Latest / The Delicious Culture with Jon Francois / Private vs. Public Opinion Is Delicious w/ Kiko Zang: Chomp
Transcript
- 0:00Okay, so you're running a trade business. You
- 0:01know that the phone always rings at the worst
- 0:04possible time. Why? The solution, you are office
- 0:08staff. Your office staff is an AI receptionist
- 0:12that answers for you day and night. It will talk
- 0:15to your customers, knows your services and prices.
- 0:18It'll check your calendar and even books estimates
- 0:21near jobs you already have that day. The details
- 0:25will... I'll be texted to you. You don't have
- 0:28to worry about it. Your office staff takes care
- 0:29of the texts, the emails. It's only 99 bucks
- 0:33a month. Even better. If you try it out, your
- 0:35first month is only $10. Go to you are office
- 0:39staff .com. Once again, that is you are office
- 0:43staff .com. Feeling alienated, feeling foreign
- 0:49or feeling different is also a universal experience.
- 0:53For a while, I thought I was the only one that
- 0:55felt this way because I looked different because
- 0:57I was in a different country, but I saw people
- 0:59misunderstanding each other, people feeling devised,
- 1:02feeling left out in their own home country, in
- 1:04their own socioeconomic background, in their
- 1:06own place of work, speaking the same exact language.
- 1:09I saw this with everyone at some part of their
- 1:11life. I felt like it was a result of the environment.
- 1:16that led me to not saying what I really think,
- 1:19not being who I really am. But I think it is
- 1:22a result of a much larger cultural and societal,
- 1:25I guess, pressure for us to be perceived in a
- 1:29way that may be different from who we really
- 1:31are. Impromptu trip that I took to LA. So I'm
- 1:54in LA right now. I'm like the laptop is on top
- 1:56of my suitcase I'm sitting on my bed at the Airbnb.
- 1:59But normally I am on the East Coast I like the
- 2:02clean wooden background for those of you watching
- 2:04on Spotify and YouTube So what what brings you
- 2:08out to LA if I may ask I actually went to school
- 2:10here I went to USC. So I don't know how familiar
- 2:13you are with LA. It's like on the on the downtown
- 2:15side of LA And I have a lot of friends I have
- 2:19a lot of friends here and I came here for two
- 2:22reasons. One is one of my mentors that's overseas
- 2:26actually like was visiting her family. So I came
- 2:28to say hi to her and catch up with her. And another
- 2:31reason is yesterday I went filming for like some
- 2:35content for the upcoming one of the upcoming
- 2:37announcements for the product that I'm building.
- 2:40So those two are the main reasons, but very serendipitously.
- 2:45A lot of my friends from all over the place are
- 2:48currently in LA. So like two days ago, I met
- 2:51up with my friends that I knew from Shanghai,
- 2:55and then I live within Singapore. So I hung out
- 2:58with them. And then tonight, I'm going to see
- 3:01a friend of mine that I actually work with at
- 3:03the first startup that I was a part of for like
- 3:06three years, really closely between like 21 to
- 3:0923. So it happens that everyone is in LA. So
- 3:11it's been a more like friend and like nourishing
- 3:15trip than I thought it would be. I love that.
- 3:18And where do you live full time? I live in a
- 3:21suburb outside of Philly right now. So I had
- 3:24been over a little bit of short history about
- 3:27kind of where where I've been. So it's like,
- 3:29at least that chronologically is like a little
- 3:31bit less confusing after I lay it out. I'm Chinese.
- 3:34I grew up in New Zealand. So 12 to 17, I was
- 3:37in New Zealand. Pre -12, I was in China. And
- 3:40then from 17, I moved to the US and I was in
- 3:43LA between age 17 to 24. And then I went back
- 3:47to Asia, mostly in Shanghai, but also in Singapore,
- 3:50Southeast Asia for about 10, like eight, nine
- 3:55-ish years, and then lived in Berlin for a year.
- 3:58And then end of 2024, early 25, we moved back
- 4:02to the US. And it was my first time living on
- 4:05the East Coast. And that's when we moved to Philly,
- 4:09me and my husband. And then last October, someone
- 4:12robbed our home in Philly and that prompted us
- 4:15to move out into the suburbs. So those are the
- 4:18places. Understandable. I spent three... college
- 4:22semesters in Philly back in the day at the University
- 4:24of the Arts, which no longer exists. But I was
- 4:28in a safer part. I was in the center city area.
- 4:32So I can only imagine what that robbing experience
- 4:35must have been like. And bouncing off of that
- 4:38to kind of clarify what this app is that you've
- 4:42created called Chomp. I remember when we messaged
- 4:45each other on the PodMatch website, you talked
- 4:49about a very unfortunate an incident that you
- 4:52experienced as a teenager in New Zealand that
- 4:54led you to create the app, Sean. Can you tell
- 4:56us that story? I do think it's a lot of different
- 4:59moments. It's not just like, you know, one moment
- 5:02in particular. There are a few things, so like.
- 5:05I think for people that have grown up all over
- 5:08the place, you might resonate, whoever that's
- 5:11listening, that you go into a new place and you're
- 5:14mostly seen as an outsider or for worst cases,
- 5:18maybe an intruder in some way. spent about six
- 5:23years in New Zealand. And for most of that, uh,
- 5:26I lived in a really small town called Timaru
- 5:28and there's 50 ,000 people. There are maybe like
- 5:31a total of five Asians and they're mostly like
- 5:33restaurant owners or something like that. So
- 5:35I was the only Asian looking person staying in
- 5:38the boarding house that I was in for a while.
- 5:41And you would walk on the street. I would walk
- 5:43on the street and a lot of people will pop out
- 5:45of their car windows and say, like, go back to
- 5:47your country. So it's more a. Do they mean it?
- 5:52I'm not even sure if they know what they're saying.
- 5:54Right. I think it's just like what they have
- 5:56heard maybe from other parts of the culture that
- 5:59made a lot of people who are ignorant, unintentionally
- 6:02racist. Um, yeah. Usually the, in my experience,
- 6:07the, the mean prejudices that people have based
- 6:09on your race, gender, whatever, it's based on
- 6:13some sort of stereotypical pop cultural thing.
- 6:18All I say is if you really want to like get to
- 6:24know and respect someone who is completely different
- 6:26from you, like actually live in a neighborhood
- 6:28with them, talk with them, have a conversation
- 6:30with them, you'll find that there's more in common
- 6:32than you guys imagine. Yeah, 100%. And for the
- 6:36people that lived in Timaru, they didn't have
- 6:37that opportunity. And at the time, there was
- 6:39not a lot of Asians in cinema. You know, there's
- 6:42like Lucy Liu and then crazy rich Asians has
- 6:45not come out yet, which I would think is like
- 6:47a pivotal moment for like people understanding
- 6:49Asians in the media. But anyways, backtrack.
- 6:51You could probably count Jackie Chan in there,
- 6:55right? You're growing up in like the 90s and
- 6:562000s and such. I don't know, because I actually
- 6:59think like the Bruce Lee's, the Jackie Chan's,
- 7:02they are accidentally feeding into a stereotype.
- 7:08Like sort of like the Kung Fu or karate chopping.
- 7:11Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So like even for Lucy Liu,
- 7:14right? She was playing Charlie's angel, but she
- 7:17had like a, she was doing Kung Fu, you know,
- 7:20and like she had like certain stereotypical way
- 7:23about her. That's not actually her as a person,
- 7:25right? She is a a Chinese American person who
- 7:28grew up in New York, but none of that flair is
- 7:31incorporated into her character in Charlie's
- 7:33Angels. So I think there was maybe not like a
- 7:37one pivotal movie, but there was a gradual shift
- 7:39between Asian people playing their stereotypes
- 7:43into playing just a normal human. And to me,
- 7:47that identifying shift happened with Crazy Rich
- 7:50Asians with Connie's character. Like she's a
- 7:53normal person who, you know, is a first -generation
- 7:56Chinese immigrant in America and she's just playing,
- 7:59you know, a person. She's not playing a stereotype,
- 8:01someone that works in a Chinese restaurant, someone
- 8:04that knows kung fu, someone that, you know, you
- 8:07know, um, anyways, so none of that happened yet
- 8:10when I was 12 years old. So people had a lot
- 8:14of, they asked me if, you know, I... Only had
- 8:17bikes or only had bicycles and not cars if we
- 8:20all wore, you know hats like their their understanding
- 8:22of asia was like very limited. Um, so I think
- 8:25that ignorance created some Some like unintentional
- 8:28hate. So I think the story that we talked about
- 8:31was uh, someone trying to knife me Uh, so this
- 8:35was like outside of a a club. I was 17 not supposed
- 8:39to be there, but we were all outside I think
- 8:41hanging out and I think he might have been like
- 8:45a junior gang member of like a local gang and
- 8:48then he was kicked out of the club and he was
- 8:50angry and I uh I heard it was all very fast so
- 8:54like I realized it was happening after my friend
- 8:57blocked the knife with his arm and then his arm
- 9:01was bleeding and then the person was like fucking
- 9:04Asian etc and then kind of like ran away after
- 9:07he realized that my friend's arm was bleeding.
- 9:11So his motive was just hate. Did you get the
- 9:17sense that he was drunk or high or on something?
