TRANSCRIPT of Episode 71: "Romeo & Juliet"

Review That Review with Chelsey Donn & Trey Gerrald

Episode 71: "Romeo & Juliet"

Transcription

*Please Pardon any spelling errors!

THEME SONG: [00:00:00] Everybody's got an opinion.

Every Californian and Virginian.

It's so hard to tell who to trust and who to ignore.

Someone's gotta settle the score.

Trey and Chelsey will help you choose!

Whose views win, which ones lose.

Online haters are comin' for you!

Baby, it's time to Review That Review!

[00:00:31] Chelsey Donn: Hello,

[00:00:33] Trey Gerrald: Hi, are you frozen over there?

[00:00:35] Chelsey Donn: you were frozen in like a really funny position. So I screenshotted it and

[00:00:39] Trey Gerrald: Oh my God. I see. You're frozen over here. Holding up your water bottle,

[00:00:44] Chelsey Donn: oh, great.

[00:00:44] Trey Gerrald: who my face looks so weird in this picture.

[00:00:47] Chelsey Donn: I know. That's it was so like, That's what? That was funny anyway.

[00:00:51] Trey Gerrald: oh, I see you now. Okay. Hello and welcome listeners to Review That Review. We are the podcast dedicated to reviewing

[00:01:02] Chelsey Donn: Review were just like Siskel and Ebert only instead of reviewing cinematic masterpieces, we rate and review those hilarious scathing and sometimes suspicious online reviews.

[00:01:14] Trey Gerrald: that is Chelsey Donn,

[00:01:16] Chelsey Donn: And that is Trey Gerrald

[00:01:18] Trey Gerrald: and together we are.

[00:01:20] VOICEOVER: The review Queens.

[00:01:24] Trey Gerrald: And a special Cherio Queens to all of our Patreon Cheerio kicks Queens. Is that what it's called? Those was it kicks. That was like a cereal, right? That didn't have any

[00:01:37] Chelsey Donn: Oh, kicks like, gotta get, gotta, gotta have my kicks.

[00:01:42] Trey Gerrald: To all of our Patreon members, they are helping us keep the lights on and in exchange they have exclusive access to our companion after show podcast, featuring additional reviews, salacious, deep dives, full video recordings, merch discounts, put a tag in that will circle back and much, much more so to join.

[00:02:03] Trey Gerrald: Visit our Patreon page. You can do that by going to our homepage Review That Review dot com and clicking on Patreon. Or you could just go to Patreon dot com slash Review That Review Chelsey.

[00:02:15] Chelsey Donn: Yay.

[00:02:15] Trey Gerrald: has your week been? How are you? What is new? Give us the T delicious

[00:02:20] Chelsey Donn: Everything is good. I attended a bot mitzvah over the weekend. Um, so just bouncing back. Thank, thank you. Thank you. Bouncing back from that. Yeah, we did a little Shabbat dinner. It was a whole weekend affair. I, you know, being an adult and experiencing this bot mitzvah thing. It's really like a wedding. I mean, I didn't realize it at the time when I was a kid, but there's all these events leading up to it.

[00:02:45] Chelsey Donn: There's the, you know, the brunch afterwards and I'm like exhausted also. It's just bizarre kind of being the adult at the bat mitzvah. I gotta say,

[00:02:56] Trey Gerrald: Oh, yeah, the very first bot Mitzva ever attended. I was a cater waiter,

[00:03:01] Chelsey Donn: oh, wow.

[00:03:02] Trey Gerrald: I had no idea what was happening.

[00:03:05] Chelsey Donn: It's funny. They, they did a pajama theme, which I thought was like pretty interesting, cuz by bat mitzvah, obviously everyone was like dressed at the nines, but they had a little bit of a break between the service and the party. So it was pajama themed and it turned out being because it was like a.

[00:03:22] Chelsey Donn: Moonlight kingdom or something. I don't know. There was like a theme and everyone looked really cute in their pajamas, but there were all these girls that were wearing like silky pajamas with like the little like spaghetti strap showing. And I was like, this is so weird. Like everything's, everything's changed and nothing has changed, you know?

[00:03:41] Trey Gerrald: Absolutely. Yeah.

[00:03:43] Chelsey Donn: So funny love it. So how was your week? I've missed you? I've been so busy with all the bat mitzvah stuff.

[00:03:49] Trey Gerrald: I know you really have it. It does require a lot. I, I know that from also personal experience. Uh, my wake is good, you know, we've just been chugging along. I, um, I gotta do an oil change for my car, but I just haven't done it yet. I keep getting emails that it's time, and I know I need to stay on top of

[00:04:07] Chelsey Donn: yeah, same. That's so funny.

[00:04:09] Trey Gerrald: And other stuff that I'm not gonna talk about on the pod, but I'm gonna talk about with you and what else? I don't know, just, you know, life is, life is always interesting and, um, challenging, and, and this is always a highlight, so I'm grateful to be here.

[00:04:25] Chelsey Donn: I am so grateful to be here. This is definitely the highlight of my week. And then, you know, another reason why it's the highlight of our week is cuz we get to like get things off of our chest and complain. So do you wanna Lodge a Complaint?

[00:04:38] Trey Gerrald: Yeah, I think I do want to,

[00:04:40] VOICEOVER: Lodge Complaint.

[00:04:41] Chelsey Donn: hear it.

[00:04:42] Trey Gerrald: okay. I really, I. I Donn don't know if you've ever experienced this. And I know that there are tricks to get over this, but have you ever put on a cute hoodie and then you like go to get your draw string and it's stuck through the hole.

[00:04:58] Chelsey Donn: Oh my God. I hate that.

[00:05:02] Trey Gerrald: I hate it. So severely, especially with like gym pants or gym shorts, where I'm actually dependent on tying the string. It's like, for some reason, anytime it's in the wash or the dryer, it just wants to like come loose and then I'm like fishing. And I know that there are like hacks where you, I know that like seam stress.

