Happy Holidays from Crazy and the King!

0:00:01.4 Torin: We've been about this work, diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, shared through the voices of a white woman and a black man. We bring lived experiences. We have pursued DNI progress for most of our professional lives. We use Crazy in the King to cover news, tips from colleagues and host, incredible guests, listeners. Count on Julie and I to transparently drive the conversation. We thank you for rocking with us. Check it. Julie kick off the show.

[applause]

0:00:33.8 Julie: Oh, welcome to Crazy in the King.

0:00:42.2 Torin: Final edition of 2022 holiday version. I don't think Jay and I have really ever done. Am I like real loud? I'm kind of loud.

0:00:53.5 Julie: You're always kind of loud, but more loud.

0:00:57.1 Torin: See Marcel tends to... And for those of you, Marcel is our producer. Shout out to DJ sales. He tends to tell me sometimes that my volume is loud. I feel loud today. I don't think that Jay and I have really ever done. Like a fun Episode of Crazy in the King. And the reason I'm smiling, Julie, is because I'm never really considered to be a fun person. My family doesn't see me as being fun, although they'll laugh occasionally at some of the things that I might say. But for the most part, the reputation about Torin is he is stoic. He's quiet. He's always analytical. And yes, so like no one really invites me to be the life of the party. I don't get that invitation.

[laughter]

0:01:52.6 Torin: You know what I mean? No one says we're going to have a good time. And the first person on the list is Torin. We want to invite... But now let me just make this very, very clear. So if any of my family is listening, they will tell you. But Torin is getting an invite because I am absolutely loved by everyone in the family. It's just fun is not necessarily my category. You is it is it yours?

0:02:22.2 Julie: No, I think I'm super funny.

[laughter]

0:02:24.4 Julie: I mean, I think all the time. I'm like, I'm so fucking funny.

0:02:29.6 Torin: Really?

0:02:30.0 Julie: What is wrong with you people? [laughter]

0:02:30.2 Torin: Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait Wait. Wait.

[laughter]

0:02:34.2 Torin: So so only two folks laugh at you and I. Right?

[laughter]

0:02:38.9 Torin: So why do you think you are funny? Like did you like when you were in high school? Did your friends tell you like you told some really good jokes? You've been around co-workers. Where in the world did you get this from?

0:02:51.5 Julie: No. I just cracked myself up. I crack myself up all the fucking time.

0:02:56.7 Torin: Okay. Okay.

0:02:57.3 Julie: I'm hilarious. So, I just laugh at myself constantly. But I'm making the number one party list of anyone else.

0:03:05.9 Torin: But you do get an invite, though?

0:03:06.4 Julie: I do most of the time. Most likely to get the invite.

0:03:09.2 Torin: So, let's let's have a little bit of Christmas transparency, Hanukkah transparency, Kwanzaa transparency. Did I miss any of them because somebody said that there was like between I think it's like December 4th and like January 5th. I was on a thing with Wendy Daley and Kirsten Greggs. And Wendy Daley said that there's something like 100 plus holidays between like that first week of December and first week of January. And I want to make sure that I at least got the major Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa. If I could do a quick Google search, maybe I get a couple more.

0:03:51.3 Julie: Yes.

0:03:52.4 Torin: Is there anybody in the family that does not invite you to stuff?

0:03:58.0 Julie: Oh, yeah. I mean, well, yeah. 'Cause I don't I have like the crazy Christian nationalist family on the one side, so I never get the invite from them. Yeah. Other than that, yeah, I always get the invite.

0:04:11.3 Torin: So then you know what you ought to do this year. You ought to go out, perhaps like to Portugal's version of Best Buy.

[chuckle]

0:04:23.7 Torin: And download our Christian nationalist episode and put that on like a thumb drive. And box it up really, really pretty. And maybe send it with some cookies or like a bottle of their favorite shit and just have them listen to that.

0:04:44.7 Julie: Yeah.