- 9:20It was too fast for me to really know. And I
- 9:25was very lucky, right? Nothing happened to me.
- 9:27My friend kind of like instinctually blocked
- 9:30it with his arm because he was taller than me.
- 9:34And I like to say that Like that's just one of
- 9:39the things that you you internalize into a part
- 9:43of this experience, right? It's not like one
- 9:45moment or Yeah, I can't count like a specific
- 9:50moment like this But there are many other things
- 9:52that makes you feel like your existence is somehow
- 9:56unwelcomed or like you feeling alienated You
- 9:59don't belong there. Yeah, so that experience
- 10:03I think made me really good at camouflaging myself,
- 10:06even though there are parts of how I am, how
- 10:09I look like that's impossible to camouflage.
- 10:10I can never not look like an Asian person. What
- 10:13do you mean by camouflage, if you don't mind
- 10:15breaking that down? Yeah, I think passing maybe
- 10:19is like an easier way to explain it. So like
- 10:21if I look different, how can I behave in a way
- 10:25that makes myself feel more immersed into an
- 10:29environment that perceives me as foreign? So,
- 10:33you know, how do I uh, kind of date boys like
- 10:36others, right? How do I get piercings like the
- 10:39popular girls in New Zealand? How do I behave
- 10:42in a way that, um, you know, like, uh, like the
- 10:47people who get bullied end up, you know, becoming
- 10:49a bully so they don't feel like left out or they
- 10:52don't feel like, um, yeah. So there's been like
- 10:55a series of attempts and many of them very successful
- 10:58of fitting in. Um, but I think in that experience,
- 11:03I felt maybe two distinct feelings, because I
- 11:06didn't do this just in New Zealand. When I came
- 11:08to the U .S. and I came to L .A., I had a New
- 11:11Zealand accent and I looked Chinese. And that
- 11:14was very confusing for all of my, you know, dorm
- 11:17mates. And so then I very quickly changed my
- 11:19accent into the one that you're hearing now.
- 11:22And then after college, after working, I went
- 11:26back to China and I was a Chinese looking person.
- 11:30that didn't speak very good Chinese. So that
- 11:32was confusing in Shanghai for people to be like,
- 11:35you know, coming up to me, talking to me about
- 11:37something. And I'm very quickly asking if I grew
- 11:39up somewhere else because they could detect the
- 11:42way my sentences, you know, sounded foreign.
- 11:44I could not pick up on like cultural references.
- 11:48So it's an experience of feeling alienated in
- 11:50like very many, many different settings that
- 11:53made me very, I think, in tune to being different
- 11:56and like the what it takes to feel belonging
- 11:59or what it takes to fame belonging in a way.
- 12:02But what I also saw from a lot of other people
- 12:05is that feeling alienated, feeling foreign or
- 12:08feeling different is also a universal experience.
- 12:12For a while, I thought I was the only one that
- 12:14felt this way because I looked different because
- 12:16I was in a different country. But I saw people
- 12:18misunderstanding each other, people feeling devised,
- 12:21feeling left out in their own home country. in
- 12:25their own socioeconomic background, in their
- 12:27own place of work, speaking the same exact language.
- 12:30I saw this with everyone at some part of their
- 12:32life. And I felt like I was being, like I felt
- 12:38like it was a result of the environment that
- 12:41led me to not saying what I really think, not
- 12:44being who I really am. But I think it is a result
- 12:47of a much larger cultural and societal, I guess,
- 12:50pressure for us to be perceived in a way that
- 12:54may be different from who we really are. And
- 12:58the product is something that I'm building to
- 13:02try to address that. Obviously, it is a huge
- 13:04cultural... You're talking about the CHOMP app
- 13:06is what you mean by that. Yeah. Yeah. So CHOMP
- 13:09is the product and what CHOMP is trying to do
- 13:11is to get you to see what people really think
- 13:14when no one is watching. And that's the simple...
- 13:16Yeah, I mean, the first question that comes in
- 13:18my mind is how is that possible? Because like,
- 13:21you say that, like, you know, trying to figure
- 13:24out what people are thinking. And that sounds
- 13:27like an impossible sort of hypnotherapy thing.
- 13:32Can you break down specifically how you make
- 13:34this app work for people? Yeah, I think this
- 13:37is one attempt at doing it, and this is one methodology.
- 13:40It is not hypnotherapy, right? People can be
- 13:43playing this app when they're like walking around.
- 13:45They're not going to like drop into deep sleep.
- 13:48A trance. Or a trance. Maybe I should think about
- 13:53EDM festivals as a go to market. But the product
- 13:56is very, very simple. So like, for example, This
- 14:01could be a really easy question. Right now, there's
- 14:03a lot of cultural discussion around the Clancy
- 14:06case, for example. The Clancy case. What's the
- 14:09Clancy case? I think it's Clancy. You know, Patrick
- 14:12and Leslie, the wife had postpartum and then
- 14:17she ended up uh hurting her children and then
- 14:21her husband is uh soon i don't know if you've
- 14:23seen that one i think i've heard of this uh but
- 14:26it's been a while since i've heard about the
- 14:28story so so thank you for clarifying that yeah
- 14:30yeah there's there's that i mean there's also
- 14:32a lot of other uh Just whatever that's happening
- 14:35today that is in a part of cultural discourse.
- 14:39So for example, this case, you know, there's
- 14:41a lot of true crime stuff. There's also like,
- 14:43you know, the Blake Lively and Justin, you know,
- 14:47suing each other. Like who was in there? Yeah,
- 14:49yeah. Who wasn't around? Who wasn't around? Like
- 14:50this type of stuff. I think, yeah. So like with
- 14:53this type of stuff, we watch cultural discourse
- 14:56take place. We watch people with really strong
- 14:59opinions saying their piece. And some of us get
- 15:02into this lore. and we're so curious to find
- 15:04out what people are really thinking. But every
- 15:07media outlet we go to, there's going to be a
- 15:10pretty biased take, either based on the nature
- 15:12of that media or like the loudest person that
- 15:14is speaking on that media. But there isn't really
- 15:17like an aggregate way for us to see what people
- 15:19are really thinking as a collective. So Chomp,
- 15:23so say we ask the question, like, who is, who
- 15:27do you side with, Blake or Justin? And that is
- 15:31just the question that we put out on Chomp. And
- 15:33every person who's on the receiving end is being
- 15:35given two responses. The first response is what
- 15:38they themselves think. The second response is
- 15:41what they predict other people who are answering
- 15:43my think. So I could say, I side with Justin,
- 15:46but I think only 30 % of the people will agree
- 15:49with me. And that's my answer. And everyone is
- 15:51giving the same two -part answer. And what we
- 15:54end up with is this mapping of the difference
- 15:58between perception and reality. So there is what
- 16:00people are saying when no one else is watching.
- 16:03And then there's what people predict others might
- 16:05say. And then we see that difference. And what
- 16:09this app does is first, posing those two questions
- 16:11to creating an anonymous environment to remove
- 16:15the cost of being honest and sharing what you
- 16:17think. And then three, being able to surface
- 16:21like a disparity or distance or maybe overlap
- 16:24between private and public opinions, pretty much.
- 16:28So the perception of reality is private public
- 16:30opinions, and there is no cause for you to be
- 16:33honest. And really, the only person that you're
- 16:36lying to is yourself if you're dishonest in your
- 16:38private environment. And you can only see what
- 16:41everyone else is saying after you give your own
- 16:43answer. So that's a very simple way for us to
- 16:46be constructing a map that maps out perception
- 16:50of reality on aggregate. The Delicious Culture
- 16:55with Jon François proudly hosted by RSS. Why
- 16:59not join them? If you are starting a new podcast
- 17:01and especially if you are like me, you were with
- 17:04a hosting provider for a certain amount of years.
- 17:06You were like, ah, I am tired of doing this for
- 17:10free and not making any money. And I want to
- 17:12go to something like RSS where I can make money
- 17:14very easily. RSS only requires 10 downloads for
- 17:19you to start monetizing. How about that? A great
- 17:21way to start your podcasting career. Start today
- 17:24with the link in my show notes. What's going
- 17:30through my head is trying to figure out the difference
- 17:32between the chop app and say going on. a comment
- 17:37thread on Reddit. And I don't know, I'm trying
- 17:42to think of something in the news. Oh, Hayden
- 17:44Penetriere, I think is the actress's name. Penetriere,
- 17:47yeah, yeah, yeah. She just passed. Yeah, unfortunately,
- 17:50who passed away. And I think as of this recording
- 17:54on August 19th, we don't know exactly what the
- 17:58cause of death is, but we do know that... We
- 18:00know her boyfriend is in the room. Her boyfriend
- 18:02was in the room when this happened. When he died?
- 18:05When she passed, her boyfriend was in the room.
- 18:07Oh, I'm sorry, when she passed. Interesting,
- 18:09because I think it was her father that made the
- 18:11social media announcement. So you would think
- 18:12that the boyfriend would make the social media
- 18:14announcement. But anyway, so we do know that
- 18:18she struggled with postpartum depression, addiction,
- 18:22the pressures of child stardom, all that stuff.
- 18:26And, you know, internet comment threats could
- 18:29but be speculative like you wouldn't believe.
