WEBVTT - Too Fast And Too Furious In Toluca Lake 0:00:01.400 --> 0:00:04.320 Well, the city council might only give you sixty seconds 0:00:04.320 --> 0:00:05.440 to where your grievance is. 0:00:05.559 --> 0:00:08.320 Oh hi, I'd like to go to the first caller 0:00:08.440 --> 0:00:09.080 on the phone. 0:00:09.560 --> 0:00:13.400 Well, if you're lucky, now we're giving you a full 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:18.760 sixty minutes. It's a KABC News Blitz with Randy Wang 0:00:18.840 --> 0:00:21.520 and our long recap of the day's top local stories 0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:25.480 on your drive home. And unlike the city Council, we're 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:29.560 the perfect vehicle to actually get your voice heard. The 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:34.440 GABC News Blitz with Randy Wang starts no, No, No. 0:00:34.680 --> 0:00:37.880 It is the News Blitz with Randy Wang on Talk 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:43.400 Radio seven ninety KABC. This is your daily rundown of 0:00:43.520 --> 0:00:45.560 all the stuff that you need to know that's going 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:50.640 on in the state of California, Southern California, the Bay Area, Sacramento, 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:53.840 San Diego, and the Central Valley. I curate a list 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:56.520 every single day of all the stories that you need 0:00:56.560 --> 0:00:59.600 to know that you may have missed at Randy Wang 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:03.440 Radio dot substack dot com. You can check out our 0:01:03.480 --> 0:01:05.959 YouTube channel with all the on demand content from The 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:09.840 John Phillips Show, the Live John Phillips Show, the Accountability Podcast, 0:01:10.160 --> 0:01:13.560 and video podcasts of this show. At Johnny don't like 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:17.240 dot com or Randy Wang Radio dot com. I bought 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:19.959 both domains and they go to the exact same place. 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:23.119 Follow me on x and Instagram. At Randy Wang Radio 0:01:23.200 --> 0:01:25.280 you can call into the program at eight hundred two 0:01:25.400 --> 0:01:28.080 two two five two two two, and you can send 0:01:28.080 --> 0:01:30.000 me an email. I do try to read and respond 0:01:30.080 --> 0:01:34.640 to every single one at Randy Wang Radio at gmail 0:01:34.920 --> 0:01:41.440 dot com. We start in Teluca Lake near Universal City 0:01:42.040 --> 0:01:47.000 and Universal Studios, where the soft launch of the Big 0:01:47.160 --> 0:01:53.440 Fast and Furious Ride has begun. And while there are many, many, 0:01:53.560 --> 0:01:57.440 many fans of theme parks, and I guess fans of 0:01:57.480 --> 0:02:00.720 the Fast and the Furious movies, I can oddly say, 0:02:01.320 --> 0:02:04.040 at the ripe old age of almost forty one, I 0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:06.600 have yet to see a single one of these movies, 0:02:08.240 --> 0:02:11.120 but I know that there's a big fan base, especially 0:02:11.440 --> 0:02:15.120 whatever the franchise is. There's a lot of coaster heads 0:02:15.120 --> 0:02:18.160 out there in California. I mean, if you're born and 0:02:18.240 --> 0:02:22.639 raised in southern California like I am, you are, you're 0:02:22.720 --> 0:02:24.040 just that's what you do. 0:02:24.480 --> 0:02:25.920 You go to theme parks. 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:29.200 I mean, not only does everyone get to go to Disneyland, 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:32.160 You've got knots Bury Farm, Universal and then from the 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:37.679 age of eight until twenty one, I lived in Valencia, 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:41.080 which meant that we went to Magic Mountain a bazilion times. 0:02:41.080 --> 0:02:44.880 And you're also concradually obligated to work at Magic Mountain 0:02:45.200 --> 0:02:47.280 if you live in Valencia, and I work there for 0:02:47.400 --> 0:02:52.880 four summers. So yeah, coasters are in me blood. So 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:57.120 what's going on here? Well, there's the new exciting thing 0:02:57.320 --> 0:03:01.120 at Universal Studios, which is like the only theme park 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:03.880 that's actually kind of in the city of Los Angeles, 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:07.320 but still it's still not technically the city of Los Angeles. 