Speaker 1: Hey bessies, Hello Sunshine. Today on the bright side, we're
Speaker 1: talking about the met Gala. It is right around the corner.
Speaker 1: And who better to spill all the tea on the
Speaker 1: glitz and glam ahead of fashion's biggest night than Blake
Speaker 1: Lee Thornton, internet sensation and pop culture anthropologist. It's Friday,
Speaker 1: May third. I'm Danielle Robe.
Speaker 2: And I'm Simone Boye and this is the bright side
Speaker 2: from Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 1: Y'all.
Speaker 2: Danielle, we made it to Friday. We did a girl.
Speaker 1: We barely made it this week Oh god.
Speaker 2: You are absolutely right. What are you up to this weekend?
Speaker 1: Simone? I feel like you because this weekend I have
Speaker 1: no plans.
Speaker 2: It's a social battery weekend.
Speaker 1: It is a social battery weekend. How about you? What
Speaker 1: are you doing?
Speaker 2: I have a baby shower this weekend. I'm so excited
Speaker 2: for my friend. It's your first baby, so can't wait
Speaker 2: to shower her with love.
Speaker 1: Mazzle tub that's exciting. I'm so curious what you're getting her.
Speaker 1: I'm really interested in baby shower gifts.
Speaker 2: I got her a couple of items from her registry,
Speaker 2: mostly pertaining to breastfeeding, like nursing bras, nursing ointments, that
Speaker 2: sort of thing.
Speaker 1: The essentials are important. I don't want to take that away,
Speaker 1: but I do have like a secret weapon baby gift
Speaker 1: that gets rave reviews, so I'm gonna share it with everybody.
Speaker 1: I always get Levi's Denam baby jacket and then I
Speaker 1: have it embroidered with either the baby's name on the pocket,
Speaker 1: or if they don't know the name yet, I'll do
Speaker 1: the last name of the family on the back of
Speaker 1: it and they pass it down from baby to baby,
Speaker 1: which is cute.
Speaker 2: I think that's really sweet. That's really cute. I would
Speaker 2: love that if I received it. The thing with registries
Speaker 2: is baby gear is really expensive, especially as a first
Speaker 2: time mom. And I can remember us being in a
Speaker 2: small apartment and we didn't want other people buying like
Speaker 2: these huge baby things that we didn't have room for.
Speaker 2: We just wanted the essentials. Yeah, but a jacket, that's
Speaker 2: I think that you can make an exception there.
Speaker 1: No, but you actually make a really great point, like
Speaker 1: you usually need a lot of the things that you're
Speaker 1: asking for, so it's important too.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: See money bumble. The dating app is making some news
Speaker 1: because after ten years of having women doing the initiation.
Speaker 1: They're switching it up. They're having guys make the first move.
Speaker 2: Now, okay, so let me get this straight. Bumble was
Speaker 2: all about putting the power in women's hands, allowing them
Speaker 2: to initiate contact first, and now they're reversing that stance
Speaker 2: opening it up to men so they can initiate as well.
Speaker 1: So the new feature is called opening Moves, and it
Speaker 1: lets men respond to prompts on a women's profile even
Speaker 1: before she reaches out. But I like that they called
Speaker 1: it opening moves because that's kind of my philosophy in dating.
Speaker 1: I like to open the conversation and then let the
Speaker 1: man make the move. I used to never go up
Speaker 1: to guys. I would never initiate, Like my idea of
Speaker 1: initiation was like accidentally spilling a drink on somebody at
Speaker 1: the bar and being like, oops, I'm sorry. I initiate
Speaker 1: conversation classic. The key is really to make contact like
Speaker 1: two or three times with your eyes, or open the
Speaker 1: conversation quickly with like a hey, I love your shoes,
Speaker 1: or how's your day or something really low stakes, and
Speaker 1: then it opens the conversation for them to jump in. Okay,
Speaker 1: because I think a lot of people don't want to
Speaker 1: initiate because they're worried about like being turned down or rejected.
Speaker 1: I would feel that way too. Yeah, before you met Michael,
Speaker 1: did you ever initiate?
Speaker 2: I honestly didn't have that much dating experience. I was
Speaker 2: kind of a late bloomer. But I don't think, like,
Speaker 2: in hindsight, if I were to have dated for longer,
Speaker 2: I don't think I would have had a problem with initiating.
Speaker 2: I'm a very bold person.
Speaker 1: I used to never initiate, Like I didn't want to
Speaker 1: go up to someone and be like, Hey, do you
Speaker 1: want to go out? You're cute, So I'll just go
Speaker 1: up and say like, oh I love your shoes, or
Speaker 1: like great shirt, or what's the book you're reading or something,
Speaker 1: and if they're open to the conversation, then it's like
Speaker 1: I feel like I initiated.
Speaker 2: Hey King, I love your shoe.
Speaker 1: Sure, oh my god, you're so married.
Speaker 2: That's not how it goes down.
Speaker 1: You know, half of adults in the US under thirty
Speaker 1: are on a dating app or a dating website. So
Speaker 1: it's a thing.
Speaker 2: They're on the apps, but are they working.
Speaker 1: I don't love them. I'm an in person person. They
Speaker 1: don't work great for me.
Speaker 2: You're a pickleball meet cute yeah kind of girl.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I totally. I need to meet someone at a
Speaker 1: coffee shop or something or through work. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't know. They're not my favorite, but people really do
Speaker 1: find success. I have a lot of friends who are
Speaker 1: married from the apps.
Speaker 2: You know what this makes me think of. We are
Speaker 2: going to have a flirting expert on the show soon,
Speaker 2: and I think we have to ask him about this.
Speaker 2: We should about initiating flirting.
Speaker 1: It's kind of the evolution of the feminist in the
Speaker 1: dating space. We need to ask an expert totally.
Speaker 2: So if a man were to initiate on Bumble or
Speaker 2: any dating app, what would work on you?
Speaker 1: Okay, so I just opened my phone. I'm going through
Speaker 1: my dating apps to see my hossage.
Speaker 2: Yes, I love doing this. I love swiping on my
Speaker 2: friend's apps.
