Charles

Do you want to get back to me? Everyone's singing her song. I want to say Conan, but you might get disappointed if you come here and then no one recognizes you. I'm sorry.

Why did you call me?

I don't have her number. Maybe you could connect me with her.

Yeah. We don't actually have a slogan to think about.

Yeah.

It's, actually hard to make a slogan with the Tarzan in Texas name.

There's just like generic factory stuff.

We can't afford that.

Actually, I have a brother and then my parents are still here.

What's your competitor? Who's the big candy company? Actually, there's a bigger company called Columbia. And they sell a different type of candy. So they have like menthol hard candies. Menthol hard candies.

Actually, I just remembered, there's actually a Taylor Swift impersonator here. Well, she's more like a drag impersonator of Taylor Swift. That's fine. So maybe we use that person. That's perfect. Maybe we can use her. Her name's Taylor Sheesh. Yeah, well...

Well, the beaches here in the Philippines are very nice, though.

That's maybe the new slogan. First time for everything. Yeah.

Bye. Bye, Charles.

Yes. Okay. And what kind of candies do you make? Well, we have two types of candies. We have bubble gums and then caramel candies. Ooh. Wow. That's nice.

No, but I think my uncle did before, and he said it didn't taste really good. Because the bubble gums tasted more...

I haven't seen any type of mobile gum that has caramel-like flavorings in it. Yeah, guess what?

Is it thriving? Not really. Since I started here like five years ago, it hasn't really gone off like really, really good. First of all, what do you think the problem is? Well, I think it's because of the lack of exposure with the public. So every time we approach distributors or customers regarding our products, our candies, their initial reaction is like they're going to say it's...

No, it's still alive. They're going to say, I thought your products are already gone.

Yeah, so actually our candy started way back during World War II. It actually started with my uncle's father, and then it went on after that. Isn't your uncle's father also your grandfather? Do I call him my grandfather? I think so.

Where in the Philippines are you? So I live in the capital, in the greater Manila, but the city itself is Quezon City.

I don't think so.

It's a bit confusing for me also.

Charles. Here to help.

Currently, we have like 19 of us. How many did there used to be? A hundred. Oh. Oh, okay. This is when the automated machines came into the... Before, they used to pack the candies manually, so they needed many people to pack them individually, wrap them around, and put them in boxes. But now, we have machines to do that. We don't really need a lot of people to produce the candies.

But then, we also don't... manufacture them every day. You don't make candy every day? Yeah. So it's only when we have orders or our stocks are declining that we manufacture more.

So we have two types of bubblegum candies. So one is called Tarzan. Tarzan? The other one is called Texas Candies.

No. I'm not actually clear on how they came up with those names.

So I think my uncle told me was... His father came up with that name because he was, I think, more heavily influenced during the U.S. when the U.S. was occupying the Philippines. And he was working with an American company here in Manila.

Yeah.

Yeah, so it's just to attract children, so they'd be excited with the different colors. But they all taste the same.

It's very confusing, yes.

It hasn't really come up. I've pitched him the idea of having a commercial or just having more exposure to the public. But we haven't gone past that. So there's no actual plans for it. We're just talking about it. Is he stuck in his ways, do you think?

I don't know. I guess so. I mean, I think he wants to keep the legacy of the products going. I mean, when people hear about the Tarzan or Texas candies, they immediately know what it is. But the problem is... Only the older generations know about it and the younger generations, not so much. So how old are most of your customers? Well, I think the late 50s, 60s.

So I'm an engineer. Wow. Oh, sorry. I'm not sure if you're hearing my dog in the background.

Yeah, I was actually, I was thinking about those types of campaigns. But only, I've tried only like trying those through Facebook posts. No videos though, just like pictures and stuff.

Yeah, she's big everywhere. A lot of people actually wanted to see her perform a show here in the Philippines, but she didn't. So everyone flew to Japan or Singapore just to see her.

Hmm. Yeah. I think we will. We're contracting a law firm, but we haven't used them for legal stuff.

So you're an engineer. What kind of engineering do you do? So I'm a mechanical engineer. I'm currently working for my uncle's factory. He's making candies right here in the Philippines.

You haven't been on air here in the Philippines since the early 2000s.

We do. So if they search your name on YouTube, they'll see you. But then, well, before we watched your show on television, you were being shown in one of the local channels here in the Philippines. Yes. But then after that, you disappeared. Yes. Yes, so I'm no longer on TV in the Philippines. Well, we saw your show again when you went back in HBO. Yes. We call it Max.

