumb, it's stupid. Uh-uh, baby. It's campy on purpose. It's dumb on purpose. I think it was really smart. Even just the marketing of this film, it was so smart. I mean, I feel like, you know, a lot of like the Freddy Krueger movies, which I think, you know, are kind of seminal when we think of this genre, are high camp. They're very, very campy. It's very cheesy, but that's kind of

I don't know. Horror movies have been doing great all year. I think they were some of the most successful films of 2022. And it's like everyone's talking about like no one's going to the movie theaters. No one's going to see this, but they're consistently going to see horror films. And I guess the question is why? I mean, I have some thoughts, but what do you think?

Well, one of the big questions in the rise of streaming and this ability to watch whatever you want, whenever you want, wherever you want, what are the things that will still get you out of your house to experience? To make it worth it. To make it worth it. You can watch a rom-com at

at home. Your TV screens are big enough now, you can even watch an action film sometimes at home. But you know what you always want to experience around other people? Being scared. A horror movie. You want the experience of cowering in that seat and hearing someone else two seats down doing the same. When I was at the theater last night watching that movie Megan, I was like,

I loved knowing that everyone around me was also kind of freaking out and laughing at the same time as well. That is something that horror can do consistently and reliably that no other genre can. And I think that helps explain why horror as a genre over all of the shifts in the media industry of the last decade has survived and prospered.

And I love that you said that because it plays into something I was listening to this morning, which was from Franklin Leonard. Love Franklin. Made the blacklist for those industry folks who know. Black kind of leader in Hollywood, brilliant guy, but the blacklist is a

resource, a guide. It's so much. But every year they release The Black List, which is the list of the most exciting screenplays from writers you may not have heard of. And it's really incredible. And they just released their list this year, which the number one screenplay was a horror film. There you go. And the reason why he argues horror is doing so well, and I need to cite him for this because it's brilliant, is that he argues on the podcast The Town, which is brought to you by The Ringer on Spotify, is that

He says that horror is global. Everyone can relate to that idea. And I'm adding to his language here, but you know, he's right. You see a monster that translates across every geography, every place, you know, to be scared, you know, to run for your life, all these things. Comedy, however, is super site-specific.

What is funny to you and I here in LA or New York or Columbus is very different than what is funny in Rio de Janeiro. And so that's where comedy cannot participate in what Sam's talking about, this global ecosystem. You can't release bros and it makes sense to people in Saudi Arabia like it does to people in West Hollywood. But you release Megan and everyone's kind of like,

it is kind of ridiculous that this doll is killing you and I'm scared of it, but I'm also going to laugh at it when it breaks out into singing Sia's, you know, titanium or whatever. Let me tell you, it was wild. So just to take a second to like lay out the facts with this, the folks over at the ringer did a really good taxonomy of all the horror and scary films that have done remarkably well this year. Nope. Smile. No.

The Black Phone, The Menu, Violent Night, Pray for the Devil, Pearl, X. All of these movies...

horror did several times their budget and surpassed expectations consistently i gotta say i do love it do y'all ever get tired of horror i never do i'm a scaredy cat and also i think you know particularly like when we were in college like horror at the time was kind of defined by torture like torture porn like the saw movies and that really kind of put me on like i'm not trying to watch like that but i don't know like films like you know a few years ago like i think the

which again, you know, it's kind of connected to grief, which it also seems like Megan does as well. There've been a lot of recent movies. I also think like to, to the point that you were going to Zach with like the themes and why it's relatable, um,

If we think of action movies or the big epic adventures, really in terms of why should you come to the theater and see it, really all they ultimately have to offer is awe. We're going to awe. You're going to see things on the big screen and it's going to blow your mind. And you're right, Sam. In the last few years with technology, it's like I'm playing video games on my PlayStation 4.

