Welcome back, Spun Today listeners! I’m your host, Tony Ortiz, and you’re tuning into episode 276—our final episode of 2024. Today we’ve got a jam-packed show celebrating creativity, ethical influence, and a look back on some standout moments from the past year.

 

First up, we'll also journey into the supernatural with a deep dive into Beetlejuice 2, the Tim Burton-esque sequel we've all been waiting for. From its returning stars to new additions like Jenna Ortega, this film has stirred up quite a buzz. We’ll unpack plot points, character arcs, and those signature Burton elements that make it a must-watch.

 

It wouldn’t be a Spun Today episode without some comedy! I’ll share my thoughts on Tom Papa’s latest special "Home Free" and other comedy hits of the year. We’ll talk themes, standout bits, and the unique comedic styles that make each special worth watching.

 

In our "Goats Doing Goat $hit" segment, we’re highlighting Mr. Beast again, but this time for his incredible philanthropy. We dive into the world of sustainable chocolate with Mr. Beast’s (Jimmy Donaldson) venture, Feastables. We’ll explore how his company is setting new ethical standards in cocoa sourcing, and his mission to push Big Chocolate toward more responsible practices.

 

And finally, I’ll reflect on the ups and downs of 2024 and look ahead with optimism to 2025.

 

Stick around to hear how you can support the podcast—whether through our merch store or by rating and reviewing the show. Plus, I’ll share some tips for budding podcasters inspired to start their own journey. Let’s get those creative juices flowing, and dive right in!

 

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Links referenced in this episode:

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2049403/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt

 

Tom Papa: Home Free: https://www.netflix.com/title/81713902

 

Anthony Jeselnik: Bones & All: https://www.netflix.com/title/81738579

 

Jaime Foxx: What Had Happened Was… https://www.netflix.com/title/81022398

 

Ali Wong: Single Lady: https://www.netflix.com/title/81140682

 

MrBeast | This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von #548

https://youtu.be/jOP0VDb2rAg?si=h4J0ycLk-05bqpBF&t=5315

 

Buy FEASTABLES here: https://amzn.to/4086ceJ

 

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(Use Promo code SPUN and get up to 2-months of free service!)

 

Check out all the Spun Today Merch, and other ways to help support this show! https://www.spuntoday.com/support

 

Check out my Books

Make Way for You – Tips for getting out of your own way

FRACTAL – A Time Travel Tale

Melted Cold – A Collection of Short Stories

http://www.spuntoday.com/books/ (e-Book, Paperback & Hardcover are now available).

 

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Background Music: Autumn 2011 - Loxbeats & Melody - Roa

 

Outro Background Music: https://www.bensound.com

 

Spun Today Logo by: https://www.naveendhanalak.com/

 

Sound effects are credited to: http://www.freesfx.co.uk

 

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transcript

Tony Ortiz [00:00:19]:

What's up folks? What's going on? Welcome to the Spun Today Podcast, the only podcast that is anchored in writing but unlimited in scope. I'm your host, Tony Ortiz, and I appreciate you listening. This is episode 276 of the Spun Today Podcast and it's the final episode of the year. The final episode of 2024. In this episode, I'll break down watching beetlejuice, Beetlejuice or Beetlejuice 2. For the uninitiated, Tom Papa's latest comedy special, Home Free, as well as an honorable mention of a few other comedy specials. Stick around to find out which those are. And last, but certainly not least, a new addition to your favorite segment in mine, Goats Doing Goat Shit.

Tony Ortiz [00:01:06]:

Stick around to find out who made the list in this final episode of the year. I want to thank, as always, each and every one of you who take the time to listen, who have been listening throughout the year. This year has been filled with ups and downs and unfortunately more downs than ups, at least on my side of things. If you and yours have had a similar year, definitely looking forward to 2025 turning things around for us all. I'm definitely optimistically looking toward next year and beyond, but I'll definitely expound on that during the next episode, slash first episode of 2025 when I do the 2024 or prior year, look back and reflection on goals that were met that were not met and establish some for the following year. So definitely stick around or look out rather for that episode in a couple weeks. And without further ado, here are a few ways that you can help support this podcast. If you so choose, your support means a ton and it's much appreciated.