0:03:08.600 --> 0:03:14.000 And the neighbors who live in the surrounding communities, whether 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:20.399 that be te Luca Lake, Lake, Hollywood, they're very upset, 0:03:21.200 --> 0:03:25.080 especially people at the golf course. What is it Lakeside 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:29.160 over there? Imagine you're getting ready for a little tea, 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:33.440 You're getting ready for a soft, little putt, and then 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:36.720 all of a sudden, as you put the driver back 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:44.120 and you're focused and you're focused, you hear. So that's 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:50.040 the problem. I'm doing a whole one man show here 0:03:50.080 --> 0:04:00.160 on camera. Neighbors in Teluca Lake are very upset of 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:04.480 how much screaming they are hearing from the new fast 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:08.840 and the Furious Ride. Now, if you've driven around Universal 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:13.480 Studios anytime recently, you've seen that they have so completely 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:17.080 run out of space that this roller coaster is actually 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:22.240 occupying part of the giant escalator that gets you into 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:26.479 Universal Studios. So of every other ride they've ever had 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:30.400 at the theme park, this one goes as far out 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:33.919 into the public as any ever have. I mean, for 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:39.159 the most part, most of Universal's rides have been indoors 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:41.839 or down at the studio lot, and nothing has ever 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:45.000 been this crowd facing. This is the kind of ride 0:04:45.000 --> 0:04:49.479 you'd expect at Magic Mountain. And notably, Magic Mountain was 0:04:49.520 --> 0:04:59.279 built nowhere near homes. Notice I say what, because look, 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:03.479 I know, oh from working at Magic Mountain that there's 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:06.039 a plenty of noise pollution that comes out of there. 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:09.200 But you know, all the way back, even when I 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:12.240 lived in Valencia, there were no homes near Magic Mountain. 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:17.240 There was the Wendy's across the street, the Red Lobster, 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:21.159 the Old Toedo, but no one would build like a 0:05:21.279 --> 0:05:24.039 development right next to the theme park and have to 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:27.880 hear Tatsu and the Superman ride and Colossus and everything else. 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:33.120 That would be so annoying. Well, the housing crisis is 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:36.159 going to housing crisis, and they put up a big 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:39.400 old development near the one twenty six, right next to 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:42.080 Magic Mountain of a bunch of townhouses that go for 0:05:42.160 --> 0:05:46.280 around six hundred thousand dollars. But you know what, if 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:49.880 you enjoy that, if you're cool with it, great, but 0:05:50.040 --> 0:05:54.240 you know what you're getting into that being said, well, 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:59.279 you can definitely make the argument that, you know, like 0:05:59.360 --> 0:06:03.200 for people that complain about the noise pollution outside of 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:06.799 Burbank Airport, or I live near the Van Eyes Airport 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:10.440 and people complain about that, you kind of know what 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:13.440 you're getting into when you move next to an airport, 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:17.680 So you can complain about it all you want, But 0:06:17.800 --> 0:06:21.400 nobody said you had to live right next to the airport. 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:24.839 You could have lived somewhere where there isn't an airport, 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:27.600 but you chose to, So you know, that's part of 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:31.240 what you're getting I know that if I actually sit 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:35.799 on the patio in the afternoon on a weekend, sipping 0:06:35.880 --> 0:06:39.560 and slamming back rose all day, at some point the 0:06:39.600 --> 0:06:42.840 conversation is going to get drowned out by either a 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:46.280 Southwest plane on the flight path to Burbank or a 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:50.760 private jet on approach at Van Ey's Airport. I know that, 0:06:51.600 --> 0:06:54.520 and so I don't really complain about it. What I 0:06:54.560 --> 0:07:00.400 will complain about is the NonStop police helicopters that might 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:02.200 say more about the crime that's going on in the 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:05.320 San Fernando Valley. And I happen to think police helicopters 0:07:05.360 --> 0:07:07.839 are completely inefficient at this point and we should invest 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:08.480 in drones. 