Welcome back to another episode of AMERICAPLUS! I'm your host, Cole McCormick, and today we're diving into a cinematic journey that has been years in the making. It's a beautiful September evening, and I'm thrilled to share my thoughts on Francis Ford Coppola's latest film, Megalopolis. This film, which has been a topic of discussion on this podcast for quite some time, finally came to fruition, and I had the privilege of experiencing it.
Megalopolis is a Roman epic set in a fictional version of New York called New Rome. It's a genre-bending, reality-bending film that draws parallels between the fall of Rome and modern America. With a star-studded cast including Laurence Fishburne, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Dustin Hoffman, Adam Driver, and Giancarlo Esposito, this film is a complex and challenging masterpiece that requires multiple viewings to fully absorb. Join me as I unpack the layers of this film, discuss its reception, and explore the broader implications of its themes. Whether you're a film buff or someone interested in societal questions, Megalopolis is a film that deserves your attention. Let's dive into this cinematic adventure and see what it reveals about our world and ourselves.
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[00:00:00]
Cole McCormick:
We're in need for a great debate about the future. What's up, everyone? It's AMERICAPLUS I'm your host, Cole McCormick. It's another week, another episode. What's going on, folks? It's America Plus. It's another week of America Plus. I'm back. We're here. It's happening. Hello. Hello. Hello. It's a beautiful September, Sunday, September 29th, 8:31 in the PM. Folks, welcome to another episode. I'm so happy to be here. I'm happy I'm recording. I've had a good couple weeks at work. It's been a good couple weeks just in my own mind and heart. It's been pleasant, and I'm happy to be back bringing that key on America Plus, guys. I'm happy to be here. Are you happy to be here? Are you happy to be here? I'm so freaking hyped.
We're talking about important things today. We're talking about things that are bringing forward a new, a more beautiful world. Okay? That's the thesis. This week was an important week because something that I have been discussing on this podcast for years or almost a year, years, has finally come to fruition. This this past weekend, I was able to see a film that I didn't know when I would be able to see it, but I saw it. And it has come in this wild moment in my life and Earth's life, and I just I feel blessed that I got to see it. I got to see Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis.
[00:01:35] Unknown:
Megalopolis.
[00:01:37] Cole McCormick:
Megalopolis. Megalopolis. Dude, it was crazy.
[00:01:43] Unknown:
Megalopolis
[00:01:44] Cole McCormick:
was nuts. Dude, it was crazy. I can't believe I saw Megalopolis. It's this okay. So does anyone remember what I talked about? Like, let me just refresh your memory on what this is supposed to be about. Okay? So Francis Ford Coppola, he's had this idea for a film since 19 seventies. He's a big history buff. He likes Rome. He thinks about the Roman Empire from time to time, like most of us, and he sees similarities with the beautiful, the great America. And it's this fable. It's this, like, weird reality bending, genre bending experience.
He calls it a Roman epic about modern America, and it this is it's just crazy. Okay? And a a while ago, I played some clips of, like, some actors that are a part of it. So this is star studded, y'all. Star freaking studded. And just right off the bat, let me just tell you, I like the film, and I'm pretty close to loving it. Okay? It's complicated. It's challenging. This is a film like none other. I promise you. I literally like, I from my from the deepest part of my heart, you have never ever seen a movie like Megalopolis. It is absurd.
It's funny. It's serious. It's poetic. It's historical. It's generational. It's heavy on dialogue. There's 3 Marcus Aurelius quotes in the movie. There's it's there's so much happening, and it's you have to see it twice. You have to see it multiple times. I'm planning on seeing a 3rd time, a 4th time, maybe even a 5th time. I have to absorb all of it because I've only taken in, like, 20% of it, dude. But at at this point, I'm I'm just hyped to talk about it, and I'm so happy it exists. So the actors in it, star studded. Laurence Fishburne. He was in Apocalypse Now. He's in the Matrix.
We got Aubrey Plaza. She's in Parks and Rec. She's hilarious. We got Shia Labeouf, dude. Shia Labeouf is in this movie, dawg. We got Jon Voigt, dude. Jon Voigt, Angelina Jolie's dad is in this movie. We got Dustin Hoffman. He's in a few scenes. We got Adam Driver, the driving force of the modern culture. Adam Driver, dude. He's the main character. He's amazing. Who else is in this? Giancarlo Esposito. Gus from Breaking Bad is in this film, and he gives a very strong performance. He's one of the main characters. And this movie, okay, so this movie is, like, everything you love about Coppola, everything you love about Godfather mixed with Roman history. Okay? So imagine, like, family feuding along with one section of the family feuding with a totally different family, and that that other family is in charge of a city. Okay? So let me just let me just try to unravel this, dude. And for okay. There's spoilers. This movie requires spoilers. There's no way I can get through this and not try to spoil it because you'll understand. As I move through the spoiling, I don't think you'll even understand it because I'm I'm still absorbing it. There's so much to to unpack here. This is a film that is so dense, so little of the audience was ready for it, and including me. But I feel like I'm in some position to speak about it.
So just to refresh your hearts and minds, what was the vibe going into it? What was going on with the actors? What were what was the actors' mindset going into this new film directed by this cinematic master? This is about, this is Jon Voigt. Here's a clip of Jon Voigt talking about the actors. Is there anything you can tell us about this movie? Well, it's a work of the imagination
[00:05:54] Unknown:
that's quite stunning, I think. And we'll see we'll see how the story works itself out, but I'm working with great actors, Adam Driver, Shia Labeouf, and Aubrey Plaza. These these are three enormous talents from this generation, and that was a pleasure to work with them. So we'll see what happens. It's a it's very it's a very almost a brave a brave attempt at something that comes from the mind of this great Francis Ford Coppola. And I hope, I hope that we will achieve what he, the vision he set out.
[00:06:41] Cole McCormick:
The vision he set out. Did they accomplish the vision that he set out? What was the vision? Okay. So like I said, it the Coppola considers this a Roman epic. Okay? This is there's heavy, heavy themes. Like, the entire movie is painted with Rome. The movie opens up in this fictional version of New York called New Rome, And that's like the allegory. Right? Rome fell. America seems to be falling. What does that mean? What does that look like? And and what kinds of questions and thoughts come up about the future, about the future of society? How do we move forward, okay, about the future of society?
Let me turn my freaking computer on. Do not disturb, please. This is insane. New Rome is sort of crumbling, and, Giancarlo Gus from I'll just say Gus from Breaking Bad. He plays the mayor. Right? He plays the old guard. And Adam Driver, he's this he's, like, this architect. He's this artist, and he's a part of this this group called the Design Authority. And the Design Authority, they they have jurisdiction to destroy old buildings and to rebuild them in a new way. They have authority over this thing. The specifics are not that important because so many characters and scenes are metaphors and allegories for other truths. And so pretty much what you need to know is Adam Driver is an artist, and he has a power to freeze time.
And what was going on here is Coppola was trying to talk about how artists have this ability, whether it's a painting, a sculpture, a movie, the artist freezes time within their work. And with this, the artist in this story does he freezes time so that he can think, so that he can, like, try to create more things, so that he can look at it longer. And he has this vision for a more beautiful world, And he has this material. He he discovered he invented this type of indestructible material called Megalodon. And it's just like they don't really go too much into it, but it's just this it's this new material that that's around, and it's controversial. And it's weird. It's crazy. People don't wanna use it. But there's a there's a potential to build a brighter society with this material.
And the movie opens up with, Gus from Breaking Bad and Adam Driver. They're at this sort of news convention. They're at this gathering of of of, of an update to the city. And Gus, he has this whole unveiling of, ladies and gentlemen, this is a brand new casino. It's gonna bring jobs. It's gonna be good for the community, and you're gonna have fun. The casino, baby. And, like, people are like, whatever. And and we got the old guard pitching, like, the unions. They're pitching the the work. They're pitching the entertainment. And Adam Driver comes in, and he has these speeches and monologues about about you know, he so his first lines are to be or not to be.
That is the question of this society. And there's a lot of Shakespeare references. There's a lot of Roman references. There's so many references. The movie is so heavy on the dialogue and the quotes from things like if you are inclined to read about history, you would have read these quotes. And the movie is this big swirling it just swirls of all these characters doing what they wanna do and and and and living how they wanna live, and they're sort of clashing throughout time. Adam Driver, he his wife is dead. He's he's fucking this newscaster, Aubrey Plaza, whose name is Wow Platinum.
Her name is Wow Platinum. And she's this, like, gold digger bitch, dude. Like, she's hot. They make her sexy in the movie, and she's, like, just hungry for money and power. She wants to be the other half of a power couple. And she's, like, nefarious, and she's gonna and she's dating and fucking Adam Driver because his uncle is the richest man in the world. His uncle, Jon Voigt, is in charge of the banks. He's in charge of the money. And so she's trying to climb that ladder. And, you know, that relationship is you know, that's very it's a it's a very, surface level relationship, and so that sort of crumbles in the beginning. And no one knows Adam Driver can stop time.
Whenever he freezes time, the clouds, the birds, and the people, and whatever's happening in front of him, the entire world stops, and it's like a secret. And there's this woman, the daughter of Gus, the the daughter of the mayor. She's just like this, like, socialite. She's partying. You know? She's with her friends. You know, she's not really she doesn't really have any real opinions. You know, she's just we see her just, doing drugs and kissing her friends and just, like, having a good time at night. And she sees Adam Driver freeze time.
For some reason, she is not frozen. She's able to see what Adam Driver does, and she's mesmerized by it. And then she gets curious. And, after she gets curious, she now she wants to go to Adam Driver, but this is controversial because her father is in conflict with Adam Driver. Adam Driver is just like like megalomaniac. Like, that's how he's described by Gus. Like, he's this he's this crazy artist who's gonna destroy society with his art, with his buildings, with his designs. And and but but but she is so curious, and she is so in awe of what she just saw. And what I wanted to know, I wanna play a a clip of these two characters meeting just to give you a little taste of what the dialogue is like and what the vibes are like. You got a little noir jazz music in this clip, and you got some just just get ready, dude.
[00:13:25] Unknown:
You wanna help me? Yeah. And while I while I want to learn.
[00:13:33] Unknown:
And you think 1 year of medical school entitles you to plow through the riches of my Emersonian mind? Entitles me? Yes.
[00:13:42] Unknown:
Entitles me? Yes. Entitles me? Yes. You have no idea about me.
[00:13:50] Unknown:
You think I am nothing, just a socialite? No. Not nothing, but I reserve my time for people who can think about science and literature and architecture and art. You find me cruel, selfish, and unfeeling? I am. I work without caring what happens to either of us. So go back to the club, bear it all, and stalk the kind of people that you enjoy.
[00:14:16] Unknown:
Fine. I will.
[00:14:19] Unknown:
Come back when you have more time.