Tony Ortiz [00:02:10]:

There's a bunch of different ways that you can help support, whether it be by using affiliate links to get discounts on things they may already be shopping for, all of which you can find that Spuntaday.com support, or whether it's purchasing some merch, some of my books, so on and so forth. But here is one of those ways you can help support and then we will jump right into the episode.

Tony Ortiz [00:02:33]:

You can help support the Spun Today podcast by shopping my merch section. Go to spunter.com support and navigate to the merch section. Here you'll find the iconic Podcast versus Anybody tee, which comes in many different color schemes and all different sizes. There are a bunch of other designs available as well, including riding themed shirts, cycling shirts, and the classic Dominican escudo, and much, much more. And if T shirts aren't your thing, all designs also come in pullover hoodies, zip up hoodies, sweatshirts and tank tops. You can also shop the spontane coffee mugs, which has the spontane logo on one side and the tagline that I end every episode with on the other, which is start taking steps in the general direction of your dreams. Once again, for all spun today merch go to spuntaday.com support and navigate to the merch section.

Tony Ortiz [00:03:31]:

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, aka Beetlejuice 2 was released in 2024 and is the sequel to Beetlejuice, the original film from 1988. So decades later, and I personally thought it was a great watch, it's definitely one of those sequels that does not disappoint. You know, as of late, as of the past few years, there's been a lot of remakes and reboots and things of that nature, some of which hit, a lot of which missed. I've spoken about something I enjoyed here on the podcast in the past, and this one I thought was dope because it was most if not all of the main characters and from the first movie. And it was a like, where are they now all these years later? You know, they didn't CGI it and keep them all young or, you know, try to do a storyline that was not consistent with the actual timeline of how much time has passed between this sequel and the first film. And it was a cool movie in and of itself. But here is the official synopsis. After a family tragedy, three generations of the Deets family return home to Winter river, still haunted by Beetlejuice.

Tony Ortiz [00:04:48]:

Lydia's life is turned upside down when her teenage daughter Astrid accidentally opens the portal to the afterlife. And as we like to do here on the Spot Today podcast, because if we don't, who will? Let's shout out the writers. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is based on characters created by Michael McDowell and Larry Wilson. The story is by Alfred Go, Miles Millar and Seth Graham Smith, and the screenplay is by Alfred Go and Miles Millar. Shout out to each and every one of those writers that put this film together and got it from the pen to paper, text to script, and allowed it to become what it became when the iconic Tim Burton directed the out of it. So the movie, if you're a fan of the first one, definitely checks off all the nostalgia boxes. Again you have all the main characters coming back. Michael Keaton playing Beetlejuice, Winona Ryder playing Lydia Dietz, Catherine O'Hara playing Delia Deetz.

Tony Ortiz [00:05:58]:

You have a great addition in Jenna Ortega playing Astrid Deetz which is the daughter of Lydia. And we enter the world with all of them, you know, grown and older. Astrid's character is very similar to Lydia's character in the first film. You know, like the misunderstood goth ish teenager. So you see that dynamic replaying itself consistent with the first film. And then you have the relationship between Lydia and Delia being in a bit of a better place than the contentious, you know, stepmother type. I remember if she was her stepmother or adopted mother. But the contentious type of relationship that they had growing up.

Tony Ortiz [00:06:39]:

And Delia who was an artist, like, you know, she used to do sculptures and I think paintings and stuff as well. But definitely sculptures like these weird tacky ones in the, in the first film becomes this world renowned artist. She's big time now. Delia is also has her own television show. She still sees ghosts and is able to see folks from the afterlife. So she has this Ms. Cleo type of, you know, speak to the dead or help your audience members, you know, see, speak to their past relatives and stuff like that. Just like that type of show going on which the daughter is completely embarrassed about and thinks she's full of essentially.

Tony Ortiz [00:07:22]:

And then the father from the first film is noticeably not around in the picture and they address it fairly early on and you find that they killed the out of his pedophile ass in Claymation. So if you don't know the backstory behind it, the father from the first film, which is played by an actor named Jeffrey Jones, was one of the main characters in the first film. He's the, the principal in Ferris Bueller's Day off, if you're familiar with that. He back in 2002, 2004, pleaded no contest and was found guilty of having being in the possession of child pornography. He also allegedly I don't want to get sued. Paid 14 or 13 or 15 year old boy to pose for nude and lewd pictures. And you know, he's a registered sex offender. You know, pretty much obviously fell out of the Hollywood scene thereafter.