Speaker 1: Do you want to read them?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I do.
Speaker 1: There's just a lot of emojis. People say hi with
Speaker 1: an emoji, which is horrible in my opinion. I get
Speaker 1: a load. Yeah, you know, I love when people say, like, hey,
Speaker 1: you're from Chicago, Like right, I like like a geographical intro. Yeah.
Speaker 2: We also like a little research too. Right, someone who's
Speaker 2: taken the time to read the details.
Speaker 1: I'm going to be embarrassed and my mom's going to
Speaker 1: be mad at me because you're going to read these
Speaker 1: and I don't reply. I need to meet someone in
Speaker 1: real life.
Speaker 2: All right, we have a very important investigative follow up
Speaker 2: to share with you all about his hard core journalist.
Speaker 2: This is a hard core, bright side journalism about Lenny
Speaker 2: Kravitz's leather pants gate at the gym. So, there was
Speaker 2: a viral video of Lenny Kravitz doing crunches in the
Speaker 2: gym and he looked like a rock star. I mean
Speaker 2: he had on the mess shirt, the leather pants, the sunglasses.
Speaker 2: And he spoke to Variety about that viral video and
Speaker 2: he said, listen, people like, don't worry about me in
Speaker 2: the gym with my leather pants. I know what I'm doing. Okay,
Speaker 2: here's his rationale. Lenny says that he doesn't wear the
Speaker 2: pants for cardio, So everybody calmed down. He's not sweating
Speaker 2: profusely in the pants. He's just doing lifting and he
Speaker 2: doesn't sweat as much there. So he went on to
Speaker 2: say that a lot of times I'm coming from somewhere
Speaker 2: or I'm going somewhere and I just don't care. I'm
Speaker 2: gonna pop in. You know, I got forty five minutes.
Speaker 2: We're just gonna hit it, and then I'm gonna run
Speaker 2: to where I'm going.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine working out in leather pants and then
Speaker 1: getting to where you're going? Like you smell so bad?
Speaker 2: That is problematic? He also, I think this is interesting,
Speaker 2: he says. I don't do it for effect. I just
Speaker 2: do it for practicality, Like this is my lifestyle, and
Speaker 2: I sip love that it's practicality. In what world is
Speaker 2: leather pants practical? I feel like we need an expert
Speaker 2: to settle this.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 2: I'm so glad that you brought that up, Danielle, because
Speaker 2: we have the perfect pop culture fashion expert coming on
Speaker 2: our show today. You know Blakelee Thornton.
Speaker 1: Oh, I know Blakelee.
Speaker 2: You know Blakeley.
Speaker 1: The internet knows Blakely.
Speaker 2: He's gonna come on. We're gonna ask him about Lenny.
Speaker 2: We're gonna ask him about the met Gala. So grab
Speaker 2: your favorite bevy, whether it's a coffee, a latte, or
Speaker 2: maybe even a glass of wine. It's Friday. You deserve
Speaker 2: your Friday juice.
Speaker 1: I mean he's gonna spill the tea.
Speaker 2: He really is. Welcome back, everybody, Well, Fashion's biggest night
Speaker 2: is fast approaching, Danielle twenty twenty four met Gala is
Speaker 2: happening on Monday, and to help us get ready for
Speaker 2: the explosion of couture, style and grace, We've tapped the
Speaker 2: internet's favorite rich gunkle. It's Blakely Thornton.
Speaker 1: Y'all, Blakelee is a pop culture anthropologist. He's breaking down fashion,
Speaker 1: pop culture, and of course celebrity news with equal parts
Speaker 1: SaaS and smarts. So Blakely, welcome to the bright side.
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you for you have the most regal name.
Speaker 2: Are you like a descendant of royalty? Blakely Thornton.
Speaker 4: I talked to my parents about that all the time
Speaker 4: because my middle name is Neeman. My name is Neman Thornton.
Speaker 2: It's stripping in luxury the whole thing.
Speaker 1: Who did they want you to be?
Speaker 3: I mean, I hope very wealthy.
Speaker 4: I think my options were to be either an incredible
Speaker 4: success or just mired and failed. I think there's no
Speaker 4: in between.
Speaker 3: Fo me.
Speaker 1: I was almost named Danny Miami. My mom put the
Speaker 1: kabash on.
Speaker 2: That that sounds like a Mary Kate Nashley Olsen character.
Speaker 1: I was thinking it was an exotic dnswer or both.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's a long life, it could be both.
Speaker 2: It could be both.
Speaker 1: Okay, More importantly, Blakely, we need you to settle a
Speaker 1: long lasting debate that we've been having on this show
Speaker 1: about Lenny Kravitz and leather pants.
Speaker 3: Always.
Speaker 1: Have you seen him working out always out forever?
Speaker 3: Oh? Yes, I've talked to people that know him about that.
Speaker 1: Is it real?
Speaker 4: That's just him, That's just Lenny. It's Lenny twenty four
Speaker 4: to seven, Lenny twenty you know, twenty five eight. Lenny's
Speaker 4: being great. It's awesome.
Speaker 2: Isn't it a little unhinged to work out in leather pairs?
Speaker 4: Foolishness when people are not wearing moisture waking materials in
Speaker 4: the gym? I'm like, what year are you in? Or
Speaker 4: like when you see a bro at the gym like that,
Speaker 4: like works out in like a flannel.
Speaker 1: Oh have you seen this silver lake?
Speaker 3: Mmm? Carl, It's everywhere. It's making its way west.
Speaker 2: Just get ready, okay, Blakelee. I don't think we're gonna
Speaker 2: be seeing a lot of leather pants or leather anything
Speaker 2: on the red carpet for the Mecala this year because
Speaker 2: the theme is the Garden of Time, which I am.
Speaker 2: I am so here for that theme. How about you?
Speaker 2: What do you what do you think about it?
Speaker 4: I am both here and queer for it because I
Speaker 4: think it allows everything, because I feel like the Garden
Speaker 4: of Time sleeping beauties. You can give us gorgeous, gorgeous
Speaker 4: gowns floral for spring and you're still on theme. I
Speaker 4: want dead roses sown on to a corset that like
Speaker 4: explode at the top of the stairs. Like that's what
Speaker 4: I want.
