How's it? Welcome back to the channel. It's fantastic to have you here. Today we're going to be improving your photography by looking at the work of Richard Avedon. It is not hard being great occasionally. It is difficult to be good consistently. Richard Avedon's photography, both his portrait work and his fashion images, have so many lessons that we can pull out to put into place in our own images to make us strive towards that goal of being good consistently. The first lesson that I think is so important is that, you know, Avedon says that you start with the style and that you are in chains. But if you start with an idea, then you are free. And the whole thing with this is that like a lot of, you know, advice in photography, it's at first seems contradictory. How can a man who's almost defined by a certain style tell you that the style is not important? But think about this, right?  This is a really good idea for a photo. But then you think about it in terms of what you feel is your style for however you want to define that. And the idea doesn't quite ever work out. And that's because maybe your style isn't right for the idea. Avedon had an idea. He wanted to explore the connection between himself as the photographer and the subject or the sitter of whom he was photographing. He was interested in people and people alone. So how does he express this? So can he do this by using, you know, very fancy lighting or, but, you know, lots of, you know, props and things of that nature? Or can he employ a list of notes? Can he say, no, I don't want exquisite light? No, I don't want apparent composition, right? No, I don't want a seduction to use his own words of poses or narrative. He just wants the person that he's interested in and the thing that happened between them, that dance. So that's how the style that he was working in was appropriate for the idea. So what are the ideas that you have? And how are you going to best implement them in a way that isn't restricted by a playbook of style?  Even though photography is a still image, within that, there's always movement. The best images I always feel that have a sense of movement to them, that there's something going on, even if it's subtle. And like Kati Prasad and his decisive moment, and like a great number of other photographers, Avidan understood that movement in photography or events in photography are very rapid things. And that you need to anticipate and take the photograph just, just, just before it reaches its peak. Because if you start off and it's like, oh, take a picture here, then the photograph hasn't happened yet. And if you take it too late, then the moment has passed. You need to be just at that top, that moment when the roller coaster just stops and it goes like that. That's when all of that comes together. Avidan changed the landscape of fashion photography because he understood that. He took that staid, formal approach to fashion photography and dug into his head and went, okay, well, Mum and Dad are involved in the clothing industry. And I know that clothes are meant to be worn. They're meant to have a life and a soul of themselves. So what are we going to do? Let's get them, let's get the models to move, to be free, to be themselves and to use that expression, to use that timing, anticipation. Bring this into your own photography.  Portrait photography.  Like a great deal of things in your life, it works best when you are listening to them, when you are paying attention, you're not being loud and boisterous.  It is important within your photography, I think to have a personality, to have your personality in the images. You know, Avidan talked a lot about how so many of his portraits, actually more portraits of him than the person who is photographing. This is illustrated by the fact that when you look at a book of his work that's not about fashion or specific portraits, then you see interesting photographs. You say, well, hang on a second, why are there all these photographs of his father getting older and eventually his corpse?  Then you realise when you read things, this is why it's so important to listen to interviews, to read quotes and biographies about photographers because it gives you an insight down to how they think about their photography, how they think about the process of creating images. You go, okay, well, Avidan made a point, he said, look, I photograph things that I am afraid of because he said that it gave him a sense of control over something that was obviously inherently out of his control. And by taking the photograph, by getting the print out there, it's like he was kind of exercising a ghost or something and putting it somewhere safe. If it's in the photograph, then it's not out here anymore. So think about how you can inject your own personality into your photographs. This is not about presets and all that sort of stuff. This is about you. How do you feel about the things that you are photographing? Do they make you happy? Do they make you sad? Are you melancholic when you think about things like that? Do they scare you? You know, it is okay to go and take pictures of things that scare you because that might open up a way of connecting with things that you possibly will never have experienced before. I'm reminded of a story that I heard a number of years ago about somebody went off to America to do a course in documentary photography and one of the students was sent to be an embedded reporter, if you want to call it that, in an animal shelter and had spent a week there looking at the life cycle of the animals that came in, which obviously ended up in the tragic end that a lot of these animals do. And I wouldn't go into that, but that photographer was forced to confront how they felt about that and think about how that sort of experience can change your photography for the better. So think about photographing how you feel about things by allowing your feelings to come through a photograph. Don't worry about what other people think. This is not about that. This is not about somebody's going to go ah and look at you, whatever. This is about getting some of your personality into the photographs. In the modern day, there's this big movement towards being continuously hustling, to always be, you know, grinding things out, to be always doing the thing that should go, because if you're not hustling, then you're not doing it. And I think that's kind of