0:04:44.6 Torin: And see what they say.

0:04:44.7 Julie: And I am getting ready reviews on that episode. I've heard from so many people that they freaking loved it. Like that was such a great conversation. I mean, people who are just like my friends and don't listen to our podcast and on the regular like, "I listened to that one and it was amazing." So yeah, shout out to Dr. Andrew Whitehead and definitely go back and listen to that episode and check it out. Especially before Christmas, if you got the crazy family like I do.

0:05:13.9 Torin: Absolutely. And this week, of course, is the holiday weekend. You got a chance to enjoy the World Cup your first time being there in person. And well, close to being in person. I mean, you're closer where you are than over here in Indiana. Right?

0:05:30.8 Julie: So, yeah, well, yes, a lot closer. It's technically the second time.

0:05:33.9 Torin: Okay.

0:05:34.7 Julie: So in 2018...

0:05:36.9 Torin: Right.

0:05:38.7 Julie: When we took the kids around Europe for a few weeks and got to watch Sweden play Germany in some town square in Germany. And it was like one of the coolest experiences I think we've probably ever had as a family. This time, we have a little Irish pub down the street from us that we walk to meet our friends there. We watch the matches and we walk out and go to a dinner. It's been fantastic. We've had so much fun.

0:06:05.2 Julie: Sorry that Portugal lost in the semis. But yeah, it was a great early quarters. It's been a great experience. So much fun, so much energy. So many people out and about and just enjoying something that we don't have that same experience in America at all.

0:06:25.2 Torin: And even though we play soccer, we have two, what I would consider to be two good teams or on the men's side and on the women's side, while they may not have progressed as far in the World Cup as we would have liked, they seem to be pretty talented and pretty good to me. And I wonder, I would often wonder, why is it that in other parts of the world or the globe, why is it that soccer took hold for them. Like football took hold for us? And I sit there and watch it. And I did, I actually watched a match last week. And I said to myself, as I often say, I don't know how they run up and down this field. I mean, just up and down, up and down, up and down, and then still have the energy to do tricks with the ball. And what I consider to be tricks. But it's just normal skilled play for them. It really is an incredible and to me, technical sport. The more you look at it.

0:07:33.7 Julie: Oh, yeah, it is. And one of those technical aspects that so many of the football players have all around the world is acting. These guys have you seen the flop?

[laughter]

0:07:47.0 Julie: It's like flopping 101.

[laughter]

0:07:52.5 Torin: So, they fall out. They definitely fall out. I like that.

0:07:57.5 Julie: That's hilarious.

0:07:58.3 Torin: But, you know, I mean, again, and how big is the field? Honestly, is the field is it's wider than a football field.

0:08:03.3 Julie: It's wider than a football field. I think it's about the same links.

0:08:08.9 Torin: Incredible.

0:08:09.3 Julie: Yeah.

0:08:10.8 Torin: Yeah. Incredible. Incredible. I saw someone on Instagram, actually, I think it was for the Morocco game. I don't remember now, but this he was a fan dressed in all shimmer. So like his hat was shimmery. His face plate was shimmery. Shirt was shimmery. He had full nothing. He looked like glass walking down the... And like he's got multiple outfits. So this person is absolutely fan number one for whatever team he was rooting for.

[chuckle]

0:08:48.4 Torin: Those folks are definitely into it. So look, we're not going to do news this week for all of the listeners. But what Julie and I are going to do, we're going to keep it short. I want to give you some of my favorite songs for Christmas. So I'm gonna to start with this one right here, Jay. And you you'll probably do movies. Maybe you'll do some songs, too. But for me, the song that comes on that lets me know that I am in the holiday spirit. I can like hear a ton of different songs. But the moment I hear. The Temptations Silent Night, I know that we are in and I'm not going to move my microphone. Hold on.

[pause]

0:09:36.4 Torin: Can you hear that?

