Ep 197: Entertainment, Scandal & Hope: White Label American on Surviving and Enjoying ft Ashwin

Raphael Harry:
Hey everyone, Raphael, aka Ronin Raphael, is in the building, and I'm glad to have Ashwin, my chaos master, with me on this conversation. We try to talk about, you know, what we found fun, and, you know, just try to take our minds off the cruelty that was going on in 2025. It's still seeping in, you know, we are humans, so It's only as much as we can do, but we still try to have as much fun as possible before 2025 finds us. However, we talked movies, we talked TV shows, we talked books, we talked, um, some storylines that I hope you find it funny. Uh, well, I try to pick a funny storyline, but you know me. Yeah, so let me know what you thought about this conversation. What the takes were. And if you prefer that we only stick to the cruelty, let me know.

Raphael Harry:
I'm curious to hear. I enjoy hearing from you all. Reach out to me on whitelabelamerican.com, uh, contact button. The contact button always works. I prefer that you reach out to me there, not on social media. I don't have Facebook anymore. Reach out to me via the contact button at whitelabelamerican.com. You don't even have to send me an email anymore.

Raphael Harry:
The website does the job for you. So type what you want to type there, or even easier, leave a voice note. You know, just hit record there and say what you want to say, and I'll listen and get back to you in person or on the show. Either one way or the other, you'll hear from me. All right, so thank you and enjoy this conversation. Welcome to a brand new episode of White Label American. Thank you all for joining us. I am joined today by a good friend of the podcast and good friend of mine, Ashwin.

Raphael Harry:
You know him, I know him, we all know him. How you doing today, brother?

Ashwin:
I'm doing great. I'm cold.

Raphael Harry:
Oh yes, it's that time of the year, and technically winter hasn't begun? Not yet, not yet, but I think it's begun for us.

Ashwin:
For a while, for a while I've been, I've been, yeah, no, I changed my wardrobe.

Raphael Harry:
Oh yeah, I've done that.

Ashwin:
Changing my priorities.

Raphael Harry:
Yes, but I still have to drop the PSA to the audience. So for those of you out there, if you don't want to get winter in your house right now, winter in your, uh, in your soul, you better sign up for Patreon, support the podcast, or you can leave donations. Go on the website, you see the donate button, you know, hit that support, give us that support. And if you want, yeah, warm it up, warm us up, warm us up. And if things aren't where they're supposed to be for you, we get it. You can still give us 5-star reviews wherever you are and share this podcast with at least 5 people. See, that's, that's a positive thing to do. We'll haunt you, man.

Raphael Harry:
We got, we got our special winter, uh, hit squad on standby. It'll just come out and start pumping vortex. Yeah, yeah, you know, we had to pull out vortex.

Ashwin:
Drive-by snowball attack.

Raphael Harry:
Drive— you don't want that, man. It hits you. Like, my kid did that to me like 2 years ago, struck me out. Like, man, you're lucky you're my kid, because, you know, some other kids, I would have been like, man, yeah, that's war. Declaration of war, man. So, but today we're not gonna spend too much time On this recording, we're just wrapping up the year 2025. You know, today is the 11th day of December. So, you know, we're on that stretch, final stretch to the end of the year.

Raphael Harry:
So we're going to touch on a few topics. Yeah, mostly entertainment, all have to do with storytelling. So let's see, let's start with movies. What would you consider your movie of the year? Well, what movie spoke the most to you for 2025?

Ashwin:
Oh, I should have come more prepared for this.

Raphael Harry:
I was gonna hit you raw.

Ashwin:
Oh my God, name a few. We just watched this movie called Bagonia.

Raphael Harry:
Oh yeah, I thought I would have seen it last week, but I had so much going on. Yeah, I've heard great things about it.

Ashwin:
It's like, I wouldn't even call it a movie. It's kind of more like a play. It's really a play because it's so small. There are no characters. Mostly it's just two people talking to each other, you know, most of the screen time, you know, it's like most of the dynamics. It's just such a small, tiny movie with no characters, no settings, nothing. It's very stark and minimalist.

Raphael Harry:
Yeah.

Ashwin:
For most of the movie, you know, so it's very intimate. It's almost like watching just two people sitting and talking where they are, you know, which is in that way, it's very, it was very nice. It's very, very small, very intimate movie. Had its moments, you know, it's kind of like a dark humor. But Originally, I heard it was a Korean movie, which explains its tone. It's a little bit— Oh, yeah.

Raphael Harry:
So this is a remake?

Ashwin:
A remake of a recent Korean movie, that too.

Raphael Harry:
Oh, that's a— okay.

Ashwin:
I think so. Yeah. So in that way, the tone then made sense. Then now that I thought about it in that way, and of course it has, um, the actress, uh, I forget her name, Elizabeth Stone.

Raphael Harry:
Emma Stone.

Ashwin:
Emma Stone. Sorry, sorry.

Raphael Harry:
Emma Stone. Oh, you might be— but I do like the director though. Um, yeah, Yorgos Lanthimos.

Ashwin:
Yes. And, uh, yeah, he has made the— he also made, uh, The Lobster.

Raphael Harry:
He made The Lobster?

Ashwin:
I think so. Yeah, I think it was him, which makes sense.

Raphael Harry:
Yeah, Poor Things. Kinds of Kindness.