detrimental to a lot of people, especially, you know, photographers who are doing it just for the love of it, that you feel that you're always supposed to be taking photographs. Now, Averton did say that, you know, if he had a day where he didn't do anything photographically, then he would feel that he'd lost something else. So you can see where people go, you know, where they get this idea from. And I think in a more realistic sense, because not all of us have time to take photographs every single day, that you can still think about photographs no matter where you are, no matter what you're doing, you can think about the things that surround you and how they would look, how would that thing look photographed, you know, learning to see the world photographically, because you're always, if you're always thinking about how things could look, then at least you're training your mind constantly to make better use of the time that you have when you are actually photographing, because you're not having to rewarm up your photographic eyes, because you're exercising them every single day. So take that lesson and just well, water it down a bit, I suppose is one way of looking at it. But take it like that and, you know, do something every day that helps you improve the way that you see the world as a photographer. I hope as you've been watching this video that, you know, you've been looking at Avidan's work and has a penny dropped about his photography itself, is there something in there that you may have gone, aha, actually, this is the thing? Because I certainly hope that it has done. The thing that stands out for me throughout all of this is that the lighting that he employs is, most often is very simple. There are very few tricksy camera techniques beyond maybe some slow shutter stuff. The technical aspects of his photography and a great number of photographers they're good, but they're not, they're not obvious, right? He hasn't spent loads of time working out very fidgety techniques and doing lots of jiggery-pokery. It's about the photograph itself rather than the technical way of getting there. Sometimes, you know, we can be seduced by the cool little things that we can do, you know, both in the camera and the software editing and all that kind of thing and, you know, they're fun. But we shouldn't forget that getting it right in camera is, you know, it's a very old saying, right? But it's at the basis of everything. The more that you can focus on that ethos of getting it right in camera, then I think the stronger your photography becomes.  You're not fussing about what's in front of the camera.  When you're fussing with that camera, you're not, you're disconnected. Be interested in the person and to be interested in you need to just stop worrying about that thing that is in between you. Learn the technical things but don't become obsessed with them. Great photography is great photography, not because of the camera or the lens of the technique but how the photographer chose to capture the thing that caught their attention. Take that lesson. Just live it because that is what makes your photographs stand out, makes what new photographs come alive. It makes your imagery different to everybody else's and when it's different to everybody else's then people notice it. I didn't notice Avidon's work initially when I was a student because I went oh my god look at the depth of feeling whatever. No, I noticed it because it was different from all the other loud brash things that I was seeing at the time.   Think about the ideas that excite you, how you are going to express them so they make the idea come alive, that they enhance the idea. How are you going to confront and inject into these images your own personality? What are you going to do to get them to sing your song? What are you going to do today that's going to keep you working towards that path of being good consistently? A photographer who has answered all these questions is Sally Mann and I would highly suggest that you go and look at her photography right now because she is exceptional. Thank you ever so much for watching and I will see you again soon.


Hi, my name is Andrea with Food and Mentory Adventures in Food.  On our channel, you'll find simple and tasty recipes using everyday ingredients. Hey guys, so this is the last and final week of Low Spend November, which is where I am using up stuff from my freezer and pantry in anticipation of the Christmas season buying gifts and things like that, just trying to cut back on spending. So I am making a Mississippi pork roast, which I've made a million times on our channel. So in my freezer, I have a, or I had a, like a two, little over two pound pork shoulder roast, and that's what you see in the crock pot. On top of that, I have sprinkled some brown gravy, ranch seasoning, the equivalent of a package. So this was like three tablespoons and about 11 or 12 of the pepperoncinis or chinis, I'm not sure how to say that, I've never known. So that's in the crock pot, along with about a half a stick of butter. The original recipe only calls for six peppers and a full stick of butter, but we like more peppers, so I always add more and using a half a stick of butter, I really can't tell the difference between using one whole stick and a half. So I just always opt for half. In the past, I have tried to add that pepper juice in there and we did not care for it at all. It just makes it so vinegary. It wasn't a, we didn't really care for it. So anyway, I have made this a million times on our channel, if I didn't mention it, I will make sure to link the recipe in the description box. I'm going to cover this and cook it low and slow for eight to 10 hours. Okay, so it's been about 11 hours and here is the roast and it is so tender. I mean, it's just falling apart. But here is our plate. And I just made a side of green beans with bacon and onions and bacon, fat and seasoned salt and then I also made some rice. So we're just having it over rice and that is it. So this is what we are having for dinner tonight and we will see y'all next time. Hey, guys, so for dinner tonight, we are having breakfast for dinner and I scrambled some eggs and added some white cheddar cheese for the meat. We are having this the smoky breakfast sausage and they actually taste like little smokies, but they're bigger. They're longer, but they taste exactly the same. And then I made some honey butter biscuits that I had on hand, of course, and I accidentally overbaked them. So we may have to take off that top layer. But anyway, I'm not throwing these biscuits away. We're going to eat them. So this is what we are having for dinner tonight and we will see y'all next time. Hey, guys, so for dinner tonight, we are having these sausage slammers, which I picked up on a recent H.E.B. Hall, they come three in a pack and they are fully cooked. And what it is is sausage that's stuffed with a cheddar filled jalapeno. And then the sausage is wrapped in bacon. So this is what they look like cooked whole. When I baked my in the oven, there are also grill instructions.  