0:09:39.7 Julie: Uh-huh.

0:09:39.8 Torin: Okay, no worry. So it's coming in my ear first. But when I hear the Temptations Silent Night, I tend to say to myself, all right, now's the time you need to make sure that you got all of your shit for the stockings. You need to make sure that all of your stuff has been ordered. And the ill part is I have serious XM in all of the vehicles in the house, all of that. So there's a Christmas channel on Sirius XM. If you haven't heard it, it starts to play Christmas music right around December 4th. I purposefully won't put that joint on until the second week of December because the... Listen, it's probably one of the top Christmas songs on the channel. Silent Night by the Temptations. You've got to listen to it and you've got to make sure you get the right version. Because it starts with a really deep baritone. That's the version that you got to have.

0:10:44.7 Julie: Okay nice. Very nice. Very nice. So my brother, every Christmas, he makes us listen to Mariah Carey's Christmas album. Not just once, not just twice, but on repeat for the entire Christmas season. So that's probably like, I'll say, all I want for Christmas is You by Mariah Carey. That's like when I know it's Christmas because my brother is shoving his Mariah Carey obsession down my throat. But still a really, really great song. Not quite my favorite, but it's the one I know that it's Christmas.

0:11:25.2 Torin: And let me just tell you, it is absolutely one of my favorites and I have it up on YouTube and there's probably in a variety of different places and posts. But just on this version that I have, it looks like it's Mariah Carey's YouTube channel. She's got 9.29 million subscribers and this video, this video, All I Want for Christmas, You Make My Wish Come True Edition was uploaded two years ago and it has 338 million views. So I'm gonna say it absolutely hits the top of the list. Now why does your brother like Mariah? Does he think she cute? You know, as the old folks would say, is he sweet on Mariah?

[laughter]

0:12:12.6 Julie: Oh, I mean. Yeah I think...

0:12:12.6 Torin: Did your grandparents ever say that?

0:12:13.6 Julie: Everybody's trying to be sweet on Mariah, but yeah.

0:12:16.1 Torin: Did your grandparents say that?

0:12:17.7 Julie: Oh yeah. Yeah. I don't think he might be sweet on you. Yeah.

0:12:21.1 Torin: Okay. So that's not just a phrase uttered in the black culture.

0:12:25.0 Julie: No, I think that's a Midwest thing. Yeah.

0:12:27.6 Torin: Midwest thing? Okay. Got it. Got it. Got it. Got it. Got it. So is he sweet on Mariah?

0:12:30.4 Julie: Oh, yes. Oh, yes.

0:12:33.3 Torin: Let me tell something, when Mariah first hit the scene, TL thought Mariah was like pretty dope.

0:12:41.0 Julie: I think everybody did. Every girl wanted to be her and every man wanted to be with her.

0:12:47.4 Torin: And let me tell you, she did. She actually did. I wanna know. I want to say that this was like, the... You remember the MTV Cribs show or something like that?

0:13:00.1 Julie: Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

0:13:00.1 Torin: Either she did the MTV Cribs show. It was some other special, but we got a chance to walk through her home through camera. She had these red walls that were like candy coated walls like a what do you call it? Candy apple. Had that sort of gloss to them.

0:13:23.7 Julie: Wow.

0:13:24.8 Torin: I watched that in my house back in 2001. This is no bullshit, Jay. When I saw that, I was like, I don't know what she did, but I got to do that. So I literally went next door neighbor. He had a painting company. He said, oh, he said that was easy. He said all she did was put a high finish gloss on her walls. He said, I can do that in the house. Came through and glossed. I had a burnt orange wall. So like when you drove into the complex and the big picture window was open, you saw this bright, shiny. So Mariah was she was dope. She even did a little bit of interior decorating in the Ellis household over here.

[laughter]

0:14:08.8 Torin: So I like that. But you gave me a good song. Give me a good movie. Give me a good movie. And I'm asking you for this because I'm not really like a Christmas movie person.