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:10.400 But that's another story for another day. 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:14.960 When it comes to the noise pollution that the residents 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:19.400 of Teluca Lake are complaining about, you could definitely argue 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:23.640 they did not sign up for this because Universal Studios 0:07:23.680 --> 0:07:27.400 has been around for a very very very long time 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:32.320 and there's never been anything that has created this kind 0:07:32.400 --> 0:07:35.760 of noise problem. You think about some of their most 0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:42.040 popular rides. Harry Potter ride that's indoors also doesn't go 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:47.920 that fast, super fun though, Although I guess I gotta 0:07:47.960 --> 0:07:52.880 tell this story now, right as soon as I start 0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:56.120 talking about Universal Studios, there's a big memory that sticks 0:07:56.160 --> 0:08:01.040 out of my head. Oh boy, I think it was 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:06.440 twenty fifteen or it was twenty sixteen, and they had 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:10.920 just opened ariy Ba'a Land and I wanted to go 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:13.920 ride the airy pa'all ride, even though I had not 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:16.480 read any Harry Potter books at that point. It was 0:08:16.520 --> 0:08:19.920 the hot new thing and I was working the morning 0:08:19.960 --> 0:08:21.880 show at that point, so I had a lot of 0:08:21.920 --> 0:08:23.280 free time in the afternoons. 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:25.160 I had a Universal season pass. 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:28.520 I remember showing up with my roommate at the time, 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:35.800 and I was wearing my gigantic Homer Simpson shirt because 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:38.520 this is the kind of fashion sense that I had 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:42.200 when I was thirty. Oh boy, this is getting more 0:08:42.240 --> 0:08:45.920 embarrassing the more the further I go into the story, 0:08:45.960 --> 0:08:51.000 the more I'm already regretting telling you this story. So 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:55.319 I'm in Universal Studios standing in a very long line 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:59.440 to try the Harry Potter Ride, wearing a big yellow 0:08:59.720 --> 0:09:05.360 Home Simpson face T shirt. And that is when I 0:09:05.400 --> 0:09:07.920 get called out by one of the people work in 0:09:08.000 --> 0:09:11.640 the line and they say, hey, you can you come 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:14.680 with us for a second, Like what is this? Did 0:09:14.679 --> 0:09:17.760 they realize that I was chewing a gummy different time? 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:24.199 They wanted me to go sit in the test seat. See, 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:29.760 in order to prevent severe embarrassment. One of the things 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:33.400 that theme parks have done over the years is when 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:36.480 they realize they're having to deal with very, very very 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:39.520 large people that want to ride their very very very 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:40.400 tiny cars. 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:43.559 Is in order to. 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:47.000 Save everyone the filmable moment of somebody breaking down in 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:52.120 tears and stopping the queue from going forward. They usually 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:55.320 have a model of what the seat looks like right 0:09:55.360 --> 0:09:59.760 outside the main entrance of the ride, and so they 0:09:59.760 --> 0:10:04.760 bring me and my gigantic Homer Simpson shirt over to 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:08.880 sit in the Harry Potter seat and see if I 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:13.320 could buckle in the seat belt and put down the harness. 0:10:14.840 --> 0:10:19.280 And well it did not fit, so they had to acquit, 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:25.440 they told me. And yes, this was at one of 0:10:25.440 --> 0:10:31.040 my heavier points in life that I could not ride. 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:33.320 The ride couldn't happen. 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:35.600 They were happy to get me a front of the 0:10:35.600 --> 0:10:39.800 line passed to anything else, but I at I must 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:42.880 have been busting two ninety at that point, was too 0:10:43.040 --> 0:10:46.920 large for the Harry Potter ride. I guess they didn't 0:10:46.960 --> 0:10:54.360 design it for Hagrid. So, in probably one of my 0:10:54.480 --> 0:11:00.000 most shame filled moments of my entire life, I immediately 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:03.120 told the person I was with, I gotta go. 