Speaker 3: You want the drama, Yeah, I want drama.
Speaker 2: And can you explain to any of our bright side
Speaker 2: bessies who aren't familiar with the Met Gala, because it's
Speaker 2: a very New York thing. Can you just explain what
Speaker 2: the whole thing is and why the dresses are so
Speaker 2: dramatic and over the top.
Speaker 4: So the theme is supposed to be in sync with
Speaker 4: the actual exhibition going on in the costume institute portion
Speaker 4: of the METS, So it's actually a fundraiser in the
Speaker 4: theme of the next year's exhibition. So when you had
Speaker 4: like China through the looking Glass or the Carlographella theme
Speaker 4: when last year that is representative of the exhibition that
Speaker 4: will be going on in the museum that the public
Speaker 4: can see for the next several months.
Speaker 1: And from what I understand, it's like very campy or
Speaker 1: it's supposed to be.
Speaker 4: Right, It's just supposed to be like dramatique, like with
Speaker 4: an iQue, like you want the girls and the gays
Speaker 4: to come doing their thing.
Speaker 1: And is it because Anna Wintour is in charge of it.
Speaker 4: I think it's just a conglomeration of like fashion, media,
Speaker 4: tech and social like it's just it's almost like a
Speaker 4: one plus one equals fourth. Like before it was like
Speaker 4: old money blue bloods. Then you had like the eighties
Speaker 4: and nineties that were like the Naomi Campbell era where
Speaker 4: you see a lot of them, the amber Villettas of
Speaker 4: the world. And now it's just like a mixture of
Speaker 4: like little Nasa stress as a cat, Jared Little holding
Speaker 4: his own ahead, and like you know, Lady Gaga with
Speaker 4: a hold in a wagon with the Bronz panties.
Speaker 3: Like it's just become over the top opulence in.
Speaker 2: Carnivorans too, because and people are wearing essentially costumes on
Speaker 2: the red carpet, like it's a step beyond gowns. And
Speaker 2: I think that's because the actual pieces that are on
Speaker 2: display are also very over the top and also kind
Speaker 2: of feel like costumes exactly.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's it's clothing as wearable art if you
Speaker 4: think about it, because it's the costume Institute, Like they're
Speaker 4: showing the clothing that is worthy of museum display, and
Speaker 4: so everybody has to really like come to play. I
Speaker 4: know I didn't mean to rhyme that, but it worked.
Speaker 1: So I had been covering the met Gala for years
Speaker 1: and only last year did I learn how people got inside,
Speaker 1: Like this is a whole different thing. So you walk
Speaker 1: the red carpet as a celebrity or a designer, and
Speaker 1: then what.
Speaker 3: Happens, like how do you get invited?
Speaker 4: I mean the grace of God otherwise than is handled
Speaker 4: in a win tour or you're just wildly famous.
Speaker 2: What's your sense of what goes on inside?
Speaker 4: My sense of what goes on inside is it it's
Speaker 4: like you see, like it's like Timothy shallow May drunk
Speaker 4: in a corner with Billie Eilish and like some chicken.
Speaker 2: Okay, who are we excited to see this year?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 4: I mean obviously it's Indaya coming off the Dune Challengers
Speaker 4: press tour. Overall, I just I gotta know like I went,
Speaker 4: because there's I feel like there's three queens of the
Speaker 4: met in my mind and it's kind of like a Zindeia, Rihanna,
Speaker 4: Beyonce Ye, and they kind of rotate.
Speaker 3: I think last year none of them went, so I
Speaker 3: was kind of like for why God?
Speaker 1: But do you remember when she dressed like a sparkly pope.
Speaker 3: Yes, that was amazing. That was the Catholic themed year.
Speaker 1: Do you have any favorites Rihanna?
Speaker 4: The China through the looking Glass which she wore that
Speaker 4: like fifty foot gulpei like marigold, one hundred pound, like
Speaker 4: yellow for a jacket. It took like a year to
Speaker 4: create or something. I mean andre Leon Talley had no words. Wow,
Speaker 4: she had andre Lee on Tally speechless, which to this
Speaker 4: day like that should just be on her gravestone.
Speaker 1: I thought it was really cool when Blake Lively was
Speaker 1: it last year when she like changed her dress mid carpet?
Speaker 2: Oh she took off the bottom part of it.
Speaker 1: No, it turned into a whole different dress.
Speaker 4: Oh, Like that was art Patina, like the statue of Liberty. Yeah,
Speaker 4: she like because like the Statue of Liberty was originally
Speaker 4: Teal and as it overtime at Patina, So her dress Patina.
Speaker 1: Like that's art. You didn't like it, Hunt, why I
Speaker 1: think I agree with me. I like it.
Speaker 4: I think Blake Lively is always kind of like playing
Speaker 4: it safe. I want Lady Gaga. I want the dress
Speaker 4: to explode. I wanted to transform, I wanted to light up.
Speaker 1: So I want to learn more about that. What do
Speaker 1: you think makes a great Matt Gala outfit?
Speaker 4: I think it is a combination of performance in like
Speaker 4: almost like an inversion of the theme and then just confident.
Speaker 4: So that's why I feel like trying to through the
Speaker 4: looking glass with Rihanna or Lady Gaga.
Speaker 3: At the camp No notes on camp was.
Speaker 4: Amazing because that was out and she walked in with
Speaker 4: full a full bodice gown like it flowed out. Then
Speaker 4: she had another dress on underneath, and then she's pulling a
Speaker 4: wagon and then she's rolling around with an umbrella and
Speaker 4: like that's camp.
Speaker 3: She actually gave us like performance art.
Speaker 2: She had a whole ensemble with her too, carrying the umbrella.
Speaker 4: Yes, it was almost like Mary Poppin's on Acid or
Speaker 4: like the year winds in Days dress lit up Zach
Speaker 4: po it was Cinderella.
Speaker 3: I keep thinking about that. Or you know, Katy Perry
Speaker 3: is a chandelier.