Ashwin:
Yes, that's true.

Raphael Harry:
I enjoyed those two. Those are the most recent that I saw from him, but Poor Things was like, yeah, that was— that's still— that movie is still with me. Uh, I just did a quick— oh yeah, you're right, he did The Lobster.

Ashwin:
The Lobster was quite good. Very dark, very, very funny in a very English kind of way.

Raphael Harry:
It was It was at the end of ending. I don't know, I need to rewatch that movie again. Maybe it was where I was.

Ashwin:
I find the ending of The Lobster was more hopeful.

Raphael Harry:
I don't know, I didn't agree with the ending back then when I saw it. I was like, I don't know, I felt, I felt flat.

Ashwin:
But yeah, yes, it's English, it's very English, that movie.

Raphael Harry:
I don't know, I just felt, I felt flat back then and I was But I'm at this point right now where I feel like there's a possibility that at the moment I saw the movie, if my mental state was— it depends on where my mental state was at. So if I wasn't— because it is a possibility that my mental state back then was highly frustrated, and so it affected how I interpreted all the arts that I saw at a certain period. So I could have been like, this was too flat, out. So I didn't appreciate it.

Ashwin:
Very dry and sarcastic.

Raphael Harry:
Yeah, yeah, because, yeah, it was— versus.

Ashwin:
Bagonia has a different tone, you know, it has this kind of more like you— well, if you watch it, you'll see it's a little bit more frantic.

Raphael Harry:
I might have seen The Favourite, huh? I can't remember if I saw The Favourite, but I know, um, Poor Things, that was like, I was like, this was amazing, man. That was amazing. Kinds of Kindness also had its, he has a humor, the way he brings his, it's not like slapstick funny.

Ashwin:
Yeah.

Raphael Harry:
But you're gonna laugh. There's scenes that made me laugh because I like that kind of, it's like the way a movie like Get Out wasn't, it's not comedy per se, But I laughed at many scenes.

Ashwin:
Yeah. And I also found that all the very few characters, but each character also I felt is kind of like from somewhere else, right? Like there's Emma Stone, who's kind of Emma Stone in all her movies. And then there's Jesse Plemons.

Raphael Harry:
Oh yeah, that's another guy that works with him. That's him. And Plemons, that's another underrated, highly underrated guy.

Ashwin:
And for some reason they made the cop, there's a cop, and the cop is played by comedian Stavros Halkias, you know, from the Comptown podcast.

Raphael Harry:
Oh, I don't know. I don't think I know him. Maybe if I, I might know his face more than I know.

Ashwin:
And I found that, I found that like kind of a little bit of like a, I don't know, a little distracting, you know.

Raphael Harry:
I don't know.

Ashwin:
I didn't get it. You know, like Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons are actors.

Raphael Harry:
Yeah. Oh, so he just casted a non-actor.

Ashwin:
Yeah, I don't want any idea.

Raphael Harry:
Let's say a celebrity. Yeah, celebrity.

Ashwin:
Exactly, exactly. And a little bit distracting, even though he shows up only very rarely. I mean, but at the same time, that's the thing. That's just It's a very minimalist movie. So any choice that is made, it's very highlighted, you know, it stands out a lot.

Raphael Harry:
Okay.

Ashwin:
Little things. Because otherwise it's everything else is generic. And then suddenly here's like a comedian, a stand-up comedian. I don't know. I just didn't get the choice. And then, but okay, but what other movies, what other movies this year have come out?

Raphael Harry:
This year has had a lot of good movies. It's almost every time I've been to the theater. I haven't been to it lately though. I think the last movie I saw was Frankenstein. This year was one of the rare— well, this was the first year that I actually caught movies, Netflix movies in the theater. And I really wanted to do that. So I'm proud to have done it. I caught— no, sorry, it wasn't Frankenstein, it was Wake Up Dead Man.

Raphael Harry:
Which was sold out in Brooklyn. I couldn't get any ticket. I had to go to a 9:30 AM showing in Manhattan downtown before I could see it. Now that it's closer to debut on Netflix, there's now showtimes available. But that first 2 weeks it came out, uh, especially at Alamo, you couldn't get a ticket. It was completely sold out. I was surprised for Wake Up Deadman. Yeah, but, uh, since January, it was like there was at least one very good movie every month this year.

Raphael Harry:
So I remember seeing, uh, um, One of Them Days, which was a very good comedy, happened in one day. I understand people comparing it to Friday, but I wouldn't. It's not exactly the same, but I get it. Two women, notoriously very Black neighborhood. I won't say notoriously, but in a very Black neighborhood, same LA. But it was a women-centered story. Uh, Katt Williams also appears in that. But people are short of imagination nowadays.

Raphael Harry:
Like, everything has to be a versus kind of, but it was very good. And then, uh, what did I see in February? I can't remember.

Ashwin:
I saw the movie Weapons.

Raphael Harry:
Yeah, I was gonna get to Weapons, but I saw Black Bag. Mickey 17 was good, but Black Bag was like another one that bam, I saw that, I was like, one of the spy thriller that stood out for me this year because I thought, I.

Ashwin:
Thought it more of a romantic, it was very like a romantic movie, like Yeah. But very like. Because I watched it with my wife in the theater.