0:14:20.1 Julie: So we'll stick with the theme of when I know it's Christmas.

0:14:24.7 Torin: All right.

0:14:25.0 Julie: The movie that comes on and it's a toy story. Jesus, the Christmas story. Right? Do you know what I'm talking about?

0:14:34.0 Torin: Nope.

0:14:34.0 Julie: You don't know a Christmas story?

0:14:35.4 Torin: Nope.

0:14:36.4 Julie: Oh, Lord Jesus. Hold on.

0:14:39.4 Torin: Is it animation?

0:14:40.8 Julie: No, no. How do you not know this? Oh, my God. I'm like blown away right now.

0:14:44.3 Torin: Yeah.

0:14:45.1 Julie: So a Christmas story came out in 1983, and I think it's like TNT every Christmas. They do a 24 hour Christmas story marathon. And it is on our house, at our house pretty much the entirety of Christmas. It's probably muted. It's like we never watch it fully, but it's like sort of like, you know how some people put the fireplace on the TV...

0:15:09.9 Torin: Yeah.

0:15:11.1 Julie: And it's like that's the tone.

0:15:12.1 Torin: Yeah.

0:15:13.7 Julie: Well, this is a Christmas story. And it's basically this little kid. And all he wants, he's from Indiana, too. He wants a Red Rider BB gun for Christmas. And basically the whole story is about this Red Rider BB gun. And him growing up in a lower middle class family in Northern Indiana and their Christmas adventures. It is the best movie of Christmas, bar one of all time.

0:15:42.1 Torin: Say the name of it again.

0:15:44.6 Julie: A Christmas story.

0:15:46.9 Torin: A Christmas story. Okay.

0:15:47.0 Julie: Yes.

0:15:47.5 Torin: Cool. All right. So now I'm going to go to a song that it's by Boyz II Men.

0:15:55.7 Julie: Oh, Okay.

0:16:00.7 Torin: So anybody out there who knows anything about Boyz II Men probably one of their top songs is Let It Snow. And they actually do it with Brian McKnight. And the reason why I love this song so much, I'm going to be a little transparent here. So when I moved to DC In 1993. I moved to D.C in August of like August to September of 1993. And this particular winner was was kinda tough in in the DC Market. Well, I had left a young lady in Texas and it was the first Christmas. First winter. I'm in the chocolate city. Broke. When I say that it could not have been a worse Christmas. That may be a step too far. But trust me when I tell you, Jay, this Christmas season had to be the second to the worst Christmas season ever. Like, I felt like everything was going in the entirely wrong direction.

0:17:24.0 Torin: The only right thing that was happening for me was that I was in Washington, DC Outside of that, like not being in the city. No, I'm serious. No job, no working, like barely had gas money. It was really, really, really a tough year. And so when Let It Snow comes on, even though it's like a soft love Christmas song, it reminds me of how far I've come since I came to Washington, DC So I don't look at it as a emotional I get sad song. I look at it or listen to it as yo, man you didn't give up. Like you you stayed and fought through that. And I share that because I know that the holidays can be a tough time for so many people. I talked to a dear friend that you and I both have last week. I won't mention her name on the show. But the last time you and I probably talked with her, we were working on that project. Remember when we were trying to create these rules and structure?

0:18:38.7 Julie: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

0:18:40.2 Torin : Got it. Okay, got it. So when I haven't talked to her since we were all convening on those meetings and when she shared with me last week, everything that she has been through over the last twenty, twenty two months. Listen, I was in the whip riding on the freeway and I was just shaking my head for 10, 15 minutes out of the phone call. Like, I'm so glad that you are still standing. So glad that you are still finding a reason to have happiness and joy. And so for all of the folks out there, if there's a song that you listen to that changes your mood. And takes you away from being happy and being sad. I'm not going to tell you to take it out of your playlist, but let's see if we can flip the energy and find something positive to think about in this holiday season.

