November 20, 2023 • 52 mins
It was casually mentioned on the podcast that Rider has some past trauma associated with cruises, and now it’s finally time to find out why.
We hear the tale of the high seas when a 16-year-old Rider Strong took part in the “Sail with the Stars” cruise, with handfuls of other teen heartthrobs, but it wasn’t quite the enchanted voyage he had hoped for.
But on the other hand, a 14-year-old Danielle was ALSO onboard this Teen Beat cruise ship and had a much different experience joining her ideal “fancy cult.” Dancing with hot guys and a buffet? Sign her up!
These are the stories you can only hear from your very own port of call on Pod Meets World!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Update for our pod meets World listeners, and not just
update for our pod meets World listeners, update for Writer
and Will. I recently read an entry from teenage Danielle's
embarrassing diary, and there was a bit of a mystery
because it was ps I love Landon and Writer and David,
and we didn't know who David was. Leave it to
(00:41):
our eagle eared listeners. Dear dear listeners who know me
better than any of us in on this podcast do apparently,
who very quickly pointed out was David David Letterman. And
I'm here to tell you, yes, indeed, you guys are
absolutely right. The minute I saw it was David David Letterman,
I was like, yes, you're right, and you guys remembered
(01:04):
I carried around a picture of him in my wallet.
It was David Letterman. David is the David in question,
and I wanted you guys enjoyed it so much, and I,
while of course cringing, also enjoyed it so much. I
wanted to read another entry for you, and I thought
that this. I thought that this would be fun.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Just from the same year.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
It's the same. It is the only journal I have,
and it's it's just this is it. So I have
Dear Diary, as you know, today is the sixteenth, blah
blah blah, to explain what that meant was going back
seven days in this journal, I've been writing on the sixteenth,
filling in my diary about really what happened on these days.
(01:49):
So every day I started, Dear Diary, today's the sixteenth,
but I'm going to tell you about the ninth. Dear Diary.
Today's the sixteenth, but I'm going to tell you about
the time.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Oh I see, so you actually sat down and did
it all like in one bread to actively.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Retroactively, but then also saying it three every day. Yeah,
kept it in the present tense, but then got so
casual with it. I just went Dear Diary today, as
you know, today's the sixteenth.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Let it be.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Just write it just no, okay, tonight or last night,
writer and I went to Japanese Food with Angel and Vicki.
Then we wanted to see a movie, so we went
to Universal and bought tickets. We had an hour, so
we got coffee, then decided we didn't want to see
(02:37):
the movie. We returned to the tickets and went to
Disney to see if Jonathan was still there, but he
wasn't so we went home end of night.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
I don't remember this at all. We're at Universal City.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Walk, Universal City Walk. We bought tickets to.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Night, which is something I would never do now, but.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
We used to do it all the time and didn't drink.
There's something also drink.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
It was like it was like getting caffeine was like
a drug at that age.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
And I mean, here, I am out for a night
with you at Japanese food with a couple, and at
the end of this, I just write, I love landon
you know what.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
That might have been my first time having sushi because
I remember the first time having sushi with Angel and Vicki,
So that might have been it, because I remember I.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Spent more time with Angel inca.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
We did what are you talking about?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
You went to Amsterdam with him?
Speaker 4 (03:23):
You were like on vacation, like yeah once for like
four days. We didn't hang out all the time.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Dear Diary, it's still the sixteenth. This is now on
the eleventh. Tonight after the taping, writer, me and Larissa
went to dinner at Carl's Junior. So wait, would this
have been when she was on the show, when she
was on the show.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
So right up to where we are in our rework.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Exactly, Me and Larissa went to dinner at Carl's Junior.
But before that we ran through the sprinklers.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
That sounds like something we would do, sounds like.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Something kids would just go.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Let's just be free. Then it's okay, who cares if
we get well.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
It cares.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Man, just got to do it.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
These are these are or makeup?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
We just go, just go.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Then we drove Larissa home. Writer couldn't believe I hadn't
seen Reality bites yet, so of course not so I
So I called my mom and asked if I could
spend the night at Writer's house. She said on that
laser disc. Wait, she said yeah, yeah. Then we rented
the movie and I slept over. I slept on the
floor and Writer was on the couch. Love ya, Danielle.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Wait, is this my apartment then? Or is this?
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Well? Yes, because because I'm coming up to in a
part where I go, Writer's on his own now, And
then I also say writers moving out and moving to
downtown l A.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
No, so this is before this.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
This is and you're in Seno house.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Okay. I was gonna say, why would you have slept
on the floor as a hardwood floor in my apartment, right,
I don't know, okay, and my mom would have been there.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Your mom would have been there.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah, okay, so it's not like you. And then staying
over at house was oh my god, I love that
I made you watch reality bites.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
And then I wrote the most nineties ever I wrote PS.
I also wrote writer a three page letter, no further detailed.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
What is this letter I got?
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Well, wait, did you get did you deliver said letter?
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Did you get a letter? Did you?
Speaker 1 (05:17):
I mean, I imagine I didn't write I didn't. I
mean I've also a letter.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
I probably still have it because I actually keep all
like I kept all handwritten letters or notes. Oh wow,
I might. I mean I definitely have. I have a
storage unit of just what I call my memory boxes.
And I had huge, so many memory boxes, so there's
a potential that I could go through.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Do you have a storage unit?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Mm hmm. Yeah. I don't keep everything like you, but
I keep anything that I don't.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Have any storage units.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
I don't have you keep everything like you kept scripts
you kept. I only kept like handwritten notes or letters
or things that I wrote, or notebooks.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Or now I'm dying. I doubt that Danielle would have
professed her love for.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
No, no, no, it definitely was. I never knew it
would have just been something about our friendship or something
we talked about, something that, like he said to me
that I felt like I wanted to.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
A stabberom a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Right, Well, here we go, here's here's here's another one, hey, diary,
Today's actually the sixteenth. This goes on for so long
with this. I'll tell you what I did. On the
fifth though. Writer took me out to dinner and then
we went to Angel and Vickie's house. We left at
about eleven PM. Then Writer drove me home. I had
to be home at midnight, but we got to MVE,
(06:33):
which is the initials for where I lived at the time,
at eleven forty five. Instead of going home, we went
to the water tower and we talked until twelve thirty.
Then we went home. I was in deep number one.
I lied, I said, we got lost. I told the truth. Though,
what what what what are you talking about? Weirdo?
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Oh you got in trouble because you lied and then
told the truth. So you did eventually tell the truth.
I guess maybe or maybe we did get lost, but
it was just lost for thirty seconds exactly.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
That's what I think happened. I think we probably got
lost exiting the water tower. Do you remember the water
tower where I used to live, I think so vaguely.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Yeah. It was on the top of the hill.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yeah, at the top there were other.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Houses being built.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Yeah, so it was like a construction site based exactly.
It was like a construction right near a water tower.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
And then I remembers said that, oh my.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
God, ps, I'm going skiing January seventh with writer.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Yeah, we went on. It was a Yeah, it was
with Angel and VICKI.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
We did.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
It was a teen magazine. One of the magazines consered
an event up there.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
We were hanging.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Out all the time, all the time.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
This is when I just got my license then, and
I was just it's crazy the thought of like me
at sixteen driving you around.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Yes, can you imagine just driving around town.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
I never once went to Angel and Vicky's house, by
the way, never run single time. You guys seem to
spend a ton of time with Angel and VICKI.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Yeah, we did. We spent a lot of time. We
went to the Drama Vogue Awards or the Prama Vogel War.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Shiloa that was on the six Yeah, Shallah won the
Drama log Awards.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Was that on the sixteenth?
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Yep, still the sixteenth, almost to our correct date, because
today's the fifteenth, so we're all we're almost caught up.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
It's been the sixteenth or three months.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Anyway. I was supposed to go to Boy Meets World
with Angel and Vicki today, but I didn't. But they
picked me up at one thirty. We went to lunch
and then we went to the mall. Then we went
to an award show, the Drama Vogue Awards that Shiloh won.
We were there forever writer, Angel and I went to
eat at a Chinese food place. Then we watched, then
we watched something. Shiloh won his award. We also heard
(08:35):
stuff that Andrew said like Angel and Vicki are my
least favorite people pour them Andrew. Yeah, anyway, it's just
more boring stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Wow, what a little window into our day to day.
About how long the sixteenth last?
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Yeah, the sixteenth went on.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Nineteen ninety five, was just the sixteenth.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
I also have one that's so sloppy and it goes
sorry if this is jittery or sloppy, but I'm shaking,
shaking violently for some reason, and then I just continue
like it's enormous.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
It was probably because you were with writer for like
fourteen espressos. I'm like, yeah, man, doesn't characters make sense
when you read it really fast?
Speaker 3 (09:13):
It's so good.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
It's like, nah, oh my gosh.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
It also shows how little we all really hung out
back in my now day, because I was doing my
own thing by that time. You're such a different age
sixteen and nineteen. I mean, it's like you would have
been fifteen fifteen nineteen or fifteen and twenty.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
I'm probably still fourteen fourteen, sixteen year and.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
I just turned sixteen. So yeah, yeah, So you were.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Writer December of seventy nine. I'm May of eighty one.
So we are slid a year and a half apart.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
And so we're five years apart essentially. So you're fourteen,
I'm nineteen. We're not hanging.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Out, nothing in common.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Yeah. No, it's amazing, so.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Funny, incredibly anyway, it there's another entry later where I go, oh,
I had a really bad day today. I just wanted
to lay in writer's arms, but of course I couldn't
because we had too much schoolwork or something. It's like
we were probably just regularly cuddling. Yes, that's true, that
we do. I also memories where we were just like
(10:18):
sit and cuddle and then be like, oh, rehearsal right,
they're paying us to not cuddle.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
No, let's watch reality bites again.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
I also say that we watch a movie with Angel
VICKI and you fall asleep in a half an hour.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
That's about right, because I hadn't had my fift cup
of coffee yet.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Exactly I met your coffee anyway. Welcome to Pod Meets World.
I'm Daniel Fishell, I'm right strong, and I'm Wilfredell. Hey,
it's Daniel Fishle right or Strong and Wilfredell. But you
know what's best is Tapanga.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Sean and from Boy Meets World.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
And now Pod Meets World, the podcast where we've been
sitting down weekly to rewatch the show we starred in
as kids, and we've been unpacking well a lot.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
And we've been taking the show on the road with
the Kids Want to Jump Tour where every stop in
cities across the US has been totally different and pretty hilarious,
if I do say so myself, but.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
We know not everyone could join us. So we're happy
to announce that our recent thirtieth anniversary of the show,
Live from the met in Philadelphia, will now be available
to stream no matter where you live.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Our biggest show yet in the hometown of the Matthews,
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Tony Mister Turner Quinn, and Danny Harley McNulty, who makes
a very special surprise visit.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
It was so much fun and now you can experience
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Speaker 1 (11:49):
It will be available on December eleventh at five pm Pacific.
You can learn more about how you can watch at
VEEPS dot Events slash Pod Meets World. December eleventh, your birthday.
Get all the info on streaming the live Pod Meets
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ve e p S Dot Events, slash Pod Meets World now.
(12:15):
So it once very It was very casually dropped into
an episode that Rider has what I guess very seriously,
we could call it a little bit of PTSD revolving
around cruises and and it was revealed that we went
on something called the Celebrity Cruise. We did it.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
No, No, it was Sale with the Stars, Sale.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
With the Stars, right, but it was a celebrity cruise,
but it was called Sale.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
With Celebrity Cruise Lines, which is correct.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Thank you, Celebrity Cruise Line. I know, I don't know
why Will had nothing to do with this.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
But yeah, it was a I think you were too old.
I think the idea was able to get kids to
get their parents to pay to go on a cruise.
