Kimia Behpoornia Disobeys Bridger

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Kimia Behpoornia Disobeys Bridger"

Episode Release Date: July 24, 2025
Podcast: I Said No Gifts! A comedy interview podcast with Bridger Winegar
Host: Bridger Winegar
Guest: Kimia Behpoornia

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Introduction and Setting the Scene

The episode begins with Bridger Weiniger humorously recounting his day, highlighting a personal achievement of navigating to the studio without using a map for the first time ([02:03]). He shares relatable anecdotes about everyday tasks, such as dealing with his fridge alerting him to order a new water filter and scheduling a haircut, setting a light and conversational tone for the show.

Guest Introduction: Kimia Behpoornia Arrives with a Gift

Bridger welcomes Kimia Behpoornia to the show with enthusiasm ([02:03]). True to the podcast's theme, despite Bridger's request for "No Gifts," Kimia arrives holding a neatly wrapped present. Bridger expresses mild surprise and amusement, opening the gift on-air ([36:37]). The gift, a vintage backgammon set neatly packaged in an LA Times newspaper, becomes a focal point for their ensuing conversation.

Hairstyle and Barber Shop Banter

A significant portion of the episode revolves around a lively discussion on hairstyles. Kimia shares her experience with finding a reliable barber in Los Angeles, discussing the nuances of maintaining short hair and the costs associated with regular haircuts ([04:32] - [07:22]). Bridger and Kimia delve into topics like the emotional and practical aspects of hair maintenance, gender differences in hairstyling, and the challenges of communicating desired hair lengths to barbers. Notable exchange:

Kimia Bopornia ([05:44]): "I think men are allowed to kind of experiment with their hair from age 13 to 22. And then after that, it's like you pick the haircut you're going to have for the rest of your life."

Backgammon and Board Games: An ASMR Experience

Transitioning from hairstyles, Bridger introduces a vintage backgammon set he gifted to Kimia. The segment features an ASMR-style unboxing and a basic tutorial on how to play backgammon ([39:48] - [56:16]). They engage in playful banter about the game's complexity, Bridger's familial ties to the game through his Persian heritage, and the nostalgic value it holds for him. Kimia expresses her eagerness to learn, leading to a humorous and lighthearted mock-game demonstration.

Interactive Games: Gift Master and Gift or Curse

Bridger and Kimia participate in interactive games designed to engage both themselves and the listeners:

1. Gift Master ([58:46] - [60:43]):

   • Rules: Each participant selects a number to assign gifts to celebrities.
   • Gifts Chosen:
     • A trip to the hospital
     • A Vegas residency
     • Inescapable debt
   • Celebrities Assigned:
     • Tim Allen
     • E.T.
     • Javier Bardem
   • Highlights:
     Bridger humorously assigns E.T. to a Vegas residency to protect him from governmental scrutiny, while Kimia opts to place Javier Bardem in inescapable debt to keep him perpetually working.

2. Gift or Curse ([61:57] - [73:35]):

   • Scenario: Annelise presents "Group Discounts."
   • Responses: Both Bridger and Kimia agree it's a curse due to the complexities and emotional labor involved in organizing groups to avail discounts.
   • Notable Quote:
     Kimia Bopornia ([66:15]): "Group discounts are a curse. An absolute curse."

Listener Interaction: "I Said No Emails" Segment

In the final segment, Bridger and Kimia address a listener's email from a high school teacher struggling with students using AI for writing assignments ([69:12] - [75:35]). They provide satirical and humorous advice, suggesting exaggerated measures like purchasing motorcycles and wearing leather vests to assert authority. The exchange underscores the podcast's comedic nature while touching on contemporary issues in education.

Listener's Email ([69:14]):
"I'm having a hard time dealing with students using AI for their writing assignments... how should I let the student know that I have caught them plagiarizing..."

Conclusion and Farewell

The episode wraps up with Bridger promoting his other projects, including his Instagram handle and an improv sketch show titled "Mamma Mia But Different." They thank their senior producer, Annelise Nelson, and the team behind the podcast ([76:01] - [77:04]). Bridger humorously reiterates his initial request of "No Gifts," concluding the episode on a playful note as Kimia admires the backgammon set.

---

Key Takeaways and Insights

• Humor in Everyday Topics: The episode effectively blends humor with everyday subjects like hairstyles and board games, making content relatable and entertaining.

• Interactive Engagement: The inclusion of games like Gift Master and Gift or Curse fosters listener engagement and adds a dynamic element to the interview.

• Addressing Modern Issues Comedically: By tackling topics like AI in education through a comedic lens, the podcast provides lighthearted commentary on serious issues.

• Personal Touch: Bridger's sharing of personal stories and his thoughtful gift to Kimia deepen the connection between host, guest, and audience.

Notable Quotes

• Kimia on Haircuts ([05:44]):
  "I think men are allowed to kind of experiment with their hair from age 13 to 22. And then after that, it's like you pick the haircut you're going to have for the rest of your life."

• Bridger on Group Discounts ([67:13]):
  "I love smaller group hangs."

• Kimia on Backgammon ([42:35]):
  "It speaks to my math brain and my grandpa."

Conclusion

This episode of "I Said No Gifts!" masterfully combines comedy, personal anecdotes, interactive games, and timely discussions, all while maintaining a warm and engaging atmosphere. Whether you're a regular listener or new to the podcast, "Kimia Behpoornia Disobeys Bridger" offers a delightful mix of laughter and insightful conversations.

Transcript

[Bridger Weiniger]

This is exactly right.

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[Kimia Bopornia]

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[Kimia Bopornia]

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[Bridger Weiniger]

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[Kimia Bopornia]

Get started risk [e-mail] iheart.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Clear when.

[Kimia Bopornia]

You'Re a guest in my home.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You got to come to me empty handed. I said no guest.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Your presence is presence enough and I already had too much stuff. So how do you dare disobey me listener before the show begins? Just letting you know that we are doing a live show at Dynasty Typewriter here in Los Angeles August 22nd at 7:30pm you are going to have wonderful guests. We're going to you know the drill. It's going to be a fantastic time. All kinds of exciting things will be happening. Maybe I'll debut a new outfit. It's hard to say. You never know what I'm going to be wearing and what's going to be happening. But go to dynastytypewriter.com to get tickets. There's also going to be a live stream which you can also [e-mail] I expect everyone to be there or to be there on the Internet whichever you prefer? It's going to be the time of our lives. I'll see you August 22nd. Welcome to I said no gifts. I'm Bridger Weiniger. We are here in the studio. I made it here safely without. For the first time, without using the map. I did it all through muscle memory. Didn't think it would ever happen. But I got here and I know the two freeways and how to get onto the second freeway. Hopefully I'm not jinxing myself now, but that was a big accomplishment for me this morning. What else is going on? Let's see. Oh, I was alerted this morning by my fridge that I need to order a new water filter. Everybody wants something from me, but I will see how long it takes me to actually order it. I'll probably go six weeks with the water not being filtered. Who's gonna be hurt by that? My body can handle a little few extra minerals, but other than that, I think that's about it. I have a very busy day, so let's don't get in my way. I'm doing this. I'm getting a haircut. Next time you see the show, I'll have a different hairstyle. Well, it'll be the same one, but shorter. So look forward to that. I want to get into the show. Today's guest is absolutely fantastic. It's Kimia Bopornia. Kimia, welcome to. I said no gifts.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, thank you so much.

[Kimia Bopornia]

How are you?

[Bridger Weiniger]

I'm pretty good. You know, I was wondering about your haircut, because your hair's pretty short.

[Kimia Bopornia]

This is a new thing where I've, like. I think I've. My barber, I love him. Cesar gives me a great haircut. I finally found someone I can count on in Los Angeles for not too much money.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Sure.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Close to my house.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

But he's. The haircuts he's giving me now are slightly shorter than I used to get. Okay, so when it gets to what is typically what would be a normal short haircut for me, I think now it's too long.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Now. I don't follow that, but I hear you. Good for you.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Let me. He does a fade starting with a 0.5. And so right now I think I'm probably at a 1.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay.

[Kimia Bopornia]

And so we gotta get back to that point.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Five.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Yeah.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay, cool.

[Kimia Bopornia]

How often should I be getting a haircut? I don't know.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Boy hair's crazy, right? Like, you gotta, like, really keep going, girl.

[Kimia Bopornia]

You can, like, you can go a couple extra weeks.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, I do. Like two a year.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Yeah, I Mean, I could get to that point, have, like, shoulder length.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I think you'd look cool.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I think. I think it's frightening.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Really? You're not down.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I don't think it would be a good curl. It gets really wavy.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's what I'm imagining for you. And I think, awesome.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Honestly, I wonder. Yeah. I feel like men are allowed to kind of experiment with their hair from age, like, 13 to 22.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, that's a big window.

[Kimia Bopornia]

And then. But after that, it's like you. You pick the haircut you're going to have for the rest of your life. Otherwise, it's like a giant change where, like, women can get like, oh, I've got. I'm trying a new thing. People like, yeah, of course you're trying a new thing. Men, when they're trying a new thing, I don't know, it's like, a little bit shakier. Maybe it's because of the shortness of it. It's hard to, like.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You really have to go through a lot of time to get it long, right? Yeah. And it looks very much different.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, yeah. And everybody stage of between short and long.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's the bad one.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Yeah. They just have to lock themselves.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Fabio hair stage.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I wouldn't mind just, like, disappearing for six months and reappearing with a new hairstyle.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's kind of fun.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Maybe that's what I do.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

People are like, oh, so that's what you were working on.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Just changing your look.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's. That's huge.

[Kimia Bopornia]

These days, you're getting your haircut twice a year. But the thing is, I pay a lot. That's the thing. Secret men pay. Think they're paying less once a month, but probably evens out. Yeah, I'm paying. I guess I can say this. I think this is as cheap as that you can get in Los Angeles without really being cheap. $45.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, my God. Yeah. That's great. I pay, like, 200 something my two times. I go, yep.

