Patreon Shoutouts and Closing Remarks

Give it to me Hey everyone I'm Hollywood And I'm Tom Merrittt. Welcome to It's a Thing a Weekly podcast supported by you, which is simple and elegant in its premise. It is about things That are things. Yeah That's it, folks. Dt donon't overthink it. Don't it. I see what you did there. I had't even mean to. And it just I saw it coming.'m I'm leaning into it. Leaning into. G with it. G with it. G with it Uh no, we love doing this. It's fun to just be like, is that a thing? This is a thing You know, we learn from each other, we identify things, we get things from the audience and I will say I am more culturally literate Do the show I am less surprised when people go What is that? I'm like, well, that's obviously backrooms. you know. Oh that's the backrooms aesthetic. So that' been percolating onlinees Yeah, exactly. No, I'm'm And Tom says culturally literate, I'm going to roll with insufferable No at all. A Yeah, we all have our take. I'm fine with that. I'm fine with that It's really fun my God, do you know about blah blah blah, I'm like,hah, we did. Well yes, obviously you don't listen to the thing or you would have known about a long time ago. Do you know that restaurant merch is now a prestige piece of clothing I'm only slightly familiar because you texted us, but I still am amazed. I direct you. to the Los Angeles Food editor writing for the San Francisco Chronicle So this is Pann, California Um talalking about the trend be buying exclusive restaurant merch almost as a flex Right? To be like, oh, yeah, I go to this whatever French bistro in the Santa Inz Valley U And also just a way of people going like, o That's a cool Piece of street fashion. What brand is that? and you're like, oh, it's a brand. it's Casa Vega You know, or whatever restaurant, right? Like it It is restaurants leaning into the trend of looking like street fashion And then people glwing onto that to say, well, not that many other people know about this restaurant So I'm going to buy the shirt. I'm going to wear the hat And then it looks like I've got cool exclusive fashion brands on. Right. And it's better than, you know, I suppose part of the theory is sort of, it's better than like wearing a shirt that says Paris when instead you can wear the shirt of like a cool Michelin star Bistro that you went to in Paris Exactly. Exactly, right There There's a lot of street brands that do You know, like there was a, I think it was Haron Preston did the Twin Peaks line where they were taking Twin Peaks imagery and putting it on And then people are like, ooh, cool T twin Peaks fans shirt and're, well, actually, it'serr and prospect. Right U And so this is kind of the opposite of that of being like, oh, what heron Preston line is that? You're like, it's not. It's literally from the Michelin star restaurant I atea What who's the who is the I'm trying to think of the name of the chef who Roy Choi. Did that restaurant best friend and it's like it is a spinoff of the LA food truck, but the restaurant is in Vegas And best friend Merch was like extremely hipster. Yeah. like so cool looking that I even almost bought it Even though my sense of restaurant merch is like who wears restaurant merch? and that no I've just been wrong and they have secretly succeeded this whole time and they're like, girl, everyone wears restaurant merch. Yeah. no as all great things, all great things go from who does that to oh, well, people in the know do it Right not everyone does it. Yeah. They all turn on that dime. And restaurant merch has turned on that dime I love this. Also I just have to say that the Trader Joe's tote bag walked so that Um So that highly coveted restaurant. Yes. Indeed, that is absolutely the case. U It still entertains me when I travel abroad to see people carrying their Trader Joe's bag L like a purse Like a purse, exactly. Just being like, this is amazing. Like, Yeah, you got Chanel, I have to trade Joes I mean, I did discover recently that that honestly, like a tote bag is kind of the perfect travel purse Mm because it's sort of like bigger than a per anyway. I mean, you know, you could wear a backpack around, but like who wants to do that when you could actually just be rocking your best friends, street fashion hat and trade gostbag and just be looking amazing. I mean, especially if you're in a non pick poocket country like in East Asia where you don't have to worry about that kind of stuff. Why wear the backpack Exactly. I gota say We really the future really is branded Like So branded Yeah. The future may also lie in a new type of digital window shopping I think I'm coining that term here. But and I don't know how big a thing this is, but I just sort of love it In June, I read an article about how there's a viral app in South Korea that lets you shop for and order food delivery. Except