[00:05:24] Trey Gerrald: Yes you do with safety pen. Have we talked about this?

[00:05:27] Chelsey Donn: I don't think so, but maybe I Donn, I can't remember if we've talked about it, but like, Ugh, I hate that.

[00:05:32] Trey Gerrald: Oh, I hate it so much.

[00:05:34] Chelsey Donn: irritating. And then sometimes I just like in a sweatshirt that has one that I don't really like need like the pants to tie it. I'll just take it out cuz I'm like, I don't wanna deal with you.

[00:05:46] Chelsey Donn: I'm just gonna remove you from the equation because

[00:05:50] Trey Gerrald: I'm gonna remove you before you remove

[00:05:51] Chelsey Donn: Exactly. Cause like, I gotta get ahead of this because if I get too and I develop too much of a, of a relationship with the ties and then I lose them, then I'm gonna be very upset. So I might as well just sever ties now. I don't know what that says about me, but I definitely feel you.

[00:06:10] Trey Gerrald: Well, I also will like preemptively the other way. I will tie like two or three knots on the end of each. So that like, it can't get through the little slit or the little hole or whatever, but like, they still will, like, I don't understand. I'm like, You know, if I was trying to untie this knot, I would not succeed, but the washing machine can.

[00:06:31] Chelsey Donn: Right. Exactly. Where have all the socks gone? Where have all of the like strings gone? What is happening?

[00:06:39] Trey Gerrald: Oh, I hate it. It's so frustrating. It actually happened to me recently in one of my really cute American apparel hoodies. And like, I just like, can't wear it because like, I can't get the string back through and it's like, not worth it to me to try to get a safety, do the whole, it's just like now it's just upsetting.

[00:06:54] Trey Gerrald: And it's like over.

[00:06:56] Chelsey Donn: It is I'm sorry. That is upsetting. Whenever you have a garment and something, I was just, you know, I watched Seinfeld a lot. And was it on Seinfeld that this happened? I think it was before Elaine lost the, the button, but anyway, somebody loses a button on a button down shirt and they're like, oh, there goes the shirt.

[00:07:15] Chelsey Donn: I'm never gonna sew this button back on. I hate that feeling when it's like this thing happened to this garment that I was really excited about, and now it feels like it's ruined. So I feel you, I feel you. I feel you.

[00:07:27] Trey Gerrald: baby with bath water. Anyway, that was my Complaint. Chelsey. What do you wanna Complaint about today?

[00:07:32] Chelsey Donn: I wanna complain about like just chairs and couches with bad back support or just like chairs that are just really not supportive.

[00:07:42] Chelsey Donn: I know that like I've talked about, I had like an incident where I was in one of those terrible white picnic chairs and the, the, they folded underneath. And every time I just going back to the bat mitzvah, any time I go to a wedding or bat mitzvah or anything, and they have like, those, like foldy chairs out that are like, They just don't look like they're supportive.

[00:08:03] Chelsey Donn: So I feel very nervous the entire time I'm sitting on it. My entire body is like cleansed up. I'm like hunched forward, cuz I'm trying to like squat a little bit so that I'm taking like part of my weight into like my own legs. I wish we could do better. Like I understand. When you have the affairs and you're bringing in all these chairs, like they're lightweight.

[00:08:24] Chelsey Donn: Like I, I get like why we use these banquet type chairs or whatever they're called, but also like every single time I see them at an event at something I'm just like, oh God,

[00:08:38] Trey Gerrald: Yeah, I have a similar relation to these folding banquet chairs. Anytime they come out at like family gatherings. I'm always the one that has to sit on them because I'm a boy and I'm usually one of the younger people in attendance. And so it's like the nice padded chairs that actually go with the dining room set are designated to the older people.

[00:09:01] Trey Gerrald: But now I'm getting to an age where I'm

[00:09:04] Chelsey Donn: aging in

[00:09:05] Trey Gerrald: yes, but like I have a similar feeling, not, not, not of, not of the same fear. Out of the comfortability

[00:09:13] Chelsey Donn: They're so uncomfortable. Yeah.

[00:09:15] Trey Gerrald: you wanna sit in one of those folding chairs for a Passover Sater where you're not skipping a single page of the Haga cuz I don't.

[00:09:22] Chelsey Donn: I Donn don't no, thank you. I don't know. I mean, again with the inventions, but like, can we do better?

[00:09:29] Trey Gerrald: Yeah.

[00:09:30] Chelsey Donn: Right. Like, can we invent a chair that is both like super compact and like easy to store away when you don't need them or easy to move to a venue or easy, whatever, but also is comfortable. And like also doesn't feel like it's gonna break in two seconds.

[00:09:47] Trey Gerrald: Wait, this is really funny, but I just thought about this. This is connecting two things here, but I remember when David and I went to Atlantic city and we stayed at the Bogata and Jerry Seinfeld was performing. And so we were like, yeah, this is awesome. And we went and it's literally, they like put out banquet chairs and, and it's like, they make the rows out of banquet chairs.

[00:10:07] Trey Gerrald: So it's like, there's, every leg is touching because they push. So that they're smooshed up against each other and then you're sitting through an opener and then Jerry Seinfeld, which is like so hilarious, but you're sitting on a banquet chair. I'm like, these tickets are hundreds of dollars. I want like, I want like nice stadium seats.

[00:10:27] Trey Gerrald: And this is the Bogata

[00:10:28] Chelsey Donn: thank you. That's

[00:10:29] Trey Gerrald: we're not at planned Hollywood.

[00:10:31] Chelsey Donn: They do have a venue, but I guess maybe Jerry Seinfeld needed a bigger one than their comedy club. So they probably like used the ballroom or something like that and put a whole bunch of banquet chairs in there. But like, it's just been years of this with these chairs.