[Kimia Bopornia]

But see, now we're thinking about me doing it 12 times a year.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I'm paying about $500 a year in haircuts.

[Bridger Weiniger]

We're even.

[Kimia Bopornia]

We're even. It all evens out. It all comes out in the wash. And that's equality. That's true.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's equality. We're not talking about that.

[Kimia Bopornia]

But we're not talking about. Well, I'm in an electric car, but I still have to pay for the electricity, the gas money of it all.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, yeah, you. So I am paying more, but my hair Cuts farther.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, interesting.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. See, I'm on the east side and I'm driving down to Beverly Hills.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Okay. So again, men and women are even out. No one has anything to complain about. Everything is totally equal in every.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And that's what I came here to speak on.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Have you been with your hair person for a long time?

[Bridger Weiniger]

I have, actually. Our mutual friend Patrick also goes to this hair person. Interesting. And any curly hair person I run into, that's like, I'm looking for someone, I go, you go find Maria. She rocks.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Maria. Maria. Maybe I should. See, I have a weird thing where my hair's not straight or curly, and when wet, it's straighter. And so, like barbers, I think frequently overestimate how short they should cut my hair, because when it curls, it gets shorter.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, okay. Yeah, that's technically it. That's how it goes.

[Kimia Bopornia]

So sometimes if they're not aware, they'll go too short. And then when it dries out, when it's completely dry now, it's a disaster. But you can't. How do you communicate that to them? You know, they should know.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Hair is their job.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Hair is their job.

[Bridger Weiniger]

They should kind of know that.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Yes. Like, how to get to that point.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, you just cut less because when it dries, it shrinks up.

[Kimia Bopornia]

But. And I think I've gotten to that place with my guy. But finding him was a huge challenge.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, yeah, I bet.

[Kimia Bopornia]

And you know, the challenge is you're going to a place that cuts your hair bad.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

And then you go to another place to cut your hair bad. And then you go to a place where the guy has political opinions, where you're not entirely sure where he stands. I mean, it's a whole experience.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's tough.

[Kimia Bopornia]

My guy doesn't really talk to me.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay. And we like that.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Well, see, I do like that, but my boyfriend has started going to him, and I found out that he talks to my boyfriend. So I'm like, is my personality so off putting about me is putting off. Don't talk. Well, I mean, I'm getting what I want.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's what you prefer.

[Kimia Bopornia]

But now, of course, I want something.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Else, because you heard that somebody else, Mr. Popular. Oof. Okay.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Yeah. But of course, if he started talking to me, I'm sure I'd be like, please, let's not. So there's no winning for this poor barber.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I don't know.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You just talk like. I just talk, like, twice. Maybe in the span of time.

[Kimia Bopornia]

What are you talking about?

[Bridger Weiniger]

During a haircut, you know, sometimes she'll initiate and be like, so, what's going on? You know?

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, sure.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. Very open. And then I'll kind of just tell her two things I'm up to.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Right.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And she doesn't respond.

[Kimia Bopornia]

She doesn't divulge anything.

[Bridger Weiniger]

No. I mean, then I'll ask her, like, going on any vacations soon? And she'll tell me in one sentence. She's not very chatty.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I think that's kind of the place you need to be. I want them focusing on my hair.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I don't. My personal life is extremely boring. I don't need to be dole. You know, putting them to sleep while they're snipping. And I don't.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You're not boring, by the way.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Well, apparently Caesar thinks so.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Well, no, Caesar's just feeling that you don't want to chat, you know?

[Kimia Bopornia]

Yeah.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Maybe go in there today, chat it up.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Ruined the whole thing for myself.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Be so chatty today.

[Kimia Bopornia]

My other problem is when you get to an area of taste where it's like, oh, what TV are you watching? What movies? And then they start telling you things that. And then you have to agree with whatever they're saying.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You don't have to.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I feel like I've got. If there's anyone in the world that I need to just be on a level I don't want to be debating, it's the person cutting my hair.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's fair. That's fair.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Because when I. I, unfortunately am. Nothing makes me happy in the world of entertainment. And so I don't know how to have a normal conversation with a person without stepping on toes.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Sure.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Without being like, well, you have bad.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You're like, that sucks, and that sucks. Okay. But it's kind of nice because, like, to be fair, if they said they liked anything, you would have said it sucks. So that's kind of comforting.

[Kimia Bopornia]

This is what I end up saying, is I just lie about. Essentially, I say I've never seen anything. Oh, I haven't seen that.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, that's good.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I haven't seen that.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Covers your bases.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Yeah, I'll have to see that. I'll have to see that.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, I do that a lot. I go, oh, I'll check that out. Never. Never going to.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Or I've already checked it out and think it's despicable. And just. I'm like, well, like, I can't break it to that. Yeah, you're wrong.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Wow. So you've. I'm hoping that I get to. I'm hoping this Is the barber for the rest of my life.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. So we'll keep them silent. Don't chat today. Sorry I pushed you that way. You know, don't. Don't mess up a good thing.

[Kimia Bopornia]

But then there's always this temptation for me of, do I want to go to. Just once, go to a really expensive place and have them be like, you've been doing it wrong all along.

[Bridger Weiniger]

No, they can't. I don't think, like, maybe I'm just being dumb, but I don't think with short hair, boy hair, they. There can be much that you've biffed, you know?

[Kimia Bopornia]

Okay. They can't be like, like, this is what you should be doing.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I don't know. Your hair looks great. Like, I think you're doing it.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I'm not fishing for compliments.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Hey, and you got them and it worked. It's looking good. Don't cut it. Actually cancel today. What are you doing?

[Kimia Bopornia]

They have a policy. They've got a 12 hour policy.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I have to pay your $20.

[Kimia Bopornia]

That would ruin the weekend for me.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Hey, I'll pay your $20 for you to cancel. Make it long.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I've got headphones on right now. I take them off, my hair could be a disaster. Then you've committed $20.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's fine. I'll take that gamble. 20 bucks. I'm actually hoping you take the headphones off in like luscious.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, my God. It just rolls to my ankles. Oh, that would be my dream.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That would rock.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I wish I could get to that length of hair in a month just.

[Bridger Weiniger]

To try it out.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Yeah, I guess I could buy a wig, but that would be an expensive wig.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, that's too much.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Do they make wigs that long?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, of course they make wigs. They make wigs.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Ankle length wigs.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, man. You can get any kind of wig you like.

[Kimia Bopornia]

That would be as much as a car.

[Bridger Weiniger]

The cost.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Yeah, probably. Do you think? Yeah, I mean, if you were getting a good one, a good one, that would. I. I imagine that would probably be $15,000.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's crazy.

[Kimia Bopornia]

And I don't know anything about wig costs.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You're just kind of saying. And I'm like, yeah, that sounds right.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Well, if we think about, we go to a, let's say a spirit Halloween, a party city to buy a wig.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's where you're going.

[Kimia Bopornia]

No, but like, one of those is.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Probably, I think $100 for a long wig. There.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Yeah, there. A hundred dollars?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Because a short one is probably 15 to 30.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Sure.

[Kimia Bopornia]

So then if we're talking about real human hair. Oh, then ankle length. That has to be $15,000.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. What if it's, like, h. Male hair.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, is that more or less expensive than human hair?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Gotta be less, right?

[Kimia Bopornia]

No, it's a novelty.

[Bridger Weiniger]

No, no, no. It's go. Yeah, but it's gotta be less because it'll look not like human hair.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Yeah. It'll look unbelievably gorgeous. It'll look so conditioned.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Not horse head hair. Horse tail hair.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Of course.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's what I'm pitching.

[Kimia Bopornia]

The mane.

[Bridger Weiniger]

No, the back mane. The butt mane.

[Kimia Bopornia]

That's the technical term.

[Bridger Weiniger]

The butt main.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I can tell you're a cowgirl.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. Actually, horse is my least favorite animal, so.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Is that true?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. Why? I don't know. I think it's, like, wrapped up in horse girl stuff where I was, like, growing up, and that was, like, the thing to be. If you were, like, right cool, and in the binary, you were like, horse girl. You were cool. And I was sitting there in my Tech Deck T shirt, and then.

[Kimia Bopornia]

What was your animal?

[Bridger Weiniger]

What was my. Oh, I like giraffes.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Okay.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Monkeys. Those were my, like, childhood favorite animals.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Those are good animals. Those are fun to draw.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

And to see. It certainly more fun to see at the zoo than a horse.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

If you see a horse at the zoo, you're like, I have been ripped off. I could see this in a million other places. I might be able to see it on the street.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Don't put that in a zoo.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You're so right. And I don't think that they do.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Well, if I do, I'm gonna. That zoo will be hearing from me. Yelp Review online campaign. Change.org petition.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Get the horses out the zoo.

[Kimia Bopornia]

No. Close the zoo down.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Close that hole.

[Kimia Bopornia]

You made a horrible choice.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yes.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I mean, horses are not my favorite, but they're those. And dogs to me, are kind of like. Well, they've just been with human beings for such a long time.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Sure.

[Kimia Bopornia]

They're not even. You know, they're almost a different category.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It's not really an animal.

[Kimia Bopornia]

They're a friend. They're a companion or a partner. Teammate.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yes.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Whereas a monkey or a giraffe, they've got a longer way to go to being, you know, we can count on them.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. I don't think you can count on those guys.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I mean, especially monkeys. I think, actually, we have to be aware that they could eventually turn on us. Yes.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Planet of the Apes.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Planet of the Apes. Or Chimp Crazy.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, I didn't see either of those.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Okay, I gotta see. Which one should you see first?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, you tell me.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I think if you see chimp crazy first, the fear of Planet of the Apes will become even more horrifying.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, shoot.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Because you'll say, you'll see. Oh, this is what they're capable of.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Whoa. Okay.