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:06.199 You sit here, you go do the ride. 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:12.040 I need to leave, and I got in my car 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:19.480 and drove immediately across the street on Ventura Boulevard to 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:25.040 the fat Burger down there, and I ate my feelings. 0:11:25.559 --> 0:11:30.840 I ate them real good. Then I sent a. 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:33.720 Strongly worded letter to Universe. Actually I don't know if 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:35.720 I remember if I sent a letter or I talked 0:11:35.760 --> 0:11:37.720 about it on the radio. I must have talked about 0:11:37.720 --> 0:11:40.880 it on the radio and the podcast. I may have 0:11:40.920 --> 0:11:43.640 even posted something on Twitter, because that's the kind of 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:47.200 thing I would do. In twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen, and 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:52.640 someone from Universal reached out and they apologized for fat 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:56.600 shaming me, which again they were in the right. They 0:11:56.600 --> 0:11:59.200 don't want somebody riding the ride and it has to 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:02.840 stop halfway through because the belt bursts. 0:12:03.880 --> 0:12:07.640 But you know, you get very sensitive about these kind 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:08.120 of things. 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:11.839 They said, hey, how about you come back on us 0:12:11.880 --> 0:12:15.280 and we'll try again. Well, that was actually the catalyst 0:12:15.320 --> 0:12:18.839 to me to go on another diet plan. It's when 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:21.360 I joined class Past, started going to pilates a couple 0:12:21.360 --> 0:12:25.040 of times a week, started juicing again and making protein shakes, 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:26.959 and I actually lost I think. 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:28.600 Twenty or thirty pounds that year. 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:30.880 Put it all back a year or two later, but 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:33.360 a month later I did go to Universal Studios and 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:35.920 I did get on the ride, and it was pretty good. 0:12:36.280 --> 0:12:38.200 I hadn't read any of the Harry Potter books at 0:12:38.200 --> 0:12:40.920 that point, so I really didn't understand any of the references. 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:42.920 But yeah, it was fun. 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:45.600 So that's the kind of ride you think about when 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:48.720 you think about Universal Studios. You think about the Simpsons 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:52.319 ride or the former Back to the Future ride. You think, okay, well, 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:55.000 the Jurassic Park ride. Well, you can kind of hear 0:12:55.040 --> 0:12:58.319 people screaming when they go down the waterfall, but that's 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:02.920 not facing the city. That's facing the studios and facing 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:06.960 the hillside. This is the first time Universal has built 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:12.599 anything where the crowds are facing the Greater Los Angeles 0:13:12.640 --> 0:13:15.800 area and the San Fernando Valley and the very pricey 0:13:15.840 --> 0:13:18.839 neighborhood of Teluka Lake, which now has a Gelson. It's 0:13:18.880 --> 0:13:23.120 good for you. And here's the funniest thing about this 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:29.240 story is when you ask the people that designed this ride, 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:33.000 they wouldn't call them imagineers. That's a Disney thing. So 0:13:33.320 --> 0:13:36.720 the people who designed every aspect of this ride at 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:42.040 Universal Studios, they said that they used cutting edge technology 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:48.760 to make sure that the cars weren't loud, that the 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:52.080 grinding on the track wouldn't be loud. They had all 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:55.400 kinds of sound dampening for how this thing was built, 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:58.000 how the cars were built, how the track was built. 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:06.440 They thought about everything, except they did not think about 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:11.360 one of the biggest sources of noise from a roller coaster. 