Want to see you guys, let you guys see what it looks like on the inside. And that pink that's in there is smoke. It's not raw, like I said, they're fully cooked, serving it with a side of pasta, Ronnie and buttered corn. I've got some butter, salt and pepper in there. And here's my corn that I use from the pantry. And here is the pasta, Ronnie, that I use from the pantry. So this is what we are having for dinner tonight, and we will see y'all next time. Hey, guys, so for dinner tonight, we are having this Parmesan encrusted butterfly shrimp that I picked up on clearance from Kroger a while back ago. Thought it was a really great deal. This is a family size packet and it comes with a tomato Romano sauce. And so here it is in the bowl. I heated it up in the microwave, serving it with a side of pasta, Ronnie. So here's our plate. I did deep fry the shrimp as well. I just wanted some deep fried shrimp and feel like using the air fryer today. Here is the pasta, Ronnie. And then we are having the leftover green beans from the other night. So this is what we are having for dinner tonight, and we will see y'all next time. Hey, guys, so for dinner tonight, I am making a chicken pot pie in one of my old church cookbooks. I saw a recipe for a pot pie that uses two traditional pie crust. So what I'm going to do is fill one pie crust and then I'm going to top it with this one. So I'm just going to flip it over and top it. These have been in my freezer for a while, as you can see, they're kind of cracked. But I think because I'm making a chicken pot pie, it doesn't matter if it's perfect. I think it'll still be pretty good. Also in my freezer, I had some cooked chicken thighs that I pulled off the bone. So this is probably maybe a cup and a half or so of cooked chicken meat. Then I have a can of cream of chicken soup. I'm going to use some frozen corn and some frozen green beans, probably about a cup and a half or so total. Then I'm going to season everything with onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. And if I didn't mention, these are thawed out, so they're not frozen. I wanted them to be thawed out. But I plan on baking these until it's golden brown. So I'm guessing probably about 45 minutes. OK, so here is the pot pie. It's getting ready to go into the oven. Like I said, it was all cracked, but it should be OK. Hopefully it'll still bake OK, but I'm going to pop it in the oven. OK, so I just took the pot pie out of the oven. I ended up baking it for over an hour. So what happened was because one of the crust was really broken. I ended up putting the pieces just kind of stacked on there, if you'll remember. And so they didn't get done. So I had to take those pieces that you see on top off, put them on the baking sheet and let them bake and then just added them back in. So the whole pie is completely done, that crust is done. But anyway, this is what we are having for dinner tonight. And we will see y'all next time.


What happens if you have mostly an Asian friend group but all you do is partake in white culture together? What sense does that make or is that kind of logical? Let's discuss. Yeah got deep on this reddit post It is actually from a girl who I believe is from China came to America learn English her post is why do I? Attract Asian friends who worship white people so basically she says as I became an adult I realized that most my friends I make are white worshipers I thought that they would date somebody hot since they are not dished interested in any one Asian But they always end up dating average to below average looking white guys whether they are my gay Asian friends or my straight Asian female friends She herself is a female. She says that they get super excited every time they throw a Christmas or a Halloween party But if she invites them to a lunar new year party, they would never show up. She goes on to include more details Etc etc and let me tell you Andrew the comments on this got explosive All right, so David Do you have any takes before we get into the comment section? Do you have a take because I got a take on this? Yeah, I mean I would say that this girl is describing something that I believe her I believe her it happens But I'm almost surprised that she's surprised because we're living in the anglosphere. Yeah, first of all I think you live in America. So it's hard to avoid white culture or American culture Which American culture is heavily influenced and mixed in and fused in with black American culture at this point So that's the greater American culture, right? So obviously spectrum within America.  That is what is a common binary? They're melded now Carlos and even you know, yeah, but but basically Guys, you live in America. You might as well partake in some American culture Of course that makes sense and you should to an extent because you live here, right? And there is nothing wrong with coming to America and learning about America Yeah, no, but but but but it is true. I agree with her because she's probably from China So she's looking at it like yeah, you guys like like getting together for Oscars party But if I say this is the best movie in China or even three-body problem remake on Netflix Nobody wants to come over to my house to have a watching party Exactly. There is a rejection of Asian culture amongst Asians in America and With as meant as much progress that Asian content has made There are still plenty of Asians out there that are like shying away from like that's a Chinese movie even Korean movie Maybe they even have trouble watching parasite, you know, they're just like, I don't know I just want to watch a movie in English. So here's my thing I think a lot of people in America first of all There's a lot of Asians in America