Speaker 4: Like Katy Perry is almost camp incarnate, you know, so
Speaker 4: she's always doing that.
Speaker 2: I love that she also went as a Hamburger one year.
Speaker 2: I don't know if that was to.
Speaker 4: The after Scott to the after party went as a
Speaker 4: chandelier and then as a Hamburger.
Speaker 2: That was one for all the goofy girls internationally. Like
Speaker 2: I was just like, you go girl, yeah, to be
Speaker 2: a Hamburger.
Speaker 1: So one of my favorite parts of the carpet is
Speaker 1: seeing the up and coming people that are like really
Speaker 1: making waves and fashion. Is there anyone that you feel
Speaker 1: like we should keep our eye on right now?
Speaker 3: Ooh, who's going to be?
Speaker 4: Like that's the thing. I was like, who's going to
Speaker 4: be the new queen out of the Meggala?
Speaker 1: Like last year I loved was it Jacques Moose? Yeah,
Speaker 1: dress bad bunny they did.
Speaker 4: Anybody wearing Jacques Moose or Tom Brown is always kind
Speaker 4: of that girl.
Speaker 3: I love what.
Speaker 4: Emma Chamberlain wears honestly, Yeah, like she als like she's
Speaker 4: a very she's internally you can tell she's internally driven
Speaker 4: and is thinking about the theme and not just like
Speaker 4: getting dressed like a paper doll. I really really like
Speaker 4: Taylor Russell. She's a young actress. I think she's dating
Speaker 4: Harry Styles right now. She's always doing the thing Tiana. Taylor, Yeah,
Speaker 4: is always she just always comes from the specific point
Speaker 4: of view, and I think she should be given more
Speaker 4: fashion cred.
Speaker 3: Who else.
Speaker 2: I also think watching for the emerging designers is really
Speaker 2: cool because they are the ones who are often pushing
Speaker 2: the enveloace, really innovating, really trying to make a statement.
Speaker 4: I love that, And I think it's also harder for
Speaker 4: them to break in because so many, it was, so
Speaker 4: much of the space is taken up by the lvmhor
Speaker 4: caring owned brands and have the money to spend eight
Speaker 4: figures and dress all these people.
Speaker 1: Okay, dreamscape right now, you get invited to the met Gala. Okay,
Speaker 1: who do you want dressing you right now this year?
Speaker 4: Well, I have to say, o, MEZ gave me stuff
Speaker 4: to wear this year. But if we're doing a dreamscape
Speaker 4: and they are not available because I'm that's already happening.
Speaker 4: I guess I would probably say Zanya. I really like
Speaker 4: what Zania does. I feel they they exist outside the
Speaker 4: system of like the Lvy Madge caring of the world,
Speaker 4: and they're doing really cool innovative stuff with their men's wear,
Speaker 4: which is another thing. I'm excited for them to be
Speaker 4: like a prince of the Met Gala. I think only
Speaker 4: in the past four to five years we've seen manually
Speaker 4: play with the theme. To this point, it's been like
Speaker 4: I think, because of heteronormative standards, they've just worn tuxedos.
Speaker 4: But like now we get the bad bun, you know,
Speaker 4: the little nasaca dress is a cat on the carpet,
Speaker 4: you know, like I'm looking for like.
Speaker 3: I'm looking for a hero. Guys, So somebody step up.
Speaker 2: Wait, who would be at your dream Met Gala table?
Speaker 3: How many do I get to pick?
Speaker 2: You get to pick five? Five, six total?
Speaker 1: We're drafting a team, right.
Speaker 3: I love this. Wow, this is a great question.
Speaker 4: Okay, obviously Rihanna, because she's gonna turn up, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 3: You know, she's got a babysitter. It's on Pedro Pascal.
Speaker 4: Because I do think, hey, Pedro, that we are gonna
Speaker 4: at least go on on date one day. Oh okay,
Speaker 4: so Rihanna, Pedro, Pascal. I'll say Anna, because I just
Speaker 4: want to pick her brain. Anna win Tour.
Speaker 1: I don't know if she even talked to you.
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm gonna make her.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna talk to her, so unless she wants to
Speaker 4: be thoroughly annoyed, she'll talk back.
Speaker 3: Okay, So we get Rihanna, we got Pedro.
Speaker 2: You gotta put Zendaia at the table. I think, yes,
Speaker 2: I'm getting.
Speaker 4: I'm because I'm thinking who do I want to like
Speaker 4: turn up with? Yeah, like you know what it was
Speaker 4: in day. I want to go to a single dinner
Speaker 4: one on one or a quiet lunch. We're both lucid
Speaker 4: and point. I'm thinking about who do I want to
Speaker 4: like take that bathroom selfie with and be out till
Speaker 4: four am? And I don't think someday is that girly.
Speaker 4: You know, friends are contextual. I think she has more
Speaker 4: sense than I do, and I don't need her to
Speaker 4: see me that way.
Speaker 2: It is classy.
Speaker 4: Honestly, she's too classy for me after seven, So you know,
Speaker 4: like we're good.
Speaker 3: Okay, So we got Rihanna Anna, Ricky Martin to that.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, yeah, that was really a curveball.
Speaker 4: Vita loca, you know, and then round it out.
Speaker 2: I would say, share, okay. I mean that conversation at
Speaker 2: that table would be I.
Speaker 3: Want the generations, I want the identity. Okay.
Speaker 1: Let's get your take on some other pop culture stories
Speaker 1: that are on our radar this week. First up, Share
Speaker 1: was on Jennifer Hudson's show, talking about why she dates
Speaker 1: younger men at seventy seven years old. She says, all
Speaker 1: the men her age are dead. That's what she said,
Speaker 1: so believe, And she said that young men are not
Speaker 1: afraid to approach her, that men her age don't come
Speaker 1: up to her.
Speaker 4: I mean, honestly, what she said is just mathematically true,
Speaker 4: because I think the average person may have lived to
Speaker 4: seventy six. So she's not like, not no, share, not no,
Speaker 4: I love it. I say, more power to her. I
Speaker 4: would like to see more older women date younger men.