0:14:12.160 --> 0:14:16.880 It's not necessarily the car or the track or what 0:14:16.960 --> 0:14:20.440 kind of material you use to build it. It's the 0:14:20.520 --> 0:14:24.200 people you put inside the car that, because of the 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:30.560 thrills and chills, start screaming at the top of their lungs. 0:14:31.520 --> 0:14:35.400 So even though they designed this thing to be as 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:41.640 futuristic and you know, not noise pollutiony as much as 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:46.760 possible to the neighborhood, none of that matters because according 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:50.160 to some people that live in the neighboring areas, it 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:58.200 constantly sounds like somebody is getting murdered. I don't know 0:14:58.520 --> 0:15:02.720 necessarily what the fix is for that, because there's gonna 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:03.880 be a lot of demand for. 0:15:03.880 --> 0:15:08.000 This ride for a very very very long time. 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:11.560 And I guess that means they got because they built this, 0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:13.920 they got rid of the fast of the furious part 0:15:14.080 --> 0:15:17.120 that was on the tram, which is a very strange 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:19.800 thing because they put you into this screen room where 0:15:19.800 --> 0:15:22.240 they make you feel like the tram is going like 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:25.320 fifty miles an hour. It is kind of cool. Again, 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:28.440 I didn't get any of the references. I actually it's 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:29.280 such a weird thing. 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:30.160 To think about. 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:35.200 I was born and raised in southern California, a huge 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:39.000 coaster head Magic Mountain. More times than I can count, 0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:41.640 there was a year where I was only working one 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:45.400 day a week in between radio stations. I went to 0:15:45.440 --> 0:15:49.080 Disneyland thirty times in a year because I got every 0:15:49.400 --> 0:15:51.360 dime worth out of that season pass. 0:15:52.120 --> 0:15:52.560 Used to go to. 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:55.480 Knats, used to go to Universal all the time because 0:15:55.480 --> 0:15:58.640 that was always the closest to us. I either lived 0:15:58.800 --> 0:16:02.680 in Studios well Valley Village, excuse me. I either lived 0:16:02.720 --> 0:16:05.560 in Valley Village very close to Universal Studios, or I 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:08.880 lived in Burbank close to Universal Studios for many, many years, 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:12.040 and I would go to the Halloween Horror Nights. Actually 0:16:13.840 --> 0:16:16.640 I remember I went to Halloween Horror Nights once with 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:20.000 my old podcast partner Gina Grat who's on The Woody 0:16:20.080 --> 0:16:24.840 Show on ninety eight seven, and we went to go 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:28.440 into the mazes to go enjoy the rides. I'm pretty 0:16:28.480 --> 0:16:31.400 sure I was eating some pot chocolate at the time. 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:35.600 And one of the things that's wild about Universal's Halloween 0:16:35.640 --> 0:16:38.600 Horror Nights is they really, really really bring all the 0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:41.560 props out to try to scare you. So it's not 0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:45.040 just about the haunted houses and the mazes, but it's 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:48.120 about all of the deranged monsters and killers that are 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:51.440 chasing you when you're just walking around the main concourses 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:54.680 and you know, they have things to scrape the floor 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:57.560 to scare you. They're walking around with chainsaws, they've got 0:16:57.640 --> 0:17:01.680 Jason masks on, and I remember a guy with a 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:05.800 Jason mass came up to us and I thought, oh boy, 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:09.160 he's about to scream at us. He's like, hey, are 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:12.240 you guys Gene and Randy from the Pretty Good podcast? 