A Lifetime of Happiness: Movies, TV, and Video Games

A Glamorous Barbie Gala!

• Steve Bennet-Martin, Stephen Martin-Bennet • Season 1 • Episode 181

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The Steves discuss what's making them happy in pop culture today, including the Barbie Movie and Netflix' Glamorous.

What's making us happy?

  • Barbie: The Movie
  • Glamorous Season 1
  • Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
  • Pikmin 4
  • X-Men's Hellfire Gala and the Fall of X

Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.

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Steve:

Hello, returning Happys and new listeners. This is Steve Bennett Martin,

Stephen:

and this is Steven Martin Bennett. Welcome and welcome to Lifetime of

Steve:

Happiness. Welcome the podcast where we take you on our journey through some of the movies, shows, and other bits of pop culture that are helping to keep us happy, while hopefully bring a smile to your face along the way.

Stephen:

And we're shifting our focus on what's new in pop culture today as we are the very first and only. Gay movie discussion podcast that will be covering the new Barbie movie. We

Steve:

swear. Yes, we promise. Don't look anywhere else because you won't find it anywhere else other than here. Yep. And we're also

Stephen:

gonna talk about Netflix's glamorous Pickman four, and this year's X-Men Hellfire Gala.

Steve:

Yes. But before we get into all of that fiction, what's been making you happy in real life?

Stephen:

That's not real life.

Steve:

That's not real. Well, sometimes it feels more enjoyable than real life,

Stephen:

but yes. So Last week we went to go see my favorite drag queen, perform live in Tampa. We saw Jinx monsoons, everything at Stake Tour. Yes, it

Steve:

was a very good time. I know the music was not necessarily my playlist, but the performances and the go in inbetweens with her little standup bits and everything was just. So fabulous and well done. I loved every moment of that. Yeah. I

Stephen:

thought it was an amazing evening. The only thing that I would've changed is when they were doing the rock songs we couldn't hear Jinx voice. Yeah. Every, like, when she sang the other stuff, it was fine. It was just that her band.

Steve:

It drown, drowned her out. It might've been the acoustics where we saw it, but I would say if the tour is still going on in your area, is it worth checking out? Oh,

Stephen:

absolutely. Go see it. It is hysterical. It's funny talks about things that are happening in the country. It talks about her stent on Chicago. It's really, really good and we got to meet her and she's just as lovely in person this year as she was last year when we met her. So, oh, and also

Steve:

you two hexed me.

Stephen:

We did hex you. I mean, if you're gonna have a witch right there, you might as well do a hex on somebody. Yeah. But while we were there, we also had dinner at Nana's.

Steve:

Yes. Which was a place that I saw and it's. Middle Eastern Street food. It's Middle

Stephen:

Eastern Street food. So, and I

Steve:

just was like this is something I would never try and it's gonna be right up your alley. And you loved it so

Stephen:

much. It was so good. It was like, if you take Chipotle and instead of Mexican ingredients in the burrito, it's all Middle Eastern ingredients. And it was absolutely delicious. So if you are a local listener and you're in the Tampa area, right near the Tampa Theater, in downtown Tampa is Nana Street Food. I. So, so good. Go try it. Yes. What about you, darling? What's been making you happy in. Quote unquote, real life. Well, I

Steve:

would say Remy just being the best office dog ever, which is nothing new. But as some of our listeners might know in the more recent months, my newer boss, Barry, has let Remy become not just a once a week office dog, but an everyday office. Dog and he has taken to it quite well with the way he runs the office now.

Stephen:

Yeah, I'm sure he got a promotion faster than anybody else. I'm

Steve:

pretty sure he thinks that he's Barry's right hand instead of me. And honestly, there are days where I question that as well.

Stephen:

Yeah. I love hearing the stories about his time. Like last week whenever everybody wanted to play with Remy in the hallway.

Steve:

Yeah. And he just got the, a case of the Zoomies for like five, 10 minutes at a time. Like a time. And he just had, was having the best time of his life.

Stephen:

He's the best.