[Kimia Bopornia]

The chimp. You know, the apes might rip every person's face off. And that's what happens in the. It's part of it. It's just a small part of chimp crazy.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's just a small part. That's not the whole thing.

[Kimia Bopornia]

It's a small part of it.

[Bridger Weiniger]

No freaking way. That's what. That's a small part. I gotta watch that.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I mean, that's. How familiar are you with that show?

[Bridger Weiniger]

I just know people were like, talking about it being crazy. I know about the face ripping off thing. I thought that was all of it, though.

[Kimia Bopornia]

That's just the lady's like, friend or something.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I mean, that's the only. I think that's kind of. Well, there might be other faces or people who get hurt.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

But that's probably the most brutal of all of them.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, man.

[Kimia Bopornia]

It's a tough. I don't. I don't know if it's good that we're watching this thing or probably not.

[Bridger Weiniger]

But I gotta see it. And I'm not just saying that like how I tell Maria I'm watching the show she likes.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Right.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. This one I'm gonna.

[Kimia Bopornia]

You'll get in there and it's impossible not to finish it. Like, no moment of it is normal.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay.

[Kimia Bopornia]

And that lady is. Well, I won't give anything away.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Don't tell me anything, but there's some.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Good things that happen and some horrible things that happen. And just a woman who needed to find another path in life. I'll say a lot of people who needed to find another path in life and unfortunately, they found illegal exotic animals.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Shoot. Yeah, that's tough.

[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Kimia Bopornia]

Do you have a pet?

[Bridger Weiniger]

I do. I have a dog. Oh, he's got one eye and he's a Chihuahua mix, so he's a nightmare. It's really bad because Chihuahua's already awful. Anxious dogs.

[Kimia Bopornia]

They are so anxious.

[Bridger Weiniger]

This one has one eye. Somebody wronged him and we don't even know who. What happened to him? We don't know how he lost his eye. So he's just very, like, screams at all, stranger, stranger danger all over the place.

[Kimia Bopornia]

How old was he when you got him?

[Bridger Weiniger]

He was 2. And that's also when he lost his eyes. So he's like, spent two years of life with two eyes.

[Kimia Bopornia]

So he knows the difference.

[Bridger Weiniger]

He knows.

[Kimia Bopornia]

He knows that he. Something happened.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Something happened to him.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, the poor little thing.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I know.

[Kimia Bopornia]

What's his name?

[Bridger Weiniger]

His name is Chef.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, that's a good a.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Thank you.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Sweet little. And how old is he now?

[Bridger Weiniger]

He's. Oh, my God. Okay, so we got him in the end of 2019, and he was 2 then. Okay, so math it up. Yeah, 7.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Ish.

[Bridger Weiniger]

6. 7.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Trying to show off some math.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You did. You already did. And you did. You did our haircut math. You did my dog age math.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I'm gunning for the world of style and math, and I think I've nailed it so far in this episode.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It's working.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Haircutters reach out. Mathematicians reach out to. I haven't done a times table in a long time. Do you remember times tables?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Absolutely. I'm a big math kid.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Are you really?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Actually, I love math. I'm letting you do the math here today.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, you could have shown me up. How were you into, like, the Mathletes and all of this?

[Bridger Weiniger]

We didn't have mathletes.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Neither did we. That feels more like a TV thing. Right?

[Bridger Weiniger]

But I was in the math robotics academy at my middle school.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, my God.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. We programmed LEGO robots.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Wow, that's incredible.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, we made them do little missions.

[Kimia Bopornia]

And what were they doing?

[Bridger Weiniger]

So, okay, so Lego, like, the company, right. Puts on this robotics competition for middle school high schoolers. Every year has a different theme.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Okay.

[Bridger Weiniger]

One of the years, I remember the theme was, like, Mars exploration or something. And every school or every classroom that's participating gets the same, like, big map that your tiny LEGO robot has to navigate and do missions on.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Right, right.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And so it's just about building and programming the most efficient robot. And then you go to competitions and you, like, run the.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Wow.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Like, programs that you built.

[Kimia Bopornia]

And did yours win?

[Bridger Weiniger]

I was doing the creative part.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Okay.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I was doing the creative part. Even though I was good at math, I was like, okay, let somebody else do the programming. But there was a second part where it was like, you also are solving some sort of social issue with robotics through it.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Going on a map.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, well, that's just the. The robot part. Then there's like a. Cause the theme was Mars. I forget, like, what we were Trying to better with robots in space travel.

[Kimia Bopornia]

So it didn't. Whatever the issue was, did not mean anything.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Nah, it did not pierce my brain. I did write a sketch where we were like, we were like news anchors on Mars.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, that's very sweet.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And we would do like Mars weather, Mars sports, or like, just like Mars news.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Right.

[Bridger Weiniger]

So that's what I did for the LEGO competition and we won second place because we were so charming, but truly did not give any information that was supposed to be sent. So it was very much a personality.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Very miscongeniality of the robots.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought we should get first, but I mean, we certainly didn't do the assignment. We were just goofing with the sketch I wrote.

[Kimia Bopornia]

What was the last time? What was the last time you did something robotic?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, my gosh. Middle school.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Middle school. You gave it up.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I mean, then I joined theater.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, God, the arts have ruined you.

[Bridger Weiniger]

How dare I know? I could have cured something.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Take your pick. There's so many things secure.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. This is actually what my mom said when I was like, I'm gonna be an actor. She's like, you're too smart, though.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Do you have siblings?

[Bridger Weiniger]

No, it's just me.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, so they can't even carry on the important.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Also, I think she was wrong. I'm not that smart just because I can work out some numbers. I'm pretty stupid.

[Kimia Bopornia]

You could have probably been like mid level at a company.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. And that sounds sad. Let me put it that way.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Completely unsatisfying life where you thought, oh, I could have done. I could have been one of those people on tv.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. But I'm sitting at a desk doing someone's taxes or.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Right. Well, do you think if somebody like, put these pieces in front of you now, you'd be able to program something? No, nothing.

[Bridger Weiniger]

No, definitely not.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I mean, women in Stem off.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Shoot, I'm a bad example. Well, it's just because the tech has changed and I haven't looked at it since middle school. I'm not going to know about the flowcharts and the way LEGO is programming the RCX and all this stuff now.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Wow.

[Bridger Weiniger]

But you had.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Very impressive. That's very impressive. This is the sort of situation where you do end up shipwrecked and you're still the most qualified person on the island. And you're like, well, I'm using the middle school LEGO things. There's probably not enough things on the island to program. So you can say, nah, I could do puzzles.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Like, I could help logic us off.

[Kimia Bopornia]

The island, should you find, like, a tomb hidden behind puzzles or.

[Bridger Weiniger]

If it was Survivor, we'd be okay.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Do you think you would do Survivor?

[Bridger Weiniger]

I can't.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I can't.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I don't think so.

[Kimia Bopornia]

You've been banned from cbs.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I sort of. I always say my wife won't let me. That's like, my excuse. And then she goes, I didn't say anything.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I'm begging you to leave.

[Bridger Weiniger]

But I go, nah, she wouldn't let me. She wouldn't let me.

[Kimia Bopornia]

What is it about Survivor that scares you?

[Bridger Weiniger]

I don't know.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I, I guess the bugs that, to me, the bugs. The general, like, fear of sunburn.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. You would burn.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I would die. Although I, I, I don't want to do it, but I looked into it just in case I accidentally did it, I guess. And they do have to supply sunscreen.

[Bridger Weiniger]

They give you sunscreen?

[Kimia Bopornia]

You don't see a lot of that on screen.

[Bridger Weiniger]

No.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I guess you go out in the woods and put on your sunscreen before you get on camera. Yeah, Otherwise I would be a disaster. I would be a hospital case, you know, like, they would have to fly me off the island.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Day one.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I also don't want to poop in the ocean, do they?

[Kimia Bopornia]

Is that really part of it? They don't have toilets for you?

[Bridger Weiniger]

No, they poop in the ocean.

[Kimia Bopornia]

That feels irresponsible on their part.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

It feels like we're putting, I mean, I guess other animals poop in the ocean.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

But we don't need human sewage flowing through the ocean because of.

[Bridger Weiniger]

There's, like, a section of the island that's, like, where they poop.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, interesting.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Netted off where I looked. What? I looked up. Yeah. Somebody can fact check.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, that's terrible. So everyone has to kind of walk into a big toilet kinda.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It sort of like flows away, but also flows.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I mean, as the ocean does. Yeah. That's unpleasant.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Terrible. That's all I can think of. When they do the reward challenges or like, when they go on reward and they get to eat, like, Applebee's. And then I'm like, shoot, now they all have to go poop in the ocean. I can't enjoy it.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Applebee's. Is Applebee's still sponsoring Survivor?

[Bridger Weiniger]

I think so.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I feel like maybe Outback Steakhouse is probably occasionally getting in there. Who else? Those are probably the two remaining. I don't think tgif. TGIF Fridays exist anymore.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Just generally they're gone, I think.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Did the whole company go under?

[Bridger Weiniger]

I hope not. I Had a surprise birthday there once yesterday on.

[Kimia Bopornia]

At least yesterday. Does CGI Friday still exist?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Please help.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I think it does. One second. Let me just confirm. Okay, we're gonna get confirmation. We need to get confirmation on Fridays.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I need all the places I've had birthdays to still exist.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, yeah, they're open. They're still open. My apologies to Fridays. Yay. I feel like maybe the ones in the greater LA area are gone. So are the Chili's. You know, you can't get to A Chili's within 50 miles of LA. I'm pretty sure it's hard to get to a Chili's here.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Dang.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I would go to a Chili's if there was one in Silver Lake.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, definitely. That's the market. Yeah. Everyone in Silver Lake wants to head to a Chili's.

[Kimia Bopornia]

The Echo Park Chili's. I think that it would actually do bonkers business. I think the. The, like, people would be like, I can't believe this.