[00:14:23] Unknown:
Yes. I saw you change the laws of physics. Could it be the great Caesar Catalina doesn't obey anything, not even T symmetry?
[00:14:35] Unknown:
What did you say?
[00:14:38] Unknown:
I was hoping you'd tell me.
[00:14:43] Cole McCormick:
I just need to play the end part again, dude.
[00:14:47] Unknown:
Great. Caesar Catalina doesn't obey anything, not even t symmetry. Not even t symmetry? Like, what?
[00:14:54] Cole McCormick:
I fucking love this movie, dude. This movie's insane. These and and then and then you hear this this this jazz just comes in.
[00:15:06] Unknown:
What did you see? What did you see?
[00:15:09] Unknown:
I was hoping you'd tell me.
[00:15:12] Cole McCormick:
I was hoping you'd tell me. It's this it's like this, like, sex scene noir, like, we're on the edge of society, like, you can see what I do? What do you mean? What do you mean you can see me? And it just, like, it like, I just vibed with it. And now here's the hard thing. Here's the difficult thing. My first viewing of this film, it was in, it was in a movie theater. It was, like, super late at night. It was, like, 11:30 at night, and my theater was, like, ragging on the movie. My theater was laughing within mockery of the film.
So that clip I just saw, like, they got a lot of laughs, but within, like, a, what the fuck is happening right now? What? And it it it it was a Thursday night. I'm sure some people were drunk. It was super late. But peep like, my my first viewing was, like, the people around me were negative. And I was, like, stunned as well. Like, I didn't know, but I was watching. Like, what is this? T symmetry? T symmetry? I don't know what this is. I don't know physics. And, but I wasn't mocking it. I didn't have the instinct to mock it, but the people around me, it seemed like they were. And that's sort of been like the vibe online too. People have been memeing on it. Now long story short, Megalopolis, it cost $120,000,000 to make.
Coppola sold his ownership of his wine company so that he could make this film, which is badass. Like, I don't care how much money it makes. If you have the balls to sell your ownership of your company, to make a movie, I I I will support you. I will see it multiple times for that reason. So that has to be commended. You have to respect the balls, the goal, the sheer the sheer effort to to just make a movie with that. Like, that's incredible. And so maybe I'm a little biased with that, and and and I wish people were more sympathetic to that. Like, maybe we could just, like, not mock the movie and just, like, try to figure out what he's really talking about here. And that's what we're doing at at America Plus, of course. But people online are memeing on it.
And people are really laughing at when Adam Driver goes, go back to the club. Go back to the club. But, like, that that's just a moment where he's mocking this girl. You know? He doesn't really know this girl at all, so he just, like, he's just mocking her. So it's like an entertaining moment. But people were like, what the fuck was that? Like, they couldn't believe it. Like, literally, everyone who's seen this movie now, this movie made $4,000,000 over the weekend. I don't know how long it's gonna be in theaters, but I encourage you to go see it. Support Coppola. Support this human being. It's funny. Because it's made so little money and because it's Coppola, it's clear that the people who are seeing it are film buffs, and they are, like, of the world. Like, they they know the name, they've seen these other movies, and they and they have opinions on movies.
And within the film culture, there's so much, like, there's so much talk about, like, how shitty Marvel movies are, or how, like, how people just want original stuff. There's not original movies anymore. What happened to the Jerry Maguires? What happened to the random one offs? What happened, man, one movie? And then Megalopolis comes out, and these same fucking people are memeing on it. These same people are, like, the same like, they're complaining about AI, and they're making fun of Coppola. Like, what the fuck is that? Like, that's what I see in front of me. I see people bashing AI and making fun of Coppola. Like, you can't have it both ways. You just can't. You can't blame the computer and then not support the human. Like, that's real bullshit, dude. That's real bullshit. So I support both of those things equally, and that's my position.
And I just had to work through that. I had to just allow the audience to be the audience because, you know, that's you don't have control over the audience. Whenever you make any movie, even a Marvel movie, you do not have control over how the audience will react. And, you know, it's laissez faire. Hands off. You gotta just just go with the flow with that. You know, many other filmmakers have discussed this. Some movies are not expected to be big, and then they are big because of the audience. And some movies that are expected to be a big hit, they just they just fall in sync. They just don't make any money.
And that's all because of the audience, the marketplace. And when I saw this movie for the first time, I it's clearly something that's gonna be like a slow it's gonna be a slow burn. It's gonna be a simmer. People are gonna people are gonna think about Megalopolis. Like, they're gonna stumble upon Megalopolis throughout time, and they're gonna say, you know, I never saw this. What is this movie? And in my opinion, I think it's gonna be it it will catch on in time. It will be a cult classic. It will be something that, like, the the real prime movie lovers are gonna love, the real innovative thinkers are gonna point to. Like, when Coppola made Megalopolis, he showed us that we can actually do something. Like, this is this is one of those movies.
And for me being Cole, I just I feel so blessed to be living alive in this moment in time. I wrote on Twitter, I after my second viewing, I said, I I'm sitting on top of a mountain top in awe of what I have seen. Like, I cannot believe that I am getting a Coppola movie at this age, like, his age, like, his old age, and it's about these types of themes. You know? And he cares about America. You know? He cares about society. He wants people to be happy. Coppola, he's the artist. You know? Like, he wants people to flourish. You know? How many artists want people to be, like, sad? Have you ever met an artist who wants you to be sad?
You know? Like, that's the thing with art, dude. Like, it's supposed to inspire. It's supposed to make other people happy. Like, artists wanna make other people happy, usually. You know? We wanna vibe. And, Coppola is one of those guys. And, it's just incredible to to be sitting in the theater and to and to do my best to absorb what he was trying to convey. Now my one criticism of the film, because of the because of how the dialogue is and because of the amount of, quotes there are, from Marcus Aurelius and and and references to other philosophical and historical things. The movie could have been a podcast.
I'm just, like, being, like, totally real to you. The dialogue could be a podcast, but that's why I'm doing the podcast right now. So this is the official Megalopolis podcast. I don't have all the quotes with me, but I'm I'm telling you right now, it could've been. It really could've been, but it's entertaining. It's entertaining. The film so the images let let me talk about the images of the film. Nothing is boring. Like, when you're looking at it and when you're listening to it, nothing is boring. It's just complex. The images are beautiful and interesting, and, the music is really pretty to listen to.
And there's a lot of, like, Roman sounding sounds, and there's a lot of there's, like, American esque sounds. Like, there's, like, an organ that you would hear at, like, a baseball game. Like, like, just like the the the the there's sounds that you have heard if you grew up in America. And then there's also sounds that you've heard if you've done any, like, if you watch any other Roman stuff. You know? It's this really interesting blend of these two cultures and concepts. Because that's really what it is. Like, he doesn't Coppola doesn't go too political with it even though some politics are involved. This is not an anti Trump movie. This is not a pro Democrat movie.
This is a pro America slash pro human being movie, and that's all you can ask for. Like, what else are you gonna ask for? Like, that's, like, that's good. That's an objectively good thing to create. Within the movie, they talk about utopia. What is a utopia? Gus, the mayor, he doesn't really he sees utopia as like as like a flimsy thing that that that turns into dystopia. And Coppola, in an interview, he actually had a really interesting thing to say about about utopia, about this concept.
[00:24:21] Unknown:
What does the film say? The film says pretty clearly that that, utopia is to be able to talk about it and ask any question. That that is utopia. That if we would just have a conversation, all all the film is saying, let's talk. Yeah. It's time to talk about the future. Yeah. But don't you agree it's time to talk about the future? We should and we have to talk in a way where you can ask any question.
[00:24:48] Unknown:
We're in need of a great debate about the future.
[00:24:52] Cole McCormick:
It's incredible
[00:24:53] Unknown:
about the future.
[00:24:58] Cole McCormick:
That is a utopia. Right? Do you agree with that? Like, does a utopia equal being able to speak about anything you want in any way you want? You know, that sounds like a utopia to me. Anytime you read about any government suppressing speech, suppressing books, burning books, arresting people for thinking differently, arresting people for Facebook, comments, like, that's some real bullshit. Like, that's some real bullshit. Posting a meme in California is illegal.
[00:25:33] Unknown:
Illegal.
[00:25:39] Cole McCormick:
It's beautiful to live in a world where you can I personally can have these ideals, and then I can see a movie that's trying to tell a story with these ideals? It's really good. I think it's really fucking good, and I really want you to go see it. I really think you should. If you don't care about America, then don't don't see it. If you don't care if you'd if you're not interested in Roman history, don't go see it. If you don't care about society, don't go see it. But if you do, then please go see it. And if you don't have access to to the movie theater, if you don't wanna spend the money, it's okay. I I I sort of get it. I want you to go to the theater because it's a great experience. It's a really unique experience. But, you know, just watch this movie.
You need to watch Megalopolis because the the performances are amazing, and it's fun. Like, you're supposed to have fun with this movie. Like, imagine playing and thinking about serious things at the same time. That's what Megalopolis is. It's this fantasy version of the country that we all love discussing the most necessary things that we must discuss, it encourages you to be brave to have a conversation about these things. Do you believe like, what do you think is going to move forward in in society? Like, do you think we are living in the best way right now? Is there a better way to live?
Is there a better way to structure society? We, the people, are in charge of that, and that begins with the individual. It begins with the individual opening up their heart and being honest with their voice, being honest with their mouth, and actually using their brains, using their their sight to discern, and then and then to, like, speak and to act. Like like, this is, like, primal. This is some primal civilization shit, and it's awesome. It's so awesome. I don't have any other clips. I just wanted to talk about how awesome the movie was. It's not important to share clips. You know? It's what's important is you need to go see it, and I'm seeing it again.
What else is coming to me right now? Adam Driver was good. Aubrey Plaza was awesome. Shia Labeouf. I need to talk about Shia Labeouf. Shia Labeouf, so he plays this character who is, like, he's, like, the family spoiler. You know? Like, he's, like, he's just, like, this, like he's handling. And he's, like, he's, like, causing trouble everywhere he goes. There's rumors that he's fucking his sisters, which is, like, classic Coppola. Like, some, like, some some, like, some, suggestual suggested incest, which is weird. Like, why is that even around? But, like, it just sort of fits in with the vibe of Rome and, like, society crumbling, and he's sort of a party or 2. And he's he's just living off his dad's money, you know, like like, he's just one of those kids. He has his ugly hair, ugly ass mullet. Ugly. Ugly.
Ugly. Ugly mullet, dude. And, he, he's jealous of Adam Driver, and he's been he's been feuding with Adam Driver, his cousin, since he was, like, 6 years old. And he thinks that he's better than than Adam Driver even though he's created nothing. Shia Labeouf's character really believes that whatever is inside of him is better than Adam Driver, the artist who builds who's created a new material. There's a lot of jealousy from Shia Labeouf, and there's a lot of hatred and and and greed from him. Shia Labeouf steals his father's bank. He sort of undermines Jon Voigt and becomes this new CEO of the bank because Aubrey Plaza convinced him to.