[00:10:45] Chelsey Donn: I mean, how I I've did any research, but I don't know how long they've been around. They've been around a long time. I just think we should do better.

[00:10:51] Trey Gerrald: I hear you, they serve the need, but I think we could up our expectations for what the need requires.

[00:10:58] Chelsey Donn: We have robot vacuums. We can have better chairs

[00:11:01] Trey Gerrald: Mm-hmm did you see the promo for Hoka focus too?

[00:11:06] Chelsey Donn: not yet, but I, I do wanna watch it. Are they, is there something with a robot vacuum?

[00:11:10] Trey Gerrald: Yeah, cuz you know how she rides the vacuum in the first

[00:11:13] Chelsey Donn: Yeah.

[00:11:13] Trey Gerrald: she's like on two robo vacuums.

[00:11:15] Chelsey Donn: Oh

[00:11:16] Trey Gerrald: Le each foot.

[00:11:18] Chelsey Donn: that's funny. Except Kathy and Jamie.

[00:11:20] Trey Gerrald: Yeah.

[00:11:21] Chelsey Donn: Yeah, that's funny. All right. So do you feel like a little relief now?

[00:11:28] Trey Gerrald: no, I kind of feel angry now, but it's

[00:11:30] Chelsey Donn: Okay. That's all right. Well maybe somebody else is gonna be angry and then we can like commiserate.

[00:11:37] Chelsey Donn: Do you think we should jump into some online reviews?

[00:11:40] Trey Gerrald: Yeah, let's do it.

[00:11:40] Chelsey Donn: All right, let's do it.

[00:11:45] VOICEOVER: Review That Review

[00:11:48] Chelsey Donn: As you know, we are your trustee review Queens. We bring in reviews from the internet that we feel need to be inspected.

[00:11:55] Trey Gerrald: We read you the review, break it down and rate the impact of the review on a scale from zero to five crowns. It's a very Regal process that we call.

[00:12:04] VOICEOVER: that Kvetch.

[00:12:05] Chelsey Donn: Very Regal. All right, Trey, what do you have for us today?

[00:12:09] Trey Gerrald: All right, I'm going back to basics. And today my review is a One-Star-Zinger good reads review.

[00:12:18] Chelsey Donn: yeah. Oh my goodness. Okay.

[00:12:20] Trey Gerrald: This is written by Sarah and it is for, I don't know, Chelsey, if you've ever heard of this, um, Romeo and Juliet by William shake.

[00:12:33] Chelsey Donn: oh, I believe I have heard of that. Okay.

[00:12:36] Trey Gerrald: All right. So this is Sarah's One-Star-Zinger review for William Shakespeare's romance

[00:12:42] Chelsey Donn: Shakespeare guy is pretty talented.

[00:12:44] Trey Gerrald: I don't know who he is. Never heard of him.

[00:12:46] Chelsey Donn: Okay.

[00:12:47] Trey Gerrald: This is from September of 2011,

[00:12:50] Chelsey Donn: Okay.

[00:12:51] Trey Gerrald: and it says, recommends it for, and Sarah wrote no one who is sane.

[00:12:58] Chelsey Donn: Oh, okay. Oh,

[00:13:00] Trey Gerrald: And that is above the review. So here is the review. This play was absolutely awful.

[00:13:08] Trey Gerrald: I had to read it for school and boy did. I wish I didn't have to. All the characters act like idiots. Romeo is a fickle cry, baby Tibu is a hotheaded moron. Juliet is an irresponsible naive romantic fool. Paris is a desperate pussy nurse is just some woman going Cile dot, dot, dot I'd go on, but I'd be wasting my time. this story just gives teenagers all over the world. A bad name. I Donn don't think there is a single responsible teenager in the whole thing. You wanna know something we actually exist. There are plenty of responsible teenagers in the actual world, but apparently they don't exist in William Shakespeare's world.

[00:14:08] Trey Gerrald: Plus all the adults are clueless as well, especially fryer Lawrence. What made the man think marrying two teenagers against their parents' wills was a good idea. That makes no sense exactly how will it help their families with their fighting problem. It just sounds like a huge headache waiting to happen.

[00:14:39] Trey Gerrald: Then it blows up right in their faces right after. And they're all surprised really? You couldn't see it screwing up in the beginning

[00:14:51] Chelsey Donn: Mm-hmm

[00:14:53] Trey Gerrald: and really what the heck made them think. Getting married right after meeting was a good idea. Who's teaching these kids about love. Because they are obviously missing out on the most important chapter, common sense, all caps do, none of these families think it's relevant to tell their kids to actually wait and consider their choices before they make them, even for this time.

[00:15:27] Trey Gerrald: That is so unrealistic.

[00:15:32] Chelsey Donn: my God. Well, I'm glad that in the end, Sarah put like, even for this time, cuz I thought this was very funny that we're like, it felt like we're applying like 20, 20, well, I guess 2011 at this point. So 2011 knowledge to a 16th century piece. Of art or, you know, written, written piece of art. I mean, this is the problem that I have with the good reads is I think that this is a fine interpretation of the text.

[00:16:03] Chelsey Donn: I actually think it's interesting. I like that Sarah broke down all the characters and had such a perspective on this. I think that that's kind of cool, but because I'm an artist. I feel like why can't we have flawed characters? Like why can't we have flawed story? Why, why does every single story need to be about the responsible girl with responsible parents that did the right thing?

[00:16:27] Chelsey Donn: I don't think that Shakespeare is saying that every teenager that exists today or in 1596 or whatever the year that this was written. Is this irresponsible, fickle, all of these things, but this is a story about teenagers who are, and I think it's interesting that Sarah's being so harsh on the characters and the storyline when this isn't modern day.