Speaker 4 (13:06):
Also, for the record, could have been invited and just
said no, which is also I'm not also a fan
of big ships, so yeah, that's also a possible.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Well, but I mean, a big part of the draw
for us was that they would pay for your family
to go on the cruise. Since you were over eighteen,
they wouldn't have offered to take your parents, right, And
they didn't want that. They didn't want like young adults
going out drinking and gambling on the cruise. They wanted
us like kids to be there to draw families to
come on the crew. I think you were just too
(13:35):
old man, I makes sense, Yeah, old, like I didn't
miss any ancient old man.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Well, yeah, when Writer mentioned it because we have different
memories of the cruise. I have oodles, some might say
googles and oodles of photos from the cruise and absolutely
loved the cruise for reasons we will talk about when
we jump into the episode. But Writer told the story
very briefly about talking with his dad in the car
(14:01):
and crying about how traumatic the cruise was for him,
and we in the middle of the show were like,
put a little mental check mark next to that a
little bit.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Well, I think we ended up cutting it out of
the episode.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Okay, we may have because we need to listeners don't.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Know what we're talking about. Okay, okay, but I like
somehow the cele say what the Stars cruise came up.
I talked about it somewhat briefly, and you guys were like, well,
there's there's a lot more going.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
There's episode there. Let's let's save that for an episode.
So here we are, Writer, why don't you do a
quick explanation about Sale with the Stars and and your situation.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Okay, So the idea behind Sale with the Stars was
to raise money for a cause. So we were contacted.
I did it two years in a row. So I
did when I went with you, Danielle, which was truly
the traumatic year for me. That was my second time, okay,
the first time. So we just got contacted by this
(14:59):
organization called Sale with the Stars and they they would
invite celebrities, you know, teen celebrities, young celebrities and their
families and they'd say, come on this cruise. You have
an all expense paid cruise. And what we will then
do is have other people who we will promote the
fact that you're on this cruise ship, and not the
(15:21):
entire cruise ship, but a segment of the population of
the cruise ship will be paying customers who are fans
of yours, people who have paid to spend time with you,
spend time with you, which, you know, the in theory
seemed like, oh, we get to go on a cruise
to you know, the Caribbean or somewhere South America the Caribbean.
(15:42):
It was both of those at different times, so or
maybe at the same time. I don't remember. It all
kind of as a blur. But so the benefit for
like me and my family is we got to go
on a cruise for free. The problem is you're stuck
on a boat with nowhere to go.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
And the whole you're working.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
The whole time. You are basically on as a paid
public appearance or a non paid I mean, you get
a free trip, but you're what people have paid for
is access to you. And you have your cabin, like
your little cabin, and you know, I mean, I'm sure
we had nice cabins relative to whatever, but they weren't big.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
They was they were very small.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
They were tiny. There was your cabin, and outside of that,
everyone could just walk up to you. And these people
had paid thousands of dollars for their families to go
on this cruise, so they felt that they had a
right to talk to you, get to know you, take
a photo with you, dance with you, go to your
dinner table and talk. And everywhere you went on this
(16:43):
cruise ship. You were an object of you know, companionship
for these people. And it was very very disconcerting for
me and very uncomfortable. And I think the first cruise
was manage and I did not want to do it again.
(17:04):
I got roped into doing the second year. I can
get into why.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
But yes, let's please, this is the time, writer, this
is the time.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
So I really did not want to go back, and
I I told my parents as much, and then my
mom informed me that they were not only going to
pay for my parents to go on the cruise, but
we could also bring my grandparents, who at that point
were in their sixties I guess maybe seventies, and it
was their lifelong dream to go on a cruise. And
(17:36):
so my mom said, you know, do you really want
to you know.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Do you really want to kill parents hard?
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Or do you want to give it? And it's it
is true. I think there's a generational thing here that, like,
you know, for my grandparents generation, getting going on a
cruise was just the ultimate luxury. I mean, that's not
the greatest. The greatest that is being a rich person, right,
And these are people that grew up with nothing. Both
my grandparents were one of eight, eight siblings with very
very very no no money, no money. Yeah, and they
(18:07):
had never been on I don't think they'd ever been
on a boat before, let alone you know, a luxury
cruise line. So I agreed against uh, you know, my
better judgment, and my caveat was, I'm I'm gonna do this,
but I have to I can. I'm going to bring
a friend. And so my parents let me bring a friend,
which ended up backfiring because when we got into the cruise,
(18:32):
the culture was even crazier than the first year, in
that the second cruise they had invited a lot more celebrities.
It was now Danielle Fischer, Jonathan Taylor, Thomas, I think
Jody Sweeten was.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
It was very much like the ten Tomorrow Tomorrow, and.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
That year they'd also up to the game of the
sale with the Stars cruise by inviting an entire DJ
party dance.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Crow Yeah, nice and the crushes I had on those
way too old of men.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Because they were like twenty They were like the people
some of them were from, like Mickey Mouse Club. They
were like professional performers and dancers. It was sort of
like I've since met people that do this for a
living at like you know, bar bought Mitzvahs. They'll hire
people to like sort of amp the crowd up and
keep the kids entertained to be hypole So there was
(19:29):
a team of amazing people, super sweet, super nice. I
have only fond memories of them as individuals, but what
they did, what they did for a living, was my nightmare,
right and it was.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
This writer had to dance on the dugout with the
Philly fanatical every every day and every moment of his
life for five or seven days.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
So the first year it was like, you know, when
they introduced us to everybody, it was like, we have
a big gathering and one of the million bars or
you know clubs in the place, and they'd be like,
and let's bring to stage from boy Me's World Riders Strong,
and I'd come out and like wave and high and
then that was it. Second year, it was.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Coming up, coming, up, coming up, let's do this, let's
do this, let's do this.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
It's and then I come out and everybody's dance and
they're all dancing with.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Me and making the dance on stage and it's music done.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
And I remember looking at Jonathan Taylor Thomas, who was
I think, you know, probably about as miserable to dance
he was, but I think probably more self assured and
a little more confident about like how he could just
say no to these things or just like walk out
and not dance and wave.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
It was awful and I and it was like that.
Every night there was some gathering where we would have
to dance in front of all the teenagers and other
kids who like to see us dance and maybe try
and sing or tell a funny story or like they
just it was a constant show that they were thrusting
us front and center, which is okay, you know, like
(21:14):
we should. I mean, I'm an actor. I guess I
should have been okay with that, but I really really wasn't.
But that wasn't really the worst. But that was the
most uncomfortable part to have to be on stage dancing,
And you know, it was more the complete lack of
privacy and the sense of I mean, I was just
(21:35):
going through a lot too. I was fifteen years old.
I did not want to be famous.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Who was the friend you brought with you?
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Yeah, that was Aaron who who thankfully is still one
of my best friends, one of my closest friends. So
it was Aaron, who you may remember I talked about
when we did the Beard episode. She's from Chicago, so
she grew up with Ben and she came to visit
Ben and we became friends, and then we became pen pals,
and we'd stayed in touch and we would She came
and stay mad like three weeks at my house in Sebastapool.
(22:02):
I went and spent time with her in Chicago, so
we would like trade summers at each other's houses. So
this was by now, this would have been the third
or fourth summer of being friends, and I thought, who
better to come with me than, you know, to ground
me and to you know, make me feel comfortable like
all this craziness. Unfortunately, Aaron was a fifteen year old
(22:23):
girl who did like to dance. Man was really into
Andrew Keegan, who was also on the cruise, right, and
Andrew Keagan's brother, Casey, who was on the cruise.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
And so Aaron.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Wanted to go be a part of the the Sale
of the Stars.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Hell yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
She was like, all right, right, are you really going
to sit in the room and put counting Crows on
headphones and cry I'm gonna go out dancing?
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Yeah? Totally fine, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Really healthy. Not what I needed out of a friend
at that moment. Aaron and I have spent many years
talking about this. We have come to terms, but it
was really.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Feels like, maybe talking about this for many years is
too much time to have focused on this.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Yeah oh yeah, but you know, you know, have you
met writer?
Speaker 1 (23:07):
We talk about stuff for years.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
We talk about my feelings.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
We talk about feelings for years. That's how it is.
I don't talk about anything. Let me start crying and
talks about his feelings.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Arin and I did not talk about this subject for you, okay, but.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
It has come up over the years. Let me put
it right, Okay, we have come to terms with how
you know our friendship is, and what our friendship looks
like now, and what we expect and don't expect from
each other. And of course, like it was pretty unfair
of me to put entire adolescent you know, self loathing
and celebrity hating onto this poor friend.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Well, to be fair, you you did mention that there
was a big difference between the first year and the
second year, and so you may not have even realized
how much worse it was going to be this year,
and what you were really expecting from bringing a friend,
like I'm bringing somebody I need to because you may
have then expressed that, like, hey, would you like to
go on this crew with us? Because for me, it's
(24:03):
very difficult and I want somebody who's there with me
when so that I can remove myself from these situations.
And then she could have known that that was her expectation,
but it was a little bit articulated that yes.
Speaker 4 (24:14):
It's also at the end of the day, probably what
you needed was not a friend. You probably needed another
actor who was going through the same thing, who would
have just sat in the room with you and played
magic the gathering as you guys had to deal with,
commiserate of all the stuff you had to do.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
That probably, at the end of the day would have
been what you what you needed.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
What I needed is somebody who didn't care about any
of that, right, who didn't expect me to be right
or strong in capital you know in air quotes, to
be and that I could unwind, and that we could
sort of say this is crazy, this is insanity. But
we have our friendship and I love you for who
you are, writer, and we don't You don't need to
be doing that. The fact that you're a horrible dnswer
(24:52):
and that you don't like.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
You are not but you feel like you are.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
The fact that you don't like this scene is okay.
But you were not a bad person not liking this,
because what I got from the sale with the Stars
organization was a lot of guilt, a lot.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Of that you weren't participating, that.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
I wasn't participating, that I showed really wait seriously, like
the company itself was like, you're not participating enough. It's charity,
so I'm not doing my job for charity. Will Like
that was the problem, is like there was this sense
that that I was letting the you know whatever. It
was a different cause every year, but and I can't remember,
but let's say it's you know, child.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Diabetes, right, I am.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
I am not owning up to my part of the
deal by not, you know, helping promote this cruise. Of course,
what I found out years later or after the fact,
was that actually none of the money that people paid
to go on the cruise went towards the cause. That
in fact, there was only one event that went towards
the cause. Yeah, they did as silent auction. We didn't
(25:48):
know that, right, but we didn't know that till after
the fact. But you know, in terms of keeping up
their brand from year to year, access to celebrities, videos
and photos of like young people getting to dance with
their favorite celebrity from teen b that is how they
made their money. That is how they kept their business going.
And yes, there was money going to the cause, So
(26:08):
I'm not here to like criticize them. Yeah, you know,
as like a corrupt organization, like an expose. It's no,
because I don't think they were ever, you know, I
just didn't know. Like you're just told as a kid,
like this is for a good cause and you will
get a free cruise out of it, and everything about
is about the cause. In retrospect, I'm not sure everything
(26:28):
was about the cause, you know.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Like well, Also, to be fair, it is a little
disingenuous to present the idea to a kid that you're
going to get a free cruise, because the truth is
you're going to work from the moment you step out
of your room until the time you go back into
your room at night. You are working for this cruise.
(26:51):
Because regardless of whether or not you are an extrovert
or an introvert, or you enjoy people or you don't
enjoy people, when you're famous and you have interactions with
people you're on you can't really be your true authentic self,
even if you just enjoy casually having conversation, but you
have to make sure they walk away from you having
(27:12):
had a good experience. And so you can't just be like, hey,
I don't really feel like talking right now, or I
don't want to talk about what you are talking about.