And then so and and then him and Aubrey Plaza are, like, together for a minute. It's so wild, dude. Some people die in the movie. Jon Voigt shoots Aubrey Plaza with an arrow to the chest. It's awesome. And then he shoots Shia Labeouf with 2 arrows in the butt, and Shia Labeouf, like, scurries away with these 2 arrows in his ass, like, like, it's hilarious. And Jon Voight's dressed up as Robin Hood too. It's like this, like, reverse Robin Hood. Instead of stealing from the rich, he's, like, protecting his own riches from the people stealing from him.
There's, like, just things that, like, just flip them on their head, dude. There's, like I cannot describe it. I'm trying my best to. I I I'm at a loss for words. I need to see it a third time. I need to see it a 4th time. This movie requires you to think. If you like media that makes you think, you need to see Megalopolis. It's so important. It's so important. And on the front of the more beautiful world so the movie goes on. Adam Driver and the mayor's daughter, they fall in love, and they have a kid, and, you know, they're just in love.
Adam Driver ends up getting shot in the head. Okay? He doesn't die, but he gets shot in the head by this 12 year old. And while he's, like, signing this kid's autograph, he's like, well, Sam, it was nice to meet you. And the kid's like, yeah. You too. Bang. Like, holy crap. Like, that's classic Coppola. And then what happens in the movie is now this is where it gets weird, dude. So the they have this material, this megalodon material. They use this material to heal Adam Driver. It's not clear about what this material does. Like, at at first, it just seemed like some sort of building material, but now all of a sudden it's some, like, it's some biological bridge that's gonna help his brain and neurons reform.
And so they put this they put this material in his face, and, like, half of his skull is, like, gone. Right? Like, he got shot in the face. And so and he has this giant bandage on his head, and, he's he's walking around with a cane, and he's in pain. And screaming. He's has this, like he has these, like, these raging screaming fits. Like, he I think he's in so much pain. And, Aubrey Plaza freezes his bank accounts because she's, like, a bitch. And, and she goes over to to her and and to his uncle so that he can get them unfrozen. And he stands up, and he ends up taking off this bandage.
And it's like this, like, glowing crystal skull eye that's, like, on his face. Like, half of his face is, like, the crystal skull in Indiana Jones 4. And there's just, like, Egyptian music playing when he takes it off. And he and then his bandant his bandage is in the shape of, like, some, like, Arab hat. Like, it's it's like it's some, like, Egyptian Middle Eastern hat thing. That's his bandage, but then there's, like, Egyptian music. So they're going with this Egyptian vibe, and there's just, like, there's this deeper subconscious thing that that goes on with Adam Driver, that I don't know if a lot of people really saw, but there's this so when he gets shot, that's, like, him going, like, into himself.
Him getting shot is his transformation moment, which is, like, him coming to terms with his past and him, just being honest with himself and him letting go of whatever's happened. And during these, like like, scenes, like, these flashes of images, Adam Driver, he's in his subconscious. This is this is my interpretation. He's in his subconscious, and there's Egyptian architecture. It looks like there's it looks as though there's hieroglyphs on the wall. You can't really see it, but, like, if you were to really look at the image, it looks as though he's in, like, ancient Egypt, which is interesting because the entire thing is about ancient Rome, but Egypt is so much older than Rome.
And so I the way I have interpreted this is Coppola was using these the architecture of these societies to to sort of, talk about, like like, the consciousness of the time, sort of. And when we're in Adam Driver's subconscious, the Egyptian stuff, that's like raw. You know? That's like that's like early. That's like that's, like, primitive. That's, like, where things sort of begin. You know? Regardless of what you think about the history of society. You know? Egypt, ancient Egypt is always this like, that's where it all begun. Like, that's where the real questions are, ancient Egypt. Even though, like isn't, like, Samaria older than Egypt? But, like, no one knows anything about Samaria. Like, no one knows anything about that. So but we have all these questions about we have all these dreams about ancient Egypt, though. I would love to go to Egypt if I had a time machine.
I wanna see the pyramids. And it's in this Egyptian architecture where he comes to terms with his dead wife, and his wife speaks to him and tells him, like, to be with this new woman. Like, it's okay. And I just thought that was interesting, to use a different society for the subconscious. Within another film discussing subconscious, naturally, I think about Inception. You know, Christopher Nolan within Inception, he used the beach as, like, the as, like, the ground floor for your subconscious, but Coppola uses ancient Egypt for reasons that I'm still absorbing and trying to think about.
It's extremely unique. It's extremely unique. And then his, like and and then this material is almost magic. This material is almost unworldly, and there's, like and then there's Egyptian music. Like, I don't know how else to, like, tell you this. Like, there's just these, like, weird Egyptian sounds when he takes off his bandage. Like, what the fuck does that mean? And that was another moment where people were, like, laughing. Like,
[00:36:32] Unknown:
what the fuck is it? What's on his face?
[00:36:36] Cole McCormick:
Like, dude, like, I'm trying to think about this, guys. Like, I'm try I like I'm like the kid. I'm like the kid that goes, stop making fun of him. He's nice. Like, It's just, like, I I I feel really, like I I I feel a little alone in this situation, even though Shannon liked it. Shannon did not like it, her first viewing. I think it was just because it was super late at night. But after her second viewing, she was like, oh my god. This movie was actually incredible. This movie was really good. And I was like, okay. Good. Thank god. We're sort of on the same page. But so many few people so few people are on the same page with me. When I'm on Twitter, I'm scrolling through, and people are, like, very few people are saying they love it.
People are saying they've never seen it before, people are putting up memes about it, people are saying it's terrible, People are sort of celebrating its its flop. And this is bullshit, dude. It's so bullshit. Because if you remember when I talked about this back in March 2024, Coppola debuted this movie for all of the Hollywood executives, and a quote that came out of that screening, it was done at Universal Studios out here in Hollywood. Some of the Hollywood execs said Megalopolis is unmarketable. It was picked up by a smaller distributor, but Coppola was wanting a wide release. He was wanting a huge like, he wanted this to be big, and Hollywood just didn't, like, give it to him. You know? They gave him a little bit. You know? One company gave him as much as they could, but, the Hollywood elites just weren't into it. They said it was unmarketable.
You know? And to just think about that, you know, because Hollywood has ran off of, like, superheroes and intellectual property and preexisting things and, you know, Megalopolis, you know, it's not preexisting. There's nothing that preexisted. I promise you. And so I like, watching the movie, I can sort of understand the executive's point of view of how, you know, like, we can't market this movie. There's no way, like, we there's no way we can make our money back. There's no way we this this will be profitable. This is the the movie is so unique.
You there is no target audience for it. The target audience, in my opinion, is, like, everyone. It's humanity. It's everyone who thinks. But, unfortunately, within the within the system of consumption and marketing and and just, like, just trying to get your butt in a seat, you know, that's that's not really what people are gonna grab on to. You know? And that's just the reality of where we are right now. But me being me, I chose to see it, and I'm happy I did. And I feel blessed. What an important question to ask within 2024.
Are we living is our society what it could be? Are we living in the best world that we can be living in? You know? And I've been going through so much with me personally. You know? Like, my dad just died, and I'm grieving still, and I'm having these wild spiritual experiences. Like, I keep like, I just I'm just going through a lot right now. You know? Of course, I'm going through, like, things emotionally, but, like, the things that I have really been dealing with since my dad's death is spiritual stuff. I've been, like, going deeper into spirit, into my soul. I've been having more like, I in the last, like, 2 months, guys, I have had more spiritual experiences than I've ever had in my entire life.
Just just just crazy things. You know? Things that I don't really, like I've already shared some, but, like, I don't think it's necessary to share right now. Maybe I'll share it one day soon. But just, like, spiritual stuff. You know? Things that just confirm and affirm a lot of different things that I've been thinking about. And to have this movie come about now about the society that I'm living in, that I've been focused on. You know? I've been focused on that that's the whole reason we're at America plus, dude. I want a more beautiful world. I want America to be good. I want America to be better. I wanna live. I wanna thrive here, and I'm thankful there's an artist who's willing to to make something about those questions and to actually embody the philosophy.
You know? If you one quote that is spoken, by the mayor's daughter, she quotes Marcus Aurelius, Do not speak your philosophy. Embody it, Marcus Aurelius. And that's really important, dude. You know, that I think that's from meditations. I haven't read meditations. I've listened to most of meditations by Marcus Aurelius, and, you know, there's great great wisdom in that. There's great wisdom in that to embody your philosophy. And how do you know what your philosophy is? You know, you have to just do it. You have to experiment. You have to go for it. You have to do what you think is right. You have to look at the world around you and observe and be objective, and, ideally, you make a moral choice.
The choice is yours. You know? Morality is your choice, and the things that you create is your choice. And so many people are sort of stuck in just going along with what has been around, just moving along and following what has been. Are you brave enough to think about something new? You know? How many artists really innovated? You know? Think about you know? That's your own taste. Like like, for me, it's Michael Jackson and Kanye West and Elvis and, like, these, like, icons. You know? Like, they, like, did something with their voice. They did something with with their spirit.
You know? They really expressed themselves. You know? Kanye is still doing it. He's not dead yet. They they didn't kill Kanye yet, but they did get but did he kill did kill Michael Jackson? I've been seeing that conspiracy about Diddy. Diddy paid Michael Jackson's doctor to kill him. That's okay. That's a different thing. Different episode, but if you consider yourself a person who creates things and thinks about the world, I think you have an obligation to yourself to think about how it can be better and to not follow what has been.
You need to take a brave step into the unknown. Something that said in the movie is Adam Driver says this. He says, you only know you're free when you step into the unknown, and that's some real shit. You gotta step into the unknown. You need to explore that that unknown area. You know? And and, like, that's what Star Trek is all about. You know? Like like, traveling to worlds unknown or some what like, whatever the thing captain Kirk says. You know? Like, there's, like, so many things within culture that points to that truth. You know? You need to take that truth into your own life, into your own heart, and I'm doing my best to do this.
You know? I'm doing my best. I have ideas and dreams, and I have concepts of ideas. I have concepts of plans, and it's up to me to embody these things. It's up to me to embody this ideal and and to just go for it. And, you know, it's always a struggle. It's a constant struggle. And then so okay. Let me just wrap this up. Let let me wrap up Megalopolis, and then we'll get into the into the boostograms. I gotta catch up on, like, a few weeks. The last month of boostograms pretty much. The movie ends with the with Megalopolis with this that that's what Adam Driver calls, like, this new version of the city. Megalopolis opens up, and it's this sprawling, beautiful, bright, like, world. You know, the architecture is bright, and it looks like magic. And, it's just stunning. You know?
