It was a long day yesterday. Not only is the rise in gas prices and the wild ride the economy is on starting to show its tell-tale signs in So-Cal (there are noticeably fewer cars on the road this week), the overall level of social discourse on platforms like Twitter and Facebook seem to be taking a step back and becoming much more personal and mean-spirited.

Especially if you’re critical of large, corporate franchises like Star Wars and Star Trek.

And when Rob and I started our call on a muggy Tuesday morning (at least it’s muggy here in the Midwest), Rob put it all out there on the table. “I’m not happy with my people,” he told me. Rob then went on to relate how fans had been expressing their displeasure with his openness to the idea of the sequel to Todd Phillips’s film, THE JOKER, as a musical. To that end, the news broke yesterday that Phillips had signed Lady Gaga to appear in his sequel movie and now rumors are flying that she will play the role of Harley Quinn (which makes sense to me, fwiw).

But why all the negativity about what is, admittedly an unexpected direction for a sequel to a comic book movie?

It’s complicated.

As always, I'll be writing more about all this on the ROADTRIPPIN' blog later today (and will probably post it this evening). You can check it out on our website: https://postgeeksingularity.com/roadtrippin-with-rmb/

And remember, you can always send us a letter. Just click on the "Contact Us" button in the main navigation of our website at postgeeksingularity.com and you'll be able to send us a message to let us know how we're doing and what's on your mind.

We look forward to hearing from you.

I invite you to listen in on my weekday conversations with my friend and business partner, Robert Meyer Burnett, as we talk about the things we love: great movies, inspiring television programming, nostalgic genre entertainment, and pop culture.

This episode was recorded on June 14, 2022.