724. - Emily Sundberg

All right, this episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by Stateside with Kai and Carter, a new podcast from The Guardian. And they are using this podcast to slow down the news and wrestle with the questions that we all have about what's happening in the world. And they do it three times a week, Jason. Does that sound familiar to you? We don't really talk about, you know, a lot of international global news items and climates and cultures and sports and things like that. We do talk about fashion and wellness, but for everything else, Kai and Carter are a great place. All right, so who couldn't use more news? Listen wherever you get your podcast. or watch on YouTube. How long gone? A very rare and special post-Black Friday, Saturday recording. Them jeans, did you go crazy on Amazon yesterday, or are you kind of feeling okay? I did not go crazy on Amazon. I did not buy anything yesterday except for food, and that's it. You know what? Food only. Yeah, Black Friday, I mean, I want you to finish, even though we've only been podcasting for 17 seconds. I want you to finish, but I feel like this year, Black Friday, as sort of... flipped into the darkness zone it used to be kind of you know yes it's dark but it's also saving it's kind of fun something to look forward to but also you know capitalism blah blah blah and i think it's just like full dark now i mean i think it's always been kind of full dark for people to walk all over each other to get to a plasma tv at a suburban best buy but i see what you mean yeah but i mean we're we're kind of post that like that like we've been watching videos of people fist fighting over um flat screen tvs for what seems like 20 years now it no it does feel i mean i remember when that first started being a thing you'd be like holy shit that guy just got hit in the head with a chair over a tv and and now it's it has it's not quite as extreme but i can't these bitches just go to fries electronics they have great deals year-round sorry go ahead don't you love a great deal it's year-round if you go to fries um i so you know i i've been looking at that espresso machine for like three years

And I just can't pull the trigger because I don't really care. And Alex sent me a link yesterday to where it's on sale at Crate and Barrel. And then she goes, oh, wait a second. It's the same price on DoorDash. And I was like, what the fuck are you talking about? She sent me – I could have gotten the Breville espresso machine delivered from DoorDash via Best Buy on Black Friday. That is too far. So that means you're going to be at your apartment in Soho, and then a guy on a bicycle is going to come drop off. He's going to open up his backpack, and there's going to be an espresso machine inside of it. You're going to leave him no tip, and then we all go on our way. That is what could have happened. Yes. Five stars, brother man. That is what could have happened. Yeah. Who needs a tip when I can give you five stars? I try that all the time and it never works. It seems people get upset. No, it was a fascinating revelation to me, though, because I didn't ever like I just I know you can get everything delivered now. I know that's how society works, but I'd never considered getting an espresso machine delivered, like you said, by a guy on an e-bike in New York City. But anything is possible in this land of dreams, as Alicia Keys said. Oh, nice. Yeah, I feel, and I'm sure you might relate to this, we're of that age of the aging millennial zone where we're the last generation of people that believe that certain administrative tasks should be completed on a laptop. Yes. Like buying airplane tickets or booking travel in general. You know, certain things, you're like, this is a laptop thing. And then, you know. 20 year olds and younger are going to do every single thing on their phone. And this sort of feels like it's in that same zone of like, we're going to look back one day and be like, you didn't order kitchen equipment on. On DoorDash? No, I got a fridge. It's full-size. It's a full-size fridge. I don't know how he did it, but he got it here. He put it up the stairs. Yeah, okay, Boomer, to ordering appliances on DoorDash. But my point is I was able to resist. You didn't get your Rocco fridge served to you and then sent to you on DoorDash already full of Las Yarras wines brought to you by Eric Warheim? Well, luckily I was on.

uh, the plane for most of the day. And I, and the wifi was actually the best I've ever had on a Delta flight. But I, but speaking of espresso, I learned something new that I shared with you and David show that I think is revelatory. And it's, it's that I went up into, to go to the bathroom and Delta one. And one of the gay little flight attendants was sipping espresso with his pinky out. And I was like, y'all got espresso here. And they were like, yeah, I'm like, this motherfucker's having an espresso and I'm not? And they laughed at that, and that was funny. Did you call him a motherfucker? Did you call him diva? Did you call him queen? I actually did. No, I actually did. I was like, this motherfucker's having an espresso and I'm not? We'll bring you on. I like that we're in an age where it's nicer and better and more politically correct to call somebody a motherfucker than a diva. They bring me the espresso. It's actually pretty good after five cups of lukewarm coffee. And I just didn't know this was available on Delta flights. I'm sure it's only available on, you know, longer hauls. But I was just something to note for those Delta heads out there, for those fellow million milers. Yeah, that is nice. Order your double espresso. I wonder how long this has been available for question one. And question two, did you see the espresso shot? You did not see the origin story of it. I didn't see the pole. I'm sure they have the La Marzocco on the Alitalia plane. I didn't see the pole. On the Delta flight, I assume it's probably Nespresso. I feel like it's pod level, but when you're 30,000 feet in the air, it tastes like Cafe Integral. You know what I mean? Who's to say? Yeah, that is a good point. I'm just wondering because... I flew last week, obviously, and it was nice to see some cookbook brand granola. Yes, I saw that. Now that John and Vinny's has acquired cookbook to gut it out and ruin it. I don't think they've gutted out and ruined it. I think they actually saved it, and now it's a business that can actually stay open and make money is what it feels like to me. Look, it saved it. They're able to stay open and make money.

But my special little place has been ruined, and I have to make this about me, of course. Is it actually any different when you go in there? I doubt it. Yeah, for sure. I mean, it has nothing. I mean, I'm obviously joking. I'm obviously joking. I mean, I think if you go to the Echo Park one, and I don't want to go too far on this tangent. It's way too hyper-local. Don't worry. We're not going to the Echo Park one, but go ahead. It's small enough where it kind of stays alive. You're able to have conversations with the shopkeepers. It seems like things are being replenished. You know who I don't want to talk to? You know who I don't want to talk to? Anyone that works at Cookbook and Echo Park. That's the number one person I don't want to talk to. Even if I have questions about the locality of these Kiwis, I don't want to share a single comment. There's the Highland Park one or there's a Larson one. I don't want to talk to anyone in there. No offense. Obviously, how could you not take offense? Those places just seem like when you see the videos of tourists going to North Korea and there's cardboard cutouts of stores, products on the shelves. It kind of feels like here's a bunch of stuff that you could buy that no one's going to buy. Here's our $14 peanut butter with a hand-printed inkjet label sticker on it. And here's some strawberries that went bad four days ago. It's all just like a museum to walk through, but I feel like the smaller, original Echo Park one is still doing business. It still has some work in it. We can talk to our guests about that because all of these pointless stores were her passion for at least three months. The Coupa Granola is a nice addition to a Delta in-flight. There's no downside there. I had a strange thing that's never happened to me before on a Delta flight. We're heading home, JFK to LAX, coming off the tail end of our trip upstate to New York's lesbian stronghold. And our plane, we got the upgrade. So we're like, oh, stoked. To get the upgrade from JFK to LAX, it means something more than Denver to Santa Fe, you know what I mean? So I was feeling myself, and then we're on our way to the airport, and our boarding pass changes from Delta 1 to 1st. Our plane has been downgraded.

because a better, cooler flight needed that airplane. And so we got switched to a smaller plane where there's no more Delta One. The first class is like the real kind of janky. It was new-ish, and it was nice enough, but it was as low as first class could be. And there were all these people who were really upset that didn't realize that there was a switcheroo that obviously paid $7,000 for a lay flat. And now they're getting some chips. I have to say, if you get up, if you, I learned that this happened because Delta sent me a thousand dollar credit. Oh, well then who cares? It's because they offered me a lay flat and then they did a tick back. Yeah. You, but I just don't think the, look, I like to take Delta one, of course, but that flight ain't long enough to need a lay flat, especially if it's not red. I agree. Like it doesn't actually matter. It doesn't actually matter. So that's a nice. $1,000 goes far. It'll get you half a flight. That's not bad at all. No, $1,000, I can do two round trips to Japan right now. The end's not doing well. Am I right, brother? You can do two round trips to San Francisco right now. I think that's probably the best you're looking at. How was your Thanksgiving? Because I had a revelatory Thanksgiving. And I've unlocked a secret to the worst holiday known to man. I think my Thanksgiving was the opposite of yours. I was family maxing, and you were whatever the opposite of that is. You were solo maxing. Once again, I figured out how not to involve family in something that they're historically involved in. Love you, Mom. I know you're listening. But yeah, we went to Sunset Tower for a prefixed Thanksgiving that you could... Basically, just get the regular menu there. You don't have to eat disgusting dry turkey. You don't have to eat stuffing, cranberry sauce, all that nasty brown food that I saw on Instagram at your rich parents' house. You can eat some of their other disgusting offerings. But it was absolutely the best.