There you go.

easy to access experience. And I think we just got a lot in us. And it was funny to think of another movie that Alison Williams, I saw get out at the Magic Johnson Theater in Harlem. Oh, that sounds like an experience. It was like seemingly all,

black people in the movie theater and I think it's been long enough that I can like spoil this detail at the very end when it comes down to the main character versus Alison Williams character who was terrifying was like a very very specific kind of scary I'll never forget an old black woman sitting like several rows like towards the back of theater just scream kill that white bitch I was like

And it was like the shock of someone saying something so, but also like, well, in that moment watching the theater, we were all thinking it. Or when, you know, you see the cop sirens and then you realize it's his TSA friend, you know, the relief of like, oh, we think it's going to be the police pulling up to a black man covered in blood. And instead, you know, it's a black friend to save the day. And you could just feel the catharsis throughout the theater. Like everyone, you know, that sigh of relief and you just,

I don't know. That's very specific. It's not going to be the same at home. And I just think the other genres are kind of hard pressed to create a similar intensity. Yeah. Well, and like what I love is that we're just going to keep seeing more of it. When you look at the scary movies coming up this upcoming year, we got that weird horror version of Winnie the Pooh called Blood and Honey. Yikes.

Like, I cannot wait. I mean, that's a great title. Blood and Honey is a good title. Yes, we have Cocaine Bear. We have the new Scream movie. It's going to keep coming, and I love it. I actually watched the trailer for the new Scream before Megan came on last night in the theater, and I'm just like, keep it coming. Keep it coming. The Winnie the Pooh thing has really shaken me because I didn't realize that was real. I thought it was a joke, and then I saw the trailer, and it's very much real and coming out. But what we're seeing happen and what Winnie the Pooh kind of shows us is it

is a good movie these days needs to do a few things and horror is able to do all of it at once. It gives you nostalgia. So it gives you a form. And that's what David Chang, you know, this article I always cite, the theory of deliciousness is that anything good has to have that nostalgic loop in your brain. It should take you back to somewhere and take you forward at the same time. It also has to do a few things at once. And this is where comedy is actually really great is that like comedy is a great relief within a really tense moment. So you're seeing a lot of these movies, you know, mega,

uses comedy to kind of make you take a breath for a second. And that's where comedy is going to have to go. Comedy can't just be slapstick, American Pie anymore. That's not bringing people to the theaters. It has to be a lot of feelings at once. We need to be on a ride. And I think that's great. But I think you get this comedy, you get horror, you get nostalgia. It's going to be a good film, and that's what the studios are running with. And I think that's also setting the stage for something we haven't talked about, and this ties back to Saeed Jones, is that there will be, in the coming years, a

a Barney movie that is a horror film because Daniel Kaluuya is making it. Of course he is. Of course he is. I don't know. I guess what it is is like horror movies.

always guarantee that you will have an experience in the movie theater. And a reliable experience. Other genres are just like, it's a good movie. You should go, okay, that's great. We can say good. But it's like, you're going to have an experience, right? Yes. Even last night watching Megan, I did the thing I always do in every horror movie where at some point I say to the white woman on screen, don't open that door. And you know what? It felt so good to say it. Yes.

It felt so good to say it. I will never not want to watch a movie in which I can tell someone on screen to not open the door. And you feel comfortable like yelling out the call and response. It is the closest thing we have to secular church.

A good horror movie at a good theater. And I would say horror has been the one genre that has successfully allowed every Black person and white person to understand racism on screen. Because we all grew up, if you were over 21 years old, you grew up in a world where it was very typical that the Black person always died first. It went Black person dead,

And that for me was the first way in which I understood how racism and representation played out. Black people literally were not given a voice. And, you know, that's why Jordan Peele is so celebrated because he gave us a voice. And speaking of black people, guess who wrote Megan? A black woman. Come on, baby. Akilah Cooper. Yes. If that doesn't make all y'all listening want to go see this movie, I don't know what will. If you can hear the sound of my voice right now.

I decree that you must go to the theater. And take a friend because that's also part of the, like the jumping together, grabbing your friend's thigh, like all of that. You want that. It's so good. So good. Report back, tweet at us. We'd love to talk about it with you. And with that, we're going to take a quick break, but don't go anywhere because we're going to be right back with our recommendations.

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All right, my loves, we are back. And of course, before we end every show, we'd like to share something that's helping us keep our vibe right, or perhaps throwing us off this week. Because, you know, sometimes being thrown off is also clarifying. You know what I mean? So let's get started with Sam. I am so excited to hear you talk about this.

So we were talking about this while we were in Mexico over the holidays. On January 1st, Rolling Stone released a list of what it called the 200 greatest singers of all time. A hate list like this inherently applies.