Tony Ortiz [00:08:21]:

Then in a couple years, years later moved to a different state, either Florida or California. Forgot, quote unquote, forgot to register as a sex offender. So after being on five years of probation, I think is what he got. Wound up also being sentenced to community service after that infraction and then moved again to again either California or Florida, I forget the order of it a few years later and quote unquote, forgot again to register as a sex offender, so on and so forth. So that being said in the movie, they kill him off, you know, he was literally one of the main characters of the first one. They couldn't just not reference him, you know, from a story perspective. But it was pretty funny how they did it. I.

Tony Ortiz [00:09:04]:

I thought. So they made it that he was on an airplane. As Delia, the mom, is telling the story to her daughter of how he died. She says that, you know, he was on a plane, he was gonna go, you know, bird watching some safari or something like that. The plane crashes, and Lydia's like, oh, my God, he died in a plane crash. And then the mom is like, no, actually, he didn't. He survived the plane crash somehow and was floating along on a piece of luggage after almost drowning. And then there was this big explosion and he got, you know, super hurt in the.

Tony Ortiz [00:09:37]:

In the explosion. And she was, oh, my God, he died. You know, he burned to death. And then the mom was like, no, he still didn't die. Then he was almost going to shore or to safety or something like that. And then a shark came out of the water and. And just bit half his body off. And then that's how he dies.

Tony Ortiz [00:09:56]:

So they fucking killed him like three times. And they. While she's telling the daughter the story, the way they did it in the film was that she's describing everything that happened to the daughter and they're showing it visually, but in claymation form, which was an interesting Tim Burton touch to the whole thing. So, going back to the dynamic between Astrid and Lydia, which, again, is very similar to the dynamic between Lydia and Delia in the first movie. She's a rebellious teen, you know, once distanced from her mom, I think she's full of shit and kind of a grifter in terms of speaking to the dead. And the TV show that she has, she doesn't like that fame and is dealing with the loss of her dad, who. Who died after her parents had gotten divorced, I believe. So she kind of resents her mom a little bit for that as well.

Tony Ortiz [00:10:46]:

And they all come back to the hometown where, you know, the original movie takes place for the funeral and arrangements and stuff like that. She doesn't want to be there. Winds up riding her bike and getting into an accident. The brakes don't work, crashes into a tree type of thing. And this kid named Jeremy, played by Arthur Conti, helps her out, befriends her, invites her over for Halloween so they can, you know, give candy to the kids together. And they pretty much hit it off. So now all of a sudden has the. This pseudo love interest slash friend.

Tony Ortiz [00:11:21]:

And now she does want to stay in the town. You know, she wants to hang out with this guy. Her mom begrudgingly gives her permission to do so to hang out with him. She finds out from a realtor that she's speaking to in the area that her daughter went to hang out with, with a boy that she met on, you know, XYZ Street. She says the name of the street. I forget what it is. Roots is like, oh, I hope it's not anywhere near that house where that horrible incident happened. I had her on the market for years and nobody's ever been willing to.

Tony Ortiz [00:11:50]:

To purchase it. And she's like, what house? She's like, oh, you don't know the story of so and so. This. This kid essentially murdered both his parents and then wound up falling out of a tree and breaking his own neck or some wild like that. And then Lydia. Wait, what's the. The address of the house? Because she had previously dropped her daughter off at the house to hang out with the boy. And of course, same address.

Tony Ortiz [00:12:11]:

So she rushes over there, but is essentially too late. By this point, Astrid realizes that Jeremy is a ghost. He comes clean to her and lies to her, though, becomes clean about being a ghost and that he found this book that, you know, if he goes with her to the. To the afterlife, she can help him get his soul back. And she. He gave him. He gave her this sob story of what happened to his family, which is obviously not the real story, but essentially so that she would agree to go with him into the afterlife to do him this favor. And she agrees because she likes the guy.