that do reject Asian culture like some of her friends But there's also a large part that don't don't put white people on a pedestal, but they do put white life Styles on a pedestal meaning that like Because people still view white people successful white people cool white people a middle-class to rich Yeah, as having the best balance in America not saying all white people are in a good position But I'm saying they have the best balanced life that that is really what a lot of Asians mean when they say Oh, I want to get treated and live a life like any other American. You're probably referring to a white American Right, you're talking about there's a difference between whitewashed white worshipping just wanting to partake in some sort of like free-minded White ease of life. Yeah, there's there's different words to describe different things. Yeah Now obviously if you in 2024 still are a self-hating Asian Then clearly you got some deep-rooted stuff because it's a lot easier to get into Asian stuff Then it was a decade ago But do you think it's true that she's Chinese and she's got to be referring to a primarily Chinese friend group? Because Koreans may get together and watch k-dramas more often than Chinese get together to watch c-dramas Well, I you would you would assume that maybe they're Chinese because she's talking about lunar new year and like that would mostly appeal to Chinese or Vietnamese really those are the two groups that that celebrate it the hardest So she's probably yeah, she's probably talking about a lot of other Chinese Americans And it's true because Chinese ancient Chinese culture often is very hard to get into it There's a lot of barriers to it. You got to know the language or you got to have some reference for it It's not gonna be the quick release dopamine looking for from a white elephant Christmas friend party or a St. Patrick's Day even I don't think Asians I'll say this it really depends on the city that she's in because if you're in the three or four cities that rep that Celebrate lunar new year for example really hard like la SF New York Maybe Seattle or Vancouver, Canada like these places have big lunar new year celebrations Then it's a little bit more cooler But if you're like in Ohio and these are your Asian friends in Ohio, I'm not shocked at all Yeah, not only that let's be honest in places like New York There's hyper modern brands that are trying to like bring Chinese culture or Asian culture into the modern day Like almost and we went to a few events this past lunar new year Chinese New Year where it was very expensive luxury brands Trying to mix it with the year of the dragon, right? Yeah, they probably she probably doesn't have that available in the city She's in exactly so what I'm my quick recommendation is I guess to compile a lot of the cool Asian or Chinese content or whatever it is the content that you want to show them and you just kind of Keep testing them and throwing it at them. Maybe not it's maybe it's not a lunar new year party Maybe it's a movie that you guys watch together Maybe you guys do a at-home hot pot first and play some Chinese rap or Chinese pop music You know what I mean, right? Like don't just and there's not nothing wrong with Jay Chow's greatest hits from like 10 or 15 years ago But like there's new songs that came out this year in China too like there's new music It's not just Jay Chow's Wow's greatest hits from the golden. No David That's all the Chinese music that was ever made. It would just ended at Jay Chow after his peak That's it. There's no more pop music after him after Kabul alcohol, right and it um anyway Let's just get into the comments section somebody said, you know It's very interesting because Irish and Chinese both arrived for the first time in America in the 1850s But Irish now have an Irish president and Biden obviously that they had one in JFK and Chinese are still considered Essentially perpetual foreigners in this country. Who is to blame? Is it because the Irish had these advantages to blend in or do they have a different game plan or is because they're also Christian even though they were Catholic instead of Protestant and the Chinese just stayed super separate from everybody, right? Interesting to use the Irish as a use case. Well, let me tell you this when you look at Irish person You look at a Chinese person not only fundamentally thousands of years back is their culture completely different That's a hard one because Ireland is connected to the United Kingdom Well, no and then Anglos are the from the lower part of the United Kingdom that dominated the world Yeah, so they're kind of wrong Ireland is part of the UK. Just it's not part of Britain UK is the larger kind of region Right, right, right. So I'm saying that like it's your part of your larger zone Like took over the world You probably can be able to adapt with them even though there was some beef from back in the days Or maybe there's still some contentiousness then somebody from literally the other side of the earth Yeah, yeah, it's it's not a great analogy. Oh, yeah, yeah, I will say this to acknowledge this I think that the people who came in the 1850s were not put in a great position to amass a ton of like influential long-term power in America And that's why they haven't even in places where they landed like SF Chinese are way weaker than their representation should be technically right so I mean Cantonese specifically downplayed themselves in this country for the last 150 years anyway somebody said self-hate is always weird It's honestly the lack of self-respect in the worship of whiteness. It is so off-putting for me Let's have a little bit of pride as Asians. Yeah, and I think nowadays having pride is cooler It doesn't mean you have to hate on white people. We're not we don't have a channel full of just hating on white people and stuff I think you can acknowledge that there's differences and that you know They're the ones who are is a general dominant culture, but you can be proud about being age It is easier to be proud of being age if you cannot be proud of being Asian in 2024 There is something wrong with you like 600 proud Asian meme pages, right? Listen, if you weren't proud to be an Asian 15 20 years ago I can actually even understand to an extent even though I'm unhappy to hear that but nowadays Oh, you're not even doing the work. You know your eyes are not even open and