option i've ever it's unbelievable like it's very very overpriced but the band's playing the lights are dark it's a normal meal you don't have to talk to anybody you don't want to talk to it was it was it felt special did they have the option to do a thanksgiving plate yeah yeah but then you can also order a la carte from the regular menu okay yeah well it's all pre you're still overpaying but at least you can get a piece of salmon, and a Caesar salad. You don't have to. You know what I mean? So we'll get to the mains, and it'll be ABC Thanksgiving plate with all the trimmings, a piece of salmon, or maybe a steak or something. It was almost the whole menu, though. That was what was cool about it. It was pre-fixed, but I ran into... core jefferson who was there with his dad oh he was like oh yeah bro you don't do this this is the this is the secret and his dad was amazed his dad was very very cool and then we ran to pia and davide gabriella was there there was a whole little corner and i was like damn this is really i thought i was a genius other people obviously have been on this for years i'm playing catch up but it was it was the best decision i've ever made it cost i would say 40 more than it should have but that's fine okay two top You didn't drink. Did Alex drink a little bit? A little bubbles? What's going on? She had one spicy skinny. Okay. Yeah, I can't have dinner with you without something in my system. So one spicy skinny dinner for two. What's that? What's the business platinum hitting? We're touching 500. All said and done. 450 probably? Were there any sort of... no showcasey splashy ingredients any caviar supplement no it was that's the no bro that that's the price of entry baby but you know what can you put a price on peace of mind jason can you put a price on not having to drive an hour and a half to sit at a table full of uh relatives that you don't really know You know, I don't know. You can put a price on it and go for about $4.89. You're like, 49 is fine with me? I would have absolutely loved it. Because you guys went to Orange County to have Asian Tea Day, correct? We did both. So we came straight. We landed, got home like midnight the night before, woke up, picked up the doghouse, went straight to LB, had Thanksgiving, early Thanksgiving, like a nooner, and then went up to my brother's house in Echo Park for the...

thanksgiving number two so you know asian people have thanksgiving for lunch dinner white people have thanksgiving for dinner but the dinner what's the menu looking like though can we get can we get some can we get some noodles and shit or is it still traditional no it was pretty traditional we we had some we had some ribs mashed potatoes biscuits gravy but also that sounds pretty ribs ribs yeah ribs was hitting and then um there was obvious you know there's a white people charcuterie You know, not the only mixed race couple in the family. But then, you know, we got a little. You don't say in Orange County. There was a heaping helping of a big tray full of egg rolls. Oh, now we're talking. See, I could have found. There was something for me. There was an Asian duck dish, a braised duck. This sounds pretty good. It sounds like a kind of best case, to be honest. Because I think that, like. It was really good. Bringing some Asian flavors into the disgusting, you know, kind of. Holiday food is a nice change because it's just something I've never experienced. It was a nice change. It was like a hybrid fusion-style cuisine that I really like. Went up to my brother's house, and I took a page out of your book. I was an absentee family member on the East Coast. I was unable to show up and make some Alison Roman braised turkey legs. Had no time, so did the Gold Belly order. Let's go. Joe's Stone Crab. claws overnighted to his house. How was it? How did it end up? We did a feast of the two fishes. There was no turkey. We did a little gluten-free stuffing. There was some nice sunny tahini dip with some crudités. You know, a little salad, a little boom, a little sausage. And then there was a grilled branzino. And then the stone crab claws. It was a nice little kind of fishy, mixy thing. A little gluten-free pumpkin pie at the end. It was great. How did the claws travel? Claws traveled quite well. I guess I'm not surprised. That makes sense. But Gold Belly, I'm telling you, Gold Belly is brilliant for cases like this. There's nothing better than showing up with the real thing. Going to get those crab claws from Santa Monica seafood, that just feels fake. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't want Pacific crab, you fucking idiot. I mean, I actually respect the insides of my body. But, you know, I was feeling crabby. I was reminiscent of Miami. We're going to be going to Miami.

December 4th at the addition Miami basement at the club downstairs. How long gone and silencio live DJ them jeans and Dizza come through. We're going to, we posted the flyer on our Instagram. So just RSVP pull up. It's going to be just DJing in the club, looking forward to it. But I can't go to Miami without hitting Joe's Stone crap. So in case we didn't have time, I brought the stone to me. And the Gold Belly mixed with the Sunset Tower Thanksgiving dinner, it's really kind of feeling divorce dad energy that is kind of hot. And I like, it's a pair of pants that feel good. You know what I mean? It's super hot. I haven't shaved in a while. And Pia thought, I think due to the dark lighting, Pia thought I had a goatee. which was concerning um so i did have to get her eyes checked kind of in the parking lot just to make sure everything's good with her before she drove home with you know two kids her mother you know i don't know which old car it could break down the steering wheel could go out you never know what's going on with those yeah davide he i think he said we after the rebrand we got to sell all the jaguars get rid um Oh, man, that's funny. Before Thanksgiving, we went to Lauren and Dan's house where Dan cooked some Alice and Roman dishes, actually, a delicious squash thing that I really liked. From Dome? From Dome was on the ones and twos. Well, Stevie was there. Dope Friendsgiving. No, it was a dope-ass Friendsgiving. It only took me 55 minutes to get there. But otherwise... You know, nothing like hitting Eagle Rock at 6 p.m. Oh, by the way, speaking of driving your car an hour and then driving an hour back home, thank you so much for getting the car washed. I drove it yesterday, and it was great, and gassed it up, too. I was really sick of you. Registration expires next month. Just want to put that on your table. We'll sort it out when you're in L.A., don't worry. I don't even want you to think about it right now. And also a quick shout-out, friend of the pod.

George finally did the apple dance, and all did well in the world. Honestly, George doing the apple dance really warmed my heart. I can't, I'm not kidding, because the first videos I saw were some of Alex's co-workers, like former co-workers from Essence, and I was like, oh damn, these will get, and then I was like, oh, this is like a big, I didn't realize it was on the big screen until it like went viral. It's on the big screen. But it was beautiful. See, I've seen a lot of great tweets about him moving like a scarecrow, which is something that men have been trying to do for years, I guess. Yeah, yeah. Well, we can ask our guests about this, but I don't know if, ladies, do you want your man to be good at the apple dance? You know what I mean? All this and more. Our guest today, Emily Sundberg, she's been on the show before. This is round two. She does a very popular newsletter on Substack called Feed Me. It was her two-year anniversary, and we're not going to get into that at all. Let's give her a ring. All right, this episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by Quince. Jason, the temps are warming up. It's getting hot out there. Summer always changes how I get dressed. I need pieces that feel lighter, more breathable, and they're just easy but still put together. I don't want to look like a slob. That's why I keep coming back to Quince. They focus on high-quality essentials that feel and look amazing. Breathable linen and soft organic cottons. Well-made basics, but without the luxury markups. That rare balance where everything feels elevated, but still effortless. Yeah, Chris, linen season is here. I wore a linen blazer to dinner a few nights ago in the warm California sun. But, you know, you got that Italy trip coming up this summer. And quality European linen pants and shirts. Upgrade that look starting at just $34. You know, if you get a nice linen suit, a little t-shirt underneath it, some chill shoes, you're looking good, but you're staying cool. The inside of your special areas are nice and dry as you turn up with your besties. So elevate that summer wardrobe. Go to quince.com slash how long for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns, even on a nice holiday now available in Canada.