You you're in situations constantly where it is work and
the idea that they put your it's basically, your family
gets a free cruise. You work for that cruise every
(27:34):
second you're on it.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
And the the partly because I was a kid, well
mostly maybe because I was a kid or a teenager,
understanding those boundaries and understanding how to set those boundaries
is very hard for me. And I remember the first
cruise showing up and it was like, you know, you're
all getting on the cruise together, so you're like with
(27:56):
the people that are paying to go and they're already
talking to you, and I'm like who, Because there's also
people on the ship who did not pay to come
on the Sale with the Stars crew. So there's just
like kids like would talk to me, and I talked
to them, and then like one of the first days,
they sat us down in the chair and said, okay,
it's your signing time. It's like, what do you mean?
And then everybody that paid to come on the Sale
(28:17):
with the Stars crew lines up and gets a signature
on a photograph with us, and I remember sitting there
being like, oh, we're we're signing hundreds and hundreds of
autographs and meet it and people would come up who
I had talked to the day before, and I'd be like, oh, oh,
we're not like that conversation wasn't like a friendship conversation.
That was you because you paid for it, and now
(28:38):
you just want my autograph, you know, And it was
just like this awkward like which is fine, you know, like, yeah,
people pay for us our autograph and to meet us
at conventions.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
I totally get that.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
Relationship now as an adult, but as a kid, it
was very jarring to be like, well, I guess I
thought you liked me because we just met on that you.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Talked about being exactly, scarves and scarves or whatever, your pocket.
Speaker 4 (29:03):
Leather bound journals and cool pens August and everything.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
After we talked about all of this.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Yeah, it was very disorienting for me.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
And my favorite.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Pizza toppings exactly, he said, pineapple.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
They wanted to throw them off the boat.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
No, it is no, but it's also it's there's something.
It's so sad is.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
The wrong word. It's too melodramatic.
Speaker 4 (29:23):
But it sucks that it would because when you do
things for charity and you're obviously a very generous person
with your time when it comes to events, your community,
things like that.
Speaker 3 (29:33):
It's one of the things you're known for.
Speaker 4 (29:34):
The idea to then come at you where it's like
you're not doing enough for charity when you're a kid.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Yeah, it's just that's not cool. I mean, that's not
cool at all. So, yeah, that's that's no good.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Well, there's just there was this expectation. I mean there
was no contract, right, so there was just this expectation
that like, we were supposed to show up and dance,
like literally dance in front of everybody every night. And
if I didn't show up, which I increasingly as a
show went on, or as this cruise went on, I didn't,
I would just run away or you try, and.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
You figure from the other perspective, there are people who
are like, well, I paid seven thousand dollars for my
family to go on this cruise because my daughter loves
Right or Strong. So I paid seven thousand dollars for
my daughter to dance with Right or Strong for five
nights and writer has not been here, So you get
you imagine the other side of it is they're hearing
(30:21):
from people whose families are saying, Hey, what's going on here?
Where's writer? Now? I just want to pose the opposite experience.
And if you're young Danielle Fischell, who will talk to
anybody or anything, will dance for as long as you want.
(30:42):
You put me on a cruise ship with hot twenty
year olds who I, at the age of fourteen or
fifteen think are so stinking cute, just can't get enough of.
I was in hog heaven. This was the greatest. This
was one of the greatest things that had ever happened
to me. My whole family's there. I love my family.
(31:03):
We're on a we're on a cruise together. The food's delicious,
it's NonStop, it's free flowing. There's fantastic virgin Pina coladas
everywhere you turn. You've got your on and off boyfriend
Jonathan Taylor Thomas there with you. You've got almost soon
to be crush right or strong there with you. Who
I was always like, why is he so antisocial? What
(31:24):
is this problem? I just get him on a cruise,
it'll be fine. I just ever know why it is
that he keeps hiding out in his room. It's so
fun and I great music. I was dancing I have
my friends. JODI's there with me. I think Christine Laken
was there. I was Angel, Angel and Vicky.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Still not sure what's going to the episode.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
We're going to get into that money.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
They got a free cruise to just really.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
Because they brought They probably brought all the talent the same.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Way that we were the reason we knew of the
crew exactly.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
Roller lads, and so they brought all the talent. And
I know you well enough now, Danielle to know that
they had you at free food. Oh yeah, that was
it for sure. The boys and everything else is just
the bonus to the buffet.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
They're like, guess what, it's twenty four hours. You eat
anything you want, whenever you whenever you want, you could
order it to your room. It was it was fully
defending your life. And I was so, I mean, it
was great. We have it's actually where we have the
picture of the great picture I've talked about before of
(32:31):
my mom sitting on your dad's lap and it looks
like I don't know what our parents were doing, but
they pink flamingo. They were having the time of their life.
And you know, there was also like formal night. I
think there were two formal nights.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
There was like Western night, there.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Was yeah, Western night, there was there was hippy night,
Hippie night. I have a great picture rider with round
dark sunglasses and a blue head like a handkerchief on
his head that he and he, Oh my gosh, so cute. Listen.
It was the time of my life. I absolutely loved it.
(33:08):
I would go on. I mean, now I'm a different person.
Speaker 4 (33:12):
I right, But here's what I would say. What writer
hated it and needs to try it as an adult. Now,
you loved it, so you should try it as an
adult to see if it would be the same.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
And I've never been on one.
Speaker 4 (33:24):
Right, So does Pod meets World hit the hit the
open seas?
Speaker 1 (33:30):
I mean, I don't know. I don't know what it
would take in order for writer to do it. I
don't think. I don't think. I don't know if there
is anything.
Speaker 4 (33:36):
I think it would take the the the intuitive side
of him to say I need to try this again
as an adult.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
Well, it is obviously the idea of cruising, but without
the need for Writer to be social with people who've
paid for his time, right, he could he could just
be social with us when he feels like it, which,
as we saw in Vegas, sometimes he doesn't feel like it.
We write, Will and I both looked at each other.
There was one morning in Vegas where we came down
(34:03):
and Writer was just really in a grumpy mood, and
we were like, okay, well anyway, we just we'll see
you later. And then Red walked away and Will and
I were like, can we do something to offend him?
And I was like, maybe he's angry. I don't know,
I don't know what it is. But then the next
time we saw you ever.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Yeah, here you know the real like the problem with
the cruise back then it was so awful. It's like
it's a thing of once once I you know, once
I reject the dancing and the good times and all that,
I also still want to be accepted by it, do you.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (34:41):
So like the self loathing becomes the cycle of like
you know, and that's why where like when Aaron was like, well, right,
if you're gonna be miserable, I'm gonna go dancing, which
totally makes sense, right, only makes me feel worse because
then it's like, oh, I'm I've created this situation, Like
there is a world in which you just let go
and enjoy yourself, stop putting the pressure on the situation
(35:02):
and knowing that is just an awful cycle, you know
that I couldn't you know, get out of because then
I'm feeling bad that like I've been, you know, that
I've rejected and then being rejected by the people I've rejected.
It was just it was not.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Especially because it was before the age of social media
and cell phones, so you could actually just really let
go and have a good time and it's just gonna
live on the boat. What happened on the sale with
the Stars crews stays on the stairs with the Stars crew.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
I mean, here's what I ended up doing. I ended
up I did end up finding friends. Like there was
a couple of girls. I don't know if they were
part of the sale with the studart of Stars. I
don't think they were. I think they were just people
on the boat that I became friends with, and you know,
we would hang out and walk around and you know,
go look at the water and do the.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
You know, just not deep thoughts.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
Yeah, keep thoughts, talk about poetry, listen to music. Yeah,
you'll find them everywhere.
Speaker 4 (35:56):
Okay, So I got that you spent most of your
time kind of in your room by yourself.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
I get it. Looking for the quiet everything, Danielle.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
What are the juicy stories you got? Spill some of
the tea of what actually happened.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
Oh, I don't, I don't know. I was, you know,
fourteen or fifteen years old.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
I met.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
It was completely innocent. I just mean it was just
the most fun I've ever had in my life. It
was just a big groupangs, just you know, sitting around
talking with your friends, finding quiet moments to like share
private stories that you that you have to like look
around and be like, well, I don't want a fan
to overhear this, but and you know, sharing those moments
and then just dancing. I mean, nothing salacious. I had
(36:37):
a very you know, I wasn't allowed to watch nine
O two one oh so yeah, right, it just pretty much.
Speaker 4 (36:42):
I feel like I feel like you think if you
could watch nine oh two and oh, your life would
have gone in the leather jacket wearing kind of way.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
It's pretty I do. I don't.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
I didn't even girl, I might have.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
Been I would have known what it meant to be fast.
I didn't even know what it me messed. I little
know shirt on. It was just like there was I
knew there was an alternative life out out there, but
I had no idea.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
Whether it's Beverly Hills apparently something. I believe Shiloh is
the person to ask for those kinds of stories that
you're looking for.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
A will probably there. Ye course, I picture of the
girl Shiloh liked on that cruise, who I think is
also the girl maybe Writer may have been friends with.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
Non't know who you're talking about, Okay, tw.
Speaker 1 (37:22):
Yeah, twow, you really knew immediately.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
That was who Shiloh hung out with a bunch of
the whole time. Yeah, but Shiloh also had his girlfriend there,
what Emily? Yeah, Shiloh brought his girlfriend Emily. That that's funny.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Second year, I've got so many pictures from this cruise,
you guys, we're going to share them with you. I'll
get them all cleared with Writer because I know.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
Yeah, I probably you could drink if you were in
the later National waters once you were eighteen, right, So really,
and I think Shiloh was eighteen or maybe I don't know,
So he was having a very different experience, I'm sure,
having a great time and probably just being totally an
adult in gambling and drinking and writing and dancing and
(38:04):
having fun. And yeah, I'm sure there was some some
drama and whatnot, but I I was just.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
Not not well, Yeah, you have to be on the
whole time.
Speaker 4 (38:13):
And it's like, you know, when I did my first
convention ever, somebody told me, they said, imagine throwing a
party for a thousand people, a thousand strangers that you
have to welcome in your home every second you're there.
Speaker 3 (38:23):
And that's what it's like.
Speaker 4 (38:24):
I mean, because you want the first person you meet
and the last person you meet to have the same experience.
So you are you'res like Daniel said, you're you're you're
kind of on the whole time.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
You want to make sure people are enjoying themselves.
Speaker 4 (38:34):
And then you've got the added bonus of it's for charity.
Speaker 3 (38:37):
And then they're saying you're not yet.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
Oh well, so the first the first year, the silent
auction what we did, or it wasn't a silent auction.
They like actually had people bidding live.
Speaker 1 (38:49):
And making writer is from making out with writer, That's
what they said.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
I think they did dinner with us or sometime.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
We said, Yeah. One of them was for like dinner
at our table.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
Yeah, I want to know what, Danielle, what you would have.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
So what we auctioned off. What we auctioned off, which
went insane, was we my parents were like, oh, well,
let's do a collection of all the movies we made
as kids, all those like The Great Toy Caper, Horrible
Haze Strikes Again, we you know, all these like Superhero, Cowboy,
Mystery whatever, we.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
Had, the Robot one.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
We compiled them all into a video collection and offered
them at the auction and the people went crazy, and
so it sold I don't remember how much, but it
was the most expensive object that the that the cruises
that had ever had, and like, I think that's why
they wanted those back. The next year is to do
it again. And the next year did not go as high.
But that first year, you know, when we we played
(39:48):
a clip of it and we said here's what it is,
the bidding went insane and people were just and I
remember this weird. You know, it was just we're.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
Going to just give you all your childhood memories. For me.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
Well, it was so weird because it was like, on
one hand, you're like, oh, this is great that it's
making money for charity and that the people are beating
on it. The other hand, this is something very personal
and it's my family, and it's kind of ridiculous. These
are like our little movies that we made us as kids,
and it's infantile, it's ours, and I don't know if
(40:21):
I want it to be worth I don't know, you know.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
It's a double field. I don't want to share it
or I want to share it.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
Maybe, And also I hope it goes for a lot
of money. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
It's such a charitable. Part of me really wants this
to be worth a lot, and the other part of
me goes, why should you care about this garbage? It's
for me to care about, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
And it's also like, yeah, we didn't make these for
any other reason than for our family to have fun.