Raphael Harry:
Yeah. For. But the trailer, you know, so the spy trailer. And it still stood for a spy trailer, but it was about marriage.

Ashwin:
It was a lot about. I saw so many couples holding hands and putting their heads on their shoulders during that movie.

Raphael Harry:
So it was. It was a romantic flick, but it's. The pacing of the movie was like, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. And I love that. So you could focus on it being a romantic flick, you could focus on it being about marriage, you could focus on it being about the thriller, the mystery. It covered— it delivered on those four fronts. And I was like, man, this was a solid movie. And then Cena's dropped in two weeks and Cena's took over all the conversation.

Raphael Harry:
And which for me is my number one.

Ashwin:
That was this year.

Raphael Harry:
Yes.

Ashwin:
Yeah, so long ago.

Raphael Harry:
That's why I'm like, this year was— it's crazy how many solid movies dropped this year because Sinners dropped, and Sinners dominated for so long, for a few months. Yeah, for a few months. And then Superman dropped, Weapons dropped. Weapons gave— it's still one of my— I was like, I'm not gonna see Weapons. I'm like, oh, I don't do horror. And then my neighbor who's an actor told me, oh man, you should go see it. It's I think you enjoy it. So I went and checked it out.

Raphael Harry:
The ending is still my most hilarious ending to a movie this year.

Ashwin:
I was shocked to find that the movie was not written by Stephen King. It has every aspect of it. The vibe, the story, the setting. It's a small town. It's kids being weird. And this is weird lady.

Raphael Harry:
Good points. Good points.

Ashwin:
It's such like, and the ending is.

Raphael Harry:
Being like, where everything— But that ending was hilarious, man. I was dying laughing.

Ashwin:
But the whole thing is like so Stephen King, and then I find out he has nothing to do with it at all.

Raphael Harry:
There was a big bidding war behind Weapons. You hear about Jordan Peele not— wasn't happy he couldn't get it, that he actually fired his agent over that. Yeah, he really wanted to get, uh, the script for that movie, and, um, Justin Krieger ended up getting it. So it was— I was like, he did a good job with Weapons, you know, and we got one of Villains of the Year from that movie because I forgot her name, who was the villain in Weapons. But man, that woman was, uh, that was one performance.

Ashwin:
Very creepy. So creepy. And, uh, the, the teacher in that movie is the— oh yes, who she's also in Ozark.

Raphael Harry:
She was in Fantastic Four. She was, uh, the Silver Surfer. I remember when she was cast and there were, you know, typical complaints online. Oh, they give a man's role to a woman, although in comics there's a female Silver Surfer and it's an alien. What the hell does it matter if it's a woman or man? Yeah, it's an alien being. So, but of course people were all like, oh my God, you know, taking a man's roles and giving it to women, all that BS. And then she delivers two solid performances in Fantastic Four. And weapons, and all that noise disappeared.

Raphael Harry:
There was no noise anymore. Everybody like, oh, actually, she's good. She's, she's really good. Like, yeah, yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, all right, shut up. Everybody just zipped it up. I mean, the comic book movies were all solid except for Captain America, which had these issues, but, uh, it wasn't bad.

Raphael Harry:
But, uh, we'll focus on that. We'll focus on Fantastic Four. Thunderbolts, which dealt with loneliness. Fantastic Four, family, Superman, Immigrant. Yeah, man, it was just, um, I.

Ashwin:
I watched actually recently a very good movie which I liked, uh, after a long time. I, I really— it was a movie that Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, and I think Benicio del Toro was in it. Oh, um, One Battle After One Battle.

Raphael Harry:
After so many people, that's their number one movie of the year, not Sinners. There's a, there's a big online battle going on. I love that movie. I thought it was funny. I'm not, I'm not in the category. I'm not the guy who gives awards. I don't know, I'm not, that's not my forte. I, I can see both of them going at each other.

Raphael Harry:
You're from the same studio.

Ashwin:
Uh-huh.

Raphael Harry:
So at the end of the day, Warner Brothers wins, or is it Warner Brothers Netflix, or is it Netflix Warner Brothers? I don't even know, but Paramount has its ways. I don't want Paramount to win the BAFTA, to be honest, or Netflix to win it. So I like calling it Warner Brothers Netflix.

Ashwin:
But it was pretty good. I mean, that movie had like so much— it reminded me of this other TV show which I forgot what its name is. It has, um, something— I think it's called The Old Man. There's a TV show called The Old Man.

Raphael Harry:
Oh, um, Jeff Bridges.

Ashwin:
Jeff Bridges. And I feel like that, yeah, it's like that in the sense that there is the central character of a young woman, a young revolutionary, and then all these old men going to war with each other over, you know, her.

Raphael Harry:
Oh, that's a— I never thought of— because I loved the old man.

Ashwin:
The old man. Um, the old man, there are 3 old men, and here there are again 3 old men, and they're all at war, you know, over this.

Raphael Harry:
Okay, I have to think a little bit on that because The Old Man is an issue that I would have loved to talk about too. Yeah, yeah, because that, that was, uh, that, that was beautiful. It was brilliant.

Ashwin:
But in the end, it was also time.

Raphael Harry:
It was a young woman and she's like— it pained me when they canceled it because I was like, oh yeah, they left. Yeah, where they left this.

Ashwin:
And it turns out that all this time she was going to be okay because she can take care of herself. And it's all these guys who are— yeah.