0:19:33.8 Julie: So if you need a good laugh, then let's think about that. One of the funniest movies I think of all time is also one of my favorite Christmas movies.

0:19:45.2 Torin : All right.

0:19:46.7 Julie: And I hope it's one that, you know, Trading Places, Eddie Murphy and...

[laughter]

0:19:54.7 Julie: One of the greatest movies of all time. And of these movies to move.

0:19:58.1 Torin: Yes, yes, yes, yes. Yes. Now, what's like your favorite scene in the movie, though?

0:20:06.8 Julie: Oh, my favorite scene is when they're on the trading floor at the end.

0:20:13.5 Torin: Yeah.

0:20:13.9 Julie: And they're like doing the... I wish you could see or people could see me, but when they're like, bye, I'm going to go. I wish you could see or people could see me, but when they're like, bye, bye, bye. And they're doing like that whole scene where they have like literally destroyed the market and now they're just taking it all back.

0:20:30.1 Torin: Yes.

0:20:30.9 Julie: And then they do the one dollar and they do the exchange. Oh, my God. That is my favorite scene. It is fantastic. Do you have a favorite scene in that movie?

0:20:40.5 Torin: I don't. But I just want to ask you one more question before we go to this commercial break. Is Eddie Murphy the greatest of all time?

0:20:50.5 Julie: Oh, he's right up there. Yeah, he's got to be close. He's fantastic.

0:20:56.3 Torin: Yeah, he absolutely is. Okay, so listen, we'll take a quick break and then Jay and I come back and finish up this holiday episode.

0:21:03.0 Julie: All right, welcome back. What else have you got on tap for us today, partner?

0:21:12.1 Torin: All right. So let me say my last song. My last song is actually fun. And my last song is a girl group TLC. And unfortunately, you can't hear it. But it's the sleigh ride song for TLC.

0:21:33.0 Julie: Oh, yeah.

0:21:36.2 Torin: You know, just have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. You know, they got that groove going. I'm not going to sing because anybody listened to me singing would say I'm definitely not checking out their podcast anymore.

[chuckle]

0:21:50.1 Torin: But they got a nice little rhythm to it. The girls are rocking. TLC has to be my all time favorite girl group. You know, I just feel like I don't... I think about a group like TLC and what they were able to do without like social media. And I say to myself, if they had access to half of what these groups have access to now, TLC would have sold two, 300 million albums easily.

0:22:26.1 Julie: Oh, yeah. Incredible. Incredible.

0:22:26.2 Torin: They are absolutely incredible. So the sleigh ride song is my absolute favorite for them. It's not my number one Christmas song, but it is absolutely in my top three, for sure.

0:22:37.0 Julie: Okay. So I'll do one last Christmas song and then my favorite Christmas movie. So Last Christmas by Wham is another Christmas song. I like I will not sing it, but...

0:22:52.7 Torin : That's George Michael, right?

0:22:53.0 Julie: Yes. Yeah.

0:22:55.7 Torin: Yep. Yep. Yep.

0:22:56.7 Julie: And basically every like Christmassy based rom-com in the history of the world. We'll we'll post it on on social media because I will not do any of that singing to you guys. That's one of my favorites. George Michael's pretty high on my list of amazing people. And favorite Christmas movie of all time is Elf.

0:23:22.1 Torin: I know that one. All right. I was what you know what I was waiting for you to say. I was waiting for you to get probably unfairly waiting for you to be basic like me. And mine is like Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer.

0:23:33.0 Julie: That's a good one. That's a great one.

0:23:36.9 Torin: I mean, but it's so easy. But but like you said earlier in the conversation, I got literally can put Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer on the big screen.

0:23:46.1 Julie: Yeah.