Steve:

Yes. And you know, it was the best movie I've seen in quite a long time. Oppenheimer? No, I don't want, I don't, this is a, this is a happy podcast. We don't cover things like nuclear explosions or Holocaust

Stephen:

or, or things where everyone says, oh my gosh, they left the movie so destroyed. Yeah,

Steve:

I don't want to be destroyed unless it's some good sex with you, babe. Darling.

Stephen:

Just

Steve:

kidding. So yes, no, I'm talking about Barbie and I would say that you enjoyed it as

Stephen:

well, correct? Oh my gosh. It was absolutely amazing. It was. It's totally different than what I was expecting. Yes,

Steve:

certainly. And for those not in the know, it's a movie out in theaters right now. Really? Yes. After numerous computer animated, direct to video and streaming shows. This is the first live action Barbie film ever. It's directed by Greta Gerwig, who co-wrote it with Noah. Bomb back and it features an ensemble cast of Margo, Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae r Perlman, and Will Ferrell. And only one of those names on the list is someone that I don't love and adore. And it's the Man Will Ferrell.

Stephen:

Yes. Yep. So they started talking about making a live action Barbie movie. Over a decade

Steve:

ago. Yes. September, 2009 was when it was announced that it was going to happen

Stephen:

eventually. And I know that the first actress that we ever heard have her name attached to it was the standup comic. Amy.

Steve:

Amy Schumer. Schumer, yes. I

Stephen:

don't like that. Yeah. Amy Schumer was. All signed up and ready to go, and she backed out of it and said, you know what? I don't think I'm the right. Person for this. I

Steve:

mean, Margot Robbie was perfection. Perfection, yep. In this role. Perfectionist, stereotypical Barbie. Because I mean, in real life, that's what you think of when you, like, you think of a stereotypical Barbie is exactly what she looked like in that movie. Yeah. She just did perfection with it. And you love the, the standing on the,

Stephen:

on the toes. Oh my gosh. So you know, anybody that's ever seen a Barbie knows that their feet. Are forever arched. Yes. In like a heel? Yeah. Like as if they were wearing a heel. So all of the actresses when not in footwear had to stand as Barbie as if they were still in the heel. And it was fantastic. And People said to Greta, they were like, oh, is that computer animated? She goes, Nope. All the actresses did that themselves. That

Steve:

is awesome. But yeah, Margo Robbie's been divine in all the movies we've seen. You loved her in I Tanya.

Stephen:

Oh my gosh. She was amazing as my favorite figure skater. Tanya Harding. Yes.

Steve:

Her performances is Harley Quinn have been enough to watch the DC movies with her

Stephen:

in them. Yep. She was fantastic. In Once Upon In Time in Hollywood. And we also loved her in Bombshell. Yes.

Steve:

And Ryan Gosling.

Stephen:

We think he's just fantastic. My favorite role for him is crazy, stupid

Steve:

love. Yes. He is very good in that. And Kate McKinnon was hysterical and brilliant and fabulous and as always, weird as

Stephen:

always. Yeah. Like she made s n l funny for so many years and I'm so glad that she's getting to branch out and do other things like Like the 2016 Ghostbusters. She was amazing. America Ferrera is an underappreciated actress, but anyone who like me watched Ugly Betty knows how amazing of an actress she really is, and she gives such a wonderful performance in this and add such amazing depth.

Steve:

Yes, certainly. And it was released on July 21st with a budget of around 128 to$145 million. And as of today, which is Tuesday, August 1st, it has had a box office of$795.7 million. That's just a couple weeks in.

Stephen:

Yeah, that's gonna hit a billion rather quickly. We actually Had things going on the weekend it came out, so we weren't able to see it and then we were like, oh, we'll go see it during the week. Nope, no tickets. It was fulled out all week like

Steve:

ever. I, this was beyond a ventures level type of, Movies packed on. Yeah. Random times and seat to seat. But yeah, I loved how many people were dressing up pink in it. Yes. I just love how it, this movie's become like hit pop culture in such a heavy way that you wouldn't think the word Barbie does, but especially like seeing the number of people on my Instagram feeds and things that have the severe love and obsession for Barbie, that they've kept secret all this time and all of a sudden finding out they're collectors with like all the vintage ones mentioned in the movie, in their closet somewhere. I. It's just, I didn't realize how queer Barbie

Stephen:

was, so I only had like one or two Barbies growing up. One I remember she had this pink like wrap jacket with a white fur trim. And When you press something on her back, it made kissy noises. Yeah, I think. And so I don't remember what Barbie that was and I had a Ken. But when it came to dolls, I was actually more of a gem in the holograms kid.