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:14.720 So we took a little selfie with him. I wonder 0:17:14.720 --> 0:17:17.320 if I have that anywhere. I bet I weigh like 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:21.439 one hundred pounds more than I do now. So I 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:23.639 feel for the residents of Tuluc Lake. You did not 0:17:23.760 --> 0:17:25.639 sign up for this. I don't know if there is 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:29.240 a fix for it, but there's so much demand for 0:17:29.280 --> 0:17:32.240 this thing. It's not like they're going to take the 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:35.520 ride away. It looks like it's going to be very, very, 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:40.639 very popular and Unfortunately for Universal, where I think I 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:43.480 mentioned this the other day, they have the Lax problem. 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:47.960 Not that I would compare anything about Universal Studios to Lax, 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:54.440 except for this one simple aspect. Universal has nowhere to expand, 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:58.240 and they desperately need to to compete with everybody else, 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:01.360 so they're trying to im as much stuff as they 0:18:01.400 --> 0:18:05.679 can onto this teeny tiny little footprint. Maybe one of 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:09.680 the good things of all of the movie studios moving 0:18:09.680 --> 0:18:13.720 to Toronto, Canada is that Universal can take away some 0:18:13.800 --> 0:18:17.040 of that stages and turn it into more rides, and 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:19.200 then they'll have plenty of more stuff for their theme park, 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:22.560 even though everything will be shot in Canada. It's the 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:32.120 News Blitz with Randy Wang on KABC. It's the News 0:18:32.160 --> 0:18:36.280 Blitz with Randy Wang on KABC. I did spend the 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:40.880 break going through an old iPhone backup of like pictures 0:18:40.880 --> 0:18:43.520 that I had from like twenty twelve and twenty thirteen 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:46.280 to see if I could find that picture from Universal Studios. 0:18:47.320 --> 0:18:48.399 Cannot find it. 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:52.000 Instead, I found a whole bunch of pictures of my 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:56.320 rave era from twenty twelve, where I was dressed up 0:18:56.520 --> 0:19:01.080 like Cookie Monster. Everywhere I would go to because people 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:03.880 would then go like, hey, it's the cookie. 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:06.960 Monster and want to hug me. Seriously. 0:19:07.080 --> 0:19:09.159 I feel like I need to film a public service 0:19:09.200 --> 0:19:15.080 announcement for guys in their twenties. It gets better. Life 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:18.439 kind of sucks right now for you. You have no money, 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:24.679 you're super unpopular, you have no confidence whatsoever. It gets better. 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:28.040 It gets a little better in your thirties. And if 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:31.120 you work hard and you pay attention and you work 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:35.160 on self improvement, it gets way better in your forties too. 0:19:36.520 --> 0:19:39.200 I'm about to wrap up your forty and I can say, 0:19:39.560 --> 0:19:43.240 without a doubt, best year on the planet so far. 0:19:44.040 --> 0:19:46.040 And I look at what I used to think were 0:19:46.040 --> 0:19:49.000 the best years of my life. In my twenties, I 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:52.000 was a wreck. And let's just say that I'm very 0:19:52.119 --> 0:19:56.920 lucky to be here. Seven ninety KABC welcomes the Gypsy 0:19:57.000 --> 0:20:01.199 Kings featuring Nicholas Reyes at the Greek Theater on August six. 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:03.840 Tickets are on sale now at ticketmaster dot com, but 0:20:04.000 --> 0:20:07.320 right now collar number nine at one eight at eight 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:09.760 seven ninety five two to two two gets pair of 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:13.040 tickets to the show. Tickets furnished by Nita Lander Concerts. 0:20:13.200 --> 0:20:16.479 Good luck dialing if you have not checked out our 0:20:16.520 --> 0:20:21.440 new podcast, episode five just dropped this week, The Accountability Podcast. 0:20:21.480 --> 0:20:24.280 You can search for it on Apple Podcasts or iHeartRadio, 0:20:24.440 --> 0:20:27.919 or watch it at Johnny Dontlike dot com. That's Johnny 0:20:27.920 --> 0:20:30.399 don't like dot com. It's the News Blitz with Randy 0:20:30.440 --> 0:20:34.760 Wang on KABC. It's the News Blitz with Randy Wang 0:20:34.800 --> 0:20:38.879 on KABC. This is your daily rundown of everything you 0:20:38.920 --> 0:20:42.240 need to know that's going on in California, Southern California, 0:20:42.320 --> 0:20:45.439 the Bay Area, Sacramento, San Diego, and the Central Valley. 