[00:16:54] Chelsey Donn: I mean, I hope that like we have grown and we have become more, you know, like adults and can make more adult-like decisions now than maybe we were centuries ago.

[00:17:05] Trey Gerrald: Yeah,

[00:17:05] Chelsey Donn: But I do like the breakdown.

[00:17:07] Trey Gerrald: I think it's funny to me. I never really considered why does fryer Lawrence help them?

[00:17:14] Chelsey Donn: I Donn know, I guess, because fryer Lawrence is like a romantic.

[00:17:18] Trey Gerrald: But he's a, he's a monk, right? Doesn't you like have a vow of chastity.

[00:17:23] Chelsey Donn: Maybe he's a secret romantic. I mean, you could have a vow of chastity and still be like

[00:17:29] Trey Gerrald: No, you have to be in love with God. No, you can only love God.

[00:17:32] Chelsey Donn: but they're not monks. So they're allowed why? I mean, if I'm lactose intolerant, I'm not gonna be like, you can't!' have the ice cream.

[00:17:44] Trey Gerrald: I'm sorry. I guess you, as a Jewish person have never met a Christian Chelsey.

[00:17:49] Chelsey Donn: never.

[00:17:49] Trey Gerrald: oh my God. Well, I also think it's funny. Like, I kind of think that isn't Paris kind of like by all accounts in the story. I don't remember. Isn't he like upstanding and good.

[00:18:02] Chelsey Donn: I honestly don't remember. I can't

[00:18:04] Trey Gerrald: he the one that kills Romeo

[00:18:06] Chelsey Donn: I thought,

[00:18:07] Trey Gerrald: who kill?

[00:18:08] Chelsey Donn: I thought they killed themselves. They like with the poison and then

[00:18:11] Trey Gerrald: Oh. He Romeo kills Paris.

[00:18:15] Chelsey Donn: Yeah, maybe. I don't know. I honestly don't remember the story. Well enough. I like read the history plays in high school. We didn't, we didn't go for the Romeo and Juliet and I'm sure I saw the movie with Leo, but I can't remember the details as well.

[00:18:28] Chelsey Donn: So I can't really like, I. Speak to the accuracy of the character breakdown. And I don't really care about that because I do think that art is subjective. And I think it's super interesting that Sarah has this perspec, this like strong perspective on all of the characters. I imagine if Sarah was in class and they were talking about it, maybe she would have to use a little better language in certain spaces.

[00:18:52] Chelsey Donn: But I think that the teacher would be impressed that she has, like, she obviously got such a. Like visceral reaction and has such an opinion of all of these characters. I think that's really good.

[00:19:05] Trey Gerrald: I do too. That's what really strikes me is like, I am getting a very strong. Impression of Sarah being fed up with no representation of responsible teenagers,

[00:19:17] Chelsey Donn: Right, right. Which is funny, cuz it's just like, well, we can't change it now, Sarah, like this is like, unfortunately the production is locked. There's there's nothing we could do now. But I do think it's an interesting take Sarah. Doesn't say, which I appreciate anywhere in the review. Like don't read it.

[00:19:38] Chelsey Donn: It's a waste of time. Does she?

[00:19:41] Trey Gerrald: No actually.

[00:19:42] Chelsey Donn: So I do appreciate that. And I think that that's cool for like a good reads community, because I think if you have like a neg, if the book has like a negative impact on you in one way or another, I think you have a right to say that. And I think that Sarah exercised that.

[00:19:59] Chelsey Donn: Right. And I appreciate that, but I do appreciate that. She's not putting words in other people's mouths. She's sort of presenting an argument.

[00:20:08] Trey Gerrald: Yeah, it's interesting to me because when I think of Ramo and Juliet, I don't really think about the systemic culture, which shapes the two main characters point of view and lives. And like, it is interesting how Sarah's just pointing out. Like the parents were clueless and like didn't. Like, they're not taking responsibility.

[00:20:30] Trey Gerrald: Like why aren't they taking, like, I think that's such an interesting takeaway from yeah.

[00:20:36] Chelsey Donn: totally. And like, regardless, I mean maybe in the 15 hundreds there be an answer for that. Like maybe they were working or taking care of other children or, you know, like whatever.

[00:20:47] Trey Gerrald: And also if we are looking back historically, if you were a teenager, weren't you technically an adult in

[00:20:54] Chelsey Donn: I was gonna say, I was gonna say, like, I think the whole thing about, like, why would he marry two teenagers? Like wasn't the life expectancy, like way down. So like, technically as a teen, I mean,

[00:21:07] Trey Gerrald: Weren't you like an old maid?

[00:21:08] Chelsey Donn: Jesus died of 33, cuz that he didn't exactly die of natural causes, but you know, I , I think, I think that, yeah, like you, people did things a lot younger, so it doesn't teenager thing doesn't really surprise me, but I'm, I'm wondering if, if in terms of like reviewing this review, how much it matters, like whether or not.

[00:21:30] Chelsey Donn: I agree with Sarah or not in the context of good reads. I think in other forums, it can be like, that's your opinion? Why are you giving it a One-Star-Zinger? But I don't know. Who's like getting the money for the Shakespeare state at this point. So I don't know. Who's like profiting off of this good reads page.

[00:21:49] Chelsey Donn: And I think for that reason, it was funny. It was entertaining. How was the spelling and grammar?

[00:21:55] Trey Gerrald: pretty perfect.

[00:21:57] Chelsey Donn: yeah, like pretty good. Like, I don't know if some of the same rules of like, let's go against Sarah's interpretation of this book really apply because like, does it matter? Like this is Sarah's impression of the book or the play, and I think that's fair game.

[00:22:15] Trey Gerrald: Do we think she's being shady

[00:22:19] Chelsey Donn: Yeah, but I feel like in a fun teenager way, like, it feels like Sarah, she says, got assigned this book for school. Right. So it's like, Sarah's probably. Like, I don't know, a freshman in high school or something like that, you know? And so for a freshman in high school to like take to good reads and write this interpretation of the book and be a little bit snarky, it just feels fitting, you know?