- 18:32Like, oh, I think it was the postpartum. I think
- 18:33it was the addiction. I think it was this. I
- 18:35think it was that. So what is the difference
- 18:37between what the CHOMP app offers and someone
- 18:40going on the internet and saying, eh, actually,
- 18:42I think it's going to be this reason why Hayden
- 18:45died. And I think a majority of you are going
- 18:47to agree with me. Does that make sense? Yeah.
- 18:49The only difference, well, the main difference
- 18:51is between looking at individual opinions and
- 18:56letting that inform your judgment. and looking
- 18:58at a spread, so looking at the aggregate information
- 19:01from everyone's input. That's the main difference.
- 19:04Because when you're looking at a comment thread,
- 19:07you're making individual judgments, right? So
- 19:09you are computing this with your own brain. You're
- 19:12looking at comment one, you're looking at comment
- 19:14two, you're looking at comment three, and you're
- 19:15making a judgment based on how convincing that
- 19:18argument is. It's really that you have no understanding
- 19:22of this person's background, where they came
- 19:24from, where their idea came from. And you're
- 19:27making a judgment plainly on the language, the
- 19:29unstructured text. Trump is just taking a different
- 19:33approach. So there will be ways for you to slice
- 19:37based on demographic information. For example,
- 19:39you will be able to, to an extent, understand
- 19:41this user's past history of answers. For example,
- 19:44you'll be able to see if this user is a millennial
- 19:47or Gen Z. All of these will be not at the cost
- 19:50of the user's identity. So that you will not
- 19:52be able to see like John answer this or Kiko
- 19:54answer this. But you can get a slice of like,
- 19:57you know, 20 % of the people who are Gen Z answer
- 19:59this in this way. So it's more giving you a more
- 20:04aggregate view of what the world thinks as opposed
- 20:08to what an individual is thinking at that moment
- 20:10in time. Whereas an internet comment thread,
- 20:12it's just like, oh, I just see this random account
- 20:15posting this opinion. I don't know anything about
- 20:17them other than that comment that they're posting
- 20:19at that moment about Hayden's death and what
- 20:21caused it. But the CHOP app is giving me a more
- 20:27specified, I mean, not only giving me that person's
- 20:30opinion, but giving me a specified breakdown,
- 20:32like what generation they come from, what age
- 20:35group they're in, maybe their gender, racial
- 20:37identity, and maybe how that contributes to the
- 20:39opinion. No? No, it's more like an aggregate.
- 20:43So it's the difference between like, it's the
- 20:47difference between me buying or subscribing to
- 20:50three to five different newspapers and then going
- 20:53on 10 different Instagrams to be like, this is
- 20:56what people are saying about Hayden's death versus
- 21:00seeing one statistic output that's saying 90
- 21:04% of the population suspect that the cost of
- 21:08death is, I don't know. uh, PDS, uh, postpartum
- 21:12depression or something like that. But, um, when
- 21:16you ask them what they think everyone else is
- 21:18thinking, they suspect it might be 50 % drug
- 21:22-related. So like the difference between private
- 21:25and public opinion, it is not surface in the
- 21:28comment thread because whenever you're saying
- 21:31something, people are seeing the individual that's
- 21:33posting. It is a, well, I think you could argue
- 21:36that If the person's account is anonymous, there
- 21:41is no cost to answering it. So I think you can
- 21:44argue that. So the main difference will be the
- 21:46gamified experience because you're getting dropped
- 21:49questions every single day and the fact that
- 21:52you are getting a more aggregate understanding
- 21:55instead of going into individual sources. Define
- 21:58the word aggregate because that is a key word
- 22:00that I don't know the meaning of so maybe like
- 22:02Define it to me because I'm completely dumb when
- 22:05it comes to like this This education that you're
- 22:09that you're that you're it's not really an education
- 22:11is you can just think of it as a As an app that
- 22:13people are playing Aggregate just means a hundred
- 22:17people two hundred people a thousand people ten
- 22:20thousand people. Yeah, so This app, I think,
- 22:24initially starts as more of an entertainment
- 22:26product, where people who either are afraid of
- 22:30saying what they think are sharing that on Chomp,
- 22:32or they're interested in what a consolidated
- 22:37version of what people are thinking can exist
- 22:40about a certain public discourse or an opinion.
- 22:43So this can also be if someone tells you they
- 22:45love you within the first month of dating, is
- 22:47that a green flag or a red flag? It doesn't have
- 22:49to be a public discourse in a certain way. This
- 22:52might be something that you have an opinion on,
- 22:55but don't want to say out loud. This might be
- 22:57something that you are wondering if others feel
- 23:01the same way, but you are embarrassed or not
- 23:04sure about, like, asking your closest friends
- 23:06or your family about. So these are the questions
- 23:09that you put out there, either you're asking
- 23:10or you're seeing it dropping on Chomp. Yeah,
- 23:13am I making sense or not really? I... do better
- 23:17when, I mean, I'm a learn by doing kind of person.
- 23:21Is the CHOP app actively happening right now
- 23:23or is it still in development? So we had a version
- 23:26that was live before and we had 50 ,000 users
- 23:29and 2 million answers from them. Wow. But I actually
- 23:31decided to shut that down and move to a new demographic.
- 23:35So the new version is being developed right now.
- 23:37I can send you a test flight version after this.
- 23:40So App Store is kind of slow right now because
- 23:43of the sheer amount of vibe coded apps that are
- 23:46being submitted for review. So we are in line
- 23:50and like waiting for review as we speak. Why
- 23:52did you change the demographic? Because we learned,
- 23:55we learned a lot from the first version. The
- 23:58first version of the product had more of a stronger
- 24:00prediction element. So like the game mechanic
- 24:03is similar. But we played up on this ability
- 24:06to predict what other people are thinking. And
- 24:09sometimes we will match the prediction with like
- 24:11a real life event that's happening. And this
- 24:14is preceding, we actually started building this
- 24:16version before the first Trump election. And
- 24:19we were able to see that there is a huge difference
- 24:22between public and private opinion on who people
- 24:25all over the world think is going to win. Is
- 24:28it Biden or Trump? So we saw that people privately,
- 24:32more of them thought Trump is going to win, but
- 24:34they thought others would pick Biden, like in
- 24:37general. So that kind of like that public and
- 24:41private opinion difference is what a traditional
- 24:44polling wasn't able to pick up on. It's what
- 24:46kind of made that first round of election like
- 24:49a surprising or maybe confusing win. But when
- 24:53we asked the private and public opinion gap,
- 24:55it was quite obvious that there were Trump supporters
- 24:58early on, right? This is like 24. There were
- 25:01Trump supporters who did not want to articulate
- 25:04that they were Trump supporters or they secretly
- 25:06thought everyone else is voting for Biden and
- 25:08therefore they did not articulate this. And that
- 25:10kind of like caused the voting to just spin a
- 25:14different direction, but it was harder to tell
- 25:16in the beginning. But we have a algorithm under
- 25:19the hood that helps us use these two differences,
- 25:23like the perception and reality to find a better
- 25:28wisdom of the crowd. So we take what people think
- 25:31and what they think others think and use that
- 25:34to calculate what is the most realistic portrayal
- 25:37of what's happening in the world today. So that
- 25:41algorithm didn't change, but we previously were
- 25:44asking more questions about politics or like
- 25:47it was a more male -dominated audience. There
- 25:50were a few things that made me decide to change
- 25:53course. The first is if we went down the more
- 25:57prediction route, it was very closely moving
- 26:01into gambling, prediction market, sports betting
- 26:05realm. And that wasn't really a realm that I
- 26:09wanted to play in. That's probably one of the
- 26:11main reasons. And also as a startup builder,
- 26:14there's a lot of incumbents in that area. As
- 26:16you can probably see, there's a lot of ads about
- 26:19Caoshi. lately, for example, there's people with
- 26:22much more capital, with much more obsession about
- 26:27gambling and about betting than I do. So why,
- 26:32you know, why play in that market? And the second
- 26:34reason... Where you worried you might be feeding
- 26:36or enabling what, you know, for a lot of people
- 26:39could be an addiction, the gambling and... Yeah,
- 26:44I think that's a part of it. Another one is a
- 26:47lot of product like this, they actually claim
- 26:49to be able to surface better information. So
- 26:51like they claim that when there is money online,
- 26:55when there's a stake, when there's like a stick
- 26:57in the ground, people are more likely to say
- 27:00what they really think. And wanting to see people's
- 27:04unfiltered honest, realistic opinion is why I
- 27:07wanted to build this. But seeing like when we
- 27:09were testing out the algorithm before, What I
- 27:12saw was more attempts to manipulate the outcome
- 27:15in order to make money and not really an ability
- 27:19to detect whether they're being honest or not.
- 27:23Interesting. So I didn't agree with the claim
- 27:26that some of these other products were making.