that you don't really order it the food Like you just do it for the plot. Like you just do it to make yourself feel good. Like I was like dopamine hit, right? It's I feel like I have the fun of having ordered Yeah And people were like, this South Korean developer who created it known as Mal Hei said the idea came during one of those nights where I just kept opening and closing delivery apps And then just found it very satisfying Sen. order something and then just like go make cereal whatever Be you don't spend the money and you don't eat the calories. Well, it'spe on the cereal, I guess, but And you're just sort of you're sitting there being a little bit lazy you You know, you're just like,, I don't know, I could get up. I literally have like a chicken and whatever in the fridge, but instead you open the app because you're Bd And this this guy was like, or this person, I don't know, this person said everyone's like that, notot because you're hungry, but out of habit, boredom your hand just opens the delivery app first. This app is made to break that pattern just once Let out Context for this thing in South Korea where this is huge can confirm Food delivery is constant This This isn't like some places in the US, you may be like, oh, what a luxury to order Uberes. And that might you might think like, oh, they're doing it because it's a luxury. That is not as much a part of it. as you might think Be food delivery is cheap and fast in Korea. Um, but it still costs money Right? And people are like,, I probably shouldn't spend the money. I should probably just eat cereal because that's cheaper. But it's not It's not the huge like door dash level purchase that it is here And it's extremely common. People do it all the time So it probably is. So one of the things that this developer pointed out too is like you might be on a diet, like you just don't need to Because if it is that simple and inexpensive, then people are probably yeah, it's probably impulse ordering and it's not so much about cost at all Somebody I will say, I did not invent the term window shopping. Somebody apparently on The digital window shopping called it window shopping for people who can't touch grass, which I think is a rudder way to say it I like my disneal windows But then all these people on Reddit were like, honestly, like I have a shopping addiction and it scratches the itch I I am I think I've seen reports that there are like Iitator apps now for other areas besides food, right? There's like the online shopping app where you can pretend to have ordered stuff from coupong. or Amazon kind of and yet you've never spent money and it never arrives, which is I think even better How many times Be honest out there, how many times Have you ordered something Maybe on Amazon And then when it arrived, you forgot you had ordered it Oh, totally. Yeah. Right Yeah And so like to buy it too easy. It's too easy. A little the little methadone for shopping addiction app is probably quite welcome I I am tempted to vibecode a social media app that is just full of sunshine and puppies, but no actual people. And then you just You just heaven scroll You know It'll never work though, like you know, just like the description of the Matrix, how they created a utopia, No one wanted. And no one wanted to be there. Yeah., you're probably right. It's gotta at least be like low grade conflict, maybe. You gotta have some conflict to keep it interesting. I mean, that was always the problem with Gene Roddenberry's edict on Star Trek. He's like, you can't have the conflict come from the humans. And they're like, Yeah course to how you got some of the greatest stories on television because they were pushed to do that, but they had to have conflict come from somewhere You really do sadly Although I would just like to declare now and I don't know what's going I'm probably alone in this, but I am stepping back from Love Island USA because I think that both the editing and the online discourse are Way toxic And I've talked to some old school fans who agree. They're like it didn't used to be about people just trying to get famous and it didn't used to be this ugly. And like online the fan base in the last couple of seasons has gotten so out of hand. Yeah. these people are in borderline in danger, these contestants. anyyway, it's just not, it's not fun It's no longer fun I have a chaser for you, but you have to use Vicki to watch it Oh really I wast to watch beat like you said, but Oh, actually V is Via is even is good. I'll start there and then time Yeah. The village barber is on Vicki And it's about a TV star who goes into a small town that doesn't have a barber And because he had mandatory military service and got his barber's license, he opened a barber's shop. And he cuts hair for all the eighty year old ladies That sounds delightful. That