Raphael Harry:
At the same time, I get it because, oh boy, she had multiple dads. Yeah. And that's one beauty of that story. But we digress anyway. That story, that's the beauty of that story.

Ashwin:
It was very good. And I liked also their— they had a very different portrayal of white supremacy than Sinners. You know, in a way it was actually even more like darker and weirder. They were so weird. You know, they meet like the pet and they do this weird like handshake and things like that. And they call— what do they call this one? The Christmas Adventurers or something?

Raphael Harry:
Well, that kind of diluted it though, the Christmas Adventurers Club, because that added a funny element.

Ashwin:
Was it? I thought it was creepy. I thought it was more like grotesque.

Raphael Harry:
Well, it added a funny element. To it because by naming it Christmas Adventurers Club, I mean, for me, I kind of— it was funny to me, but I kind of understood because it made it look ridiculous.

Ashwin:
Yeah, I thought it was like this, like the, you know, like the George W. Bush Skull and Bones, you know?

Raphael Harry:
Yeah, but it's like frat boys, but many of it looks like that, but many people don't seem to see it that way, which I'm like, all right, that's fine with you, but I found.

Ashwin:
It for me creepier. Yeah.

Raphael Harry:
Yeah, I didn't. I was like, once if you know, you know, and I was like, okay, that works. Whatever works for you guys. But we're not going to spend too much time. It was supposed to be just one movie. We've done enough. We're giving the people too many movies. If you want the rest, come behind the paywall.

Ashwin:
We'll give you all the rest.

Raphael Harry:
Okay.

Ashwin:
Okay.

Raphael Harry:
Yeah. Yeah. So now, what was your favorite artist of 2025 or your album?

Ashwin:
Music?

Raphael Harry:
Yeah. Music-wise.

Ashwin:
Oh, that's such a good question. Again, again, you got to refresh my memory a little bit. I didn't come prepared for this at all. Well, to be honest, uh, so let me think. Like, I'm the number one— I recently saw my recap.

Raphael Harry:
Yeah, me too.

Ashwin:
I'm the number one listener of, uh, this Italian artist called Fabiana Palladino.

Raphael Harry:
Fabiana?

Ashwin:
Fabiana Palladino.

Raphael Harry:
I have to go check that.

Ashwin:
Uh, and in terms, you know, another artist, young lady that I like from Queens, Lexa Gates.

Raphael Harry:
Lexa Gates.

Ashwin:
Lexa Gates.

Raphael Harry:
L-E-X-A?

Ashwin:
Yeah, L-E-X-A Gates. G-A-T-E-S. Yeah. Uh, she's a young and upcoming artist, you know, and I think very, very, very nice, very talented. Uh, another one, very minimalist album I listened to this year, is a Spanish from Spain, album by this artist called Bibi Trix. Bibi, Bibi, Bibi Trix.

Raphael Harry:
Is it B-I-B-I?

Ashwin:
No, B-B. B, no, B. Oh, letter B. The letter B twice.

Raphael Harry:
Okay. B-B-Trix.

Ashwin:
T-R-I-C-K-A-Z, I.

Raphael Harry:
Think.

Ashwin:
Bibi Trix, you know. A lot of people don't like her. They say that she's kind of like the Ice Spice of Spain, you know.

Raphael Harry:
Ah, that's not bad. I thought you're gonna say Nicki Minaj. I would have said, yeah, I'm not listening to that.

Ashwin:
Uh, but what I really like is the very, like, very nice— the production is very good, the beats are amazing, the very minimalist, tiny. I like very tiny music. I'm, I'm now a big fan of, like, I'm, I'm always— I like punk, punk music, you know. So I'm always about that. If you can do a song in 1 minute 30 seconds, that's good enough for me.

Raphael Harry:
Oh, you like them short? Almost every song nowadays is— because I have old songs and sometimes I, I listen to some old songs, I'm like, oh, this is going on for— when this song gonna end? Like, oh. And now that I'm collecting, I've started collecting vinyl And some vinyls, you know, it's like I got an album and it's only like 3 songs.

Ashwin:
I'm like, wow, the whole— oh, I'm.

Raphael Harry:
Like, oh yeah, once upon a time, that's all you get. And then some, it's like 22 songs, and I'm like, oof, yeah. And so, uh, but for me this year, I really dug into my soundtracks because, um, I don't know, I don't think No, I don't think we talked about that. The show Lazarus, it's an animated— it was an anime, was on HBO about the guy who developed a drug that could cure everything. I may have even watched it. One day he made an announcement that, yeah, that drug I gave you guys has an expiry date. You're going to die. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Raphael Harry:
Except you guys find me and I give you the antidote. But yeah, I know. A race begins to find the guy.

Ashwin:
Find him. Yeah.

Raphael Harry:
The soundtrack for that show. Yeah, I got it. Yeah, I got it. I love that soundtrack, but it reminded me of Samurai Champloo.

Ashwin:
Oh my God. Samurai Champloo. That was one of the best scored TV shows of all time, I think. It's Flying Lotus.

Raphael Harry:
Yeah. Lo-fi hip-hop beats.

Ashwin:
It's amazing. I mean, it's kicked off an entire genre of production. But, uh, yes, Flying Lotus, by the way. Yeah, RIP, many years ago. Yeah, so, but wow.