[00:22:48] Trey Gerrald: Well, that's also why I was first intrigued by this obvious teenager writing a review about Raymond and Juliet because in our culture, at least in America, You are designated reading William Shakespeare at when you are a teenager. So it is kind of interesting to think. We're making teenagers read the story about teenagers killing themselves.

[00:23:08] Trey Gerrald: Although RO Juliet doesn't really kill her artist. She does at the end when she wakes up. So I Donn don't I just spoil alert. Oh, um,

[00:23:17] Chelsey Donn: It's you've had time. Okay. You've had time.

[00:23:20] Trey Gerrald: I mean, I don't know. I guess I think like, is this, is there value in this review? Not necessarily for the text itself, but I think it is unique. I mean, it's a unique perspective.

[00:23:34] Trey Gerrald: If you were going to like revisit the material, I'm trying to think, like, if you've never read Remy and Julia, it's so hard.

[00:23:41] Chelsey Donn: Yeah. If you've never read it and you're going to good reads to say, should I spend time then I don't think it's valuable, but if you have. Read it and, well, I don't know, who's reading the reviews on good reads. That's that's really ultimately the question, because I think it's an interesting character study.

[00:23:59] Chelsey Donn: I think it's an interesting interpretation point of view. I could see this being written as like a paper, like a high school paper. This is my, and I'm very intrigued by all of those elements, but.

[00:24:14] Trey Gerrald: another example where I'm like, I wanna know more about this reviewer.

[00:24:18] Chelsey Donn: right. Totally. And I, I guess, because like, I look at good reads so much to try to like find reviews and stuff.

[00:24:27] Chelsey Donn: I don't know. I must have signed up for something at one point now I get these emails. Like I Donn Donn, Donn, DT, know if you get them. But like anytime my friends leave reviews for. I get like a ding or whatever. And so in reading my friends reviews this, it does seem like good reads is more of like a community oriented thing where even if you did read the book, you might still read some of the reviews to see if people have the same opinion as you did.

[00:24:57] Chelsey Donn: So it is interesting cuz I don't think it falls by the same rubric as some of the other platforms.

[00:25:03] Trey Gerrald: Yeah. I also love the fact that like Sarah was assigned this as an assignment and then went to good reads to. Sure. You know, like there's something very endearing about that, but it is interesting cuz it feels to me like this is like a very, like, this could be a standup, like this whole premise could be standup.

[00:25:23] Chelsey Donn: for sure. It's funny. It is funny. I laughed a lot.

[00:25:26] Trey Gerrald: yeah, it's more POV I think, than it is a review.

[00:25:29] Chelsey Donn: Right. Exactly. Which I love POV in her review. I really do. I would just ordinarily I think, knock her for like, is she giving, she's giving a lot of information, a lot of spoilers in this review, if you're reading it and you've never read the text before and you're looking for like, whether or not you should read it.

[00:25:49] Chelsey Donn: I don't think that Sarah's opinion is everybody's opinion. I think I have to say that just for the few people that might be going to good read. To look for, you know, an accurate interpretation while Sarah didn't say, nobody should read this book and slander the entire thing. I don't think that Sarah had any perspective other than it sucks.

[00:26:13] Trey Gerrald: Yeah.

[00:26:14] Chelsey Donn: Right.

[00:26:15] Trey Gerrald: And if they did, they Donn don't share it. I mean, they don't, they Donn don't talk about any of the virtues of.

[00:26:20] Chelsey Donn: Right. They're not like I understand that this is Romeo and Juliet, and I understand that it's like, it was remarkable in its time or whatever it was cuz That's the, that's how you have to, I have to think about it is like when I'm reading Shakespeare's text, is it perfect? Like, no, but was it remarkable for the time period that it was written in?

[00:26:39] Chelsey Donn: Yes, it was. So we're not really. Putting any of that into the review. So if I had any criticism for Sarah, I would say, it's that

[00:26:49] Trey Gerrald: But I do think that that's part of the value here, because I feel like every review is gonna talk about that, like this really, which is then, so I'm sort of curious, like, is this, do we think this is a common experience or fluky? I mean, I've never considered this. And I had to read rim and Juliet when I was in high school.

[00:27:09] Chelsey Donn: Yeah, I don't, we didn't have to Rome, Romeo and Juliet, but I, I don't think that this is an interpretation that I've yeah. That I've heard regularly, but there is a lot of debate about Romeo and Juliet out there. So I'm sure I'm sure there are other people that support Sarah's

[00:27:29] Trey Gerrald: I just don't think I personalized it the way Sarah is personalizing it, which I sort of.

[00:27:35] Chelsey Donn: Which I do sort of exactly. It's like, I wanna like criticize it, but I also love it cuz I think that's what we should be doing with these texts is like hold up. And I think that really the issue is, you know, assigning this in school. That's why I think that my high school was like, let's go straight to the history plays.

[00:27:54] Chelsey Donn: Let's read Henry the fifth because like what is the inherent lesson in Romeo and Juliet in a modern like landscape, cuz it is about STARC cross lovers who. End up killing themselves. Right. So what is the like lesson there in terms of a teachable

[00:28:11] Trey Gerrald: yeah, but isn't the point, but I actually think isn't the point, like consequence, isn't that the point of the play,

[00:28:19] Chelsey Donn: maybe.

[00:28:20] Trey Gerrald: like in a grander scheme is that the word scheme, like in a grander scale, like the ques versus the caplets and, and being rash and making like I Donn Donn know what is, what

[00:28:34] Chelsey Donn: It just makes me like, think about like, if in Sarah's classroom, what are they talking about that Sarah like, felt like that she needed to take to good reads to have this conversation like in Sarah's classroom. Are they like, now this is the way you should be? Like, what, like, what are they saying? That's making Sarah personalize this so much.