Speaker 4: The kind of younger straight man that goes for an
Speaker 4: older woman wants somebody who's more seasoned in life and
Speaker 4: is more open to criticism, so you get to like
Speaker 4: shape them and mold them to be a fully functional
Speaker 4: human beinger as close as a straight.
Speaker 3: Man can be.
Speaker 1: Here's the thing, Okay I am for first of all,
Speaker 1: I love that older women are dating younger men because
Speaker 1: men have been doing it for years, so flipping it
Speaker 1: on its head makes me smile. The only thing is,
Speaker 1: when I was twenty, I dated a thirty three year old,
Speaker 1: and now I'm thirty three and look back on that
Speaker 1: relationship with kind of an ick. I'm like, why was
Speaker 1: he ever interested in me? I was so young?
Speaker 2: Where were you at though in your life?
Speaker 3: Where?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 2: Mentally, like, what was appealing to you about dating a
Speaker 2: man that much older than you?
Speaker 1: I didn't have a lot. I was always really goal oriented.
Speaker 1: I didn't have a lot in common with people like
Speaker 1: college age like I was. So I was like, this
Speaker 1: man's in the workforce, he knows things, and I.
Speaker 3: Loved that he makes his bed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I don't even think he made his bed.
Speaker 1: Let's be honest. He was straight.
Speaker 3: Yeah true, I mean I barely do it.
Speaker 1: I'm getting he needed supervision.
Speaker 2: Honestly.
Speaker 3: I had to think about it this morning. I was like, oh, no,
Speaker 3: be better than this.
Speaker 2: Fun fact. I didn't know this, but there's research that
Speaker 2: shows that age gap relationships with older women and younger
Speaker 2: men experienced more longevity and satisfaction.
Speaker 3: H M.
Speaker 1: I mean my mom is always like wanting to get
Speaker 1: out of the house and go dancing and go do stuff,
Speaker 1: and my dad wants to stay home. Like I get
Speaker 1: the appeal younger men want to go out with you.
Speaker 3: I don't know, I just personally think women are better.
Speaker 3: I'll just say I'll just say it so like I
Speaker 3: was going to say it.
Speaker 4: I want to see them happy, go forth and prosper.
Speaker 1: It's literally the ethos of the show. We just want
Speaker 1: to see women happening.
Speaker 3: I want to see women. Just let's close the wage gap.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: I'm literally wearing something about like reproductive rights on my shirt,
Speaker 4: Like I just come on, guys, what are we doing?
Speaker 3: This is so dumb.
Speaker 2: That's it, whether or not you're in a relationship with
Speaker 2: someone older than you or younger than you. There is
Speaker 2: a new date night spot, dining hotspot in Los Angeles
Speaker 2: that I have so many questions about. So this is
Speaker 2: a restaurant where celebrities like Justin Bieber, Harry Styles, and
Speaker 2: Taylor Swift are going for dinner. And it's called Sushi Park.
Speaker 2: But here's the catch with this place. It's in a
Speaker 2: strip mall in West Hollywood. It's so unassuming and low key.
Speaker 2: Can you can you explain me why is this such
Speaker 2: a celebrity hot spot?
Speaker 4: Right? This has been my latest, like this is my
Speaker 4: Roman empire, this is my this is my empire. I
Speaker 4: looked into it, but there's like a Starbucks and like
Speaker 4: a sketchy massage place.
Speaker 3: Next to it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's above my fat X.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I was like, let's go look at this, like, try
Speaker 4: to book a dinner. It can't book it's booked. It's
Speaker 4: it's like a four hundred dollars om case. I was like,
Speaker 4: what in a strip in a strip mall and a
Speaker 4: strip mob So people are having like thousand dollars dinners
Speaker 4: in a strip mall right now? But I was, I
Speaker 4: was like, what's going on?
Speaker 2: So here's one of the things that is attracting actors
Speaker 2: and musicians to the spot. It has a no photography policy,
Speaker 2: but I guess that's one of the things that people
Speaker 2: love about it. Probably it's low key, you know, unassuming, Okay, the.
Speaker 4: Thing is, but I think it's been featured in like
Speaker 4: teen Vogue and like Cosmopolitan now because like I think
Speaker 4: once I saw that balcony the tenth time. I was like,
Speaker 4: there's somewhere everybody's going yes, And I think also, if
Speaker 4: there's no photos aloud inside, you're gonna get photographers outside.
Speaker 4: So at this point, like is the sushi that good?
Speaker 3: We're hitting that.
Speaker 1: I don't know she's actually been there, so I was
Speaker 1: about to jump in. I originally went because like years
Speaker 1: ago before all these people and the Kardashians were photographed.
Speaker 1: Jay Z used to go there all the time, and
Speaker 1: I was dating a guy who loved jay Z, and
Speaker 1: so I was like, let's go and see if we
Speaker 1: can run into him. So we went at like five
Speaker 1: thirty pm and just walked in because we couldn't get
Speaker 1: a reservation. Walk in, there's like three or four tables
Speaker 1: in a sushi bar, old tiles on the floor, like
Speaker 1: old wood chairs. It's not super beautiful or posh, and
Speaker 1: like you said, it's super expensive. I think the Oma
Speaker 1: kasse was like six hundred bucks for two people, and
Speaker 1: it was like we didn't He just kid his coffee.
Speaker 3: I just choked my coffee.
Speaker 1: I don't totally get it. I have to be honest,
Speaker 1: I don't get it. I think club's just like going
Speaker 1: there because they know that a lot of people like
Speaker 1: aren't going to bother them and aren't there because it's
Speaker 1: in a strip mall.
Speaker 2: But I think this is funny. A lot of tourists,
Speaker 2: I think, come to Los Angeles thinking that they're gonna
Speaker 2: like see celebrities on Hollywood and Highland or something. No,
Speaker 2: you need to find a strip mall and find the
Speaker 2: most unassuming restaurant that you can see, and they're probably there.
Speaker 1: Okay, we have to take a quick break, but we
Speaker 1: will be right back, and we're back with pop culture anthropologists.
Speaker 1: The man that says what's on his mind, Blake Lee Thornton.