[Bridger Weiniger]

So ironic. Let's head to Chili.

[Kimia Bopornia]

And then they'd say, oh, Chili's is great.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, they would get it bottomless ch.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I think all the Chili's even in my hometown are closed.

[Bridger Weiniger]

What?

[Kimia Bopornia]

I think they turned the one that was there into like a spirit.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Halloween.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Spirit Halloween to go.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

It's like a furniture store or something. No. So that's a shame. Where else have you had birthdays?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Let's see. Chuck E. Cheese, Which I guess still around.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Yeah, they're still. I mean, the fact that they're hanging in there continues to be absolutely baffling. Especially considering the fact that they got rid of the robots.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I can't believe it.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Why do they exist? Do they have holograms?

[Bridger Weiniger]

They probably did projections or something dumb.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Then it's just bad pizza and dirty carpeting.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, well, there's games, there's games, there's games. I used to go to Chuck E. Cheese because they had this thing where if you got straight A's that you get free tokens.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh.

[Bridger Weiniger]

So I'd take every report card to a Chuck E. Cheese.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Of course. How many tokens would they give you?

[Bridger Weiniger]

I don't remember.

[Kimia Bopornia]

That is such a trick to dry. I mean, parents hate that. They're like. And I. I know this is going to end up costing them.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's true. I never thought about that.

[Kimia Bopornia]

That's predatory. Predatory practice. They are going into elementary schools, tricking children into dragging their parents to their horrible rest.

[Bridger Weiniger]

But then I got good grades.

[Kimia Bopornia]

That's true.

[Bridger Weiniger]

But I was gonna anyways, you know. Yeah, that Was just true.

[Kimia Bopornia]

You were headed towards robotics.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That was me.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Yeah, but maybe not. Maybe you were saved by Chuck E. Cheese.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Maybe that's what got me Chuck.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Education, Cheese.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That and Pizza Hut and their reading challenge.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Book it.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yes, book it.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Book it. Of course, I did have book it. And my mom. I guess I take after my mom because she wouldn't buy anything. You know, we would go and get the free little pizza. That's all we got out of the restaurant and left.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's good.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Took advantage of Pizza Hut.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Perfect.

[Kimia Bopornia]

They weren't getting any more of the family money. Yes, the family money.

[Bridger Weiniger]

The family money.

[Kimia Bopornia]

The family fortune.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Of course. You know, you can get Costco if you just go in there and then buy a chicken and walk out. Rotisserie chicken. They, like, lose money on that. They're banking on you going in and getting a ton of shit.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Yes, Costco. I mean, I shouldn't say publicly that I'm doing this because they'll kick me out of the club.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Let's hear it.

[Kimia Bopornia]

But, you know, I am Costco's worst nightmare. I go in and get the chicken and maybe two other items. Sometimes just the chicken.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Which is.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Then. Then you're doing it.

[Kimia Bopornia]

They're losing money on the chicken because it's $5.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

That doesn't make any sense at this point. No, but for me, it makes sense. Wallet sense.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yes.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Makes sense.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay. Keep that family money. That makes sense. Yes.

[Kimia Bopornia]

You gotta save the family money.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You have to.

[Kimia Bopornia]

But now I'm probably gonna be barred from Costco. I don't know. No, let me have the chicken.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. They want you to.

[Kimia Bopornia]

They want me to. They're. They're putting it there.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. You pay annual fee. It's ready to go or something.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I fight with all the other ladies in line. We all descend on the chickens. It's like, me and seven grandmothers are all.

[Bridger Weiniger]

But there's enough. Are you really just, like, elbowing Grandma's out the way?

[Kimia Bopornia]

You go there and there's like. I think there are people who really know about the chickens. They, like. They know what time to be there and, like, which ones are best. And so if you get there when they're kind of crowding around.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

If you're like. You'll be. You'll see a chicken, you'll be like, why? Well, I'll just take that one. But then you're like, oh, did I take the wrong chicken?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, my God. You're really thinking so hard. I guess you're paying emotionally. You're getting a $5 chicken, but you're sitting there like, why do they know more than me? Why should I know more about this?

[Kimia Bopornia]

Costco has absolutely devastated me emotionally.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Dang.

[Kimia Bopornia]

But the mental toll is worth it. I have chicken for a week.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Amazing.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Five bucks.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's crazy.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Who could ask for more? Are you a Costco shopper?

[Bridger Weiniger]

I go not so often.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Okay, okay.

[Bridger Weiniger]

But we are members, okay. Our household goes for, you know, paper towels, toilet paper, spindrift. Best deal.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, I should get spindrift.

[Bridger Weiniger]

There you only get grapefruit, lime, and lemon. But, like, grapefruit. You're crazy.

[Kimia Bopornia]

No, no, no, no, no.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You're crazy.

[Kimia Bopornia]

What are you talking about? It's the juicy.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Too much juice in that one.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh. I love the grapefruit for so many reasons.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Wow. You should come to our house. We just drink the other two and have all the grapefruit leftovers.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I'm saying I'll stop by and skim off the top. I'll take all the grapefruits from you. The grapefruit is the one that you could have with breakfast. I would say if you wanted a grapefruit.

[Bridger Weiniger]

People used to have half a grapefruit with breakfast.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I should be having a half a grapefruit every morning. The work that you would have to.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Put in to do that. Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

You have to have a butler color to have a half a grapefruit every morning. Who else has the time.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Or the energy to be, like, the cutting. All of that nonsense. I love a grapefruit.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

But they interact with my medication, with my worldbutrin, so I can't have them too often.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And you can't have a grapefruit spindrift. Or you can.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I can. I think. Who cares? Interact all you want. Get in there and mix up with the ugly.

[Bridger Weiniger]

What could it do?

[Kimia Bopornia]

I can't remember if it makes it worse or, like, amplifies it or deadens it.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, no.

[Kimia Bopornia]

But, you know, the occasional grapefruit can't be that harmful.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I can't believe, like, modern medicine is so intense and so, like, progressive, but it can be taken down by a grapefruit.

[Kimia Bopornia]

A mere citrus.

[Bridger Weiniger]

What?

[Kimia Bopornia]

Grapefruit's a very strong flavor.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

So I guess there's something happening in there that's doing all kinds of things in your body.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I guess.

[Kimia Bopornia]

But I feel like the Spindrift, it's only 10% juice.

[Bridger Weiniger]

The grapefruit one is, like, 99% juice, mostly juice.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Is that true?

[Bridger Weiniger]

No, no, no. It's less than 10 though, actually. So you're fine.

[Kimia Bopornia]

They should make extra pulp. Spindrift.

[Bridger Weiniger]

No. What are you doing?

[Kimia Bopornia]

Can you imagine?

[Bridger Weiniger]

No. Someone's gonna hear this and go, that's a good idea.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Now with more pulp. Spindrift.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Now with more pulp. Yeah. There was zero. And now is. And now with pulp.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Feels like something died in the can.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yuck. No, I don't want that.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Spindrift. Reach out.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Don't do it. Don't do it.

[Kimia Bopornia]

What's your favorite spindrift flavor? If you don't. If you're not going to Costco, you're.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Not going to Costco.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Any of the flavors.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Mojito. Nojito.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, it's called Nojito.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Just call it Mojito.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Hey, but there's no. What? Rum. There's no rum in it.

[Kimia Bopornia]

You know, I like the mojito flavor. I do like that flavor.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Nojito.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Nojito. Is there a raspberry flavor?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Probably, but I'm not into that.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Okay. I think I like that one too.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You do?

[Kimia Bopornia]

Yeah.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay.

[Kimia Bopornia]

There's, like, a berry ish. I know. We'll have to do, like, spindrift exchanges.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, that would be nice.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, I've got this crappy flavor. Come take it. I like the lemon tea flavor.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, I like that one, too.

[Kimia Bopornia]

That's a good one.

[Bridger Weiniger]

The half and half.

[Kimia Bopornia]

That feels like the, like, single parent flavor. Oh, I don't know. Like, if I'm a single dad, I want the tea and lemonade. The kids won't drink it. It's my little Spindridger.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's your little thing.

[Kimia Bopornia]

The kids don't like it. When I have the kids for the weekend, I'm drinking my lemon tea Spin.

[Bridger Weiniger]

The only thing keeping you happy that weekend, you're like, oh, the kids are here. Thank God I've got my half and half tea. Spindridge.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Exactly.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Actually, Spindriff, Reach out. We've got an ad for you.

[Kimia Bopornia]

We have a commercial so long about your drink. If we don't each get a palette of our favorite flavors, please. Also, we should get to consult on the next flavor. I'm talking to you, Spindrift.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I feel like there should be. We should be behind the next flavor of spindrift.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Call. Call us.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I have ideas. I'm not gonna say them on air. Yeah, because then they'll just steal my ideas.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Right. Reach out and we'll tell you what we're thinking.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Take us to Spindrift Labs, wherever the hell those are.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You know, I'll say one idea on air.

[Kimia Bopornia]

What?

[Bridger Weiniger]

So they can have a bad one.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Okay.

[Bridger Weiniger]

A little bubble gum. Gross. And that's the type of ideas you won't receive if you call us.

[Kimia Bopornia]

You're going to get the opposite.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You'll get good ones.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Perfect ideas. There's something else we have to talk about. Now that we've each received our $50,000 payment from Spindrift, which we were promised at the beginning of the episode, I have to talk to you about something else, which I don't want to. I don't want to approach this in any way, but unfortunately, how could I not? I was excited to have you here today. I was thinking we'll have a nice conversation.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Nothing could possibly go wrong. And then we'll move on with our days. I'll get my hair cut and be on Cloud nine. It's Cloud nine. It's just for general happiness. Right. When you get a good haircut. So I was a little surprised. The podcast is called I said no Gifts, and you came walking in holding what I would describe as something that looks like a gift. Yeah, it's this. Neatly wrapped. Oh. Actually pretty heavy. I'm lifting it for the first time on the episode in kind of a long rectangle. Gift.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yes.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Is this for me?