- 27:32And I think as long as there is a strong level
- 27:36of like uncertain payoff or people thinking that
- 27:39their information and knowledge can drive certain
- 27:42pay out differences, it's not going to be very
- 27:46easy to tell if they're being honest or if they're
- 27:49saying what they mean versus if they're giving
- 27:52certain answers to try to game the algorithm
- 27:54to try to get a certain, a higher amount of outcome
- 27:58payoff. So that was, it's a part of like moral
- 28:01ethical reasons, but not a part of it is like
- 28:03the pursuit is for people to say what they really
- 28:07think, but putting money on it. gave them a different
- 28:11reason to not say what they really think. Does
- 28:13that make sense? Yeah, yeah. I definitely want
- 28:17you to send me a test app version of this and
- 28:20I would love to try it and I would love, if possible,
- 28:25we got to like schedule another recording just
- 28:27so we could like try it in real time and see
- 28:30what it does. Yeah, you can actually. Yeah, if
- 28:33you want, I've listened to a few of these episodes,
- 28:37but I don't know how often you like to do like
- 28:39audience engagement. So if you like, we can actually
- 28:42have you design a pack of questions and then
- 28:44put it out there and you can have your audience
- 28:46answer and see what they think. That could be
- 28:49cool. Yeah. Yeah. So let's definitely stay in
- 28:51touch and let's see if we could have a very audience
- 28:55engaging, you know, doing in the moment. sort
- 29:00of demonstration of how the Chop app works. So
- 29:03I think that will be, I think that will be fantastic.
- 29:09Okay, so you're running a trade business. You
- 29:11know that the phone always rings at the worst
- 29:13possible time. Why? The solution, UR office staff.
- 29:18UR office staff is an AI receptionist that answers
- 29:22for you day and night. It will talk to your customers,
- 29:25knows your services and prices. It'll check your
- 29:28calendar and even books estimates near jobs.
- 29:31You already have that day. The details will all
- 29:35be texted to you. You don't have to worry about
- 29:37it. UR office staff takes care of the texts,
- 29:39the emails. It's only 99 bucks a month. Even
- 29:42better if you try it out your first month. is
- 29:45only $10. Go to urofficestaff .com. Once again,
- 29:50that is urofficestaff .com. All right, Kiko.
- 29:57So on The Delicious Culture, I ask all my guests
- 30:00three delicious questions, and I would love to
- 30:03do the same with you. First off, what is a delicious
- 30:06meal that you've had lately? So I went to the
- 30:13West Hollywood Soul House recently. And there
- 30:16is this like restaurant that is like on the roof
- 30:21and it's open door, like open air. It feels like
- 30:25a garden in the middle of the Hollywood and you
- 30:29can order, it's like Italian food, but you can
- 30:33also see like a view of LA while you're eating.
- 30:38So I think the more delicious part is the environment.
- 30:41The food is also quite good. So I want to know
- 30:45what the food is. What's the food? The food was
- 30:48um, there's a restaurant called moza that was
- 30:50like pretty big in LA over like a decade ago
- 30:52and the chef had a collaborative menu as Italian
- 30:56food. I had like speak meatball meatball spaghetti
- 31:00meatballs pretty much and I think like spaghetti
- 31:05bolognese beauty meatball is like the one thing
- 31:09I order if I want to know if an Italian restaurant
- 31:12is good. Because if they can't make something
- 31:14as simple as spaghetti and meatballs good, then
- 31:17the Italian restaurant is not good. Yeah, I think
- 31:19that's fair. I think that's fair. Yeah, because
- 31:21like the pasta, the red sauce, you know, the
- 31:25ability to cook mincemeat, these are all basic
- 31:28things that an Italian restaurant should do well.
- 31:30Oh, yeah, I agree. I agree. It is a filling,
- 31:33delicious. pretty simple dish to make. I can
- 31:36even make it if I have the energy, which is never
- 31:39because my wife is usually the cook. So I put
- 31:42it all on her and she doesn't like spaghetti
- 31:45and leftover form. So I cannot tell you the last
- 31:48time I had spaghetti and meatballs. I'm actually
- 31:49crying on the inside because I love it so much.
- 31:52Um, but you're saying more so the, the vibe of
- 31:55like being in LA, uh, I think in the evening,
- 31:58uh, with your Italian restaurant dinner outside,
- 32:01like it was what this was pretty recently when,
- 32:03when it was like beautiful outside. It was beautiful.
- 32:05I was out Saturday coming back to LA feels like
- 32:08coming home and I was actually having a meal
- 32:10alone. Um, I had the rare opportunity to eat
- 32:15on my own. and to read my book and to, yeah,
- 32:20I think just to be in a comfortable environment
- 32:21where I didn't feel like I had to be somewhere.
- 32:24I could stay as late as I wanted. I don't know
- 32:28if you've had the feeling, but like I feel very
- 32:29comfortable amongst a room of strangers if they
- 32:32don't know me. It feels like I can be like completely
- 32:34myself. So I think it's that like the vibe of
- 32:38it. And then also like dawned on me when I was
- 32:41eating that I had Like when I first came to LA,
- 32:45it was exactly half of my life ago. So I was
- 32:4717 when I came to LA and now I'm 34. Oh, I'm
- 32:5134 too. Oh, okay. Yeah, I'm turning, I'm turning
- 32:5535 in October. Hey, I'm turning 35 in November.
- 32:59So are you... Oh, nice. Are you a sectarian as
- 33:02well? I'm a Libra, I'm a Libra. Libra, okay.
- 33:05So we're like sort of neighbors, but not quite.
- 33:08Yeah, yeah, so... I don't know if you remember.
- 33:11Sorry, go ahead. No, no, no, it's OK. What date
- 33:13in October? October 11th. Gotcha. I only ask
- 33:15because my wife's birthday is on October 7th.
- 33:17So you're like four or five days apart. Oh, yeah.
- 33:20So I don't know if you remember what you wanted
- 33:23to be or like where you were when you were 17,
- 33:27like half of your life ago. Oh, sure. Absolutely.
- 33:31Yeah. So so for me, it's like I was sitting there
- 33:34remembering how when I first came here 17 years
- 33:37ago, Like none of the things that I thought would
- 33:40happen actually happened, but I was also very
- 33:43happy that my life turned out this way. So I
- 33:47think the meal was more a, it was a supplemental
- 33:51ingredient of that moment, but it was a ingredient
- 33:55that allowed me to feel comfort. like in my own
- 33:59skin, in my own environment. So that's why it
- 34:01was a great meal. I love that. And everything
- 34:04of what you're saying resonates with me so deeply.
- 34:07I just want to break it down for just a second.
- 34:09First of all, I mean, yeah, I mean, when I was
- 34:1117 years old, I believe I was like graduating
- 34:15high school, going into college, and I was very
- 34:18involved in my theater department as an actor.
- 34:22So going into college, I thought, all right,
- 34:23full time professional acting. I think that's
- 34:25what my purpose is going to be. And that didn't
- 34:28work out for a variety of reasons. So my life
- 34:31just kind of like segued into like radio and
- 34:33television broadcasting and then eventually now
- 34:35podcasting, which is what I primarily do. But
- 34:38I occasionally act here and there as a side thing.
- 34:41So I resonate with what you're saying. It's like,
- 34:44yes, it can be very easy to be like, oh, what
- 34:48I thought I would be doing as an adult going
- 34:50back to 17 years old is not what I'm doing. But
- 34:53as time has gone by, as I've, you know, you know,
- 34:57gone through therapy and meditation and such
- 34:59to, to really become more content with my life.
- 35:04Now I feel a sense of just gratitude and satisfaction
- 35:07that my journey is here, is where I am. So that
- 35:12is certainly something that resonates with me
- 35:15very strongly. And also, yeah, I mean, I've had
- 35:18so many experiences on my own. I mean, I'm with
- 35:22you. I mean, I think, it seems like you're, what,
- 35:26kind of a partial introvert, partial extrovert.
- 35:28Is that your vibe? I'm a mostly introvert that
- 35:31everyone thinks is an extrovert. because of what
- 35:34you do, like, you know, starting up after. Yeah.
- 35:37And like, for a while, I was, I actually really
- 35:40enjoy speaking on stage, but I enjoy emceeing
- 35:43and moderating for other people more. Yeah. So
- 35:46like, people see me on stage, but mostly it's
- 35:48just because I like asking others questions,
- 35:51making them feel comfortable, kind of understanding
- 35:53them. Uh, and I used to perform, like I am a
- 35:56pianist, I used to do classical and jazz piano.
- 35:58So like, I'm comfortable on stage. but mostly
- 36:02to perform and not to talk about myself. Gotcha.
- 36:04That makes sense. That makes sense. Yeah, no,
- 36:08I mean, I've certainly been at restaurants by
- 36:10myself. I've gone to the movie theater by myself.
- 36:13Yeah. I've gone to New York City many times to
- 36:16see like late night talk show tapings by myself.
- 36:20So yeah, you know, I think it's very easy in
- 36:23a society where basically told that, oh, if you're
- 36:27not experiencing these types of things with people,
- 36:30then you are weird. It can be very easy to feel
- 36:32self -conscious about that, but to be comfortable
- 36:35enough in your own skin to say, okay, I could
- 36:38keep myself company and go to a restaurant with
- 36:41all these people around me that are probably
- 36:43having dinner with their loved ones. And I'm
- 36:45just here solo and I'm enjoying a book and I'm
- 36:47enjoying my meal. I think that's great. That's
- 36:50wonderful. So thank you for sharing that. Now
- 36:56you, so you had mentioned that it was a rare
- 37:00time, a rare chance for you to be alone. And
- 37:03so when you're talking about, well, like when
- 37:05you're starting up the app, you're always dealing
- 37:08with coworkers and such. And I know you had mentioned
- 37:10that you were seeing some friends there in LA.