[00:28:54] Chelsey Donn: And I have to be like, hold up. My teach is wrong. You know, like what.

[00:29:00] Trey Gerrald: Although I will say I do agree that I think the parent parental characters in remand Juliet are pretty clueless. They're so caught up in shit that has nothing to do with the

[00:29:08] Chelsey Donn: totally.

[00:29:09] Trey Gerrald: which does seem to be a trope honestly. And young adult storytelling

[00:29:16] Chelsey Donn: Well, because you need to get yeah, but you need to get 'em out of the way.

[00:29:19] Trey Gerrald: Correct?

[00:29:20] Chelsey Donn: Otherwise you couldn't have euphoria, whatever. I Donn don't watch that show,

[00:29:23] Trey Gerrald: I mean Donn either. Well, alright, so I Donn know, do you think you can crown this I'm feeling so like unsure of how to crown Sarah.

[00:29:33] Chelsey Donn: I know that's what I'm feeling as well. But I think we, we crown this honoring that this is a literary space and that the reviews are more like book reporting than other places.

[00:29:48] Trey Gerrald: Yeah, I think I can crown it.

[00:29:49] Chelsey Donn: I'm I'm ready to crown. Yes.

[00:29:51] Trey Gerrald: Okay. So Chelsey and I each have our own set of zero to five crown cards in an effort to be fair and not influence one another. We will simultaneously reveal our rating.

[00:30:04] VOICEOVER: Queens are Tabulating

[00:30:10] VOICEOVER: to.

[00:30:11] Chelsey Donn: Okay, I'm holding up four crowns. Trey is holding up three and a half crowns. I'll go first. I went with four crowns cuz you know, I love a strong POV. I love a strong POV that I believe, I believe Sarah's like conviction about this piece. And I think that she brought an interesting. Perspective to this historic literary text that other people in the good reads community might appreciate, right.

[00:30:38] Chelsey Donn: Something a little bit different. So for the environment that this review lives in, and the fact that I got a pretty good laugh out of it, I went ahead and gave Sarah four crowns. Why did you go with three and a half? Trey?

[00:30:51] Trey Gerrald: Well, I'm still very conflicted, cuz I do think that this is funny and I do enjoy reading it.

[00:31:00] Chelsey Donn: Yeah,

[00:31:01] Trey Gerrald: And I think this might be the first time on the show where. Is this typical, is this atypical that it swings in the opposite way as a positive to me, cuz I think it is an atypical experience, which is kind of why I like it so much.

[00:31:18] Chelsey Donn: Right.

[00:31:20] Trey Gerrald: But, but it is also interesting just to say like Sarah is reviewing Romeo and Julie by saying, this is so unrealistic. Like none of like this doesn't make sense, but isn't telling you. That it's not good. Don't read it. It's bad. Like they don't really go into that. It's sort of reviewing the circumstances within the, like the plot basically.

[00:31:44] Trey Gerrald: So I said three and a half, because I'm not sure how this is as an actual review

[00:31:51] Chelsey Donn: Mm-hmm

[00:31:51] Trey Gerrald: of the text of like what it actually is, but I'm obsessed with Sarah and I wanna know more and I wanna know why Sarah is so upset that teenagers are always portrayed as dumb and irresponsible.

[00:32:04] Chelsey Donn: Well, since this is written in 2011, we can rest assured that Sarah's no longer a teenager. So maybe Sarah has new perspectives on this as an adult. All right, Sarah, if you're listening 1 8 5 0 review zero.

[00:32:18] Trey Gerrald: Yeah. I wanna know, please, if you know, Sarah, please have them call in. I'm so curious. Does anyone have their own memories of having to read Shakespeare? Did anyone actually read it? Did anyone like pretend yeah. Spark notes?

[00:32:32] Chelsey Donn: spark notes. Some. I mean that I thought when you brought in the One-Star-Zinger, cuz I would think like most of the complaints when we first started reading Shakespeare was like, I don't understand it. Like I can't!' the, I am a contam and like the reversal of words and just the way language has developed, there's such a barrier to entry when you're first starting to do Shakespeare that I thought that that was gonna be like the Complaint, you know?

[00:32:59] Trey Gerrald: this really went left field.

[00:33:01] Chelsey Donn: Yeah, it wasn't. I mean, Sarah really had a better understanding of the text as a teenager than, than I even do as a, as an adult. Apparently

[00:33:11] Trey Gerrald: well, like now that we're on this topic and we're outside of the review, like obviously I think of west side story.

[00:33:17] Chelsey Donn: right. Same.

[00:33:18] Trey Gerrald: So like, what is the point of west side story? Will they sort of make it about race right.

[00:33:25] Chelsey Donn: Yeah. I think it is a. It is about like, how far are we willing to go? I think for hate, like, can we experience love? Can we like side with love in the landscape of hate? I guess, I

[00:33:40] Trey Gerrald: there a place for us?

[00:33:42] Chelsey Donn: where there's a place for us somewhere, a place for us, but not on either side, somewhere in between.

[00:33:49] Trey Gerrald: I guess I'm just curious, like I would have to actually look at REM again, or maybe even that opening speech, but like isn't the whole. Like, I don't think the point is that they're star CCRS lovers. I think the point is the culture they're inside of makes them star CCRS lovers. And so they're victim to their circumstance.

[00:34:06] Chelsey Donn: hundred percent. Yes.

[00:34:08] Trey Gerrald: So I

[00:34:08] Chelsey Donn: Yeah. It's like, they're choosing love, but like their environment that they come from is so opposed to, you know, one another, that it makes that love, you know, complicated.

[00:34:20] Trey Gerrald: maybe Sarah didn't get.