that's not an Asian Man, and I'm not happy about this some a lot of parts of the world are unstable. You know, it's pretty stable Well, at least you know, I'm not saying maybe meant Structurally Asia You know, I mean I think we still put a lot of pressure on ourselves from our parents and a lot of expectations But that yeah in that way take pride in the stability and the productivity. How about that? Somebody said I feel like my Asian female millennial friends from non Asian majority communities tend to be way more white worshiping than my guy friends Shocking. Oh wow. I'm so shocked. No that makes complete sense. I'll say this when you feel like growing up in Asian Millennials probably in the earlier developmental formative years. They felt like being Asian possibly especially for Chinese Korean could be 5050 depends on you know how exposed you were to HOT and all that stuff it's like I'm saying that you probably felt like you were on a sinking ship and Your natural reaction when you're on a sinking ship even though it's your ship It's a hop on another ship But I think that especially if you are a girl and you were pretty It's way easier to lateral onto another ship and have that like ships captain and crew accept you Then like the guys not only the guys may have some innate sense of not wanting to jump ship But even if they try to jump ship, they might not even get allowed on the gallows of that ship Yeah, you gotta take the women and children first and then the guys they gotta fend for themselves.  You know what I mean? Oh, you're saying Gen Z can be living a millennial lifestyle If they live in a throwback geographical cultural zone Yeah, different hot spots. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I agree with that America's a big country guys There's a lot of variants in culture when you go blah blah blah Midwest the East Coast West Coast South Coast Somebody said you need to make friends with Asian Canadians Asian Americans from Hawaii or at least somebody that was raised in Western school from Asia Yeah, I would say this if you are from those places You just have a different mentality because the society you were raised in all the distributions all the pressures and stuff were different Somebody said man, you don't need to fault your friends. They'd all get together and want to be white together Even though they're all Asian. There's still good people. They're just not cultural warriors Okay. Yeah, that's fine. I mean no you could still be friends with them I didn't say don't be friends with them But if it really bothers you then yeah somehow you got to find some new friends or Get the more into being Asian. Yeah, everybody prioritizes different value systems in life Yeah, but for you to convince them to be more proud of being Asian It also helps if you're cooler and you're viewed as cooler and they view you as like somebody who Is cool to she did say that she might be lower ranked in the friend group So she doesn't have the leverage within that fishbowl to be like the top leader of goldfish to lead all the other fish In the fish tank, that's how social dynamics work guys. Somebody said it has to do with Confucianism Embodiment of submission to authorities and higher ups in the US the white people or the white culture is the higher up So Asians unaware of their motherboard programming will unconsciously submit Almost to a level that other everybody else is even shocked to see Yeah, I guess I think there's truth to this. Yes, I don't think that's the full reason but certainly not wrong Ultimately man, I think that this girl should join a church move different cities Maybe start a cooking IG of whatever culture she values and she's gonna connect with it If you cook a culture's food a lot Andrew once you agree that there's some likelihood that you would value it to some extent Yeah, and then you also connect with people on social media and then I mean there's just so many ways to go about it And I think this person Probably likes their friends probably is grateful that they have a nice friend group grateful that they get to go to These Halloween and Christmas parties that are set up. Listen. I'm gonna be honest. I've only been to a Couple Halloween and Christmas parties of friends in my life. I've been a more Lunar New Year stuff to be Yes, so I have to admit that as American eyes as I am I still have not partaken in this white party culture in America the White House Party culture in America that much I have but not that much. So you've been on a few boats Hosted by Asians trying to be whites. Uh host. Oh, yeah, also, but There's a white sorority who I was on a grab a day with but yeah, you know very few very few times listen guys I think culture is changing, but you got to just understand your micro environment and your own exposure and your own fishbowl You got to look at what's happening in other cities and what's happening around the world Singapore Sydney there's there's a ton of stuff happening, but Your own fishbowl might not have a lot of stuff. Yeah, my overall takeaway again is if you cannot find some way Somehow to be proud of being Asian To find some Asian inspiration in the world right now in this vast content world that we have right now You are just destined to be a self-hating Asian Or you're destined to be stuck in an environment where you feel helpless and you're like I'm boxed in but I also can't hop out Of the box because there's no other boxes, but there's other boxes But you got to do the work and sacrifice You know how the willpower to get to those so be like a frog and leap out of the box is what David's saying Alright everybody, let us know in the comments down below what you think about this person's issue about having whitewashed Asian friends and until next time we out. Peace