- 37:13So it sounds like your social battery is quite
- 37:17full and you just wanted that moment alone at
- 37:19the restaurant. Yeah. I'm married, so me and
- 37:23my husband are... Yeah, that too. That's the
- 37:27person I spend most of my time with. So when
- 37:30I travel, my husband is at home. So I think it's
- 37:34different types of comfort when I'm with my husband.
- 37:37Of course, I'm like very comfortable. I'm happy
- 37:39to be home. But I also like... It's almost like
- 37:44when I am in my married life, that reality has
- 37:47been constructed by two of us, right? And that
- 37:50is set and it's like we've built it together.
- 37:53But when I'm alone, I have this opportunity to
- 37:56construct my own reality. I decide what to order.
- 37:59I decide what to eat. I decide where to go. I
- 38:01decide to talk to a stranger or not talk to a
- 38:03stranger. And I think a bit like even like for
- 38:06watching a movie alone, which I actually that's
- 38:09what I did before eating alone. I went to watch
- 38:10the movie. So watching movies alone, eating alone,
- 38:14it might feel like a solo experience, but you
- 38:17are experiencing it with other people, like in
- 38:20that theater, right? You're experiencing that
- 38:21meal with other people who are eating. I think
- 38:25like human experience is like a collectivist
- 38:28experience, but it doesn't mean like you have
- 38:30to like collectively experience something in
- 38:32like a tight cluster. I think like for CHOMP
- 38:36actually like sorry to be like showing my product
- 38:39like rather than me segueing into it. Like one
- 38:42of the taglines that we're working with workshopping
- 38:45is group chat with the internet. There is a lot
- 38:48of people that feel alone in their own surroundings.
- 38:51There are a lot of people that you know talk
- 38:54about the male loneliness epidemic but also there's
- 38:56the female. Everyone's feeling more and more
- 38:58lonely and some of that in my opinion has to
- 39:01do with it's harder to connect when everyone
- 39:04is performing a version of themselves online,
- 39:07so that you don't know who the person really
- 39:08are. And for Chomp, I'm hoping to create this
- 39:12like group chat with the internet feel, so it's
- 39:15like intimate, yet you're tapping into a larger
- 39:17subconscious. But soon enough with these questions,
- 39:21we're kind of building a map of an individual
- 39:24and their beliefs, not just of their social background.
- 39:28And I would like to be able to matchmake people
- 39:30based on what they believe. Um, and build more
- 39:34unlikely connections between people that may
- 39:37be surprised that they all believe in the same
- 39:39thing, despite, you know, their socioeconomic
- 39:41or their demographic being so different from
- 39:43each other. Um, so I think, uh, like feeling
- 39:47alone and feeling lonely are very different,
- 39:51but I love being alone because sometimes it creates
- 39:54more serendipitous. Like encounters or moments
- 39:57or like moments of delight. Yeah. I'm going to
- 40:01the podcast movement conference in New York City
- 40:04and I'm going to that solo and it's going to
- 40:08be I think like what four days three nights that
- 40:11I'm spending in the city traveling from Vermont
- 40:13and you know a great opportunity to network with
- 40:18with all kinds of fellow podcasters but at the
- 40:21end of the day like I'm going there solo and
- 40:24there might be god knows how many podcasters
- 40:26going with podcaster friends and such and such
- 40:28so There is. Yeah. I mean, there, there, there
- 40:32is that fear. There is that curiosity of like,
- 40:34Oh, am I going to feel lonely amongst all this
- 40:37crowd of people? But as you say, um, I could
- 40:42also just be alone rather than lonely. Like it
- 40:46could just be like, Oh, I'm experiencing the
- 40:48same thing with amongst. hundreds of other podcasters
- 40:53and even though like I may not be directly having
- 40:56a conversation with one of them like we're all
- 40:58experiencing like this speaker or this session
- 41:00on how to improve in podcasting so and you know
- 41:03along the way you might be bonding with somebody
- 41:06sitting next to you about like oh my god what
- 41:08you know that thing that they said about monetization
- 41:10in that session like wasn't that great and maybe
- 41:12you make a friend or a networking connection
- 41:14from there so Yeah. You know, I totally get what
- 41:19you mean. I mean, there is quite a value in being
- 41:24alone. It doesn't mean you're lonely. It just
- 41:26means that you're comfortable with your own company
- 41:28and you're open to whatever the external experiences
- 41:31may happen over the course of that aloneness.
- 41:35Does that make sense? I feel like I'm rambling.
- 41:38Yeah. What's your delicious pop culture obsession
- 41:41this moment, Kiko? What are you watching or listening
- 41:44to that you want to share and talk about? So
- 41:45I'm actually watching Grace Anatomy for the first
- 41:49time. Wow. For the first time ever. Yeah, I've
- 41:53always heard about it. Of course, I know who
- 41:54Shana Rhimes is. You know, I've seen her other
- 41:57stuff, but I've never seen the OG Grace Anatomy,
- 42:00but it got on Netflix, right? And I was like,
- 42:03let me go try it. And I'm now on season seven.
- 42:07And it's like endless episodes, right? So I'm
- 42:10like, I can watch this whenever I want. I can
- 42:12follow these characters. And some of them, like
- 42:15Sandra Oh, right? And like some of these characters,
- 42:18the real -life actors have, you know, either
- 42:20moved on, passed away, or changed all of these
- 42:23forms. And it's so interesting to see who they
- 42:26were 20 years ago, and also to like follow these
- 42:30relationships. And I think, remember when, I
- 42:33mean, the McSteemies, the McDreamies, and like
- 42:37all of these characters and how they treat relationships
- 42:39I think at one point in time the level of selfishness
- 42:43some of these men exhibited in relationships
- 42:46were like celebrated and now it's not it's like
- 42:49the culture has gone from it's okay for men to
- 42:52be a certain way to no you're supposed to be
- 42:55like sensitive accommodating you know like not
- 42:58and not be aggressive in a certain way and now
- 43:02with like clavacular and some of the internet
- 43:05people getting clipped because of their aggressive
- 43:07behavior. Somehow the younger generations are
- 43:10now thinking that's more okay than before. And
- 43:13it's like an interesting shift of like dating
- 43:15culture, how people behave in relationships.
- 43:18And I think sometimes like I sometimes watch
- 43:20like 90s rom -com and I get that feeling right
- 43:23compare those like exchanges with like today's
- 43:26exchanges. And yeah, so so been watching Grey's
- 43:29Anatomy and also looking at a show where This
- 43:33was back when... people didn't have Netflix,
- 43:36right? Not all of them had cable and we actually
- 43:39had shared realities. Everyone watched the same
- 43:41show and everyone talked about it at the watercolor
- 43:44the next day. So I think a few things have changed
- 43:46since then. One is there's more remote work.
- 43:48So people are more like isolated and like separated.
- 43:51And two is there's more subscription services
- 43:54and on -demand content. So people are choosing
- 43:57and picking what they watch. And three is the
- 44:00internet and social media has gotten better at
- 44:02putting us in understandings. and giving us a
- 44:05very curated feed, which is good for customization
- 44:09and personalization, but bad for us to understand
- 44:11what other people are thinking. So, Grace Anatomy
- 44:14was produced and aired during a time where we
- 44:18all watched the same thing and we all talked
- 44:20about the same thing. And whatever is said in
- 44:22a TV show caused cultural shift, cultural phenomenons.
- 44:26Like everyone heard about it. And like, I think
- 44:29there's like... Like I'm like feeling nostalgic.
- 44:32I think in some ways that was a better time for
- 44:35television Although there are there are also
- 44:37other ways where it's not right But as a person
- 44:40who learned a lot about culture through watching
- 44:43TV and watching movies When I first came to America,
- 44:47I watched reruns of Saturday Night Live like
- 44:50on repeat, right? I would just watch it every
- 44:52single episode because I didn't understand when
- 44:54to laugh. Like I didn't understand what made
- 44:58an American scene like set, you know, I couldn't
- 45:01watch like you were going to talk show tapings,
- 45:05right? I would watch like Colbert or I would
- 45:08watch Conan and I would have no idea why it's
- 45:12funny. Cause of like the specifically American
- 45:15references. Yeah. Yeah. There's like American
- 45:18references and there's like a certain type of
- 45:20humor, like the dry, dry humor. Yeah, yeah, so
- 45:25like I did not understand that when I first came
- 45:27to the US so in order to like Understand what
- 45:31people are thinking understand what makes like
- 45:34what's considered funny? What's considered appropriate
- 45:36was considered? Slightly inappropriate but still
- 45:39possible on TV, right? I was watching a lot of
- 45:42SNL Alright, so you're like me and you're like
- 45:47I need to have a podcast with people I can talk
- 45:50to so I don't feel so lonely and weird But you
- 45:53don't know where to find guest after guest after
- 45:57guest. You're like me, maybe you're releasing
- 45:59a podcast episode once a week, twice a week.
- 46:02It is a consistent beast that needs to be fed.
- 46:06And that's where pod match comes in. Pod match
- 46:09gives you a wide pool of guests to choose from
- 46:12based on your specific type of podcasts, based
- 46:15on the specific type of guests you're looking
- 46:17for. They give you three matches every single
- 46:20day to choose from. And guess what? you publicly
- 46:23release those interviews, you get paid from Podmatch.