Speaker 1: So Blake Lee. We've been talking about tennis core because
Speaker 1: of Challengers. Zendaya was in that film and she's been
Speaker 1: rocking such great outfits courtesy of law Roach. I kind
Speaker 1: of love that there's a theme happening here. It does
Speaker 1: feel kind of met galat to me in a way
Speaker 1: that other, like movie premieres outside of Barbie haven't felt like.
Speaker 1: Do you like that celebrities and designers are doing like
Speaker 1: themed outfits for these premieres?
Speaker 3: Now, I love it.
Speaker 4: I kind of again, but I'm gay, So I love
Speaker 4: occasion dressing. I love a theme, but I also think
Speaker 4: there's a marked financial effect on it. I think Barbiecore
Speaker 4: drove a lot of box office to that movie. People
Speaker 4: dressing up like Barbenheimer. I think I think Oppenheimer actually
Speaker 4: had the biggest bump up effect from being with Barbie
Speaker 4: because the opportunity for like a man to dress in
Speaker 4: the hat and the girl to dress in pink. And
Speaker 4: I think you've seen that continued with like this tennis
Speaker 4: core Tashi made me wear a hashtag like I did
Speaker 4: a video where I kind of calculated what I thought
Speaker 4: was the actual financial value of them doing this, because nowadays,
Speaker 4: the impetus to go seem to pay thirty dollars to
Speaker 4: go see if I'm gonna go out of your house
Speaker 4: when you're getting cinema quality films in your home is
Speaker 4: a lot. So I think you have to create this
Speaker 4: tangible moment. And there was one dress which I knew
Speaker 4: was a recreation of Venus William's two thousand Wimbledon rebox
Speaker 4: dress where she won her first Grand Slam. But she's
Speaker 4: recontextling all these like black tennis luxury historical moments that
Speaker 4: get people excited about it. And when I did the video,
Speaker 4: I saw law created that hashtag and said go out
Speaker 4: in your Tashi core do it. They even created a
Speaker 4: fake magazine interview with her that like was on this
Speaker 4: gorgeous gowns that like Krolina Haware addressed her like Venus
Speaker 4: Williams from nineteen ninety eight. And the movie is also
Speaker 4: really really good.
Speaker 2: I loved it. It was so good. But I think
Speaker 2: that Zendeya is brilliant. I think that the movie business
Speaker 2: is lucky to have her because she actually has the potential,
Speaker 2: I think, to revitalize an industry that has really been struggling,
Speaker 2: you know, since COVID and now with the popularity of
Speaker 2: watching movies at home. She really is drawing in this
Speaker 2: younger gen Z audience and she knows that fashion is
Speaker 2: a way to connect with this audience. And it's a
Speaker 2: messaging that like disperses on social media and like you said,
Speaker 2: it just catches on and there's so much engagement around it.
Speaker 2: It's really really smart from a strategic level.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think just millennials and especially Gen Z value experience. Yes,
Speaker 4: I think you have to create an experience because really
Speaker 4: sitting and watching a movie to them is not an experience,
Speaker 4: but like getting dressed up, having the hashtag possibly having
Speaker 4: loans and day a repost you having this thing that
Speaker 4: becomes a lot, going to get in shop for it,
Speaker 4: and again like if you were think about it's a
Speaker 4: tennis movie. I think she is the generation's like Reese
Speaker 4: Witherspoon or Julia Roberts in a way that they just
Speaker 4: had a glavi toss of, like cruel intentions or my
Speaker 4: best friend's wedding. Like she's doing it on that level
Speaker 4: where like these movies that aren't really getting made, like
Speaker 4: a mid range non superhero film is probably gonna do
Speaker 4: seventy five to one hundred million at the global box office,
Speaker 4: and that's where movies used to like eat no pun intended,
Speaker 4: she ate four plus four.
Speaker 1: Okay, this brings me to my next topic because I
Speaker 1: need help. Okay, I looked at my closet the other
Speaker 1: day and I thought, you're dated, Danielle. Your clothes are
Speaker 1: out of fashion, your jeans are not fitting. Right. If
Speaker 1: I start to redoce some things this summer, what do
Speaker 1: you think I should be looking at? Like who's summer fashion?
Speaker 1: Are you into? What trends are you into? What should
Speaker 1: my jeans how flared or not flared?
Speaker 4: Should they be well, I feel like it's just so
Speaker 4: much more confusing for women, Like.
Speaker 3: You're being told every day what's in and what's out.
Speaker 4: Honestly, just go back and look at what you wore
Speaker 4: in like the nineties, and wear a more tailored version
Speaker 4: of that. Go back and look at an old picture
Speaker 4: of the Spice Girls and wear a subdued version of
Speaker 4: what sporty or posh wore.
Speaker 2: That's such a good tip. Actually, what do you.
Speaker 1: Think when you look at your closet? Are you like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I have good stuff right now?
Speaker 2: Why do you think I'm wearing a Kmart white tank
Speaker 2: top Target? Why am I wearing this? Because I have
Speaker 2: nothing to wear in my closet.
Speaker 1: I just look at the trends now and I'm like
Speaker 1: glad that there's so many more choices, because I feel
Speaker 1: like when we were growing up, there just wasn't a
Speaker 1: lot of choices. I was always a little curvier, so
Speaker 1: I never like felt like I fit into clothes. Now
Speaker 1: I do, but there's so many trends that I don't
Speaker 1: know what to pick.
Speaker 4: I suggest always just do tailored basics. If your clothing
Speaker 4: fits you well, you're beating ninety five percent of the
Speaker 4: crowd and This is one thing I always tell me
Speaker 4: in like, you have to tail like I have, you know,
Speaker 4: I'm you know, slim slim waistick in the hips what
Speaker 4: Like I have to get my jeans tailored otherwise I
Speaker 4: look like buckwhat And I have to like tie them
Speaker 4: together because I have thick thighs, like Mom blessed me
Speaker 4: with those.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: But I just do think like well tailored basics and
Speaker 4: with like one accessory.
Speaker 3: Like today I'm wearing like.