There's no, like, details about, like, what it is. You know? Like, it's it's just this example. It's supposed to be just this metaphor of, like, a more beautiful world. And it ends on a happy ending, you know. It ends with Adam Driver with a newborn baby, and he shakes hands with his wife's, father, and the mayor ends up accepting this this new world. He ends up moving forward with with the times, and everyone is happy, and everyone chooses to step into that new world. And it's their choice. You know? Because there's there's a lot of conflict. You know? But people, the people choose to step into the new world.
And, you know, that's the big lesson. That's a big message. It's a huge lesson that is fundamental to you know, regardless of what religion you are, what philosophy you enjoy, you know, the fundamental thing needs to be that the individual needs to step into a more beautiful world, into a more beautiful life, make a more loving decision for yourself and your neighbor, for yourself and your family. You need to make these choices. You know? Something that I've been thinking about is this concept of morality being objective. And and is that real? Does that exist? Is morality objective? You know? And I'm I'm one to think that that it is. It is very easy to see when something is moral and when something is not moral.
It is only within these, like, TV shows, like Breaking Bad, when we actually get to experiment with, like, being bad. You know? Like, oh, Walter was so justified murdering that guy. Like, no. Actually, no. Objectively, you shouldn't murder. You know, like, there's, like, things like, there's narratives within the world that make us think that morality is gray or there's examples of it being okay for morality to be gray, but it in reality, like, objective reality, it there's not. You need to make a loving choice. You need to be moral. And and morality, like, being moral means to to to sustain life, to help life thrive, to make sure love is at the center of your being, you know, to not be, to not be forceful with your will, to to not seek harm on another person, and to not allow your emotions and greed to control you.
You know? Like, that's what I'm talking about. Like and it's greed and jealousy that that forces people to be angry. You know? It's it's fear also. You know, fear is this fundamental thing that makes people fight and go to war, and you gotta ascend. You gotta transcend that, and that's your personal choice. And Megalopolis is a fable of how of how you can do that, of how an artist can look at the world around them and freeze time and do their best to make a more beautiful world. You know? And that's what that's what I take away from it, man. I think it's really important. So so, yeah, that's Megalopolis, guys. I saw it. I saw it twice, and I'll see it again.
You gotta go see it too. It's flipping
[00:49:20] Unknown:
awesome. Go see Megalopolis
[00:49:23] Unknown:
in theaters now.
[00:49:26] Cole McCormick:
Bada bing bada boom, folks. I love it. Let's get into the Boostagram, shall we? Okay. So I need to I need to catch up on since freaking August, I need to catch up on the August Boostagrams. It's been 2 months since I've read Boostagrams. There's not too many, thank god, because it's a still pretty small show. But, so we're catching up on the Boostagrams. So okay. America Plus. Value for value. America Plus is a value for value show. This This is what is value for value? Value for value is I bring forward ideas and content, and I produce this show for you.
And you're able to reciprocate the value that you're getting, Whether that be through a comment, whether that be through you sharing it online, whether that be through you sending a message with a payment attached to it, which is what a Boostagram is.
[00:50:17] Unknown:
Oh, and and by the way, you should download Fountain. Go to value for value dot info for more info, then download the fountain.fm
[00:50:24] Cole McCormick:
app. It's the best way to support the show. Fountain.fm is my favorite podcasting app. It's a modern podcasting app. And, pretty much, you you're able to send messages with payments attached to them with small bits of Bitcoin called Satoshis. And, Founders had a big update where they hooked up this, like, new social media situation called Nostr. I'm on it. I am finally on Nostr, so find me. My name's Cole McCormick on there, and I'm I'm gonna I'm trying to engage with that more. I'm trying to figure out Noster. I don't really understand it yet, but, I think it's fun. And I wanna like, this is it, dude. This is the America Plus community. Boostograms, be a part of it. This first Boostagram comes in from at the Mere Mortals podcast. He sends in 5,492 satoshis. That's Kyron Down from Australia.
And that's my favorite Boostagram number, 5492. That's the number of my Star Wars book, of my Star Wars archive book. I got I have this giant book of, like, behind the scenes of the Star Wars prequels, and I have number 5,492 out of 10,000 copies. So that's that number. Thank you, Kyron, for sending in that number. That's a great number. And, Kyron is commenting on my episode where I tell the story of the death of my father. It's pretty intense. It's number 134. Go check it out if you wanna if you wanna cry with me. Kyron says, wow. What an adventure.
I really didn't recognize our similarities until you lay it out like that, Cole. His mom died this year as well. So me and Kyron were able to connect with that. When I hung out with him, he says, your father's passing reminded me of a special of special moments I had with my mom. Thank you for that. So happy that we got to meet and honored to have been a part of your experience over the last month. Like you, I'm being positive and looking forward to the next chapter of our lives. Love you, brother. I love you, Kyren. Boosting is loving. You are incredible. You're a strong man. And, dude, you're gonna get a bombshell of a girl. I'm telling you right now. He's looking for a girlfriend, folks.
He's gonna we gotta pray for Karen. Pray for Karen. This next one comes in from at Frillace. Frillace sends in a whopping 7,777 sats, dude. That's a striper boost. What up, Frillace? Thank you for that, frillace. He's commenting on this, on my on on my dead dad's post. He says, praying for you and your family, Cole. I can't imagine how hard a loss like this is to navigate. For dads, it sounds like you are gifted with one of the best. Please take all the time you need to start creating more episodes, but thankful to have you back. God bless and stay free. Yes, sir. Boost.
[00:53:16] Unknown:
Stay free. And now, as the French say, it is time for le boost.
[00:53:22] Cole McCormick:
Stay free, dude. Stay free, Phyllis. Power to the people. These next 2, the last ones come from our friend at Saintsandsats. What up, Saintsandsats? He sends in 2 of them. Both of these are 500 satoshis. Thank you so much, dude. The first one says okay. So this is from, the my most recent episode, where I talked about I had this, like, spooky experience, where I was meditating and these, like, words came to me in the middle of meditation. And it was like it it was as if I was, like, receiving words. It was as if, like, words were being put in my head. And, some of these words were once you slow down, you will find answers.
And, Satan Sass is commenting on that. He says, once you slow down, you will find answers. Wow. That's a powerful message. I needed to be reminded of that too. Hell, yeah, dude. And then the next one from Saint Satz, he says, I've heard priests say that encountering the spirits of loved ones after their recent deaths is a very common occurrence. They say it was common all through history and even continues today, but people don't really talk about it anymore. I know people personally who I totally trust who describe encounters, but I have not sensed it myself.
So, yeah, you're just having a normal human experience as far as I know. So thank you, dude. It's basically
[00:54:46] Unknown:
you put Bitcoin with anything, and all of a sudden, that is more efficient. Let's do what's this one? I I like this one.
[00:54:54] Unknown:
And now I need more of it. As the French say, it is time for the boost.
[00:54:58] Cole McCormick:
I need more sounds. I gotta get more ISOs. I'm trying to so while I'm re I'm sort of in this, like, slow down and revamping phase of America Plus. I'm I'm, like, trying to figure out what like, how to approach the content, how to approach the discussion. I don't want it to be as wide ranging. I'm not trying to do random shit. You know? I'm happy that I got to talk about this film because it's sort of it's it's American culture. It's American art. And so I think I'm leaning more into that. And while I am taking this time, I'm just been experiencing so many different spiritual stuff that it's, it's hard to put into words, but I really appreciate your words, Saint and Sats, because it's, it's a surreal experience, and it's an in it's an intense experience. And to say that it's, like, a normal human experience, like, okay. Like, if this is normal, then this is nuts.
Human humanness is crazy, but it's also really cool. Really fun. It's like, I feel like I'm on, like, the edge. I'm on, like like I I don't know how to describe it. If you're watching the video, I'm doing this weird motion. I'm in this I feel like I'm on the edge of something, man. Like, I'm on the threshold of something right now. I feel the same way as I do as I did in January 2020. The way that my emotions and body is right now is I is how I felt January 2020. I was, like, I was super, like, positive me. Oh, Colin McCormack. 2020. We're gonna be awesome. We're gonna win win win win win.
It's the COVID lockdown. You're not going anywhere. I felt as if I was on the threshold of a new thing in January 2020, and then all of a sudden, something unexpected just, like, fucking hit me in the face. And that's sort of what happened this time, but in a different way. You know? I got hit in the face. I got hit in the fucking balls, dude. Like, I got hit, dude, and this is big. This is, like, life changing shit. I'm living a different fucking life right now, and I'm going through a lot of emotions. And I want this podcast to continue to be a representation of myself along with being this, like, this arrow.
Like, I feel like I have this responsibility to to sort of, like, to, like, make this arrow for this for thoughts, for the world, for for something, dude. Like, I wanna point to this I won't shut the fuck up about it, the more beautiful world. Like, we're we're moving towards it, dude. I don't know how else to to to describe it. There's, like, spiritual examples, and then there's, like, cinematic examples. Like, there's all these examples around me. And maybe it's just, like, recency bias or, like, I'm just, like, whatever that word is. Like, as soon as I start thinking about it, then I start seeing it. You know? Is that fake? I don't think so. I think it's reality.
And I see us moving towards this new thing, and it's right in front of us, and it's a choice. We have the choice to to to engage with this more beautiful thing, and America Plus is that. I want it to be that. And so we're experimenting. We're doing it, and we're thriving. We're thriving with it. So that's value for value, folks. Thank you so much for all those people who sent in boosti grounds. That's the America Plus community. That's what you can be a part of. Don't be afraid to download Fountain.fm. Download Fountain.fm right now. Send in a boostagram. Set up your wallet. Get some Bitcoin in there, and be a part of this new system, dude. Value for value is legit.
Okay? Another way that it's legit, dude, is music. I'm about to play a song. Okay? We're wrapping up the episode right now. I'm about to play a song that, is a part of this value for value world. There are currently musicians who are posting their music through RSS feeds, which gives me the legal ability to put their music in my show. And their song like, they these musicians have a Bitcoin wallet attached to their music. So I'm hooking up this this artist named, what's her name? What's her name? Covina. Covina. The this artist, Covina, has this amazing song called That Smile You're Wearing. I think it's a beautiful song. It's a little dance y song.
90% of the Satoshis that you choose to send while this song plays is going to Covina, dude. That's the power of value for value. We're getting artists paid, dude. Talk about, like, freezing time. Talk about talk about moving time, manipulating matter. We got some magic Internet money that you can send directly to the artist while their song plays. Have you ever heard of something like that? No. You haven't, because it's brand freaking new. This is America Plus. This is where the innovation is, dude. Podcasting is hip hop, dude. America Plus is the future, dawg. Like, this ain't no bullshit. This ain't no scam. This is value for value. This is America Plus, and we're chilling with and we're chilling, we're smiling, and we're partying with Cavinia. This is that smile that you're wearing, Don't forget to send it in a boostagram. Enjoy.