0:20:45.880 --> 0:20:48.080 Every single day I put together a list of all 0:20:48.080 --> 0:20:49.959 the stories that I found that you need to know. 0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:52.119 It's like my show prep but I share it with 0:20:52.240 --> 0:20:57.680 everybody at Randywang Radio dot substack dot com. You can 0:20:57.720 --> 0:20:59.919 subscribe for free, which just means you put in your 0:21:00.080 --> 0:21:02.280 email address and it gets mailed to you. When I 0:21:02.320 --> 0:21:05.320 do it every day, I posted around eight nine. It 0:21:05.400 --> 0:21:08.160 depends when my pilates class is and then I build 0:21:08.200 --> 0:21:11.280 all the silly graphics for the John Phillips Show. And uh, 0:21:11.400 --> 0:21:13.800 this has turned into like a twelve hour a day job, 0:21:13.880 --> 0:21:14.960 including commute time. 0:21:15.040 --> 0:21:17.160 But so far I'm doing all right. 0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:20.160 I haven't gone crazy yet, but we're having a lot 0:21:20.160 --> 0:21:22.560 of fun. You can watch all of our video content 0:21:22.560 --> 0:21:25.760 at Johnny don't Like dot com or Randywang Radio dot com. 0:21:25.840 --> 0:21:28.359 They go to the exact same place. Send me an 0:21:28.400 --> 0:21:32.040 email at Randy Wang Radio at gmail dot com and 0:21:32.080 --> 0:21:33.560 give us a call if you feel like it. Eight 0:21:33.640 --> 0:21:35.800 hundred two two two five two two two. 0:21:37.960 --> 0:21:43.040 The DMV is the source of frustration for so many 0:21:43.080 --> 0:21:48.240 people in the state of California. And while I feel 0:21:48.240 --> 0:21:52.280 your pain, and I've had to do some DMV hell recently, 0:21:52.480 --> 0:21:55.160 I had to go get my real ID, even though 0:21:55.200 --> 0:21:57.800 I really didn't want to because I have Global Entry 0:21:57.960 --> 0:22:01.320 and if you have Global ends, you use that at 0:22:01.320 --> 0:22:03.040 the airport, you don't need the real ID. 0:22:03.160 --> 0:22:08.440 But whatever I got it, I made it happen. The DMV. 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:14.040 Has made some very noticeable improvements over the years. I 0:22:14.040 --> 0:22:17.080 don't think there's anybody even the harshest critic of the 0:22:17.160 --> 0:22:24.760 DMV can't deny that the DMV style ATM machines that 0:22:24.840 --> 0:22:32.320 are placed at supermarkets are fantastic. And as we're speaking, 0:22:32.680 --> 0:22:38.760 I just realized something bad. Oh no, okay, thank goodness 0:22:38.760 --> 0:22:42.520 for doing this story today. Because it's the end of July. 0:22:43.560 --> 0:22:48.760 So my car registration is a July car registration, and 0:22:48.840 --> 0:22:52.760 even though I paid my registration on time because of 0:22:52.800 --> 0:22:58.959 the at M machine at Ralph's for the DMV, I 0:22:59.000 --> 0:23:02.840 got the sticker out, got my registration card printed out, 0:23:02.960 --> 0:23:05.520 but the sticker is still sitting in my glove box 0:23:05.680 --> 0:23:10.240 because I lazy and I didn't feel like that day 0:23:11.600 --> 0:23:16.360 opening the garage, pulling out a screwdriver, having to unscrew 0:23:16.400 --> 0:23:19.399 the license plate to PLoP on another sticker and screw 0:23:19.440 --> 0:23:22.439 it back on. I was too lazy for that forty 0:23:22.480 --> 0:23:26.880 five second job. So the sticker has been sitting in 0:23:26.920 --> 0:23:31.440 my car this entire time, which is fine when you're 0:23:31.480 --> 0:23:37.000 in July, but after tomorrow, it's not gonna be July anymore. 0:23:37.560 --> 0:23:39.879 So I really got to get on that because the 0:23:39.960 --> 0:23:44.280 last thing I need is to fix a ticket. But yeah, 0:23:44.400 --> 0:23:49.560 the DMV ATM machine is fantastic. It is one of 0:23:49.600 --> 0:23:52.920 the great innovations that the state of California has done. 0:23:53.040 --> 0:23:54.879 I don't know if other states do this, but the 0:23:54.880 --> 0:23:58.560 fact that you don't have to deal with getting your 0:23:58.600 --> 0:24:02.280 registration mailed to you if you pay it online, you 0:24:02.400 --> 0:24:06.160 have to go in person. Your registration card and the 0:24:06.200 --> 0:24:10.800 sticker can be printed out. Now, the cost of this 0:24:11.040 --> 0:24:14.720 is still insane, and I don't really understand how they 0:24:14.760 --> 0:24:21.240 factor it in. But my registration is like between five 0:24:21.280 --> 0:24:24.600 and six hundred dollars. Maybe it's priced on the weight 0:24:24.640 --> 0:24:26.600 of the car because I have an EV. Maybe it's 0:24:26.640 --> 0:24:30.000 because it's a newer car. My old car was much 0:24:30.119 --> 0:24:33.520 much much cheaper and much much much smaller, So maybe 0:24:33.600 --> 0:24:34.760 that's what it has to do with. 0:24:36.200 --> 0:24:37.880 Though. Fun fact, I. 0:24:37.800 --> 0:24:39.639 Don't know if you know this, because I didn't know 0:24:39.680 --> 0:24:43.359 this until I started doing some research. For as awful 0:24:43.359 --> 0:24:46.399 as car registration fees are, did you know that you 0:24:46.440 --> 0:24:50.239 can write them off on your taxes? I learned that 0:24:50.280 --> 0:24:53.800 one and it has worked. It is something that you 0:24:53.880 --> 0:24:57.320 can do. You can write off your car registration on 0:24:57.480 --> 0:25:00.320 your federal taxes. And now that the salt CA app 0:25:00.400 --> 0:25:03.560 is increased for at least a couple of years, and 0:25:03.600 --> 0:25:05.840 then what are we supposed to do in twenty twenty eight. 0:25:05.880 --> 0:25:07.480 I don't know, but all right, we have it. 0:25:09.160 --> 0:25:11.280