[00:34:22] Chelsey Donn: Maybe maybe there are plot holes. Maybe it's just like, it sounds like Sarah started to read the book and then was so distracted by these characters being so naive or so, whatever, you know, these different.

[00:34:36] Chelsey Donn: Adjectives that she used that she couldn't even ascertain the story, cuz she was just like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, you expect me to believe X, Y like suspension of disbelief aside. You expect me to like enter into this contract where I'm supposed to acknowledge that this is really the way that teenagers behave, or this is really the, you know,

[00:34:56] Trey Gerrald: I mean, it is hilarious to me reading what made this fryer think that marrying these two teenagers against their parents will, would be a good idea. I mean, that's hilarious as a hilarious thesis

[00:35:10] Chelsey Donn: Right.

[00:35:11] Trey Gerrald: cause like why, why did he.

[00:35:14] Chelsey Donn: But like we said, probably because the like marital age was like very low. I don't know like how unusual it was,

[00:35:21] Trey Gerrald: But even back then, that's what a dowry is. Like, you're paying cuz you're buying the daughter, like that's the whole point, right? Like that's why they were all inbred and buy cuz it's like, you're buying the castle. So like why would you do that against the parents will like don't you need them for the marital

[00:35:38] Chelsey Donn: why I think that the fryer believed in love.

[00:35:41] Trey Gerrald: I mean, this is all, none of this is real. So like who cares? But like, God, I think it's so funny. This was much more entertaining to me than someone actually doing a literary review of

[00:35:52] Chelsey Donn: Right. Exactly. And that's why I feel like it's successful as a review cuz it's like, I just, I had something that I imagined in my head, what a One-Star-Zinger review would be for Rome and Juliet. And it was definitely not this

[00:36:05] Trey Gerrald: do.

[00:36:05] Chelsey Donn: I like being surprised.

[00:36:08] Trey Gerrald: Agreed. All right. Well maybe you and I can read some saunas on the after show.

[00:36:12] Chelsey Donn: Sure. I compare the two, a summer's day that were more lovely and more

[00:36:19] Trey Gerrald: Temperate

[00:36:20] Chelsey Donn: Thank you. Okay. Somewhere in there. Sure. Why

[00:36:24] Trey Gerrald: leather, yellow leather.

[00:36:25] Chelsey Donn: Yeah. Get those, uh, vocal exercises going. All right. My Queen

[00:36:31] Trey Gerrald: Yes.

[00:36:32] Chelsey Donn: it's time.

[00:36:33] Trey Gerrald: All right. Diva Queen. We have reached the most Regal portion of our show Chelsey. Who are you inducting today?

[00:36:44] VOICEOVER: My Royal line.

[00:36:45] Chelsey Donn: All right, try. So I Donn don't know if you've been noticing as we've been recording, but I have been trying to drink more

[00:36:52] Trey Gerrald: That

[00:36:53] Chelsey Donn: water and that's what I wanna induct today. Thank you. I wanna adopt water, clean water, drinking water at thank you as my Royal Highness, why you're laughing? Here's the thing, listeners.

[00:37:08] Chelsey Donn: I think there's a lot of you out there who can relate to me.

[00:37:11] Trey Gerrald: okay.

[00:37:11] Chelsey Donn: there are a lot of us who do not drink a lot enough water. Trey Gerrald is not one of those people. He doesn't understand. Okay. Trey Gerrald drinks a lot of water, but for those of us who don't drink a lot of water, what's so remarkable is that.

[00:37:29] Chelsey Donn: I, you know, I've been running around, I was, you know, helping with the bat mitzvah. I wasn't drinking enough water. And I was like having headaches. I was having all like little like depression, all these like symptoms that turned out to be dehydration. And then when I realize that and I start drinking water, I actually feel so much better.

[00:37:51] Chelsey Donn: And it's just one of those things that I think. Because I'm not someone that drinks a lot of water. I didn't really think about it in that context. I'm like, I know I gotta be drinking more water, but the reality is drinking. Water has so many benefits for our lives, for our mental health, for our physical health in so many regards, we as human beings, I don't know what percentage water we are, but we're a lot of water.

[00:38:14] Chelsey Donn: There's, there's a lot to be grateful for in terms of having access to clean water. And the fact that, you know, We can be better and we can feel better just by being mindful about drinking more water. So I thought, what better, what better nomination than water for my Royal Highness, as an additional reminder to myself to go ahead and take care of myself and drink some water.

[00:38:43] Chelsey Donn: So here I go, I'm gonna drink some now. Delicious.

[00:38:49] Trey Gerrald: Yes water. I'm surprised we haven't inducted water, honestly, at this point,

[00:38:54] Chelsey Donn: all the times that we've spoken about by hydration issues and water. I just felt like, wait, have we not inducted water? And also people are so into the different kind of water bottles. You know what I mean? It always feels like you can never have enough water bottles.

[00:39:12] Trey Gerrald: mean, there's two ways to go about this. The funny response here for me is like, I love water. There, there, there is nothing more high, like quenching than cold water when you're like so hot and parched. And then also like the like serious reaction is like, you know, not everyone has access to clean water and that's horrifying.

[00:39:32] Trey Gerrald: You, you like have to like what's happening in Flint still today is horrifying. Um, but yeah, no, I totally agree. Water. You are a.

[00:39:44] Chelsey Donn: You are a Queen like the ultimate Queen, the OG Queen.

[00:39:48] Trey Gerrald: Water is the base of everything.

[00:39:49] Chelsey Donn: exactly like she,

[00:39:51] Trey Gerrald: ho

[00:39:52] Chelsey Donn: she ho was here way before we were, is all Masai. Okay. So we gotta do the H two ho the honor of recognition and also. I wanted to find a way to bring cuz you know, we love hydration and we love bringing into the podcast. So I thought, how could we honor water?