Steve:

I believe you on that. But yes. What did you think of the movie overall? So

Stephen:

I expected it to be campy and fun with a little darker humor that we saw in the trailer. I was not prepared for it to go as deep as it went, as it held up a mirror to society. Yes, it was unreal. The different topics that they approach. I love how Barbie land is a real place. Yes,

Steve:

it certainly is. And I love that no one really questioned it too hard, how you get there.

Stephen:

Nope. And that The things that were happening to Barbie mm-hmm. Spoiler alert were because someone was playing with her differently in the real world. So they acknowledge that the Barbies and Barbie land are dolls being played with in the real world. And like weird Barbie. So my cousin Lydia growing up, she had all kinds of Barbies. Yeah. And My cousin Tim, her brother, cut off all of one Barbie's hair until it was real short and then kind of took a little bit of a lighter to the hair and things. So, and you know, they always end up getting like marker or pin on them and things. So like, Everybody did have

Steve:

a weird barbie. Everyone did have a weird Barbie. Yes. And was, the movie was just so colorful. Not just the pink, but just the vibrancy of all of the colors I think was really well done. And just the imagination behind it all. So

Stephen:

all of Barbie land, they actually built, that wasn't like the background c g I and things. Yeah. But all the houses and things were built. There was actually a temporary shortage of pink paint in the world because of how much pink paint they used on the movie. That is awesome, Ken. Discovering the patriarchy.

Steve:

Yes. As much as you are not a huge fan of the patriarchy, you loved the way that they

Stephen:

tackled this, it was really funny because, you know, It's Barbie. Yeah. Like it's, it's

Steve:

Barbie. She and it's

Stephen:

Barbie and Ken. Yeah. And Ken is always an afterthought. And so Barbie's the most important. Like Ken doesn't really have a lot of jobs in Barbie world. He's, Barbie has all the jobs. Yeah.

Steve:

He's the king of

Stephen:

beach. Yeah. And so he goes into the real world and finds out that. And would they both find out that women don't run everything in the real world and all of a sudden Ken discovers that men. Have more of the power and that's

Steve:

how you get into that whole controversial, or like the whole discussion about the patriarchy and what it means to be a woman and what it means to be a man. And I really love the way that it was all handled

Stephen:

very well. It really was. And I want to see it

Steve:

again. Yes. Well, I'm sure we'll buy it when it comes out. Yep. Yes. And we also loved another very queer show. Yes.

Stephen:

It was glamorous. Yes. From Netflix.

Steve:

Yes. A comedy drama, Netflix series created by Jordan Nino and starring Kim Catrell and Miss Benny. It was released on June 22nd and this year, and it follows Marco, a young makeup enthusiast being hired as a second assistant for the beauty mogul. Madison Addison. Madeline Addison. That's a tongue twister. Why did the show make you so

Stephen:

happy? Oh, I mean, so. You know that I've read the book, devil Wears Prada. We've seen the movie Devil Wears Prada. I loved all of it. This is Devil Wear's Prada Without Being Mean. Yes, Kim.

Steve:

Kim Cattrall did a great job being that nice version, a

Stephen:

nice version of Miranda Priestly, like it's very clearly a takeoff on Devil Ware's Prada. But without as many. Bad characters. Yes. And it just like the colors and the show and the people and the fun that they had and the interactions, it's just a happy, happy show.

Steve:

It definitely is a very happy show. I mean, I love just having this, Benny being the, you know, with being the role of Marco, this queer character that. I wish I saw growing up I was never necessarily as queer, as gay or as flamboyant, but I wish that I knew that people like that could exist in a world where they're embraced and loved like this.