And they're also very personal in private. So I don't know,
you know, like and I still feel like all of
those feelings would go into it if we tried to
do this now. Not to mention my issues with cruising
in general, a crew a cruise in general, and those.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
Of your issues with a cruise in general, well that's where.
Speaker 2 (41:04):
You just get into like excess and consumerism, okay, and colonialism, Like,
I am not comfortable with the scale at which cruise
ships operate and the inequalities that you're confronted with. They are.
It is astounding. It is very uncomfortable for me. Uh
And I don't know if that I could be comfortable
(41:25):
with that even now, you know, like I just couldn't.
Speaker 1 (41:28):
I mean, the interesting thing is that now you hear
a lot of stories of people who decide to spend
their retirement on cruise ships because truthfully, it is now
cheaper cheaper to live on a cruise ship and go
from cruise to cruise, yeah, than it is to plan
for living inland on land for your retirement.
Speaker 3 (41:49):
It's crazy.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
Yeah, that's I don't think that's great.
Speaker 4 (41:52):
Yeah, Frankly, I'm not a I'm not a huge I
like boats, smaller boats that I can drive.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
You like big big planes and small small right. Isn't
that bizarre?
Speaker 2 (42:02):
But it's true.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
Yeah, the big cruise ship.
Speaker 4 (42:05):
I've never wanted to go on one. I've never attempted
to go on one. I'm not sure how I would
feel about being on one. So I'm joking when I say,
like I love the I might hate it. I might
absolutely hate it.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
I have no idea you might also get sea sick.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
You don't know, that's absolutely possible.
Speaker 2 (42:22):
My feeling is you would love it.
Speaker 1 (42:23):
Yeah, I think I don't know, because again I don't.
Speaker 4 (42:25):
To me, they're like, it's like like fancy hotels, right,
but I don't like Vegas at all, and it seems
like it's like Vegas on the water, which to me
would be I.
Speaker 1 (42:34):
Would not compare a cruise to a fancy hotel. I
also love a fancy hotel. And yet to me, the
worst part of the cruise is the room.
Speaker 2 (42:44):
The room is sure, the room, but in terms of
like the pamp rain and the indulgence and you know,
I mean I like service industry at your like people
serving you and taking care of you. It's like when
you go to a.
Speaker 3 (42:57):
I'm not a huge fan of that, Like I go
once a year if.
Speaker 2 (43:02):
A hotel pool, you know, like that sort of level
of indulgence and like people just waiting on you hand
and foot and getting whatever you want delivered at whatever time.
Speaker 1 (43:13):
That level, for me, I think of a cruise a
little like being a part of a fancy cult. I
love the idea of being a part of a fancy cult.
I want you to tell me every day, here you go, Danielle,
what step outside your room, make a left. You'll have
endless food options. And then immediately after, here are the
(43:35):
activities of the day that you get to choose from.
You can bowl, you can go down a water slide,
you could dance, you could go to the casino, you
could play bingo, and there seems like there's an endless
array of things to choose from. But all I have
to do is pick which one I want to do.
And if I feel like I made the wrong choice tomorrow,
just make a different choice. I want to be told
what to do, and but also shave your head and
(43:59):
where's the cal They know you what you have to do,
but you get a little bit of freedom within it.
I love that idea. I love that idea. You're trapped.
Here's seventy five things. Here's your freedom. What do you
want to do right now?
Speaker 3 (44:13):
It's the illusion of freedom, the illusion.
Speaker 1 (44:15):
Of freedom where I'm trapped. I want the comfort of
trapped with the freedom of small choice and I want
to eat.
Speaker 3 (44:25):
That's perfect.
Speaker 1 (44:26):
Can we start this cult? Please? I'm that it's so great,
it's so so great, and that's my idea fun and
I I love it.
Speaker 3 (44:35):
We have to come up with a good name. That's
one word for it, like lumineering to come up. We'll
figure out illuminear. Yes, we'll figure it out.
Speaker 4 (44:41):
Going on a cruise, it's a cruise, it just seems
very crowded to me. I'm not a fan of that
many people either. That's my other problem. It seems like
it's packed. I don't like that. So yeah, I don't know,
i'd feel very claustrophobic.
Speaker 3 (44:54):
I think.
Speaker 2 (45:06):
I highly recommend that our listeners read David Foster Wallace's
seminal essay. It's called a supposedly fun Thing I'll Never
Do Again, which it's in the collection. It's originally it
was published in Harper's. I had you guys read it.
I think you read it.
Speaker 1 (45:20):
I read Yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:21):
I think that's a very clear like. I mean, he
was obviously a depressed person and he is writing from
a point of view, you know.
Speaker 1 (45:30):
But when I read that.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
Essay years later, a couple of years later, I felt seen.
I felt like this was my cruise experience. This is
my problems with cruise in general, and the inequalities of
you know, class and just the level of indulgence and
like the performative happiness that a cruse sort of puts
you in a position to sort of to feel to activate.
(45:56):
I'm so uncomfortable with that level of attention to my
well being and you like, yeah.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
I will say. The one area that really spoke to
me in that essay was where he talks about how
when he just needed to get his zinc oxide from
his suitcase and all the suitcases were in one particular spot.
Right away, I had ajeda about the idea that I'm
not going to get my own suitcase from the carousel
that someone that you get to just walk off the
plane and go to the cruise ship and they collect
(46:24):
your bags. No, thank you, I will collect my bag
and I will take it myself. So I really I
felt spoken to there for sure. Where then he wants
to get his sunscreen and the bag is not in
his room yet, so he just goes to get the bag,
and then he realizes the bellman is actually going to
get in trouble. He's like, no, I'll take your bag,
let me take it. I'll take it right now. He's
(46:44):
like dropping all the rest of the luggage, and you know,
David Foster Wallis doesn't understand this obsessive need to help
him with his bag, and he realizes, oh, you're going
to get in trouble because I am not supposed to
be put out at all by taking care of my
own bag. I cannot stand that. I don't like that
feeling anywhere. So I definitely don't like that idea.
Speaker 2 (47:04):
But I also love how he talks about how, like,
you know, so much of the cruise is geared towards
indulging this infantile state right where you're just you're just
a consumer who just eats whatever you want, yeah, bowl
whenever you want, you swim and whatever wherever you want,
you do whatever, and there's always there with somebody with
a fresh towel and a fresh meal and a fresh drink.
(47:26):
And we talk about he talks about how within you know,
that's it's the the fallacy there is that you would
ever be satisfied. And so he talks about how within
two or three days, what originally made him very uncomfortable,
suddenly he's just wanting more. And now it's like and
it's true, it's a bottomless pit that little like desiring
infantile state doesn't end. So what you're actually doing is
(47:49):
just creating this. Like you think you're going to be
more relaxed by getting whatever you want, but the truth
this is only going to increase that you need it
more now, quicker, faster, more, and it's like it's never
going to end that of Like, so I'm not a
big fan of indulging that side of my or or
of humanity in general. Like, no, thanks, don't.
Speaker 4 (48:08):
I think there is something to be said though, for
occasionally doing it in a very finite, controlled space. And
you could argue that, Okay, so for three days a year,
I let in, you know, I I feed into that temptation.
I feed into that side of myself. That's the only
time I allow myself to do it. I do it
with three friends. We get these little cabins. We drink
(48:28):
too much, we eat too much, we bowl too much,
we do we go in the pools, and then we
live our lives the rest of the you know, three
hundred and sixty two days a year. So I mean,
I think you could also argue that it is the
perfect way to do that. That if you're gonna live
on a cruise ship, of course not. But if you're
gonna do three.
Speaker 3 (48:44):
Days a year, five days a year, that's what you like.
Speaker 4 (48:47):
I mean if people do that in Vegas, people do that,
It's like I don't get that either.
Speaker 2 (48:51):
But right, but is you know, I think that there
are bigger questions when you're talking about the scale at
which it's sure it's at when when you have how
many cruise ships operating on this level, Americans expect to
be able to get it for relatively cheap considering how
much you're going to get, So you know that is
this a fair system? Is this good for the world?
Is it good for the environment? Is this good for
(49:13):
the economics of smaller countries? Is it good for the
economics of individuals? Uh?
Speaker 1 (49:18):
Sure, I would say no.
Speaker 2 (49:19):
I mean I would say that the very the very
scale of this consumerism is is exploitative. I mean, it's
a distortion of power that you know, it has a
lot of ugly consequences under the surface. So I mean,
you know, yeah nowadays, I mean again, yeah, but when
you all have we all have these in our pockets,
and these absolutely destroy the world, absolutely. But the cruise
is really where the blindfolds can come off, you know,
(49:41):
because because we you know, when you when you're an American,
you can say we buy our tennis shoes and our iPhones,
and we can say, yeah, we kind of know they're
produced in a less than ideal circumstance. But you don't
come face to face with that inequality. You're not like
literally dining on steak while watching somebody stitch your nikes.
But when you're on a cruise ship, you do come
face to face with inequality on a level that is
(50:02):
very uncomfortable. You know, you pull into port and like
I remember, we've pulled into port and like people, they
would the sea of humanity that would be coming to
sell you goods to try and get your money, and
you know, the sort of naked inequality in that exchange
was very uncomfortable for me as a kid, and I
would I would still be very uncomfortable with that as
(50:23):
an adult, you know. And I remember watching because people
would they would pull their boats up, like we'd pull
up to Jamaica or somewhere, and and they pull these
boats up and people on the boat would be throwing
money off coins for these people to dive for, you
know what I mean. There's not a better metaphor of
like what what cruise culture is like you know, and
(50:44):
how it relates to the locals of you know, these
places in these countries and you know, like, yeah, on
this cruise I went to you know, on these cruises,
I went to Jamaica, I went to these islands, And
have I actually been to these places? Like I would say, No,
I would.
Speaker 1 (50:57):
I thought the exact same way because I was on
the Jamaica one. I also went to jim And yet
I don't. I don't feel like I've been to Jamaica.
Speaker 4 (51:02):
No.
Speaker 2 (51:02):
No, I'm one of my best friends grew up in
Saint Thomas and I I don't tell him I've ever
been to say I know, I went to Saint Thomas
and what No, I haven't been to Saint Thomas because
that's an embarrassing when I think about how he actually
lived there and went to school there, knew people, had community, friends,
family like I don't have. I would have no relationship
to the Saint Thomas that he lives.
Speaker 4 (51:22):
It's like it's like you're saying you've been to a
country because you've stopped there at the airport right.
Speaker 3 (51:26):
Well, it's like, yeah, oh, I've been to Germany.
Speaker 4 (51:28):
Now you're at the airport hour right exactly so you've
never actually you didn't experience any of it.
Speaker 3 (51:32):
No, I mean, I guess I do. I certainly understand that.
Speaker 1 (51:35):
Yeah, well you also got to dance with hot guys,
so that's that was a plus for me. Thank you
all for joining us for this episode of Pod Meets World.
As always, you can follow us on Instagram, pod Meets
World Show at gmail dot com. You can send us
your emails pod meets World Show at gmail dot com,
and we have merch, but don't buy it. Don't buy the.
Speaker 3 (51:58):
Merch because of the inequalities.
Speaker 1 (52:03):
Podmeetsworldshow dot com writer send us out.
Speaker 2 (52:07):
We love you all, pod dismissed. Pod Meets World is
an iHeart podcast producer hosted by Danielle Fischel, Wilfridell and
Ryder Strong. Executive producers Jensen Karp and Amy Sugarman. Executive
in charge of production, Danielle Romo, producer and editor, Tara Sudbach, producer,
Mattie Moore, engineer and Boy meets World superman Easton Allen.