That is Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash how long. That'll get you free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince punto com slash how long. Oh, this is huge for me personally. This episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by TaskRabbit. Oh, baby, let me tell you something. This is not a joke. I use TaskRabbit a lot. because I can't do anything. You need some art hung, TaskRabbit. You need something put together, a cabinet. Got to reach that cheese grater on the top shelf. TaskRabbit. Anything you need, TaskRabbit can take care of it for you. How it works, TaskRabbit connects you with skilled taskers in your area. They can help you move. They can assemble furniture, repairs, yard work, mounting, and more. You can search for a tasker based on cost, skill set, availability, and past client reviews so you know exactly who's showing up and can have confidence that they know what they're doing because taskers have assembled over 3.4 million pieces of furniture, completed 700,000 home repairs. handled 1.5 million moves, and the numbers are just going up, Jason. Yeah, throw a little money at the problem. It's not so expensive, and that job that you really don't want to do is something that another person out in the world is very good at doing and would gladly do it in exchange for a little bit of money. So when life happens, your to-do list grows. Get ahead of it now and get $15 off your first task at TaskRabbit.com or grab the TaskRabbit app. using promo code HOWLONG. Taskers book up faster, especially for same-day tasks. So book Trusted Home Help today. That is $15 off your first task using promo code HOWLONG with the TaskRabbit app or at TaskRabbit.com. This episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by a new podcast from The Guardian stateside with Kai and Carter. This is covering a lot of our bases, Jason. It's trying to slow down. the news and wrestle with the questions we all have about what's happening in the world and i know you particularly have quite a lot of questions a lot of questions but how often because we do this podcast three times a week and that's a sweet spot how many times do they do three times a week and i i have a feeling just based on the platform and these talking points that they're maybe going to be covering different stuff than we do that's just a guess the guardian is not some billionaire owned

They're not afraid to say what they want to say, brother. Yeah, Rupert ain't sniffing around in what journalists Kai Wright and Carter Sherman are up to over there at Stateside. But yeah, listen wherever you get your podcast. You can watch it on YouTube. It's three times a week. And who couldn't use more news? Especially when it's not from here, let's say. Give it a listen. Give it a listen. Hi. This looks like a storage space. Can you bench that weight that's on there? Because it looks pretty light. Sure can't. That's my fiance's dad's. This is Meredith Studio. Oh, wait. Are we breaking news here on how long gone you got engaged? Yeah. All right. Sorry to all these Harvard grads with hella stock options. She's off the market. Yeah. Let me get a good look at this ring. What do we got? What startup does he work at? How many stocks did he get? What kind of evaluation are you looking at? Yeah, he did well. He did really well. Okay, do you think that your ring is too big? No, it's just right. Can you tell me how many carrots it has? I think it's two, which isn't that great. standard. That's not two. That's not two, honey. I could land a fucking helicopter on your ring. That is not two carats. He went to the Diamond District and worked with exactly who you'd want in the Diamond District. Yeah, I understand. Israeli guy from Long Island. And I'm being quoted, too. I understand your fiancé is Jewish. I just don't... It doesn't... Yeah, we're not debating where you got it. I'm not debating the call. I'm just saying, you know, I'm from Orange County, but I don't come from money, so I've seen a lot of Newport moms. with rings of that size i'm i'm saying i'm proud of you go off girl i think it's a bit of an off i'm gonna talk you through it it's a bit of an optical illusion because it's surrounded by something by smaller but this guy in the middle that's two smells like yeah it's surrounded by smaller so it's like it sells it's more like three when you count all the smaller something like that but i okay so it's a ring for you to grow you're so young because you got ops

These people will take it off Substack and they'll come find your ass. You better be. I hope you have a security guard. So now that the size of your ring has been revealed, are you going to switch to free? No. No. No. Yeah, I'm building something. I got to keep that. I agree with you. I agree with you. I love an empowered woman. We love your success. And you should never. Dual income household only leads to better. Totally. Yeah. It only leads to better things. So when did the question get popped? Over Thanksgiving? America's worst holiday? The day before. What is that? That day is called like something Wednesday? The biggest party night of the year. Yeah, I saw that this year, Blackout Wednesday. That was a term. Blackout Wednesday. But that was the first time I saw that being like explicitly used. Like I kind of just thought it was like the night that you go to your hometown bars and then we have this new term. Yeah, the day before Thanksgiving. Famously known as the highest bar sales night of the year is the day before Thanksgiving. But now it is Blackout Wednesday. And so your fiancé got blacked out and then dropped to one knee. Is that what happened? We were picking up our laundry, and he kind of did it outside the laundromat. It was very sweet. Oh, my God. Oh, wow. So on the streets of Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Fort Greene, I can't even imagine. South Slope. South Slope, a place I've never been. He got down on one knee. He found a piece of the sidewalk that didn't have dog shit on it, and then he dropped to one knee. He found a piece of the sidewalk in sunlight because he wanted God to be witnessing the moment. Did he have a paparazzi-style photographer hiding out across the street in a local bodega? No way. We asked an old Chinese guy from the nursing home, like, can you take a photo of us? And he was like, no, thank you. And he kept walking. Really funny. I love I love you like crying with a ring on this guy being like, oh, no, this white bitch is crazy. Leave this alone. Like 100 years old. That's a good story. I'm happy for you. That's honestly, it's a really sweet story. I'm really excited. I'm really excited. And you guys are both married. Do you know how great? Yeah, it's great. Yeah, it's great. Hopefully you make it there. The planning process can be arduous and there could be your strong personality. I'm sure he is as well. So just think about it before you argue.

Yeah, I'm a little nervous. I'm a little overwhelmed, but I think it'll be okay. I've been planning more and more events this year, so I think, you know. Well, you're going to hire a wedding planner like an adult. Yeah. And you're going to give them. I don't know. There's no absolute reason. Emily has a background in experiential marketing. You know, she's already basically halfway there. I don't really have time to plan a wedding. So I think a planner might help you. Okay, diva. Okay, diva. We have to remember our personal life is just as important as our newsletter. She literally does not have time. It is true. No time. Well, that's what I mean. But wedding planners, I mean, unless you're trying to do something really extravagant, are... pretty reasonably affordable for what they offer. Yeah, I was thinking of giving Sue Chan a call or something. Sue Chan won't do it, but she will know who should. Yeah, she'll know who should. She'll do it if you add enough zeros. Yeah, if you pay enough. The Sue Chan brand adds a couple zeros to the end of the services. Yeah, I feel like they'll have some people in their database. I was looking at their website. It's like a full database now. Yeah, I mean, Sue's the one. I mean, if I was going to do anything like that, I would call her. But do you think it's important to build a database that's available to the public? I mean, like Michael Bloomberg, like that kind of thing. Yeah, just like Michael Bloomberg. I don't know. You said the word database more than once. So I was wondering if you're thinking about databases right now. Yeah, I'm always sort of thinking about that sort of thing. My database is in my cell phone and that's mine. I ain't selling that to these fucking losers. You're so right. I can't keep it. I mean, it's been interesting. Like, over the past few weeks, I've been doing some press around my rebrand and my two-year anniversary. And, like, a huge question is just, like, where do you get your stories? And that's the answer. It's, like, have a good Rolodex. Have some good group texts, which I feel like you guys are iffy about group texts. No, I have two. And that's all I need. I prefer a one-on-one text, personally. I just feel like that's... As long as a group text is manicured and maintained and it's not just like 80 people screaming into the void, I think it's an amazing source. It's great to have a third party sometimes. I've never gotten invited to one of those. Maybe because I don't like fantasy sports. I've never been invited to an 80-man group chat. I don't understand the purpose of that. Yeah, the fantasy sports.