Tony Ortiz [00:12:53]:

She's also having the mental, you know, dilemma slash realization of, oh, shit, my mom was telling the truth. She can't see dead people because now I can too. But Lydia gets there. The kid, you know, takes her into the afterlife. There's a spell that they do and, you know, draw the door on the wall and go through. But the real way for the kid to get a soul back and, you know, become living again would be to take her soul, Ashford soul. So that's what he essentially is trying to do under the guise of, you know, she's just going to help him type of thing. And the rest of the movie from there on out is pretty much Winona Ryder following them into the afterlife, invoking Beetlejuice, having to get him to help her go into the afterlife to get her daughter back and to prevent this whole soul swapping thing from happening.

Tony Ortiz [00:13:43]:

Michael Keaton, of course, steals the show, as he does in the first movie. He's great throughout there's also a dope character called Dolores, played by Monica Bellucci. She plays Beetlejuice's wife that was chopped up into a bunch of different pieces by Beetlejuice because she was a soul. Literally a soul sucking monster. Beetlejuice married her once upon a time and then she just wanted to take his soul. He winds up killing her and chopping her up, but keeping her body separate so she could never come back together. She gets loose somehow and staples herself back together together in this really cool scene where her body parts are literally coming back together and she's using a staple gun to staple herself. And then she just wants to find Beetlejuice to get her revenge.

Tony Ortiz [00:14:35]:

So he's dealing with that while also trying to help Lydia get her daughter back and running his whole, you know, afterlife services. And he has Bob, the guy with a shrunken head. He had a ton of those working for him in this afterlife office setting. They show at the end that Bob dies. RIP Bob, he lives from the year 1372 to 2024 and dies at the hand of actually Dolores, the soul sucker. Danny DeVito is in it. He plays the janitor. He's in it for for a few minutes.

Tony Ortiz [00:15:09]:

Also dies at the hand of this soul sucking lady. Willem Dafoe is in it, does a great job and it was just a dope watch. I definitely recommend it, especially if you were into the first movie. It's a no brainer. You'll love this one as well. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Streaming now on HBO. Max Tom Papa's latest comedy special, Home Free was released in 2024. Tom Papa I've broken down prior specials of his.

Tony Ortiz [00:15:40]:

At least one, probably two or three in the past. He's a hilarious comedian, apparently a great baker. I got into his his YouTube bread baking show that he was doing during the Pandemic does these sourdough breads and super nerdy into that world, which is pretty cool. He is a cleanish comic. I want to say. I've heard him curse before. I wouldn't say he's as clean as a Seinfeld or Nate Bargazi, which are hilarious comics that I that I also love. So I'm definitely not saying that as a pejorative.

Tony Ortiz [00:16:16]:

It's a clean comic. I just see it as a different style of delivering laughs, just as effective as any other style of comedy. But his latest special, Home Free, which is available on Netflix, did not disappoint. Here are a few of the bits or jokes or lines of writing that resonated with me, you know, he's a family man, married, two daughters. I want to say maybe three. I think two has a bunch of pets. And his comedy is themed around that lifestyle. And the whole home free concept ties to the fact that he and his wife are now empty nesters.

Tony Ortiz [00:16:55]:

I think his last kid just went off to college, so a lot of what this special is about is around that. And he says in it that he dropped his youngest at college and that nobody tells you how hard it's gonna be to pretend to be sad. This other one I jotted down, but I do not remember the joke too well. I wrote down that he said something to the effect of driving at night and mistaking garbage cans for people, I think being paranoid, being high or drunk or something like that. He said that as a. As a dad, you have to pretend to be Superman. You can't just cry. And then when your kids ask you what's wrong, say everything.

Tony Ortiz [00:17:36]:

Everything. I can't figure this out. He spoke about inner dialogue that you have as a. As a dad, as an adult, and that your brain holds on to insults and just plays them over and over in a loop in your head. And you just tell your things yourself. Things like, I'm not gonna get that promotion. I'm not gonna get a pay raise this year. Everyone knows I smell like ham.

Tony Ortiz [00:17:59]:

He just slipped that in. I thought it was hilarious. This one definitely hit close to home. He goes, you know, you wake up early every morning, you start making breakfast for your kids. It's in, it's still dark, you're tired. You drive them to school, and then you go back to pick them up 20 minutes later. @ least that's how it feels like. And then you take them to all these activities like you're some sort of Uber driver, and you're taking them to all these activities that they can't even do.