[Bridger Weiniger]

I'm so sorry. I thought you were being coy. I said no gifts. And I said, oh, come on. My mom raised me better than that.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Right.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I can't show up to a new place I've never been. You know, it's kind of like a housewarming. This is your house. You live here.

[Kimia Bopornia]

This is my home. You live in a sleeping bag in the corner.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I. I see it. I'm looking at it.

[Kimia Bopornia]

This room smells terrible.

[Bridger Weiniger]

No, no, you're okay. And so, yeah, unfortunately, I did bring a gift. I do hope you'll allow that.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Well, should I open it here on the podcast?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Please.

[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Kimia Bopornia]

All right. It's wrapped in the LA Times newspaper.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's right.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Which I support. I support rapping in the LA Times. Politically, the LA Times is in a difficult place.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, not great.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Their food section's good. Okay, I follow their food editor.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh yeah, I checked out on the.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Can'T remember her name, but she's always posting good things. And you got the sports section. I should probably check in with my boys.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. Check them out. You like sports?

[Kimia Bopornia]

Not at all.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, all right.

[Kimia Bopornia]

But it's all sports. Great.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Sports and entertainment. Entertainment's the inside flap, so.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Okay. Should I open it right now?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Okay. We rarely get to rip a newspaper.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Look at that.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Ooh, queer.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, what a nice.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I did that just for you. There you go.

[Kimia Bopornia]

That's me.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Check that out.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Okay. Ripping crisp. Oh, and I just yelled the word queer. If someone's not watching the episode queer.

[Bridger Weiniger]

They're just driving in their car. Someone yells, queer. It's part of the wrapping paper, everyone.

[Kimia Bopornia]

It's part of the newspaper. It's the queer lens. A history of photography. An ad for that.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It's at the Getty.

[Kimia Bopornia]

It's at the Getty.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Pay Us Getty.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, my God. What's happening?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Check this out. What do you think it is? You probably still don't know. Or do you?

[Kimia Bopornia]

Okay, so, so far, it's a little briefcase. Stylish briefcase that almost looks like it's from the set of a Wes Anderson film or something. It's navy blue with red trim.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yes.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Gorgeous.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Check that out.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Then we're opening.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Careful with the insides.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Okay. I'm gonna be very. Is it full of marbles maybe?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Kind of.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Huh.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I just like that opening.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. Sounds. It's a good sound.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Hopefully the listener likes that too.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Asmr.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, it's almost like a bubbly. Okay, we're opening. We're opening.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Check it out.

[Kimia Bopornia]

This is gorgeous. It's a backgammon kit.

[Bridger Weiniger]

The travel backgammon set.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Set is the word for sure.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, it's a kit. It's a kit. I'm doing backgammon.

[Kimia Bopornia]

This is beautiful. Wow. I've never played backgammon and even, like saying I was hoping hopefully this is what it is.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, it is.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I was correct. I'm a gamer. Gamer at heart. Let's see. Let me spread this. I'll close my laptop for a minute.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Here, splay that out. I actually haven't seen the inside. Oh, it looks pretty good.

[Kimia Bopornia]

So beautiful.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I'm glad. It's from the 70s. So it's actually just like a vintage backgammon set.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Where did this come from?

[Bridger Weiniger]

I found it on, I think on Etsy because there's so many, like, new factory made backgammon sets. But part of, I think this special of a backgammon board is that it is of old times. It's such an old game that I wanted to bring you, like, a cool old set.

[Kimia Bopornia]

This is. Do you know how to play Backgammon?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yes. So backgammon's, like, kind of huge. I'm Persian, and I'm not sure if we invented this game. I certainly do not. Fact check me. So we invented it in Iran. It came from us ancient.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Nobody look into it.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Nobody checked that.

[Kimia Bopornia]

That could be correct.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It's part of the culture, though. Like, my parents play it. My grandparents play it. When you go to a Persian party, sort of toward the end of the night, everyone's sitting around drinking black tea and just kind of like playing some backgammon. My grandpa taught me how to play and just brings me peace and reminds me of my family, and I wanted to share that with you.

[Kimia Bopornia]

That's so sweet. Where does the word backgammon come from?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Don't ask me questions like this.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Come on, Annelise, help educate. This is a utility podcast. Ultimately, when people learn, this is the one show people come to to learn. So if we can find out where the word backgammon is from.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, and we just want to know that. And don't tell me who made this game.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Yeah. And avoid any other fact about the game. I wonder what, like, the first games of backgammon even looked like.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Because this is obviously an evolved version. Although I love the idea of this. Like, this is an ancient persian design.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Briefcase, 70s coloring. It's from the Middle English forms of game.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And back.

[Kimia Bopornia]

So it's back and like gammon, basically.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Gammon back game. I didn't learn anything from that.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I don't know. That's a bad name for a game that tells you nothing about. Yeah, it sounds good, but it's like, well, what game are we playing here? Yeah.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Let me try to think of it as anything to do with the gameplay. Back end game. No, not really.

[Kimia Bopornia]

So how do you play this? Let's do a quick tutorial.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, boy, this is such a visual. You gotta, like, look at it.

[Kimia Bopornia]

So I'll commentate on you. You put these dice. There are two dice, three dice.

[Bridger Weiniger]

There's three dice. Well, I don't sort. In my family, we don't use the third one. That's just sort of like if you want to double your wins or.

[Kimia Bopornia]

You can chew on it.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, you can chew on it. This is your board. You chew on that. If you like.

[Kimia Bopornia]

It has multipliers of two, I guess.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, you can multiply. If you're, like, certain you're gonna win, you can roll the multiplier.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Okay.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Because when you play back game, and you play, like, a best of five or a best of three, if you want a shorter game, but, yeah. You set up the board in a specific way. You can Google the picture. I'm not gonna sit here.

[Kimia Bopornia]

This will be on Instagram 3.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Go here.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Right?

[Bridger Weiniger]

And then so at basically your side, you have a home, and my side, I have a home. And we're just trying to get all of our colored pieces all the way into our home and then remove them all and put them back into the safe. Look, see, I don't even know what these words, the words for the game are.

[Kimia Bopornia]

So it's a little checkers y kinda.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. It's a little bit like sorry, too, because you're trying to get pieces back into your home.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I don't think I've ever played Sorry.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay, well, sorry I brought it up. Parcheesi, then.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Never. I've certainly never played Parcheesi.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It's just. Sorry, but a different name.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Unbranded.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, well, Parcheesi branded.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Is Parcheesi a brand name? Is it Parcheesi seems to me like the real name of Sorry. Then, like, Milton Bradley hopped in, picked it up. Let's put some branding on this thing.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Make people apologize to each other.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yes. I like this game. It's pretty peaceful. It's like a logic counting game. It speaks to my math brain and my grandpa. Okay, so you make bets over that gammon. So it's kind of fun that way. Like, anytime I play with my mom, we're like, okay, so what are we betting on?

[Kimia Bopornia]

And how much are you betting?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Usually just like a round of coffee or who buys ice cream next?

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, that's a good bet.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It's like, cutie stuff.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Okay. That's the sort of thing I could get into where I'm not stressing out about losing money.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yes. But when I was like. I think I was like nine and I was playing with my grandpa, who's like a master, and I was like, so confident. I said, I bet you $20, which I had for my allowance, that I'll beat you. And this man was like, okay. He fully beat me. He took my 20. Oh, you're a child. Yeah, well. And I respect the hell out of this. Cause he was like, you learned. Now you learned a lesson. Now you learned.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I had an opposite. Thing that happened to me as a kid is our parents were trying to teach us that you shouldn't gamble. And I think we, like, played a game of poker or whatever, and something much easier for children. And I won big. And not my parents thinking, oh, they'll all lose and lose their money. And they refuse to give me the money. So I guess that is also a game about gambling. You know, the casino people, the mobsters.

[Bridger Weiniger]

In charge, are gonna give out the money.

[Kimia Bopornia]

They're not gonna give you all the money.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Hey, if you actually won a casino, though, you'd get the money.

[Kimia Bopornia]

But when you start winning too much, then Robert De Niro shows up and curbs you or whatever.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's true.

[Kimia Bopornia]

So you gotta be careful with gambling.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

So. But to start, you just kind of. I wanna.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, you can use those. We just use our hands in my family. But they give you little rollers.

[Kimia Bopornia]

This is more hygienic. You don't have to wash your hands after.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Totally.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Listen to that.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You roll it.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I wouldn't just do that for 20 minutes for the listener. That's too much.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I'll be quiet. More asmr.

[Kimia Bopornia]

And so you do this, and then I roll them into my thing.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You roll them into any spot. You can roll them anywhere, wherever you like. As long as it's on the board. Can't be off the board. Oh, it can't be off the board or you roll. So you got a five and a two. So you can either move one piece seven or one piece five and one piece two.

[Kimia Bopornia]

So. And listener, I know you're so engaged with this, but I do want to do this, and you have to have patience. This is what a podcast is. It's listening to a man learn how to play a. A complicated.

[Bridger Weiniger]

How dare I do this? I should have foreseen that you were just going to be like, now, how do you play this game?

[Kimia Bopornia]

No, I. I want to just a. So you say I can roll a. I can move two or five.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yes, but we haven't set up the board, so you can't do anything.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, so how do you set up the board?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Are you serious?

[Kimia Bopornia]

I just want to see how it looks.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I'll do it really fast.

[Kimia Bopornia]

The listener has to be patient. This is how the gate. I mean, last episode, they listened to me open, like, maybe one or two episodes ago. Open, like, 19 layers of a gift. So I think that. Okay, two minutes of.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Two minutes of me setting up.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Kimmy is setting up. She's taking out the blue pieces.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, you narrate kind of.