Our theme song is by Kyle Morton of Typhoon. Follow
(52:29):
us on Instagram at podmets World Show or email us
at Podmeets World Show at gmail dot com,
Update for our pod meets World listeners, and not just
update for our pod meets World listeners, update for Writer
and Will. I recently read an entry from teenage Danielle's
embarrassing diary, and there was a bit of a mystery
because it was ps I love Landon and Writer and David,
and we didn't know who David was. Leave it to
(00:41):
our eagle eared listeners. Dear dear listeners who know me
better than any of us in on this podcast do apparently,
who very quickly pointed out was David David Letterman. And
I'm here to tell you, yes, indeed, you guys are
absolutely right. The minute I saw it was David David Letterman,
I was like, yes, you're right, and you guys remembered
(01:04):
I carried around a picture of him in my wallet.
It was David Letterman. David is the David in question,
and I wanted you guys enjoyed it so much, and I,
while of course cringing, also enjoyed it so much. I
wanted to read another entry for you, and I thought
that this. I thought that this would be fun.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Just from the same year.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
It's the same. It is the only journal I have,
and it's it's just this is it. So I have
Dear Diary, as you know, today is the sixteenth, blah
blah blah, to explain what that meant was going back
seven days in this journal, I've been writing on the sixteenth,
filling in my diary about really what happened on these days.
(01:49):
So every day I started, Dear Diary, today's the sixteenth,
but I'm going to tell you about the ninth. Dear Diary.
Today's the sixteenth, but I'm going to tell you about
the time.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Oh I see, so you actually sat down and did
it all like in one bread to actively.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Retroactively, but then also saying it three every day. Yeah,
kept it in the present tense, but then got so
casual with it. I just went Dear Diary today, as
you know, today's the sixteenth.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Let it be.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Just write it just no, okay, tonight or last night,
writer and I went to Japanese Food with Angel and Vicki.
Then we wanted to see a movie, so we went
to Universal and bought tickets. We had an hour, so
we got coffee, then decided we didn't want to see
(02:37):
the movie. We returned to the tickets and went to
Disney to see if Jonathan was still there, but he
wasn't so we went home end of night.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
I don't remember this at all. We're at Universal City.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Walk, Universal City Walk. We bought tickets to.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Night, which is something I would never do now, but.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
We used to do it all the time and didn't drink.
There's something also drink.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
It was like it was like getting caffeine was like
a drug at that age.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
And I mean, here, I am out for a night
with you at Japanese food with a couple, and at
the end of this, I just write, I love landon
you know what.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
That might have been my first time having sushi because
I remember the first time having sushi with Angel and Vicki,
So that might have been it, because I remember I.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Spent more time with Angel inca.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
We did what are you talking about?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
You went to Amsterdam with him?
Speaker 4 (03:23):
You were like on vacation, like yeah once for like
four days. We didn't hang out all the time.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Dear Diary, it's still the sixteenth. This is now on
the eleventh. Tonight after the taping, writer, me and Larissa
went to dinner at Carl's Junior. So wait, would this
have been when she was on the show, when she
was on the show.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
So right up to where we are in our rework.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Exactly, Me and Larissa went to dinner at Carl's Junior.
But before that we ran through the sprinklers.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
That sounds like something we would do, sounds like.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Something kids would just go.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Let's just be free. Then it's okay, who cares if
we get well.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
It cares.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Man, just got to do it.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
These are these are or makeup?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
We just go, just go.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Then we drove Larissa home. Writer couldn't believe I hadn't
seen Reality bites yet, so of course not so I
So I called my mom and asked if I could
spend the night at Writer's house. She said on that
laser disc. Wait, she said yeah, yeah. Then we rented
the movie and I slept over. I slept on the
floor and Writer was on the couch. Love ya, Danielle.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Wait, is this my apartment then? Or is this?
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Well? Yes, because because I'm coming up to in a
part where I go, Writer's on his own now, And
then I also say writers moving out and moving to
downtown l A.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
No, so this is before this.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
This is and you're in Seno house.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Okay. I was gonna say, why would you have slept
on the floor as a hardwood floor in my apartment, right,
I don't know, okay, and my mom would have been there.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Your mom would have been there.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah, okay, so it's not like you. And then staying
over at house was oh my god, I love that
I made you watch reality bites.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
And then I wrote the most nineties ever I wrote PS.
I also wrote writer a three page letter, no further detailed.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
What is this letter I got?
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Well, wait, did you get did you deliver said letter?
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Did you get a letter? Did you?
Speaker 1 (05:17):
I mean, I imagine I didn't write I didn't. I
mean I've also a letter.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
I probably still have it because I actually keep all
like I kept all handwritten letters or notes. Oh wow,
I might. I mean I definitely have. I have a
storage unit of just what I call my memory boxes.
And I had huge, so many memory boxes, so there's
a potential that I could go through.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Do you have a storage unit?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Mm hmm. Yeah. I don't keep everything like you, but
I keep anything that I don't.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Have any storage units.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
I don't have you keep everything like you kept scripts
you kept. I only kept like handwritten notes or letters
or things that I wrote, or notebooks.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Or now I'm dying. I doubt that Danielle would have
professed her love for.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
No, no, no, it definitely was. I never knew it
would have just been something about our friendship or something
we talked about, something that, like he said to me
that I felt like I wanted to.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
A stabberom a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Right, Well, here we go, here's here's here's another one, hey, diary,
Today's actually the sixteenth. This goes on for so long
with this. I'll tell you what I did. On the
fifth though. Writer took me out to dinner and then
we went to Angel and Vickie's house. We left at
about eleven PM. Then Writer drove me home. I had
to be home at midnight, but we got to MVE,
(06:33):
which is the initials for where I lived at the time,
at eleven forty five. Instead of going home, we went
to the water tower and we talked until twelve thirty.
Then we went home. I was in deep number one.
I lied, I said, we got lost. I told the truth. Though,
what what what what are you talking about? Weirdo?
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Oh you got in trouble because you lied and then
told the truth. So you did eventually tell the truth.
I guess maybe or maybe we did get lost, but
it was just lost for thirty seconds exactly.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
That's what I think happened. I think we probably got
lost exiting the water tower. Do you remember the water
tower where I used to live, I think so vaguely.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Yeah. It was on the top of the hill.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yeah, at the top there were other.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Houses being built.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Yeah, so it was like a construction site based exactly.
It was like a construction right near a water tower.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
And then I remembers said that, oh my.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
God, ps, I'm going skiing January seventh with writer.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Yeah, we went on. It was a Yeah, it was
with Angel and VICKI.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
We did.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
It was a teen magazine. One of the magazines consered
an event up there.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
We were hanging.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Out all the time, all the time.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
This is when I just got my license then, and
I was just it's crazy the thought of like me
at sixteen driving you around.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Yes, can you imagine just driving around town.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
I never once went to Angel and Vicky's house, by
the way, never run single time. You guys seem to
spend a ton of time with Angel and VICKI.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Yeah, we did. We spent a lot of time. We
went to the Drama Vogue Awards or the Prama Vogel War.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Shiloa that was on the six Yeah, Shallah won the
Drama log Awards.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Was that on the sixteenth?
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Yep, still the sixteenth, almost to our correct date, because
today's the fifteenth, so we're all we're almost caught up.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
It's been the sixteenth or three months.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Anyway. I was supposed to go to Boy Meets World
with Angel and Vicki today, but I didn't. But they
picked me up at one thirty. We went to lunch
and then we went to the mall. Then we went
to an award show, the Drama Vogue Awards that Shiloh won.
We were there forever writer, Angel and I went to
eat at a Chinese food place. Then we watched, then
we watched something. Shiloh won his award. We also heard
(08:35):
stuff that Andrew said like Angel and Vicki are my
least favorite people pour them Andrew. Yeah, anyway, it's just
more boring stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Wow, what a little window into our day to day.
About how long the sixteenth last?
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Yeah, the sixteenth went on.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
Nineteen ninety five, was just the sixteenth.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
I also have one that's so sloppy and it goes
sorry if this is jittery or sloppy, but I'm shaking,
shaking violently for some reason, and then I just continue
like it's enormous.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
It was probably because you were with writer for like
fourteen espressos. I'm like, yeah, man, doesn't characters make sense
when you read it really fast?
Speaker 3 (09:13):
It's so good.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
It's like, nah, oh my gosh.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
It also shows how little we all really hung out
back in my now day, because I was doing my
own thing by that time. You're such a different age
sixteen and nineteen. I mean, it's like you would have
been fifteen fifteen nineteen or fifteen and twenty.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
I'm probably still fourteen fourteen, sixteen year and.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
I just turned sixteen. So yeah, yeah, So you were.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Writer December of seventy nine. I'm May of eighty one.
So we are slid a year and a half apart.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
And so we're five years apart essentially. So you're fourteen,
I'm nineteen. We're not hanging.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Out, nothing in common.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Yeah. No, it's amazing, so.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Funny, incredibly anyway, it there's another entry later where I go, oh,
I had a really bad day today. I just wanted
to lay in writer's arms, but of course I couldn't
because we had too much schoolwork or something. It's like
we were probably just regularly cuddling. Yes, that's true, that
we do. I also memories where we were just like
(10:18):
sit and cuddle and then be like, oh, rehearsal right,
they're paying us to not cuddle.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
No, let's watch reality bites again.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
I also say that we watch a movie with Angel
VICKI and you fall asleep in a half an hour.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
That's about right, because I hadn't had my fift cup
of coffee yet.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Exactly I met your coffee anyway. Welcome to Pod Meets World.
I'm Daniel Fishell, I'm right strong, and I'm Wilfredell. Hey,
it's Daniel Fishle right or Strong and Wilfredell. But you
know what's best is Tapanga.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Sean and from Boy Meets World.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
And now Pod Meets World, the podcast where we've been
sitting down weekly to rewatch the show we starred in
as kids, and we've been unpacking well a lot.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
And we've been taking the show on the road with
the Kids Want to Jump Tour where every stop in
cities across the US has been totally different and pretty hilarious,
if I do say so myself, but.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
We know not everyone could join us. So we're happy
to announce that our recent thirtieth anniversary of the show,
Live from the met in Philadelphia, will now be available
to stream no matter where you live.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Our biggest show yet in the hometown of the Matthews,
featuring appearances by Trina Angela McGee, Matthew Lawrence aka Jack Hunter,
Tony Mister Turner Quinn, and Danny Harley McNulty, who makes
a very special surprise visit.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
It was so much fun and now you can experience
it from the comfort of your own home.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
It will be available on December eleventh at five pm Pacific.
You can learn more about how you can watch at
VEEPS dot Events slash Pod Meets World. December eleventh, your birthday.
Get all the info on streaming the live Pod Meets
World show so you don't miss out. Go to veeps,
ve e p S Dot Events, slash Pod Meets World now.
(12:15):
So it once very It was very casually dropped into
an episode that Rider has what I guess very seriously,
we could call it a little bit of PTSD revolving
around cruises and and it was revealed that we went
on something called the Celebrity Cruise. We did it.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
No, No, it was Sale with the Stars, Sale.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
With the Stars, right, but it was a celebrity cruise,
but it was called Sale.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
With Celebrity Cruise Lines, which is correct.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Thank you, Celebrity Cruise Line. I know, I don't know
why Will had nothing to do with this.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
But yeah, it was a I think you were too old.
I think the idea was able to get kids to
get their parents to pay to go on a cruise.