Ravens they just love doing this where they drop this bomb that one that one that one that one all at the same time So we as Ravens fans you used to it But you never really get used to stuff like this cuz it's always crazy anyway Ravens got so many people back today and let's go over the big names first the first name That's back with the squad back with the team Officially is Daryl Warley the Ravens sign Daryl Warley to a one year deal, baby And of course, this is most likely gonna be for training camp and whatnot So they have more bodies at the cornerback position So it's no surprise that he was with the team last year now. He makes his return now Who else they got back? Well first and foremost Vince Beagle they did place him on injured reserve So that his season, I mean he tore his killie so his season was already over, but now it's officially Over so hope that he can have a clean recovery Not only physically but mentally too because something like that Especially if it's been happening over and over and over that can be very mentally draining So hopefully that his mentors will be good Moving forward because that that could take a toll on you because he just it's like you so close To an opportunity and then it gets snatched away and again with this not being the first time that it happened That's got to be tough now on the positive news Somebody made their return today for the Baltimore Raven somebody that's been missing in action for the Baltimore Raven somebody that We love for the Baltimore Ravens who figures to be such a big part of its offense for these Baltimore Ravens made their return Rashad Bateman, I know y'all was thinking somebody else Rashad Bateman is back He is back. He had missed the past couple of practices But now Rashad Bateman has made his return baby. See as Ravens fans. We we get a little extra excited When we hear positive news when it comes to injuries because especially after last year we heard so much bad news Literally every single week with injuries. We heard so much bad news So that messed us up really bad So that's why when guys are coming back when guys get healthy. We celebrate just that much more We celebrate that much harder. We have that much more of a good time when these guys make their returns So shout out to Rashad Bateman being back. We love it. We love it now Last but certainly not least We talked about how they did say that today would be the day Where we would find out if the doctors clear them We would find out if the doctors were like, you know what? I either good to go or it's a no and Today like the timing would be so perfect because after practice is over like we mentioned earlier after practices over Justice he'll a running back. He's gonna be speaking Mike Davis a running back He's gonna be speaking and the running backs coach is also going to be speaking to the media. So what better day? for the Ravens feature back to be back Then today, we always talk about how timing is everything this timing couldn't be any better J.K. Dobbins he passes physical. He's been activated off the puff list and he makes his return I'm so happy for him I'm super happy for him Because last year I was super sad for him because last year we just know he was gonna take a jump We saw his rookie year. We saw the spurts. We just saw the flashes. We saw what he could do And he wasn't even a feature back his rookie year But this season especially who says Gus is probably gonna be out for a while J.K. Dobbins has an opportunity to truly be the feature back. We know the Baltimore Ravens. They like doing backs by committee They've been doing that for a long time and I would expect him to continue to do that But at the same time with Gus being out I expect J.K. Dobbins workload to increase now With him being back J.K. Making his big return Let's see how they ease him in Don't expect him to play. He's not gonna play in the first preseason game for sure second second preseason game I wouldn't even think he was gonna play third preseason game. I still don't think he was gonna play but week one Yeah, I think he'll be good to go for week one, but only time will tell but this is a start This is where it has to start Now J.K. He was he was he was like he was like halfway, right? I guess and he wasn't on there for too long because remember Ian Ravenport is like, oh J.K. Dobbins the Ravens got some reports on J.K. Dobbins that he's gonna He's probably gonna end up being on the physically unable to perform list and then he may even week one It's up in the air right now. It's questionable He may not be ready for week one J.K. Dobbins. Oh, whoa, whoa, hold up there, buddy I'm not just gonna let you be report like that on me He said hold up. He said I might not even be on the physically unable to perform list and he said oh Oh trust and believe there, buddy. I'm gonna be ready by a week one. Just watch And he said he was tired of how all these people talking he said they've been quiet and Y'all y'all remember J.K. Dobbins addressing all that but now This can make him a man of his word He knows his body and he done been through injury before and bounce back So he knows what it's like So now This is just a beautiful day. This is a beautiful day. Now Not so beautiful news like we talked about earlier with Tyler Linderbaum that Sad that that still worries me Because this is just the concern on what's it gonna be and I guess we just got to be patient. We just got to wait it out Because you know, we're Ravens news. It's like we could have all these positive like yes, yes, yes Yes But then they got to be some heart some heartache thrown in there to Vince Beagle injury reserve Tyler Linderbaum Liz Frank injury So I don't know man But this is a big week for the Ravens. It's a big day. It's only Monday and Ravens like they active active today Vince Beagle injury reserve signing their warly sign Justin Tucker to his contract extension Activate J.K. Dobbins from physically unable to perform list. So he's back in Rashad Bateman he makes his return today to and They got a preseason game coming up in a couple days And you know, it's funny when we did that update video about an hour ago That's the one thing we forgot to make because it's so much going on. It's so much going on all in a day in a day but yeah, they got a preseason game coming up against them Tennessee Titans and Again, this will be a chance for a lot of young guys to showcase themselves a lot of young guys to really put on man Because again Opportunities are limited So you truly have to maximize your effort. You have to maximize every single opportunity that you get Because these rosters they are small and a lot of people this is it for them This is it for so many people so many people who dreamt of making it to the NFL making it to the league They they spent their whole lives from from Little League To playing in high school to to playing in college Some got drafted some got didn't some walked on undrafted free agents. Some maybe played in Canada somewhere else or wherever and Now they're