[00:40:10] Chelsey Donn: How could we, how could we bring this even further? And I thought I Donn if it's okay with you, Trey, maybe for the rest of the month, anyone who wants to write a review for the podcast on apple podcast specifically, cuz that is just so helpful to us. If you write a review for the rest of the month and we pick you, I'm gonna send you a custom Review That Review water bottle.

[00:40:36] Trey Gerrald: I love the giveaway time.

[00:40:38] Chelsey Donn: it's a giveaway time water. Makes the world go round and I wanna do my part in helping our listeners stay hydrated, cuz I know how much it affects my life positively. So if you wanna take time out of your day to write a lovely review for our show, I wanna take time out of my day to make sure that you're hydrated.

[00:41:01] Chelsey Donn: So please leave us a review on apple podcast. All seriousness. It means so much to us. It really helps the ranking of our show. It helps other people listen to our show. Uh, and if you get levity, enjoyment, laughs anything out of this podcast and you wanna share it with a five star review, we would really, really appreciate it.

[00:41:20] Trey Gerrald: Concur.

[00:41:21] Chelsey Donn: Conk.

[00:41:22] Trey Gerrald: Well, that's it. My Queen, we did it. That is another round on the R a RQ Ferris wheel of Romeo and Julie wet,

[00:41:32] Chelsey Donn: yes. I mean, not like in that way.

[00:41:36] Trey Gerrald: wet water.

[00:41:36] Chelsey Donn: felt really gross, but I

[00:41:37] Trey Gerrald: Didn't Ophelia die in a stream of water. Don't be Ophelia.

[00:41:41] Chelsey Donn: don't be Ophelia. And don't be Juliet for that matter.

[00:41:45] Trey Gerrald: Just be you

[00:41:46] Chelsey Donn: Just be you. I hydrated you. Thank you. Hydrated. You just be a hydrated. You thank you for joining us today. If you like what you heard, please tell a friend.

[00:41:57] Trey Gerrald: If you didn't like what you heard, please tell an enemy. If you don't have an enemy and you don't have any friends, then you wanna be featured on a show so you can win this water bottle. Help us out by writing us a review. You can do that on apple podcasts. If you wanna win this water bottle, we've made it super easy with a super cute hyperlink.

[00:42:16] Trey Gerrald: Love the podcast.com/the review Queens. It's in our show notes still below. So you don't have to remember it. Go do it. Win the water bottle. Pump us up

[00:42:24] Chelsey Donn: a water bottle, stay hydrated with a queenly water bottle. You could also support our show by visiting Review That Review dot com slash donate, where you can donate any amount you want once multiple times any. Once twice, three times a

[00:42:43] Trey Gerrald: wicked stage, join our mailing list at Review That Review dot com to stay up to date with all of the goings on and the Queen.

[00:42:51] Chelsey Donn: hit up our voice mailbox, 1 8 50 review zero. You can follow us on all the socials at the review Queens and I'm at ChelseyBD.

[00:43:00] Trey Gerrald: And I am at Trey Gerrald

[00:43:03] Chelsey Donn: On today's after show podcast, we are reviewing a One-Star-Zinger review of an Amazon product. It is called love. It is called lock and love. Women's soft, basic, lightweight, long sleeve turtleneck, top size, small to three XL made in the USA. I don't know if that's a super call.

[00:43:29] Trey Gerrald: It's called Lovelock.

[00:43:30] Chelsey Donn: It is called love, lock and love

[00:43:34] Trey Gerrald: Hmm. Interesting. All right. Well,

[00:43:37] Chelsey Donn: to find out what made Trey say.

[00:43:48] Trey Gerrald: Shakespeare was never my thing, honey, this ain't for me. And to find out what made Chelsey say,

[00:43:54] Chelsey Donn: They to think a psychic told me that I was Shakespeare in a past life. I really must have, uh, repressed a lot of memories.

[00:44:01] Trey Gerrald: you gotta become a member of our Patreon over at Patreon dot com slash Review That Review or in our show notes below so that you can hear our weekly after show companion podcast. Doth vast. Remember

[00:44:17] Chelsey Donn: Ignore the haters you're Queen

[00:44:21] Trey Gerrald: gender nonspecific Queen.

[00:44:24] Chelsey Donn: of course.

[00:44:26] Trey Gerrald: Bye.

Review That Review is an independent podcast. Certain names have been redacted or changed to protect the guilty. Executive produced by Trey Gerrald and Chelsey Donn with editing and sound designed by me with voiceover talents by Eva Kaminsky. Our cover art was designed by LogoVora and our theme song was written by Joe Kinosian and sung by Natalie Weiss.

[00:44:47] Chelsey Donn: So it was, it was Leo and Kate Winslet, right in the Lerman

[00:44:52] Trey Gerrald: No that's

[00:44:53] Chelsey Donn: and Julie. No. Oh, Claire Dan. Oh, sorry. But it was Leo. It was Leo. It was Leo. It was Leo and Claire. Dan that's right. That's right. Gotta give that a revisit.

[00:45:08] Trey Gerrald: but I thought the old lady dropped it into the ocean in the end.

[00:45:12] Chelsey Donn: oh my God. Do you think I'll find an Emerald heart? Not Emerald

[00:45:16] Trey Gerrald: What's wrong with you?

[00:45:18] Chelsey Donn: I Donn know what's wrong with me.

[00:45:23] Trey Gerrald: I love Troy less than Cordes.

[00:45:28] Chelsey Donn: I gotta keep drinking water. My brain's not working right.

[00:45:30] Trey Gerrald: Girl, you know, that water bottle

[00:45:32] Chelsey Donn: Mm, delicious.

[00:45:35] Trey Gerrald: icy.

[00:45:39] Chelsey Donn: I did get the ice Yu. Okay. Bye.

---

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