Speaker 4 (13:06):
Also, for the record, could have been invited and just
said no, which is also I'm not also a fan
of big ships, so yeah, that's also a possible.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Well, but I mean, a big part of the draw
for us was that they would pay for your family
to go on the cruise. Since you were over eighteen,
they wouldn't have offered to take your parents, right, And
they didn't want that. They didn't want like young adults
going out drinking and gambling on the cruise. They wanted
us like kids to be there to draw families to
come on the crew. I think you were just too
(13:35):
old man, I makes sense, Yeah, old, like I didn't
miss any ancient old man.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Well, yeah, when Writer mentioned it because we have different
memories of the cruise. I have oodles, some might say
googles and oodles of photos from the cruise and absolutely
loved the cruise for reasons we will talk about when
we jump into the episode. But Writer told the story
very briefly about talking with his dad in the car
(14:01):
and crying about how traumatic the cruise was for him,
and we in the middle of the show were like,
put a little mental check mark next to that a
little bit.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Well, I think we ended up cutting it out of
the episode.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Okay, we may have because we need to listeners don't.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Know what we're talking about. Okay, okay, but I like
somehow the cele say what the Stars cruise came up.
I talked about it somewhat briefly, and you guys were like, well,
there's there's a lot more going.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
There's episode there. Let's let's save that for an episode.
So here we are, Writer, why don't you do a
quick explanation about Sale with the Stars and and your situation.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Okay, So the idea behind Sale with the Stars was
to raise money for a cause. So we were contacted.
I did it two years in a row. So I
did when I went with you, Danielle, which was truly
the traumatic year for me. That was my second time, okay,
the first time. So we just got contacted by this
(14:59):
organization called Sale with the Stars and they they would
invite celebrities, you know, teen celebrities, young celebrities and their
families and they'd say, come on this cruise. You have
an all expense paid cruise. And what we will then
do is have other people who we will promote the
fact that you're on this cruise ship, and not the
(15:21):
entire cruise ship, but a segment of the population of
the cruise ship will be paying customers who are fans
of yours, people who have paid to spend time with you,
spend time with you, which, you know, the in theory
seemed like, oh, we get to go on a cruise
to you know, the Caribbean or somewhere South America the Caribbean.
(15:42):
It was both of those at different times, so or
maybe at the same time. I don't remember. It all
kind of as a blur. But so the benefit for
like me and my family is we got to go
on a cruise for free. The problem is you're stuck
on a boat with nowhere to go.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
And the whole you're working.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
The whole time. You are basically on as a paid
public appearance or a non paid I mean, you get
a free trip, but you're what people have paid for
is access to you. And you have your cabin, like
your little cabin, and you know, I mean, I'm sure
we had nice cabins relative to whatever, but they weren't big.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
They was they were very small.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
They were tiny. There was your cabin, and outside of that,
everyone could just walk up to you. And these people
had paid thousands of dollars for their families to go
on this cruise, so they felt that they had a
right to talk to you, get to know you, take
a photo with you, dance with you, go to your
dinner table and talk. And everywhere you went on this
(16:43):
cruise ship. You were an object of you know, companionship
for these people. And it was very very disconcerting for
me and very uncomfortable. And I think the first cruise
was manage and I did not want to do it again.
(17:04):
I got roped into doing the second year. I can
get into why.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
But yes, let's please, this is the time, writer, this
is the time.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
So I really did not want to go back, and
I I told my parents as much, and then my
mom informed me that they were not only going to
pay for my parents to go on the cruise, but
we could also bring my grandparents, who at that point
were in their sixties I guess maybe seventies, and it
was their lifelong dream to go on a cruise. And
(17:36):
so my mom said, you know, do you really want
to you know.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Do you really want to kill parents hard?
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Or do you want to give it? And it's it
is true. I think there's a generational thing here that, like,
you know, for my grandparents generation, getting going on a
cruise was just the ultimate luxury. I mean, that's not
the greatest. The greatest that is being a rich person, right,
And these are people that grew up with nothing. Both
my grandparents were one of eight, eight siblings with very
very very no no money, no money. Yeah, and they
(18:07):
had never been on I don't think they'd ever been
on a boat before, let alone you know, a luxury
cruise line. So I agreed against uh, you know, my
better judgment, and my caveat was, I'm I'm gonna do this,
but I have to I can. I'm going to bring
a friend. And so my parents let me bring a friend,
which ended up backfiring because when we got into the cruise,
(18:32):
the culture was even crazier than the first year, in
that the second cruise they had invited a lot more celebrities.
It was now Danielle Fischer, Jonathan Taylor, Thomas, I think
Jody Sweeten was.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
It was very much like the ten Tomorrow Tomorrow, and.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
That year they'd also up to the game of the
sale with the Stars cruise by inviting an entire DJ
party dance.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Crow Yeah, nice and the crushes I had on those
way too old of men.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Because they were like twenty They were like the people
some of them were from, like Mickey Mouse Club. They
were like professional performers and dancers. It was sort of
like I've since met people that do this for a
living at like you know, bar bought Mitzvahs. They'll hire
people to like sort of amp the crowd up and
keep the kids entertained to be hypole So there was
(19:29):
a team of amazing people, super sweet, super nice. I
have only fond memories of them as individuals, but what
they did, what they did for a living, was my nightmare,
right and it was.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
This writer had to dance on the dugout with the
Philly fanatical every every day and every moment of his
life for five or seven days.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
So the first year it was like, you know, when
they introduced us to everybody, it was like, we have
a big gathering and one of the million bars or
you know clubs in the place, and they'd be like,
and let's bring to stage from boy Me's World Riders Strong,
and I'd come out and like wave and high and
then that was it. Second year, it was.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Coming up, coming, up, coming up, let's do this, let's
do this, let's do this.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
It's and then I come out and everybody's dance and
they're all dancing with.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Me and making the dance on stage and it's music done.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
And I remember looking at Jonathan Taylor Thomas, who was
I think, you know, probably about as miserable to dance
he was, but I think probably more self assured and
a little more confident about like how he could just
say no to these things or just like walk out
and not dance and wave.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
It was awful and I and it was like that.
Every night there was some gathering where we would have
to dance in front of all the teenagers and other
kids who like to see us dance and maybe try
and sing or tell a funny story or like they
just it was a constant show that they were thrusting
us front and center, which is okay, you know, like
(21:14):
we should. I mean, I'm an actor. I guess I
should have been okay with that, but I really really wasn't.
But that wasn't really the worst. But that was the
most uncomfortable part to have to be on stage dancing,
And you know, it was more the complete lack of
privacy and the sense of I mean, I was just
(21:35):
going through a lot too. I was fifteen years old.
I did not want to be famous.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Who was the friend you brought with you?
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Yeah, that was Aaron who who thankfully is still one
of my best friends, one of my closest friends. So
it was Aaron, who you may remember I talked about
when we did the Beard episode. She's from Chicago, so
she grew up with Ben and she came to visit
Ben and we became friends, and then we became pen pals,
and we'd stayed in touch and we would She came
and stay mad like three weeks at my house in Sebastapool.
(22:02):
I went and spent time with her in Chicago, so
we would like trade summers at each other's houses. So
this was by now, this would have been the third
or fourth summer of being friends, and I thought, who
better to come with me than, you know, to ground
me and to you know, make me feel comfortable like
all this craziness. Unfortunately, Aaron was a fifteen year old
(22:23):
girl who did like to dance. Man was really into
Andrew Keegan, who was also on the cruise, right, and
Andrew Keagan's brother, Casey, who was on the cruise.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
And so Aaron.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Wanted to go be a part of the the Sale
of the Stars.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Hell yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
She was like, all right, right, are you really going
to sit in the room and put counting Crows on
headphones and cry I'm gonna go out dancing?
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Yeah? Totally fine, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Really healthy. Not what I needed out of a friend
at that moment. Aaron and I have spent many years
talking about this. We have come to terms, but it
was really.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Feels like, maybe talking about this for many years is
too much time to have focused on this.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Yeah oh yeah, but you know, you know, have you
met writer?
Speaker 1 (23:07):
We talk about stuff for years.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
We talk about my feelings.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
We talk about feelings for years. That's how it is.
I don't talk about anything. Let me start crying and
talks about his feelings.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Arin and I did not talk about this subject for you, okay, but.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
It has come up over the years. Let me put
it right, Okay, we have come to terms with how
you know our friendship is, and what our friendship looks
like now, and what we expect and don't expect from
each other. And of course, like it was pretty unfair
of me to put entire adolescent you know, self loathing
and celebrity hating onto this poor friend.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Well, to be fair, you you did mention that there
was a big difference between the first year and the
second year, and so you may not have even realized
how much worse it was going to be this year,
and what you were really expecting from bringing a friend,
like I'm bringing somebody I need to because you may
have then expressed that, like, hey, would you like to
go on this crew with us? Because for me, it's
(24:03):
very difficult and I want somebody who's there with me
when so that I can remove myself from these situations.
And then she could have known that that was her expectation,
but it was a little bit articulated that yes.
Speaker 4 (24:14):
It's also at the end of the day, probably what
you needed was not a friend. You probably needed another
actor who was going through the same thing, who would
have just sat in the room with you and played
magic the gathering as you guys had to deal with,
commiserate of all the stuff you had to do.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
That probably, at the end of the day would have
been what you what you needed.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
What I needed is somebody who didn't care about any
of that, right, who didn't expect me to be right
or strong in capital you know in air quotes, to
be and that I could unwind, and that we could
sort of say this is crazy, this is insanity. But
we have our friendship and I love you for who
you are, writer, and we don't You don't need to
be doing that. The fact that you're a horrible dnswer
(24:52):
and that you don't like.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
You are not but you feel like you are.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
The fact that you don't like this scene is okay.
But you were not a bad person not liking this,
because what I got from the sale with the Stars
organization was a lot of guilt, a lot.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
Of that you weren't participating, that.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
I wasn't participating, that I showed really wait seriously, like
the company itself was like, you're not participating enough. It's charity,
so I'm not doing my job for charity. Will Like
that was the problem, is like there was this sense
that that I was letting the you know whatever. It
was a different cause every year, but and I can't remember,
but let's say it's you know, child.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Diabetes, right, I am.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
I am not owning up to my part of the
deal by not, you know, helping promote this cruise. Of course,
what I found out years later or after the fact,
was that actually none of the money that people paid
to go on the cruise went towards the cause. That
in fact, there was only one event that went towards
the cause. Yeah, they did as silent auction. We didn't
(25:48):
know that, right, but we didn't know that till after
the fact. But you know, in terms of keeping up
their brand from year to year, access to celebrities, videos
and photos of like young people getting to dance with
their favorite celebrity from teen b that is how they
made their money. That is how they kept their business going.
And yes, there was money going to the cause, So
(26:08):
I'm not here to like criticize them. Yeah, you know,
as like a corrupt organization, like an expose. It's no,
because I don't think they were ever, you know, I
just didn't know. Like you're just told as a kid,
like this is for a good cause and you will
get a free cruise out of it, and everything about
is about the cause. In retrospect, I'm not sure everything
(26:28):
was about the cause, you know.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Like well, Also, to be fair, it is a little
disingenuous to present the idea to a kid that you're
going to get a free cruise, because the truth is
you're going to work from the moment you step out
of your room until the time you go back into
your room at night. You are working for this cruise.
(26:51):
Because regardless of whether or not you are an extrovert
or an introvert, or you enjoy people or you don't
enjoy people, when you're famous and you have interactions with
people you're on you can't really be your true authentic self,
even if you just enjoy casually having conversation, but you
have to make sure they walk away from you having
(27:12):
had a good experience. And so you can't just be like, hey,
I don't really feel like talking right now, or I
don't want to talk about what you are talking about.
You you're in situations constantly where it is work and
the idea that they put your it's basically, your family
gets a free cruise. You work for that cruise every
(27:34):
second you're on it.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
And the the partly because I was a kid, well
mostly maybe because I was a kid or a teenager,
understanding those boundaries and understanding how to set those boundaries
is very hard for me. And I remember the first
cruise showing up and it was like, you know, you're
all getting on the cruise together, so you're like with
(27:56):
the people that are paying to go and they're already
talking to you, and I'm like who, Because there's also
people on the ship who did not pay to come
on the Sale with the Stars crew. So there's just
like kids like would talk to me, and I talked
to them, and then like one of the first days,
they sat us down in the chair and said, okay,
it's your signing time. It's like, what do you mean?