- 46:27As long as of course you prove it. Don't be,
- 46:29you know, talking to yourself and claiming that
- 46:33you talk to Bob Johnson from the milk company
- 46:38when it's just you, scammer. Podmatch. Get paid
- 46:43to release interviews from guests found through
- 46:47their platform. Join Podmatch using the link
- 46:49in my show notes. Can I ask what sense of humor
- 46:55did you have coming into the U .S.? What type
- 46:59of humor were you used to and were you laughing
- 47:01at before you got exposed to the U .S. style
- 47:04of humor? I think Chinese humor is more slapstick.
- 47:11Okay. And it's more visual, visual acting. that
- 47:17makes something funny. In the recent years, not
- 47:20so much anymore, in the recent years, there's
- 47:22been introduction of standup comedy, like different
- 47:25kinds of like more nuanced and more, I would
- 47:29say, sophisticated types of humor as well. But
- 47:33maybe it's also because when I left China, I
- 47:35was 12, right? So like I was only watching things
- 47:38that are like action comedic in a way. And I
- 47:44think in especially for talk shows, there is
- 47:48a lot of observational comedy, right? You like
- 47:50observe something happen, you make a commentary
- 47:52about it and people think it's funny because
- 47:54you're all in the know. Right, right, right,
- 47:56right. I did not have the experience of being
- 47:58in a note. I did not know, right? So I had to
- 48:00be understanding the cultural relevance and like
- 48:03why it's funny. Yeah, kind of like a Jerry Seinfeld
- 48:06-esque thing of observational comedy. Like, oh,
- 48:08you know, when you go to the dry cleaner and
- 48:10this thing happens and aren't you annoyed? Like,
- 48:12why does this thing happen at the dry cleaner?
- 48:13It's like that kind of thing. Yeah, there's that.
- 48:15And then there's like SNL has a lot of political
- 48:17commentary and like cultural and social commentary.
- 48:20And like, it's impossible to understand that
- 48:22without like Googling or like Wikipedia and like
- 48:24understand. what's the social discourse and why
- 48:27they're deciding to make comedy about it. So
- 48:29for example, there's also a lot of SNL skits
- 48:34that makes references to other TV shows or other
- 48:37celebrities, which you just don't know why it's
- 48:39funny if you haven't seen the other TV show,
- 48:42right? That they make fun of like... White Lotus,
- 48:44right? And I'm like, yeah, yeah. And like Jennifer
- 48:49Coolidge, like her behavior in a certain way.
- 48:52And if I didn't know how she was acting in White
- 48:56Lotus, I will be like, what is, this is bizarre,
- 48:58but like, what's funny about it? You know? Yeah.
- 49:01So anyway, so like - And it helps that they take
- 49:03from like the most popular TV shows and movies
- 49:05of the day, of the moment so that you will likely,
- 49:08likely get where it's coming from. Yeah. So I
- 49:12do think, I do think it's like our attention
- 49:15has been like divided more than before. But SNL
- 49:19is still where things like converge and congregate.
- 49:23And back in the day, I think so was like Grey's
- 49:26Anatomy was a place where culture was produced.
- 49:28And that wasn't just an interesting thing to
- 49:30rewatch or watch for the first time. But yeah,
- 49:35you and my wife can have a long conversation
- 49:37about this. I mean, she is either one of many
- 49:41or one of the few people that have watched Grey's
- 49:43from the beginning and has still stuck with it
- 49:45to this day. She's all caught up with the current
- 49:49season. I think they're at like season 20 something,
- 49:5121 or 22, I can't remember. Yeah, yeah. I have
- 49:55a long ways to go. When I get there, I will call
- 49:57you and meet your wife. And I'm glad you're not
- 50:02anxious about getting there as quickly as possible,
- 50:04because, like, I mean, I used to watch Grey's
- 50:07back in the day. I think, like, maybe early 2010s
- 50:09when I was in between colleges and I had a semester
- 50:12off. I even bought one of the DVD sets. I think
- 50:15I had, like, season four or five on DVD. So I
- 50:18really used to be into Grey's back in the day.
- 50:21And, yeah, just the key moments that stick out
- 50:24to me, of course, is just the genesis of Derek
- 50:26Shepherd and Meredith Grey's relationship and
- 50:28Meredith and her mom. that dynamic, Meredith
- 50:31and Christina's dynamic, Izzy and the whole ghost
- 50:35story. Am I spoiling it for you? Oh, my God.
- 50:38How far are you? No, no, no. I've seen all of
- 50:40that. Oh, yeah, yeah. You're on season seven.
- 50:42OK, so you're far ahead. Yeah, yeah. I also think
- 50:44it's so interesting because, like, I watch it
- 50:46in concentration, right? Because previously,
- 50:48people would watch it like... week by week and
- 50:50I watch it I'm like I don't think this makes
- 50:52any sense right why are they writing off Burke
- 50:54why is George dying why is Izzy doing this and
- 50:57that and then you have to like go to the tabloids
- 50:59from back then right and be like oh this is what's
- 51:02happening between the actors so it's like you're
- 51:05also understanding the lore around it as you're
- 51:08watching because the show was like being written
- 51:11and rewritten, you know, as it progressed as
- 51:14the characters off camera are developing their
- 51:17relationships with each other. So it's interesting.
- 51:19Yeah, yeah, yeah. Dr. Burke, Isaiah Washington.
- 51:22And I think I even had to explain this to my
- 51:24wife, who, again, is a Super Grace fan. I believe
- 51:28that Isaiah Washington and Patrick Dempsey, who
- 51:31played, of course, Dr. Derek Sheppard, they had
- 51:34a sort of onset verbal brawl, if you will. I
- 51:41think it had to do with, I think it had to do
- 51:43with, um, Isaiah being annoyed that Patrick was
- 51:46like coming late on set frequently. And, um,
- 51:50they had, uh, a little tiff about it and Isaiah
- 51:55apparently said something along the lines of
- 51:58like, you know, dude, I read about it. Yeah.
- 52:01You read about it. Exactly. Like he, he used
- 52:04the F word to Patrick, like, Oh, you don't treat
- 52:06me like an F word. And Ice Gaya defends it as
- 52:09like, oh, I, you know, meant it as like, don't
- 52:12treat me as a weak person. But the F slur is,
- 52:15we all know it's an offensive slur towards homosexuals.
- 52:20And I guess T .R. Knight, who played George,
- 52:23who's gay in real life, maybe overheard that
- 52:26conversation and I think his reaction to it.
- 52:31Um, and maybe other cast and crew members reaction
- 52:34to it is what led to this big drama. Now granted
- 52:38this, I would say this is like all squarely on
- 52:41Isaiah, not only for saying that slur, but also
- 52:44if you remember from the tabloid coverage of
- 52:47it, uh, he could have just apologized and clarified
- 52:51where he was watching. No, he could have just
- 52:53apologized and left it at that and never said
- 52:57the word again, but. I think what got him fired
- 53:00was, uh, I think initially he apologized and
- 53:04then, uh, Grey's Anatomy, they won like a bunch
- 53:06of awards at like the Golden Globes or whatever.
- 53:08And they were doing, like the cast was like being
- 53:10interviewed by the press after they won the awards.
- 53:13And, uh, I think a press agent asked a question
- 53:17about this controversy and Isaiah thought he
- 53:20was being humorous when he stepped in and it
- 53:22was like, no, I did not call TR an F word. And
- 53:25you could see like the cast cringing. notably
- 53:28Patrick Dempsey. And I could be wrong, but I
- 53:33believe it was that, him digging himself a deeper
- 53:36ditch like that, that led to his dismissal from
- 53:41the show. Because otherwise, I think Burke would
- 53:42have stayed there for God knows how long. I mean,
- 53:44he eventually came back. Sorry. Spoiler alert.
- 53:48No, it's okay. I'm always on Wikipedia at the
- 53:50same time of watching the show. So I know that
- 53:53he came back when Sandra Oh was like departing
- 53:55from the show or something. Yes, season 10 I
- 53:57think. Although, I do have to say I am not sure
- 54:00if I'm understanding like the Sandra Oh, the
- 54:02Christina like whole thing either. I feel like
- 54:05her character development like with Burke leaving,
- 54:08I feel like the development that she was meant
- 54:10to have kind of like had to pivot. Really? In
- 54:14a bad way? I don't buy the whole, like, she was
- 54:17gonna get married and then he's like, oh, I'm
- 54:19trying to change you and therefore I will, like,
- 54:22let you go and, like, not try to change you and
- 54:24not get married to you. Like, what a cowardly
- 54:26thing to do, right? And that probably was only
- 54:27written in that way because Burke had to be written
- 54:30off the show. And then she's going through this,
- 54:34like, I don't know. I understand the plight of
- 54:39a woman trying to be a strong woman. you know,
- 54:42in certain dire environments. I understand that.
- 54:45I think the level of pretension, maybe is the
- 54:49wrong word. I think the level of unwillingness
- 54:51for her to discuss things with her closest friends.
- 54:54I think the level of like, close -off -iveness
- 54:56she was experiencing, even though previously,
- 54:58you know, this is someone she shows up to and
- 55:01sleeps on the bed. Like, married, that's right.
- 55:02She goes to her house and sleeps on her bed,
- 55:05but she's unwilling to talk to her. Like, does
- 55:07that make logical sense? I don't really know.