is in facts I mean, also I'm reading like a really great book series right now that has like vampires and werewolves and yeah. ye, that's good. That'll work It is under U Anyway, I don't know if this is going to be a thing here, but it's a thing there and I like it This is definitely the kind of thing that is like absolutely a thing, huge thing in South Korea could expand If it does, you'll be able to go like, oh yeah, I heard about that. I know where that started hundred percent Um, I am less than twenty eight minutes away from having learned about the next thing, Airport Tay aesthetic. likeike literally saw this right before the show. Pople taking Staged beautiful photos of their stuff in the airport security bin This is one of those where I'm like, damnit, I totally saw this. And it didn't occur to me to bring it But apparently it is it is continuing and still becoming a thing and it's so dystopian and weird It is ye. I It all makes perfect sense in my head. how this happens, right? Somebody puts all their stuff in the tray And maybe they're just naturally neat So they make they just naturally arrange it. and then it comes to the x ray and they look at it And they say That's really nice, look, I'm gonna take a picture of that. And of course they post it on Instagram. And then that's all it takes for everybody else to go, what a great idea. I'm going to do that next time I go through security and so on and so on and so on. And then it becomes a whole thing I don't think anybody is our people doing it in the security line because I have that question as well. Where do they take the picture? Because taking pictures in the TSA area is frowned upon Yeah, and also if you were beholding up that line Absolutely not I'm not having that I don' think it's against the rules to take your tray over to the little bench. where you sit down to put your belt and shoes back on Oh, that's true.. And then just take your picture there emmpty out your tray and then take the tray back And that it sounds like th in response to that exact backlash where people were just like, don't you dare pullold up this line, which in fact people would freak out. She's like, no, no, no, no, no. what most people are doing is you go all the way through security and then you do, you take your tray to the side and set it up to your little heart's content and then you make it look cute. But then also they're creating them at home Oh, they're like buying the trays. They're like buying what like trays. I mean, The internet This is like the places that make it look like you're on a private jet, but for TSA trays But as notorious BFG says or chat, BFQ It is very much like it's like a what's in it's an expansion of the What's in My bag concept. Yeah. Yeah your shoes in there too. it's deconstructed what's in my bag. It's deconstructed what's in my bag. And then people are doing it as concept photography where you actually buy the tray at home Chelsea Enriquez to this extent. Chelsea Enriquez has a tutorial on TikTok outlining how she does it She She takes the tray to the side, puts it in the video, sets up the tray. etcet. And she said, If you're mad about people taking a tray from the TS A line going to a separate section and setting up a cute little aesthetic photo where they're not bothering any anybody, then I don't know, grab a snickers. You might be hungry Oh yeah, that's on you. Yeah, totally. I mean also every is so super annoyed with content creators everywhere. like all these things are true at once as usual. It is becoming like cell phones Hear me out There was a time when someone talking on a cell phone was like a weird like what is that person doing? right? Because no one had cell phones Then it became someone talking on a cell phone was annoying. those people on their cell phones. Now, people talking on a cell phone is like, somebody's talking on a cell phone Maybe maybe annoying if they're allowed but you're used to it. People are on the cell phones all the time Yeah I feel like Influencers are at the uh, I'm annoyed. There's an influcer, but we're moving towards that place where it's like,h people peopleer. Yeah People do it all the time. Yeah. And unfortunately people being on cell phones in public has also morphed to them being on speakerphone in public. Oh yeah. Like and watching videos without headphones, like we've just mos It's not that they will never be annoying, but it used to be just the fact that they were doing it at all was was considered annoying. Now it's if they're being annoying while doing it, then it's annoying. And yeah, influencers could still be annoying if they're getting in your way or blocking traffic or any of that st And as we as they metastasize throughout society and we build up some sort of immunity to them then it will just be like, you know, them learning not to be particularly