[Kimia Bopornia]

They're probably the size of, like, a thin mint. And they do look like something I would wanna gnaw on. They're dark.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Why do you wanna eat all of the things?

[Kimia Bopornia]

Any game that has hard plastic like this makes me hungry. It looks like a satisfying snack.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay, that's not. That's up here.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Okay. So she's put the blue ones in on different things, but she left one blue one in the little holder. I don't know.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's an extra one.

[Kimia Bopornia]

That's an extra.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It's just an extra piece. It came with yourself.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, I'm spoiled.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It's just for you. You can gnaw on that one.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Knee deep in backgammon coins. Is that what they're called?

[Bridger Weiniger]

I actually don't know what the pieces are called. Look at you asking me all this.

[Unknown]

I don't know.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I'm like, I just play with my grandpa. It reminds me of my family. And I love Iran.

[Kimia Bopornia]

And now it's been set up and.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay, so this is my home. This is your home.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Okay.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And so you're trying. You're. You are white. I'm white and I'm blues.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Okay.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And so you would be trying to take your white pieces and put them all in here.

[Kimia Bopornia]

All right. But this is my home. Oh, And I'm on this side.

[Bridger Weiniger]

So you'd move, like, if you wanted to. Yeah. You're. You're going this way.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Okay.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And I'm going this way into my home.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Okay. So now, considering my 2 and 5 right now, I would. I do want to at least move one piece.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Where. What can I do?

[Bridger Weiniger]

So a good move for five. Here's the other thing. You never want to leave one of your little puck pieces alone, because then if I roll something, I could crush you, and then you're killed.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Ultimately, it's a game about community. Ultimately, community and home.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Hey, for me, that's what it is. But we're really getting into the rules. That's kind of what you ought to know about. Someone's hairs are in this vintage board.

[Kimia Bopornia]

That's probably a dead person's hair.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And I'm so sorry.

[Kimia Bopornia]

This could be a haunted backgammon board.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You'd be so lucky to be haunted by someone who played backgammon. It actually would be a nice experience. The ghost makes you tea every day.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Yeah. You just hear dice in the background and the satisfying little thing rolling around.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. You smoke hookah with a ghost.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, that sounds great.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Not bad.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Okay, so now there's a piece in the middle of the board.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's what I'm showing you. If you got killed, this is where you're piece.

[Kimia Bopornia]

There's a violence to the game.

[Bridger Weiniger]

There's a little bit of violence, and then to get this piece back in play, you would roll, and then you have to sit it back in Your home.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Okay.

[Bridger Weiniger]

So, like, if you roll the two, you could sit it in the two spots.

[Kimia Bopornia]

So that's why I wouldn't want to take a two right now.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's why you wouldn't want to leave them by themselves.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I would want to take a five.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You could do five. Five's good because it lands with its other friends. With its other friends. And then you could actually take the two. Play the same thing, too.

[Kimia Bopornia]

And I'm that far already.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You're a little bit safe. Yeah. You got one guy back home.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I love this.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's a 5 and 2.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I feel like I can really get to. This is a game that I. It's in the same category as badminton.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Sure.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Where it's pleasant listening, no one gets hurt. Gay is what I'm saying. This feels gay friendly.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

It's stylish. It's got everything you need. And I could play this while eating a grapefruit.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And you do.

[Kimia Bopornia]

From my butler.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You just. Yes, your butler comes over. You snack.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Yes.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You eat sweets. You drink tea. There's actually a Silver Lake backgammon club.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, are you part of it?

[Bridger Weiniger]

I've been to. I've been twice banned. I'm banned. I'm banned. Actually, let's. Let's not talk about it. They have very inconsistent events. Events you just kind of, like, have to check the Instagram to see Right. When they're. When they're playing. But it's really nice. It's just a bunch of people playing that game.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I need to join a club. I should. I should join a club.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Are you part of any clubs?

[Bridger Weiniger]

No, no, no. I think we have enough community where we don't need to, like, join clubs. Right.

[Kimia Bopornia]

There's just so much within comedy that we're all just trapped with each other. None. None. There's no. Out of this community, essentially.

[Bridger Weiniger]

What? Like it's a cult? That's what you're saying?

[Kimia Bopornia]

Basically a very unhealthy cult.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Hey. But all my friends are in this cult.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Wait, I wonder how often that's been.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Said about cults generally.

[Kimia Bopornia]

How could it possibly be a cult? I love all these people.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Well, no one's harming me.

[Kimia Bopornia]

They're all so nice to me.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Look, I brought you a gift.

[Kimia Bopornia]

They want to be around me all the time.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

They won't let me go. These people care about me.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay. Shoot. I can't think about that too hard. No, thanks.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Okay, well, I'm excited to actually learn how to play this.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. I mean, I could teach you more in depth. I just am sort of like, this is not the place for me to give you the real.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Yeah, I guess we have to be like, mildly conscious of a listener falling asleep at the wheel. There could be clear.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I woke him up.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Now they're overcorrecting. The car's rolling across the freeway. Whiplash effect. Okay. I'm very excited about this. Are there any other games like this that you play like this?

[Bridger Weiniger]

I mean, just.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Are you a board game person?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. I'm not too into board games, but if anyone's got a board game night going on, I'm happy to join. I'm very competitive, so it's kind of bad. You kind of don't want me there.

[Kimia Bopornia]

If you're just trying fights.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I can.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Okay.

[Bridger Weiniger]

But I'm like, pretty harmless. And when I get angry, people usually laugh at me, so it's kind of fun. No one's actually scared of me. I'm just sort of sitting there going like, the rules are. And everyone goes, I'm so non threatening.

[Kimia Bopornia]

You know, that's the person you want. Someone who's competitive but not an asshole.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. I'm sort of like a Jigglypuff.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, I love it.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Jigglypuff. When she gets mad, when everyone falls asleep at her singing. That's intended to make people fall asleep.

[Kimia Bopornia]

And then she's like, that poor character has been cursed. All she can do is kind of is Jigglypuff. A shot she.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I would say she. They.

[Kimia Bopornia]

She, they. Probably ultimately she. They. We've talked about Kirby on this podcast before and kind of. I think we decided they.

[Bridger Weiniger]

They them for Kirby.

[Kimia Bopornia]

But yeah, Jigglypuff, I think, is a she. They.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

And her life is a living hell.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I can't believe it.

[Kimia Bopornia]

All she wants to do is be a star.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

It's very Greek. Very Greek tragedy.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You're so right.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Or like very. Yeah. Like the gods say you could and you'll be able to sing, but it'll put everyone to sleep.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. And they'll never know. They'll never know how good you are.

[Kimia Bopornia]

The poor little thing. And she's gorgeous.

[Bridger Weiniger]

She is. They are.

[Kimia Bopornia]

They are.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yes.

[Kimia Bopornia]

She's such a fun character in Smash Brothers. Almost worthless, but she gets to float around and put everyone to sleep or what have you. These pink Nintendo characters. Everybody loves them.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I know. They're the best ones.

[Kimia Bopornia]

They look like marshmallows.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

And Kirby's a little more powerful, I will say.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. I play Kirby for Super Smash.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Right. And I make everyone Mad because I just do the slam move.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's the only move I do. We're the same. I'm just slamming from the sky, right? Yep.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Anyone that's actually good at the game is mad at me. They're saying, you're cheating. And I'm saying, well, then they shouldn't have put the move in.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, it's not cheating.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I'm using the power of the character.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Right.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I'm sorry that I know how to play the game and you're being fancy.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You're vindicated.

[Kimia Bopornia]

It's a game of brute force. And ultimately, Kirby can become an anvil or a rock. A rock. They should do a heavy backgammon piece that it becomes.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's. Sure. They should. Why not?

[Kimia Bopornia]

They should get a little more creative.

[Bridger Weiniger]

With things they could do for, like, a piano. Grand piano.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Yeah. Grand piano is a great idea.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. I think heavy backgammon board would require.

[Kimia Bopornia]

A lot of explaining. There would have to be, like, a notification that popped up on the screen.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's a bad idea for you, Nintendo.

[Kimia Bopornia]

But if you want good ones again, we can come. We can come by after our stop to Spindrift. It'll be a busy day for us pitching ideas.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. Yeah. But we're happy to.

[Kimia Bopornia]

We're ultimately drinkers and gamers, and so these companies reach out. Please. Is there any. I feel like Smash Brothers got all the characters they need. I'm wondering if there's any other character I would like them to put in the game.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It'd be fun if you could put yourself sort of in the game.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I don't like when people put that, like, with the Mii characters.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Not the Mii character. Just like an AI scam copy of just you Bridger in the game.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Fully motion captured. I might be on board for that.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. You like power. You grow hair and then it chokes the other character. Long, wavy locks.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, that's great. Have you ever played the game Bayonetta?

[Bridger Weiniger]

No.

[Kimia Bopornia]

There's a video game called Bayonetta where the woman's like a witch, kind of looks like Sarah Palin.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, wow.

[Kimia Bopornia]

And her hair, like, strangles people and it's incredible. And she's a character in Smash Brothers.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, okay. So I believe somebody already has the.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Hair ahead of us.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I'll think of other stuff for you.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Keep thinking of things. Get back to me. Yeah. I wonder what might. The Smash Brothers has those gloves, you know, the white gloves. And this podcast has a very glove forward theme.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Explain.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I do a lot. Or I used to do a lot. More of these. But I would do demos with the gifts, and I would be wearing a pair of opera gloves.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Opera gloves for my vintage 70s backgammon board games.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I think that they're probably going to come into play. I will have to do a video with these. They show up at the live show shows more often, which I think is becoming continually confusing for listeners who hadn't seen those videos. And they're like, why is he wearing these filthy opera gloves?

[Bridger Weiniger]

That makes sense. I'd be confused.