- 55:09I felt like it was... Like, there were parts
- 55:11of her character that, in my opinion, was written
- 55:13in a way that's out of character for her, but
- 55:16maybe was written to help with the development
- 55:19of, like, the show. Yeah, because, like, I think
- 55:23they wanted to create maybe, like, a relationship
- 55:25or a friendship between McDreamy, like, between
- 55:30Derek and Christina for a little... Yeah, and,
- 55:33like, they wanted to create that. Like they wanted
- 55:35some kind of conflict to result in a deepening
- 55:38of relationship between certain characters. So
- 55:40that they had to write her and that was my observation.
- 55:44And then another thing was like, I didn't think
- 55:45George needed to die, right? It seemed like he...
- 55:50What is the name? T .R. Knight? T .R. Knight,
- 55:52yeah. Now, you probably know about this better
- 55:55than I do, but like, was he just like ready to
- 55:57move on from the show? Do you know the reason
- 55:58why he left after season five? According to my
- 56:00limited investigation, it seemed like he was
- 56:03unhappy about the limited scenes that he was
- 56:06getting, and he like tried to talk to Shonda
- 56:08and like didn't work out, and then he kind of
- 56:10like left the show and went into Broadway, I
- 56:12think is what happened. But they were shaping
- 56:16him up to be a long -stay character. It was very
- 56:19interesting because like, Owen came right from
- 56:22the army and he's like, George, you're a, you're
- 56:25a trauma doctor, you know, you're calm under
- 56:26pressure. And there's already like, that made
- 56:29sense because there was a time George like fixed
- 56:31the heart in the elevator. There's a time where
- 56:34George delivered Miranda's baby, right? Like
- 56:36all of these pattern made sense of how he could
- 56:38be a really good ER trauma doctor. Right. And
- 56:41then he just died. Like it was going somewhere.
- 56:48I think he got like, ran over by a truck and
- 56:50like, he was like, really bandaged up. Yeah,
- 56:54I think he just suddenly departed from the show.
- 56:57Yeah, so, I mean, I can't even remember. What
- 57:00was the last moment that we had of like, full
- 57:02normal George before he got hit in the accident?
- 57:05I think he was like, bonding with Owen and then
- 57:09all of a sudden he decided to join the army.
- 57:11And then, yeah, he decided to join the army and
- 57:14then Izzy was like, having some weird phantom
- 57:18dream as she was having is he also a character
- 57:20doesn't make sense to me but like she was like
- 57:23oh uh George can't go to the army he's gonna
- 57:27die but like oh so like foreshadowing by by saying
- 57:30you know oh he's gonna die if he goes into the
- 57:32army and then he yeah a different way yeah yeah
- 57:37he like died trying to save people like try to
- 57:41save um I think there was an accident. He died
- 57:43trying to save a woman or something. Well, first
- 57:45of all, I didn't even know that Owen was in the
- 57:47show that early. I thought he came like after
- 57:48George had already left. No, no, they they overlap
- 57:51for a little bit. Yeah. But anyway, here's a
- 57:54refresher. No, no, no, it's OK. Yeah. Thank you.
- 57:57Thank you. Because it's been God, it's been so
- 57:58many years. I think I keep telling my wife, I
- 58:00think when you have you already met Meredith's
- 58:02sister, Lexi. Yes. And is Lexi still there? And
- 58:06you don't have to worry about spoiling it to
- 58:08me. You can't just keep talking. I know. I know.
- 58:11At some point she dies. But you haven't watched
- 58:14that moment yet? I have not watched that moment.
- 58:16At some point, Mark Sloan also dies. I'm aware
- 58:19that this happened. It has something to do with
- 58:21the plane crash, I think. This is my Wikipedia
- 58:24investigation. So how does that not ruin the
- 58:27show for you if you kind of already know that
- 58:28these characters are all going away? Because
- 58:31some people watch it for the storyline, some
- 58:34people watch it for the character development.
- 58:36I am much more interested in how people react
- 58:38to these situations. Like it doesn't ruin it
- 58:41for me because I don't like. Hence the chop app.
- 58:45Yeah. Yeah. Like I, it doesn't ruin it for me.
- 58:47It's kind of like saying like, Oh, like, you
- 58:49know, that people are going to go into a wooden
- 58:51horse and break that gate. Did you like watching
- 58:53Troy? Yeah. I still like watching it. I still
- 58:57understand, you know, Helen, you know, I liked
- 58:59the love affair. Like, you know, like why are
- 59:01people watching Odyssey? You know, the story
- 59:02was written years and years ago. They still like
- 59:05watching it. It's more like how. how the directing
- 59:09and how the characters were able to build up
- 59:11to that moment, and how good the acting is to
- 59:14make you feel like how they're feeling. Yeah,
- 59:18I think it's the humans that make the stories,
- 59:21like, you know, trick or fall down. and no person
- 59:23is around, no reaction, it would not be a story,
- 59:26you know? Like, it's more the human reactions
- 59:28and the relationships they have with each other,
- 59:31the dialogues that amplify that relationship,
- 59:35I think that makes stories compelling. I unintentionally
- 59:38found out a major character died in a show that
- 59:41my wife and I were enjoying called Homeland.
- 59:44Yeah, I haven't seen that. Yeah, it's a great
- 59:47show. We finished the show, Homeland, like, quite
- 59:49a while ago. And I found out before I... wanted
- 59:51to find out before I actually watched that major
- 59:54character die. So of course, I'm like kicking
- 59:56myself in the foot about it, but to your point,
- 59:59that doesn't make me stop watching the show.
- 1:00:01Now it's like, oh, okay, now I'm curious as to
- 1:00:04how they get to that point. I'm racing for it,
- 1:00:07I'm waiting for it, but like, I'm still curious
- 1:00:10and interested as to how they get to that point
- 1:00:12of the major characters death. Yeah. It's like
- 1:00:14when you go to like a music, like a concert,
- 1:00:16you kind of like are waiting for the drop, right?
- 1:00:18The EDM, you're waiting for like the beat to
- 1:00:20drop, but then when it drops in an unexpected
- 1:00:22way, you're happier about it. You're like, oh,
- 1:00:24it didn't drop there, but like it's here at this
- 1:00:26like... the moment that build up and it makes
- 1:00:28so much more sense. And I think you're happy
- 1:00:30about it. I do have a friend that is building
- 1:00:33an entire company around no spoilers. It's very
- 1:00:37interesting. Yeah, he's building some AI filtering
- 1:00:42tool that allows you ideally to not see spoilers
- 1:00:46ever again. If you're interested in like anime
- 1:00:49or like manga or if you're interested in certain
- 1:00:52shows, it just like filters all of the spoilers.
- 1:00:54And I actually listen to a podcast called The
- 1:00:57Slash Film Cast or The Film Cast religiously.
- 1:01:00I've been listening to them for like a decade
- 1:01:01and a half. And one of them just like never go
- 1:01:03and watch a spoiler. So I never watch his previews
- 1:01:05and like goes in at the end, like after preview
- 1:01:07is done. I think like people who produce these
- 1:01:10trailers and previews is like an art form in
- 1:01:13itself for them to like create that suspense
- 1:01:16and like make the story so like condensed in
- 1:01:18that way. So I think they deserve to be watched.
- 1:01:22I will say some of the reason why I like want
- 1:01:26to find out what happened before it does is driven
- 1:01:28by maybe preparing myself like wanting to prepare
- 1:01:32myself more before like a moment arises and then
- 1:01:36I participate in a lot of like speculation of
- 1:01:39endings you know watching like Stranger Things
- 1:01:41or like Game of Thrones I'm like always participating
- 1:01:44and like speculating what happened and trying
- 1:01:46to see if I'm right when it happens I don't know
- 1:01:48if you do that I do not do that. What I will
- 1:01:51say though on the spoilers front, I really am
- 1:01:54curious to see how your friend's no spoilers
- 1:01:56idea works out because it has gotten so bad to
- 1:01:58the point with spoilers. Like I remember like
- 1:02:01when I, you know, like when I would, you know,
- 1:02:03edit this podcast and I would like insert images
- 1:02:05to illustrate sort of the pop culture or content
- 1:02:08that was being talked about just looking up images.
- 1:02:12can spoil something, you know? Like, just looking
- 1:02:14up an image, saving it and, you know, putting
- 1:02:17it on your podcast episode, you then realize,
- 1:02:20like, oh, wait a minute, why is this character
- 1:02:21picture doing this? Oh, crap, I think I spoiled
- 1:02:25it. Because, like, usually the image will link
- 1:02:28to an article of, like, a major story development
- 1:02:31in the show. So, yeah, I mean, the no spoilers
- 1:02:35idea, that's certainly an interesting thing that
- 1:02:38I want to hear more about. There's also, did
- 1:02:45you see Obsession? Yes, oh my god, my wife and
- 1:02:47I loved that movie. It was great, yeah. Okay,
- 1:02:50so a lot of people were 100 % spoiled on TikTok.