Stephen:

This is the first big queer character that was not made accessible for the masses. It was not straight washed to be more acceptable. Yes. And this is a big show where. They don't hide from any topic about queerness and things. And I was like, yeah, you're right. This needs to be something that more queer teenagers can see no matter where you fall in the LGBTQI A plus spectrum, Marco and. The other characters, even Ben. Ben, absolutely. And Chad, there's room for Chad

Steve:

too. There's room for Chad who I was all prepared to hate, but just by the end he just warms your heart because I know he's had his own struggles.

Stephen:

They all had really great character. Arcs the one that I was not as impressed with. Their character Arc. Venetia Venetia.

Steve:

Like same. Yeah. But every series needs a kind of villain, I guess.

Stephen:

And that would be Venetia like. F 100% Michael, who Sue Rosen has been it's nice to see gay geeks represented on tv. Yes. It doesn't all have to be gays obsessed with fashion and celebrities. Sometimes gays are obsessed with sci-fi and that's okay too. Yes.

Steve:

And what I also loved is, as much as I'm excited to see where the journey for Marco goes from here, having his mother Julia in the first season and having that relationship I feel also really helped kind of balance the work life that we got to see him having. Absolutely.

Stephen:

And, and Marco wasn't one of those lead characters where everything they do. Is right and we're supposed to be behind them. There were definitely episodes where we're like, Marco, no, no, no, no,

Steve:

no girl. No. Especially when it came to Ben.

Stephen:

Absolutely. No there. These are some life lessons and you need to learn how to apologize.

Steve:

Yes. Like that type of stuff. Those things we've all done before. Yeah. And this is probably entry 37 in our podcast, but how is Zelda Tears of the Kingdom going for you? My life. So

Stephen:

we are still trucking along in high rule. It's been almost three full months of me playing no other game, but tears of the kingdom. I'm still loving it. Yes. I still have so much left to discover. I completed the depths other than Gannon. Mm-hmm. Which I'm leaving till the end. I have three completely unexplored portions of the Overworld map still. I just got the master sword. Mm-hmm. I'm still loving it. All this game is more than I could have honestly hoped for from a Legend of Zelda game, let alone a sequel. I know. It was very good. Knowing that it's roughly the breath of the wild area. And then they were like, no, no, no, no, no. We promise it's all gonna be brand new. And it was, yes, like, and like I know that I'm playing at very. O C, D and Completionist. Yes, but I'm still looking at it going, how did you finish it in a month? I don't. I know. And I'm

Steve:

see, and I finished it with the map at the end, telling me that I explored 60 something percent of it. I'm very excited to see how your percentage is compared to mine, because if you get there and it says something like 72%, I'm gonna be like, that was not worth the payoff.

Stephen:

I will still, I, I know I'll be shocked if it's only 72%. Yeah. But I will still say that it's worth the payoff because nothing in me Yeah. Is even ready for it to be done. Like Excellent. I think most likely by the end of August I'll be like, I'm almost done. Yeah. But you have been playing one of my favorite series all the way through and you just Start finished the newest entry. Yes. Piman

Steve:

four Piman is a realtime strategy and puzzle video game series created by Nintendo. Shige. Miyamoto and Piman themselves are a hoard of plant-like creatures that you collect to collect objects and destroy enemies like murder the planet's species that normally murder you. Them. Yep. And just turn the world upside down on its head so that they can help you collect juice or treasure or plants or whatever it is you need in

Stephen:

that game. Yeah, and it's such a fun series. For anyone that's not played it, you are you, no matter which version of it is. You are an interstellar explorer that crash lands on a planet and something happens where you either have to find your missing crew mates, repair your ship. Both a mix of, yeah, a mix of everything. Mix all of that. And so you discover these pickman that are going to help you along the way because Pickman for being their size are strong like ants and spiders, you know? Yeah. Being able to lift more than their weight. So they're helping you collect fruit to make juice because your species can subsist off of pure fruit juice. Or collecting treasures, collecting parts of your ship and each game has gotten progressively be better, whether it's the game itself quality of life, improvements, graphics, especially. What has been your favorite part of four?