[01:00:31] Unknown:
That smile you're wearing goes ear to ear. I hadn't seen it so long. That smile you're wearing from ear to ear makes my heart feel so warm. That's why you're wearing from ear to ear, I hadn't seen for too long. That's why you're wearing from ear
[01:03:45] Cole McCormick:
That smile you're wearing by Covina, send in a boost a grand. That's America Plus, bitch. Stay free.
We're in need for a great debate about the future. What's up, everyone? It's AMERICAPLUS I'm your host, Cole McCormick. It's another week, another episode. What's going on, folks? It's America Plus. It's another week of America Plus. I'm back. We're here. It's happening. Hello. Hello. Hello. It's a beautiful September, Sunday, September 29th, 8:31 in the PM. Folks, welcome to another episode. I'm so happy to be here. I'm happy I'm recording. I've had a good couple weeks at work. It's been a good couple weeks just in my own mind and heart. It's been pleasant, and I'm happy to be back bringing that key on America Plus, guys. I'm happy to be here. Are you happy to be here? Are you happy to be here? I'm so freaking hyped.
We're talking about important things today. We're talking about things that are bringing forward a new, a more beautiful world. Okay? That's the thesis. This week was an important week because something that I have been discussing on this podcast for years or almost a year, years, has finally come to fruition. This this past weekend, I was able to see a film that I didn't know when I would be able to see it, but I saw it. And it has come in this wild moment in my life and Earth's life, and I just I feel blessed that I got to see it. I got to see Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis.
[00:01:35] Unknown:
Megalopolis.
[00:01:37] Cole McCormick:
Megalopolis. Megalopolis. Dude, it was crazy.
[00:01:43] Unknown:
Megalopolis
[00:01:44] Cole McCormick:
was nuts. Dude, it was crazy. I can't believe I saw Megalopolis. It's this okay. So does anyone remember what I talked about? Like, let me just refresh your memory on what this is supposed to be about. Okay? So Francis Ford Coppola, he's had this idea for a film since 19 seventies. He's a big history buff. He likes Rome. He thinks about the Roman Empire from time to time, like most of us, and he sees similarities with the beautiful, the great America. And it's this fable. It's this, like, weird reality bending, genre bending experience.
He calls it a Roman epic about modern America, and it this is it's just crazy. Okay? And a a while ago, I played some clips of, like, some actors that are a part of it. So this is star studded, y'all. Star freaking studded. And just right off the bat, let me just tell you, I like the film, and I'm pretty close to loving it. Okay? It's complicated. It's challenging. This is a film like none other. I promise you. I literally like, I from my from the deepest part of my heart, you have never ever seen a movie like Megalopolis. It is absurd.
It's funny. It's serious. It's poetic. It's historical. It's generational. It's heavy on dialogue. There's 3 Marcus Aurelius quotes in the movie. There's it's there's so much happening, and it's you have to see it twice. You have to see it multiple times. I'm planning on seeing a 3rd time, a 4th time, maybe even a 5th time. I have to absorb all of it because I've only taken in, like, 20% of it, dude. But at at this point, I'm I'm just hyped to talk about it, and I'm so happy it exists. So the actors in it, star studded. Laurence Fishburne. He was in Apocalypse Now. He's in the Matrix.
We got Aubrey Plaza. She's in Parks and Rec. She's hilarious. We got Shia Labeouf, dude. Shia Labeouf is in this movie, dawg. We got Jon Voigt, dude. Jon Voigt, Angelina Jolie's dad is in this movie. We got Dustin Hoffman. He's in a few scenes. We got Adam Driver, the driving force of the modern culture. Adam Driver, dude. He's the main character. He's amazing. Who else is in this? Giancarlo Esposito. Gus from Breaking Bad is in this film, and he gives a very strong performance. He's one of the main characters. And this movie, okay, so this movie is, like, everything you love about Coppola, everything you love about Godfather mixed with Roman history. Okay? So imagine, like, family feuding along with one section of the family feuding with a totally different family, and that that other family is in charge of a city. Okay? So let me just let me just try to unravel this, dude. And for okay. There's spoilers. This movie requires spoilers. There's no way I can get through this and not try to spoil it because you'll understand. As I move through the spoiling, I don't think you'll even understand it because I'm I'm still absorbing it. There's so much to to unpack here. This is a film that is so dense, so little of the audience was ready for it, and including me. But I feel like I'm in some position to speak about it.
So just to refresh your hearts and minds, what was the vibe going into it? What was going on with the actors? What were what was the actors' mindset going into this new film directed by this cinematic master? This is about, this is Jon Voigt. Here's a clip of Jon Voigt talking about the actors. Is there anything you can tell us about this movie? Well, it's a work of the imagination
[00:05:54] Unknown:
that's quite stunning, I think. And we'll see we'll see how the story works itself out, but I'm working with great actors, Adam Driver, Shia Labeouf, and Aubrey Plaza. These these are three enormous talents from this generation, and that was a pleasure to work with them. So we'll see what happens. It's a it's very it's a very almost a brave a brave attempt at something that comes from the mind of this great Francis Ford Coppola. And I hope, I hope that we will achieve what he, the vision he set out.
[00:06:41] Cole McCormick:
The vision he set out. Did they accomplish the vision that he set out? What was the vision? Okay. So like I said, it the Coppola considers this a Roman epic. Okay? This is there's heavy, heavy themes. Like, the entire movie is painted with Rome. The movie opens up in this fictional version of New York called New Rome, And that's like the allegory. Right? Rome fell. America seems to be falling. What does that mean? What does that look like? And and what kinds of questions and thoughts come up about the future, about the future of society? How do we move forward, okay, about the future of society?
Let me turn my freaking computer on. Do not disturb, please. This is insane. New Rome is sort of crumbling, and, Giancarlo Gus from I'll just say Gus from Breaking Bad. He plays the mayor. Right? He plays the old guard. And Adam Driver, he's this he's, like, this architect. He's this artist, and he's a part of this this group called the Design Authority. And the Design Authority, they they have jurisdiction to destroy old buildings and to rebuild them in a new way. They have authority over this thing. The specifics are not that important because so many characters and scenes are metaphors and allegories for other truths. And so pretty much what you need to know is Adam Driver is an artist, and he has a power to freeze time.
And what was going on here is Coppola was trying to talk about how artists have this ability, whether it's a painting, a sculpture, a movie, the artist freezes time within their work. And with this, the artist in this story does he freezes time so that he can think, so that he can, like, try to create more things, so that he can look at it longer. And he has this vision for a more beautiful world, And he has this material. He he discovered he invented this type of indestructible material called Megalodon. And it's just like they don't really go too much into it, but it's just this it's this new material that that's around, and it's controversial. And it's weird. It's crazy. People don't wanna use it. But there's a there's a potential to build a brighter society with this material.
And the movie opens up with, Gus from Breaking Bad and Adam Driver. They're at this sort of news convention. They're at this gathering of of of, of an update to the city. And Gus, he has this whole unveiling of, ladies and gentlemen, this is a brand new casino. It's gonna bring jobs. It's gonna be good for the community, and you're gonna have fun. The casino, baby. And, like, people are like, whatever. And and we got the old guard pitching, like, the unions. They're pitching the the work. They're pitching the entertainment. And Adam Driver comes in, and he has these speeches and monologues about about you know, he so his first lines are to be or not to be.
That is the question of this society. And there's a lot of Shakespeare references. There's a lot of Roman references. There's so many references. The movie is so heavy on the dialogue and the quotes from things like if you are inclined to read about history, you would have read these quotes. And the movie is this big swirling it just swirls of all these characters doing what they wanna do and and and and living how they wanna live, and they're sort of clashing throughout time. Adam Driver, he his wife is dead. He's he's fucking this newscaster, Aubrey Plaza, whose name is Wow Platinum.
Her name is Wow Platinum. And she's this, like, gold digger bitch, dude. Like, she's hot. They make her sexy in the movie, and she's, like, just hungry for money and power. She wants to be the other half of a power couple. And she's, like, nefarious, and she's gonna and she's dating and fucking Adam Driver because his uncle is the richest man in the world. His uncle, Jon Voigt, is in charge of the banks. He's in charge of the money. And so she's trying to climb that ladder. And, you know, that relationship is you know, that's very it's a it's a very, surface level relationship, and so that sort of crumbles in the beginning. And no one knows Adam Driver can stop time.
Whenever he freezes time, the clouds, the birds, and the people, and whatever's happening in front of him, the entire world stops, and it's like a secret. And there's this woman, the daughter of Gus, the the daughter of the mayor. She's just like this, like, socialite. She's partying. You know? She's with her friends. You know, she's not really she doesn't really have any real opinions. You know, she's just we see her just, doing drugs and kissing her friends and just, like, having a good time at night. And she sees Adam Driver freeze time.
For some reason, she is not frozen. She's able to see what Adam Driver does, and she's mesmerized by it. And then she gets curious. And, after she gets curious, she now she wants to go to Adam Driver, but this is controversial because her father is in conflict with Adam Driver. Adam Driver is just like like megalomaniac. Like, that's how he's described by Gus. Like, he's this he's this crazy artist who's gonna destroy society with his art, with his buildings, with his designs. And and but but but she is so curious, and she is so in awe of what she just saw. And what I wanted to know, I wanna play a a clip of these two characters meeting just to give you a little taste of what the dialogue is like and what the vibes are like. You got a little noir jazz music in this clip, and you got some just just get ready, dude.
[00:13:25] Unknown:
You wanna help me? Yeah. And while I while I want to learn.
[00:13:33] Unknown:
And you think 1 year of medical school entitles you to plow through the riches of my Emersonian mind? Entitles me? Yes.
[00:13:42] Unknown:
Entitles me? Yes. Entitles me? Yes. You have no idea about me.
[00:13:50] Unknown:
You think I am nothing, just a socialite? No. Not nothing, but I reserve my time for people who can think about science and literature and architecture and art. You find me cruel, selfish, and unfeeling? I am. I work without caring what happens to either of us. So go back to the club, bear it all, and stalk the kind of people that you enjoy.
[00:14:16] Unknown:
Fine. I will.
[00:14:19] Unknown:
Come back when you have more time.
[00:14:23] Unknown:
Yes. I saw you change the laws of physics. Could it be the great Caesar Catalina doesn't obey anything, not even T symmetry?
[00:14:35] Unknown:
What did you say?
[00:14:38] Unknown:
I was hoping you'd tell me.
[00:14:43] Cole McCormick:
I just need to play the end part again, dude.
[00:14:47] Unknown:
Great. Caesar Catalina doesn't obey anything, not even t symmetry. Not even t symmetry? Like, what?
[00:14:54] Cole McCormick:
I fucking love this movie, dude. This movie's insane. These and and then and then you hear this this this jazz just comes in.
[00:15:06] Unknown:
What did you see? What did you see?