Raphael Harry:
And, uh, the soundtrack for Andor, which was still, uh, I think that's my top TV show for the year, number 1. So, uh, there are still others I enjoyed, but Andor is my number 1. So yeah, so, um, Brazzo, that's my favorite track. Yeah, so yeah, I played that multiple times. So, um, now this question you're gonna tie into— you could still use TV, I don't know, you could throw TV in here. Yeah, but it's how— whatever, whichever way you're gonna answer it, it's up to you.

Ashwin:
Yeah.

Raphael Harry:
However, I gave you a clue to my answer, the text I sent you. Ah, okay, okay, okay. So this is the question that's what I sent to that text.

Ashwin:
Yeah, yeah.

Raphael Harry:
So What story in 2025 would you describe as your story of 2025?

Ashwin:
Story of 2025?

Raphael Harry:
Well, just for the sake of this recording, because, you know, we could go with a million stories.

Ashwin:
Why don't you share yours and I'll try to remember mine?

Raphael Harry:
Yeah, so I'm going to apply recency bias here. So last night was when I actually stumbled on this story. I had something else in mind, and then I came across this story. And, you know, I'm a big sucker for love, but I'm not all about love that, uh, you know, the way people always talk about love, like, oh, you know, my racist, uh, you know, we, we will both vote for different political parties or ideologies and all that nonsense. Whatever, whatever works for you all, that's fine. So I came across this story on the Humans of New York. I still have some beef with the guy, by the way, but not We'll talk about that behind the paywall. So I'm gonna read this story.

Raphael Harry:
We all have that first love. Nothing will, will replace it. She was 16 when I met her. It was a Coca-Cola dance event. I was a professional dancer, a salsa dancer. I was good-looking because I wore an afro, and she was like a queen. To see her was to see a queen, and everyone was after her. She wouldn't let me dance with anyone else.

Raphael Harry:
She pulled her waist close, she leaned against my chest, and when I smelled her scent, I was filled with the deepest wish for her to be mine. Oh, Gloria, we spent our honeymoon in Cartagena, but believe me, we saw nothing of Cartagena. 3 days we spent in the hotel. Imagine that woman, that long hair, that perfect body, that smile, all alone in our— in your bed. Gloria was the most beautiful woman I ever had. Jeans, a shirt, a dress, she looked gorgeous in all 3, but I loved her most in a dress. I bought her the most beautiful dresses. We had 3 children together.

Raphael Harry:
She gave me the best years of my life, and I didn't even know how to appreciate them. It was a jealous friend who ruined everything. I was building a disco in the basement of a hotel. I shouldn't have done it, but I invited a woman there just to look at the place. She was going to install some mirrors, but this jealous friend called Gloria, and they waited outside on a motorcycle. Until we came out. Gloria would not listen. She told me, I'm going to pay you back in the exact same way.

Raphael Harry:
And she did. And she did. Oh, Gloria, how I cried. But I am a man. I did not ask for forgiveness. I did not drop down. I did not drop to my knees and beg her to come back. I fell into gambling.

Raphael Harry:
I lost everything in the cockfighting casinos. Without her, I prefer to lose it. I wanted to finish it off and be left with nothing. Last year I came here, meaning New York, without a penny, with nothing but my doll. We danced in the subway for tips, and I think of Gloria. The only thing I want now is a place to sleep and stay. That is all. A place to invite her.

Raphael Harry:
No longer as a wife, but as a friend. I want to forgive everything. Let's be friends. Oh, Gloria, Gloria.

Ashwin:
A lot of 2025 elements in that story.

Raphael Harry:
Yeah, the man dances with a doll that's literally a doll, a skull, the skeleton, and has a hat, glasses.

Ashwin:
Yeah, yeah, very like that kind of like AI, you know, AI companion. And then he also mentions gambling, which is also like, I mean, 2025 thing.

Raphael Harry:
If you— that's a major crash right there. The man crashed, as they say, you know, as you said, as the young ones say, he crashed.

Ashwin:
You believe, you believe that he brought the lady over just to install mirrors and then got caught installing mirrors?

Raphael Harry:
People do. Well, I've read a lot of, lots of stories on humans of New York. There are people who admit to their cheating, people who admitted to drugs. There's actually one that I should have shared on our Fatherless Fathers meetings that I forgot to a while back. However, I don't— if you're gonna put your face out there, I mean, except he's a true narcissist. I mean, there are people who wouldn't admit. I've seen some people who are like, I don't think I did anything wrong, and you know, but they still put their face out And I'm like, well, good for you, man. But the man is hurt.

Raphael Harry:
He's hurting. He lost a lot. He lost everything and moved to New York to be homeless. And I mean, I still love to see this story. I'm like, oh yeah, we got one, you know, at this time in America. But yes, that's still love right there.

Ashwin:
Gambling. Oh yeah.

Raphael Harry:
That's the thing. It's a story of love. Love makes you do stupid things because he still says, uh, he wants to forgive everything. I found that phrase interesting. Yeah, yeah, I want to forgive everything. So Bronnie is a therapist.