bachelorette party 2021 yeah and then you get stuck in them after the bachelor and bachelorette parties yeah i bet you've been to a lot of bachelorette parties i've been to a total of one what my sisters where'd you guys go we got we did the spa at the greenwich hotel at shibui spa and then we went to um ultra paradiso and then we stayed at the granite hotel this doesn't count this is no no it was like small it was exactly what you wanted it was a very little this is a wednesday bro this yeah that's another day i don't know what you're saying yeah it's another day yeah i haven't been invited to any of like the party party party ones but i'm i think that they're about to I guess that's true. You are younger. Yeah, it's going to start. You're going to have to go to Miami. You're going to have to go to Vegas. You might have to go to Charleston or Nashville. Yeah. You know, I could really see you fitting in on one of those pedal bars, you know, where you're kind of all sitting at the bar on the back of the bike. That's random. Going through Nashville. Those look so brutal. Yes, they do. Yes, they do. And they also are allowed to blare music, much like the pedicab drivers in Times Square, which is one of my biggest pet peeves. You know, for the first time, I was on a train yesterday from, the city to Connecticut and somebody was playing their music on their iPhone out loud, which I find. Very cool. Such a version of noise pollution. Which Bad Bunny song was it? I don't remember what it was, but then the conductor said, if you don't have headphones, you can't do that. You're going to need to put some headphones on. Oh, really? Somebody stood up. I'm always afraid to scold a fellow person because I think it's going to devolve quickly into some sort of fight. Totally. Because that's my personality. But conductors have a lot of confidence. You just have to shoot them a look that says for shame. That's all you can do. Unless you're a conductor. It's oddly so pervasive now. I feel like people are empowered. I feel like it's become so normalized that people don't even think about it anymore. Like sweatpants on the airplane. Have you seen this, guys? It's crazy. I was on a train the other day and there was a guy on the subway. Have you ever heard the emo covers of Adele? The screamo covers of pop songs? Wait, hold on.

No, this sounds sick. Can you send me a link? I'll find it. It's sort of like Kids Bop, but Screamo. I'll send you guys some, but I kind of like those. I want to hear Adele in the style of Armor for Sleep. That's exactly what we need. He was playing that, and I thought it was funny, but everyone in the train really hated it. You've got to be in the mood for that type of thing, that type of awful music. Yeah, you've really got to be in the mood for that. I was looking at your newsletter a while ago when you were originally scheduled to be on. Sorry for bumping, and thank you for rescheduling. I'm glad. But I had one question on there that was pulled from one of your recent newsletter headlines. And it said how to order a drink like a social media manager. And I wanted to ask if that is the thing that people would want to ever do. That was specific. I'm guessing you didn't read it because that was my election day newsletter. And the point was go out and get fucked up tonight, which is what social media managers should have been doing on election night as opposed to being forced to like. post through the election as if they could actually create a strategy my friend rachel carton um who writes a newsletter about social media was saying like go out let your social media managers go drink tonight instead of having to post and right right right uh but can somebody order a drink like a social media manager I feel like that is the hardest job in the world. Do they put their order in drafts? You wave your hand with your phone in your hand when you're getting the attention of the bartender? Yeah, like at the concerts? Like at the concerts when you request a song from the DJ? Diplo, fuck me. Diplo, fuck me. Diplo, fuck me. Diplo, fuck me. Spicy, skinny, Mark. Spicy, skinny. I think the social media manager is a...

I can't imagine that job and what what you go through at all the levels to at every level from like being doing it for the White House to doing it for fucking Unilever for doing it for Amelian door. It's still it's a nightmare job no matter where you do. And you get no respect across the board wherever you're a social media manager. No, you get no respect. You get no time off. Everybody wants a piece of you. I was running the cuts Instagram 2016. So that was like when New York Magazine was breaking the Weinstein story and Trump and. Haley and Justin getting engaged. God, what a great time. What a great time. Moment of silence. Moment of silence. Yeah. Yeah. Keep your head up, Harvey. Mess. But I'm sure it's become more systemized since then. Like at that point, random people could come up to you during the day in the office and be like, can you post this for me? And I'm sure people have like a much more strategic way of. posting now when you're well also newsrooms have teams of yeah they do it like 15 20 people now and it's not just one girl writing out a caption on a phone or guy but um Yeah, that's a brutal job, and people will come at you in the comments. What's the salary looking like, though? Mid? Yeah, I mean, social media teams, you're probably getting the budget for those salaries are coming out of the marketing budget. It's not always like the editorial teams that you get. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's a little better money, and then you just have to be on Slack 24 hours a day. Until you die, yeah. How many Slacks are you in? Zero. I don't use Slack. hell yeah gang shit okay i'm impressed by that yeah are you on blue sky no but i did get a message this week that i should try it out these people are seeing really great conversion rates tell all those nerds to suck it because we ain't going on blue sky you already have a newsletter you can't push it that far i'm i will die on twitter i i'm not leaving that place see this is good to hear from a a young person who's on the front lines

of this that you're like, I'm all set chief. Like I don't need that. Yeah. It's too much. It's like, I feel like I figured out how to do this newsletter and that's like working for me and I don't really need Twitter or Instagram. Like I don't even really post that much on Instagram for my newsletter, but the fact that the fact that you didn't post a picture of you and your man with your hand in front of your face like this today is a testament to the fact that you're not using it that much. Yeah. Yeah. We're proud of you. It's quite private. So. He's going to love this. It's so hot when a guy doesn't have social media. Am I right, Jason? Yeah. Yeah. We actually, does your, does your fiance know how to do the apple dance? We were just talking about it on the intro. No, wait, what happened? So George was doing it and Charlie was like, I didn't realize it was him or something. No, they, they, I guess they, they pick someone out of every show to do it and they put it on the screens and they picked him and she can't see the screen. So she doesn't, she doesn't ever know who's doing it, but it was, it's, I said in the intro, it really warmed my heart. Yeah. I just, you know, it was nice to see. And he didn't do a bad job. That's cute. Yeah. I don't know any of the dances. I think I tried to do one once and I like watching the video was really I'm impressed. Those people look really good when they do it. I know. I think I could actually some for some reason, Jason, I feel confident that I could do the apple dance if I. Put my mind to it. Do you like dancing, Chris? No, men shouldn't dance under any circumstance. George is allowed because he's a professional musician, and his fiancée is also a professional musician, so they have to do it. I think men look stupid dancing unless they're professionals, or at least not white. But I like that he's not a dancer type, just like us, Chris. But then he edged it for so long. Yeah. For, you know, countless tour dates saying, no, no, I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. And then when we're back home in London at the big sold out show at the hometown, bust it out. Perfect timing. It's as good as a proposal, if you ask me. They must have let him smoke inside to get his confidence up at the O2. I don't. There's no. And also, I just.

I just got my wedding invitation to their wedding. It's a great one. It'll be in Sicily next year. It's a really nice invitation. It's a really nice invitation. Emily, where do you want to get married? Destinazione? You're going to go to some Long Island place? I think... Some clamshell? No, probably somewhere in the city. Probably somewhere in New York. You want to make this as expensive as possible. I like where your head's at. I'll figure it out. I'm thinking Central Park and then The Grill, maybe. I don't know. What do you guys think? I kind of half-mentioned The Grill. Somebody on Thanksgiving was like, you married the wrong person. You should have married like a Dubai billionaire if you were going to do that. I wonder if it's actually that. I wonder how expensive it actually is. They're always doing it. Like last time I was at the grill, they were doing some event for a law firm. And exactly. I feel like they're doing those kinds of things every night, though. Like, so. Yeah. But for a whole buyout. Yeah. I've been there during a wedding. They just do it in the back room. I don't think it's that cray-cray. It's also a bad restaurant, and I stand on that. It costs way too much. The food is mid. People only go there because it's pretty. The only reason anyone goes there is because it's pretty. Jason, what do you think? I mean, this is a guy who likes the food at Sunset Tower. I think the food at the grill is not the best in New York, but I think it's solid and enjoyable, and I always enjoy my meal there. And you know what it is? It's dinner and a show. a little song and dance when you order it they tell you the history of the crank with the duck and they like you know exactly what i don't you'd exactly what i don't want is that i don't want any explanations i don't go to corner store i'm going to corner store tonight actually and dinner in the show but that's funny the grill takes themselves seriously it's a very different thing what what happens at corner store what happens at corner store that's theater chris i don't know i i i haven't been yet they have a sour cream and onion martini God. Well, that doesn't appeal to me, but pretty funny. Next. I would give it a sip. Okay. Well, this is something I've been thinking about because I think for a few years in New York, the past few years, it's been very like wine bar, food that's assembled with tweezers. Don't talk about Barsecco like that. That's in LA. You don't have to throw shade. And now there's this pivot to corner store and these clubsturants because nobody's eating because everybody's on Ozempic.

