The hosts dive into the excitement surrounding the upcoming releases of 'Wicked' and 'Gladiator II,' comparing their marketing impact to the 'Barbenheimer' phenomenon. They discuss the user exodus from X and the rise of Bluesky, pondering its capacity for increased traffic. An intriguing look at Pokémon Go reveals its use of player data to enhance AI navigation capabilities. Financial insights spotlight MicroStrategy as the 'Stock of the Week,' while Ford faces challenges in the EV market amidst China's rapid infrastructure development.
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Quick takeaways
The impending releases of 'Wicked' and 'Gladiator II' promise to create a highly competitive box office environment during Thanksgiving, attracting distinct audiences and breaking pre-sale records.
Bluesky's rapid growth, driven by user dissatisfaction with platforms like Twitter, faces challenges in scalability and finding a sustainable revenue model amidst increasing competition.
Deep dives
Monthly Investment Strategies
The Fidelity app allows users to set up recurring investments in stocks and ETFs, making it easier to incorporate investing into their monthly financial routines. This feature simplifies the investment process and encourages consistent contributions, addressing the common challenge of remembering to invest regularly. By automating investments, individuals can focus on their financial goals without the stress of timing the market. Investing involves risk, including the risk of loss, and recognizing this risk is essential for prospective investors.
Box Office Showdown: Wicked vs. Gladiator 2
Wicked and Gladiator 2 are positioned for widespread theatrical releases, creating a highly anticipated box office matchup during the Thanksgiving weekend. Wicked has already broken pre-sale records, outpacing past successes like Barbie, while experts speculate on both films' ability to attract distinct audiences. The expectation is that both films will perform well, especially given the positive early reviews, despite the current struggles of the film industry to reach pre-pandemic levels. Both studios have significant investments tied to these projects, making box office success crucial for recouping costs.
Emerging Social Media Alternatives
Blue Sky, a social media platform, has recently seen rapid growth with over 20 million users, partly due to user dissatisfaction with existing platforms like Twitter. Distinguished by its personalized feeds and a more curated experience, Blue Sky aims to capitalize on users looking for alternatives after recent political shifts have muddled other platforms. However, the service struggles with scalability and lacks a clear business strategy to monetize its expanding user base, which consists of only 20 employees managing the operations. The platform's future viability hinges on its ability to differentiate itself further and find a sustainable revenue model while competing against much larger social media giants.
The Economic Implications of High-Speed Rail in China
China's extensive high-speed rail network, spanning nearly 30,000 miles, raises questions about the sustainability and necessity of such infrastructure investments. Despite being a monumental achievement, the rail system has become a financial burden with the state-run operator facing massive debt amid a declining economy. Observers note that some regions now boast more high-speed rail stations than their populations can sustain, leading to criticism about allocating funds to projects that do not meet current needs. As the government grapples with economic stagnation and declining population growth, many argue that investment might be better directed towards bolstering consumer demand rather than extravagant infrastructure projects.
Episode 459: Neal and Toby preview the much-anticipated openings of ‘Wicked’ and ‘Gladiator II’, duly named ‘Glicked,’ and chat if it's able to capture the same magic as 2023’s ‘Barbenheimer.’ Then, there’s been a mass exodus of users from X since the election and Bluesky has been the main beneficiary. But…can it handle the influx of traffic? Also, it turns out the widely popular mobile game Pokémon Go has been collecting player data to train its AI model to navigate the real world. Meanwhile, MicroStrategy is the Stock of the Week, and Ford is the Dog of the Week. Lastly, China has built miles and miles of train tracks connecting its major cities, but it actually might not need that much. Oops.
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