- 1:02:56Right before they went into the movie because
- 1:02:58like that was one of their like go -to market
- 1:02:59They just like clipped all over it and I got
- 1:03:01everyone to like watch it on on tik -tok Yeah,
- 1:03:04um, but I don't think it stopped people from
- 1:03:06watching a movie or a lot of them like went in
- 1:03:08because they saw on tik -tok because The plot
- 1:03:10line. Um, so like I like yes, my friend is building
- 1:03:14it. Yes I support him and I and I gave him a
- 1:03:16small angel check, but I personally i'm like
- 1:03:19not against spoilers um, and I think sometimes
- 1:03:23um, we like younger generations' attention spans
- 1:03:26are so much shorter that maybe it just makes
- 1:03:28them feel more comfortable to see a glimpse so
- 1:03:32they feel like it's worth spending the money.
- 1:03:34I don't really know. No, no, I know what you
- 1:03:37mean. Like, spoilers can certainly be a marketing
- 1:03:40benefit. You know what I mean? Like, even though,
- 1:03:43you know, oh, shit, like, now I found out that
- 1:03:46this character's arc is going to go this way,
- 1:03:48you could still be fascinated enough by that
- 1:03:51brief clip that you saw on TikTok that you're
- 1:03:53like, oh, actually, I want to see the full story
- 1:03:55to see how they led up to that point. So, yeah,
- 1:03:58spoilers can be beneficial to getting people
- 1:04:00to see the content. Hey, I got new glasses. Oh
- 1:04:07wait, you wouldn't know that if you're only listening
- 1:04:10you would only loan that for sure if you're watching
- 1:04:13on YouTube you So that you could tell me in the
- 1:04:18comments whether you like my glasses or not subscribe
- 1:04:21to YouTube at the delicious culture John Francois
- 1:04:25at the delicious culture j -o -n -f -r -a -n
- 1:04:29-c -o -i -s and now I'm taking my glasses off
- 1:04:32because again That's something you can only watch
- 1:04:36on YouTube. Let's get to our final question,
- 1:04:43because I know we're past the hour point right
- 1:04:44now. Yeah. What is a delicious thing that's happened
- 1:04:47in your life lately, Kiko? I think the fact that,
- 1:04:49like, I'm seeing an old friend tonight, just
- 1:04:52like how many of my friends have, like, congregated
- 1:04:55in LA around this time, I did not expect it.
- 1:04:58I sent a tweet about how I'm in LA. and like
- 1:05:02reminiscing about how I was here 17 years ago.
- 1:05:05And then this really old friend, like we were,
- 1:05:09I was at my first, the startup I was a part of,
- 1:05:11and then he was also there. I was the first business
- 1:05:14hire, he was the second, and we did like so much
- 1:05:15together, learned so much from each other, and
- 1:05:17we lost touch for like a year. And he randomly
- 1:05:20messages me, because he saw the tweet, and he's
- 1:05:22like, I'm also in LA. I can't believe you're
- 1:05:25here. Yeah and now we're gonna we're gonna see
- 1:05:27each other so like that is a very delicious moment
- 1:05:30like I I love that um I love that like having
- 1:05:34you know spend the 34 years of my life like across
- 1:05:37all these different places it's made me feel
- 1:05:39out of place it's made me feel isolated or whatnot
- 1:05:41but it's also made me so many friends in different
- 1:05:45parts of the world yeah that I'm able to reconnect
- 1:05:48with them in these like very surprising ways.
- 1:05:51So I think I love that. I love that. That's so
- 1:05:53great. That's such a great answer. And I guess
- 1:05:57to bounce off of that, you know, I'm here in
- 1:06:00Vermont, but that this is not this has not been
- 1:06:02my own my whole life I yeah I started in my home
- 1:06:05state of Connecticut and then as I told you went
- 1:06:07to Philly for a little bit for college and then
- 1:06:09went to Iowa to continue a radio career that
- 1:06:12I was happening at the time and Vermont my move
- 1:06:15to Vermont actually was originally to keep on
- 1:06:18going with my radio career. And then as I left
- 1:06:20that industry and just evolved into this podcasting
- 1:06:24and acting hybrid, I just found a wonderful life
- 1:06:29here. So I met my wife here and I met a nice
- 1:06:33group of friends here, but also Um, you know,
- 1:06:36there are friends in the presence. There are
- 1:06:38friends that I haven't seen in a while that I
- 1:06:40occasionally love to reconnect with from the
- 1:06:42past, either here in Vermont, still some from
- 1:06:45Connecticut, still some from my Philly days.
- 1:06:47Uh, one of my recent podcast guests was someone
- 1:06:49that I hadn't seen since the college days in
- 1:06:50Philly. Um, you know, a couple of people from
- 1:06:53Iowa that I still reconnect with. Um, so it's
- 1:06:56wonderful because it's, I, I think it's very
- 1:06:58easy to, um, say, okay, I'm going to have this
- 1:07:00connection with this person at this point in
- 1:07:02time. And then once we physically are in different
- 1:07:04places, I'm never going to see or hear that person
- 1:07:06again, but there could always be these chance
- 1:07:09moments, whether it be what you said, like the
- 1:07:11Twitter interaction that you had with this friend
- 1:07:13that you reconnected with or, um, or I don't
- 1:07:16know, I could be randomly on a jog. And I just
- 1:07:20think, oh, wait a minute, like this friend here
- 1:07:22in Vermont that I haven't talked to since like
- 1:07:23before the pandemic, I wonder how they're doing.
- 1:07:25Let me like, reach out to them on Facebook and
- 1:07:28see what they're up to. And now, you know, we
- 1:07:30have these semi regular hangouts, like I don't
- 1:07:32know, two, three times a year, where we're just,
- 1:07:34you know, catching up on our lives. So Uh, yeah,
- 1:07:37it's, it's, it's so special. It's so special.
- 1:07:39Um, you know, it's experiencing life in different
- 1:07:43places around the world and around maybe a specific
- 1:07:45country and, uh, all the different varieties
- 1:07:49and flavors of people that you get to experience
- 1:07:50it with and that you get to reconnect with, uh,
- 1:07:53every now and then, you know, regardless of how
- 1:07:56much time passes by, uh, Yeah, I think the resounding
- 1:08:01message here is that life is a beautiful thing,
- 1:08:03Kiko. Yeah, it's not about a delicious meal.
- 1:08:07It's about a delicious moment that you're sharing
- 1:08:09the meal, like of the people that you're sharing
- 1:08:11the meal with. Yep. Yep. I've said this before,
- 1:08:13but like I always go back to this Indian meal
- 1:08:16that I had with my DJ friend, Craig Mitchell,
- 1:08:19who's also been on the podcast and the food was
- 1:08:22delicious. But what really resonates with me
- 1:08:24more was the conversation about all the things
- 1:08:27going on in our life and us talking about like,
- 1:08:30Oh my God, this food is good. So it's just the
- 1:08:34vibe. It's the vibe. It's the moment. It's the
- 1:08:36atmosphere. Like that's, that's what makes the
- 1:08:38meal more enhanced. This was wonderful. So can
- 1:08:42you please plug everything? Like how can we find
- 1:08:45you on socials? How can we find the CHOP app
- 1:08:48when it's ready to go? Tell us where we can connect
- 1:08:51with you. Yeah. Um, so I actually just started
- 1:08:54a new Instagram and TikTok account, uh, as Kiko
- 1:08:57Chomps. So K -I -K -O -C -H -O -M -P -S, Kiko
- 1:09:00Chomps. It's very new. You can critique me if
- 1:09:03the conversation me and John had about Chomp
- 1:09:06confused you or intrigued you. Either are good
- 1:09:08reasons for you to check out, uh, chomp .fyi.
- 1:09:11So C -O -C -H -O -M -P .F -Y -I is our landing
- 1:09:15page. And, um, we have a wait list sign up there.
- 1:09:18We will send you the at the moment as ready for
- 1:09:21for you to try. All right, Keiko, we got to do
- 1:09:23this again. This was such a great conversation.
- 1:09:25Thank you. We'll love to do it again. Actually,
- 1:09:27maybe talk about grace. That'd be with your wife.
- 1:09:29Yes, please. Oh, my God. My wife, Tony, has been
- 1:09:32on the podcast a couple of times. So we'll have
- 1:09:35a pop culture, TV show, nostalgic episode. We'll
- 1:09:41do a Grey's Anatomy three person panel. I was
- 1:09:43going to say, I was going to say a threesome,
- 1:09:46but probably like be a more appropriate way to
- 1:09:48say it would be a Grey's Anatomy thrice person
- 1:09:51panel. Yes. Yes. That would be awesome. I would
- 1:09:54love that. There you go. All right. Until next
- 1:09:57time, everybody let deliciousness ring. Okay,
- 1:10:03so you're running a trade business, you know
- 1:10:05that the phone always rings at the worst possible
- 1:10:08time. Why? The solution. You are office staff.
- 1:10:12Your office staff is an AI receptionist that
- 1:10:16answers for you day and night. It will talk to
- 1:10:19your customers, knows your services and prices.
- 1:10:22It'll check your calendar and even books estimates
- 1:10:24near jobs you already have that day. The details
- 1:10:29will... I'll be texted to you. You don't have
- 1:10:31to worry about it. Your office staff takes care
- 1:10:33of the texts, the emails. It's only 99 bucks
- 1:10:36a month. Even better. If you try it out, your
- 1:10:39first month is only $10. Go to urofficestaff
- 1:10:43.com. Once again, that is urofficestaff .com