Tony Ortiz [00:18:24]:

I. I just love the inflection of his voice and how he. He repeats the last, like, couple words and sometimes sentence of what he says often, and you kind of get in. He lulls you into the cadence of. Of how he talks. Definitely an enjoyable comic to watch. But yeah, those were just a few My. My takeaways from watching his special.

Tony Ortiz [00:18:47]:

I definitely recommend it. Tom Papa's latest comedy special, Home Free streaming now on Netflix. I saw a few other comedy specials recently, a few honorable mentions that I wanted to shout out, starting with Anthony Jeselnik's latest, Bones and all. Anthony Jeselnik is the king of misdirect. You often usually don't know where he's going. He takes sharp, sharp left turns in delivering his comedy, you think he's speaking about one thing, he flips it on his head and then it's usually something just like provocative and holy. I didn't see that coming. Really funny comic.

Tony Ortiz [00:19:30]:

And I enjoy his comedy. Even with the shots fired at Rogan, not so much, but Rogan. Other comedians within Rogan's immediate orbit that he spoke about actually on Top Papa's podcast as well as on this special. But he has a couple funny bits I wanted to mention here. He's speaking to sibling rivalry and he says that his brother, when they were little, he let his dog run away. So for retribution for that, he poisoned his fish. And he said that he won in the end because he got his dog back, but his brother died from the salmon. Said a friend of his started talking about premature ejaculation and erectile dysfunction and things that.

Tony Ortiz [00:20:12]:

And he advised his friend to start talking about baseball. And his friend was like, don't you mean start thinking about baseball? And he was. And he replied, I don't give a what you think about. Just don't talk to me about premature ejaculation. Then the last one I'll share is he said that he stopped listening to Kanye when Kanye went Christian and that his manager used to keep him up on things that that Kanye would say and when he was in the news all the time and he, his manager told him that Kanye started wearing White Lives Matter T shirts and saying anti Semitic things. And Anthony Jesel Nick's response was, oh, so he went super Christian. And that is an honorable mention to Anthony Jeselnik's latest special Bones and all streaming now on Netflix. The next honorable mention comedy special that I wanted to speak to is Jamie Fox's what Had Happened was also available on Netflix.

Tony Ortiz [00:21:07]:

Jamie Foxx, for those who don't know, is like a triple quadruple threat. He's a hilarious comedic actor and dramatic actor so you can act his ass off. He can sing, he plays instruments, he does stand up. Super, super talented dude. I always compare him in terms of just being multifaceted hyphenate as they say to John Leguizamo I feel has skills that as well when it comes to I guess within the comedic and able to play dramatic roles as well. The one man shows that he does and things that never never heard him sing or play instruments or anything that. But yeah, Jamie's the man and he went through big medical scare about a year or two ago where people thought that he died. People thought that he was about to die, that he's going to die.

Tony Ortiz [00:22:04]:

And this was the first time that he was going to speak to it publicly, this special. So it was very much anticipated because of that. And also it's Jamie Foxx acute. I feel nobody has ever had a bad thing to say about Jamie Foxx. One of those celebrities that everybody reveres and nobody has a to talk about. It was a super emotional special. He had one of his daughters bring him out. He had another of his daughters who plays the guitar and sings, come on stage and do a song with him.

Tony Ortiz [00:22:31]:

He detailed what happened the, the day that he got sick. And it was super emotional. He was in Atlanta. He had a really bad headache and he asked for, for aspirin or Advil or something and before he was able to even take it, he just blacked out. Then he, he wakes up. It's like days later he can't walk. And essentially he had a stroke. And in the special, which is not just like straight stand up comedy, he walks you through that journey while sprinkling in jokes, while being super emotional.

Tony Ortiz [00:23:06]:

You know, him crying, the crowd crying, what folks watching at home crying, getting all choked up. I'm not crying. You're crying. He recorded the special in Atlanta, which is where, where it happened. And he has this ability to bring you into the moment. He has so much charisma, you get drawn into the story. He sprinkles jokes throughout the whole thing. He has this family moment on stage and it's somehow very intimate while being completely, you know, out in the open for the audience to see.