Ashwin:
That's it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Raphael Harry:
Because if he didn't do anything with the woman that he brought in Yeah, there's a lot of forgiving that needs to happen. And, uh, yeah, if you're dancing with a doll in the subway, man, yeah, I don't know how much you can get from the tips. Yeah, but the audience of humans of New York, they do— they are a very giving audience. I mean, Brandon, they do, they do step up to help. So they will help him. But I saw that story and I was like, you know what, this is going— I'm going to push all my other stories down, lift this story high, and be like, this is very 2025. Yeah, it's very 2025. Um, it touched me, it touched me because this man has— I don't know how many years he's been with that woman, but they met at 16.

Raphael Harry:
He didn't say how old he was then, but, um, I'm not going to apply American logic. Because even America here, we have people who met their sweethearts at age 16. 16 is legal age in many states. But I know back home, you know, I met people who— I didn't want to date somebody at age 16 because I was like, oh no, that's too— even when I was 17, it was like, damn, it was too much drama. I was going for older, you know. That was me. I'm not saying Not like going after my teachers too. So I decided to go with this story, this man pouring his heart out, letting us know he was hurt.

Raphael Harry:
Because man is hurt, man is hurt, and many men are hurt. And by the way, I discovered a podcast. I met the guy recently, fantastic, uh, podcast called Other Men Need Help. It's a good listen. I don't think he has released the recent the episode. However, it's a fun listen. Um, I met the host recently. I'll try and get him on the podcast.

Raphael Harry:
He's local. It's a good listen. But stories like this remind me of, uh, men needing help because, yeah, we can mess things up. Like, uh, yeah, he said he didn't go on his knees too. When I was reading that part, I was like, man, you should have gone on your knees. Yeah, going this far to lose everything, bro. Oh, you could have said, I'm sorry. Baby, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

Raphael Harry:
Even if you didn't cheat with the woman, optics looks bad, okay? You, you, even you yourself recognize the optics looks bad. A jealous friend, if whatever happened and that friend looked out for her friend and said, that looks like he doing something bad, and she went and got your ex, so The optics looks bad. You should have gone on your knees and said, baby, I'm sorry, I want you back. What you want me to do? But he was like, nah, I ain't gonna beg, but you know what I'm gonna do? Cockfighting.

Ashwin:
Yeah, gamble.

Raphael Harry:
And yeah, bro, so go get help. Yeah, accept that there's a problem, fix it. And in this case, I'm not pro go back to your country, but you might, you might have to go back just to go win up Yeah, in this case, you got to go back. Go win Gloria. Go win Gloria back. Now, I don't know if maybe Gloria has moved. Gloria has moved on and found happiness. Yeah, uh, yeah, well, finally, finally, the.

Ashwin:
Lady'S been raising 3 kids all this time.

Raphael Harry:
Yeah, prop. Yeah, what was he building again? Mirrors?

Ashwin:
A nightclub. A nightclub in the hotel basement.

Raphael Harry:
In New York now, there's more— there's Glorias in New York. You'll find your new Gloria. But you also owe your kids an apology too. So not only Gloria, I need to go up, but I still need to go back and apologize to Gloria. Even if, you know, she's not taking you back, but you still need to go back and apologize to Gloria and go to your kids. Because I'm pretty sure if you are terrible to Gloria, then you're also terrible to your kids.

Ashwin:
Yeah, I mean, imagine the kids now have to see him on Instagram. Dancing with a skeleton and calling it their mom.

Raphael Harry:
I want, I want to forgive everything, bro. You want to forgive, man? Come on, man.

Ashwin:
He's dancing with a dead woman, literally a metaphor for his relationship.

Raphael Harry:
Yeah, man, man, man, man does. Ah, yeah, this is, uh, but these females, you know, 2025, women have too many We need to stop funding anything that supports women. Goddamn administration we got. Goddamn nonsense. And then RFK Jr. will come in and, you know, the vaccines are probably what caused this man's problem, and we need to stop supporting people like this. Like, shut up, man. I can't stand that guy.

Ashwin:
Just send me a text.

Raphael Harry:
Yeah, yeah, you know what, you two get out, get out this country, man. RFK, I don't know what country will take you, but just get out. Go, go stay in the ocean. I don't know, get out. But yeah, so I should probably go.

Ashwin:
To that island where Epstein— oh yeah, go stay there.

Raphael Harry:
Preferably go during hurricane season. Just go. I ain't gonna tell you what to do, but just go when it's hurricane A hurricane's about to happen, go, because you are anti-science. Go, let's see how your anti-science works then. Oh man. But yeah, homie, if anybody knows this— because I haven't seen this man, I haven't been to any train station where he's dancing— but if I ever run across him, I'll be like, hey man, this dancing, there's not the help you need. You gotta go, come on, go, go, go get real help. And if you know anybody like that in your life I don't— don't tell them to go dancing on the streets.

Raphael Harry:
Don't— go get real help. Accept there's a problem. We're getting into 2026. It's okay for men to accept that we need help. Accept it. There's a problem, and the problem can be us. Stop blaming women. And, you know, I didn't want to go on my knees, man.

Raphael Harry:
Go on your knees if you have to go on your knees. You go on your knees for that stuff. But yeah, so do you have a story that you can share? The story that stood out to you the most for 2025?

Ashwin:
The most 2025 story for me, you know, a few actually that are all something to do with people leaving receipts in their email. So what I was thinking, maybe.

Raphael Harry:
You.

Ashwin:
Know, the Signal chat leak.