[00:15:09] Unknown:
I was hoping you'd tell me.
[00:15:12] Cole McCormick:
I was hoping you'd tell me. It's this it's like this, like, sex scene noir, like, we're on the edge of society, like, you can see what I do? What do you mean? What do you mean you can see me? And it just, like, it like, I just vibed with it. And now here's the hard thing. Here's the difficult thing. My first viewing of this film, it was in, it was in a movie theater. It was, like, super late at night. It was, like, 11:30 at night, and my theater was, like, ragging on the movie. My theater was laughing within mockery of the film.
So that clip I just saw, like, they got a lot of laughs, but within, like, a, what the fuck is happening right now? What? And it it it it was a Thursday night. I'm sure some people were drunk. It was super late. But peep like, my my first viewing was, like, the people around me were negative. And I was, like, stunned as well. Like, I didn't know, but I was watching. Like, what is this? T symmetry? T symmetry? I don't know what this is. I don't know physics. And, but I wasn't mocking it. I didn't have the instinct to mock it, but the people around me, it seemed like they were. And that's sort of been like the vibe online too. People have been memeing on it. Now long story short, Megalopolis, it cost $120,000,000 to make.
Coppola sold his ownership of his wine company so that he could make this film, which is badass. Like, I don't care how much money it makes. If you have the balls to sell your ownership of your company, to make a movie, I I I will support you. I will see it multiple times for that reason. So that has to be commended. You have to respect the balls, the goal, the sheer the sheer effort to to just make a movie with that. Like, that's incredible. And so maybe I'm a little biased with that, and and and I wish people were more sympathetic to that. Like, maybe we could just, like, not mock the movie and just, like, try to figure out what he's really talking about here. And that's what we're doing at at America Plus, of course. But people online are memeing on it.
And people are really laughing at when Adam Driver goes, go back to the club. Go back to the club. But, like, that that's just a moment where he's mocking this girl. You know? He doesn't really know this girl at all, so he just, like, he's just mocking her. So it's like an entertaining moment. But people were like, what the fuck was that? Like, they couldn't believe it. Like, literally, everyone who's seen this movie now, this movie made $4,000,000 over the weekend. I don't know how long it's gonna be in theaters, but I encourage you to go see it. Support Coppola. Support this human being. It's funny. Because it's made so little money and because it's Coppola, it's clear that the people who are seeing it are film buffs, and they are, like, of the world. Like, they they know the name, they've seen these other movies, and they and they have opinions on movies.
And within the film culture, there's so much, like, there's so much talk about, like, how shitty Marvel movies are, or how, like, how people just want original stuff. There's not original movies anymore. What happened to the Jerry Maguires? What happened to the random one offs? What happened, man, one movie? And then Megalopolis comes out, and these same fucking people are memeing on it. These same people are, like, the same like, they're complaining about AI, and they're making fun of Coppola. Like, what the fuck is that? Like, that's what I see in front of me. I see people bashing AI and making fun of Coppola. Like, you can't have it both ways. You just can't. You can't blame the computer and then not support the human. Like, that's real bullshit, dude. That's real bullshit. So I support both of those things equally, and that's my position.
And I just had to work through that. I had to just allow the audience to be the audience because, you know, that's you don't have control over the audience. Whenever you make any movie, even a Marvel movie, you do not have control over how the audience will react. And, you know, it's laissez faire. Hands off. You gotta just just go with the flow with that. You know, many other filmmakers have discussed this. Some movies are not expected to be big, and then they are big because of the audience. And some movies that are expected to be a big hit, they just they just fall in sync. They just don't make any money.
And that's all because of the audience, the marketplace. And when I saw this movie for the first time, I it's clearly something that's gonna be like a slow it's gonna be a slow burn. It's gonna be a simmer. People are gonna people are gonna think about Megalopolis. Like, they're gonna stumble upon Megalopolis throughout time, and they're gonna say, you know, I never saw this. What is this movie? And in my opinion, I think it's gonna be it it will catch on in time. It will be a cult classic. It will be something that, like, the the real prime movie lovers are gonna love, the real innovative thinkers are gonna point to. Like, when Coppola made Megalopolis, he showed us that we can actually do something. Like, this is this is one of those movies.
And for me being Cole, I just I feel so blessed to be living alive in this moment in time. I wrote on Twitter, I after my second viewing, I said, I I'm sitting on top of a mountain top in awe of what I have seen. Like, I cannot believe that I am getting a Coppola movie at this age, like, his age, like, his old age, and it's about these types of themes. You know? And he cares about America. You know? He cares about society. He wants people to be happy. Coppola, he's the artist. You know? Like, he wants people to flourish. You know? How many artists want people to be, like, sad? Have you ever met an artist who wants you to be sad?
You know? Like, that's the thing with art, dude. Like, it's supposed to inspire. It's supposed to make other people happy. Like, artists wanna make other people happy, usually. You know? We wanna vibe. And, Coppola is one of those guys. And, it's just incredible to to be sitting in the theater and to and to do my best to absorb what he was trying to convey. Now my one criticism of the film, because of the because of how the dialogue is and because of the amount of, quotes there are, from Marcus Aurelius and and and references to other philosophical and historical things. The movie could have been a podcast.
I'm just, like, being, like, totally real to you. The dialogue could be a podcast, but that's why I'm doing the podcast right now. So this is the official Megalopolis podcast. I don't have all the quotes with me, but I'm I'm telling you right now, it could've been. It really could've been, but it's entertaining. It's entertaining. The film so the images let let me talk about the images of the film. Nothing is boring. Like, when you're looking at it and when you're listening to it, nothing is boring. It's just complex. The images are beautiful and interesting, and, the music is really pretty to listen to.
And there's a lot of, like, Roman sounding sounds, and there's a lot of there's, like, American esque sounds. Like, there's, like, an organ that you would hear at, like, a baseball game. Like, like, just like the the the the there's sounds that you have heard if you grew up in America. And then there's also sounds that you've heard if you've done any, like, if you watch any other Roman stuff. You know? It's this really interesting blend of these two cultures and concepts. Because that's really what it is. Like, he doesn't Coppola doesn't go too political with it even though some politics are involved. This is not an anti Trump movie. This is not a pro Democrat movie.
This is a pro America slash pro human being movie, and that's all you can ask for. Like, what else are you gonna ask for? Like, that's, like, that's good. That's an objectively good thing to create. Within the movie, they talk about utopia. What is a utopia? Gus, the mayor, he doesn't really he sees utopia as like as like a flimsy thing that that that turns into dystopia. And Coppola, in an interview, he actually had a really interesting thing to say about about utopia, about this concept.
[00:24:21] Unknown:
What does the film say? The film says pretty clearly that that, utopia is to be able to talk about it and ask any question. That that is utopia. That if we would just have a conversation, all all the film is saying, let's talk. Yeah. It's time to talk about the future. Yeah. But don't you agree it's time to talk about the future? We should and we have to talk in a way where you can ask any question.
[00:24:48] Unknown:
We're in need of a great debate about the future.
[00:24:52] Cole McCormick:
It's incredible
[00:24:53] Unknown:
about the future.
[00:24:58] Cole McCormick:
That is a utopia. Right? Do you agree with that? Like, does a utopia equal being able to speak about anything you want in any way you want? You know, that sounds like a utopia to me. Anytime you read about any government suppressing speech, suppressing books, burning books, arresting people for thinking differently, arresting people for Facebook, comments, like, that's some real bullshit. Like, that's some real bullshit. Posting a meme in California is illegal.
[00:25:33] Unknown:
Illegal.
[00:25:39] Cole McCormick:
It's beautiful to live in a world where you can I personally can have these ideals, and then I can see a movie that's trying to tell a story with these ideals? It's really good. I think it's really fucking good, and I really want you to go see it. I really think you should. If you don't care about America, then don't don't see it. If you don't care if you'd if you're not interested in Roman history, don't go see it. If you don't care about society, don't go see it. But if you do, then please go see it. And if you don't have access to to the movie theater, if you don't wanna spend the money, it's okay. I I I sort of get it. I want you to go to the theater because it's a great experience. It's a really unique experience. But, you know, just watch this movie.
You need to watch Megalopolis because the the performances are amazing, and it's fun. Like, you're supposed to have fun with this movie. Like, imagine playing and thinking about serious things at the same time. That's what Megalopolis is. It's this fantasy version of the country that we all love discussing the most necessary things that we must discuss, it encourages you to be brave to have a conversation about these things. Do you believe like, what do you think is going to move forward in in society? Like, do you think we are living in the best way right now? Is there a better way to live?
Is there a better way to structure society? We, the people, are in charge of that, and that begins with the individual. It begins with the individual opening up their heart and being honest with their voice, being honest with their mouth, and actually using their brains, using their their sight to discern, and then and then to, like, speak and to act. Like like, this is, like, primal. This is some primal civilization shit, and it's awesome. It's so awesome. I don't have any other clips. I just wanted to talk about how awesome the movie was. It's not important to share clips. You know? It's what's important is you need to go see it, and I'm seeing it again.
What else is coming to me right now? Adam Driver was good. Aubrey Plaza was awesome. Shia Labeouf. I need to talk about Shia Labeouf. Shia Labeouf, so he plays this character who is, like, he's, like, the family spoiler. You know? Like, he's, like, he's just, like, this, like he's handling. And he's, like, he's, like, causing trouble everywhere he goes. There's rumors that he's fucking his sisters, which is, like, classic Coppola. Like, some, like, some some, like, some, suggestual suggested incest, which is weird. Like, why is that even around? But, like, it just sort of fits in with the vibe of Rome and, like, society crumbling, and he's sort of a party or 2. And he's he's just living off his dad's money, you know, like like, he's just one of those kids. He has his ugly hair, ugly ass mullet. Ugly. Ugly.
Ugly. Ugly mullet, dude. And, he, he's jealous of Adam Driver, and he's been he's been feuding with Adam Driver, his cousin, since he was, like, 6 years old. And he thinks that he's better than than Adam Driver even though he's created nothing. Shia Labeouf's character really believes that whatever is inside of him is better than Adam Driver, the artist who builds who's created a new material. There's a lot of jealousy from Shia Labeouf, and there's a lot of hatred and and and greed from him. Shia Labeouf steals his father's bank. He sort of undermines Jon Voigt and becomes this new CEO of the bank because Aubrey Plaza convinced him to.
And then so and and then him and Aubrey Plaza are, like, together for a minute. It's so wild, dude. Some people die in the movie. Jon Voigt shoots Aubrey Plaza with an arrow to the chest. It's awesome. And then he shoots Shia Labeouf with 2 arrows in the butt, and Shia Labeouf, like, scurries away with these 2 arrows in his ass, like, like, it's hilarious. And Jon Voight's dressed up as Robin Hood too. It's like this, like, reverse Robin Hood. Instead of stealing from the rich, he's, like, protecting his own riches from the people stealing from him.