Why can't you be Julie?

Cover story?

Well, I don't know, but it hardly matters. What matters is you think I'm ready.

Be that as it may, you put your faith in me, and that gives me confidence.

Vielen Dank für's Zuschauen!

Untertitelung.

BR 2018

Vielen Dank für's Zuschauen.

Wie kann man nur so... Ausgeruht sein? Ganz einfach. Trainiere deinen Schlaf und werde auch du zum Morgenmenschen. Mit der Galaxy Watch 7 oder dem Galaxy Ring und der Samsung Health App.

You know, Brittany, I have been an anime fan for a very long time. I have seen the tides change, but this is like the best time to be a Black anime fan because anime is just cool now.

I mean, we've been out here, been here. But now it's like on a whole nother level. I mean, earlier this year, Olympian Noah Lyles, who is now the fastest man in the world. Right. Ran his Olympic trial race with Yu-Gi-Oh trading cards in his pocket. Yeah.

like the children's cartoon yeah he said it's time to duel let's get down i got the left and right arms and i got the legs coming tomorrow because they're speaking german to me man so i'm glad i hope everybody don't understand all the yugioh fans know something big is coming i did not know he did that in an interview Listen, Brittany, he brought out the cars. He won the race. Who knows?

Maybe Yu-Gi-Oh! did it. Who can say? But my personal favorite, and Brittany, you already know this, but for the listeners, I am a stallionaire. I'm a hot girl. I'm a huge Megan Thee Stallion fan. And earlier this year, Megan Thee Stallion released Otaku Hot Girl, which samples a very well-known clip from the popular anime series Jujutsu Kaisen.

No, it really was. And it's like we're at this point where anime has reached the top of the tippiest top of Black culture, which is so wild to see because anime used to be an extremely niche interest. Right. And to be a Black person that is deeply invested in a very not Black subculture, it can be isolating at times. We're

So to get into what's behind all of this, I talked to some Black fans at Anime NYC.

Yeah. So some of the things we heard were pretty familiar, right? There's like this long documentary relationship between Black folks and Kung Fu movies, which likely got Black people interested in East Asian media in general, especially in the 60s and 70s. But then, of course, you have people who just love anime for the fun of it. I mean, that's what it's there for, right?

The fantasy, the escapism, all that good stuff. But some of this change is because of generational shifts, right? Black millennials and Gen Zers grew up with anime shows like One Piece and Naruto. Shout out to Toonami on Cartoon Network. They did a big one. And now as adults, they're defining what's culturally cool.

But I think that one of the bigger themes to all of this is that Black people are seeing parts of themselves reflected in anime.

Brittany, I feel like you had a similar experience when you watched Kiki's Delivery Service for the first time. Oh, my gosh.

Now, I don't think Miyazaki had that in mind when he made Kiki's Delivery Service. But what you are speaking to is an experience that a lot of Black anime fans have described. Of course, we heard that a lot at Anime NYC. But after we left, I still had some questions about the way Black anime fans find ways to identify with characters that are just so different from us.

That's a word. And so I reached out to Professor Alfred Martin. He's an associate professor of media studies at the University of Miami. He's also the author of an upcoming book, Fandom, For Us, By Us, The Pleasures and Practices of Black Audiences. And one of the things Alfred's work really touches on is the nuanced way Black people communicate.

kind of interpret and interact with media representation. And while he doesn't deal with anime in particular, his theory around Black audiences and comfort really stood out to me.

Right. And this is something we see across a lot of things Black audiences enjoy. It's not just anime, but you can even think of the way Black people sort of corralled around Game of Thrones. And according to Alfred's work, Black audiences are sort of primed to making sense of and asserting themselves in a world that doesn't always include them.

So to sort of drive this point home, Alfred told me about his research in talking to Black fans of Golden Girls. Oh, now I'm included in that number. Yeah.

And this, I think, can be applied to a lot of marginalized identities. It's kind of like what Alfred said. If we're used to scavenging through media for something that resonates, it's not surprising that we find ourselves really attached to stories that don't exactly make your racial perception the forefront. I sort of see that myself in one of the biggest anime shows I grew up with, Naruto.

That is Dr. David Stevens. He is a professor of media studies at the University of Memphis. And I found it so interesting that he said this because it was literally the exact same thing someone said to me at the convention last year.

