Year 2000 Fix

Just in time for the 93rd Academy Awards, Jordan continues this Hollywood-themed podcast with cinephile friend, Claire.

For Part II, Jordan and Claire give the Academy credit where credit is due and list off their favorite Award wins and nominations.

Following that, the conversation gets meta! Jordan and Claire observe the behind-the-scenes politics of the 74th Academy Awards Ceremony (the first ceremony to air after the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks) as well as the 75th (the show that aired days after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq). They also work in a few jabs at other Academy controversies because there have been plenty of ‘em in the years since!

It remains to be seen whether Jordan or Claire will ever win their own Academy Awards in this lifetime, so they instead conclude by asking the age-old question, “Do the Awards even matter?” (The answer being…maybe?)

With another Academy Awards Ceremony on the way, Jordan is joined by his cinephile friend, Claire, to talk about Hollywood’s biggest night! Together, they explore their first experiences watching the Oscars, their thoughts on the movies nominated this year, and their least favorite nominees and winners from the last 20 years. They also go over the shady politics that determine who goes home with a golden statue and the now-disgraced man who dominated the awards circuit for most of the 21st century.

This episode is mostly Spoiler-Free and where there are spoilers…well, look you probably weren’t going to see the movie anyway. Stay tuned for Part II!

The villainous plan of America’s energy pirates worked! They humiliated California Governor Gray Davis with their manufactured blackouts and made sure the Federal Government allowed them to bankrupt states with their obscene energy prices. Just as they planned, California’s voters were fed up with Gray Davis and the number of grievances they had with the governor would only grow. While Gray Davis narrowly won his 2002 re-election, he’d soon learn that his job was about to be (wait for it) TERMINATED!

In the Part III conclusion of YEAR 2000 FIX’s Recall mini-series, Jordan explains how California’s 2003 Gubernatorial Recall became a reality, how Arnold Schwarzenegger (a movie star with no political experience) booted Gray Davis out of office, and the legacy of California under Schwarzenegger.

The plot thickens in the story of California’s 2003 Gubernatorial Recall and ENRON has plenty to contribute! For Part II, Jordan rewinds to 2000 – the year a series of blackouts hit California. Was it at all suspicious that these blackouts occurred at the same time ENRON (and several other energy companies) made obscene profits selling high-priced energy back to California? Governor Gray Davis struggled to prove this, so the energy-deprived public blamed him!

Explored in this episode: ENRON’s shameless energy trading schemes, the Bush Administration’s complicity, and the day Enron Chairman Ken Lay courted a certain action movie-star to take over the Golden State.

Stay tuned for Part III, where YEAR 2000 FIX will exclusively analyze the 2003 Recall and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s successful gubernatorial campaign.

ENRON: the energy and commodities company that proves that when you have enough money, power, influence, and sheer cockiness, you’re free to destroy the career of a state’s governor and install a cheesy action movie-star to succeed them. That sentence sounds ridiculous and yet, ENRON is a big reason Arnold Schwarzenegger took hold of California!

In this three-part series covering the 2003 California Gubernatorial Recall, Jordan starts with something of a “villain backstory” and fulfills a lifelong goal of understanding what in the hell the ENRON scandal even was! Here, you will learn how ENRON’s Chairman/CEO Ken Lay and CEO/COO Jeffrey Skilling thrived in the deregulated energy market of the 90s & 2000s and how the company’s execs almost got away with all their crimes. You’ll also learn why, despite what the administration of President George W. Bush said, ENRON’s business scandal was ALSO an unexplored political scandal.

Stay tuned for Part II, where Jordan will go over ENRON’s special relationship to California, and Part III, where Jordan will go over Arnold’s “machine-like” rise to governership.

In the mid-2000s, hardcore gamers and people whose knowledge of video games didn’t go beyond Pac-Man, had one thing in common: they had a GUITAR HERO controller in their living room! Or maybe, it was the ROCK BAND faux-drum kit. Either way, from 2005-2009, people loved video games that let them pretend to be rock-stars.