There's, like, just things that, like, just flip them on their head, dude. There's, like I cannot describe it. I'm trying my best to. I I I'm at a loss for words. I need to see it a third time. I need to see it a 4th time. This movie requires you to think. If you like media that makes you think, you need to see Megalopolis. It's so important. It's so important. And on the front of the more beautiful world so the movie goes on. Adam Driver and the mayor's daughter, they fall in love, and they have a kid, and, you know, they're just in love.
Adam Driver ends up getting shot in the head. Okay? He doesn't die, but he gets shot in the head by this 12 year old. And while he's, like, signing this kid's autograph, he's like, well, Sam, it was nice to meet you. And the kid's like, yeah. You too. Bang. Like, holy crap. Like, that's classic Coppola. And then what happens in the movie is now this is where it gets weird, dude. So the they have this material, this megalodon material. They use this material to heal Adam Driver. It's not clear about what this material does. Like, at at first, it just seemed like some sort of building material, but now all of a sudden it's some, like, it's some biological bridge that's gonna help his brain and neurons reform.
And so they put this they put this material in his face, and, like, half of his skull is, like, gone. Right? Like, he got shot in the face. And so and he has this giant bandage on his head, and, he's he's walking around with a cane, and he's in pain. And screaming. He's has this, like he has these, like, these raging screaming fits. Like, he I think he's in so much pain. And, Aubrey Plaza freezes his bank accounts because she's, like, a bitch. And, and she goes over to to her and and to his uncle so that he can get them unfrozen. And he stands up, and he ends up taking off this bandage.
And it's like this, like, glowing crystal skull eye that's, like, on his face. Like, half of his face is, like, the crystal skull in Indiana Jones 4. And there's just, like, Egyptian music playing when he takes it off. And he and then his bandant his bandage is in the shape of, like, some, like, Arab hat. Like, it's it's like it's some, like, Egyptian Middle Eastern hat thing. That's his bandage, but then there's, like, Egyptian music. So they're going with this Egyptian vibe, and there's just, like, there's this deeper subconscious thing that that goes on with Adam Driver, that I don't know if a lot of people really saw, but there's this so when he gets shot, that's, like, him going, like, into himself.
Him getting shot is his transformation moment, which is, like, him coming to terms with his past and him, just being honest with himself and him letting go of whatever's happened. And during these, like like, scenes, like, these flashes of images, Adam Driver, he's in his subconscious. This is this is my interpretation. He's in his subconscious, and there's Egyptian architecture. It looks like there's it looks as though there's hieroglyphs on the wall. You can't really see it, but, like, if you were to really look at the image, it looks as though he's in, like, ancient Egypt, which is interesting because the entire thing is about ancient Rome, but Egypt is so much older than Rome.
And so I the way I have interpreted this is Coppola was using these the architecture of these societies to to sort of, talk about, like like, the consciousness of the time, sort of. And when we're in Adam Driver's subconscious, the Egyptian stuff, that's like raw. You know? That's like that's like early. That's like that's, like, primitive. That's, like, where things sort of begin. You know? Regardless of what you think about the history of society. You know? Egypt, ancient Egypt is always this like, that's where it all begun. Like, that's where the real questions are, ancient Egypt. Even though, like isn't, like, Samaria older than Egypt? But, like, no one knows anything about Samaria. Like, no one knows anything about that. So but we have all these questions about we have all these dreams about ancient Egypt, though. I would love to go to Egypt if I had a time machine.
I wanna see the pyramids. And it's in this Egyptian architecture where he comes to terms with his dead wife, and his wife speaks to him and tells him, like, to be with this new woman. Like, it's okay. And I just thought that was interesting, to use a different society for the subconscious. Within another film discussing subconscious, naturally, I think about Inception. You know, Christopher Nolan within Inception, he used the beach as, like, the as, like, the ground floor for your subconscious, but Coppola uses ancient Egypt for reasons that I'm still absorbing and trying to think about.
It's extremely unique. It's extremely unique. And then his, like and and then this material is almost magic. This material is almost unworldly, and there's, like and then there's Egyptian music. Like, I don't know how else to, like, tell you this. Like, there's just these, like, weird Egyptian sounds when he takes off his bandage. Like, what the fuck does that mean? And that was another moment where people were, like, laughing. Like,
[00:36:32] Unknown:
what the fuck is it? What's on his face?
[00:36:36] Cole McCormick:
Like, dude, like, I'm trying to think about this, guys. Like, I'm try I like I'm like the kid. I'm like the kid that goes, stop making fun of him. He's nice. Like, It's just, like, I I I feel really, like I I I feel a little alone in this situation, even though Shannon liked it. Shannon did not like it, her first viewing. I think it was just because it was super late at night. But after her second viewing, she was like, oh my god. This movie was actually incredible. This movie was really good. And I was like, okay. Good. Thank god. We're sort of on the same page. But so many few people so few people are on the same page with me. When I'm on Twitter, I'm scrolling through, and people are, like, very few people are saying they love it.
People are saying they've never seen it before, people are putting up memes about it, people are saying it's terrible, People are sort of celebrating its its flop. And this is bullshit, dude. It's so bullshit. Because if you remember when I talked about this back in March 2024, Coppola debuted this movie for all of the Hollywood executives, and a quote that came out of that screening, it was done at Universal Studios out here in Hollywood. Some of the Hollywood execs said Megalopolis is unmarketable. It was picked up by a smaller distributor, but Coppola was wanting a wide release. He was wanting a huge like, he wanted this to be big, and Hollywood just didn't, like, give it to him. You know? They gave him a little bit. You know? One company gave him as much as they could, but, the Hollywood elites just weren't into it. They said it was unmarketable.
You know? And to just think about that, you know, because Hollywood has ran off of, like, superheroes and intellectual property and preexisting things and, you know, Megalopolis, you know, it's not preexisting. There's nothing that preexisted. I promise you. And so I like, watching the movie, I can sort of understand the executive's point of view of how, you know, like, we can't market this movie. There's no way, like, we there's no way we can make our money back. There's no way we this this will be profitable. This is the the movie is so unique.
You there is no target audience for it. The target audience, in my opinion, is, like, everyone. It's humanity. It's everyone who thinks. But, unfortunately, within the within the system of consumption and marketing and and just, like, just trying to get your butt in a seat, you know, that's that's not really what people are gonna grab on to. You know? And that's just the reality of where we are right now. But me being me, I chose to see it, and I'm happy I did. And I feel blessed. What an important question to ask within 2024.
Are we living is our society what it could be? Are we living in the best world that we can be living in? You know? And I've been going through so much with me personally. You know? Like, my dad just died, and I'm grieving still, and I'm having these wild spiritual experiences. Like, I keep like, I just I'm just going through a lot right now. You know? Of course, I'm going through, like, things emotionally, but, like, the things that I have really been dealing with since my dad's death is spiritual stuff. I've been, like, going deeper into spirit, into my soul. I've been having more like, I in the last, like, 2 months, guys, I have had more spiritual experiences than I've ever had in my entire life.
Just just just crazy things. You know? Things that I don't really, like I've already shared some, but, like, I don't think it's necessary to share right now. Maybe I'll share it one day soon. But just, like, spiritual stuff. You know? Things that just confirm and affirm a lot of different things that I've been thinking about. And to have this movie come about now about the society that I'm living in, that I've been focused on. You know? I've been focused on that that's the whole reason we're at America plus, dude. I want a more beautiful world. I want America to be good. I want America to be better. I wanna live. I wanna thrive here, and I'm thankful there's an artist who's willing to to make something about those questions and to actually embody the philosophy.
You know? If you one quote that is spoken, by the mayor's daughter, she quotes Marcus Aurelius, Do not speak your philosophy. Embody it, Marcus Aurelius. And that's really important, dude. You know, that I think that's from meditations. I haven't read meditations. I've listened to most of meditations by Marcus Aurelius, and, you know, there's great great wisdom in that. There's great wisdom in that to embody your philosophy. And how do you know what your philosophy is? You know, you have to just do it. You have to experiment. You have to go for it. You have to do what you think is right. You have to look at the world around you and observe and be objective, and, ideally, you make a moral choice.
The choice is yours. You know? Morality is your choice, and the things that you create is your choice. And so many people are sort of stuck in just going along with what has been around, just moving along and following what has been. Are you brave enough to think about something new? You know? How many artists really innovated? You know? Think about you know? That's your own taste. Like like, for me, it's Michael Jackson and Kanye West and Elvis and, like, these, like, icons. You know? Like, they, like, did something with their voice. They did something with with their spirit.
You know? They really expressed themselves. You know? Kanye is still doing it. He's not dead yet. They they didn't kill Kanye yet, but they did get but did he kill did kill Michael Jackson? I've been seeing that conspiracy about Diddy. Diddy paid Michael Jackson's doctor to kill him. That's okay. That's a different thing. Different episode, but if you consider yourself a person who creates things and thinks about the world, I think you have an obligation to yourself to think about how it can be better and to not follow what has been.
You need to take a brave step into the unknown. Something that said in the movie is Adam Driver says this. He says, you only know you're free when you step into the unknown, and that's some real shit. You gotta step into the unknown. You need to explore that that unknown area. You know? And and, like, that's what Star Trek is all about. You know? Like like, traveling to worlds unknown or some what like, whatever the thing captain Kirk says. You know? Like, there's, like, so many things within culture that points to that truth. You know? You need to take that truth into your own life, into your own heart, and I'm doing my best to do this.
You know? I'm doing my best. I have ideas and dreams, and I have concepts of ideas. I have concepts of plans, and it's up to me to embody these things. It's up to me to embody this ideal and and to just go for it. And, you know, it's always a struggle. It's a constant struggle. And then so okay. Let me just wrap this up. Let let me wrap up Megalopolis, and then we'll get into the into the boostograms. I gotta catch up on, like, a few weeks. The last month of boostograms pretty much. The movie ends with the with Megalopolis with this that that's what Adam Driver calls, like, this new version of the city. Megalopolis opens up, and it's this sprawling, beautiful, bright, like, world. You know, the architecture is bright, and it looks like magic. And, it's just stunning. You know?
There's no, like, details about, like, what it is. You know? Like, it's it's just this example. It's supposed to be just this metaphor of, like, a more beautiful world. And it ends on a happy ending, you know. It ends with Adam Driver with a newborn baby, and he shakes hands with his wife's, father, and the mayor ends up accepting this this new world. He ends up moving forward with with the times, and everyone is happy, and everyone chooses to step into that new world. And it's their choice. You know? Because there's there's a lot of conflict. You know? But people, the people choose to step into the new world.