egregious. and everybody else learning to just like keep moving, just keep moving. And it stops being this 's just It That's the thing I've noticed more and more is a lot of times people are filming and I'm like, oh, influencer, it's like, no, just person N True at this point who even knows who knows U All right, my next thing actually this is a perfect segue into my next thing because the term and concept of digital footprint is not new I would posauseit, I don't think it is at all, right? Yeah I feel like even on Buzz Out Loud, we may have used those words. Exactly. Like the idea of the trail that you're leaving online, it's a term that I think is popular most often has been used in kind of like security and privacy circles. Yes. definitely think about the digital footprint that you're using online Um now kids are all using this phrase as naturally as breathing. and it means your social media trail Yeah. And they're just like one hundred percent. And I think what has startled me is like not how often I've heard them say it. It came up, of course with Love Island, right? Becauseuse like Love Island has a really unfortunate habit of casting people who do not pass the social media test and then get kicked out. for mostly using racial slurs And so then you know, I overhear my son and his friend just being like I don't it is not that hard to check your digital footprint. And also something something like, oh, they all know they have a digital footprint. And I was like, oh my God, wait, this is a complete this is a whole new usage. Oh, this is great. This is And they just have a And they and then I heard them I heard, you know, people I saw people online referring to it. I just heard my son refer to it like several times Check your digital footprint. It's just this like, To me, it encompasses so many things, like one is an interesting evolution of what used to be a privacy and security term. two is just this like awareness. L everybody thinks like millennial and Gen Z Gen Z in particular, you're just like, oh, they're doing stuff and they're not aware or whatever because they're like nineteen. No They know. They're bor aware. They are way more aware. It's the millennials who are like, o, crap. I shouldn't have posted that on Facebook back in the day. It's come back to haunt me. Gen Z iss like, No, I know what I know what a digital footprint is from birth cent They're like, we've been using stories since they were invented because we moved to ephemeral unlike you dumb dums. L it's really not uncommon to Follow a Gen Z and discover that they have only three posts on Maine because they they delete them Like, or they only use stories. I just think it's so interesting. I think the whole thing is so interesting. This This is great because there's a song out that is a Humbo of Laerifim, Isid and Cat's eye called iconic by Mistake that started out as a joke werere like, we should make a song for all of our haters because they all like have have the same experiences with online hate And there is a line in the song. I'm going to play for you now Y Dit doper print is look so ins Wow. that's them singing to the haters. Like your digital footprint is looking so insane Bro. I could not have even dreamed of that level of instant validation. That is crazy Yeah Damn. Wow, okay. Cush that. crush that. Yeah. crrush that harder. No, is is that is an excellent one. Your social media trail, like, Oh, that' so cool. Yeah Love it. loveove it. That's what the kids are up to. They know All right thinging of the week This is this is a level playing field for Th of the week. U really is. Yeah I mean, because none of them are no, man, or u maybe a restaurant merch Restaurant merch is pretty big and more mayaybe more wide reaching than airport tray aesthetic It's also like a more recent Yeah. I mean, I feel like the digital footprints just a bubble, you know, not a not a bubble in the like going gonna popay but a low simmer. It's aow R, right. It's a cresting wave, maybe. Right and airport traic I have seen around Restaurant merchandes fun Also, the future will be branded. There's no reason trying to resist it Yes, says Sony First fourth the k one. All right, let's get to your things. feeback if it's a thing about me. Matt from Hudson, Ohio has a potential thing. Dear Molly Tom and Rich 've been seeing a ton of clips of a new steam game called Mecca Chameleon. It's basically hide and seek, where you paint your character to blend into the background When I asked my daughter about it, she immediately knew what I was talking about and showed me her favorite clips Would this be the next among us Mcca chameleon? Keep up the great work. Thank you. Yeah Good u good good tip off Matt. We will keep an eye on Mechca Chameleon, but first of all clips a thing. And your daughter knowing about it is validation. So making