Speaker 4: Literally Haynes Mother jeans, but like I have like a
Speaker 4: little like blood red Chanel boy bag.
Speaker 3: People like you're well dressed. It's like, no, this is baby,
Speaker 3: this is barely pajamas.
Speaker 1: I like that because like just black and white T shirts, tanks, jeans,
Speaker 1: and then you kind of dress it up with jewelry or.
Speaker 4: One jewelry pop color of bright yellow sweater, like the
Speaker 4: accessory like sweater bag shoes one of one to three
Speaker 4: of those, and people are like you're doing it when
Speaker 4: reality you're just you rolled out of bed.
Speaker 1: I really like that.
Speaker 2: I also think monochromatic dressing is such a great shortcut
Speaker 2: color do it all over. I go on pinchers all
Speaker 2: the time for a fashion inspiration. Because I like that.
Speaker 2: The algorithm just feeds me more images that look like
Speaker 2: that one image, and then I can kind of build
Speaker 2: off of.
Speaker 4: That just to feel good. Honestly, it's such a cliche,
Speaker 4: but it's so true, Like if you feel good in
Speaker 4: what you're wearing, it just kills everything else.
Speaker 2: I've decided my fashion inspiration for my thirties is Diane Keaton,
Speaker 2: like all of her nineties wardrobe, and.
Speaker 3: That's called Coastal Grandma. That's got the gen Z calls.
Speaker 3: It's called Coastal Grandma.
Speaker 1: Who was watching book Club, which is her movie with
Speaker 1: Jane Fonda, on an airplane to New York. And then
Speaker 1: I get off the plane and she was right there
Speaker 1: wearing her suit and her hat, and I actually went
Speaker 1: up to her. I love that baggage claim. The problem
Speaker 1: is that like a gremlin when I travel, and so
Speaker 1: I was so embarrassed.
Speaker 3: Who does it?
Speaker 4: Thank you so much, Blakelee, who doesn't The airport is
Speaker 4: a lawless place, okay, So don't you ever fault yourself.
Speaker 4: There's no other place where you can see somebody drinking
Speaker 4: at seven am and be like, I feel you. You're
Speaker 4: not a grandma. You're in the airport.
Speaker 1: Mm hmm.
Speaker 2: Do you guys want to hear my embarrassing Mecala story
Speaker 2: before we go?
Speaker 1: Yes, we have to.
Speaker 2: So I covered Metcala a couple of years on the
Speaker 2: red carpet and one year I was walking across the
Speaker 2: street to get into my position and I had my
Speaker 2: hair in corn rows and I was like really proud
Speaker 2: of my hairstyle, and somebody from across the street goes,
Speaker 2: I don't like your hair, I don't like your face.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I hate your general being.
Speaker 2: I was stunned.
Speaker 1: I was just like horrible, Okay, was he like?
Speaker 3: Wait? Was he like an unhinted stranger? Was he?
Speaker 1: Who is this man?
Speaker 2: Truly, she was totally an unhinged New York stranger, because
Speaker 2: you know, they all like congregate outside of the Metcala,
Speaker 2: and New Yorkers will just say anything. They'll just say
Speaker 2: whatever's on their mind.
Speaker 3: Did you not scream back? I did.
Speaker 2: I forget what I said, but I scrumped something.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, that's horrifying. I'm so sorry that happened. But
Speaker 1: I also I've never been to the met Like, what
Speaker 1: is it like to be on the carpet?
Speaker 2: First of all, you think it's going to be so
Speaker 2: glamorous being a red carpet reporter at the Met, but
Speaker 2: you are packed in there like sardines. There are probably
Speaker 2: fifty sixty reporters on either side of the steps going
Speaker 2: up to the Met, and you're on an incline the
Speaker 2: whole time, so you're always yes, so you're always trying
Speaker 2: to gain your balance. You probably have about two feet
Speaker 2: of personal space to yourself. You have to bring snacks,
Speaker 2: you have to bring hydration. You are literally screaming at
Speaker 2: celebrities to try to get their attention and get them
Speaker 2: to come talk to you. Most people didn't talk to me.
Speaker 2: I got like a couple of people. Shout out Eatris Elba,
Speaker 2: he was really nice. Shout out Katie Kuric, she came
Speaker 2: to talk to me. But it is really it is rough.
Speaker 2: It is like a gauntlet.
Speaker 3: How long are you on the carpet for?
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, you're on the carpet for six hours.
Speaker 1: But how do you even go about thinking what you're
Speaker 1: gonna wear at the Met? Gallop because like it's hard
Speaker 1: to find an outfit for anything.
Speaker 2: Girl, I was so broke. I was I was a
Speaker 2: local news reporter. I was accepting charity so I had
Speaker 2: a friend who was a designer who dressed me. So
Speaker 2: I was so grateful for that. But yeah, it's a
Speaker 2: lot of people don't realize a lot of times when
Speaker 2: you're a reporter, you got to spend your own money
Speaker 2: to buy.
Speaker 4: I literally DM Dormez I did for a clothes mouth
Speaker 4: doesn't get fed. I saw that a lot of like
Speaker 4: just fashion pr people are like heads of brands will
Speaker 4: follow me just because I talk about fashion. Yeah, and
Speaker 4: then the same day I got the gig to do
Speaker 4: the Instagram party, I got like an accidental butt dial
Speaker 4: call from Instagram from the head of like RAMZ Celebrity Dressing.
Speaker 3: So I just DMed him like hey, could.
Speaker 4: I have some pieces and like send him like four
Speaker 4: outfits from like the fall collection and they're like.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So I just asked because I was.
Speaker 2: Not buying something, you got to ask, I think. Listen,
Speaker 2: it is a really grueling experience. There's a lot of
Speaker 2: character building that takes place, but it is really cool
Speaker 2: to have a front row seat to all of that,
Speaker 2: and you get to see all the behind the scenes
Speaker 2: machinations of like how it all comes together, and then
Speaker 2: to see the dresses and the spectacle in real time?
Speaker 1: Is it's cool it's as show exactly?