currently on an NFL roster getting ready to play in the preseason game It's like oh, they they so close to that dream of being an NFL player But a lot of people's dreams are gonna get crushed Within the next few weeks A lot of people are gonna have to realize. What's the backup plan gonna be over the next few weeks? So It's a tough harsh reality It's for NFL. So it's just the 1% 1% of people make it And 1% obviously is not a big number. That means 99% don't most people don't And you could put in all the work You could just you could give it your all And not make it Tough tough business man tough business So we'll see we'll see how it goes What I'm looking forward to the most Thursday night when Ravens played the Titans I'm looking forward to the undrafted receivers The undrafted free agents have receivers or really just any receivers that play really Because I just what I want to see the start of something The one I'm looking forward to the most is Shamar Bridges He got my vote for being my favorite to make it. So we'll see Anyway, thank you clean. I love y'all so much. I appreciate y'all y'all keep going man. Keep going keep pushing. We have


Jack in the Box, more like Jack in the Boba, now they are about to be testing out three new bubble tea drinks at locations in California, David. It's got the internet in a stir or a shake, but it might not be what people think it is. Yay, Boba made it. It took us a long time, but we're mainstream. No, I mean, a lot of people feel pro about it. A lot of people feel con about it. We're gonna get into the internet comments. Of course, our own takeaways, Andrew. This is the first time that Boba, since its inception in the mid-1980s in Taitung, Taiwan, has been really embraced by one of the major American fast food chains. However, Jack in the Boxes, they are more heavy on the West Coast because the headquarters is in San Diego. Right, and then also, you know, Baskin Robbins, Dunkin' Donuts kind of tried to do their own bubble, but Dunkin' Donuts was popping pearls, so this is real tapioca pearls, David. They're going authentic with this one. They got even milk tea, okay? So I want to let everybody, they have milk tea at these Jack in the Boxes. So you're saying you can walk through an American fast food drive-through and be like, yeah, go ahead and give me the brown sugar Boba, and literally the same place that serves a jumbo jack and a sourdough jack is going to give you a tiger sugar knockoff. All right, David, we gotta address a couple of burning questions. Will this hurt mom and pop Boba shops around the areas if Jack in the Box really does this? Or will it grow the market conversely? Yeah, or more importantly, are we going to see ABG's pulling up the Jack in the Box? We don't know, let's talk about it. Please hit that like button, check out other episodes of the Hop Hop Boys. And also, do finally like the late night Asian stoners have a tribe? And let's get into the comments section. Somebody said, with all the competition out there, especially in SoCal, who is actually going to buy it from Jack in the Box? Somebody else said, yeah, but where else are you going to get Boba at like one or two AM? Yes, I do think it's gonna be mostly for the late night crowd. I think it's also gonna open up the market for the ongoing, the current Jack in the Box crowd that I'm not saying people who go to actual Boba shops don't eat at Jack in the Box, but I'm assuming that if you go to Jack in the Box all the time, you probably don't go to Boba shops all the time. I mean, Jack in the Box in SoCal, in my opinion, has always been known for being sort of like the stoner spot because they got this different menu after like 11 PM or 12 AM. It's just like wacky. And they got teriyaki bowls, wacky. You know what I mean? It's just a lot of stuff that, for example, McDonald's, which is headquartered in Illinois is not gonna do. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We've definitely had some late nights at Jack in the Box in California. Yes, I remember those. Somebody said that Jack in the Box probably noticed that no new Boba shops ever closed down. Is this true or is this confirmation bias? That's like, I think that's confirmation bias, but, but, but it is known that Boba shops generally are pretty good business ideas. They're pretty good investments. You have a high likeliness of sticking around, but I don't know that that means they don't close down, but I do think it's less overhead than obviously starting like a hot food restaurant where you're frying and cooking stuff. It sure seems like it's a better business model, probability wise. Moving on, somebody said cultural appropriation and Asian erasure. I don't know if this was sarcastic, but this is kind of a funny comment. Do you think it's appropriation at all? You would have to say to some extent, yes, but is it in a problematic zone? No. Well, here's my thing. I don't think I can give it the cultural appropriation stamp because they are calling it bubble tea. Like if Jack in the Box calls it bubble tea, right? You don't have to call it Boba. Boba is like essentially the Chinese word. Right. Instead of calling it like Jack Jack bubble bubble milkshakes or trying to Jack the name, right? They call it bubble tea. There is tea in one of the drinks, OK? Because they have a regular milk tea with Boba. They have a vanilla shake with Boba. And then they also have a brown sugar milk drink, OK? So they are offering the Tanzu Naita, the milk tea. Right. Do they need to say that it's from Taiwan or you just don't need to say it? Like is it sort of like, you know how they do the tacos there with the weird meat paste, but they're low-key kind of good? Yeah, guys, I mean, this is the same spot where you can get a teriyaki bowl. You can get the two tacos for $1 that are arguably if it's even beef. And then you also have like egg rolls. You have jalapeno poppers, I think. You have things like the sourdough jack.  