Matt Mueller is back with his monthly pop culture report.
Then we end the show with two very definitive AITAs.
Check out this episode on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!
OnMilwaukee Culture Editor, Matt Mueller is back for his monthly pop culture report.
We’re talking about the new Little Mermaid movie and the live-action remakes of classic Disney films. We explore how the live-action remakes don’t quite capture the same vibrancy of the original animated films and how the plot is slightly different with more focus on the male characters. We also discuss some problematic elements of the original Little Mermaid movie and how Halle Bailey is a genuine star. Finally, we discuss the Avatar movie and how its CGI is much more convincing than the live-action Little Mermaid movie.
Matt argues that while Vanderpump Rules is straight garbage television, it may also be the best show on TV. He also says he has a little more hope for the new senior Bachelor season than Jane does. He thinks this show could bring a level of sincerity and humanity to the Bachelor franchise, as well as the possibility of it becoming a version of “Grandma Vanderpump”.
We discuss the top premieres from the Cannes Festival, including the new Wes Anderson movie, Asteroid City, Martin Scorsese’s movie Fullers of the Flower Moon, and the new Indiana Jones movie. We also discuss Jonathan Glazer’s upcoming movie, The Zone of Interest, which is about the Holocaust.
We end the week with two very definitive AITA prompts:
AITA for returning a birthday gift I got for my boyfriend after he insulted me about my “colorful” past?
“This happened last night but my phone is still blowing up.
I F(26) dipped into my savings and got Mike, my boyfriend (27) a PS5 for his birthday yesterday.
He knew he was getting the PS5 because he told me that the PS5 is the only thing he wants. We’ve been together for 4 years so the cost didn’t matter. That is until, I found out what he thinks about me.
Some background: When I was 18, I was involved with Jake, a guy who I met online. We ended things after 3 months, and I moved on shortly after with Adam, a guy from work.
I found out a couple months later that Jake and Adam were actually really close friends but I didn’t know Jake long enough to meet his friend group, so I had no idea.
After finding out, I took some time off dating and two years later, I met my current boyfriend Mike.
I was upfront and honest with Mike about my past and the fact that I was unintentionally involved with friends. He said he understood and my past didn’t bother him.
Last night at his party, I showed up with the PS5 and him and his friends were screaming with joy.
His best female friend Jessica laughed and said “I wish I was a thot so I could afford a PS5 too.”
I looked at her with an “excuse me?” Look on my face and she just said “nevermind” and walked away.
I confronted my boyfriend about it and he said and I quote “she’s just messing with you. You can’t take a joke?”
So I pushed further as to why this girl is even calling me names to begin with and he said “well, everyone knows you were a thot before you met me.”
I asked him to explain how I was a thot before him and he said “you know…messing with best friends?”
He then pat me on the shoulder and said that it’s okay because I’m not who I was back then and if he could get over my “colourful past” and “thot mentalities” to give me a chance, then I could get over Jessica’s comments and give her another chance.
I didn’t say anything. I just got up. Took the PS5 from the gift table and left.
He was PISSED. He literally called me like 20 times, but I didn’t care. I was so hurt that I took the bow off and took it straight back to the store I got it from. They happily refunded it.
I thought that was done but Mike and all his friends including Jessica are berating me for being petty and they’re all saying I brought this on myself by making poor choices.
I responded to Mike and told him that he deserves better than me so find someone who wasn’t a “thot” and get the PS5 from them because I returned it.
He started screaming how I’m “the biggest AH” for returning it and how I should be happy he ignored my “colourful past.”
I’m thinking maybe taking it back went too far.
AITA?”
Background: My wife (28 F) and I (30 M), as well as my brother and his wife went to visit our parents as we haven’t seen them in a while. My parents (57) had a box of $300 ginseng in the fridge to be given as a gift for their close friend’s wedding anniversary tommorow — we know this because it came up in conversation during lunch. They also told us to help ourselves to anything in the fridge but to not touch the ginseng for obvious reasons.
The problem came when a few hours later my parents called us in a panic saying that they couldn’t find the ginseng and if anyone saw it. I didn’t take it and at first I thought they just misplaced it somewhere. However, they insisted that they both agreed on not moving it out of the fridge drawer for that exact reason. All of us denied taking it and the conversation got more heated when my father started yelling that someone must have taken it since it only went missing when we came to visit.
All of us continued to deny taking it, with my wife being really quiet, and my father said that if it doesn’t turn up soon, he’d have to have everyone’s belongings checked. That was when my wife admitted that she took it. Apparently it was some popular brand that my in-laws mentioned and she wanted to give it to them, and she thought that no one would notice since it was in an inconspicuous place in the fridge.
My MIL later called and said my parents overreacted over “such an inconsequential thing” and screamed at me that I was an asshole for not defending my wife. The thing is, imo it wasn’t a small thing, my wife literally stole hundreds of dollars from my parents and tried to lie her way out of it.
While I agree that my parents shouldn’t have started yelling and accusing us, I feel like my wife was in the wrong for taking the ginseng in the first place. This situation has caused a lot of friction and we haven’t been speaking since coming home. AITA?