Performing this week as a solo act, Jordan explains the origins of the GUITAR HERO and ROCK BAND franchises, why people enjoyed playing the games so much, and the probable reasons fans soon grew tired of them.

When people like John Edward, Allison Dubois, or the Long Island Medium appear on TV and expose the intimate life details of a person they never met, are they able to do so because they are "psychic" or because they're really good at guessing?

Jordan is joined by Miles, a person who equally loves movies and the people who review them. Together, they discuss their exposure to arguably the most famous critic of all-time, Roger Ebert, and AT THE MOVIES, the movie-review show Ebert appeared on for over twenty years. They also compare Ebert’s co-hosts (Gene Siskel and Richard Roeper), explain his influence on other film critics, and make sense of film critic circles today.

Here’s hoping you give this episode a “Thumbs Up”!

Jordan is rejoined by friend, Grace, to understand the era of steroids scandals in America’s favorite sport! Together, they explore the role performance-enhancing drugs played in Major League Baseball during the early 2000s. Key to this episode: San Francisco Giants star-player, Barry Bonds, Victor Conte, and the Bay Area Lab Co-Operative Scandal, and MLB Commissioner Bud Selig's supposed attempts to gain control of the league and its players.

Jordan and Alyssa collectively scratch their heads as they try to understand “fellow kids”. First, they flashback to 2011 to discuss the history of Rebecca Black’s “Friday” and its relation to other “So Bad, It’s Good” media. Then, they dig even further into their childhoods to talk about their love of Nickelodeon - both Nicktoons and live-action titles. Youth is not something to be taken for granted.

How can a movie reach the level of being so terrible that you actually like it, instead of attempting to permanently erase it from your memory? Jordan is rejoined by his very good friend, Alyssa, to answer that question and explain how 21st century-era technology, the internet, and modern irony improved the experience of seeing the world’s most laughable cinematic disasters.

WORKS CITED:

Jordan and Cody continue their deep look into WONDER BOYS, HIGH FIDELITY, ALMOST FAMOUS, and O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU-the year 2000’s best films.

To cap things off, Jordan’s music journalist/author godfather, Kent, shares his personal connections to all four films. Off that, Jordan and Cody delve into the films' soundtracks and their shared themes.

Jordan is joined by Cody to celebrate the 20-year anniversaries of WONDER BOYS, HIGH FIDELITY, ALMOST FAMOUS, and O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU, and to intensely analyze the films’ legacies. Expect a few SPOILERS here and there.

In Part I, they explore the box office gross and original critical reception of each film, the films’ views on race, gender, and sexuality (both the progressive and regressive views), as well as the general commonalities of all four classics.

Look out for Part II, where Jordan and Cody delve into the films’ very memorable soundtracks and powerful themes.

When people accuse the STAR WARS prequel movies of “pandering to little kids”, no one stops to ask, “Who were those kids anyway?”

Well, those kids were Jordan and special guest, Alyssa, who once found themselves brainwashed by Lucasfilm in their childhood.

In order to free themselves from the delusion that the prequels were good (because they were NOT), Jordan and Alyssa recount their first exposure to STAR WARS, why they were attracted to the marketing of Episodes I-III, and how over the years, they came to see the prequels for what they really were. In other words, Jar Jar Binks was never “key” to anything!

Episode Notes:

Would Microsoft have become obsolete in the 21st century, had the tech giant NOT taken on Japanese video game heavyweights, Nintendo and Sony? Microsoft seemed to think they would and that’s why in November 2001, America got the Xbox.

An inoffensive, centrist represents the Democratic Party in their fight to take down the worst Republican president in recent memory. Will the Democrat prevail in making the Republican incumbent a one-term leader, or is the Republican’s reelection inevitable? That depends on whether you’re talking about Trump and Biden in the 2020 Election or George W. Bush and John Kerry in the 2004 Election.