But this one probably took the cake. I won't even go into all the ways they got it wrong, but I will say the biggest error, the biggest sin in Rolling Stone's list of the greatest singers of all time, they kept off our Canadian queen, Celine Dion. A betrayal of the highest order. What you talking about? How did they do that? Now, come on now. So, you know, the internet hated this list. Rolling Stone had to go

above and beyond to explain their rationale for making this list the way they did. But I want to use this moment in time to not rail against this list, but just tell everyone to go take a moment and re-familiarize yourself with everything Celine Dion has ever done. Because she's an icon, she's a legend, and she is the moment. And what makes it worse is that Rolling Stone, and I love a lot of people at Rolling Stone. We know the people over there. We love them. Great. Nice.

Now I got shit to do with it. It's a bad list. It's a bad list. And it was also what I found really galling was that they were like, well, we also left her out in 2018. Like they were like, we've done it before. This is what I was going to ask because I haven't been like checking for updates. I know they did one

like run on sentence kind of justification tweet that didn't, did they ever say this is why Celine Dion did not make the list? They're like standing strong behind it. It's kind of hard to defend. They're kind of like, and I get it. I don't respect it, but I get like Noah Shachman's the editor-in-chief there. He is the ex-Daily Beast editor-in-chief. He is a news guy. I've known him from like incredible reporting on the state and government. I do like their reporting. The reporting has gotten so good under Noah. And I know why they're not backing down.

because they're like, we said what we said and we're going to stand behind it. But this new cycle isn't ending. There were protesters just days ago. Yeah, which I'm like, girl, who got that kind of text call? And also, what we're not talking about, Celine Dion can't even sing right now. She just got diagnosed with Stiff Person Syndrome. Yeah, I think that's also part of why people were like, kind of really upset. It just felt like a mean vote. Also, the list had, and you know I love Ariana Grande. I really do love her music. And I feel Ariana Grande would agree with

me. Putting Ariana Grande on this list of greatest singers, spots and spots ahead of Ella Fitzgerald? Yikes. I love them both. They had Beyonce ahead of Prince. I think Beyonce would be like, don't do that. Let's chill down. Also, they have Brandi at the very end. Come on now. She's the vocal Bible. Anywho, all this to say, I'm not about anger here. I'm about love. And so my recommendation is

It was a not too well-known Celine Dion song called Imperfections. It's off her 2019 album, Courage.

And it's a softer, gentler, boppy kind of R&B side to the diva. All of her songs are good, but Imperfections will show you a nice smooth side of Celine that you deserve to hear. Also, that said, put some respect on her name. Put some respect on her name.

That's all I got. I like that. Zach, what about you? What's getting your vibe right? This week, in my, I think, week of white women behaving badly, because Megan is a white woman behaving badly. I think if you like Megan, you should watch the show Bad Sisters on Apple TV. So good. I will say you are the second person that's recommended the show. It is. I'm so shocked that it has taken this long for people to talk about it because it is wonderful. It's about a

group of sisters called the Garvey sisters living in Ireland. And they are united and very close because their parents died when they were young and kind of taking care of each other. And actually, episode one is that one sister's husband is dead. And you know, the sisters killed him. And you spend the whole season trying to figure out how exactly they killed him. And it is a dark comedy of the highest degree. It is wonderful. It's a great time. And it's beautifully shot. And it also proves this rumor I had heard that

Apple, their big request for all their shows is that there always has to be Apple products in any scene where there's technology. And where I noticed it was these young kids who don't come from a wealthy family in the show are all wearing the AirPod Maxes, which are $600. And they're just throwing them around like rich kids. And I was like, girl, that's Apple doing this. That's not real. So...

Does Apple let characters use the Apple products when they're doing bad things? Because that's often been an issue. In the original Knives Out movie, it's kind of a telltale. One specific character is using it for joy, not enough. Yeah, that's wild. I think there is a lot of oversight. Tim Cook is very particular about how Apple shows up.

But it does feel like they probably would use Androids to do bad things. So definitely look at the technology of all the Apple shows. It's a whole story. But the show is wonderful. Okay. AirPod Maxes or not. I loved it. I loved the show as well. Made my Aunt Betty watch the whole thing. She enjoyed it too. The twist got me at the end. Loved it all. What I want from Bad Sisters, and I know it is a fictitious show.