So they really just want vibes. They want like a big, beautiful dinner and a show. That's all I've ever wanted. Thank God the world has come around. I need a place where I could take photos in front of to show that I'm at a cool place, but I'm not going to eat the tomahawk steak for two. It's funny that you guys are saying this because the most photographed restaurant in New York is The Grill. People go there and take a picture in front of the Warhols. That's 100% part of the appeal of the restaurant. That is true. Yeah. So now, yeah, people are trying to recreate the grill and the polo bar downtown. I just went to this new place, Crane Club, that's owned by the Tao Group. Let's go. You're talking, see, they're getting into Jason and I's heyday a little bit, so this is getting us excited. I was actually just writing something about this, about the fact that nightclub groups are owning and buying all the restaurant real estate and properties. is is creating a disposable restaurant cycle the way that they treat nightclubs yeah i mean and then there's like the members club of it all like nobody really wants to eat they just want to be in like rooms with beautiful rich people yeah that's exactly right i mean i have to eat you know what i mean if i need to eat i'll do it at a different time yeah i'll do it i'll do that on my own time Dinner at a restaurant? No, no, no. Honestly, that's the best way to eat. I love going to a dinner at a fancy restaurant full of hot people, getting wasted, and then going home and eating pizza or a burrito in silence, in peace. Like a dignified person. Yeah, you eat before dinner, and then you go to dinner. I wonder. I think the Ozempic stuff is all a little overstated. I think this whole thing about how it's affecting this and affecting that, I think some of it's true, but I think people really want it to be more true. This episode of How Long Gone is brought to you by Squarespace. Obviously, Jason, you and I spend a lot of time on the World Wide Web, sort of our peers, our listeners, our friends, our colleagues, maybe even your parents if they're freaky. And if you're doing anything in the world... writing, taking pictures. I do topless boxing. You need a website. Exactly, a website that works, that does what it's supposed to do, that allows you to be creative but also business-minded. Jason, there's one place to go for that, Squarespace. Yeah, Chris, I'm over here. I'm modifying calculators and putting Claude inside of them so you could cheat at school. And I just want a place where I could have everything all in one place. I can have the SEO tools.

So those future graduates can find me and, you know, I'm able to accept, quote unquote, donations for my services that might be gray area. You know what I mean? And then email campaigns. Hey, I got a new, you know, 2.3 version upgrade. Boom, boom, boom. Get the analytics going. Raise some money. You know, show your investor all of your cool analytics of what's going on. They're going to want to get in early and we can use Blueprint AI to make your website look as professional. as your competition, if not more. So head to squarespace.com slash how long for a free trial. When you're ready to launch, use offer code how long to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or a domain. Hi Talk House Network listeners, it's your old friend Nels Klein from Wilco here. Wilco is touring this summer and we'd love to see you somewhere on the road. We're playing shows this June and July in Rochester Hills, Michigan, Chautauqua, New York, Lafayette, New York, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Vienna, Virginia, Forest Hills, New York, Portland, Maine, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Memphis, Tennessee, La Grange, Georgia, Charleston, South Carolina, Virginia Beach, Virginia, Wheeling, West Virginia, and Columbus, Ohio. Plus, there are even more dates, some with Willie Nelson that I didn't even mention here. So please go to wilkoworld.net to see the full list of dates. We'll see you on the road this summer. Do you hear that? Sounds like breakfast is ready. Because Quaker's coming in hot with morning nutrition. 100% whole grain oats and a good source of fiber to fuel the rhythm of your morning and kickstart your day. And that sounds absolutely delicious. Fuel to start whatever's next. Quaker, official sponsor of FIFA World Cup 26. I think that the friends that I know that own restaurants, their numbers of...

food and alcohol orders have gone like people are just eating and drinking but there's other factors that people you know like the economy yeah i mean i the economy is not actually bad but people think it is you know what i mean so like i don't know maybe they're reacting accordingly i just think in new york and la sure people are on olympic i think anywhere else that's probably not quite as true yeah well yeah But I'm saying – but I just mean like I don't think it's – I just don't think it's affecting the world as much as people think it's affecting the world. I think it's affecting New York and L.A. Yeah, I think that's right. I can't talk about the restaurant scenes in cities other than New York. I can barely talk. No, but I don't mean restaurant. I mean people – there's been like these – stories about it being like it's gonna change the way groceries are you know like all that kind of shit oh yeah yeah yeah yeah like the glp one friendly chips and stuff yeah i i don't think that i think that is overstated i think yeah like restaurants in new york yeah i that doesn't surprise me at all i agree with you i think it's like i i think you're right so skinny is back is what you're saying yeah we know this like we know that hey for some of us for some of us it never left but yeah right a return a return to the glory days is, you know, it's welcome. So do you enjoy your time being spent at the new wave, the third wave of Clubsterants? So I live very far. I live very far from Clubsterants. I live in a neighborhood that I doubt neither of you have really spent much time in, which is at the bottom of Prospect Park. So if I plan to go to the city, I have to allocate like an hour to get there. And yeah, I live far. And if there's traffic, forget about it. The city isn't really investing in trains. Okay, don't come for the city because you chose to live in Long Island. That's on you. Can you get to the airport quick, though? Is there any benefit to this besides being surrounded by white people with dogs? I live in a very Italian neighborhood. Okay.

Sorry, he said white passing. He meant white passing. I'm surrounded by great Italians. I don't know what you mean. Just me and the nonas. I've lived in my apartment for six years. So it's just like I'm there now. Like the stakes are in the ground. Sure, you like it. I understand. So for you to make it to meatpacking, we're looking at an hour and 15. But it's happening more and more. My life has changed in a way where I go to Manhattan more. So now I'm starting to open Zillow while I'm stuck on the train. I'm like, I need to fix this immediately. You're saying you're a woman who looks at Zillow? This is groundbreaking. If you're going to write about it, you have to experience it yourself. I know. Crazy. Crazy. Which club restaurant did you just go to? I went to Crane Club. Okay, but you went to another one that you wrote about with the, what was it called, Chris, that you went to? Chez Margot. Chez Margot, the best night of my life. I haven't been yet, but they keep emailing me to come, and I'm like, this is breaking the wall of members. No, it's sick, especially if you do coke. It's really sick. Okay, this is a very interesting point, because a lot of people I know who have gone have asterisked it and said, But it's very druggy. Yeah, because that's what clubs should be. That's what's cool about clubs is if they're dark and you do drugs in them and you can smoke. A club that's not druggy is fucking a daycare center. Yeah, that's a restaurant. Would you consider like San Vicente Bungalows druggy? No, no. Or is this like touching on a new... No, San Vicente Bungalows is the opposite because it's LA, which is a little different. And it's like you're outside. Nothing makes me want to do coke less than sitting outside. Right. That doesn't really feel... like that whereas i don't mind coke alfresco because of the smoking part but i would say that like chateau was a little more druggy if any yeah just because it has such a rich history of of partying and drug abuse there but do you think that they allow drugs i think everywhere allows don't look the other way depending on who it is to an extent i mean i smoked a cigarette inside of che margot and no and Everybody else was and no one cared. This is Intel. I'm sure they're supposed to tell you to put it out, which if we wouldn't have been at like a private birthday party, they probably would have. I smoked a cig at N Brasserie, but it was their last day. So they didn't really matter. Once Dave Chappelle does it, I was like, I could do that too. Did you hear that?