Honestly, finding people like Alfred and David really opened my eyes to the fact that we don't have a lot of research or at least don't put a lot of stake into the importance of Black fandom.

especially as it pertains to things like anime and how Black people's perception of it, how Black people receive it, sort of shape the ways in which they think about their identity in relation to each other, but also the wider world. But when you go outside the norm, you know, there's always going to be a little friction.

And we heard that from Black fans at Anime NYC as well.

Oh, 100%. This is not an anime is the cure to Western media's racism take at all. But if we are going to talk about racism in anime, I think I have to bring up an example. We have mentioned Dragon Ball Z already, but... Oh, I think I know where this is going. Do you know Mr. Popo? Uh-huh. Brittany, would you mind describing Mr. Popo to our listeners?

Listen, Mr. Popo has been the center of a lot of controversy and rightfully so. But David had an interesting take on Mr. Popo I had never heard before.

Wait, so- Mr. Popo isn't meant to be Black? Listen, I don't know what Mr. Popo is, except very strange. But based on Dragon Ball Z lore, he is a genie. But David had an interesting idea about how Mr. Popo's depiction may be more complicated than we thought.

Let me be very clear here and say that this debate doesn't negate the fact that Mr. Popo still is offensive to people. Like, this is not a get out of jail card. No, absolutely not.

But I do think David's point does, I guess, not add a wrinkle to Black fandom, but it does make it important to realize sort of your position as a fan when you engage with these things.

And I do think that... What David is uplifting here is that even though we have a very unique position as Black people, Black Americans, or just Black people that live in America, our racial framing as fans is still very important.

I think that's why it's so important that Black fans are not only showing their interest in the medium, but taking ownership of the space in a lot of ways and finding ways to merge the cultures in ways that are comfortable and impactful for them. When we were at the convention last year, we actually went to a panel called Kinks and Curls, Ethnic Hair and Cosplay. Right!

I do want to look like the character, but I want to... So you can see there, like, it was a larger conversation about Black cosplayers, how to do your hair as a cosplayer. Do you braid it under a wig? Do you make your own stuff? But it's also about how they want to, like the host said, embody these characters and make them a part of their own identity.

And we can't go to this episode without mentioning that I also...

I dressed up as Drota from Netflix's Castlevania Bloodline. For those who don't know, Drota is a black vampire with bright pink hair. So I made a really big cotton candy pink afro wig, and it caused a lot of ruckus.

It's the hers in the background that really do it for me.

You know, Brittany... It honestly felt extremely heartwarming. I felt like as someone who spent a lot of time as a kid watching anime, reading manga, it can often feel like there's not an easy entry point to bonding with people about it. So to go to a space where literally every person we looked at was another Black person and have them look immediately at my cosplay and be like,

oh, I know exactly who you are and I love the way you did it. It was just like a really beautiful full circle experience.

Wenn jemand Charles und Melanie gesagt hätte, dass sie nach ihrem Tinder-Match gemeinsam einen Channel mit crazy Aufgaben starten, also wirklich crazy. Fünf Tage auf einer einsamen Insel verbringen, eine Zipline an einem Gurt runterrasen, eine Million Views knacken, eine Wand mit Sauknöpfen hochklettern und Fallschirmspringen in Ägypten? Das hätten die beiden niemals geglaubt.

Aber das ist das Ding mit Tinder. Es führt dich an Orte, die du nie erwartet hättest. Wohin es dich auch führt. It starts with a swipe. Tinder.

We'll have to distract him and trap him, but it can be done. Do you believe it, Bob? Do you believe it?

You want to die out here. Well, then die. I tell you what, I'm not going to die. Oh, sorry. I'm not going to die. No, I'm going to kill the bear. Say it, I'm going to kill the bear. Say it, I'm going to kill the bear. Say it. Say, I'm going to kill the bear.

Today, I'm going to kill the motherfucker.

We're all put to the test, but it never comes in the form or at the point we would prefer, does it?

What are we going to use to bait him, Charles? We lure him. What? We lure him. You know... Maasai boys in Africa, 11 years old. They kill lions with spears. How do we lure him?

If someone had told Charles and Melanie that after their Tinder match, they would start a channel with crazy tasks together. So really crazy. Spend five days on a lonely island, crawl down a zip line on a belt, crack one million views, climb a wall with a lot of buttons and jump a parachute in Egypt? The two would never have believed that. But that's the thing with Tinder.

It takes you to places you would never have expected. Wherever it takes you. It starts with a swipe. Tinder.

