Small talk: Blockbuster karma, non-jobs, and a robot marathon
TEXT OF STORY
Kai Ryssdal: This final note on a Friday, a chance to get away from the real news and find out what didn’t quite make the headlines. It happens courtesy of Rico Gagliano, Brendan Francis Newnam and the rest of the Marketplace staff.
Rico Gagliano: Jennifer Collins, reporter, what story are you going to be talking about this weekend?
Jennifer Collins: So Blockbuster, you know it filed for bankruptcy and apparently it still owes a lot of the movie studios a ton of money — millions of dollars, right?
Gagliano: All right.
Collins: So to get their money back, the movie studios are basically saying: Pay us these fees or at least could you please just give the DVDs back?
Gagliano: So wait, Blockbuster is being hounded to pay fees and return videos?
Collins: It’s kind of karmic, is it not?
Gagliano: Revenge is sweet!
Brendan Newnam: Adriene Hill, sustainability reporter for Marketplace, what story are you going to be talking about this weekend?
Adriene Hill: Well, in England right now, they’re cutting the budget. But in England there’s this big fight between what’s a job and what’s a non-job.
Newnam: What is a non-job?
Hill: Well, newspapers are calling these non-jobs, and they’re things like: walking coordinator, rolling disco couch, cheerleading development officer, and bouncy castle attendant, which I would just like to submit my application for.
Newnam: I support bouncy castles, but I think you could probably get volunteers for cheerleader development coaching. It’s just a guess.
Hill: You could be right.
Gagliano: Ethan Lindsey, Morning Report reporter producer, what story are you going to be talking about this weekend?
Ethan Lindsey: I’m going to talk about the robot marathon. It’s the first ever in Japan and I can’t even say those words without smiling: the robot marathon.
Gagliano: Actually robots running to beat each other?
Lindsey: A bunch of robots running 26.2 miles. They’re doing it in tandem with the Tokyo Marathon that actual humans run in. Four days, robots running in a big circle.
Gagliano: This is actually, I think, it’s smart for humanity because whatever robot wins, that’s the one we destroy.
Lindsey: Get it out of the way first.
Gagliano: I’ve seen “The Terminator.” Let’s nip this thing in the bud.
Ryssdal: Call that just a taste of what Rico and Brendan have to offer. They do a podcast called The Dinner Party Download.
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