Sofia Coppola was buying the plates from them at that party. Yeah, that's cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know. The story I heard about that whole thing is that she just ignored the lease renewal until it was too late, basically. And it's just like, that's on you, bro. I don't know what to say. That's on you. And that's a great restaurant. We used to go there all the time. I used to go there all the time. It's beautiful. Should we open a new concept? Who is it? No, no. Is it Jean-Georges took it? Or no, one of the other. Daniel Hum, I think. Yeah, I think it was Daniel. It was one of them. Daniel Hum is taking it over. Classic space. Have you been to the Clementine Bar? No, but I heard it's beautiful. Now, that I do want to go to. Yeah. That I do want to go to. Yeah. It's at 11 Madison Park, Jason. Oh, fabulous. Okay. There's so much to do, y'all. They offer some vegan vittles on the menu, from what I understand. Yeah, I think all the cocktails are supposed to be very inspired by different vegetables or something. I'm out. Never mind. Hold on. Well. I'll go there to look at it. I'm just going to have a carrot martini tonight. It's heirloom. Yeah, they'll probably have a carrot martini at a corner store tonight. I don't know what Crane Club is. I never heard of that until you started talking about it. Okay, it's in the old Del Posto location, that massive building on 10th Avenue. It was like exactly what you'd expect. That location, I think, is a little cursed. It's just so big. It's really big. Yeah, it's huge. Pause. The Chez Margot is also huge. Pause. It feels like you're – because you're, like, kind of under – you feel like you're subterranean, so it goes on forever. Yeah. It'll be interesting to see people, like, once they open San Vicente Bungalows and the 22, they're, like, opening a few more clubs if people start to become members of multiple clubs. There's too many clubs. There's too many clubs. It's not London. This is not our culture. could actually work and maintain its coolness and not be eventually kind of ruined from the inside out? I think there's two things that I'm not seeing enough of that are sort of baked into the history of members clubs, which is the gym and athletic features. That's such a great feature besides just restaurant to have people join if you have a really great gym. Couldn't agree more, I believe. Which is what New York Athletic Club has.

all those uptown ones, the university ones. Get a deal done on the squash court. Yeah. It encourages part two, which is the daytime features of working there, which are really, I think that's like a cool way to get more members and just to get more use of the space. But then I guess you need more staff. Yeah. I would like to see more of that. from some of these places. Like, Chez Margot is just nighttime. Right. But there, like, we went to, when we interviewed Paul Smith, Chris, that was at one of the Soho House kind of, like, daytime workspaces. Holloway House. It was bumping. And it kind of feels like you're just in the Delta Lounge at the airport. It's just a hundred people with backpacks and laptops doing their fake job. That's what everywhere feels like, though. I mean, at least it's nicer than being a fucking, like, at a, I, I, I famously will not use my laptop in public, if at all possible. I think it's embarrassing. But that is what everyone wants to do. They want to get out of their house and go sit somewhere. At least if you make them pay for it, it's one more level of garbage that you've avoided. It's not like you're going to Coffee Bean. It's also like, I'm sure when you were at Shea Margot, you saw people there that you knew that weren't with your party. That's the other thing. I did, actually. You see the same people over there. Over and over and over, you lose the spontaneity of sitting, sort of separating the rich from the rest of us. I want to be separated, but then every once in a while, I slide through the cracks like a damn salamander. That's exactly what I want. Yeah. I'm a little snake. Yeah, I mean, that's the thing I hate about all the members clubs is people can just essentially buy their way into areas that they should not have access to. And it's so hard to create a system that used to exist where there was a door and one human being who would say, you are not allowed in. You are. And it's not based on how much money you have. Yeah. Until we figure that out, you know, I don't really see the point. It's just going to be dorks paying. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see who makes it. There's also something to just working in a hotel lobby. Like I worked in, you're not going to like this because I have my laptop in public, but I went to the.

bowery and i worked there for a few hours and you know i saw some characters come through yeah it's no it's that's a fun that's way cooler i completely agree that's that's still the coolest place in new york for my money yeah i mean and there's but like jason said that's more of like a you can go there you can't like there's not really a a You know, I can pay a yearly membership or whatever it might be. Yeah. Except there's always somebody with a fucking dog in there. That's so true. And I don't ever want to see it with, like, the full lights on. Like, I feel like there's, like, sticky. Like how a bar smells when it's not open in the daytime. Yeah. Like, fabuloso. Velvet, like, holds. smoke and memories in that place in a very specific way. Velvet famously holds memories. That is true. If Velvet could talk, it would say, call 911, please. Well, I want to talk about something more important. I think the last time you were on, we were discussing milk, and you have spoken about milks, whole milk taking over alternative milks, the rise and the fall and all that stuff. What do you think about raw milk becoming a right wing signifier now moving on from the, you know, the upstate liberal lesbian creamery vibes and now it's being adopted by CrossFit. Do you drink creamery vibes? Do you drink raw milk? Not all the time, but I have for sure. But it's not it's not something that I buy on a normal basis. OK, well, that. That brand that they have at Erewhon, they found bird flu in it last week. Thank God I'm not a bird. You know what I mean? What is it? What is it? Bird flu still exists? I know. I think, and I was thinking about it this morning, like the RFK stuff. He's so gross, I think. Hey, chill, chill, chill. Not on this podcast. We're not going to talk about our health minister. Look at his body.

he's mr raw milk right and like sure there might be some benefits of it um could you do the voice please emily the rfk voice i can't i can't i can't either i can't okay so you're saying like the move away from like the milkmaid like churning the butter and it being like a symbol for all right no i guess just moving like i would say maybe in the last two years it went from being like a thing that you have to get From like a farmer's market in a blue state. Yeah, like a handoff from like an Amish guy. Right. From, yeah, like somebody who knits quilts for a living procured this for me and I exchange it in a Subaru at a farmer's market in a blue state. And now it's like Republican fuel to defeat the lib pussies. Yeah. So there's this guy at the Union Square farmer's market who sold raw milk and he got kicked out. he got kicked out because, um, I don't think he was like following. Well, he, he can't do that. And I looked him up and he also, he's like an Amish guy from Pennsylvania and he also has a puppy mill. And I'm just like, come on. Like he was just a Trump supporter, a puppy mill. I can live with. No, you don't want that. You don't want that. It's bad, but this guy's got to diversify if they're going to ban raw milk. Yeah, I guess you're right. You can always sell a dog in America. But as far as it being like this new thing, I don't know, man. Are you anti-RAW? Yeah. I don't want to get sick. Okay. Do you? Jason is made of – Jason gets sick when he's feeling tired and ornery. He doesn't get sick from ingesting anything. It's pretty interesting. I mean, it's only as good – I mean, I would say your raw milk is only as good as the cow that it's coming from. And if it's a big thing that people want to get into, you have to just find a reputable source that doesn't have bird flu all up in it. You know what I mean? I know.

I don't know. I'm fine drinking regular high-quality milk that has been pasteurized, even though pasteurizing does kill a lot of bad stuff. I mean, a lot of good stuff along with the bad. What other, Jason, what other, apparently the barber jacket has also become a right-wing dog whistle, which is very unfortunate for me. But only a certain one. Yeah, the classic one. I actually don't wear that one, but the most classic one is now. Not like a quilted kind of nylon. No, the regular one, the green. Bedell. The green kind of waxy, olive-colored one. I feel like 90s Wall Street guys who were Republicans were wearing the barber jacket. There are just certain things that... conservative men i know but the problem is i think i wear all of those is what i'm trying to tell you that's the issue i'm having is that i think that all well you are conservative passing chris and you know these are the decisions that we have to make in our lives i know but so we have the barber jacket which kind of even though it's like a classic republican finance bro look it also is sort of rooted in like 70s mod culture like the british overcoat as well as the Fred Perry. Bernie Sanders. We don't talk about Bernie Sanders on this podcast. Well, I mean, I'm saying, you know, it reminds me of when Chris and I were dressing like mod guys, like Quadrophenia, you know, Vespa scooters, and then also Fred Perry shirts is another right wing. So those are two things, both in the same zone, that neo-Nazis and Nazis don't not wear. So I think that's why. It's like a dog whistle. It's because it kind of looks like Nazi clothes. So what are you going to do? I don't wear Fred Perry black with yellow or barber trench coats. But these are things that we wore when we were kids because they were cool and punk and British. And then those somehow became something totally different in a decade. It's crazy. Do you guys think that there are any great new menswear writers?