a strong case Big cliff, Big cliff U Just a nice note. We got a nice note from Philly Codehound on our Patreon I needed the show so much this week. Thanks for being so awesome. A Seth. You're the best Thanks, man. We love a little validation and indeed help Vverse straight on vocal fr. Hey guys Just listen to the latest episode of It's A Thing, and the vocal fry slash ending words with has been a thing in Paris for many years. Here is a video about it in French, but it's pretty understandable in my opinion. Love you guys. byye u I u When re playay the video, I kind of want to hear it. U Isn't that possible? We'll just listen to it later. Well there's a link to it in the show notes. You can practice your French Yeah. I will say I have heard a little bit of I should have been prepared for this. I There's a little bit of just sort of like bonjour Gba. I've definitely heard that Ah yeah, that's just a French thing. I mean, I think it's more of a it is it's stylistic. It's not like you just say that in French exactly. it's more of It's just a thing that happens. It's a thing that happens. It is a little bit It probably is a little bit Parisian Maybe not French French, but French pason French Yeah U and Dancing as fast as I can And I think I've got a handle on pressure C You know what? the problem? The delay is there are so many accounts that I am a member of like trying to get the right account because I'm trying to find it in my history and here it is F there go Next question on That's funny And we will have the full link if you want to hear the whole thing Um, and then Finally, Scott needs an algorithm check too the Estesteemed High Council of Things, I need a ruling on this TikTok feud between the oatmeal raisin cookie Alliance, OrCca and the Chocolate Chip Cookie Alliance CCCA That is raging on TikTok. Battle lines have been drawn. members of the Snicker Doodle and Sugar Cookie gangs have chosen sides and there are spies everywhere Is this an actual thing? or did I get sucked into a peculiar corner of TikTok all by myself I would say It's neither. You're clearly not by yourself but it also follows a pattern of not just TikTok, but all social media, of fununny battle gets a lot of engagement People have fun make up funny things about it and everyone has a good time, right? No harm done And also no one else is seeing, No and I'm not and Naz see It's quite possible that You know,'s it's a self contained bubble of people that could be in the thousands, right? Yeah but that But yeah, it is not reached the level of I mean, to me, that feels like one that's being aided by thousands of bots too. Obviously, the bots are going to weigh in on something that is that juicy of a battle. I'm just gettinging that. little rarazin. There are a lot of love on bots. I don't know about the brazin bots. Yeah Uh But yeah,'ll'll we'll keep our ears to the ground just Definitely. if it pops up on my for you page, one will know they're listening slash two,' know. That's the thing about the bubbles That was the best. The other day, Molly's texting me while I'm doing Duolingo And suddenly, like literally they hadn't been this way Because Molly's texting me, all of my duolingo examples become about climate change and the environment. I'm like, did you know Molly is texting me? Is that why?' deep. The data mining is deep. This is hilarious. You know what else goes deep? M phrasing. U you know who's awesome and works really hard at making our shoutouts is Rich Dfalino who has based this week's top tier It's a thing Patreon shoutouts on model names of Honda motorcycles and scooters We could not love you more Patreon d. com slash. It's a thing supporters, especially those of you like Eric, suuper cub. The Joker Mike Akins AJ Venturella, Metropolitan Jazz. Morris Spree Jones. Side note, I had a spree when I was in college I mean, these names are hilarious. Who would want a scooter called the Metropolitan Jazz? I mean, okay Grambler SWub Texas. Kevin Sill, Dream Yuga Dominator. Benjamin Frest. Lara Grom, Ael A A Ron The unicorn dazzler. S cut Lee Pice. Wh see is an ascot, possibly Aviator, A B puppy Gabrielle Magna Deluxe Cohen. Here we're getting to the classics now goold wing Vilor trucks. Nighthawk Jake Woods. That's the one Big ruckus lurch.ally Mike, if you're not already calling yourself, Mike, bigig ruckus lurch, you are now. You are now. like you have to. That is awesome. That' a hell of cool nickname. Thank you so much to all of you who support us at any level at patreon. com slash. It's a thing you keep our show happening week after week. You also get access to our discord where you can chat along live with your fellow patrons and you get an ad free RSS feed and our eternal devotion You can also both support the show by buying our branded items. And it's the thing to me slash shop Take that restaurs