Tony Ortiz [00:23:39]:

And flexes all of his dramatic and comedic talents through characters that he's played like Willie Beeman, Ray Charles. And he embodies those characters to tell parts of the story. And it's so ill. It's not. Again, just traditional straight stand up, but it's a dope experience. Definitely worth the watch, especially to support Jamie Foxx. That's my honorable mention for Jamie Foxx's what Had Happened was streaming now on Netflix. Last but certainly not least in my honorable mentions section of recent stand up comedy specials that I saw single lady Ali Wong, who I think I've definitely broken down her specials in the past, but I think that she is the pioneer of filming comedy specials.

Tony Ortiz [00:24:31]:

While pregnant, she did it with her first daughter and her second really funny comic recently got divorced. You know, she was married and pregnant throughout her other specials and this is the first special that she filmed post divorce. And she's a raunchy, funny Definitely worth the watch. Comedian and if you follow, haven't followed her comedic career thus far. You're kind of invested in what happened. Why'd they get divorced? She was like so spoke so highly of her, her ex and he made made his way into her comedy specials and how, you know, he's this big finance guy, but somehow she's the rich one and wound up paying student loans. So she feels that she got over in that sense. She's had stuff like that in the past, but now they actually divorce.

Tony Ortiz [00:25:20]:

Divorced. You know, those were all jokes. But a couple things that she mentioned that were hilarious were that she has a divorced mom energy and all she wants is to just get dicked down and she doesn't care if you pronounce hors d'oeuvres as horde devourers. And she said she feels that her heart is like Swiss cheese and that she needs different sized bespoke dicks to fill all those holes. And another one that she said that I thought was hilarious is that she trims her daughter's hairs every single day. And she said that, that they're like her little bond. They are like her little bonsais. And I thought that was hilarious.

Tony Ortiz [00:26:02]:

And that is my little honorable mention of Ali Wong's Single lady, her latest comedy special streaming now on Netflix. Goats Doing Goat Shit. This is the segment of the sponsored a podcast, your favorite and mine, where I like to highlight goats within their respective areas that go above and beyond and do something dope, do something honorable that I like to credit here in the Goats Doing Goat Shit segment. Things that they don't have to do but decide to this episode's inductee and the final inductee of 2024 to the Goats Doing Goat Shit list, none other than Mr. Beast, aka Jimmy Donaldson. For those that don't know Mr. Beast is the largest YouTuber on the planet. He also has this.

Tony Ortiz [00:26:53]:

He's gone viral, you know, tons and tons and tons of times. Again, biggest YouTube YouTuber in the world. And he does things create his own games, which he actually has a dope one on Prime Video as of late that I just saw a couple episodes of. I think they're streaming one episode every every week or every few days or something like that. And it's broken a bunch of Guinness World Records for most contestants on the game show. He had a thousand most cameras on a game show. Over a thousand. He built a city to host these games.

Tony Ortiz [00:27:28]:

Literally built from the ground up and just a ton of records and stuff like that. But he this Is that's a huge skill thing that he's doing. But he's done things. He gives away like a quarter million dollars all the time. A million dollars holds a sign on the side of the road that says house for sale, $1. And people actually stop, you know, actually sold them the house for a dollar after buying it. Does a bunch of games. You know, there's a huge circle in the middle of a field and you know, 50 people will be in it.

Tony Ortiz [00:27:52]:

The last one to leave the circle gets a million bucks. Like weird, crazy interesting videos like that that just grab your attention. But he has this philanthropic arm that I've highlighted in the past, definitely on my newsletter, in the video of the week section, which folks can subscribe to. Absolutely. For free at sponsoreday.com forward/subscribe. Where he's done things like built a hundred water wells in Africa, paid for LASIK surgery for like a thousand people that otherwise were blind. And I'm sorry, not LASIK surgery, cataract surgery that, you know, people that were blind, they just couldn't afford the surgery for it. Give them their sight back and just really cool dope, things like that.