Menswear writers? There's nothing I'd rather read about less than menswear. Because I noticed that three of the bigger womenswear shopping newsletter people... Laura Riley, who writes magazine, hired a menswear writer and a few other ones have started bringing on menswear writers to, I think, widen their audience. Oh, you mean to re-engineer the magazine? Yeah, I have seen this. I have seen this. I have seen this. To amplify male voices in the fashion space? That's what we... Thank God somebody's doing it. Okay. I mean, I'm not surprised. Like, guys are okay with liking clothes now. It's a cultural revolution of dudes taking the train to fucking Venn Space in Fort Greene and spending $5,000 of their creative director's salary. Men should never read about fashion. Men should never read about fashion, though. Honestly, Jason, you're kind of right. Like, you're kind of right. You should just look at the way people dress and then form your own outfits from that. I read stuff if it's more – I like the personality of the designer type. You know what I mean? Like a long form with – like when Will Welch talked to Tom Ford or Jay Gallagher just wrote about Kiko. He talked about Kiko. That's interesting. But I don't like – Reading about like trends is extremely female coded. Yeah. You don't you don't like the affiliate links. You don't like. No, I like it because it makes publications money. And so they still exist. So everyone doesn't have to have a newsletter. That's good for you, too. But I think that affiliate I just don't know why people get so upset about affiliates. Who cares? Like, I don't. That's not offensive to me. It actually Amelia Petrarca did a really good. write up about like what affiliate links are yesterday i thought it was great it was like a really nice black friday uh take and then she was like see you next week with my affiliate links and yeah i don't understand can you summarize her take it wasn't a take it was just like this is how it works this is what if this is the history of affiliate links like this is the history of how they were developed this is how you see them like this is these are some of the systems like shop my and like to know whatever that use them yeah it was it was it was like a great

newsletter to send on black friday but it does have like a negative connotation which is like something i just don't understand like if you're gonna if the whole idea is that you're recommending something to me and that is a service you're providing and i'm often not paying for it then you can get a little kickback on the fucking la mer boots it's fine yeah i mean it's It's true. Like those areas of the New York Times, Wirecutter and the strategist at New York Magazine, like it's a big reason their businesses are able to operate the way they do. They make so much money from those areas of the business and they have great writers. writing for them thank you it's normie shit is what it is and i mean honestly the crap the strategist readers are some of the biggest mouth-breathing dorks i've ever encountered in my life and i hate them but they do actively comment on all of my stories negatively which does keep the engagement high so i will i will accept that but interesting well i i personally get a little ick when i click a link and then you see the little redirection in the url where you can see that they're getting a little kickback I guess like people want to be lied to a little bit or just like just don't show me how the sausage is made. I want to separate church and state editorial and commercial. You know what I mean? And when they combine the two, I just feel like this whole thing is empty and useless because it was all about money in the first place. I think recommendation culture, which like we don't need to talk about because everybody's talked about it so much. People just don't want to feel like they're being incentivized. People don't want to feel like the recommender is being incentivized to push a product and that they're able to recommend something just based on taste. But I think we're just going to see more and more of this. But what I'm saying is I think that the affiliate link thing has become so big that you can't even do that. You can recommend anything you want almost unless it's eBay and it falls under. So there's no taste involved. There's no taste shifting. It's just like anything you want. I also hate it when you're listening to somebody and they're like, I just love this water bottle, by the way. This is not an ad. What is that? They're not paying me for it. I totally like it. Yeah, I noticed that. Well, it's because they want to show that, like, hey, this is actually a real, authentic recommendation. It's something that I actually like, and I'm so happy to share it that I don't care that I'm not being paid. And then to me, that just...

takes out all the legitimacy from any of your recommendations that are being paid. Where it's just like, so I don't know. We got to keep them guessing. I should only trust when you're not being paid. Keep them guessing. I'll never say if it's paid or if it's not paid. If the FCC wants to come for me, they can. But we got to keep it. We got to keep it. Better way to do it. We got to just keep it. Keep them guessing. That's what you got to do. That's what you got to do. But people do get really upset about affiliate. It's funny. Like you can see it because also people have to, whoever's using the affiliate links is always having to. post a caveat about why they're doing it. They have to explain themselves. It's like, we all know why you're doing it. It's to make money on the thing that you do. It's okay, but people do get very upset. People get very upset. Guys buying clothes is cool now. I talk about all the time. A 14-year-old boy doesn't want to go to the skate shop or the record store. He wants his mom to take him to Gucci to get sweatshirt. It's fucked. It's very, very fucked. The business of it and the personalities is very interesting, which is where writing shines i think beyond the the recommendation and like shopping stuff is completely different to me than like writing about like the actual business or the clothes or whatever it is you know yeah or the reason lauren lauren's been so successful is because it's like gossipy and fun you know it's not like it's not super i mean same thing you do it's not like super serious it's like pretty fun and and you can put whatever in there and it kind of falls under the umbrella and it's fine yeah just make it entertaining yeah a lot of people forget to do that when they're writing about fashion that's yeah people really forget to people forget to do that every day in their lives about all kinds of stuff it's a real problem i guess speaking of recommendations and algorithms and things like that since you write about all these things so much have you noticed your algorithm and what's being served to you on social media change now that you do this for a living and is it good or bad i mean i've been doing like this for a living for my whole like for the past 10 years i've been working in magazines and social media and like venture-backed startups okay well i guess uh easier question what is your what is your algorithm serving you right now when i go on tiktok it's the west village girlies it's like the blonde girls who all go

wear the same things go to the same workout classes eat at the same restaurants and i actually don't mind it because i'm fascinated by that subculture of just clones like The same outfits, the same workouts, the same lips and eyes and everything. I would like to ask a few questions about the outfits. What is the workout brand du jour for this West Village girl? Is it aloe or is it something, a third thing? I think like Gymshark or something is a hot one. Not Gymshark. I think that's a hot one, but aloe is definitely. British, Gymshark, British. Aloe is really big. Like over the summer, they were all wearing the little onesies, which were like the little like. yeah the shorts and the tank top are attached you gotta have a bod for that that's the thing yeah you gotta have a bod that ain't that ain't for everybody they're wearing they're wearing the hokas when aloe just launched the sneakers a lot of them are wearing the aloe sneakers now which is that's one of the most cooked things on earth yeah yeah um and then they all go to new york pilates which is Not a great workout. Damn, shots fired. It's not the best workout. Pilates in general or New York Pilates? No, I think Pilates is an awesome workout. But I think some of these, I want the instructor's hands on me and adjusting me and fixing me. Because in some of those classes, they just kind of walk around. Yeah, try doing solid core in Decatur. The bitch is reading. It looks like she's reading off her phone. Yeah, that's not. And then they're all very into hair extensions now. Like, even if they have hair that looks like mine, they want more of it. And then they all curl it the same way. Okay. And I would love to make a documentary about some of those women, but they don't answer me. I'm trying to see what the downside is to this whole thing. Because it sounds like they're just, like, hot, fit chicks with jobs. Is that kind of the vibe? Yeah, I don't think there's a downside. Well, and I guess another thing is these people are all customers.

Yeah. So I think it's it's beneficial to study their movements and patterns. Yeah. Like I've started listening to a lot of these girls podcasts and like the Barstool podcast. Hold on. Hold on. They have podcasts. Now I'm now I'm upset. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of them. You're not supposed to talk. That's the whole that's when you start messing up your money. And they give life advice and dating advice and they talk about hangovers. Are they just rich to begin with? I don't think I don't think all of them are. I think some of them, you know. are like in 150k a year marketing jobs. They're just doing their thing. What would you call this group of people? The West Village Girlies. That's the official name, Jason. This is a known kind of trend. You've heard of this, right? Wasn't there a New York Times story about the woman who manages them all? Yes, yes. Shayna or something. I didn't read that because I'm only so brain dead, but it is interesting that that is a career. I was just hoping there was like a Zinternet-style cool, fun word to describe this certain group of people versus just... Girls that live in West Village. No, it's the West Village girlies. Keep it simple, stupid. Exactly. So yeah, that's a lot of my TikTok feed, my Instagram. It's mostly my friends. And then Twitter, I just realized you can toggle between following and suggested. Welcome to the good life, baby. Never follow your followers. Followers suck. Yeah, because my fiance saw my feed, and he was like, this is trash. This is so visual. This is crazy. You should go to just following. And I was like, nah, that's so boring. I'm staying on the crazy AI. I would maybe rethink this engagement based on that opinion alone. I don't know if you're going to make it. That's an issue at home. Yeah, we talk about all the time. The For You page is the best thing that's ever happened. And it's like once you realize that, it unlocks a whole new side of the platform. Yeah, I like all the food videos. I like the Long Island girls pranking their moms. I'm not familiar with that. So you're saying your friends from high school are pranking their moms? No, it's like the people in those. What's the best way to prank a Long Island mom?