We're thinking of some funky stuff in San Diego. Yeah, I don't know what else do they have now. I haven't been to a Jack in the Box in like a year. Somebody said what? They're coming to take out all the Asian small businesses, man. These culture vultures, F-U. All right, so, David, do you think it affects the small mom and pop boba shops around the Jack in the Box that's serving it? I doubt it, honestly. But I can't say that the answer is no. I think they're pricing the bobas at $4.74. If you have a boba shop that is serving that same tier of like lowish, mid, low-end boba nearby, it could. But it's unlikely. Like you said, it's probably more designed to be like an add-on upgrade item to the preexisting customer base that might be ordering just like Oreo milkshakes. And the Oreo shakes at Jack in the Box, by the way, they are pretty good. Wait, David, so does that mean people in the back of Jack in the Box are going to be flipping the patties for the sourdough jack and then they're going to turn around and shake the milk tea? Just ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch. We got a boba milky coming up.  Yeah, how are they going to keep the tapioca pearls? I don't know. Oh, that's what someone says. Someone says they can't even make my burgers right. How are they going to keep the tapioca's chewy? I think ultimately they'll taste a little bit more like milkshakes. That's my general idea. It'll probably taste like in between a milkshake and a boba, like some sort of middle point that we haven't seen before. I think it's really going to more so open the market for boba. But obviously they're just testing it. They're going to see how it goes. Obviously, like the person said before, stiff competition in SoCal. So I don't know. Somebody said I'm so sick of fast food places, whether that's Pete's coffee, Starbucks trying to do it for a little bit, Dunkin' Donuts, et cetera, et cetera, Sonic.  They never do it right. And they put a bad name on boba. David, is boba becoming one of those things? It's like the token Asian thing that everybody's got to have and try once. It's almost like putting like that Asian woman in a movie and being like, yo, we just need to put like an Asian person in this role somehow. So like we got to all give it a shot even if it doesn't work out. You know what I mean? Yeah, I don't know, man. It's really interesting to think. I think there's so many like possible outcomes. And I'm obviously, I'm not sure which one's going to happen. Somebody said it's either going to be bad and turn newbies off to boba forever or it's going to be good enough. It'll just explode the market because a lot of people that go to Jack in the Box are not Asian. Those people, if they're not familiar, they don't have Asian friends. They don't have like a nice fusion spot by them. They've never been exposed to boba. Now they'll be exposed and they might go spend their money continuously from the beginner level to intermediate tier boba shops all the way to advance, you know, more $10 boba shops. Yeah, but I mean, if you think about it guys, people don't go to like, for example, Asian owned boba shops just for the drink itself. They go for the ambience. You know, you can go there, customize your drink. You can get less sugar, more sugar, different types of milk. Jack in the Box is probably not going to offer that if they ever, you know, mass produce boba because that's too complicated. You think like they're going to be like, okay, welcome to Jack in the Box. Like how do you want your bubble tea? And then they're going to be like, can I get a 30% sugar? Can I get like a non-dairy milk substitute? And then they're going to be like, what? Do you think when Jack in the Box started serving tacos and teriyaki bowls, you know, a couple of decades ago that that ate into the teriyaki or the taco market? Hardly, I think an insignificant amount. All right, ultimately Andrew, what are our takeaways? This is obviously a very silly topic, but I think it's interesting to see, right? This is the first major American, you know, got ads during the Super Bowl type chain to embrace boba. That means you can go through the drive-through and that person even, you know, taking your order whether they drink boba or not, they got to know what you're talking about. Do you think, David, the boba can even be half decent? Literally, do you think the milk tea with boba pearls can be half decent from Jack in the Box? I think it won't taste like boba, but it'll probably be pretty good because their milkshakes are good. Well, if they make, if they have all the same ingredients, milk tea, milk, what, sugar, sweetener, boba, and they have the boba syrup, I mean, I'm assuming it could taste similar to some like kind of cheaper boba. I personally do not think it's going to work out. So they're testing this only at like three locations in SoCal. I don't think it's going to get mass produced. I don't think it's going to go nationwide. I really don't. I do think it's primarily, in my opinion, probably for the, I don't know, I'm guessing the Latino market in SoCal, if you made me say who it's designed for. Yeah. I think ultimately, I think Asian's got to realize that the boba game is just changing all the time. And I think your best bet right now is to open up almost like a kind of a friendly mainstream franchise that's cheaper in a non-Asian area. I'm talking about like deep, deep in an area where there's no boba at all. Like a shared tee.  But like open that in an area where there's no other boba shops in a 10 mile radius. I think that that's the real area of opportunity because right now you've got so many boba shops coming in at a low intermediate to advanced level. I think the most area of opportunity is in the newbie rookie. For sure. Boba conversions. The introduction level, like you said, the cha times and the more like $4.50 boba shops. But honestly, boba shops, especially in those non-Asian areas are still just hubs for like Asian culture, particularly Chinese people, you know what I mean? Like even it will end up attracting all the Asian. So that's why I think the Jack in the Box play, it's not there to replace and beat other boba shops. Of course, I don't think Jack in the Box would care if they did overtake some of them.  It's not gonna be weird. I actually view boba shops in non-Asian regions almost as a replacement of the ice cream milkshake parlors from the 1960s and 70s. Exactly. Like because those aren't around anymore, right? Like the soda parlors. Oh, who's that girl that works for the cha time? Did you see, she's pretty cute. Trust me, I've done that in the past before. I know that's what guys do. Hey, the Beach Boys banana split being replaced by brown sugar milk tea in a milkshake form. Let us know what you guys think in the comments section below. And until next time, we're gonna hop out, boys. We out. Peace.