Tony Ortiz [00:28:35]:

But the reason why I'm adding him to the goats doing goat shit segment today is because of the play against, for lack of a better choice of word against big chocolate, quote, unquote. So he has this company called Feastables which makes chocolate bars, which are actually pretty good. And the whole idea is that, you know, candy bars don't have to be, you know, chock full of and chemicals and stuff like that. You can make them with just a minimal number of ingredients. Kids, I believe, just have chocolate and sugar and like sea salt and then whatever else. You know, if it has peanut butter or peanuts or almonds or whatever, you know, it doesn't have yellow number five and Zenith and gum and this and that and the other and a list of shitload of ingredients. It's a small company, right, that he has been scaling, it's called Feastables. And he was getting the cocoa for his chocolate from a sustainable ethical source, sustainable farms, you know, family owned farms in Peru.

Tony Ortiz [00:29:40]:

But he said that 70% of the world's cocoa comes from West Africa. That's where all the big players get their chocolate because they're such huge companies, they need tons and tons and just a very large supply of chocolate. His beef with that is that 46% of the labor of those that source of cocoa in the world. So 70% of all the cocoa in the world comes from West Africa. From two countries called Devour, Devore and Ghana. And of that 70 source of chocolate, 46 of them, so almost half of them all employ child labor. And he said that he knew he would have to move the operations for Feastables, his supply chain rather for Feastables, over to West Africa because it would outgrow what Peru is able to supply. And that, you know, the sustainable chocolate source that he was getting from Peru, he can't really say to the big chocolate players, you know, you should source your, your chocolate sustainably and not employ child labor because look, we can do it.

Tony Ortiz [00:30:51]:

He said that wouldn't be a good argument because from their perspective they'll just say, oh, you don't know how it works, you're too small, that's good for you, but not, you know, not sustainable for us. We can't do that at this level. Now what he's found is that a big reason that there is child labor is because the farms don't make enough money to be able to afford to hire adults. But there's this thing called the Living Income reference price scale where it breaks down that if a farmer sells you a metric ton of beans, if they don't get paid X, then they won't be able to make a living wage which essentially forces them to turn to child labor in order to survive. Now what Feastables is doing is using that metric and guaranteeing farmers that price contingent on no child labor. So he said theoretically, if they sell it to him for less, Feastables will pay them a premium on top of what they sell it to them for and say no, this is what you need to actually live, etc, and you know, break it all down for them. They also have form farm coaches that are helping them get more yield out of their farm. So he says 5 to 10% more yield of hectares, more yield out of the hectares that they have and getting them supplies, etc and teaching them how to make more out of what they have.

Tony Ortiz [00:32:11]:

And you know, he went out there himself, spent the week on working the farms, figuring out how to do the ethical sourcing thing the right way. And his long term goal, which is why again, I'm adding him to the goats doing goat shit segment, is that he hopes to prove the concept once Feastables does scale up to the levels of Big Chocolate, that Big Chocolate can also be ethically sourced, AKA no child labor and profitable. It doesn't have to be either or. And then he can use that proof of concept as well as his, you know, huge platform to essentially bully Big chocolate into following suit. And he said, you know, there are currently over a million kids in child labor in cocoa farms in that area and obviously he can't get all million of the kids out, but he says if he can put a dent into a couple thousand and then with his influence get one or some of those big chocolate companies to follow suit or do the same, it can lead to tens of thousands of kids or 100 thousands of kids not having to be working in cocoa farms in West Africa. And for that I'm officially inducting Mr. Beast aka Jimmy Donaldson into the Spade Goats doing goat list. Good on you sir and welcome to the club.

Tony Ortiz [00:33:40]:

And that folks was episode 276 of the Spun Today Podcast. Thank you once again for each and every one of you who take the time to listen. I really do appreciate it. And like I said in the beginning of the show, this year has had a lot of ups and downs, more downs than ups for some of us. But try and keep an optimistic outlook, stay positive and it's let's all aim toward a 2025 that is filled with much more ups than downs and let's work towards making that happen, not just wish for it. I wish you and yours happy and healthy holiday season. Peace out to 2024 and I will check you guys out in the new Year. Peace.

Tony Ortiz [00:34:26]:

What's up folks?

Tony Ortiz [00:34:27]:

Tony here. I hope you're enjoying the Spun Today Podcast as much as I enjoy producing it for you. Here are a few ways you can.

Tony Ortiz [00:34:35]:

Help support the show.