Speaker 2: Speaking of iconic movies in movie fashion, let's take a
Speaker 2: trip down memory lane, shall we. Did you guys know
Speaker 2: that Janet Jackson was supposed to play Storm in the
Speaker 2: X Men franchise and I didn't know that?
Speaker 3: Why did you turn it down?
Speaker 2: Okay? She recently told Drew Barrymore that she passed on
Speaker 2: the role because she was going on tour, and then
Speaker 2: of course it went to our girl, Halle Berry. Okay,
Speaker 2: but I can't decide who. I mean. I think both
Speaker 2: of them. Obviously, Halle did an amazing job, but I
Speaker 2: think Janet Jackson could have done an amazing job too.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 4: Honestly, I wanted Angela Bassett because because based on the
Speaker 4: X Men cartoon, that voice Angela Bassett's tone was the
Speaker 4: most like Storm is very like a Baroque Shakespearean person
Speaker 4: like out here, like dropping like you know, Elizabethan language
Speaker 4: on haters. Yes, and I feel like Angela Bassett and
Speaker 4: like seeing the basket with the white hair and black
Speaker 4: panther too kind of like brought that full circle for me. Yes,
Speaker 4: But I think if we cast Storm today, i'd want
Speaker 4: it to be Cynthia Evo, I think we.
Speaker 1: Should just right now recast I love it us okay,
Speaker 1: because there's a bunch of others, right, Like Christina Applegate
Speaker 1: said no to playing Elwoods in Legally Blonde, which honestly
Speaker 1: may have changed the course of my and Simone's career
Speaker 1: because obviously Reese Witherspoon played that role.
Speaker 3: To Christina Applegate, thank you, I can do this. Man.
Speaker 3: Who else can you think you could have done Legally Blonde?
Speaker 3: Except her?
Speaker 1: Oh no, we cannot recount that movie.
Speaker 3: What if we rebooted it? What if we rebooted it? Actually?
Speaker 1: Yes, I want her daughter to do it.
Speaker 2: This one blows my mind. Bette Midler was almost Sister
Speaker 2: Mary Clarence in Sister Act.
Speaker 1: How do you do that?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 4: No, I could Bette Miller's like vaudevillian, like Sister Mary Clarence.
Speaker 3: I could definitely see Bette Miller being in Sister Act.
Speaker 1: I love that word.
Speaker 3: She's just you know, I think jazz hands every time
Speaker 3: I see her.
Speaker 1: How about John Travolta was going to be Forrest Gump.
Speaker 1: I hate that instead of Tom Hanks.
Speaker 3: I hate that so much.
Speaker 1: I know Tom Hanks was meant to be Forrest Gump.
Speaker 4: I just yeah, John Travolta is a very specific actor,
Speaker 4: and I think that this is spanning the decades would
Speaker 4: have been very like it would I think Forrest Gump
Speaker 4: would have been water worlded if John Travolta.
Speaker 3: Was in it. I don't think it fits.
Speaker 2: Can we talk about an undervalued John Travolta film for
Speaker 2: a second, and that is Phenomenon? Yes, Eric Clapton's sound track.
Speaker 1: Oh good, so good.
Speaker 4: I was literally just thinking about Phenomenon before you said that.
Speaker 2: It's kind of my It's like my mini Roman Empire.
Speaker 3: I think Phenomena.
Speaker 4: I watched some time about at least once a month.
Speaker 4: I was SI, it's my comfort movie. Phenomenon Stream six.
Speaker 2: Oh, scream sex is your comfort movie.
Speaker 3: I love it.
Speaker 4: I don't know why I've talked. I've actually talked to
Speaker 4: my therapist about it. I think it's because they survive, Okay.
Speaker 4: I think it's just these girls just getting through, and
Speaker 4: they're just getting through in New York City.
Speaker 3: Yes, you know, shit keeps happening. Six gram six is
Speaker 3: like life. Life comes at your fast. It really must.
Speaker 3: We're a helmet and.
Speaker 2: It really does. Blakely, it has been so much fun
Speaker 2: having you with us. We cannot wait to have you back.
Speaker 3: Think I will be back with a Vengeance.
Speaker 2: And we cannot wait to watch your met Galla watch
Speaker 2: party this Monday. Yes, where can people watch it?
Speaker 4: I believe it will be on the Instagram Creators channel
Speaker 4: and also possibly Instagram's feed, so we'll see, I'll tell,
Speaker 4: I'll DM you guys.
Speaker 1: You can find the Blakelee almost Nieman Thornton on Instagram
Speaker 1: and TikTok at Blakelee Thornton.
Speaker 2: All right, bright Side, besties, we are out of here.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much for listening and hanging out with us.
Speaker 2: Have a wonderful weekend.
Speaker 1: Yes, please do something that brings you joy. We'll be
Speaker 1: back on Monday to talk women in Tech with author
Speaker 1: and entrepreneur Brook Marcovicis. The bright Side is a production
Speaker 1: of Hello, Sunshine and iHeart Podcasts and is executive produced
Speaker 1: by Reese Witherspoon.
Speaker 2: Production by Arcana Audio. Courtney Gilbert is our associate producer.
Speaker 2: Our producers are Stephanie Brown and Jessica Wank. Our engineer
Speaker 2: is PJ. Shahamat, and our senior producer is Itsy Qinthenia.
Speaker 1: Arcana's executive producers are Francis Harlowe and Abby Ruzika. Arcana's
Speaker 1: head of production is Matt Schultz.
Speaker 2: Natalie Tulluck and Maureen Polo are the executive producers for
Speaker 2: Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 1: Julia Weaver is the supervising producer, and Ali Perry is
Speaker 1: the executive producer for iHeart Podcasts. Tim Palazzola is our showrunner.
Speaker 1: This week's episodes were recorded by Graham Gibson.
Speaker 2: Our theme song is by Anna Stump and Hamilton lighthauser.
Speaker 1: Special thanks to Connell Burn and Will Pearson.
Speaker 2: I'm Simone Boyce. You can find me at Simone Boyce
Speaker 2: on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 1: And I'm Danielle Robe on Instagram and TikTok. That's r
Speaker 1: O b A.
Speaker 2: Y See you Monday fam. Keep looking on the bright side.