And then everybody that paid to come on the Sale
(28:17):
with the Stars crew lines up and gets a signature
on a photograph with us, and I remember sitting there
being like, oh, we're we're signing hundreds and hundreds of
autographs and meet it and people would come up who
I had talked to the day before, and I'd be like, oh, oh,
we're not like that conversation wasn't like a friendship conversation.
That was you because you paid for it, and now
(28:38):
you just want my autograph, you know, And it was
just like this awkward like which is fine, you know, like, yeah,
people pay for us our autograph and to meet us
at conventions.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
I totally get that.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
Relationship now as an adult, but as a kid, it
was very jarring to be like, well, I guess I
thought you liked me because we just met on that you.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Talked about being exactly, scarves and scarves or whatever, your pocket.
Speaker 4 (29:03):
Leather bound journals and cool pens August and everything.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
After we talked about all of this.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Yeah, it was very disorienting for me.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
And my favorite.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Pizza toppings exactly, he said, pineapple.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
They wanted to throw them off the boat.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
No, it is no, but it's also it's there's something.
It's so sad is.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
The wrong word. It's too melodramatic.
Speaker 4 (29:23):
But it sucks that it would because when you do
things for charity and you're obviously a very generous person
with your time when it comes to events, your community,
things like that.
Speaker 3 (29:33):
It's one of the things you're known for.
Speaker 4 (29:34):
The idea to then come at you where it's like
you're not doing enough for charity when you're a kid.
Speaker 3 (29:39):
Yeah, it's just that's not cool. I mean, that's not
cool at all. So, yeah, that's that's no good.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Well, there's just there was this expectation. I mean there
was no contract, right, so there was just this expectation
that like, we were supposed to show up and dance,
like literally dance in front of everybody every night. And
if I didn't show up, which I increasingly as a
show went on, or as this cruise went on, I didn't,
I would just run away or you try, and.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
You figure from the other perspective, there are people who
are like, well, I paid seven thousand dollars for my
family to go on this cruise because my daughter loves
Right or Strong. So I paid seven thousand dollars for
my daughter to dance with Right or Strong for five
nights and writer has not been here, So you get
you imagine the other side of it is they're hearing
(30:21):
from people whose families are saying, Hey, what's going on here?
Where's writer? Now? I just want to pose the opposite experience.
And if you're young Danielle Fischell, who will talk to
anybody or anything, will dance for as long as you want.
(30:42):
You put me on a cruise ship with hot twenty
year olds who I, at the age of fourteen or
fifteen think are so stinking cute, just can't get enough of.
I was in hog heaven. This was the greatest. This
was one of the greatest things that had ever happened
to me. My whole family's there. I love my family.
(31:03):
We're on a we're on a cruise together. The food's delicious,
it's NonStop, it's free flowing. There's fantastic virgin Pina coladas
everywhere you turn. You've got your on and off boyfriend
Jonathan Taylor Thomas there with you. You've got almost soon
to be crush right or strong there with you. Who
I was always like, why is he so antisocial? What
(31:24):
is this problem? I just get him on a cruise,
it'll be fine. I just ever know why it is
that he keeps hiding out in his room. It's so
fun and I great music. I was dancing I have
my friends. JODI's there with me. I think Christine Laken
was there. I was Angel, Angel and Vicky.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Still not sure what's going to the episode.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
We're going to get into that money.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
They got a free cruise to just really.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
Because they brought They probably brought all the talent the same.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Way that we were the reason we knew of the
crew exactly.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
Roller lads, and so they brought all the talent. And
I know you well enough now, Danielle to know that
they had you at free food. Oh yeah, that was
it for sure. The boys and everything else is just
the bonus to the buffet.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
They're like, guess what, it's twenty four hours. You eat
anything you want, whenever you whenever you want, you could
order it to your room. It was it was fully
defending your life. And I was so, I mean, it
was great. We have it's actually where we have the
picture of the great picture I've talked about before of
(32:31):
my mom sitting on your dad's lap and it looks
like I don't know what our parents were doing, but
they pink flamingo. They were having the time of their life.
And you know, there was also like formal night. I
think there were two formal nights.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
There was like Western night, there.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Was yeah, Western night, there was there was hippy night,
Hippie night. I have a great picture rider with round
dark sunglasses and a blue head like a handkerchief on
his head that he and he, Oh my gosh, so cute. Listen.
It was the time of my life. I absolutely loved it.
(33:08):
I would go on. I mean, now I'm a different person.
Speaker 4 (33:12):
I right, But here's what I would say. What writer
hated it and needs to try it as an adult. Now,
you loved it, so you should try it as an
adult to see if it would be the same.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
And I've never been on one.
Speaker 4 (33:24):
Right, So does Pod meets World hit the hit the
open seas?
Speaker 1 (33:30):
I mean, I don't know. I don't know what it
would take in order for writer to do it. I
don't think. I don't think. I don't know if there
is anything.
Speaker 4 (33:36):
I think it would take the the the intuitive side
of him to say I need to try this again
as an adult.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
Well, it is obviously the idea of cruising, but without
the need for Writer to be social with people who've
paid for his time, right, he could he could just
be social with us when he feels like it, which,
as we saw in Vegas, sometimes he doesn't feel like it.
We write, Will and I both looked at each other.
There was one morning in Vegas where we came down
(34:03):
and Writer was just really in a grumpy mood, and
we were like, okay, well anyway, we just we'll see
you later. And then Red walked away and Will and
I were like, can we do something to offend him?
And I was like, maybe he's angry. I don't know,
I don't know what it is. But then the next
time we saw you ever.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Yeah, here you know the real like the problem with
the cruise back then it was so awful. It's like
it's a thing of once once I you know, once
I reject the dancing and the good times and all that,
I also still want to be accepted by it, do you.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (34:41):
So like the self loathing becomes the cycle of like
you know, and that's why where like when Aaron was like, well, right,
if you're gonna be miserable, I'm gonna go dancing, which
totally makes sense, right, only makes me feel worse because
then it's like, oh, I'm I've created this situation, Like
there is a world in which you just let go
and enjoy yourself, stop putting the pressure on the situation
(35:02):
and knowing that is just an awful cycle, you know
that I couldn't you know, get out of because then
I'm feeling bad that like I've been, you know, that
I've rejected and then being rejected by the people I've rejected.
It was just it was not.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Especially because it was before the age of social media
and cell phones, so you could actually just really let
go and have a good time and it's just gonna
live on the boat. What happened on the sale with
the Stars crews stays on the stairs with the Stars crew.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
I mean, here's what I ended up doing. I ended
up I did end up finding friends. Like there was
a couple of girls. I don't know if they were
part of the sale with the studart of Stars. I
don't think they were. I think they were just people
on the boat that I became friends with, and you know,
we would hang out and walk around and you know,
go look at the water and do the.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
You know, just not deep thoughts.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
Yeah, keep thoughts, talk about poetry, listen to music. Yeah,
you'll find them everywhere.
Speaker 4 (35:56):
Okay, So I got that you spent most of your
time kind of in your room by yourself.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
I get it. Looking for the quiet everything, Danielle.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
What are the juicy stories you got? Spill some of
the tea of what actually happened.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
Oh, I don't, I don't know. I was, you know,
fourteen or fifteen years old.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
I met.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
It was completely innocent. I just mean it was just
the most fun I've ever had in my life. It
was just a big groupangs, just you know, sitting around
talking with your friends, finding quiet moments to like share
private stories that you that you have to like look
around and be like, well, I don't want a fan
to overhear this, but and you know, sharing those moments
and then just dancing. I mean, nothing salacious. I had
(36:37):
a very you know, I wasn't allowed to watch nine
O two one oh so yeah, right, it just pretty much.
Speaker 4 (36:42):
I feel like I feel like you think if you
could watch nine oh two and oh, your life would
have gone in the leather jacket wearing kind of way.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
It's pretty I do. I don't.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
I didn't even girl, I might have.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
Been I would have known what it meant to be fast.
I didn't even know what it me messed. I little
know shirt on. It was just like there was I
knew there was an alternative life out out there, but
I had no idea.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
Whether it's Beverly Hills apparently something. I believe Shiloh is
the person to ask for those kinds of stories that
you're looking for.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
A will probably there. Ye course, I picture of the
girl Shiloh liked on that cruise, who I think is
also the girl maybe Writer may have been friends with.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
Non't know who you're talking about, Okay, tw.
Speaker 1 (37:22):
Yeah, twow, you really knew immediately.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
That was who Shiloh hung out with a bunch of
the whole time. Yeah, but Shiloh also had his girlfriend there,
what Emily? Yeah, Shiloh brought his girlfriend Emily. That that's funny.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
Second year, I've got so many pictures from this cruise,
you guys, we're going to share them with you. I'll
get them all cleared with Writer because I know.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
Yeah, I probably you could drink if you were in
the later National waters once you were eighteen, right, So really,
and I think Shiloh was eighteen or maybe I don't know,
So he was having a very different experience, I'm sure,
having a great time and probably just being totally an
adult in gambling and drinking and writing and dancing and
(38:04):
having fun. And yeah, I'm sure there was some some
drama and whatnot, but I I was just.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
Not not well, Yeah, you have to be on the
whole time.
Speaker 4 (38:13):
And it's like, you know, when I did my first
convention ever, somebody told me, they said, imagine throwing a
party for a thousand people, a thousand strangers that you
have to welcome in your home every second you're there.
Speaker 3 (38:23):
And that's what it's like.
Speaker 4 (38:24):
I mean, because you want the first person you meet
and the last person you meet to have the same experience.
So you are you'res like Daniel said, you're you're you're
kind of on the whole time.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
You want to make sure people are enjoying themselves.
Speaker 4 (38:34):
And then you've got the added bonus of it's for charity.
Speaker 3 (38:37):
And then they're saying you're not yet.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
Oh well, so the first the first year, the silent
auction what we did, or it wasn't a silent auction.
They like actually had people bidding live.
Speaker 1 (38:49):
And making writer is from making out with writer, That's
what they said.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
I think they did dinner with us or sometime.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
We said, Yeah. One of them was for like dinner
at our table.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
Yeah, I want to know what, Danielle, what you would have.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
So what we auctioned off. What we auctioned off, which
went insane, was we my parents were like, oh, well,
let's do a collection of all the movies we made
as kids, all those like The Great Toy Caper, Horrible
Haze Strikes Again, we you know, all these like Superhero, Cowboy,
Mystery whatever, we.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
Had, the Robot one.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
We compiled them all into a video collection and offered
them at the auction and the people went crazy, and
so it sold I don't remember how much, but it
was the most expensive object that the that the cruises
that had ever had, and like, I think that's why
they wanted those back. The next year is to do
it again. And the next year did not go as high.
But that first year, you know, when we we played
(39:48):
a clip of it and we said here's what it is,
the bidding went insane and people were just and I
remember this weird. You know, it was just we're.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
Going to just give you all your childhood memories. For me.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
Well, it was so weird because it was like, on
one hand, you're like, oh, this is great that it's
making money for charity and that the people are beating
on it. The other hand, this is something very personal
and it's my family, and it's kind of ridiculous. These
are like our little movies that we made us as kids,
and it's infantile, it's ours, and I don't know if
(40:21):
I want it to be worth I don't know, you know.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
It's a double field. I don't want to share it
or I want to share it.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
Maybe, And also I hope it goes for a lot
of money. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
It's such a charitable. Part of me really wants this
to be worth a lot, and the other part of
me goes, why should you care about this garbage? It's
for me to care about, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
And it's also like, yeah, we didn't make these for
any other reason than for our family to have fun.