Raphael Harry:
Oh man.

Ashwin:
Because it's so stupid. And then I was thinking also of like Meta, you know, like the Facebook, you know.

Raphael Harry:
What did Meta do? They.

Ashwin:
Got sued by some authors, right, for stealing their work without, you know, doing copyright infringement. And then the idiots, their emails got subpoenaed and then they found out that basically, they had all basically not even just downloaded the books and then used it, but had also downloaded them illegally.

Raphael Harry:
Oh boy.

Ashwin:
And not only did they download it illegally, they also had uploaded it to be downloaded by others illegally. And so, and the stupid thing is it's all on email. So when these things come and technology bites people like back, you know, it's so funny. It's so funny to me all the time. Every time I see these kind of things where OpenAI getting sued by the New York Times, and then I'm not on the side of the New York Times in any way, but in this particular case, it's so funny that they're— every step that they're trying to argue this way or that way, they keep getting hit in the head by a judge is so funny to me. Just because they keep saying one thing and doing another. You know, and it's at the same time a little bit very human. You know, it's like you're committing crimes that you're not sure is a crime or not.

Ashwin:
So you're discussing it on the email.

Raphael Harry:
You'll be like, don't leave any paper trail.

Ashwin:
Yeah.

Raphael Harry:
Okay.

Ashwin:
Yeah, don't put your, yeah, don't put your, don't include your haters in the email thread.

Raphael Harry:
Yeah. Yeah. Don't say, okay, yes, I won't do that. All right, good. And yeah, so don't leave any paper trail. Yeah. And they're doing that in an email. Okay.

Raphael Harry:
That's right. Don't do that. Okay.

Ashwin:
And there's an engineer at Meta. He's like, are you sure you want me to do this? Can you put it in writing? And the guy is like, replies back. He's saying, 'Let's have a conversation on the phone about it.' He could have just said nothing instead. That would have been best.

Raphael Harry:
By the phone, you can call.

Ashwin:
You just call directly. Why you fucking email him back?

Raphael Harry:
And he's still emailing, leaving more paper trail and saying, 'Yeah, I will.' Oh boy. But that's the beauty of, uh, the crime, the criminals. It's like, it's like a movie, like, um So this is why I got you tied up, because this is how I'm going to take over the world. So I need to let you know my plan. Yeah. So I do it anyway.

Ashwin:
Yeah.

Raphael Harry:
Oh, okay. Yeah, tell me, tell me more. Oh, okay. Oh, all right. Thank you. Thank you for explaining the plan.

Ashwin:
And they're like, hahaha. Because you took the time.

Raphael Harry:
The thing missing is the evil laughter. Hahaha.

Ashwin:
Add that too.

Raphael Harry:
Because my kid does that now for some weird reason. She has added that laughter, too when she wants to let you know she's playing a villain. Okay, yeah, I got you. But, um, yeah, you're, you're much better than, uh, some, some real-life villains who send a signal chat. Yeah, that signal one was, uh, the height. Yeah, you know, they, uh, I forgot who the guy was who started the group chat You know, he got promoted to— because they claim he got fired. And so people— so I don't know, people, people always make me laugh online because they were like, yeah, he got fired. I was like, but he's the ambassador to the UN now, right? And he was at the UN and he was, uh, I forgot what country he was trying to have beef with at the UN, and the country's ambassador interrupted him when he was making a speech the other day.

Raphael Harry:
The guy said, uh, this is not a signal chat, this is the UN. I was like, man, it's a hot mess. Like, golly, this is a hot mess. Ah, dang. But hey, that's why sometimes I just put on Cheetahs and have Cheetahs playing on TV, because I'd rather deal with Cheetahs than these people. Because the people I see on Cheetahs, I'm like, yes, they make sense. Because when you take them and you apply to these villains in the real world, you're like, you know what, you guys are worse. You guys are far worse.

Raphael Harry:
But them folks on Cheetahs, I get it. I get, I get. Because you see, it's like you, you can see it happening in real time and you're like, yeah, you can see these guys coming from afar. Then Meta, then all these big tech folks, you can see theirs coming from afar because you're like, look at the guys at the lower levels. Well, and you know, I didn't mean that, but I meant that, you know. Yeah, just on the financial, on the economic scale of things. And you can see the ones with the bigger bag, and it's like, yeah, when they do it, most people are like, yeah, you know, I'm, I'm forgiving. Why are you forgiving them? You shouldn't forgive them.

Raphael Harry:
You should be stoning them. Like What the hell are you doing? Well, we'll always look the other way and be like, oh, want to laugh at the guys on reality TV because that's more important. Come on. So I'm— I guess where I get my philosophy from, cheaters and the rest, because I'm like, it's easy to catch the big ones when you know the smaller guys. You're like, yeah, the big guys can't fool me no more. Oh man. But I think we've given these guys enough. Until they start supporting us, we ain't gonna give you too much.

Ashwin:
Yeah.

Raphael Harry:
So one last thing, what are you excited for in 2026?

Ashwin:
2026, oh my God, um, what am I looking forward to? I know there's the Soccer World Cup.

Raphael Harry:
Yeah, if all my African teams don't perform, I'm out. That's the only thing I care about.

Ashwin:
GTA 6, I hope it's coming out.