And, you know, that's the big lesson. That's a big message. It's a huge lesson that is fundamental to you know, regardless of what religion you are, what philosophy you enjoy, you know, the fundamental thing needs to be that the individual needs to step into a more beautiful world, into a more beautiful life, make a more loving decision for yourself and your neighbor, for yourself and your family. You need to make these choices. You know? Something that I've been thinking about is this concept of morality being objective. And and is that real? Does that exist? Is morality objective? You know? And I'm I'm one to think that that it is. It is very easy to see when something is moral and when something is not moral.
It is only within these, like, TV shows, like Breaking Bad, when we actually get to experiment with, like, being bad. You know? Like, oh, Walter was so justified murdering that guy. Like, no. Actually, no. Objectively, you shouldn't murder. You know, like, there's, like, things like, there's narratives within the world that make us think that morality is gray or there's examples of it being okay for morality to be gray, but it in reality, like, objective reality, it there's not. You need to make a loving choice. You need to be moral. And and morality, like, being moral means to to to sustain life, to help life thrive, to make sure love is at the center of your being, you know, to not be, to not be forceful with your will, to to not seek harm on another person, and to not allow your emotions and greed to control you.
You know? Like, that's what I'm talking about. Like and it's greed and jealousy that that forces people to be angry. You know? It's it's fear also. You know, fear is this fundamental thing that makes people fight and go to war, and you gotta ascend. You gotta transcend that, and that's your personal choice. And Megalopolis is a fable of how of how you can do that, of how an artist can look at the world around them and freeze time and do their best to make a more beautiful world. You know? And that's what that's what I take away from it, man. I think it's really important. So so, yeah, that's Megalopolis, guys. I saw it. I saw it twice, and I'll see it again.
You gotta go see it too. It's flipping
[00:49:20] Unknown:
awesome. Go see Megalopolis
[00:49:23] Unknown:
in theaters now.
[00:49:26] Cole McCormick:
Bada bing bada boom, folks. I love it. Let's get into the Boostagram, shall we? Okay. So I need to I need to catch up on since freaking August, I need to catch up on the August Boostagrams. It's been 2 months since I've read Boostagrams. There's not too many, thank god, because it's a still pretty small show. But, so we're catching up on the Boostagrams. So okay. America Plus. Value for value. America Plus is a value for value show. This This is what is value for value? Value for value is I bring forward ideas and content, and I produce this show for you.
And you're able to reciprocate the value that you're getting, Whether that be through a comment, whether that be through you sharing it online, whether that be through you sending a message with a payment attached to it, which is what a Boostagram is.
[00:50:17] Unknown:
Oh, and and by the way, you should download Fountain. Go to value for value dot info for more info, then download the fountain.fm
[00:50:24] Cole McCormick:
app. It's the best way to support the show. Fountain.fm is my favorite podcasting app. It's a modern podcasting app. And, pretty much, you you're able to send messages with payments attached to them with small bits of Bitcoin called Satoshis. And, Founders had a big update where they hooked up this, like, new social media situation called Nostr. I'm on it. I am finally on Nostr, so find me. My name's Cole McCormick on there, and I'm I'm gonna I'm trying to engage with that more. I'm trying to figure out Noster. I don't really understand it yet, but, I think it's fun. And I wanna like, this is it, dude. This is the America Plus community. Boostograms, be a part of it. This first Boostagram comes in from at the Mere Mortals podcast. He sends in 5,492 satoshis. That's Kyron Down from Australia.
And that's my favorite Boostagram number, 5492. That's the number of my Star Wars book, of my Star Wars archive book. I got I have this giant book of, like, behind the scenes of the Star Wars prequels, and I have number 5,492 out of 10,000 copies. So that's that number. Thank you, Kyron, for sending in that number. That's a great number. And, Kyron is commenting on my episode where I tell the story of the death of my father. It's pretty intense. It's number 134. Go check it out if you wanna if you wanna cry with me. Kyron says, wow. What an adventure.
I really didn't recognize our similarities until you lay it out like that, Cole. His mom died this year as well. So me and Kyron were able to connect with that. When I hung out with him, he says, your father's passing reminded me of a special of special moments I had with my mom. Thank you for that. So happy that we got to meet and honored to have been a part of your experience over the last month. Like you, I'm being positive and looking forward to the next chapter of our lives. Love you, brother. I love you, Kyren. Boosting is loving. You are incredible. You're a strong man. And, dude, you're gonna get a bombshell of a girl. I'm telling you right now. He's looking for a girlfriend, folks.
He's gonna we gotta pray for Karen. Pray for Karen. This next one comes in from at Frillace. Frillace sends in a whopping 7,777 sats, dude. That's a striper boost. What up, Frillace? Thank you for that, frillace. He's commenting on this, on my on on my dead dad's post. He says, praying for you and your family, Cole. I can't imagine how hard a loss like this is to navigate. For dads, it sounds like you are gifted with one of the best. Please take all the time you need to start creating more episodes, but thankful to have you back. God bless and stay free. Yes, sir. Boost.
[00:53:16] Unknown:
Stay free. And now, as the French say, it is time for le boost.
[00:53:22] Cole McCormick:
Stay free, dude. Stay free, Phyllis. Power to the people. These next 2, the last ones come from our friend at Saintsandsats. What up, Saintsandsats? He sends in 2 of them. Both of these are 500 satoshis. Thank you so much, dude. The first one says okay. So this is from, the my most recent episode, where I talked about I had this, like, spooky experience, where I was meditating and these, like, words came to me in the middle of meditation. And it was like it it was as if I was, like, receiving words. It was as if, like, words were being put in my head. And, some of these words were once you slow down, you will find answers.
And, Satan Sass is commenting on that. He says, once you slow down, you will find answers. Wow. That's a powerful message. I needed to be reminded of that too. Hell, yeah, dude. And then the next one from Saint Satz, he says, I've heard priests say that encountering the spirits of loved ones after their recent deaths is a very common occurrence. They say it was common all through history and even continues today, but people don't really talk about it anymore. I know people personally who I totally trust who describe encounters, but I have not sensed it myself.
So, yeah, you're just having a normal human experience as far as I know. So thank you, dude. It's basically
[00:54:46] Unknown:
you put Bitcoin with anything, and all of a sudden, that is more efficient. Let's do what's this one? I I like this one.
[00:54:54] Unknown:
And now I need more of it. As the French say, it is time for the boost.
[00:54:58] Cole McCormick:
I need more sounds. I gotta get more ISOs. I'm trying to so while I'm re I'm sort of in this, like, slow down and revamping phase of America Plus. I'm I'm, like, trying to figure out what like, how to approach the content, how to approach the discussion. I don't want it to be as wide ranging. I'm not trying to do random shit. You know? I'm happy that I got to talk about this film because it's sort of it's it's American culture. It's American art. And so I think I'm leaning more into that. And while I am taking this time, I'm just been experiencing so many different spiritual stuff that it's, it's hard to put into words, but I really appreciate your words, Saint and Sats, because it's, it's a surreal experience, and it's an in it's an intense experience. And to say that it's, like, a normal human experience, like, okay. Like, if this is normal, then this is nuts.
Human humanness is crazy, but it's also really cool. Really fun. It's like, I feel like I'm on, like, the edge. I'm on, like like I I don't know how to describe it. If you're watching the video, I'm doing this weird motion. I'm in this I feel like I'm on the edge of something, man. Like, I'm on the threshold of something right now. I feel the same way as I do as I did in January 2020. The way that my emotions and body is right now is I is how I felt January 2020. I was, like, I was super, like, positive me. Oh, Colin McCormack. 2020. We're gonna be awesome. We're gonna win win win win win.
It's the COVID lockdown. You're not going anywhere. I felt as if I was on the threshold of a new thing in January 2020, and then all of a sudden, something unexpected just, like, fucking hit me in the face. And that's sort of what happened this time, but in a different way. You know? I got hit in the face. I got hit in the fucking balls, dude. Like, I got hit, dude, and this is big. This is, like, life changing shit. I'm living a different fucking life right now, and I'm going through a lot of emotions. And I want this podcast to continue to be a representation of myself along with being this, like, this arrow.
Like, I feel like I have this responsibility to to sort of, like, to, like, make this arrow for this for thoughts, for the world, for for something, dude. Like, I wanna point to this I won't shut the fuck up about it, the more beautiful world. Like, we're we're moving towards it, dude. I don't know how else to to to describe it. There's, like, spiritual examples, and then there's, like, cinematic examples. Like, there's all these examples around me. And maybe it's just, like, recency bias or, like, I'm just, like, whatever that word is. Like, as soon as I start thinking about it, then I start seeing it. You know? Is that fake? I don't think so. I think it's reality.
And I see us moving towards this new thing, and it's right in front of us, and it's a choice. We have the choice to to to engage with this more beautiful thing, and America Plus is that. I want it to be that. And so we're experimenting. We're doing it, and we're thriving. We're thriving with it. So that's value for value, folks. Thank you so much for all those people who sent in boosti grounds. That's the America Plus community. That's what you can be a part of. Don't be afraid to download Fountain.fm. Download Fountain.fm right now. Send in a boostagram. Set up your wallet. Get some Bitcoin in there, and be a part of this new system, dude. Value for value is legit.
Okay? Another way that it's legit, dude, is music. I'm about to play a song. Okay? We're wrapping up the episode right now. I'm about to play a song that, is a part of this value for value world. There are currently musicians who are posting their music through RSS feeds, which gives me the legal ability to put their music in my show. And their song like, they these musicians have a Bitcoin wallet attached to their music. So I'm hooking up this this artist named, what's her name? What's her name? Covina. Covina. The this artist, Covina, has this amazing song called That Smile You're Wearing. I think it's a beautiful song. It's a little dance y song.
90% of the Satoshis that you choose to send while this song plays is going to Covina, dude. That's the power of value for value. We're getting artists paid, dude. Talk about, like, freezing time. Talk about talk about moving time, manipulating matter. We got some magic Internet money that you can send directly to the artist while their song plays. Have you ever heard of something like that? No. You haven't, because it's brand freaking new. This is America Plus. This is where the innovation is, dude. Podcasting is hip hop, dude. America Plus is the future, dawg. Like, this ain't no bullshit. This ain't no scam. This is value for value. This is America Plus, and we're chilling with and we're chilling, we're smiling, and we're partying with Cavinia. This is that smile that you're wearing, Don't forget to send it in a boostagram. Enjoy.
[01:00:31] Unknown:
That smile you're wearing goes ear to ear. I hadn't seen it so long. That smile you're wearing from ear to ear makes my heart feel so warm. That's why you're wearing from ear to ear, I hadn't seen for too long. That's why you're wearing from ear
[01:03:45] Cole McCormick:
That smile you're wearing by Covina, send in a boost a grand. That's America Plus, bitch. Stay free.
Megalopolis: A Cinematic Experience
Themes and Symbolism in Megalopolis
Audience Reaction
Character Dynamics and Plot Twists
Moral Lessons and Philosophical Reflections
Boostagrams and Listener Engagement