And they're also very personal in private. So I don't know,
you know, like and I still feel like all of
those feelings would go into it if we tried to
do this now. Not to mention my issues with cruising
in general, a crew a cruise in general, and those.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
Of your issues with a cruise in general, well that's where.
Speaker 2 (41:04):
You just get into like excess and consumerism, okay, and colonialism, Like,
I am not comfortable with the scale at which cruise
ships operate and the inequalities that you're confronted with. They are.
It is astounding. It is very uncomfortable for me. Uh
And I don't know if that I could be comfortable
(41:25):
with that even now, you know, like I just couldn't.
Speaker 1 (41:28):
I mean, the interesting thing is that now you hear
a lot of stories of people who decide to spend
their retirement on cruise ships because truthfully, it is now
cheaper cheaper to live on a cruise ship and go
from cruise to cruise, yeah, than it is to plan
for living inland on land for your retirement.
Speaker 3 (41:49):
It's crazy.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
Yeah, that's I don't think that's great.
Speaker 4 (41:52):
Yeah, Frankly, I'm not a I'm not a huge I
like boats, smaller boats that I can drive.
Speaker 1 (41:58):
You like big big planes and small small right. Isn't
that bizarre?
Speaker 2 (42:02):
But it's true.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
Yeah, the big cruise ship.
Speaker 4 (42:05):
I've never wanted to go on one. I've never attempted
to go on one. I'm not sure how I would
feel about being on one. So I'm joking when I say,
like I love the I might hate it. I might
absolutely hate it.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
I have no idea you might also get sea sick.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
You don't know, that's absolutely possible.
Speaker 2 (42:22):
My feeling is you would love it.
Speaker 1 (42:23):
Yeah, I think I don't know, because again I don't.
Speaker 4 (42:25):
To me, they're like, it's like like fancy hotels, right,
but I don't like Vegas at all, and it seems
like it's like Vegas on the water, which to me
would be I.
Speaker 1 (42:34):
Would not compare a cruise to a fancy hotel. I
also love a fancy hotel. And yet to me, the
worst part of the cruise is the room.
Speaker 2 (42:44):
The room is sure, the room, but in terms of
like the pamp rain and the indulgence and you know,
I mean I like service industry at your like people
serving you and taking care of you. It's like when
you go to a.
Speaker 3 (42:57):
I'm not a huge fan of that, Like I go
once a year if.
Speaker 2 (43:02):
A hotel pool, you know, like that sort of level
of indulgence and like people just waiting on you hand
and foot and getting whatever you want delivered at whatever time.
Speaker 1 (43:13):
That level, for me, I think of a cruise a
little like being a part of a fancy cult. I
love the idea of being a part of a fancy cult.
I want you to tell me every day, here you go, Danielle,
what step outside your room, make a left. You'll have
endless food options. And then immediately after, here are the
(43:35):
activities of the day that you get to choose from.
You can bowl, you can go down a water slide,
you could dance, you could go to the casino, you
could play bingo, and there seems like there's an endless
array of things to choose from. But all I have
to do is pick which one I want to do.
And if I feel like I made the wrong choice tomorrow,
just make a different choice. I want to be told
what to do, and but also shave your head and
(43:59):
where's the cal They know you what you have to do,
but you get a little bit of freedom within it.
I love that idea. I love that idea. You're trapped.
Here's seventy five things. Here's your freedom. What do you
want to do right now?
Speaker 3 (44:13):
It's the illusion of freedom, the illusion.
Speaker 1 (44:15):
Of freedom where I'm trapped. I want the comfort of
trapped with the freedom of small choice and I want
to eat.
Speaker 3 (44:25):
That's perfect.
Speaker 1 (44:26):
Can we start this cult? Please? I'm that it's so great,
it's so so great, and that's my idea fun and
I I love it.
Speaker 3 (44:35):
We have to come up with a good name. That's
one word for it, like lumineering to come up. We'll
figure out illuminear. Yes, we'll figure it out.
Speaker 4 (44:41):
Going on a cruise, it's a cruise, it just seems
very crowded to me. I'm not a fan of that
many people either. That's my other problem. It seems like
it's packed. I don't like that. So yeah, I don't know,
i'd feel very claustrophobic.
Speaker 3 (44:54):
I think.
Speaker 2 (45:06):
I highly recommend that our listeners read David Foster Wallace's
seminal essay. It's called a supposedly fun Thing I'll Never
Do Again, which it's in the collection. It's originally it
was published in Harper's. I had you guys read it.
I think you read it.
Speaker 1 (45:20):
I read Yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:21):
I think that's a very clear like. I mean, he
was obviously a depressed person and he is writing from
a point of view, you know.
Speaker 1 (45:30):
But when I read that.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
Essay years later, a couple of years later, I felt seen.
I felt like this was my cruise experience. This is
my problems with cruise in general, and the inequalities of
you know, class and just the level of indulgence and
like the performative happiness that a cruse sort of puts
you in a position to sort of to feel to activate.
(45:56):
I'm so uncomfortable with that level of attention to my
well being and you like, yeah.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
I will say. The one area that really spoke to
me in that essay was where he talks about how
when he just needed to get his zinc oxide from
his suitcase and all the suitcases were in one particular spot.
Right away, I had ajeda about the idea that I'm
not going to get my own suitcase from the carousel
that someone that you get to just walk off the
plane and go to the cruise ship and they collect
(46:24):
your bags. No, thank you, I will collect my bag
and I will take it myself. So I really I
felt spoken to there for sure. Where then he wants
to get his sunscreen and the bag is not in
his room yet, so he just goes to get the bag,
and then he realizes the bellman is actually going to
get in trouble. He's like, no, I'll take your bag,
let me take it. I'll take it right now. He's
(46:44):
like dropping all the rest of the luggage, and you know,
David Foster Wallis doesn't understand this obsessive need to help
him with his bag, and he realizes, oh, you're going
to get in trouble because I am not supposed to
be put out at all by taking care of my
own bag. I cannot stand that. I don't like that
feeling anywhere. So I definitely don't like that idea.
Speaker 2 (47:04):
But I also love how he talks about how, like,
you know, so much of the cruise is geared towards
indulging this infantile state right where you're just you're just
a consumer who just eats whatever you want, yeah, bowl
whenever you want, you swim and whatever wherever you want,
you do whatever, and there's always there with somebody with
a fresh towel and a fresh meal and a fresh drink.
(47:26):
And we talk about he talks about how within you know,
that's it's the the fallacy there is that you would
ever be satisfied. And so he talks about how within
two or three days, what originally made him very uncomfortable,
suddenly he's just wanting more. And now it's like and
it's true, it's a bottomless pit that little like desiring
infantile state doesn't end. So what you're actually doing is
(47:49):
just creating this. Like you think you're going to be
more relaxed by getting whatever you want, but the truth
this is only going to increase that you need it
more now, quicker, faster, more, and it's like it's never
going to end that of Like, so I'm not a
big fan of indulging that side of my or or
of humanity in general. Like, no, thanks, don't.
Speaker 4 (48:08):
I think there is something to be said though, for
occasionally doing it in a very finite, controlled space. And
you could argue that, Okay, so for three days a year,
I let in, you know, I I feed into that temptation.
I feed into that side of myself. That's the only
time I allow myself to do it. I do it
with three friends. We get these little cabins. We drink
(48:28):
too much, we eat too much, we bowl too much,
we do we go in the pools, and then we
live our lives the rest of the you know, three
hundred and sixty two days a year. So I mean,
I think you could also argue that it is the
perfect way to do that. That if you're gonna live
on a cruise ship, of course not. But if you're
gonna do three.
Speaker 3 (48:44):
Days a year, five days a year, that's what you like.
Speaker 4 (48:47):
I mean if people do that in Vegas, people do that,
It's like I don't get that either.
Speaker 2 (48:51):
But right, but is you know, I think that there
are bigger questions when you're talking about the scale at
which it's sure it's at when when you have how
many cruise ships operating on this level, Americans expect to
be able to get it for relatively cheap considering how
much you're going to get, So you know that is
this a fair system? Is this good for the world?
Is it good for the environment? Is this good for
(49:13):
the economics of smaller countries? Is it good for the
economics of individuals? Uh?
Speaker 1 (49:18):
Sure, I would say no.
Speaker 2 (49:19):
I mean I would say that the very the very
scale of this consumerism is is exploitative. I mean, it's
a distortion of power that you know, it has a
lot of ugly consequences under the surface. So I mean,
you know, yeah nowadays, I mean again, yeah, but when
you all have we all have these in our pockets,
and these absolutely destroy the world, absolutely. But the cruise
is really where the blindfolds can come off, you know,
(49:41):
because because we you know, when you when you're an American,
you can say we buy our tennis shoes and our iPhones,
and we can say, yeah, we kind of know they're
produced in a less than ideal circumstance. But you don't
come face to face with that inequality. You're not like
literally dining on steak while watching somebody stitch your nikes.
But when you're on a cruise ship, you do come
face to face with inequality on a level that is
(50:02):
very uncomfortable. You know, you pull into port and like
I remember, we've pulled into port and like people, they
would the sea of humanity that would be coming to
sell you goods to try and get your money, and
you know, the sort of naked inequality in that exchange
was very uncomfortable for me as a kid, and I
would I would still be very uncomfortable with that as
(50:23):
an adult, you know. And I remember watching because people
would they would pull their boats up, like we'd pull
up to Jamaica or somewhere, and and they pull these
boats up and people on the boat would be throwing
money off coins for these people to dive for, you
know what I mean. There's not a better metaphor of
like what what cruise culture is like you know, and
(50:44):
how it relates to the locals of you know, these
places in these countries and you know, like, yeah, on
this cruise I went to you know, on these cruises,
I went to Jamaica, I went to these islands, And
have I actually been to these places? Like I would say, No,
I would.
Speaker 1 (50:57):
I thought the exact same way because I was on
the Jamaica one. I also went to jim And yet
I don't. I don't feel like I've been to Jamaica.
Speaker 4 (51:02):
No.
Speaker 2 (51:02):
No, I'm one of my best friends grew up in
Saint Thomas and I I don't tell him I've ever
been to say I know, I went to Saint Thomas
and what No, I haven't been to Saint Thomas because
that's an embarrassing when I think about how he actually
lived there and went to school there, knew people, had community, friends,
family like I don't have. I would have no relationship
to the Saint Thomas that he lives.
Speaker 4 (51:22):
It's like it's like you're saying you've been to a
country because you've stopped there at the airport right.
Speaker 3 (51:26):
Well, it's like, yeah, oh, I've been to Germany.
Speaker 4 (51:28):
Now you're at the airport hour right exactly so you've
never actually you didn't experience any of it.
Speaker 3 (51:32):
No, I mean, I guess I do. I certainly understand that.
Speaker 1 (51:35):
Yeah, well you also got to dance with hot guys,
so that's that was a plus for me. Thank you
all for joining us for this episode of Pod Meets World.
As always, you can follow us on Instagram, pod Meets
World Show at gmail dot com. You can send us
your emails pod meets World Show at gmail dot com,
and we have merch, but don't buy it. Don't buy the.
Speaker 3 (51:58):
Merch because of the inequalities.
Speaker 1 (52:03):
Podmeetsworldshow dot com writer send us out.
Speaker 2 (52:07):
We love you all, pod dismissed. Pod Meets World is
an iHeart podcast producer hosted by Danielle Fischel, Wilfridell and
Ryder Strong. Executive producers Jensen Karp and Amy Sugarman. Executive
in charge of production, Danielle Romo, producer and editor, Tara Sudbach, producer,
Mattie Moore, engineer and Boy meets World superman Easton Allen.
Our theme song is by Kyle Morton of Typhoon. Follow
(52:29):
us on Instagram at podmets World Show or email us
at Podmeets World Show at gmail dot com,
Hosts And Creators
Will Friedle
Danielle Fishel
Rider Strong
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