[Kimia Bopornia]

But then you say, well, look, I'll just go along with it because I'm a good sport.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Of course.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I'm a good audience member.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Of course. And we trust you.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Everyone trusts me inherently for some reason after listening to this show. Well, is there anything left you'd like to say about backgaming?

[Bridger Weiniger]

I don't know. I think I've said it all. It's just pretty special. I grew up with this game, and it's like a weird time with Iran right now. So I was really thinking about my fan.

[Kimia Bopornia]

All the wonderful things that Iran has done.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yes. It's actually got, like a cool, extremely beautiful artistic culture. And I was reflecting on all that, and I wanted to bring you back.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I think that's so lovely. I think that's really wonderful. Not to mention all of the wonderful food that's coming out of it.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I mean, come on. There's just so much people need to be talking. I think more about the good things coming out of Iran.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. We do a lot of sweet, savory in the food.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Which I love. We always sneak in something sweet in kind of every dish.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Something sweet.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Mm.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Delicious.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Well, I think we should now play another game.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay.

[Kimia Bopornia]

A game of my own design.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Uh. Oh.

[Kimia Bopornia]

We're gonna play a game called Gift Master.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay.

[Kimia Bopornia]

And maybe we should. I'm gonna.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I'm just kinda copying.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I usually ask for the guests to pick a number, but I want you to roll a number.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay. Let's do. Do it.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Why not?

[Bridger Weiniger]

I have rolled a three.

[Kimia Bopornia]

A three. Okay. I hope that nice, satisfying dice got. Roll. Got on.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Mike, you guys loving the ASMR from today?

[Kimia Bopornia]

I know. This is maybe our best episode. Those are the coins or the backgammon cookies falling on each other. Can I just bite one?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Go for it. Now that sound was good, but I bet. Bet not great in your mouth, right? You like it?

[Kimia Bopornia]

Terrible.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay. All right.

[Kimia Bopornia]

At least my teeth didn't dissolve.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I would hope my teeth did not crumble.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Okay. You rolled a three.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yep.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Okay. I have to do some light calculating to get our game pieces.

[Bridger Weiniger]

More math for you.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I mean, that's what the show is.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's today.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Bridger, the math whiz. Reach out for me to calculate anything right now. You can do some promotion recommendation. Whatever you want to do with the mic. I'll be right back.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, okay. Promotion. I guess I'll self promo. Me Me. If you want to follow me at Trialed clown on Instagram. That's just kind of a name I chose years ago and I'm freaking sticking to it, you know? Yeah. If you just follow me all. I'm doing shows around LA all the time. Improv sketch. And. Oh, we do this show called Mamma Mia. But different. It's pretty good. We. We do a different jukebox musical with eight ABBA songs. The story's different every time, though, so that's a really fun show to check out if you want. We've done one where it's taken place in nicu. It was formula babies versus breastfeeding babies. We'd done one in like, old timey Renaissance town about a love triangle with a baker and two ladies from the woods. Anyway, it gets weird, so that's a good show. Just follow me. You can see shows like that. That's my promo.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Excellent promo.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Thank you.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Mama and Mia. But different. It seems so wild every single time.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And it sure is.

[Kimia Bopornia]

And it's our friend Patrick McDonald again.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's right.

[Kimia Bopornia]

One of the busiest mans in the city. Mans. One of the busiest men.

[Bridger Weiniger]

He's the busiest mans I ever met. He does it all. Love that guy.

[Kimia Bopornia]

This is how we play gift master. I'm going to name three things, three items. Gifts that you can give away.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Then I'm gonna name three celebrities, and you're gonna tell me which celebrity you would give which gift and why.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, shoot. Okay.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, shoot.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, shoot. I'm just like, I hope I know these celebrities.

[Kimia Bopornia]

You'll know the celebrities. Hopefully.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay.

[Kimia Bopornia]

We'll see. Okay. The gifts you'll be giving today are, number one, a trip to the hospital. Number two, a Vegas residency, and number three, inescapable debt. Now, the celebrities you'll be giving them to are. Number one, Tim Allen.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Ruff, ruff.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I don't know how to make the actual noise he makes, but who cares? Number two is E.T.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, okay.

[Kimia Bopornia]

The extraterrestrial.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I love et cetera.

[Kimia Bopornia]

That's a pitch from our producer, Anneliese.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's perfect.

[Kimia Bopornia]

And number three is Javier Bardem.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, okay.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Handsome as ever.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. Great guy. Lovely Bond villain.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh yeah. Very scary Bond villain. He's willing to look scary despite being very good looking. You think about no country for Old Men, One of the weirdest looking people in movies.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Then you see him outside of it and you think, wow, what a transformation. That's a transformation.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's right.

[Kimia Bopornia]

You put a bad haircut on a good looking man, it'll ruin it.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's kind of it.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Yeah. Okay. So I've named everything, I guess.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay, great. Shoot. This is tough because I'm trying to like. I had an instinct to give somebody a certain gift and then I was like, well, that falls poorly on my. The other guy. So I'm trying to like really figure this out.

[Kimia Bopornia]

It's a maze.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I guess if I give Tim Allen Inescapable Debt, I feel like he can outrun that.

[Kimia Bopornia]

That. Well, here's what I'm going to say. And don't let this sway you. That's just going to give him more of a reason to work.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

And make more material to really look.

[Bridger Weiniger]

At him a lot longer. Huh?

[Kimia Bopornia]

Right. You see some of these ultra rich celebrities that don't stop working, you think they must have gambling debt.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Sure.

[Kimia Bopornia]

So that could be the situation where we would never get him. Right.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Here's where I'm struggling. Cuz ET is my favorite in those three. Right. And I want to give ET Kind of the best one. But so I, I think ET's getting a residency in Vegas. OK. And we're putting ET on a visa. So the government can't. Can't. Well, I don't know.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I mean, it doesn't matter anymore. The rules, the laws.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I kind of want to protect E.T. because if I send E.T. to the hospital, the government's going to come for him. If I send ET to Inescapable Debt, the government's going to chase him even more than they already chasing him, you know. And then if you give him a residency, I hope he stay protected. I just want E.T. to be okay. And my parents live in Vegas. They can go check out E.T. s show. I can stay with them and go watch ET's show.

[Kimia Bopornia]

What do you think ET would do live?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Drag.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Totally.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

He's already done drag.

[Bridger Weiniger]

He's lip syncing. He's in a drag.

[Kimia Bopornia]

He's in danger in today's political environment.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Poor guy.

[Kimia Bopornia]

God, he's an alien. He's doing drag. The only protection is giving him Vegas connections. That's the only thing that will protect you from Donald Trump is somehow being attached to gambling.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yes. So I'm putting ET there. ET's in Vegas.

[Kimia Bopornia]

It's a safe spot.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yes.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Mm. I'm giving Javier Bardem the debt. Cause if he keeps working, I'm happy about it. Love to see him keep working.

[Kimia Bopornia]

That would be fantastic.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That would be lovely.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Get this guy on a. A career treadmill.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Sure. Put him on Broadway. Put him on a TV show.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I'll watch Multi cam.

[Bridger Weiniger]

He's the scariest guy with a big heart in something. It's just a guy from no country for Old Men. He just, like, works at a convenience store. He's the same guy, but it's a multicam.

[Kimia Bopornia]

No. He's the new stepdad in the family. Like, there's something wrong with dad. That could be the name of the new Chuck Lorre show. There's something wrong with dad.

[Bridger Weiniger]

It would be Chuck Lorry, too.

[Kimia Bopornia]

That's.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Who would put the. Put Javier Bardem in there.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Dad has a history.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yes. And then Tim Allen's headed to the hospital. Sorry, buddy.

[Kimia Bopornia]

The only thing I will say about a trip to the hospital, I do think ET A trip to the hospital more as a service animal.

[Bridger Weiniger]

So you think it's just visiting the hospital?

[Kimia Bopornia]

He's visiting the hospital. Visiting sick children. I think that would be very sweet. That's kind of nice, taking selfies with sick kids.

[Bridger Weiniger]

But if you put him in the hospital, that's, like, where they're gonna cut him open to see what a. Right.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Because that's kind of part of ET where he goes through the scary tunnel.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

You don't want that Elliot screaming. That was very hard for me to watch as a child, but maybe ET Needs that exposure to a good hospital setting.

[Bridger Weiniger]

So you're trying to pitch me send an ET to the hospital?

[Kimia Bopornia]

I think ET Is at home in the hospital or on stage in Vegas.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I'm settled in Vegas. E.T. is in Vegas.

[Kimia Bopornia]

E.T. phone hospital. No, I don't know. Well, I think you played very well.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Thank you.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Very thoughtful. Very thoughtful. Okay, now we. Annelise has a. We're playing a. We also play a game called Gift or a Curse. We're doing the mini to go version with Annelise today. So Annelize is going to name something, and we're each going to say if it's a gift or a curse and why.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay.

[Kimia Bopornia]

And then Annalise will tell us if we're right or wrong, because they have the correct answer.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, there's a right answer.

[Kimia Bopornia]

There's a right answer.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay. Awesome.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Anneliese, what are we doing today? Gift or Curse? Group discounts. Group discounts. Do you want to go, or do you want me to go?

[Bridger Weiniger]

You go ahead.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Okay. I think group discounts. Group discounts are a curse. An absolute curse. I don't like any discount that has a qualification. I want to be able to show up. Up without my family, without my friends. Maybe I'm a drifter.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Single dad.

[Kimia Bopornia]

We're not thinking about drifters when we're talking about group discounts. They come in from out of town. They murder someone. They want to go to an escape room.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Sure.

[Kimia Bopornia]

The group discount is not offered to them.

[Bridger Weiniger]

They murdered someone.

[Kimia Bopornia]

They've murdered someone. They want to have some fun. And they're like, well, I don't have anybody in this town. I don't know anybody. And now I don't get the discount. You have to. Ultimately, any discount should. If you're going to give a percentage of. You should be able to give it to a family of 15 or someone who just pulled up in a rickety old car covered in blood.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You want equality for.