Raphael Harry:
Oh, haven't they postponed that a few times?

Ashwin:
Yeah, yeah.

Raphael Harry:
All right. I'm hopeful on your behalf too.

Ashwin:
Thank you. Thank you. GTA 6 might come out. I mean, you know, I look forward to the midterms.

Raphael Harry:
Yeah, that's what I want.

Ashwin:
That's the main thing. That's the only thing I'm hopeful, you know, to have hope for. Now, I'm not hopeful about it, but, you know, at least it's something to.

Raphael Harry:
Have hope. Well, that's a good way to put it.

Ashwin:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Raphael Harry:
I do have hope for that. However, I'm still staying nerd and Avengers Infinity— no, Doomsday. Doomsday is supposed to come out, so I, I stay hopeful until then. Um, James Cameron, take me, take me through Avatar. The only movie I paid for 3D glasses for is James Cameron. That's the only guy I pay for my 3D glasses. The rest, I don't give anybody 3D money. All the James Cameron movies, I give him 3D because that man, yeah, he, yeah, he knows, he knows what I need.

Raphael Harry:
Give me that, I pay, I get my 3D glasses on, I'm like, God damn, what is this? Cinema. You know, I never knew that man never went to film school. I just found out recently. That he was like a truck driver, you know, man. He used to go collect films, study stuff from the university. And then I was like, wow, I never knew that until I heard him talking about it. I was like, wow, big ups to him, big ups to him. But yeah, so I'll stay on the entertainment side, and we got Fallout coming soon too.

Raphael Harry:
We've got to enjoy the first season.

Ashwin:
Yes, yes. And they're going to go to New Vegas.

Raphael Harry:
Yeah.

Ashwin:
And I know some things about New Vegas, you know. It's going to be cool if they're going to show— and actually, the Fallout: New Vegas is the best Fallout game.

Raphael Harry:
Oh, okay.

Ashwin:
It's the best one. It's the best one so far. Even better than the newer ones.

Raphael Harry:
Okay, yeah, you know me, I suck when it comes to playing video games. So, uh, yeah, but that show, that show, that show, yeah, she actually gave me something and I love. And Walter Goggins, my man, my man. Okie dokie, let's say we go. All right, so we're gonna end there. Um, yeah, I think it's a good place to end. See, we'll see the people give them— we've given them enough entertainment. And just a hint, just a hint, yeah, come behind the paywall.

Raphael Harry:
There's a whole lot. Yes. Yeah, I have a lot of chaos going on there. Good chaos, you know. I have solo episodes. Yeah. Um, yeah, we need more recordings with Ashwin there too, but you have a lot of episodes with Ashwin there to.

Ashwin:
Watch, and they're available.

Raphael Harry:
Yes, you want to watch? Yeah. Oh no, you gotta, you know, there's, um, you can pay $10 too. Yeah, or $20. And if you want to give gold bars, we accept gold bars. Swiss francs, we accept Swiss francs. Um, if you want to give crypto, uh, we're not trying to do that crypto thing. Just, yeah, yeah, keep it to euros, pound sterling, British pound sterling, dollars. Swiss francs.

Raphael Harry:
Yeah, yeah. Rupees. Rupees. That's a lot of counting we got to do, man. We got to count that. I got a kid, I'll make her count. She'll do the counting. All right, you got anything you want to plug in? Plug?

Ashwin:
I mean, you know, this year, we've been— you've seen a couple of the projects that we've been working on, right?

Raphael Harry:
Yeah.

Ashwin:
So it's not really a plug, but, you know, people, if they're interested, maybe next, in a few months, I can give them an update and show them a little bit more on things that I've been working on. I've been working on some cool projects. Raphael saw two of them recently. One was about how do we, how do we like design space to help people like regulate their senses. In order to unlock creativity.

Raphael Harry:
Yeah, that was fantastic, man. I had a great time with that.

Ashwin:
Yeah, exactly. I mean, it was so amazing. Yeah. And the second project I'm working on is similar, but it's more like in a broader sense about what kind of experiences can we have in order to kind of help people belong, you know, to New York City. Yeah, and the hypothesis there is, is it is going to be by acquiring the resources to overcome mild negative experiences that are shared, you know, rather than focusing on positive experiences only. Yeah, so that through mild discomfort that perhaps we can increase communal belonging, you know.

Raphael Harry:
Yeah, but both projects, man I can't give any spoilers, but I had a great time.

Ashwin:
Yeah. And it was the first time we're doing this. So next, like by March or April, you're going to see something completely more developed. Yeah.

Raphael Harry:
I'm excited. And audience, you should be too, because it's good stuff that's coming your way.

Ashwin:
We're trying to make downtown Brooklyn a place for everyone, for all New Yorkers.

Raphael Harry:
And you're in good hands.

Ashwin:
We've been trying to do that.

Raphael Harry:
Yeah, I don't mean the insurance company, by the way. They should come pay me. But yeah. All right, so we'll wrap it up here. Thank you for the privilege of your company, and I'll see you guys soon.

Ashwin:
See you.

Raphael Harry:
Thanks for listening to White Label American. If you enjoyed the show, please give a 5-star view on your favorite podcast app. You can follow the show on all social media platforms. Visit the White Label American website for links for donations, episodes, feedback, guests, merch, and newsletter. Thank you for the privilege of your company.