0:23:46.7 Torin: Turn the volume down and just sit around and drink, laugh and socialize with the family or with friends, if you will. Like I just love Rud. And I don't know... Pardon me. I don't know why I like Rudolph The Red-nosed reindeer. Again, I don't watch a whole lot of TV. You know, part of why I think I like it is because we're not really watching it. It's just like on, if you will. But I know it like it reminds me of being baby torn. It reminds me of being toddler torn, if you will. Like harassing my little sisters and just taking their toys. Like it reminds... I can remember that. I don't remember a whole lot of things when I was growing up, but I absolutely remember the Christmas movie and Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer and all of that. So that's mine.

0:24:37.7 Julie: Yes.

0:24:39.5 Torin: So here's the deal. I want to make sure that as we in the year of 2022, Julie and I are super, super appreciative of each and every one of you as listeners. We actually are not doing the show that we normally would do, but we also appreciate the sponsors, the supporters, the people that made segments like her voice come to life. You know, when Julie and I started to think about doing her voice last year, it really was born out of what's absent.

0:25:16.4 Torin: How do we in our 35 to 45 minute episodes? How do we carve out space for just all of the adulation and recognition that is so deserving of individuals that are out in the marketplace? And some people put those lines on their Twitter profiles. Jay a tweet is not a reenactment. A retweet is not an endorsement. You know, those little disclaimers, if you will.

0:25:46.3 Julie: Yeah.

0:25:46.4 Torin: You and I've never done that. We've never put a disclaimer out. We just simply said we're gonna take people for face value. If they're in the news or we've done some research or we read a story about them, we thought or think what they were doing or doing is worthy of mention. That's what we're gonna do is we're gonna mention them. And so I appreciate each and every one of you that are listening.

0:26:09.9 Torin: You've never given Julie and I any flack. Thank God like we've never gotten any flack for anybody that we highlighted in her voice. We've never gotten flack for anybody that we highlighted in disability Twitter. Tell the folks real quick, why did we do disability Twitter?

0:26:27.1 Julie: So it was something that you and I committed to fairly early in the year, I think. And we just wanted to make sure that people were hearing disabled voices and understanding the power in this case of a social media platform like Twitter to bring the script together. I mean, it's been, I think in so many ways, a life saving, life changing, life affirming, empowering place for people with disabilities. And we just love to highlight what's happening in our, in my community. What people are saying and make sure that we're learning from it because too often we get stuck in certain things that we are passionate about or interested about or what's kind of raging in the news. And with her voice and disability Twitter this year, we've brought voices to you that we would have never covered if we'd only stuck to the news. If we had not sort of looked at that bright, shiny, like what is good and happy and is happening in the world around us and just celebrating that.

0:27:37.6 Torin: Yeah, absolutely. We wanted to make sure that what we are centering here on Crazy in the King are the dimensions of diversity and inclusion. We want to center the various dimensions, the layers, the intersections. The fabric of this beautiful thing called humanity. And it forced us to get away from the traditional news story. I remember a conversation you and I were having a couple of years ago. And we didn't do a good job. We haven't done a good job. I'll take more of the responsibility of why we haven't done a good job. But I remember you saying to me, Torin, we have an international audience. Let's try to focus on some of the international stories. And so if Julie and I are not challenging ourselves to deviate from what the news tends to feed us. We wouldn't be highlighting as many women. We wouldn't be highlighting as many voices from the disability community. And so we close by simply saying to each and every one of you, we want you to continue to challenge us to grow. We are growing together. It's been a beautiful year. We want you to enjoy the time with family, with friends, the holidays, however you decide you want to celebrate such, to recuperate, to re-energize yourselves so that you are ready to rock and roll in January of 2023. Happy holidays to you, Jay.

0:29:05.9 Julie: Happy holidays to you, my friend. And do not miss next week's episode with Zach Nunn, which is going to be one of our very, very, very best episodes and is going to ring your New Year off right. And we'll see you in 2023. And I can't wait to do it.

[applause]

0:29:25.1 Torin: 2023. Peace.