Steve:

It's all of the, the extras and they kind of took all the lessons that they learned. They have the time crunch of one as an optional side story. After you beat the game, they have the dungeons that you call, you know, caves or depths that you explore from two that made that so iconic. Mm-hmm. It has. The auto lock, which makes the game so much more variable for me. I know people are like, I hate auto lock'cause it makes it easy. And I'm like, you don't need to spend like half the challenge shouldn't be getting the control to hit what you want it to hit. Right? And so I've just enjoyed all of that. They've turned it into like a collect on where there's so many different things to collect and build and people to save and things to do. Then I've just loved it. I beat it through it. Entirely once, and I'm near the end of beating it a hundred percent without having a single pickman die.

Stephen:

That's incredible. Like I, so anybody that has played it before knows this, but if you haven't, so at the end of the day that in previous Pickman games and also part of this, you cannot stay on the ground because of. Fierce creatures that will come out after dark. So you need to get the pickman off the ground and you need to go back up into orbit or you'll die. And watching the pickman that you weren't able to get back to their ship. Before nightfall was always so

Steve:

soul ing and I'm watching them get eaten as they cry out. Yes. And die. And you see their little ghosts go up to the

Stephen:

heavens. It kills me every time. So you being able to do a run where no pigment of died, I'm like, that's the dream. I am their savior's. The That's the dream.

Steve:

Yes. Speaking of dreams, how is the dream of cocoa working on our X-Men comics?

Stephen:

So yes. For the past couple years, the X-men have been living on the island that walks like a man cocoa instead of at the Xavier Institute. And they've had their own country, they are citizens of cocoa. They, they have, you know, they were trying to live on their own so that they're not as feared and hated and persecuted. They gave back to humanity. And it did not work. It has not worked because humans are like, no, we didn't want you in our area, but we didn't want you to have your own area either. And anybody that is a minority or an other, Knows. Knows exactly what that's

Steve:

like. Yes. And so they've been teasing the fall of X for quite some time. I know it was announced back in April. Promising devastating events at this year's Hellfire gala that will change our favorite mutants lives forever. And we woke up very early. To read it, was it worth

Stephen:

the, the buildup? So the buildup, they've been definitely sprinkling it in overtime with such things as Betsy Braddock, captain Britain being unwelcome in the UK anymore. Orcas, the human rights organization gaining more traction. Felon, one of the villains, taking the moon of Rocco, formerly known as Mars. Moira, who helped found cocoa is now with. Orcas. We have some Nazi mutant twins that have been breaking into the depths of cocoa to help

Steve:

orcas, multiple sinisters still

Stephen:

running around and things just keep inching closer and closer to our beloved mutants, and they keep winning and. I know it makes for good story, but I'm like, damnit, can't the mutants have a win? I know.

Steve:

Well, they promised devastating did they

Stephen:

deliver? So it was devastating for sure. It was a punch in the gut and a kick to the teeth from Nimrod's entrance. Yes. Whoa.

Steve:

That panel. And I saw it and I knew you were coming up to it'cause you were commanded on the new team. And I was like, I'm gonna watch his face.

Stephen:

Oh. So we're not gonna say, in case you haven't read it. To the last panel of the book where Charles's job is no longer beach. It is no longer beach. Nope. It was one thing after another. Orcas had been planning for each mutant on the island and all the scenarios and all of our mutants, while always vigilant, we're not prepared for this level of precision attack by the humans like they thought out every scenario. And our mutants were not prepared. So, question for you. Yes. After they were able to stop the initial attack, gene was my gene. She was ready to do a full personality wipe of all the humans on the planet to make them not hate mutants. In your opinion, would that have been too far? Or after everything that has been happened to mutant since they came on the scene, is it a forgivable and necessary transgression at this point? I.

Steve:

I would say that it definitely is a transgression Yeah. That I would forgive her for. I mean, characters have done worse than stupider things. Yeah. However, it's not something that your gene would do. No, she,

Stephen:

but if that's what makes Gene, she was very angry. Yeah.

Steve:

But I mean, if I had gene's, powers, I might do that, but that's also why I don't have jean's. Powers.