[Kimia Bopornia]

For drifters.

[Bridger Weiniger]

For drifters, yes.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Ultimately, for drifters.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I think it's a curse.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I was also gonna say curse, but not for your reason. Where you want murderers to have a nice time at the escape room. I sort of was thinking that it's a nice idea, but organizing a group to go do something sucks. And then you have the person. One or two people dropping out the day of. And you had ex. Exactly the right number. And now you're like, now we don't get the discount. And now all this. And then you have to hang out in a large, large group. I don't love that.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Right.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I love smaller group hangs.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, me too.

[Bridger Weiniger]

So I'd pay any money to not have the emotional labor of putting together a group or hanging out in a large, large group setting just for a discount.

[Kimia Bopornia]

All right, I agree with you. Let's see. Annalise. What is the answer? You both win the game. Thanks. It's a curse. It's a curse. For all of the reasons mentioned above, it is a nightmare trying to organize people.

[Bridger Weiniger]

What?

[Kimia Bopornia]

I'm single, so I don't get a discount? There's already enough things that are going against me in this world. Like what are we gonna. Well, you're a drifter, too. I am a drifter.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Right. Let's think about the murderer thing.

[Kimia Bopornia]

We don't know where Anneliese is from. They refuse to give any information to us. We've never seen an I.D.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Or home address.

[Bridger Weiniger]

All right, cool.

[Kimia Bopornia]

So we don't know. We're just always on edge around Anneliese.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, no.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I mean, I, I, I do frequent escape rooms, so. Just saying. Do not give this person a reason to kill. Well, we won. We all won today.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, we did.

[Kimia Bopornia]

And now this is the final segment of the podcast. It's called I said no emails. People are writing into I saidnowgiftsmail.com desperate for answers. They're also sending in voice notes. Anneliese, will you please drag us through the voice notes qualifications just so people know how to do this. If you would like to send us a voice note, please make sure that you record it in a quiet space, have it be under 60 seconds, and you send it to I said no giftsmail.com. make it a question. Make it a question. Yes. Beautiful. Okay, we're gonna, we're gonna read one today. Despite all of this talk about voice notes.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Cool.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Will you help me answer a question?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, of course.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Okay. This says. Hello, Bridger, a question for you and your guest. I am a high school teacher, and I'm having a hard time dealing with students using AI for their writing assignments. I can pick it out easily on my own, as any good English teacher can, or with AI detection tools if needed. But I'd like some advice for the next time. Find, let's say, text evidence in the form of a quote that isn't even in our class novel. Parentheses. That's called an AI Hallucination. I know what an AI hallucination is.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Sure.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Don't talk down to me. How should I let the student know that I have caught them plagiarizing so that they understand that I know this partly because their writing is garbage, but without me saying that their writing is garbage, any advice would be helpful. Doing the Lord's work. And that's from Mad Vintage. That's. I hope that's the teacher's name. Mr. Or Mrs. Or Ms. Or what have you. Mad Vintage.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Cool name.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Cool. Very cool name.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

You pull up on a motorcycle, kids are not going to be doing any AI anymore.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, that's our advice. Actually, I think buy a motorcycle.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Become the ultimate badass.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That's right.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Carry some sort of sword or knife on your hip. Feel like a threat to the students.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And they will respect you.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Yes. Are you in a leather vest? That could be the problem already. If you're not wearing a leather vest every day.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Just kind of buy a leather vest and you're good.

[Kimia Bopornia]

The students feel like they can run over you with their AI tools.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah, but not if you're in a leather Vest.

[Kimia Bopornia]

No way. They want to be cool. They want to feel like somebody else at the bar.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. Teach with sunglasses on. There you go.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I think that that's a perfectly fine idea. I mean, there's also. Also. You know, I feel like this teacher is blaming the AI Here instead of blaming themselves. Maybe they're a horrible teacher and so the student doesn't know how to write, so now they're turning to a robot computer to spew out some slop and learning nothing. And the education system is in jeopardy because of Mad Vintage.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Well, I would say maybe they could be a good teacher. And it's just that, just to play devil's advocate here, you could be a great teacher. And then still kids would be like, oh, it takes effort to do good writing. I actually don't want to put in effort today. I want to go to the mall. What do kids do?

[Kimia Bopornia]

I want to skateboard at the mall.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I want to go skate at the mall. So I'm going to let the robot do the effort. I'm just hoping they're retaining information in class.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Right.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I didn't love doing essays, but I loved learning in class.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Right.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I don't know how you can measure that.

[Kimia Bopornia]

They're very different things. They are. I enjoyed writing an essay, but essentially can't pay attention to anything. I've been diagnosed by listeners as having adhd. The jury's still out on that.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Listeners.

[Kimia Bopornia]

The listeners are reaching out.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Don't reach out to me if you're trying to diagnose me with anything. Let me just put that out there right now.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I will say I've been watching Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. Apparently, the viewers of the show reached out last season to one of the. One of the castmates and said, it looks like you've got an enlarged thyroid. Check it out. She had an enlarged thyroid.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And that's okay. And let my doctor do that. Okay. I don't want comments.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Don't swing to reach out to a stranger like something's enlarged on your body.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. Don't tell me nothing. I know I have bad posture. Leave me alone.

[Kimia Bopornia]

But chiropractors just won't leave you alone.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. Don't you dare get in there.

[Kimia Bopornia]

How did we get here? Oh, yeah. Essays versus learning in class. I do think that the teacher should just be as brutal as possible, I think.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. If you're noticing it, you don't have to be gentle about it. You can be like, guys, I know you're using AI for this.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Right. You. You're bad writers.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. You could be Good writers. Maybe that's a spin you could give it. It's like, I know you're better writers than what you're turning in because you're turning in AI to me.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Right. This is a new Dangerous Minds. Do you remember that movie with Michelle Pfeiffer?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Oh, yes.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Maybe we do an AI version of that where a tough as nails teacher shows up to tell the students don't use A.I.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

You know, in a leather vest, probably to be like, I've got street cred. I don't use a computer to write my essays.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I use the word processor, but I don't use. I don't go any further than that. I use the spell check, but I don't go any further than that.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Or you could assign handwritten essays.

[Kimia Bopornia]

They must be doing that now, right?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. Which you could still have.

[Kimia Bopornia]

But the effort.

[Bridger Weiniger]

The effort to write it all out is sort of just like a dunk on the kid. You know, it's like, if you're gonna do that, go ahead and do that. It kind of is a little bit easier to just put your thoughts down if you make the essay shorter too. I feel like it incentivizes someone to actually use their brain.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Right, right.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You're like, I can get through three pages handwritten.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I can write a four sentence essay.

[Bridger Weiniger]

That too.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Yeah. Why not?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Maybe we're just building confidence. You assign a one paragraph thing.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh.

[Bridger Weiniger]

And build from there. Make sure that they are writing it. Because like one paragraph, I could do that and still go skate at the mall. I could write a paragraph and then you just. And then they prove to themselves that it's more fun and easy to write it.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Right. It's like training a dog.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. Get a clicker.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Get a clicker. Spray him in the face.

[Bridger Weiniger]

There you go.

[Kimia Bopornia]

What was I going to say? I think that. I guess that's all of my thoughts on AI and what a nightmare to be a teacher. Now.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I know plagiarism was always a thing. We'd have to run our essays through this program that would check if we copied either another student's essay in the database or an academic paper.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Yes, I.

[Bridger Weiniger]

What was it called?

[Kimia Bopornia]

Faintly recognized this during college. I think this was happening. Yeah, it had a name, but I guess that. I guess they have to have something even more complicated now.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

I don't know.

[Bridger Weiniger]

I heard AI uses dashes a lot and like humans don't.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Oh, interesting.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Like the dash when I like a dash.

[Kimia Bopornia]

A good EM dash.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

But I almost use those more in a corny way. I think it looks funny sometimes.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Okay. Like texting. I've seen it used.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Interesting.

[Bridger Weiniger]

But if I was writing a paper, right?

[Kimia Bopornia]

Like a 14 year old's like, yeah, dashes. No, you didn't do that. You would have used a period or a comma incorrectly.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yes.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Wow. Mad vintage. We've saved your career.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You're welcome.

[Kimia Bopornia]

And so many students minds.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

So many students minds. Okay, well, I've got my backgammon set kit. Set kit. Your kit.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Briefcase. My backgammon briefcase. And I can't wait to learn to play. This is such a nice thing. Yeah, you're welcome. What a gift. You know, occasionally there's a gift on here. I'm like, wow, now that I get to have that.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Yeah. I mean, unfortunately, prefer to be earnest. So there you go.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Well, thank you for being here. I had such a nice time.

[Bridger Weiniger]

Thank you so much for having me.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Listener. The podcast is over. We'll do some clicking, some last minute. Ooh, doesn't that sound nice? We'll send you off. I love you. Goodbye. I said no Gifts is an exactly right production. Our senior producer is Annelise Nelson, and our episodes are beautifully mixed by Ben Tolliday. The theme song is by miracle worker Amy Mann. And we couldn't do it without our booker, Patrick Cotner. You must follow the show on Instagram. Instagram at. I said no gifts. That's where you're going to see pictures of all these wonderful gifts I'm getting. And don't you want to see the gifts when I invited you here?

[Bridger Weiniger]

Thought I made myself perfectly clear.

[Kimia Bopornia]

When you're a guest in my home.

[Bridger Weiniger]

You gotta come to me empty handed. I said my no.

[Kimia Bopornia]

Guess your presence is presence enough. And I already had too much stuff, so how do you dare disobey me? Foreign.

[Unknown]

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[Kimia Bopornia]

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[Kimia Bopornia]

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[Kimia Bopornia]

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[Kimia Bopornia]

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