Well, that'll be tough because I'm going to ask something that pertains specifically to Scott. I'm Charles from Austin. Scott, I admire the work that you do related to championing young men. I do wonder, perhaps, are there any similar efforts out there related to trying to really challenge older men, when it comes to this idea of leadership, where are we?

So many of the problems that we have, it seems to me, could be better addressed if we had true leadership. And I don't mean from a left and right political point of view, but honestly, more from a... just truly leading and being in a position where at our core, we know what's right and wrong and having that overvalue or perhaps step above just those baseline, what makes me more money concerns.

Wenn jemand Charles und Melanie gesagt hätte, dass sie nach ihrem Tinder-Match gemeinsam einen Channel mit crazy Aufgaben starten, also wirklich crazy. Fünf Tage auf einer einsamen Insel verbringen, eine Zipline an einem Gurt runterrasen, eine Million Views knacken, eine Wand mit Saugnöpfen hochklettern und Fallschirmspringen in Ägypten? Das hätten die beiden niemals geglaubt.

Aber das ist das Ding mit Tinder. Es führt dich an Orte, die du nie erwartet hättest. Wohin es dich auch führt. It starts with a swipe. Tinder.

I was just in training. I was just in training. I waited four months to go to training just to be fired.

Excited. I was so excited to learn the job. I was telling my management I was going to be the best. They can count on me. And it's not like I have no say-so. Like, they just toss you away. I thought corporate America was like this, not the government. I thought the government takes care of their people.

Yeah, so we live together. She's super, super supportive of the idea of becoming a state trooper. But again, she really likes her job, so leaving our town that we live in is... She's not excited about it, but I think... She is willing to do it for about two years.

That's how long the state would require that I stay in one spot.

Yes, sir. Yeah, that's how you can request your transfer after two years.

Yeah, I think you're totally right.

I have not proposed, but it's in the works.

Yeah. So right now my, uh, we live together in an apartment and, uh, she works full time and, uh, I, um, I'm getting supported by a 529 plan cause I am a student.

It totally depends on what the state says. I... I haven't gone through the process yet.

Yes, sir. I love her very much, and I really... I want her to be very happy.

Before I start the academy. So I'll graduate with my bachelor's in about 10 months. And then I'll be working on the application process in my last quarter.

So, yeah, I'll know before the academy, and the academy is about 16 weeks.

Yes.

Hey, guys. Thank you so much for taking my call.

Hey, so I'm about 10 months away from graduating college. I want to become a state trooper immediately after I graduate, and this would require that I move. The state would have the final say of where I would have to move, and my girlfriend, who really likes her job, I'm trying to get her on the same page. Do you guys have any advice?

My father's 80 years old. My mother passed away in December of 2020 from COVID. And during that transition, I realized how horrible their finances were. They make a lot of money. They were retired. They had a lot. But my dad has since had a stroke and a heart attack. So I'm now a power of attorney. Oh, I'm sorry. Yes. Now, there are two children. There's me and my sister. I'm the oldest.

I am the beneficiary on everything. And that is because my sister is an alcoholic. She has never held a job for any reasonable length of time. Her kids and her have lived off of my parents forever. Now, everybody in this scenario is an adult. So there's going to be, when my dad passes away, there's about $350,000 that I am going to inherit.

But I have made the promise to my dad to take care of my sister, to help her. And I want to know, with respect to his wishes... What is the fair thing to do? And how do you go about taking care of somebody who is an alcoholic? Because in my opinion, I cannot just give her half.

She knows she has a problem. She's been forced to get help. I committed her one time for her alcoholism. But once you're past a certain date in treatment, you can check yourself out. And that's what she does. She has no desire to get help. And... You know, they've purchased everything for her. A house, cars. She had a brand new car that she took a loan out on and got it repossessed.

and her kids have all had cars. Everything they've ever done has been financed through my parents. Me and my house and my children, we've never received anything. We don't ask for anything. My husband and I are retired. We make a great retirement every month. Everything we have is paid for. How many children does your sister have? Well, she had three. One of them just passed away last April.

So that took... her into a terrible um tailspin as well as the other children um and their adult children how old are they their adults um the youngest is going to be 19 and the other one is going to be 23 next month okay and are they healthy are they reasonable and healthy and taking care of themselves or no

Well, the daughter, the oldest, takes care of herself, but she also has the drinks every day.

So it's not a good option to give to her children. The other one, the youngest one, he's just manipulative and has manipulated my father out of it. Thousands. And when I say thousands, since my parents, my mom died, it's close to about 182, 185,000 that they have went through with nothing to show for it. Nothing.

I am Whistler.