Jordan is joined by Cody (from episode #4) to discuss the tail-end of Bush’s first term, the Democratic primaries, John Kerry’s campaign, and why Kerry lost to Bush. They also ponder: what would have happened to the nation had Kerry WON and sign off with VOTE 2020!

Vote NO on California Proposition 22. That’s the bare bones of this special 2020 election-themed episode. Prop 22's result will set a precedent for worker rights nationwide and will still be relevant, even if you're hearing this podcast in 2030. 

Jordan is joined by longtime friend, Grace, to discuss the importance of California Assembly Bill 5; the 2020 law requiring app-based companies to classify workers as “full-time employees”. They then explain why voters need to vote NO on Prop. 22 (the state measure that would exempt tech companies from AB-5’s regulations) and how the late 2000s/early 2010s created a new form of labor injustice.

“Donald J. Trump is New York’s largest real estate developer whose lucrative brand made successful properties, casinos, golf courses, modeling agencies, and shuttles”…is a phrase easily disproven with a Google search. By the early 2000s, Trump had already faced multiple business failures, bankruptcies, sexual assault allegations, labor violation lawsuits, and he already made many abhorrent public statements. Whatta guy!

Despite this, famed reality TV show producer, Mark Burnett had no issue making Trump the host of his new program, THE APPRENTICE. The show premiered on NBC in 2004 and became a rating’s hit for NBC. Overnight, Trump went from “bigoted man who can’t keep a business afloat” to that lovable host who says “Ya fired!”

The big question is, if we had applied a little bit of scrutiny to Trump’s public scandals or at the very least, prevented him from becoming a reality TV show host, would we have been spared a Trump presidency?

Jordan is joined by two-time SURVIVOR contestant, Erik Reichenbach, to discuss Trump’s early career scandals, THE APPRENTICE’s rehabilitating portrayal of Trump, and how  THE APPRENTICE influenced Trump’s 2016 election victory. Also, Erik and Jordan describe their brief encounters with Mark Burnett.

California: Here We Come! THE O.C. – the primetime soap opera created by Josh Schwartz about a troubled kid from Chino, adopted by a wealthy Newport Beach family – aired for only four seasons (2003-2007) on FOX. Yet, in practically no time, the TV-viewing public latched on and made THE O.C. an inescapable pop culture property.

Jordan is joined by Ariel, an OG O.C. fan from back when the show originally aired. Together, they cover THE O.C.’s popularity, the show’s immediate influence on the 2000’s TV landscape, the show’s commentary on 2000’s politics, and its genius integration of music in its episodes.

COMING VERY SOON - A bonus episode where Jordan and Ariel cover THE O.C.’s unforgettable TV moments. A must-listen for super-fans!

The Church of Scientology presents itself as a humanitarian organization with the answers to life and a membership of 8 million people. 

“Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy, how can I ever forget them…” These were the final words from PEANUTS creator Charles M. Schulz (aka “Sparky”) in his last comic strip ever. As it so happened, the strip, announcing Sparky’s retirement, appeared in papers less than 24 hours after he passed away.

Jordan is joined by friend and PEANUTS aficionado, Cody, to discuss the final year of the PEANUTS comic strip, the universal appeal of Charlie Brown and the gang, and the many emotional memories the franchise provided the world. GOOD GRIEF!

The Silicon Valley Tech Industry is taking over the new millennium…with a loquacious sock puppet dog? Jordan is joined by Dylan to go over Pets.com, their infamous mascot, and the Dot-Com Bubble. Together, they ponder Pets.com’s marketing, business plan, the bizarre lawsuit against Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, and whether the company was actually ahead of its time.

Ignominious presidential candidates, voter disenfranchisement, ignored laws, news media failure, tarnished principles of American Democracy - it all leads to the wrong guy ending up in the White House.