Stephen:

Yeah. So she was going to telepathically. Take away their

Steve:

hate. Yes. Which would be awesome if like, if, if while she's there, she could just do that for all the minorities and everything and just make the whole world a better place with no hate. I don't see, like,

Stephen:

hate is learned. We know that. Yes. You don't, you're not

Steve:

born hating, so you're, you're just basically helping unprogram what your horrible parents did to you

Stephen:

and the world at large. And talking heads on the news, like, I, I, you know, I see that and I'm like, oh. Yeah, but then I'm also like, well if she can do that, then what is stopping anybody else from taking everybody else's agency? Like it's a double-edged sword. It's definitely a deep discussion. It didn't end up happening because of Moira McTaggart a Moira X. But yeah, it's definitely something to think about and. Mm. So we're coming into what the fall of X is gonna be and here's some things that I am interested in seeing. Obvious, obviously. I mean, there's only up from here. Yeah. It can only get better. Yeah. One would hope so. Jing Great ends. In a very interesting way. So it doesn't look

Steve:

good for Gina at the end of this. It doesn't look, but we also know that she has a series coming out, so, so we know

Stephen:

that yeah, it's gonna go somewhere that isn't where the Hellfire gala ended star fire is now a mole, A mole with orcas in, orcas with, but jean's the only one that knows she's a mole. And while Jean is in the white hot room, Everyone else thinks that Angelic is a traitor, which goes into her character because of her time with the Avengers, all the mutants considered her a cop. Yeah, so because she's never been pro mutant until the last year, I.

Steve:

Yes. And the tables have turned on our little Miss Kate, who would never be able to use the co gates, but now she can. And

Stephen:

she's the only one that can. And what does that mean? I have no idea, but I'm interested to

Steve:

learn. They're also making a hell of a thing about Miss Marvel now being the first ever mutant in human hybrid. Yes. Now,'cause one brand is failing, bring her to

Stephen:

the other one. Well, we all know that when Kamala Khan, Ms. Marvel was created over a decade ago, they originally wanted to make her a mutant and they knew that this was gonna be a popular character and they were really trying to push the, in humans instead of the mutants. So they changed it to make in humans more popular. Now we have seen in the M C U TV show Kamala Khans a mutant. So it's gonna be interesting to see on here. How they handle the mutant in human hybrid. And also does she have a mutant power? Because we know her in beginning and that's a word. Is her inhuman power, does she have a mutant power or

Steve:

do I know what her mutant power is? What? It's the light

Stephen:

disks. Oh, from the show? Yeah. That's smart. I like that. Okay. I think that could be fun to Orca said, You have to no more human or mutants on the planet, or we start killing humans as retribution. Charles sent them all through Coro and Gates. I. We don't know where they went. They didn't go to ar Rocco. Yeah. So where do you think they

Steve:

went? I mean, they're saying that Charles killed them all, so I don't think he did. I don't think he did. But it's possible. Who knows? I doubt that it just like spliced them out of existence. They're probably in some orca prison that I, I think billions of people

Stephen:

now. Orus Prison or some other like pocket reality. Yeah. Maybe that's what Mother Righteous was doing. Yeah. Who knows? Will Xavier learn a lesson from all this? He never does. And we know from the crossover that we had recently with the Avengers and the X-Men. Yeah. And the externals that Storm and Arco have one hour of Nuss power. Do they use it to take takeout orcas or did they keep it in their pocket for some time in the future? I would

Steve:

use it for orcas. But again, I know that's kind of against their whole, like don't kill humans philosophy.

Stephen:

I think at this point we should change that being one of the rules of gco. Yes. But it's

Steve:

gonna be, but if you all think of anything we talked about on this

Stephen:

episode, let us know. Let us know. Anything you would like us to cover. We're always up for suggestions and recommendations like, Let us know something that you enjoyed. You're like, oh, I wanna hear your thoughts on this. We'd love to talk about it.

Steve:

Yeah, you can do that by emailing us at Happy Life pod@gmail.com, or

Stephen:

you can get in touch with us on the socials, whether that is Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter at Happy Life Pod.

Steve:

And until next time, everybody stay happy.