I want Andy Cohen to have a reunion special with all the sisters from that. Like in character? Yes. If you love Real Housewives, you will love this. This is kind of your elevated. Like you've gone to PhD in pop culture. So there you go.

My vibe for the week is a perfume. I decided to change it up. While we were in Mexico City, and Zach, you went a couple of days before, but Zach went to this perfume place called Xinu, X-I-N-U. You can go to their website. It's X-I-N-U dot M-X-I-N-U.

because you're going to want to get this perfume, girlies. And you can get it in the United States as well as Mexico. It is just a wonderful artisanal perfume brand. And I was like, okay, whatever. But a couple days later, I went with my friend Cortez and wow. Wow.

What an experience. It's a beautiful space. And basically, there are gardens on both sides of the space with, you know, plants that figure into the perfumes. They do like five scents, I guess, a season or whatever. But you can like see all the ingredients. They let you smell it, both how it smells when you first spray it and then like a few hours later. And it's just,

Really beautiful. And I don't know if y'all remember, Zach recently told people, like, if you get something nice, save it and open it, like, on a random day. So just before we record it, I open my Ordo Nardo perfume and spray it. And I feel like a spring goddess. I feel like a sprite running through the trees. It's so beautiful. I am regretting not buying some cologne while I was there. Everything smelled so nice. But they had this wonderful scent that was made with, like, Monstera. Yeah.

which I didn't even know could be. It's on the website. It's on the website and you can get it. Even the bottle, once you're done with the cologne, you can use it as like an instance holder or a small vase. So this part's like the instance holder. And even the bottle itself is designed to be reusable. They were like, you can put other

And mine is like all the flowers. Because, you know, I think it's just like really great to have a scent that reminds me of a wonderful time, a wonderful trip with my friends. And we were able to go to so many beautiful restaurants. Like Britannico was one of the first restaurants we had dinner at. It's like those dinners where you like are sitting in basically a garden and you just smell the greenness. That's what this perfume smells like. So I'm going to think of y'all. And...

I love that you recommended that. Beyond like, it was like a wonderful trip and the place and the designers, you know, it was so chic and wonderful. Smell is the perfect way to encapsulate memory forever. If you're like me or other people, like you can't always remember every little thing. If you attach smell to it, your brain gets a little shortcut. So when you're on a trip, if it's going really well, you have a special moment, get a special perfume, get a special smell and kind of use that to store the memory. And that's what my Monstera cologne,

That's for me. Yeah, that's what I got from there too. So whenever I wear it now, I think of our trip there. So it's a little shortcut for all of you to do. Get a scent when you're on a trip. They're very good. Go to the website. You can learn more. But also everything was, they're very thoughtful. So like even like the wooden top is like a type of chestnut. They were like, we plant 12 chestnut trees for every, you know, like everything was very thought out. So I think if, you know, you understandably want to be very thoughtful about like how you are interacting with an ecosystem, they got you girl. They got you.

Well, friends, what are y'all feeling or not feeling this week? Because I feel like Rolling Stone was like genius. They released the list on January 1st. That's a word for it. Well, because it was like no one had anything to do. You know what I mean? So it was like the perfect time to do something messy that they knew would get people talking, which I'm sure is the point. So if you have opinions on that, we want to know. We want to know. What's your vibe? How are you feeling? How's your maybe doing? How's your maybe doing? Check in with us at vibecheckatstitcher.com.

Well, that's our show. And thank you so much for tuning into this week's episode of Vibe Check. If you love the show and want to support us, please make sure to follow the show on your favorite podcast listening platform and do what we always say, which is tell a friend. Tell your mother. Tell your brother. Tell your friend. Tell the person you may be helping clean up this rainfall here in LA. Testify. Testify, testify, testify. Huge thank you to our producer, Chantel Holder, engineer Brendan Burns, and Marcus Holm for our theme music

And again, we love hearing from you. Don't forget, you can email us at vibecheckatstitcher.com and keep in touch with us on Instagram at vibecheckatstitcher.com.

at The Ferocity, at Sam Sanders, and at Zach Stabb. Use the hashtag VibeCheckPod. Also, you can follow us on TikTok at VibeCheckPod. Stay tuned for another episode next Wednesday. It's good to be back, honey. Bye. Bye. Stitcher.

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