Like, uh, there's one where they, they're like scrolling on there. They're all sitting in their big, like sort of mega mansion living room. Yeah. And they'll say the kitchen Island is crazy. Like, uh, mom, um, uh, you know, I'm dating a black guy. No, uh, like who does the Christmas album and Starbucks? Nora Jones, our queen guy. Michael Buble. They'll be like, mom, Michael Buble isn't releasing or like is canceling all the Christmas music in Starbucks. And the mom would be like, what are you talking about? Like, you're kidding me. Like something like that. That's the joke. Yeah. Like that's. And the mom like freaks out. I mean, that's pretty funny in theory. But that is also the bars on the floor. Yeah. But it is funny to see what activates a mom. Asking though, why is that Long Island specific? It's just because that's where it's being created. Just see, there's a vibe. Okay. It's a type. There's a kitchen style. There's a, I mean, the Long Island accent is often. Yeah, that's true. That's true. That's true. That will give it away. I just didn't know if there was a particular flair to this that gave it a Long Island twist. No, no. Okay. All right. That algorithm sounds a lot better than mine. I got chiropractor videos. I got influencer chicks, and I got dudes working out. That's all I got. I need to start working out. Okay, so you don't work out. No, not much. I walk around the park. No. So you don't work out at all, but you have a lot of thoughts about Pilates. Very interesting. Very. I go to Pilates like once. Once a week, but I don't, I think there's more to be done. You got to start shedding for the wedding. We need to get it in the, no, we need to start lifting weights. We need to start lifting weights. This ain't a game. I know. Hopefully this is the only time you do this. I know. I know. There's a lot to do. Until we can squeeze into that Gymshark onesie, the battle is not over. I just joined the YMCA. Okay, bad start. I know you're doing pretty well with all these paid subscribers. Let's go ahead and start at Equinox and go up from there. Where would you like me to go?

You don't strike me as an NPR or YMCA crunch. It's next to my house, though. Is it inspiring, though? That's the question. That's the problem with the YMCA. In my own way, it is. It's very hometown vibes, very comfortable. I can wear a big Yankees World Series t-shirt, and it's all good. So that is a comforting place to me. Is it all good? Yeah. So it's comforting, but you don't really go there too much. No, I just joined. There's a track. Oh, that's nice. And I appreciate, I love the YMCA. I used to be a member of the YMCA on Bowery for years and years. And it had a pool, which made it smell like chlorine, which sucks. But it had full court basketball. But it's not inspiring. When you go to an Equinox and you see all these hot type A feed me subscribers, that makes you want to do a couple extra crunches. Yeah, but it is scary. Some of those girls, I'm not that. I'm not built like that. Wow. I'm very disappointed to hear this. I really thought you were built like that based on your Grussell outlook. Well, do you mean mentally or physically? Both. Both. I have some work to do. Also, Equinox is... really far from my house. Yeah, that's a problem. In the suburbs of South Brooklyn, essentially. Well, look, once you move over here to this island, we'll get you at Bond Street. You're going to run into all kinds of people that know you from Substack. They're going to ask you for a discount. They're going to talk to you about their fraternity, sorority, their alma mater. That, I imagine, is who you want to be around, but I'm glad to be proven wrong. It's good to have some humble... some humble areas of my life. I love being humbled personally. I love being humbled, but I speaking of, I don't, I don't think that you need this at all, Emily, but have you considered Ozempic or any things like that? No, I tried to fill out the thing on hers to get it. And I tried to lie my way through it. And then it's still, I was only like, try therapy like something else i don't know oh really it didn't say that i think it i think it suggested like a vitamin d pill like some pill i was like no i wanted to see if yeah you can lie your way through hers to get it i wasn't gonna do it i was just curious i didn't know hers which is the female hymns for the and and obviously they're ignoring the non-binary but whatever um they still waiting on thems thems yeah thems would be great it's even more catchy but you can get to it

You can get Ozempic, et cetera, from hers. Yeah. I didn't know that. I didn't know that. So how do you fail a test that you can lie on? Can't you just write, I'm a fat bitch, and then boom, here you go? Do you have to upload pics? No. I think it's something. Show me your waistline, bitch. We found your IG, and you do not need this. I think it's something with the New York State thing. Also, I know a lot of thin women who still get Ozempic, so it's not. Yeah, that's because they go to a cool doctor. Yeah, I do too. Yeah. I have a cool gay doctor that gives me whatever I want if I ask for it. In New York? You just ask. No, he's in L.A., but if you pay enough, you can get whatever you want anytime. Luckily, he doesn't give me OxyContin or anything cool, but I feel like I could ask at least. I can text. Just two guys in a room. What do you want? I don't know. What do you got? Exactly. Well, I'm sorry that you failed the test you could lie on. I know. That had to kind of hit below the belt. It gave me a story, and I wrote about it. I'd be like, you know what? Hers, I don't need Ozempic. I will go to therapy and take vitamin D. Yeah, nothing says weight loss like therapy and vitamin D. That really sounds right. I'm going to switch to an alternative cereal. Do you guys go to therapy? Yeah. I have. I don't now. I did it yesterday. That's so good. Right? Does your fiance go to therapy? Yeah. He's Jewish, Jason. He's Jewish. Sorry, I meant analysis. Yeah, analysis. Final question, most importantly, what do we think about Jacob Elordi's beard? Oh, it's so hot. It's so hot. Let's go. You know, because I haven't shaved in a while, and I was like, wow, this is crazy that Jacob Elordi is copying me. But it must have been for a role. I haven't seen him in a while. Most people disagree. I've seen that most people prefer him sans beard, but you are in the minority. No, I think it's sexy. Jason, speaking of your beard, I think you recently suggested a shaver in one of your suggestion guides. Is that true? A hair clipper on my, it was one of the you can't live without it strategist thingies. Yeah. My fiance bought it from that guide. Huh. My man. Affiliate links work. Everyone gets a taste but me. We don't get a taste of that at all. I've made the strategist thousands of dollars. Well, if you started writing on Substack again, Jason.

That could be going right to your pocket. I would never affiliate on Substack. I have been writing a lot, though, Emily. I'm excited. I loved your newsletter. I loved it. Don't start promoting Substack on here. You know we're against it. Watch any space but my Substack. Yeah. Well, Emily, congrats on the two-year anniversary. Thank you. I like the Snake Eating Itself logo. Thank you. Levels to it. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It was a blast to design, and it was really fun. Well, I guess that's it. Thanks for having me, guys. Yeah, I'm sure I'll see you. I'll see you soon. And thanks for having me at that dinner with all the other nerds. I had a good time. That was fun. You guys have both come to my dinners. They're fun dinners. Honestly, I had a good time. I really did. They're more drunken than I thought they were going to be, thank God. They're good. We drank. There are a couple founders that I've been shaking since then where they want to... Connect with me in Q1, and I haven't figured out a way to let them down yet. Why do founders want to connect with us so bad? We have nothing for them. We got nothing to connect on. You guys are thought leaders. I might be a thought leader, but I don't know how that applies to your fucking startup towel brand or whatever it is. I don't know how it appeals to everything. What do you think you and I are going to do in Venice Beach, bro? All right. All right. Bye, guys. Well, thank you. Thank you. We'll see you soon. Thank you. Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile, with a message for everyone paying big wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop. With Mint, you can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying, no judgments, but that's weird. Okay, one judgment. Anyway, give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of $45 for three-month plan, equivalent to $15 per month required. Intro rate first three months only, then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. See full terms at mintmobile.com.