Tony Ortiz [00:34:36]:

You can support the Spun Today podcast financially by going to spuntoday.com support. There you will find a couple different ways that you can do just that, some of which will actually not even cost you a dime, such as using my Amazon affiliate link. When you go to spuncerday.com support, you'll see my affiliate link to Amazon. Click on it and it will take you to Amazon's website where you can do your shopping like normal. This will not cost you anything extra, but Amazon will pay me for driving traffic to their website. If you'd like to support the podcast more directly, you can do so by becoming a patron@spuntoday.com support. You'll also find my Patreon link. This is where creators such as myself can be paid directly by patrons like you.

Tony Ortiz [00:35:23]:

You can either make a one time donation or schedule recurring donations if you so choose. There are also different tiers of support and depending on which you decide to go with, you'll also receive some perks in return, such as early access to content, free digital copies of my books, free bookmarks, etc. That is again by supporting via my Patreon link available@ sponsoreday.com support similar to Patreon at that same location. You'll also find my Ko Fi link as well as my Buy me a Coffee link. They work very similar to Patreon and are different ways you can help support the show financially. And last but certainly not least, you have the good old fashioned PayPal donation button. Any which way that you choose to support is greatly appreciated. It all helps me do more of what I love, which is writing and podcasting.

Tony Ortiz [00:36:10]:

Again, go to spunterday.com support. You can also support the Sponsor Day podcast by rating and reviewing the show. Wherever it is that you're listening to.

Tony Ortiz [00:36:20]:

This episode, I'd really appreciate it because it really does help.

Tony Ortiz [00:36:24]:

Also, follow me on all socials. Fun Today on X Formerly known as Twitter, Spun Today on Instagram and spun today on YouTube where you'll not only find full length episodes of the podcast, but also chopped up clips and additional content. And of course you can follow the Facebook page at facebook.com forward/spun today. Another way you can help support the Spun Today podcast and also upgrade that stale wardrobe of yours is by going to Spun Today.com support and clicking on the banner for Stitch Fix. Once you do, you'll enjoy a $25 discount to your first purchase. And the way Stitch Fix works is pretty cool. I use it and I've never been disappointed. You'll set up a profile.

Tony Ortiz [00:37:10]:

You'll put in all the sizes for your clothes as well as all the different brands and types of clothes that you like to wear. It's really simple and intuitive to set up. They'll show you pictures and pretty much give you a thumbs up or thumbs down option on if you would wear something or not. And you get to select all the brands that you already are used to wearing. With this information, there are thousands of passionate trend setting stylists will curate a.

Tony Ortiz [00:37:36]:

Stitch Fix box for you.

Tony Ortiz [00:37:37]:

They'll send you five items that you get to preview before they mail it to you and you'll get to select based on the image if you like it or not. If not, they replace it with something else and if so, they'll mail it.

Tony Ortiz [00:37:47]:

To you absolutely for free.

Tony Ortiz [00:37:48]:

You can try everything on and you have a few days to send everything back or keep the stuff that you want to keep. Then you can use that $25 credit that I mentioned towards your purchase of those items again to freshen up your wardrobe and Also support the Sponsor Day podcast. Go to sponsor day.com forward/support and click on my affiliate link banner for Stitch Fix and enjoy your $25 credit.

Tony Ortiz [00:38:12]:

Do you want to start your own podcast? Have a great show idea that you want to get out into the masses but don't know quite how to get it from your head out into the world? Well, here's how. Use the podcast host Libsyn. That's who I use to bring the Spun Today podcast to you. And now you can use them the same way. Using the promo code spun s pun, you can open up your Libsyn account today and get two months of free podcast hosting. Here's how it works. Once you record your show, you upload it to your Libsyn account where you can fill in your episode notes, upload your podcast art, and schedule when you want your episodes to release. Once you do that, Libsyn will take care of the rest.

Tony Ortiz [00:38:56]:

They'll distribute your show to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and all the other podcasters that you choose instantaneously and seamlessly. Again, go to Libsyn.com and use the promo code SPUN S P U N to get two months free. Or use the affiliate link that's in the episode notes. Again, that's Libsyn.com promo code SPUN. Take that great podcast idea from out of your head and put it out into the world. And as always, folks, substitute the mysticism with hard work and start taking steps in the general direction of your dreams. Thanks for listening. I love you, Aiden.

Tony Ortiz [00:39:50]:

I love you, Daddy. I love you, Grayson. I love you, Daddy.